Greater Than

This Haiku was for Maggie, who was having  a bad day.

Released To Grow

Growing into strength

I’m holding my head so high

I believe I am

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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On Polygamy and the Early “Mormon” Culture

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Now I would like to address the issue of Polygamy and the numerous comments made about “Mormon” beliefs.

The practice of polygamy was instituted in the early Church to address a serious shortage of men within the church, and the fact that people had a problem with supporting the widows and orphans under their trying circumstances.

There were many individuals who felt that just taking care of their own family was already too difficult and that they couldn’t afford to assist people outside their family unit.  Obviously, this left the only feasible way to solve the dilemma, short of forced donations (which the Church has never been wont to do) as being done within a family unit; therefore, to do so and maintain righteousness, it would involve marriage.

There is some discrepancy on the reporting of the numbers, but everyone agrees it was never more than five percent of the males that had more than one wife, and some posit it as being as few as two percent.

No man could marry more than one wife without the consent of his first wife.

The wives owned the property.  If a wife wanted out, she was welcomed to do so, and she took her property with her.

The Prophet Brigham Young, who was married to 17 women, had several of them divorce him.  Not because he was a bad man, but because they didn’t become the favorite, or couldn’t get their way, or because they couldn’t get along with the rest of the family members.  In a family that large, this is not hard to imagine occurring. No one replaced the First wife.

Marrying these women was  a way to make sure of their support. There was no thought of getting around a no cheating rule.  It was not a way to have some kind of harem.

Were some plural marriages more successful than others?  Sure.  As in all relationships, the parties within the marriage were responsible for their own happiness,  If they were cheerful, and cooperative with each other, and lived righteously, there was more harmony; if not, than not so much.

When the United States passed a law, outlawing polygamy well after the civil war was over ( It was not illegal before that), then The Church, as is in keeping with the beliefs of being subject to the laws of the land, stopped supporting plural marriages in the states.  Some of the members who had had successful marriages and had lots of children, etc.  moved to Mexico so as to not be where it was illegal.

Some of the men who had plural wives at the time of the passing of the law went to jail rather than have to choose to divorce one of their wives.

Some got divorced from all but one woman, and some plural marriages came to an end through natural consequences.

It had been over forty years since the institution of this practice, and the imbalance of women to men worked itself out, for the most part.

As to the ones today who call themselves Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints….  They are Not members of  Christ’s Church, but of doctrine of their own devising.  Those who follow their doctrine do so for their own reasons, and not because it is a correct tradition.

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Grateful for an Empty Plate

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There have been people who complained that the reason they became non-religious, was because the people in the churches were so imperfect.  I too have seen the imperfections of humanity, and once upon a time, I too withdrew my support from official religions because I was incensed that the people weren’t more perfect.

I could have continued in this path of indifference, being perfectly right in my position of “the people aren’t perfect enough”, and it would have gotten me exactly nowhere. Nor would it have changed anything within the church except to leave it one body shorter of those who Could have been doing something to assist each other.

God saw fit to withdraw His support from me during this time (turn about is fair play).  I was allowed to suffer the full effect of the buffetings of the world.  Without His protection to keep me from harm, without His spirit to guide me in my choices, without His angels to watch over and protect me in my efforts, I became just another casualty of a dog-eat-dog world.  I met the man who would become my husband during this time.  Things went well for a while, but then, I changed jobs, and some issues which hadn’t been issues until then, suddenly became issues.

Once brought down low, and in need of assistance (no work,no money to pay bills, no food) my husband suggested that we turn to the local food banks at the local Christian churches.  When he said this, I looked at Him, and with a sinking heart I said, “If we are going to do that, we might as well go to the one that does it the best.”  He asked me what I meant by that, and I told him about The Church welfare department.

So we went to church together, and he met the congregation of people that I had left some five years before.  It was only a little changed since I had been there.  Some people had moved out, and others had moved in, but it was largely the same human family. We asked the Bishop for some food assistance.  He said gladly, but also, the ward could help us with some other bills as well, like utilities.   We were overjoyed at this blessing.  Thank you.

Even though I had told my husband about the welfare program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he was still surprised at the extent of it.  He held up a can of Chicken noodle soup and exclaimed, “They have their own canning factory?”

Actually, the members do that themselves with volunteer labor.  I have been part of groups that volunteered time in both canning chicken noodle soup, and wrapping cheese for shipping before.  It is a balance between a very efficient human chain, and a mechanical process.  It is very well managed.  The whole process is very efficient.

There are many Bishop’s storehouses scattered all over; tucked away in small industrial neighborhoods mostly. They are centers for charitable giving, both temporal and spiritual.

I am grateful beyond belief for this eye-opening experience; to have finally understood my place in the chain of service; to have been able to see, finally, that I was just as imperfect as the ones I was pointing fingers at; to understand that our imperfections are the very reason for Christ’s atonement; and the reason that we all finally stand before God with fear and trembling to work out our eternal salvation; and to know, without a shadow of a doubt that God loves even me, imperfect as I am, and that His love is so all encompassing that He will show me the error of my ways, if I am but willing to look, and set my feet back on the path to home.

