I R chipper

I received this e-mail and I thought I would answer it on the blog:

I really enjoy reading your blog.  Among the moho blog authors I've read, you stand out as on of the more "chipper".  I see a lot negative self-examination among mohos (myself included) yet you seem maintain a very positive attitude despite what some might see as trying circumstances,. Do you agree?

If so, to what do you ascribe this? The gospel?  Your faith?  Prozac? (You mentioned it in some blog entries.) Other?  All of the above?

I hope it's not an offensive question.  I ask as a peer who has much to be thankful for and knows better, yet feels life is pretty much a waiting game at this point.

Thanks!

-A reader

I have been told this before, that I am a "happy guy". I think it is due to that fact that I am... get this, a happy man.  I have dealt with a lot of stuff and I have come out on top so far.  

This is not to say that I don't look at things I have done in the past and cringe, and want to pass out from embarrassment or shame.  

If they show a video of my life, someone is going to have to severely edit this motha' before general audiences sit down for a viewing. I could end up being the Harvey Keitel of the afterlife.

There were easier ways...

I have really screwed up.  And maybe that is why I smile.  I have seen the other side.  I see a bit of it everyday still, and I try to walk past it to something different, something of my choosing.

I have chosen to give up stuff in exchange for other stuff that I wanted more.  The choices I made set well with me.  I feel good about them.  And while I am feeling pretty good about choices I have made, I also feel good about letting others make different choices without trying to convince people that my way is the only way.

Frankly, if you have read a little of my writing, my way is a little bizarre so you might want to try it another way to arrive at your own, unique and joyful result.

There were days I spent around bathrooms and locker rooms at BYU, or waiting for someone to pick my up from the police station -- or on a good day being in priesthood meeting with all the real guys knowing that I would never really fit in.

Well, I fit in just fine, thank you, and I am pretty happy about that.

  

  

Casting the first stone...and the second and the third...

So much of what I am able to write has been positive and affirming, stories of changing perceptions, education and understanding.  This post is not part of that.

I read today that the Islamic State stoned to death two men, claiming that these men were gay. The Islamic State seems to be functioning under the impression that it is God. Or Allah... as if either would stone anyone.

The killings were reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. According to this report, the first victim was approximately 20 years old and was killed in Mayadeen, an eastern province of Deir Ezzor, which is close to the Iraq border.

The Observatory, a group based in England reported that the IS claimed it had found proof of "practicing indecent acts with males" on the victims cell phone.
In a separate but similar incident, another man was killed for the same reason.  An 18-year-old man was stoned to death in Deir Ezzor city after the IS proclaimed him gay, the Observatory said.

"Activists on social media said that the dead men were opponents of IS and that the group had used the allegation as a pretext to kill them" said the Observatory.

Activists who have taken to social media say the IS carries out public executions regularly. Many of these are beheadings.  Women have been infamously targeted for centuries.

This is what modern Gadianton robbers look like.  Take a good look and understand it for what it is. 

Are there lines to be drawn between Homosexuality and Polygamy?

In 1986 I was on my mission in a very poor area of Central America.  I didn't entertain a lot of sophisticated questions. 

I did answer preguntas like "are you part of the CIA". "How many TVs does your family have?" "What shampoo do you use?" (because my hair became increasingly blond throughout my mission) and "How many girlfriends do you have?" which, in retrospect, may have been a prequel to "how many wives do you have?"

This was the closest I came to having to answer the polygamy question.

After my mission I did have chances to explain our position on polygamy -- mostly to fellow Mormons.  I was always amazed at how many of my contemporaries didn't know about polygamy, had chosen to ignore it completely, or used it as the reason to not commit to the Church. 

As a youth, a very gay youth, I had been fascinated with church history from a young age and read what I could find in the pre-Internet world -- which included some anti-Mormon literature I'm afraid.
  
There was always a part of polygamy that I didn't not understand -- kind of like a chapter that was missing from the information available.

However, and this is a big deal to me, I never doubted the LDS church or its teachings, or the Gospel, because there was a chapter missing.  I knew that someday I would find it and I could read all about it and have my questions answered.

From what I had read, polygamy happened.  It had been a Mormon thing. Some in the early church were called, or asked, to participate, and others were not.  Some found out about polygamy and tried to exploit it. Everyone knew what was happening, but they didn't know the why.

My understanding, again as a youth at the time, was that polygamy existed to care for many of the woman. With my current understanding, the caring for women may have been a result but was not the impetus of the decision.

 I do not know details of the impetus. I do believe that Joseph Smith moved in holy circles which were part of his very human existence, and I believe that he received revelation.  I believe that Joseph god fearing man would not have taken such a thing lightly. Therefore:

Today's

  "It's a good day to be a Mormon moment"

 is brought to you by the recent press release from the LDS Church concerning Polygamy.

Don't you just love a timely press release?

The good news is that there is acknowledgement and information on the subject.  More good news is that conversations may now happen on the subject without people feeling that they are somehow subversive. We are now, if we actually weren't before, free to ask questions in a way that has never before been done.  About.  Anything.

Do you see where this is going?

Like I said... good day to be a Mormon.


*www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng