Friday, April 25, 2008
I created a new video
Monday, April 7, 2008
Repose to Thomas S Monson's come back speech
Tommy Boy Talk is cheap, you do not really mean what you said. If you did you would extend an olive branch with those words ,do something to back them up.
For Example
Be honest about the church's history. Stop excommunicating and "disfellowshipping" scholars who present you with mountains of scientific and historical evidence that Joseph Smith was an imaginative fraud and the BoM is a hoax. Repeal the 132nd section of the D&C and admit polygamy was a mistake. Apologies for the slander and mistreatment of Blacks, Gays and Women by the church. Welcome back into full fellowship excommicationed members whose only sin was to criticize the church or wrote about the history of the church. Allow criticism of church leaders , be human. If you are unwilling to do anything to show that the church has changed your words ring hallow and their is no reason for us to believe them. You weren't really speaking to those of us who left anyway were you, just saying words to flock to calm them about all the members who have the church. |
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Article sates: "President Thomas S. Monson invited "the less-active, the offended, the critical, the transgressor" Sunday to come back and "feast at the table of the Lord and taste again the sweet and satisfying fruits of fellowship with the Saints." Wow, instead of using negative terms like "the offended, the critical, the transgressor", how about using more accurate terms to describe people who left like "intellectual, vocal, critical thinker, and spiritually progressive"? Oh yeah I forgot, many of these people didn't leave...they were kicked out for simply voicing their views and/or questioning historical issues within the church. Instead of having a "feast at the table of the Lord and taste again the sweet and satisfying fruits of fellowship with the Saints", I feel, it would have been much more of an accurate description to state "stay away from the table of the Mormon Church and it's judgmental members. Don't keep eating the B***S*** they try to jam down your throat at every turn." Monson's speech is just further evidence, the Mormon hierarchy and many devout members "just don't get it." As much as I love my friends and family who are LDS, I feel every wardhouse is simply a "non-thinking ghetto |
Monday, March 17, 2008
Some Humor
The comic is from cectic.com
Book of Abraham
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Book of Abraham is a scriptural text for some denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. According to Joseph Smith, Jr., the movement's founder, it is "a translation of some ancient records....purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus".[1]
The work was originally published in 1842 in the Latter Day Saint movement newspaper Times and Seasons[1] together with facsimiles of vignettes from the papyrus and Smith's explanations of them. In 1851, it was republished in England as part of the Pearl of Great Price, which has been included in the canon of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1880.[2]
For many years the original papyri were thought to have been lost. In 1966 eleven fragments of the papyri were found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and are now designated the Joseph Smith Papyri. Both Mormon and non-Mormon Egyptologists examined the fragments and concluded that they are portions of common funerary texts, dating to about the first century BC, and contain no reference to Abraham, bearing little resemblance of Smith's interpretation. As such, their discovery amplified the long standing dispute concerning the authenticity of the Book of Abraham.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Why??Utah has twice the national average of anti-depressant use and Utah is 70% Mormon. DO THE MATH!
Two Studies Find Depression Widespread in Utah
Study Calling Utah Most Depressed, Renews Debate on Root Causes
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
March 7, 2008—
The still waters of the Great Salt Lake run deep -- and dark.
Take Wendy, a 40-year-old teacher and mother of three from Utah County. To all appearances, she led the perfect life. Just as she was expected to, she went from high school cheerleader to Mormon missionary to wife and mother.
"But life has a funny way of not being perfect," she said. "Three years into my marriage my husband was drinking, using drugs and stepping out on me.
"I knew I was depressed and needed help, but there is a stigma about depression in this area," said Wendy, who asked that ABCNEWS.com not use her last name. "People think it's a sign of weakness. It means you're not capable of being a good mother or wife or teacher."
Wendy's secret is Utah's secret. The postcard image of Utah is a state of gleaming cities, majestic mountains and persistently smiling people. But new research shows a very different picture of the state, a snapshot of suicide and widespread depression.
A recent study by Mental Health America, the country's oldest independent mental health advocacy organization, ranked Utah the most depressed state in the country.
Another survey released last week by drug distribution company Express Scripts found that residents of Utah were prescribed antidepressant drugs more than those of any other state and at twice the national average.
According to MHA, some 10.14 percent of adults in Utah "experienced a depressive episode in the past year and 14.15 percent experienced serious psychological distress. ... Individuals in Utah reported having on average 3.27 poor mental health days in the past 30 days."
