The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is often attacked as being “anti-woman” and as “oppressive” to women by our critics. The attacks are complete nonsense. The very opposite is true. In a world that is constantly denigrating women, that is seeking to even obliterate the reality of women, it is only the Church of Jesus Christ that promotes, defends, and upholds women and womanhood. While all else hate women and womanhood, even those who claim to be feminists, it is only in the Restored Gospel and this church that the ennobling, uplifting, and exalting truths of Divine Womanhood are found and enacted.
Tag: Restored Gospel
Apostles Destroy Nationalism and Statism at General Conference
General Conference was earlier this month. Among the many inspired messages shared by the Prophets and Apostles were some that directly and indirectly criticized the worldly philosophies of nationalism and statism as well as the spirit of contention these ideas are based upon. The remarks of Apostles Jeffrey R. Holland and Dale G. Renlund especially presented nationalism as being in direct opposition to the doctrines of Jesus Christ.
The Eternal Victory of Christmas
I recently wrote that without a proper understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ that one cannot fully comprehend the meaning of Christmas. Christ was born to Resurrect, defeat Death and Hell, and open to path of salvation and eternal life to all. This is absolutely true, but since I wrote that article I have had my vision widened to see that the scope of the Atonement, and therefore the Nativity, is much wider, much deeper, and much greater than I had before understood.
Here I try and share that vision with you through the writings of Apostle Orson Pratt. Herein he discusses the Plan of Salvation and its unending and self-perpetuating nature. The cycle of Creation, Fall, Redemption, Exaltation, and Creation are explored here in Elder Pratt’s writings. Then I briefly connect these truths back to the Nativity and how understanding them will deepen our comprehension of the richness and eternal ramifications of that first Christmas.
The Origins of The God-State
There are many historical works on the rise of the modern State and the origins of its power. Many of them trace the development of the modern state from the end of the Medieval all the way up through the present day, drawing attention to how particular national and global crises – mostly wars and economic collapses – have resulted in the growth of the power of the centralized state as a solution to these problems.
As with all history, understanding these facts is very important to understanding how we got to where we are today. But in answering how they all too often neglect the why things are the way they are today.
Why is it that people have turned to the State for temporal and material salvation?
Why is it that men and women lavish religious levels of adoration and faith upon the State and its operatives?
Why is it that people have given it so much power?
What about humans and the way we think has convinced us, seemingly en masse, to turn to the State for salvation?
Using the writings of eminent psychologist Dr. Carl Jung, I try here to answer these questions; I answer not how the God-State came to be, but why humans have created the God-State in the first place.
The Power of Giving Thanks
Originally I had planned to do a deep dive on the history of American Thanksgiving as a nationalist holiday that perpetuates the myths those in power want because those myth justify their positions of power and exercise of control over the populace. And maybe I will next year. This year though I have decided to do otherwise due to a request put out by the Prophet last week for the members to spend the next week expressing our gratitude to God for His blessings in our lives and to focus on building our relationship with God and Christ.
So instead of digging into Thanksgiving I decided to explore the three things the Prophet has asked us to do and to talk about how each of them individually and together can transform our lives and the world around us. Seemingly simple practices like giving thanks, regular prayer, and building a close relationship with Christ can not only change our lives but they can transform the world. Here I explore each of these in a little more depth to try and tease out some of the richness of these concepts, why they are important, what makes them so powerful, and how we can apply them into our lives to make ourselves better people and the world a better place.
The Religious Nature of the Political Left
Having just finished thoroughly discussing the ways that governments use secularized versions of religious symbolism and ritual to manipulate the public and generate a sense of loyalty and obedience to it from among the masses, I thought it worthwhile to explore how the different partisan denominations of the politics -the “Left” and the “Right”- function as secular religions as well. The value in this is in explaining why people adhere to their different political beliefs and parties even when all logic, science, and morality demonstrate the inherent flaws, errors, and failings of those political beliefs to either reflect reality or to reform reality and create the outcomes their adherents promise if people would but live them. In this article I address this in terms of the Left, exploring how and why Leftist beliefs act as religious dogmas in the lives of Leftists.
A Christian’s Duty to Society
The fallen society we find ourselves living in is rife with corruption, violence, brutality, and evil. As followers of Jesus Christ, what exactly is our role in trying to change this, how do we do it, and just how dedicated should we be to that cause? Here I address these questions about the greatest source of violence, brutality, and corruption in the world today.
True Manhood and Toxic Masculinity
What does it mean to be a man? I don’t just mean in the sense of having a penis and some testicles. That makes you male, but that doesn’t make you a man. So what makes you a man? How can you look at someone and recognize there is a true man. It is an important question, especially in the modern age where even the concept of there being such a thing as masculinity, maleness, or definitive manhood is under fire. Gratefully, the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ gives us definitive guidance on how to recognize both toxic masculinity and true manhood, what the qualities of each are, and how to fulfill our potential as men of God in the image of the Great Father.
The Death Cult of the State
In Part 1 of the series I delved into the idolatrous nature of modern political systems and delved into the ways they’re based on violence, oppression, and human sacrifice before ultimately concluding that the State/the government was one large idolatrous cult. Here in Part 2, I will dig into this idea of the State/the government as cult by using the 15 characteristics of cults as developed by Dr. Janja Lalich, a leading expert on the study of cults. By going through all 15 characteristics and demonstrating that the political systems of modern nations align very closely to Dr. Lalich’s outline and that they are therefore cults. Finally, I will explore how these idolatrous cults are in fact death cults by looking at how they use violence, warmongering, and veneration of the dead to gain legitimacy and subservience from the masses in order to secure and continue the power and position of the presiding political order.
What Is God’s Latter-day Church and Kingdom?
An excellent article from early church history that testifies to the supreme authority of the Kingdom of God, the destiny of it to fill the world, the assurance that all the kingdoms of men will one day submit to it, and the power of trusting in the justice and mercy of God. A classic in Latter-day Saint literature.