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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No Greater Love

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This post a direct result of reading Two other blogger’s posts.  Both of them had something to say that I wanted to respond to, and did in comments, but I would like to expand on those comments here.  Rob Slavens Post was an agnostic’s view of  the Ten commandments , and the other one, was from a link in the post below that, about On Tebow, written by Grant Dawson in Remotely Nowhere.

Rob Slaven was complaining that the Ten Commandments seemed sort of Vain and common sense if not trivial, with the exception of one or two pretty decent ones.  He’s right, if you think of the Ten Commandments as the end all and be all of what God wants and expects of us; however, remember that the Ten Commandments were the Second set of plates that came down the mountain.

The children of Israel were partying pretty hard by the time Moses came down the first time. That  first set, the one that got all smashed up, were the higher law, that Moses and God decided the then current crop of children of Israel weren’t ready for yet, and so they were given the kindergarten version.  The lower law.

The first half of the Lower law lays out things you Should do.  The be good stuff.  The Second half of the Ten Commandments lays out all the Shouldn’ts.  Basically, if you can’t handle doing the good things, then for Heaven’s sake, and your soul’s sake, don’t do these other, bad things.

The Higher law is available, but people still have a hard time with the lower law, so….    Well, if you’re the sort who can handle the lower law, then maybe you’re ready for the higher one.

Remember in Matthew, chapter 22, verses 36 – 40, the pharisees asking Christ what was the Greatest law? And Christ responded, “To Love God with all your heart might, mind, and strength, and the second was like unto it; To love thy neighbor as thyself.  On these hang all the law and the prophets.”

Somewhere in there is the key to the higher law.  If we can do these things successfully…… everything else is covered.

 

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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merry christmas every one

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When you Can’t Fire People, They Stop Serving

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Ron Paul, and his supporters, know what it’s like to have their words taken out of context and used to malign them unfairly.  As a result, being the fair man that he is, Ron Paul took a nearly unprecedented step during a Presidential Primary run to defend one of his fellow candidates , Mitt Romney, who was getting that treatment, yet again.

Mitt Romney was describing, to a rapt  audience in New Hampshire, his philosophy of keeping businesses honest, and hardworking, by saying that he Liked being able to fire people who provide services to him.

After all, what happens in a business that you can’t fire?  It tends to get cocky, arrogant, and self-serving.  Instead of providing good service to you, you end up just being the vehicle to providing more money to the ever increasing demands from the company. This is Not a good business to consumer relationship model.

As an example, lets look at what has happened to service from our city/county utilities.  First, they tend to have removed as much as possible, the face to face contact.  In our area, you have to go to a bill paying service center that is mostly about check cashing, and otherwise is about paying several different bills in cash.  And on top of all that, you have to Pay this bill paying service center more money to let you pay your bill here. Of course, you Can pay them electronically…. but again,there is no personal contact.

Then, the utility companies removed as much as possible of the voice to voice contact, sending customers through an ever expanding menu of options designed primarily to frustrate the user, wear you down, and prevent you from actually solving problems.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotten to where I just hold the phone for five minutes while it runs through it’s litany of menu choices and let it finally decide that I must be one of the three people in the nation still using a dial phone, and then it will let me talk to an Actual person, whereupon I usually get Much better results (Usually).

Or, how about the Cable company.  Do they give good service?  I remember when they first came into existence, and people said, why do we want these guys?  We have free T.V. now.  And the Cable companies said, “We’ll keep the cost down.  It’ll be real low.”   And it was, for a little while, until the initial contract ran out, by which time people were hooked on the convenience of tuning in to Many more show choices, and the cable companies raised the rates.  A lot. And they make it difficult to return the equipment in a timely manner; And they charge you all kinds of extra fees…  I could go on, as I’m sure you all could too.

The same thing happens with retail companies that have a lock on market products in an area.  They too, become difficult to work with and start thinking that They are doing You a favor by letting you shop at their store.

Suffice it to say, if you don’t have choices, firing the people/companies who “Serve” you is difficult; then, You end up serving them instead.

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The New Obama Aristocracy

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Mr. Obama aspires to be a King,instead of a President, if his actions of late, and the addition of some very special language in the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 are any indication.  In an editorial in the Washington Times, an attempt is made to dismiss the severity of the language in the new act, because it is obviously Unconstitutional, therefore, once someone takes their case to the Supreme Court, they will be exonerated…  Except that if a citizen is picked up under the auspices of this act, they will not have recourse to a lawyer, and so their case will never get to Any court, let alone the Supreme one.

In addition to desiring the power to pick-up any citizen of this country, suspending habeas corpus, and denying them the rights our forefathers so diligently argued for, and then fought and died for,  because someone labels them  a terrorist (who gets to decide what constitutes terrorism?),  Mr. Obama has also decided that he has the right to appoint anyone he wants into positions of unilateral power, without consent of the peoples representatives.  This is a highly illegal, and also Unconstitutional move on the part the leader of our country.