The reason for Utah's mass depression, however, is unknown.
"The truth is, we don't know why," said Dr. Ted Wander, spokesman for the Utah Psychiatric Association.
Neither study was broken down by gender, but nationally women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depressive disorders as men, experts told ABC News.
Psychiatrists point to several factors that could contribute to Utah's high levels of depression: limited mental health resources, restricted access to treatment as a result of cost, poor quality of resources and a varied list of other factors, including an underfunded educational system and a culture deeply rooted in the Mormon faith.
"Availability to resources, a lack of professionals and barriers to treatment, including the ability to pay all drive up instances of depression," said Dr. Curtis Canning, a Logan-based psychiatrist and former president of the Utah Psychiatric Association. "But there is also -- especially when it comes to women and girls -- a cultural factor."
Seventy percent of Utah's residents are Mormon. When Express Scripts issued its first national survey of prescription drug use in 2002, it sparked a heated debate across Utah about what, if any role, the church played in the state's high dependence on antidepressants such as Prozac and Zoloft.
"In Mormon culture females are supposed accept a calling. They are to be constantly smiling over their family of five. They are supposed to take supper across the street to an ill neighbor and then put up with their husband when he comes home from work and smile about it the whole time. There is this sense that Mrs. Jones down street is doing the same thing, and there is this undercurrent of competition. To be a good mother and wife, women have to put on this mask of perfection. They can't show their tears, depression or agony," Canning said.
"Obedience, conformity and maintaining a sense of harmony" are unspoken but widely recognized behaviors, which all contribute to what he calls "the Mother of Zion syndrome."
When Wendy first started seeking professional help and was put on Zoloft 10 years ago, she felt the sting of shame even from her own family members.
"Marriage and family are so important that there was a huge amount of pressure to make things work. I was supposed to try harder, and buck up and that would make me happier and keep my husband from abusing me," she said.
"There are expectations from the community, but mostly from other women," she said. "It doesn't come down from the church necessarily, but it's passed from mother to daughter. My family was reluctant to see me taking the drugs, but since seeing me at my worst, they now encourage me to take my meds."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints, however, says the high number of prescriptions is a result of people receiving the drugs they need in Utah more than in other places.
"I don't think it's clear that there's a crisis in Utah," said Brent Scharman, a psychologist and the assistant commissioner of LDS Family Services, a church network that provides counseling. "You've got one camp that says there is more depression and another camp that says we just have more consumers." Scharman said studies on organized religion and depression found that religious people were generally happier than nonreligious people, and that held true for Mormons.
"It always boils down to the issue of what influence the LDS lifestyle has on the depression phenomenon," he said. "Non-LDS and some LDS people say this is a kind of driven lifestyle and that we push too hard and smile too much. But studies show, and those living it out see, that religion is good support. It creates a positive network and helps people get through crises and deal with long-term problems.
"Are there people who feel 'I'm not living up to the LDS ideal,' or 'I'm not living up to my family's expectations'? Absolutely, there is no question. But having done counseling outside the LDS community, I saw people there, too, who were depressed because of perfectionism," he said. "I wouldn't say it is any worse here than in more diverse communities."
The MHA study evaluated information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., and factored in suicide statistics to determine each state's "depression status."
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=4403731&page=3
Utah has twice the national average of anti-depressant use and Utah is 70% Mormon. DO THE MATH!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
An Example of Mormon Respect for other religions
http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1205046377/1
Not all Mormons approve of this kind of thing but many do. I was a LDS missionary so I know this kind of disrespect is common among them.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Utah's racist senator Chriss Buttars strikes again
Republican Sen. Chris Buttars' comment came during a debate on SB48, aimed at equalizing school construction funds. Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, called it "the ugly baby bill," but, as Buttars stood to vote, went further. "This baby is black. It's a dark, ugly thing," he said.
Sen. Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake City, said he perceived the statement as offensive and took the issue to Senate leaders. "I felt it needed to be addressed and needed to be addressed promptly," he said.
Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, said he was surprised by the comment.
"I didn't see it coming," he said. "I didn't take it as a racist remark, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was inappropriate and a breach of decorum."
Buttars agreed and felt bad about it and asked for a chance to apologize, Valentine said. After senators returned from a 10-minute break, Valentine noted the "breach in decorum," and gave Buttars the floor.
"I made a comment that I think a lot of people could take racist. I certainly did not mean that in any way but it was wrong and certainly could easily have been taken that way," Buttars said. "I apologize to anyone who took offense. . . . I ask for your forgiveness."
