My Vote is My Right; Your Vote is Your Right

I have seen a marked air of superiority among citizens who believe that their candidate is the best. We need to remember that voting is a sacred right and privilege, and we need to remember that we are seeking to be The "United" States of America.

The intolerance, hate and division over moral agency is truly sad. Like most others, I do not take my vote lightly, and way more is put into the equation than one mere candidate. Principles, surrounding people, whom I think will have the ability to influence the Country for the most good in the next four years, fighting socialism, defending the family, strengthening the military, defending the Constitution along with The Bill of Rights, and many other factors come into play.

While voting, we should be humbly looking to the Spirit to guide us of course; but, do not think that because your conscience dictates that you vote one way, that others who disagree with you are wrong. This election itself will not be the real test of who is right and who is wrong. It is what we all choose to do afterwards, and between elections, that will determine what type of citizens we really are.

We need to stop looking for our identity in our candidates, sports team, and the like. We are more than that. We are children of God who has given us all the ability to think and reason, and the agency to do so.

Those who think that they are justified in bashing others because they believe that they are following prophetic counsel; please stop accepting newspaper articles, opinion pieces, individual interpretations, of what may or may not have been said, as the final word. They aren’t. Follow the dictates of your own conscience, and allow all other citizens to do the same.

For those who are fellow Latter-day Saints, and for all other individuals of strong faith, the following is what has been said by The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For those who post anything other than their official statement, rest assured that it does not come from the Church, no matter how well-intended you may think it is.

Please note the underlined portion. 

First Presidency 2016 Letter Encouraging Political Participation, Voting in US

The following letter was issued by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 5, 2016, to be read to Church congregations throughout the United States:

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Political Participation, Voting, and the Political Neutrality of the Church

As citizens we have the privilege and duty of electing office holders and influencing public policy. Participation in the political process affects our communities and nation today and in the future. We urge Latter-day Saints to be active citizens by registering, exercising their right to vote, and engaging in civic affairs.

We also urge you to spend the time needed to become informed about the issues and candidates you will be considering. Along with the options available to you through the Internet, debates, and other sources, the Church occasionally posts information about particular moral issues on which it has taken a position at www.MormonNewsroom.org.

Principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties, and members should seek candidates who best embody those principles.

While the Church affirms its institutional neutrality regarding political parties and candidates, individual members should participate in the political process. The Church also affirms its constitutional right of expression on political and social issues.

Sincerely yours,

Thomas S. Monson
Henry B. Eyring
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
The First Presidency

Pledging My Heart and My Hand Again

I learned this little song in Primary as a very young child. It is still a favorite. I am glad that I was privileged to learn about God and about His hand in giving us this great Country. I'm glad that my parents valued teaching me these things. They didn't set aside my learning until they thought I could understand everything or make decisions for myself. They didn't set aside my learning, giving me the “freedom” to choose to learn whatever I wanted to at some future date.

My parents are not natives to this Country, but they are Americans and United States citizens in every other way. They value the opportunities that this Country has given them in the way of religious freedom and individual enterprise. They are thankful for the privilege of rearing their family on the blessed soil granted by God to those who claimed the Lord as God. Their generation is indeed representative of the workers. And we are the beneficiaries of their work.

In third grade, I had a teacher named Miss Nakahara. She was of Japanese descent, and she was one of the most patriotic teachers I've ever met. We learned so many songs about our Country that year. Each day we would begin class with The Pledge of Allegiance and two or three patriotic songs. I learned to love this Country at church, in my home, and at school. And I learned to love God in those three places as well. I am thankful that my school teachers and Primary teachers were able to provide me moral direction.

I remember looking forward to 1976! It was a great big deal. We looked forward to that Bicentennial of The United States of America for many years. What a wonderful milestone for us to witness and to be a part of. I don't know of anyone who didn't love this great land. We rejoiced in it, in the history of it, and in those who safeguarded our freedoms.