In Bahrain, the government protestors are getting picked up and disappearing, and never being heard from again.  The protesters didn’t have to do anything grievous to get put into the category of anti-governemt, and be eligible for this disappearing act, all they had to do was make a post on the internet that someone didn’t like.  If we allow our President to get away with the things he has proposed to do, to appoint people into positions of power without the people’s representation, to arrest and detain people without the right of habeas corpus, we are setting ourselves up for the same thing.

How far down this road do we have to go?  How many of our people will go missing because we do Nothing to stop this outrage?  It’s not just the leadership of our country that is in question; it is the deciding factor in our continued freedoms,  it is the way our country is governed;  it is our very way of life that is now in question.

Citizens, doing something includes registering to vote, choosing a candidate that you trust Not to abuse the powers they will be given, and telling your congressmen and women that you do Not approve of actions or decisions from your elected officials that go against the constitution of the land.  If your elected officials will not keep to the constitutional path, then you must choose a different person to elect into that position.  Do not reward greed, corruption, abuse of power, arrogance, and self-appointed privilege with another term in office.

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Congress Shall Make No Laws Exempting Themselves

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Pass the word along everyone!  Working together we have more power than working alone.  We Need This Now!  Tell your Congressmen and women!  Tell your Senators.  We Will Not Be Ignored!

This is something the All of us can agree on; Not just Independents, not just Republicans, not just Democrats, not just Tea Partiers, and not just Occupy Wall Street protesters, But All of U.S.

It’s time we put an end to congressional privilege.

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:

“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes,” he told CNBC. “You just pass a  law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of  GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified!  Why? Simple!  The people demanded it. That was in 1971 – before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land – all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to
a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask
each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will
have the message.  This is one idea that really should be passed
around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011       

1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they’re out of office.

2.  Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan,  just as all
Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.

Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message.  Don’t you think it’s time?

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!

Pass it along!  Swell the Chorus! Raise your voices!  Let us all, at last, be heard!

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And They Do Know Better….

I am thanking another blogger who took the time to share this Doctors article on how to die with dignity.  More to the point, what Not to have done in the event that you get diagnosed with a terminal illness, or have a horrifying accident that does major damage.  It’s refreshing to hear that not all medical professionals would encourage radical treatment for something, just because it is doable.  Doctors don’t ask to have all those treatments done on them.  They just go home and die peacefully in the loving arms of their family members, some times, months, or years later than their diagnoses had suggested.

It saddens me though, to realize that the social services and courts don’t have this mindset.  If they did, then that little boy with the cancer that he didn’t want treated with chemotherapy and radiation would have gotten his wish.  Instead, his parents got dragged into court, treated like criminals, and in the end, were forced to watch as their son underwent the full assault of possible treatments available in the U.S. for Cancer, though that was Not what He wanted.

Did we ever hear about how his “treatments” went?  Did we hear anything about his survival?  I’ve been watching, but I haven’t seen anything.  Have you?

 

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Cat’s Love Missing

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My cat has been here  7 years.  She’s fixed and quite the lady.

My daughter brought home half grown kits; they’ve had some pretty babies.

We’ve kept a few that grew on us, but have to get their rabies.

There’s no more room, the place is full. My cat is going crazy.

The first cat thinks  the second cats are terrible and lazy.

She doesn’t think that other cats should be allowed the spacee.

My cat dislikes to share her place, and doesn’t share her people.

She growls at them and hisses too, for them she has no scruples.

I try to hug her tight to me, but she scratches, and she pulls;

she eyes the others with distrust, and hides beneath the table.

I miss my cat; her soft meow, her silent, rumbling purr

was often felt to me a solace, to stroke her soft black fur.

Sometimes she will call to me, and arch her back for petting,

but then she spies the other ones, and leaves the room complaining.

She doesn’t feel her place is right, while others are in waiting.

And so she misses out on love; because she’s busy glaring.

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Peer Pressured Nearly to Death

Once upon a time, I wasn’t feeling very good about myself.  I had let someone talk me into doing something I didn’t want to do that day, so I felt like shit.  The person who had talked me into it, then had the audacity to take me to a “Party” to celebrate my new status.

So now,  I let some different people talk me into taking a large dose of over the counter cough medicine.  They said I would have a “trip”.  I was a very small person then. I only weighed about 100 lbs.  The amount that the other people recommended was a full four ounces.  I knew at two ounces that I had had enough, but the others kept pushing me to finish the bottle.  Maybe for them, weighing closer to a couple of hundred pounds, four ounces was needed to have their “Trip”, but not for me.  Even so…

I finally finished the bottle at their constant urging, and immediately regretted it.  I threw up a total of 7 times in the next 15 minutes.  Probably a good thing I did, as I spent the next 8 hours afraid to go to sleep, for fear that I would stop breathing if I went to sleep.  The room and the other people in it became still scenes from a photo album.  With each beat of my heart, I got a snap shot, but in between there was only blackness.  In the morning, when the others had awoken from their sleep, I told them of my experience.  They said I had a bad trip.

Wow!   Really???!!

