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We can love and disagree.
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A few thoughts about storms-
I’m convinced the hardest storms we face in life, and I mean the scariest and most terrifying storms that roll in, out of the blue, can end up being the greatest force for our good if we let it become an opportunity for growth.
The scariest storms are sometimes exactly what we need. That wind and rain brings the proper nourishment to our hearts and souls; so we can then produce the fruit necessary to feed not only ourselves, but everyone around us.
Neal A. Maxwell said that trials and tribulations tends to squeeze the artificial out of us. How true that is. I’m convinced if our souls don’t become real and authentic, then our loving Father will send a reminder that it’s He who we must build our foundation on. Not the cares of the world. In other words, He sends storms because He loves us. So we can turn to Him.
I just received this message from someone who believes socialism is of God….
“@Eric: I will say something that you and your people will think is evil. And you can practice battling the devil. But it will be me battling the devil…
“The Reason the Jews crucified Jesus Christ, because they were capitalist. They made money capitalizing off the sins of the world….
His socialism ended their Capitalism. Man created money to claim ownership on Gods resources, socialism fixes that mistake.”
Tim Spagnola Jr.
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Brother Tim,
I hope you don’t think you’re battling the devil when we join in discussion. I don’t believe you are the devil either. That’s actually what the devil would want us to believe. However, with those comments I do believe many of your thoughts are greatly deceived regarding this issue of free agency.
There is nothing more that God wants than for us to love one another and share with each-other. But Tim, He won’t force us. That’s the difference. The reason why love, donations, tithing, and generosity do work, is because it’s free-will and not forced-will. Love invites love and resentment invites resentment. And when a human being is forced, they will resent.
The reason why the Jews crucified Jesus is because He was teaching who the Father was, who He was, and who they (the Jews) were really born to be. Which is to become like God in pure love. (See John 10:34) Further, He was teaching them the true order of heaven; which is free-will in love.
What Jesus wasn’t doing: He wasn’t teaching them forced-will. He wasn’t forcing anyone to do anything. In other words, God isn’t going to force anyone to share; and He definitely isn’t going to force anyone to heaven. Those are “demmandments”, not commandments. “Come unto me” He says. It’s our choice; not His force.
I invite you to study history, Tim. Because we learn from history that we don’t learn from history. Every rise and fall of an empire was because of too much power The People gave the government. Just look at every dictator in the world and what they did. They took the power in the people and ironically destroyed them. That is forced-will vs. free-will. “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” John Acton
You cannot decide what to do with other people’s money unless you are committed to use force (a gun) to take that money from them. All socialist programs are mandatory. Heaven is not. That’s the difference. Jesus commanded us not to steal. Even if it’s “Legal”, done through a corrupt government system. It’s still theft.
I hope this brings to light why people all over this country will fight to keep their freedom and liberty. It truly can be lost in one generation. I will not allow it to be mine.
Ezra Taft Benson once said,
“Another notable counterfeit system to the Lord’s plan is collectivized socialism. Socialism derives its philosophy from the founders of communism, Marx and Engels. Communism in practice is socialism. Its purpose is world socialism, which the communists seek to achieve by revolution, and which the socialists seek to achieve by evolution. Both communism and socialism have the same effect upon the individual—a loss of personal liberty.”
Howard W. Hunter also said,
“If man will not recognize the inequalities around him and voluntarily, through the gospel plan, come to the aid of his brother, he will find that through “a democratic process” he will be forced to come to the aid of his brother. The government will take from the “haves” and give to the “have nots.” Both have lost their freedom. Those who “have,” lost their freedom to give voluntarily of their own free will and in the way they desire. Those who “have not,” lost their freedom because they did not earn what they received. They got “something for nothing,” and they will neither appreciate the gift nor the giver of the gift.”
So let us all do better. Let us recognize. But let us all do better with our choice to do better.
With all the free-willish Love I have to muster,
Eric Moutsos
This is part of what I posted about a few days ago with regard to youth suicide and the onslaught that church leaders and members are about to take nationwide from some in the LGBTQA community; and clearly, famous rock star church members who have a better vision than their spiritual leaders. Meaning, blaming someone’s suicide on commandments.
The lead singer of Imagine Dragons now
“hopes “to teach a lesson to church leaders (LDS President Nelson in this case) that preaching age-old universal doctrines about sexuality need to now change. I guess being a rock star now gives that person moral arbiter God-like authority.
From the article:
“Rock star Dan Reynolds was once a Mormon missionary…to urge leaders of his faith to stop shaming their LGBT members.”
“If you’re telling them their innate sense of love, which is unchangeable, is wrong, you’re going to have this problem.”
“As long as those policies are still intact,” Reynolds said, “our LGBT youth still have high percentages of depression, anxiety and suicide.”
To Dan,
I love your music. It will probably remain on my workout playlist for a very very long time, regardless of what you do or say socially or politically. Keep producing good music. I’ll buy it.
With that said, and what I won’t buy, is what you are doing teaching your fans on this particular issue. You are actually driving the LGBTQA youth into further confusion with “hopes” that God’s word is going to stop being consistent with how He’s always taught His children with regards to homosexuality and gender identity. It’s not “shaming” when God, or his prophets, talk about the real effects of sin. It’s actually the other way around; I’ll explain.
In your interview, you say the prophet needs to “have real change…Because speaking in platitudes of love will not create that change.” What exactly is the real change you are hoping for? What “policies” are you hoping to change? Ignoring universal laws of morality and true identity?
