Thought Provoking Message of the Day

The Christmas Story (Director's Cut!)

2011-12-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

The Bible and the Book of Mormon were both written by prophets (people who God chooses to speak and write for him). The prophets who wrote the Bible lived in the Middle East, starting around 4000 B.C. Then around 600 B.C. (after most of the Old Testament had been written), God told one prophet to leave Jerusalem with his family and led them across the ocean to the American continents.

They and their descendants were the prophets who wrote the Book of Mormon. So it was written at the same time and in the same way as the Bible, but in a different place. The reason it has some parts of the Bible in it (several chapters of Isaiah, for example) is because those people took the Old Testament with them to the American continents so they could teach their children from it.

Just before Jesus was born in Jerusalem, God told a prophet in America about it, and he told the people. While I was growing up, and now with my own family, I read that story from the Book of Mormon along with the Bible's Christmas story chapters from the New Testament. Reading the two together shows that God was telling people in America about Jesus even before Jesus was born. Truly this is a nation blessed by God!

So at Christmas time each year, in the Book of Mormon we read pages chapter 14 of the book called Helaman and chapter 1 of the book called Third Nephi. And then we read the Bible's Christmas story in Luke chapter 2 and Matthew chapters 1 and 2.

I hope you'll try reading these two extra chapters from the Book of Mormon to add something nice to your Christmas this year!

Real Manhood

2011-12-13T04:59:00.000-07:00

[A talk I gave in church last Sunday]

I grew up in a town where I was often one of the only Latter-day Saints in my school. In the fall of 1999, I enrolled at BYU. As many freshmen do, I went through a bit of an identity crisis, trying to have friends, attract girls, and be a good person while still managing to stand out in a place where the fact that I was LDS didn't automatically make me unique anymore. More than ever before, I saw other Latter-day Saint men making very different choices from me, and I struggled with the question of whether that made their choices good, bad, or just different.

In General Conference that fall, Bishop Richard C. Edgley gave a talk entitled "Behold the Man", in which he taught that the true model of manhood is Jesus Christ, and he warned against striving for the world's ideal of manhood instead. Men of the world, he said, pattern their lives after Satan, seeking power and pleasure through force, threats, and selfishness. Men of God, on the other hand, are true men, "strong enough to withstand the wiles of Satan" and "humble enough to submit… to the redemptive powers of the Savior." Over the years, that talk has helped me stay focused on who I want to be. I want to be like Christ. Since helping other young men become like Christ is the purpose of the Young Men's program, I still find Bishop Edgley's talk useful in defining my vision of what kind of men the Young Men's program in this ward should produce. So I'd like to begin by pointing out some specific differences between a man of the world and a man of God.

A man of God provides for his family as long as he is physically capable, and shares the excess with the needy. A man of the world either looks for handouts or makes wealth itself his goal, always seeking more riches so he can either hoard them or show off.

"7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." (1 Tim. 6)

A man of God views women as his equals, while understanding the different roles God has assigned us to fulfill. He and his wife counsel together prayerfully to decide how to divide their responsibilities given their family's circumstances. A man of the world is a chauvinist, who believes men are better than women and attempts to dictate who does what around the house, usually leaving himself off the duty roster.

A man of God seeks the wholesome companionship of women so that he can find a righteous wife, love her as his equal, and raise an eternal family. A man of the world seeks relationships with women for the sake of physical stimulation and dominance, usually refusing to commit to a marriage relationship or trapping a woman in a controlling and abusive relationship. Men of the world usually view pornography, too, while a man of God avoids everything that objectifies women or arouses his lust.

A man of God takes care of his body because it is a gift from God. He knows that staying healthy and fit will enable him to provide better for his family and serve others. A man of the world takes care of his body because he wants to flaunt it. He believes that looking like an Abercrombie model will get him girls and prove that he's better than other guys.

A man of God seeks as much education as possible. He knows an education will give him the tools he needs to provide for his family and for others. A man of the world either views education as worthless or relies so much on his own knowledge that he thinks he knows better than God. You might recognize him as the typical know-it-all or maybe talk radio host.

A man of God learns to lead as Christ led. He accepts leadership assignments, counsels with others to benefit from their pooled wisdom, and uses his authority to serve others and bring them to Christ. A man of the world either avoids positions of responsibility or seeks leadership positions so that he can control others and show how great he is. If that sounds familiar, it should. That's what Satan proposed to Heavenly Father in the premortal council. "And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor." Moses 4:1

When a man of God has a disagreement with someone, he resolves it peacefully and civilly. He considers the possibility that he might be wrong. When it's resolved, he lets it go. When a man of the world has a disagreement with someone, he insists that he's right, and may shout, fight, and refuse to let the question drop. Just turn on any cable news network, and you'll see.