These were the same people who, after I had taken the four ounces, and finally finished throwing up, then proceeded to tell me that several of their “friends” had committed suicide, because of the long term affects of over dosing on this over the counter drug.  What kind of “Friends” would keep doing this same thing, then, and not only that, but would encourage others to do it as well.

With friends like these, who needs enemies.

I hadn’t been having a “Bad Trip.”  I had been poisoned and barely survived the experience.
It was Stupid.  Never again would I let someone talk me into doing any kind of drug without there being a medically valid reason for it, and at the proper dosage.

There is a reason it’s called “Dope”.

I responded to an invitation on Twisteens’ blog to describe a time I nearly died with a portion of this, and decided it was worth re-telling in my own post.  Thank you ziiAn for telling us of your brush with a painful accidental electrocution and nearly dying from it.

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Let Me Help You

Pain comes from disappointment.

We expected more from ourselves.

Our expectations are our enemies.

Anger comes from fear.

We fear what we do not understand the end of.

Fear is the opposite of faith.

Despair comes from giving up on yourself.

You are afraid you don’t have the right stuff.

God believes you are always worth hoping for.

If God believes it, why don’t you?

He is smarter than you.

He already knew you before you were here.

He knew there would be difficulties.

That’s why he agreed to pay the price for you ahead of time.

After everything you can do, he will do the rest.

Do everything you can.

Do what you must.

Trust him.

He will bring you home.

He is not disappointed.

He already knew what would happen.

He only wants you to let him help you.

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Letting Go

I was angry.

Now I am not.

I was afraid.

Now I am not.

I felt despair.

Now I have hope.

There is no rational explanation for what I feel.

It just is.

Because it is what it is.

That is the nature of the challenge.

If there were no difficulties,

How would there be a test?

If there were no test,

Why bother with this type of existence?

God could make us all run on automatic with only a little tweaking.

But he doesn’t,

Because he wants the test to show us what we are, and can do, and can’t do.

Then we will be satisfied

that where we are placed is the right place for us.

We will all be happy.

Everyone will be happy.

I will be happy.

So I may as well start being happy now.

 

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

That’s worth a 10K Bet

Dear Ford Motors,
Thank you for your candor in reporting about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It isn’t often I see the decency that you have displayed in your summation of this faith.  You have given me another reason to shop Ford in the future.  If I were a betting person, I’d buy Ford stock about now 🙂  What the heck, it’s a sucker bet.  Buying Ford stock after the publication of this article isn’t a gamble at all.  You’re gonna get some Great business in the coming years from members of this faith.

I wrote this as a comment on another blog published by Alan Osmond (Alan, I hope you don’t mind my re-posting it here – it’s going to show up twice in my Facebook page now, as that is where I saw it first) who posted the following article:

Following is an interesting article written by Ford Motor Company for its employees. It was presented by the ‘Ford Interfaith’ group as a message about the LDS Church .

The Ford Interfaith group promotes unity by sharing information about all faiths and features these types of articles about various religions and faiths.

QUICK FACTS & INTERESTING TIDBITS about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Fleeing continued mob attacks 158 years ago, the first Mormon
pioneers desperately started their Westward trek from Illinois in the dead of winter. Of the 70,000 who began this 1300-mile journey, 6,000 were buried along the way, including many children. The following are quick facts and interesting tidbits about this now flourishing church.

OVERVIEW

* Named “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”; informal
nicknames are “LDS” or “Mormon” -named after the prophet-historian

* Believes it is the Lord’s restoration of original Christianity as
foretold to occur before Christ’s Second Coming.

* Core focus is that Christ and His teachings bring happiness in this
life and exaltation in the next.

HISTORY

* In 1820 14-yr-old Joseph Smith told of a vision of God and Christ
foretelling a church restoration.

* Organized in New York in 1830, the church moved to near Cleveland, then near Kansas City, then Illinois .

* Fleeing Illinois , Mormon pioneers founded Salt Lake City in Utah and over 600 other Western communities.

SALT LAKE CITY

* Temple Square in Salt Lake has over 5 million annual visitors, more
than the Grand Canyon .

* The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is the world’s most famous choir and has the world’s oldest radio program.

* The Salt Lake Temple is the most famous, but there are 128 other
temples built here and around the world while
others are under construction.

* Home of the world’s largest genealogy database; visit it online or
through 3,700 free branch libraries.

ACTIVE CONGREGATIONS

* Sunday services entail a three-hour block of three meetings; about
27,000 congregations exist worldwide.

* Highly vibrant programs exist for youth, children, singles, men, and women; very strong family focus.

* Everyone has a calling; some surveys show LDS have the highest U.S. attendance and service rates.

* Families receive personal fellowship visits at home from other members on a monthly basis.

FINANCES

* Members tithe 10 percent, plus donate generously to the needy the first Sunday of each month.

* Clergy and all other congregational positions are unpaid (however, much of the janitorial is paid).

* The church has no debt; all buildings are paid for in cash (average of two new congregations a day).

* The paid positions in Salt Lake are famously low-salaried; funds are frugally used and tightly audited.

