In orthodox protestant Christian religion, praise is an empassioned exaltation of God speaking from the gratitude for one's being. For the most part, it is defined by a certain speech directed to God, our creator and sustainer. Thus, He is worthy of praise. Orthodoxy would point to the Book of Psalms identifying hymns and poems. They would not point to the Book of Isaiah, however.

The act of Praise for the LDS (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) achieves authentic meaning living in full obedience to God, recognizing that glorifying God through merrymaking, mirth, and joy alone are empty gestures and not received by Him. We are reminded of this most clearly through Isaiah 24 where Isaiah speaks of three major errors; the followers of Yahwah have "transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance,(and broke) the everlasting covenant" bringing about an earth that mourns, fades away, languishes, is defiled and cursed (24:1-2). God has scattered and burned the earth's inhabitants so that the few who remain do not experience happiness - "all joy is darkness" (24:11). In the midst of this destruction, the Lord will gather the faithful from among the wicked, as one seeks the few remaining olives on the trees after the harvest.

The LDS believe they are the remnant being gathered from the nations. According to Isaiah, we are "lift(ing our) voice, "crying aloud for the majesty of the Lord, sharing the gospel message from Zion ("the region of light") and glorifying His name througout the world in this manner.

Praising and glorifying God is more than the act of speech, raising one's arms and hands, dancing and whooping it up. It is in the diligence and secret prayers of our whole lives. It is found in how we are acting when nobody else is watching, all week long. It is found in the path of the straight and narrow. And it is found living in Zion and standing on Holy Ground.

There are six murderers. A notorious drug cartel mastermind. A pedophile who preyed on girls under the age of 10. A terrorist leader responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.
The FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list now also includes Warren S. Jeffs.

He is wanted for his role in arranging underage marriages, which led to a rape-as-an-accomplice charge as well.

Here's a question: Does Jeffs deserve to be on the list?

The question is posed on MSNBC and after 141,000 votes open to ten identified locations, a single location has recieved half of all votes: The Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is overwhelmingly America. So please, all of you who would persecuted new comers to this nation. You are out of step.



Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Faith is a miracle, a gift from God whereby eternal truth waits for us to discover. The Socratic notion that (eternal) truth is always already within us and only needs to be recollected, just doesn't quite fly, although there is recollection to be had from Preexistance. The ongoing conditions for realizing eternal truth for the Christian is a gift from God. But its realization must be a repeated task initiated and performed by the individual believer (This being where we may fail). So Socratic recollection is a salvage of the past. Christian repetition is a "discovery forwards". We have an eternal (future) truth captured in time.

We must realize that we are always in sin. This is an essential condition for faith (opposition in all things), and must be given by God. The idea of sin cannot evolve from purely human origins. Rather, it must have been introduced into the world from a transcendent source. Once we understand that we are in sin, we can appreciate and understand that there is a creator against which we are always in the wrong. On this basis we can have faith.