Speaking the truth with love is actually the purest possible loving thing church leaders from any denomination can do. In fact, there’s no church on the planet that shows more love to the LGBTQA community, than the LDS church does. They have an entire webpage dedicated to this issue. Disagreement in love is God’s language to most of us. We all sin somewhere. And guess what, God disagrees with our sin. That’s why He continues to teach us. And won’t stop teaching us until we ALL overcome ALL of our sins. Nobody is perfect.
If you really want irony, placating with false platitudes, like you’re doing, is more dangerous for the upcoming generation that worships people like you, more than they worship God. You’ve now become the very wedge you’re preaching against. Especially regarding issues with chastity and sexuality. God created male and female to be with one another and multiply and replenish the earth. That’s the highest order of heaven, Dan. That’s the truth. And if you’re saying that my words (or anyone who thinks/talks like me) now can be tied to the “shaming” culture and blamed for someone’s suicide, you have truly lived up to your bands cover name. There is shaming Dan, but you must look inwardly on where the shaming is coming from.
God’s word won’t change with this issue, not ever. He’s unchangeable. It’s ok disagree with homosexuality. We can do that in love. God does that in love with ALL of our poor choices we make as His Children. Having same sex attraction is not wrong in the sight of God; however, acting on same sex attraction is wrong. It’s called sin. Just like many other things that are considered sin that we do.
It’s not bigoted to teach that marriage is only between a man and a woman and ordained of God and that it will always be. Because Dan, God isn’t going to be taught a lesson on this issue. Neither are his prophets. The word “sin” is not going to be replaced because it hurts our feelings. God loves us more than that to lie to us. The manifestation of His love is His commandments.
Dan, God and His prophets have in fact “seen the faces and heard the voices of these youth”, that’s the very reason why He teaches these same youth how to come unto Him, in really simple and sobering terms. God knows better, He is better. In your language, He is the Lightning before any Thunder.
I’ll catch you tomorrow on my iPod,
Eric Moutsos
Someone sent a message and asked how expressing your belief for or against certain cultural currents equates to love? In other words, how is it love to tell someone you believe they are wrong before or during certain choices. Great question! But let me ask you one.
If you were to watch one of your siblings buy a lot next to yours and start to building their dream home, I would imagine you would probably look out the window and check things out from time to time to see how things are going. You built your house with your own hands so you know exactly how to do it and what material to use.
Now suppose your sibling either purposefully or ignorantly bought very expensive, but yet the wrong type of foundation materials for the base of their soon-to-be beautiful home. You knew how much money and time they put into it, so you don’t say anything. You think it may work, but have a really bad feeling about it. As they started pouring, your heart starts pounding. Why? Would you say something to them? Or would you stay silent?
Now imagine you stayed silent. Deep down over the years of knowing their foundation to their home may not hold up, it eats at you. But you’ve gone this long. So, you keep silent.
One day everything comes crashing down.
They soon come over to your house just devastated. They start explaining they don’t know what could’ve gone wrong. They start asking for your advise. How would you feel at that point? What would you do? Would you then tell them what you knew to be true all along? Or stay silent?
I believe love is sometimes telling people what you know to be true, even if it’s hard truth to deal with. I believe it’s for everyone’s good. I believe that’s real love.
A few people over the years have asked what my stance is on legalizing marijuana; either for medical or recreational use. Maybe they wanted to know because of my law enforcement background. I’ve never responded because I find myself going back and forth in the marketplace of ideas. Here are my thoughts today. Remember, it’s ok to disagree with me. We can still be friends.
For medical purposes, I don’t know why it’s not already legal for people with certain pain that marijuana helps. For example, have you ever seen videos of some people with epilepsy use it? It’s actually amazing to see how quickly it works. Also, have you see what prescription pain meds do to people in the long and short run? To me, that’s truly painful. No pun intended.
For recreational use, and I want to be clear, I don’t believe any drug that alters our mind/body/spirit is good for us. I don’t condone any of it. I believe drugs are a way to dull our physical and spiritual senses and we can’t become our best selves with the talents we’ve been given.
However, let’s try this for an experiment. I would bet the farm that if marijuana and alcohol were switched for one week, meaning that if everyone who got drunk for the week, instead got stone-cold high, our crime rate across the country (especially violent crime) would fall by over 50% or more. Almost overnight. Especially including crimes like robbery, sex assault, aggravated assault, intimate partner violence (or DV), child abuse, and homicide (to name a few). Did you know that over 40% of convicted murderers had used alcohol before or during the crime?
When I was a police officer I remember dealing with A LOT of people who had been drinking the liquid courage and wanting to fight everyone who got in their way, including me. However, I don’t ever remember a fight between people who had been smoking pot. Not one.
I believe alcohol is THE worst drug on the planet (worse than most illegal drugs today) but somehow, it’s the only one that is legal. How does that make any amount of sense?
Everyone is talking about these “experiments” with marijuana to see if they medically help people. I get it. But I say we first start with my experiment. Switch the two for one week and watch what would happen. And because I not only believe crime rate would go down by 50%, I also believe 50% of law enforcement in our entire country would be twiddling their thumbs with not a lot to do at night. Would we need as many police? Think about that for a second.
So, if I were to be forced to “pick a poison” out of alcohol and marijuana for America, for me it would be marijuana no questions asked. I would vote tomorrow for the experiment. I believe I would be right.
Again, I’m not advocating any drug use. It’s all bad for society to be high for no other reason than being high. Just want to get a conversation going.