HEALTH CODE

* With a health code from 1833, LDS avoid alcohol, tobacco, illegal
drugs, coffee, and tea (herbal tea is ok).

* This 1833 code also teaches grains (especially wheat), fresh fruits and vegetables, and sparing use of meat.

* A UCLA study showed that active LDS live longer than most Americans, men by 11 years, women by 8.

* Utah is 50th in smoking, alcohol consumption, drunk driving, heart disease, cancer, and sick days.

EDUCATION

* With four colleges, Utah ‘s BYU with 30,000 students is the largest
single-campus private college.

* BYU Independent Study with 130,000 students is North America (340 web courses, 530 via mail).

* Seminary, a daily class usually held around 6:00 A.M., serves 376,000 high school students.

* There are Institutes of Religion at 1,950 colleges worldwide that serve 367,000 college students.

* The church operates schools in parts of the Pacific Ocean and Mexico for 10,000 students.

* Utah is 50th in spending per pupil, but first in adults that graduated from high school and attended college.

WOMEN

* In 1842 the “Relief Society” was organized; it’s the largest women’s
organization in the world.

* Wyoming was first to allow women to vote; Utah was second, two months later, in 1870.

* Women preach from the pulpit and serve as organization presidents, teachers, committee chairs, etc.

SHARING CHRIST’S GOOD NEWS

* 61,000 missionaries serve in 165 countries; 93 percent are college-age; 22 percent are female.

* Unpaid and paying their own way, most work 65 hours a week for two years, often in a new language.

MEMBERSHIP DISTRIBUTION

* LDS are 70 percent of Utah, 30 percent of Idaho; after Catholics, LDS are the largest sect in 10 states.

* The church has 5.5 million members in the U.S., making it the fourth largest individual U.S. denomination.

* Some memberships: New Zealand 95k, Japan 115k, UK 175k, Philippines 500k, Brazil 900k, Mexico 925k.

* Worldwide 51 percent are female; about 55 percent are not Caucasian; about 70 percent are converts.

MEMBERSHIP GROWTH

* For the last 15 years, every day an average of 800+ people worldwide joined the LDS church.

* Half of the growth is in Latin America, but the rate of growth is
highest in Africa and the former Soviet bloc.

* Worldwide membership just passed 12 million, a tenfold increase in 50 years.

* In 1984 a non-LDS professor estimated 265 million members by 2080; so far growth has been faster.

* As this growth has been steady, it will be the next major world religion since Islam.”

CHARITY/SERVICE

* Members in need obtain welfare from the LDS Church (thus Utah
government welfare spending is very low).

* LDS donate time at 220 welfare storehouses or canneries and about 400 farms.

* There are 210 employment centers placing over 175,000 people annually, and 64 family service centers.

* The church operates 46 thrift stores, in part to provide employment for the disadvantaged.

* The 61,000 missionaries spend half a day each week doing

HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

* Over 200 million pounds of food, clothing, and medicine were donated in the last 20 years in 147 countries.

* Almost all of this help is to non-LDS; LDS charities also work with and donate to many non-LDS charities.

* Very rapid disaster relief has been given in 144 major disasters since 1986.

* Almost 3,000 welfare “missionaries” work without pay in 55 countries (farm instructors, doctors, teachers, etc…).

* LDS charities fund a wide variety of projects like drilling water wells or funding small business startup loans.

* New in 2001, members in poor areas can get low-rate college loans;
10,000 loans have been made to date.

GRAB BAG

* Utah is first in: charitable giving, producing scientists, household computers, children with two parents, and birth rate.

* Noted LDS included five senators, and other famous dignitaries
(click on link)
the Osmonds, Gladys Knight, Steve
Young, and the inventor of TV -Philo T. Farnsworth.

* LDS played a key role in the 2002 Winter Olympics; the chair was the former governor of Massachusetts .

* Hawaii ‘s #1 tourist site is the LDS Polynesian Cultural Center ( Tonga and the Samoas are one-third LDS).

* LDS have sponsored Boy Scout troops since 1913; 23 percent of all Scout troops are LDS.

* The BYU Women’s Cross Country were national champions or in second place each of the last seven years.

DETROIT AREA

* The Detroit metro area has 30 congregations; the Dearborn chapel is on Rotunda by Ford’s Building #5.

* Detroit has a temple, storehouse, cannery, employment and family
service office, and family history libraries.

* LDS include former Governor Romney, three former Lions quarterbacks,
and hundreds of Ford employees.

A member of Ford’s Interfaith Network,
the author of this note sends out monthly interfaith notes to thousands of Ford employees who have asked to receive them.

Related articles

• That’s worth a 10K Bet (emariaenterprises.wordpress.com)
• David Archuleta to serve LDS mission ()
• What is the percentage of lds members that attend UVU (wiki.answers.com)
• ‘Enduring Light’ by Carla Kelly (bookworm2bookworm.wordpress.com)

Sucker Bet

If you absolutely knew you were right, and the other guy was wrong, would you offer to make an all out bet with the one who was wrong to see if he would back down?