I also remember looking forward to the Sesquicentennial of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I wouldn't describe the feelings that I had for these two events as pride; at least, not in the way pride events are celebrated today. I had a sense of security in the history and celebrations of our Country and our Church. There was a sense of belonging and unity, despite diversity. I felt a quietness and a reverence, as well as a thrill and exuberance. I still feel those things when I think about God and country and what those two things mean to me.

Our lives experiences shape us to a great degree. We form a schemata, our personal knowledge storage bank. The things that we learn in our first few years of life can become important tools to us throughout life. The guidance that we receive from parents, leaders, mentors, and teachers can be an invaluable endowment in aiding our ability to form into healthy and happy human beings. Ultimately, it is our personal choices and desires to do well that can propel us forward in our path and progress. If we are taught to love both God and Country, if we are given healthy doses of scripture and history, will these things help mold us into better people, or will they serve to trap or indoctrinate us?

Were my rights infringed upon because I was taught to love God and Country? Absolutely not. Because I had the security of knowing God, of feeling His love for me, and because I had the assurance that this land was a blessed land with a moral destiny, I had the calmness and peace of knowing that I myself could succeed and be happy.

As a very young child, I'd place my hand on my heart and sing the words, “I pledge my heart;” then, I would draw my hand out away from me and sing, “I pledge my hand;” continuing on, “to God, and to my native land. To both of them, I will be true; for, that is what I ought to do.” I could feel the truth and power that these words invoked back then. I could feel the peace and security of making a covenant with God back then, a covenant concerning being faithful to Him and faithful to the cause of freedom that He ordained for me in this great land. I feel it still.

May we all bless the name of our God, and may God bless America.

Gathering Israel

I enjoy being a ward missionary. With that call, I have the opportunity to teach Gospel Principles every other Sunday. Last Sunday, Sister Fisher taught about the Gathering of Israel. It is clear that there are both a physical gathering (Judah to homeland, Joseph to the Americas, and the 10 tribes eventually to be gathered in more fully as well); and a spiritual gathering (which happens when we make our baptismal covenants and enter the waters of Judah, and become part of covenant Israel). And the Church today asks that as we are gathered, we remain in the countries we reside in, and build up Zion there.

As Saints gathered in these last days, we have the opportunity to unite in worship and instruction twice a year at conference time. I am so grateful for that. Under the leadership of a prophet of God, we will receive our marching orders for the next six months. That's a beautiful blessing. We can trust those things that are taught to us as if spoken directly from God's own mouth.

I am also grateful for the privilege of belonging to the Relief Society. Here we should be learning to be one in heart. We are all at different ages and different stages, but like we heard in our Women's Meeting last week, we all matter, and we are all needed.

So under Jesus's constant call, we hear again the words, "Come, Unto Me," and "Come, and See." His words are words of the gathering. His words are not ones of turning us away or saying that some are more important than others. I will look to the Shepherd as the True Gatherer of Israel, and under His direction I will seek to be united with my brothers and sisters; because, it is He who said, "If ye are not one, ye are not mine."

With that, I hope that we are all wary of unauthorized invitations to unite or to gather under any other Head than Christ's. No person or persons have the authority to ask us to gather in a Facebook setting whether or not they purport to believe as we believe or think ask we think. We are already gathered in our Church membership.

Jesus asked us to let the wheat and the tares grow together, because if we think we are "gathering" wheat, we might actually be disturbing the growth of wheat that we have mistaken for tares. I for one would not want to be responsible for that. We need not take on being a catalyst for the latter-day sifting process. Our goal should be to invite all to come unto Christ and be perfected in Him, because this is the mission of His Church.

Have a happy conference weekend.

We Lost More Troops in Afghanistan, and This is a Reason for our Country to Be Even More Divided?

We Lost More Troops in Afghanistan, and This is a Reason for our Country to Be Even More Divided?

