Lesson 8 of the Book of Mormon Gospel Doctrine class is now on my blog.

http://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-of-mormon-lesson-8-o-how-great.html

read it there / comment here.

The other day, as my wife and I studied the scriptures together, we came across this verse:

“For behold, the promises which we have obtained are promises unto us according to the flesh; wherefore, as it has been shown unto me that many of our children shall perish in the flesh because of unbelief, nevertheless, God will be merciful unto many; and our children shall be restored, that they may come to that which will give them the true knowledge of their Redeemer” (2 Ne 10:2).

Though I’ve read the Book of Mormon dozens of times, this passage hit me in a way I had never noticed before.  Here we see that while many of our children may be lost and even destroyed in the flesh “because of unbelief”, through Christ’s atonement they will be restored.  Yes, this can be read as some will fall away, and later generations be restored. This time, however, it came to me that it was speaking of the same children: many will fall away, and most will be restored either in this life, or in the next life.

I’d heard this concept before in General Conference, twice by Pres Packer (though I have only been able to find one reference so far), and once from Pres Faust.  It seems that the atonement can restore people with greater power than we sometimes can understand.

President Boyd K Packer taught:

“But sooner or later that spark of divinity in each of them will ignite. They can assert their agency as sons and daughters created in the image of God  and renounce the destroyer. That which they had been led to believe could not be changed, will be changed, and they will feel the power of the redemption of Christ.  Their burden will be lifted and the pain healed up.  That is what the Atonement of Christ is all about.

They can claim their inheritance as children of heavenly parents and, despite the tortured, agonizing test of mortal life, know that they are not lost.” (“The Standard of Truth has been Erected, Oct 2003 Conference)

Pres James Faust seemed to go along these lines, as well, in his April 2003 talk, “Dear are the Sheep that have Wandered”:

“There are very few whose rebellion and evil deeds are so great that they have “sinned away the power to repent.”  That judgment must also be left up to the Lord. He tells us, “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.” 

Perhaps in this life we are not given to fully understand how enduring the sealing cords of righteous parents are to their children. It may very well be that there are more helpful sources at work than we know.  I believe there is a strong familial pull as the influence of beloved ancestors continues with us from the other side of the veil.”

What a great comfort this will be to those parents who see their children go astray.  Those children will be “destroyed in the flesh”, but will be saved in the end through Christ’s atonement.

Anybody who knows anything about Michael Bloomberg knows he thinks he can tell you what to do with your life. He wants you to eat only the foods he approves of, and he wants you to stop smoking, even if your smoking does not affect anybody else. He also is on a crusade against the 2nd amendment, which clearly spells out a right to gun ownership, a right that is routinely violated in New York.

Now Mr. Nanny State is criticizing the Church because of its ownership of the for-profit company KSL. KSL has an on-line classified section. Think of Craig’s list or Ebay. Among the hundreds of items listed is a section of “Firearms and Hunting.” If you visit, there are several thousand guns listed for sale. There are many more items for recreational vehicles and furniture, so firearms is not central to KSL’s classifieds, but like a Wal-Mart and many other retail operations, they also sell firearms.

Bloomberg claims KSL is the third-largest source of on-line firearms sales. This is impossible to confirm, but let’s just assume it is true. My point is: so what?

It may be shocking to latte-sipping New Yorkers, but people in the West have guns. I know, hard to believe, right? And sometimes when you have a gun, or want a gun, you want to sell it or buy another one. You can go to a pawn shop, but the prices are high — that’s how pawn shops stay in business. Many other places will also buy and sell your used gun (I bought one from Wal-Mart in Colorado), but you can usually get a better price if you sell directly to somebody else.

Let’s be clear: KSL is simply providing an information service putting together willing buyers and sellers. It is just like this web site. Or this web site. If you search, there are dozens of large web sites where people can buy and sell guns.

It is always the refuge of the tyrant to blame the platform for people’s private actions. Being in the telecom business, I remember when people blamed the phone companies for 1-900 numbers. Sorry, telephones were just the platform. Today there are still people blaming the internet for porn or gambling. Sorry, porn and gambling existed long before the internet. KSL is just the platform for providing information for people to do things they would do otherwise, ie buy and sell guns.

Again, shocking information for New Yorkers, but guns make the world safer. I highly recommend that skeptics of this statement read John Lott’s book “More Guns, Less Crime.” He shows without a shadow of a doubt that states with more guns have lower crime rates. As he says: “Concealed handgun laws reduce violent crime for two reasons. First, they reduce the number of attempted crimes because criminals are uncertain which potential victims can defend themselves. Second, victims who have guns are in a much better position to defend themselves.” The causation is clear: when gun control laws were instituted in the 1970s and 1980s, crime went up. As gun control has decreased, crime has plummeted.

I would not be surprised to see KSL back down and take out its “Firearms and Hunting” section. Many newspapers do not allow classifieds for guns because they are run by nanny state liberals who do not know the First or Second Amendments (among other reasons). Same thing with Craig’s List. That would be a shame. Guns will still be bought and sold. The KSL ban will do nothing to prevent that. Let the market work, I say.

Sunday School Book of Mormon lesson 7 is now on my blog. Covers 2 Nephi 3-5. I discuss the ancient belief in Messiah Ben Joseph, a Dead Sea Scroll psalm that parallels Nephi’s Psalm, etc.

http://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-of-mormon-lesson-7-i-know-in-whom.html

Read there / comment here!

By the very fact that you were born and are reading this, you have three natural rights. You have the right to your life (nobody should kill you), your liberty (nobody should enslave you) and your property (nobody should take away the fruits of your labor and the things you own). A close reading of the scriptures clearly shows that you were indeed born with these rights, and in fact the Bible and modern-day revelation all reflect the fact of natural rights.

The great heroes of the scriptures are the defenders of natural rights. The greatest tyrants are those who undermine natural rights.

Let’s start from the beginning. Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden and begin to til the Earth. Who owns the Earth? God does, but he allows Adam and Eve to “own” a portion of it during their lifetimes. Is the Earth common property, owned by all? No, people are given ownership during their lifetimes based on their work of the land. Adam and Eve do not own the entire Earth — they own the portions they can work. It would be ludicrous for them to claim they own mountains and plains hundreds of miles from where they first worked, but it would be equally ludicrous to question the fact that they own the very fields they first worked on and subsequent fields planted by them.

Adam and Eve are “given” (by the Lord) flocks of animals. Who owns the flocks? Well, at the beginning they are owned by the Lord, but He gives ownership to Adam and Eve during their lifetimes. The flocks become “owned” by Adam and Eve because of their labor. They work with the flocks, they presumably discover how to get milk and animal skins.

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