This is a guest post by Michael Towns.

Several weeks ago, I wrote a small treatment entitled “Yes, God is a Child-Sacrificing and Misogynist Bigot”. The ideas were largely based on concepts that were elucidated by Blake Ostler in his latest work, “Fire on the Mountain.” In it, Ostler discussed the Akedah (the Binding of Isaac in Jewish parlance) and the sacrifices involved with polygamy. The provocative title was chosen on purpose. Regrettably, some people simply read the title and then proceeding to build a case against me.

Ostler brought up, in my opinion, some truly deep and astounding points regarding the lengths that God will go to in order to reveal Himself. Exploring the notion further, not only does God wish His children to know Him personally, but He wants a deeply profound and intimate relationship. Ostler himself draws extensively from the work of Martin Buber, who was a prominent 20th century Jewish philosopher. Buber postulated the idea that in order to truly know a person, you have to leave certain preconceived conception behind. (I would heartily recommend that you pick up a copy of Oster’s book.)

By way of example: if I have a certain neighbor who happens to be an attorney, and that is the only way I ever view him, then I never see the reality of who he is: a divine child of God and future god. Instead, all I see is an attorney at law and all my interactions stay fused to that myopic coda.

However, if I do in fact see the divinity in my neighbor (perhaps the attorney analogy is misguided), then all my interactions with him change. The potential for true friendship and intimacy grows leaps and bounds. He and I can go on to greater heights of spirituality.

So it is with God. If the only way I view God is that he is an advanced hedge fund manager in the mode of George Soros, dispending funding to any number of progressive causes like subsidizing birth control pills, then is it not possible that I am missing something profound in His nature? The shoe fits on the other foot: surely God is not a caricature of Ronald Reagan, lowering taxes and bringing down Iron Curtains with the rod of his mouth. If that is how some conservatives view God, then they are missing profoundly important dimensions of who God is.

Here is my point: God will reveal Himself to us, and he will not be who we think he is. In a way, he plays a heavenly hijink on us. He desperately wants us to know Him, and to cast aside our preconceived ideas.
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My ward in small-town Colorado is very conservative. How conservative is it? Well, I am quite sure that less than 5 percent of ward members — and probably 0 percent — voted for Barack Obama in either the 2008 and 2012 elections. How do I know? We have a caucus system in Colorado, and I have seen a lot of people at the caucuses. In addition, they have bumper stickers on their cars. And, yes, occasionally they make political statements at church.

I have been the Gospel Doctrine teacher for more than two years. I generally avoid politics in class, but you can tell where people are coming from the types of comments people make. The legalization of marijuana in Colorado is, to many of my fellow ward members, a sign of the end times (I voted for legalization, but I don’t like contention, so when people say legal pot is a sign of the end times I mostly just smile and change the subject).

In any case, believe you me: my ward is conservative.

There are readers right now who are forming stereotypes in their minds. I can just see it. “Conservative ward, they are all probably fundamentalists, ignorant rubes, not as sophisticated as I am, etc, etc.”

Now, here’s something to ponder: most of them (perhaps all?) happily accept the idea that we do not need to take the Bible literally. They accept that Mormons are not Biblical fundamentalists. They accept that some of the Bible is perhaps allegorical. Darn them, why don’t they live up to the stereotypes liberal Mormons impose upon them?

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I just watched “Mitt,” the Netflix documentary. This is a very personal look at Mitt Romney and his family as he suffers through the 2008 and 2012 election losses. A few quick impressions for an LDS audience:

–You get to see Mitt praying with his family and by himself several times. I was truly touched by the faith he and his family displayed. I think LDS families will feel very at home during these moments.
–At least in this documentary, you do not see Mitt surrounded by groups of handlers and advisers. His primary advisers seem to be his sons, his wife and his brother. I found this startling.
–The Romney family is simply a good group of people. They are sincere people who really wanted to help the country.
–You have to be either 1)crazy 2)a complete megalomaniac or 3)a sincere person who deeply wants to help the country to run for president. If Mitt runs again, I am going to have to consider that he is crazy, because the garbage figuratively thrown at him during both campaigns was simply not worth it.
–Regardless of your political persuasion, I recommend taking a look at this documentary simply to see another side of the often stiff LDS politician. You will likely come away seeing a much more human side to him.

I voted for Mitt in 2012, but not enthusiastically. I disagreed with his foreign policy, and I didn’t believe he would go nearly far enough in handling our fiscal crisis. Would the country be better if Romney had been elected? In some ways, yes, and perhaps in other ways, no. The economy would be better; Obamacare would hopefully be less harmful; but we might have ended up getting involved in Syria, which would have been a disaster. So, overall, I am not a Romney cheerleader.

But I do think this documentary showed Mitt as a good, honorable man and a loving husband and father and grandfather. Take a look if you have a chance and share your impressions here.

Some of my favorite friends on Facebook are posting quotations from the prophets today reminding people not to watch sports on the Sabbath. I think that is awesome.

I live in Colorado so, like almost every other person here, I will be watching the Super Bowl with my wife’s family. But I am always happy to hear what the prophets have to say, and the gentle reminder is a good one.

What can I say? I usually don’t watch the NFL on Sundays, but today is the Super Bowl, and the Broncos are playing, so I will be watching.

You can make your own choice about what you will be doing today, but thanks to my friends you will know where the prophets stand on this issue.

“My behavior on the Sabbath constitutes my sign to the Lord of my regard for Him and for my covenants with Him. If, on the one hand, my interests on the Sabbath day turn to activities such as pro football games or worldly movies, the sign from me to Him would clearly be that my devotions do not favor Him. If, on the other hand, my Sabbath activities focus on the Lord and His teachings, on the family, and on folks who are sick or poor or needy, the sign would likewise be evident to God. I have concluded that our activities on the Sabbath will be appropriate when we honestly consider them to be our personal sign of commitment to the Lord.”
~ Russell M. Nelson [Hope in Our Hearts (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2009), 154]

The Church web site includes this interesting study of the Book of Mormon and DNA.

To sum up:

Much as critics and defenders of the Book of Mormon would like to use DNA studies to support their views, the evidence is simply inconclusive. Nothing is known about the DNA of Book of Mormon peoples. Even if such information were known, processes such as population bottleneck and genetic drift make it unlikely that their DNA could be detected today. As Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles observed, “It is our position that secular evidence can neither prove nor disprove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.”

This study seems like basic common sense to me. Take some time to read it.