We lost more troops in Afghanistan, and this is a reason for our Country to be even more divided? Facebook responses show that we are not one nation, but several with differing opinions. There are the humble who are saddened and turn to God in faith, praying for the welfare and peace of the soldiers’ families, especially during this Christmas season. There are those who condemn people of belief, saying that God is their make-believe friend. There are those who either blame God or question a God who would allow this to happen. There are those who readily blame Obama, because he promised that he would hurriedly bring our soldiers home. This was during his campaigning periods; but, while in office, he’s been faced with the complexities of the situation. There are those who defend Obama, because they view him as beyond scrutiny, and they always have, and they always will. In turn, they call all those who do not favor Obama conservative sheep who just follow a conservative news media. There are others who claim that there is no such thing as a conservative news media. There are those who are still blaming Bush because he’s the one who first took our troops into Iraq and Afghanistan. They claim that the war was all about oil, not about atrocities committed against our nation, other nations, and even the people of the nations with which we went to war (in hopes of establishing a degree of freedom for those people). Most everybody supported Bush in his decision; but, then most readily dismissed that they did so. It must be remembered that Obama did not start this war; neither did Bush start this war. There was a terrorist attack on our nation! The saddest thing of all is that there are those who think that the soldiers received their just and due reward. To be so blind that you cannot see the great love of country and people that these men and women have, that they sacrifice their daily lives, putting personal and family pursuits on hold; that they even offer the ultimate sacrifice of life and breath, is ingratitude in its deepest depths. Why do the people of this country choose to be divided?

There is a great sifting process happening now in the world. People have been richly blessed in this generation, and most in the United States have really seen nothing of war, except what the media chooses to show. But there are those who have valiantly served our Country, and they have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Not all is bad, but news ratings thrive on sensationalism. There are people in the world who have looked to God for understanding and direction in their lives, and they have felt a measure of peace, even while living in the great confusion that surrounds them. They are often condemned as ignorant and blind by those who exercise their right to claim personal superiority, because they see no need for a God in their lives. They constantly tell those who have faith that they lack reasoning and that they make no sense. Just remember, faith never makes sense to the faithless. But for those of faith, we do have hope for the better world of promise that is not out of reach to those who believe and put their trust in God.

Most United States citizens have not seen much of war since World War II. I believe that because the people of the United States united in a common purpose during that war, it became a time of great growth for the country. We became stronger as a people and stronger as a country and a world power. But that strength was founded in a common purpose and a united faith. Today, many feel too superior to work towards unity in any degree. The backlash in Facebook posts and responses show the extreme lack of unity and the justifications for remaining in disharmony.

When you write on Facebook, you are exercising your freedom of speech. When others respond, they are doing the same thing. You can't expect to just write and not have responses. All are entitled to their opinions. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we don't agree. I just wish that people didn't think that they are displaying intelligence by stating that others are stupid. We are so lacking in common courtesy and diplomacy as an entire nation, and then we wonder why we are at war. It’s not Bush’s fault or Obama’s fault; it goes much deeper than that. If we cannot learn to be civil in our communications with each other, why would we expect civility among differing nations and peoples. It's all right for someone to have an opinion without others attacking his or her intelligence and/or integrity. So strange. You would think that when troops are lost, we could all agree that it is sad the troops have been lost. If we had less hate in our own country, we might begin to have less hate in the world.

I am no politician or political scholar, so I have no proposals for change, other than this: “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” If each of us were to develop a love of God and a love of fellowmen in our own hearts, not only would we transform ourselves into children of the Highest, but we would transform the world. I cannot do much, but I can have influence in my own life, in the life of my family and my neighbors to some degree; I can have influence in my church congregation and in my community. So can you. If individuals (and families) would decide now as Joshua did of old (when he said that as from him and his house, they would serve the Lord), we would have a promised change, and it would begin with a change of heart, and it would be the change that would unite us as a people and as a world; and it would prepare us for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. As we sing, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” this season, let us also pray that we will have the strength to rise up and prepare for a peaceful world so that we may take part in His return. Our Country’s unity, and world unity, depends upon each of us developing a unified relationship with our Maker. To become one nation under God, we must begin to live the motto, “In God is our trust.”