Oh! I can't believe it. I'm so excited. I have never owned an SLR Camera. Made the mistake of not taking pictures for the first 35 years of our marriage. So all we have of the past are memories. Oh, to have pictures of Bumper, our first cocker spaniel together. And Bones, Renegade, Sassy, Basher, (Mer)Cede, our other cockers. Pictures of our bald headed son with a face and head covered with yogurt, completely enjoying himself in his high chair, . A picture of my son at 8 completing a quarter mile on field day, hitting the tape after running a perfect race using the strategy I told him to use. Oh, he came from the middle of the pack at the head of the final turn and I ran with him all the way down the stretch to the tape. All those days that are gone, Gone. To have a picture of my father when he was younger, my mother when she was alive, where now he is so close to death. And there would be an entire album of my wife. But now with this Digital Rebel with a lens at nearly the cost of the camera, I am off to the races myself. I hope its not too late.

News Item: "BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 5 - Gunmen abducted a Frenchman outside his house... in Iraq.
The man, identified as Bernard Planche, was leaving his driveway in his van when he was surrounded by a group of armed men who dragged him from his vehicle and forced him into one of their cars, the authorities said. A witness told Reuters that neighbors watched as the kidnappers beat Mr. Planche with a pistol as he screamed for help."
As he is being dragged across the pavement I can hear Mr Planche exclaiming, " Jacques Chirac is your friend. I hate the Americans who are here. Look, I give you lots of money like Chirac. Look, see my peace decal on windshield, look at my "Hate America" bumper sticker. I fix sewers here, clean up your s___. I am your friend. We do not fight you. The French love you. I am French! Here, come closer. I give you the embrace of Islam!"
Mr. Planche worked on a sewage project with the Eastern Baghdad Water Company.

After Chirac's treachery, and now so much later during the Christmas season, in the middle of Islam, who was Planche thinking would come to his assistance ? A Frenchman?

How can we believe the Book of Mormon to be sacred scripture when the Bible says we shouldn't add to it (Revelation 22:18-19)?
The text "the prophecy of this book," "the book of this prophecy," and "this book" refer only to the book of Revelation. At the time John wrote of his visions and these words, the Bible had not been assembled. There were only separate scrolls for each book. This was true because the original apostles of Jesus Christ did not recognize a singular collection of books. They did not recognize the theology that closed the doors on Heaven. In the absence of Christ, recieving further instruction was vital for their understanding.

Much had to change over the next 3 centuries in the continually fracturing “Christian Church”, after the primitive church spiraled downward. It remained in the best interest of the clergy of the day to exterminate Christ's original Apostles and those who knew the real truths and what the rest of the world was to believe were mysteries.
The first bound Bibles do not appear until the fourth century A.D. Some of the earliest Bible manuscripts do not end with the book of Revelation and, in fact, some of them don't even include that book and omit other New Testament books as well.
Moreover, to make matters more embarrassing to modern day orthodoxy, similar warnings are found in earlier Bible books. For example, in Deuteronomy 4:2, we read, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you" (see also Deuteronomy 12:12).
Now, don't get me wrong. While we are prohibited from adding to the divine word, the Lord is not constrained by such restrictions. God's word is revealed through prophets, and it is through prophets where he has added or enhanced doctrine. As a consequence, we read that, when king Jehoiakim had destroyed Jeremiah’s written words (Jeremiah 36:1-4, 23), the Lord commanded Jeremiah to rewrite what had been written (Jeremiah 36:27-28). "Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides
unto them many like words" (Jeremiah 36:32).

I am really conflicted over same sex marriage.

I have a sister who is gay. My only full blooded sibling, separated from me at 3 by divorce. And because of the pain in her life where she has been the victim in so many circumstances, we aren't even talking. This is a woman who has been married and divorced three times, mothering 5 children. I am coming to understand that she is gay out of an exception to the rule. All her born-again Christian life she gave clear instructions to her children about her negative feelings concerning the gay lifestyle, Then after repeated marriage failures and an incredible weight gain, and then full disability from that weight, she announced she was gay and soon after entered a same sex marriage in Vegas. The marriage lasted 5 months. Her mate was a man who had a sex change operation. So why would a man get a sex change operation so as to marry a woman who was a lesbian? My head spins over it. And I am sad.

I balance the compassion I feel for my sister and others with the official position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, my church, my life. I try to balance something that won't. Being a High Priest in this Church and devoted to its doctrines, I know they speak the mind of God. Always.

But I will not openly insult The gay and lesbian community with previously recognized homophobic feelings.

After real study, I support you in legitimizing your relationships even where I cannot approve of your lifestyle. I could not have said this last week. So, don't think little of it.

Do not believe this represents a rejection of my Church leadership. As a member of this Church, disagreement with its official position needs to be carefully considered. Marriage or even a form of it can provide legitimacy. And happier you will be in marriage than out of it. Meantime, some advice? Make the best of it.

There are at least three roads that lead to spiritual malaise (apostasy). We will deal with the first here. The others will soon appear in subsequent topics.

The first road to be considered is naturalistic empiricism, or reliance on experiences of the senses to ascertain truth. While there is merit for the value of our senses, they are not sufficient alone to wrestle with such moral principles as justice or mercy, or who ultimately will be found in Heaven or Hell. Our senses are ill-equipped to answer questions about God. Thus, naturalistic empiricism becomes an exquisite trap.

The experience of those who have fallen teaches us that having the truths of the gospel and being a covenant-bound servant of Christ aren’t guarantees of salvation. To compound our challenge, the strongest opposition to the work of the Savior on this earth comes from those who know the truth and in their fallen state, seek to destroy others. Some of the fallen go to great ends to appear as standing tall. They are the ones coddled by the world. In our day, there are many of the esteemed and trusted in the world who bounce from one bed to another, only to falsely prop themselves up publicly. How many of us follow with the same catastrophies in our lives, as a consequence....to be like michael!?

We should come to realize that the fallen in Christ set themselves up also as religious leaders using semiphilosophical challenges to relieve believers of what they are pleased to call their innocence. It was true in the time of Christ; it remains true today. Yet everyone has something of value to bring to the table

So, with naturalistic empiricism (the belief that all truth can be known through the senses - by personal experience and observation), we have a good biblical example:

King Saul, the predecessor to David fits the bill. Saul was driven by his passions to many an ill-fated battle, ignoring and disobeying the council of his prophet repeatedly. When finally David was anointed by the Prophet Samuel to become king, Saul became so jealous as to attempt to kill him. Before another ill-advised battle, Saul went to consult the witch of Endor (perhaps for a horoscope). He was confronted by the prophet Samuel, who told him that he would be defeated. That is, the strength of the Lord will not assist his armies

To the extent that a Christian denies prophecy, and the new laws that are companion to it, he/she might be entertaining naturalistic empiricism. The unavoidable consequence is a fall into malaise. Now it is clear that empiricism has importance. Without consciousness/feelings, how could we know splendor or speak with friends and loved ones or value the fabulous creation of our God? Sense experience is indeed a valuable part of this life; the error comes in the assumption that it is the ONLY way of knowing. Frequently it is through our passions (the forever search of a soul mate is a good one) that many we know become misled on more significant matters.

Although there are many who follow the road “naturalistic empiricism”, don’t walk its pavement if you are in search of the larger truths in the gospel of Jesus Christ.