If you were playing poker and you had a royal flush, would you go all in to bet on it?

From a poker playing angle it probably wouldn’t be a smart move, because the other guy would fold, but that’s what was wanted in this case. For the other guy to admit he wasn’t sure of his facts.  To fold his hand.

That’s what happened in the  debate  between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.  Rick made a false statement about what Romney had written in his book, and Romney knew it.  Romney offered Rick a sucker bet of $10,000.00.  Rick backed down because he wasn’t that certain of his facts. Rick probably figured he could get away with making the false statement because it might be difficult for someone to fact check it.

There’s a lot of buzz about this issue, even whole websites set up to take advantage of it.  Democrats are jumping up and down with glee over it.  Billboards are being planned, and television ads that highlight what $10,000.00 can buy the average American.

The average American would love to win a sure bet like that.  The average American is making $1.00 bets everyday in hopes they can win at least that amount in the Powerball lotteries.  Sure you’ld offer the bet if you Knew you would win.  Who wouldn’t when we all need the money so badly.

Mr. Romney has more than that amount riding on this Presidential race.  He’s betting his whole future on it, and ours.  I sure hope he wins this one.

 

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Words

Enthralled with form, the function ignored.

The reason was there, without the rhyme.

Her loss of focus reduced the words

to one of convenience in limited time.

The question nags her to voice her concern.

She hangs her head no longer to worry.

The gift neglected, in moments returns;

the prose, select, when not in a hurry.

What words to us, as time directed,

Birth the newest conceptual image.

Choose carefully the picture selected,

Else chaos reigns o’er the resulting scrimmage.

 

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

He

A man.

A simple man.

A complex man.

A married man.

A wounded man.

A lonely man.

A man.

One.

Then two.

He thinks

He Needs another

For something more.

Before there is two,

There is

One.

Alone.

He stands alone.

He missed the bus.

She was the one.

She waits at home.

He forgets his place.

He looks for her.

Alone.

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The Nature of Repentance

I know you’ve all heard of repentance.  How it’s what you are supposed to do when you’ve done something wrong.  So OK. You do something and you are told it’s wrong.  You are supposed to repent.  Then you are told that to repent means that you are sorry you did what you did, and you promise you won’t do it again.  If you do it again anyway, that means that you haven’t really repented.

I would like to clarify something here.

What that really means is that you haven’t really understood that God loves you and doesn’t want you to hurt yourself.  That what you did was hurtful to you and to others, and He especially doesn’t want you to hurt others because it’s much harder to fix things that hurt others.

You haven’t figured out that when Christ suffered for your sins, and paid the price for you, it was because  He Loves you, and wants you to be able to go into the next existence without dragging a chain of suffering with you.  He wanted you to be able to start clean from the point where you understand the right things to do.  That you really are important enough to him to bother about. That he really does care about you individually, personally, and privately. And that when your life runs into a course correction, when the re-set button gets hit, that it might even be God telling you to re-think what you’ve been doing, and where your priorities are.

He’s not doing that because he hates you.  Like a good parent that swats their child when it repeatedly tries to run out into traffic, God is trying to help you survive better. He is trying to help you grow up.  If you continue to resist his efforts, if you hurt yourself, he still loves you. If you hurt others, he still loves you, but it’s harder to fix things when you hurt others.  Some things aren’t fixable, then you’ve really hurt yourself.  That is going to cost you a load of hurt, but it’s hurt you brought on yourself.  God didn’t visit that hurt on you. And he can’t save you from it.  He can only save you from things that are fixable, and only if you are willing to recognize the hurt you’ve done.  If you can’t face it, you can’t fix it, and you can’t grow.

I was trying to explain real repentance to my teen-age  daughter.   It came down to a math problem as an allegory.

In geometry or algebra or calculus, there are some fixed formulas for short cuts to do things that work for certain things every time.

Before you are taught the shortcuts, you usually have to work through the proofs, so you can see why the formulas work every time.

You could be taught just the shortcuts and then trust that they will work when you apply them in the correct situation every time.  After you do the formula, you can see the result, and will know that it works.  Sometimes you see others apply the formula, and understand at that point that it works.  Sometimes you think that it only works for them, and not for you.

Sometimes we forget the formula.  Sometimes we think the formula doesn’t apply in the situation we are in. If we don’t use the formula, then we have to work through the proof to get to the right answer.  Hopefully, we at least remember all the rules for completing the steps through the proof.  Sometimes, we don’t remember all the rules, and we keep repeating the steps going through the proof trying to get the right answer.

When we are doing a math problem, if someone comes along and shows us the area where we did the step wrong, do we throw out their advice and keep doing the step wrong?

No.  We look at it and say, “Oh.”  That’s what I did wrong.”  Thank you for showing me that.” and then we complete the step correctly.  We wouldn’t do the step over the wrong way again, once we actually understand how it’s supposed to be done.  We might need some correction on a further step, but we will get that one right after that, because we now know how it’s supposed to work.