Romero said there was talk off the floor of censuring Buttars, and he appreciated the apology, but "I have no idea how it would be interpreted not to be offensive."
Word of Buttars' gaffe spread quickly around the Capitol, leaving members from both parties shaking their heads in disbelief. Leaders of Utah's black community also were shocked.
"I am appalled that he would utter such words in the capacity as senator and representing the people of Utah," said Jeanetta Williams, president of the Salt Lake branch of the NAACP.
Sen. Bill Hickman, R-St. George, said he is confident that Buttars, who left the Capitol quickly after the Senate adjourned, didn't mean his comment to be offensive.
"He felt bad that he had said it," Hickman said.
gehrke@lsltrib.com
cmckitrick@sltrib.com
Friday, February 8, 2008
Sad news for Mormons
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
More insanity from BYU and happy valley
Sam Penrod reporting
Some college students in Utah County are calling some music videos pornographic, and they are trying to get a health club to take them off its screen.
The controversy involves two Gold's Gym locations in Utah County frequented by BYU and UVSC students. Five organizations are banding together to keep the videos from being shown at the gyms.
The organizations that fight pornography in the community are upset with the videos at the gym and say they have collected nearly 1,000 signatures on a petition calling on Gold's Gym to quit showing the videos.
The Gold's Gym near the BYU campus is one of 19 Gold's Gyms in Utah. A majority of this gym's customers are BYU students. Dallen Johnson says, "I've had to leave, honestly! There have been four times I've run out of the cardio cinema because of racy and inappropriate things being shown, things I personally view as pornography."
The students have documented five music videos played on the Gold's Gym music video network which they call objectionable. Jesse Yaffe says, "Once you are a member here, you basically don't have the choice anymore. You're forced to watch indecent material because it seems everywhere you go there's a TV. They've got the Gold's Gym membership network, and certain videos they play are extremely indecent, and some are outright pornography."
Managers at Gold's Gym told Eyewitness News today they use Gold's TV network instead of cable channels like MTV to offer more conservative videos but can't control individual videos that are shown.
They say cardio machines have individual monitors which allow gym members to watch any channel they want.
Gold's says music helps to energize people who are there to exercise and say they don't want anyone to be offended at the gym during their workout experience.
The students gave Gold's 10 days to remedy their concerns before they start picketing the health club. They outlined four specific issues they'd like resolved:
- No rated R movies or sexually explicit or racy PG-13 movies.
- Change the content of Gold's Broadcasting Network or don't show the Network.
- Keep external TV's on decent and clean stations, or let members choose the channels themselves.
- Install blinds on the aerobics room to block the dancing, which is very provocative.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Brigham Young’s Deseret Alphabet
Brigham Young's Deseret Alphabet
One of the curious items of early Utah history was Brigham Young's effort to introduce a new alphabet, known as the Deseret Alphabet, into Mormon use. Western historian David Bigler observed:
"Old Testament ideas on land ownership and marked ballots were not the only indications that Utah's earliest settlers were bent on creating a society altogether unlike the rest of the country. Soon after arriving in the Great Basin they even undertook to create a new method to write the English language.
"In 1854 the University of Deseret, predecessor of the University of Utah, introduced the Deseret Alphabet, consisting of thirty-eight characters to conform with the basic number of sounds in the English language. The curious set of symbols was created by 39-year-old George D. Watt, an expert in Pitman shorthand and the faith's first English convert.
"Aimed to reform the representation of the English language, not the language itself, the new phonetic system offered a number of advantages. First, it demonstrated cultural exclusivism, an important consideration. It also kept secrets from curious non-Mormons, controlled what children would be allowed to read, and in a largely unlettered society that included non-English speaking converts, eliminated the awkward problem of phonetic spelling. For such reasons, for nearly two decades Brigham Young pushed the new alphabet on reluctant followers. The church-owned Deseret News at Great Salt Lake City, Utah's first newspaper, published portions of its 1859 editions in the distinctive system. And the University of Deseret's board of regents at one time voted $10,000 to print text books in the alphabet for students in classrooms across the territory.
"Like the law of consecration, however, the Deseret Alphabet never achieved widespread acceptance, despite repeated attempts by Young to promote the system. On some things, the people of Utah quietly overruled their strong-minded leader." ( Forgotten Kingdom: The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847-1896, by David L. Bigler, Arthur H. Clark Co., 1998, p.56)