(I will qualify this with, in the event that we aren’t dyslexic and can’t actually see the steps correctly the way they are laid out.)

The big book with scriptures in it is full of formulas.  Shortcuts for living that work every time.  Following those formulas is not a guarantee that your life will be easy, because your life is impacted by others who may not be following the formulas themselves, but it is a way to recover faster, even when that happens.  At least you won’t be hurting yourself, and you won’t be hurting others, if you are following the formulas in the book.

If you have forgotten the formula, or haven’t been taught the formula, or think that the formula doesn’t apply to you, then you will end up working through the proof whether you like it or not.  Hopefully, you will get the rules right, and won’t have too much difficulty getting the right answer, but sometimes, we miss a step, or turn a step around, or do something backwards, and we get the wrong answer.  So then we have to do the problem over again.  That’s when you see people repeating what seems like the same mistake over again.  They are working back through the proof.

Sometimes God is trying to show you what you did wrong, but if you aren’t paying attention, or think that God doesn’t care about you or you aren’t important enough for God to pay attention to you, then you just put your head down and ignore what He is trying to tell you.  Like a stubborn, prideful child, you keep on making the same mistake over again.

When you understand that God Does Love you, that you Are important enough for Him to pay attention to, and that He Wants you to learn so you can fix your mistake:  then you’ll start listening.

Once you are listening, he will show you your mistake.  Don’t be afraid of seeing your mistake.  If you can’t see it, you can’t fix it.  He wants you to be able to fix it.  He will only be sadder if you refuse to see your mistake.  You won’t be able to grow if you can’t fix it.

Doing wrong things here is defined as doing or saying things that harm you or others around you:  and further,  having a mindset that ignores saying or doing things that are beneficial to you and/or to others.

God won’t force you not to hurt yourself, and he won’t force you not to hurt others.  This the nature of the test.  You have to learn how to do things correctly for yourself, and you won’t learn if you don’t choose to do so of your own free will.

Once you are able to see your mistake, you are sad, because you finally understand the affect that you had, but you are also happy, because finally, you can fix it,  and do the step correctly.  Now you are in a position to rejoice with the angels, and when you fix your mistake, the angels do rejoice with you.

Now you won’t do it wrong again, because you finally understand what it was that you did wrong.  It won’t be a matter of having to Promise that you won’t do it again. You won’t Want to do it the wrong way again.  And That is the True Nature of Repentance.

When you truly understand what the wrong was, and you no longer Desire to do it the wrong way again.  That is true repentance.

It isn’t rote learning. It isn’t an intellectual understanding.  It is a Spiritual understanding. You will Know the right way to do it, and Why it’s the right way to do it.

This applies to every item of understanding.  You Can follow the formulas out of Faith, and learn on the other end of having done it that it is true: but if you don’t, you will work through the proofs, and learn to understand one line of the formula at a time. Sometimes, we mix things up, and do some formulas, and some proofs.  Every one has their own speed of learning.

 

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

I Think I’ve Found My 2012 Presidential Candidate

Well, hello again.  It’s been a while since I wrote because I’ve been distracted by a number of other intensive efforts, but I’m back now.  I had some time to peruse the internet today and pursue the sometimes chancy proposition of locating enough information on a candidate to be able to tell if I like his position or not.

It’s a tough time to try to determine who might do the best job for us.  We are going to lose some things.  There is no way around it.  So it’s all about choosing what we lose.  Is it stuff that we can do for ourselves by exercising a little self discipline?  Is it something we can grow into?  Is there a way to transition smoothly without doing too much damage?

There are some things that we really can’t do without, and shouldn’t even try to do without at the Federal level.  A strong standing army is one of the Few things that we are Supposed to have at the Federal level, so downsizing that when the world is in so much turmoil isn’t very sensible.

With some candidates, of course there is enough stuff out there, but they didn’t have what I was looking for.   Ron Paul, for instance, is a very good candidate, and has several stances that I really admire, but his foreign policy smacks of isolationism.  We’ve tried that before when we were even Less connected than we are today.  It really doesn’t work well for anybody.

As for Jon Huntsman…  I like and admire him, and I love his foreign policy (as who shouldn’t), and his Utah business policy has been very good for the state of Utah, so Maybe it would also work for the nation.  Would he be a really good President?  Effective? Why do I have doubts about him?  Not because he’s a Mormon, and Not because he’s not likable.  Maybe it’s because he reminds me of someone else.  If he runs as an Independent candidate, I might have to give him another look. But I don’t think he can carry the Republican party.

So let’s get this out of the way. I don’t trust Newt Gingrich.  Not because he wasn’t constitutional enough (at least at one time), and not because he changed his mind some times, but rather, because he changed his mind about the wrong things.  At least, in my opinion, he did.

I’m not against someone who changes their mind sometimes, if the things one learns along the way seem to warrant it, that’s a Good thing.  I just prefer to see them change their mind in the same direction I would.  Gingrich didn’t do that.  He went the other way too many times.

I will dispense with discussing those candidates who are already on their way out.  Enough said already.  So that leaves me with looking again at Mitt Romney.  What does his platform say now?  Jennifer Robin’s recent post in her Right Turn blog lays it out fairly well (and I didn’t have to sign up on anyone’s site to find out).  I like his rational approach to the problems with Medicaid/Medicare, and his stance on job creation (of course, everyone is For job creation, it’s the methodology that is employed to encourage them that has us all on edge).  Mitt’s strategy to give some power back to the states is a definite plus.  The closer the decisions are to the people they affect, the better the outcome usually is (and if it isn’t, you vote out the state government and get new people).  All down the line, things seemed to click for me.  So, unless Romney’s platform changes radically between now and Election day,  I think I’ll vote for him.

On Pay, and What People Do for a Living

I have been pondering this for a while.  A recent article that oddly mixed news of whale bones and Hooters waitresses in the same article got me thinking about it again.  Someone at a Career day in a special needs school got offended that a person who was a waitress at a Hooters restaurant was speaking to the children about her type of work; that is, serving tables in a Hooters restaurant.

Wow.  I thought.  What is her problem?  Does she never go out to eat?  Maybe she only eats in fast food restaurants, or buffets, and doesn’t let anyone wait on her.  Or maybe she only cooks at home and does all her own serving.  Still, even if that were the case, why look down on someone who is taking food orders and delivering it to people who want it that way?

If this is because of the pay scale…..  again, I say Wow.   This is a subject that seriously needs addressing.  The inequalities present in our system are there because we put them there.  We choose to place one person’s type of work above another’s, in spite of the fact that we want all those different types of work to exist within our society.  We choose to assign different levels of pay to those different types of work, in spite of the fact that all the types contribute to the smooth functioning of all our lives.

Does the person who works in the tall buildings with the corner window office actually believe they would be able to do their job as well without all the things provided him or her by all those people interacted with on a daily basis?  What makes you think that the  person serving you your coffee at the drive up window, to help you be alert and ready for your job,should be paid less than you?  Or the person who cleans your suits to make you look presentable for your other interactions. Why is their  job considered less valuable than yours?   The arbitrary dollar value someone places on the different jobs is not actually a good indicator of the worth of either the person doing the job, or the necessity of the job being done.

The fact that some people had to pay large amounts of money out for a required education is sometimes used as a justification for charging higher fees for services.  That is a subject for another day, but suffice it to say, that the founding fathers wanted our nation to be educated in order to compete with other nations.  A College education should be free for all our people, all the way through a Bachelors degree, since that is what is required to be competitive.

If we take out the need to repay the educational dollars as a reason to assign an arbitrary dollar value, that leaves just the expense of doing the job.  For doctors, that would mean more, since their equipment is more expensive (shared offices help with that),  and the liability issues become another factor (torte reform).

Some people believe that the number of people served is a justification for an increase in pay scale.   Does the person who thinks this live on an island, entire of itself?  Yes, that is a reference to Don John.  We do not exist without each other.  There is no real independence except for hermits who live in caves in the hills or holes in the desert, and they don’t get paid by anyone.

The garbage collectors in New York city proved that they are a necessary and valuable part of your existence.  They had to stop doing their job to make you acknowledge it, but you finally gave them their dues.  Now they get paid a better wage.  The person who harvests the food that you eat is also worthy of the same consideration.  Alabama is now finding out just how valuable that job should be.  No one who is Not an “undocumented worker” will stay with the job at it’s current pay scale.  The tomatoes are rotting in the fields because there is no one to pick them.

The person who drives the bus to carry so many people to work is valuable, and so is the person who drives the bus that carries your children to school so that they may have the ability to properly co-exist with others both in the now, and in the future. Why should their pay scale be so low?   Or the teacher who shapes their views of the world?  Why should you think that the advertising executive should get paid so much more than the street sweeper?  Does the advertising executive actually improve the most people’s live’s?   The street sweeper keeps the streets in a state of clean that makes it possible for many people to walk about or drive on it in a reasonable condition.  The successful advertising executive only improves the lives of  those who work inside the firm that they work for.  Why should you respect the advertising executive, and not the street sweeper?

Why should the worker who serves you the hamburger be despised for their work?  Are they not giving you something you want?  Are they not providing you with a valuable service?  If you wanted to be serving yourself, you’d be in a different restaurant, or at home, making your own food.  If you don’t directly benefit from someone who serves hamburgers for a living, then you benefit indirectly.  The hamburger server provides a service to many people.  All of them members of your society, in one context or another.  When someone, anyone, provides any service to you or any member of your society, that you could not, or did not want to do for yourself, that service is valuable to you, and should not be dismissed as beneath you; neither the work, nor the worker. They have added value to your life, they are worthy of your respect.

I’m still pondering the ways and means of how we could change things in a fair way, to raise the pay of one type and lower the pay of another type of work until we all get paid the same for an hours work.  Maybe this isn’t possible, given that no one would then harvest the food, being as it is harder work than sitting at a desk writing.

Hah!  Wouldn’t  that be something, when the food harvester gets paid more than the advertising executive.

© Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ellen M Story and emariaenterprises with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.