When a man of God competes in games or sports, he stays calm, plays fair, and plays for the love of the game. A man of the world wins at any cost, trash-talks his competitors, throws a fit if he loses, and gloats and brags if he wins.

A man of God lets it slide when people make mistakes, or gently corrects them according to the model given at the end of Doctrine and Covenants 42:

" 88 And if thy brother or sister offend thee, thou shalt take him or her between him or her and thee alone; and if he or she confess thou shalt be reconciled.

89 And if he or she confess not thou shalt deliver him or her up unto the church, not to the members, but to the elders. And it shall be done in a meeting, and that not before the world.

90 And if thy brother or sister offend many, he or she shall be chastened before many.

91 And if any one offend openly, he or she shall be rebuked openly, that he or she may be ashamed. And if he or she confess not, he or she shall be delivered up unto the law of God.

92 If any shall offend in secret, he or she shall be rebuked in secret, that he or she may have opportunity to confess in secret to him or her whom he or she has offended, and to God, that the church may not speak reproachfully of him or her.

93 And thus shall ye conduct in all things."

A man of the world, on the other hand, pounces on every opportunity to point out others' faults and errors, especially in front of others. Shouting "FAIL" when someone else makes a mistake is probably not what a man of God would do. A man of God admits his faults and plans to correct them. He thinks each day about how he can be better. He believes in the power of repentance for himself and for others. He forgives those who have hurt him. A man of the world believes he can't change or chooses not to. He remembers every offense and refuses to believe others can change.

As you can see, the world's definition of manhood is founded on principles of competition and pride. As C.S. Lewis wrote and President Ezra Taft Benson famously quoted, “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. … It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.” (Mere Christianity, New York: Macmillan, 1952, pp. 109–10.) Pick pretty much any man in the spotlight on TV, in a movie, in a video game, in sports, in politics, in a music video, or in the locker room, and you'll find they fit this worldly mold. The world teaches that manhood means being the best, getting your way, always winning, and making sure that the other guy knows he lost.

The Church's Young Men program is designed to help parents make their boys into men of God. Let me read to you the purposes of the Aaronic Priesthood as outlined in the Church Handbook of Instructions. Young Men should:

1. Become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and live by its teachings.
2. Serve faithfully in priesthood callings and fulfill the responsibilities of priesthood offices.
3. Give meaningful service.
4. Prepare and live worthily to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and temple ordinances.
5. Prepare to serve an honorable full-time mission.
6. Obtain as much education as possible.
7. Prepare to become a worthy husband and father.
8. Give proper respect to women, girls, and children.

That sounds like true manhood to me.

Structurally, the Aaronic Priesthood is organized into three divisions: Priests, Teachers, and Deacons. In each division, there may be one or more quorums, depending on how many boys are in the ward. Each quorum has a presidency. In the Deacons and Teachers quorums, the boys themselves are the Presidents, Counselors, and Secretaries. In the Priests quorum, the Bishop is the President, and since he already has two Counselors, he calls three priests to serve as his assistants and secretary within the Priests quorum.

Quorum Presidents receive keys, which means they are the ones with the authority to receive revelation to direct and give assignments in their quorums. The Young Men presidency, I and my counselors, have no keys. We have no right, in God's eyes, to give the boys assignments, organize activities, or lead meetings, except where the Presidents of the quorums, the boys themselves, have asked us to do so. We are to act only as advisors who teach the Young Men how to make assignments, stay organized, and lead. A Young Men presidency that attempts to take over the boys' jobs in order to make everything run "right" is, in fact, usurping the boys authority and acting out of line with God's will. If that means that things occasionally or even frequently go wrong or don't get done because the boys dropped the ball, so be it. We review what went wrong and how it could be done better the next time. But we as a presidency must work through the boys, faults and all, and not just go over their heads if we expect to help them become the men that God wants them to be.

The Duty to God program is intended to help the Young Men become men of God. Each chapter invites them to learn a gospel principle, act on it, and then share with others what they learned and how they felt as they did it. Unlike the old program, in the new program they set their own goals and choose their own activities. We review their progress each week in quorum meetings. Parents of the Young Men, please ask about their current goals each week after church, at Family Home Evening, and occasionally throughout the week. Seminary teachers could ask the young men about it, too, and invite them to incorporate their reports on their activities into morning devotionals.

The Scouting program is the activity side of the Aaronic Priesthood. It provides a structure of opportunities for fun, service, and learning. It, too, is intended to help young men become more like God.

You may, at some point in my talk, have let your attention wander because you aren't a young man or don't have any young men in your family. Or maybe you've given up on the Young Men. You think it's a lost generation. But everyone has a stake in helping the Young Men become men of God. These are the men who will later marry your daughters or grand-daughters or marry YOU, young women. These are the men who will later lead this ward and this Stake. These are the men who will later teach other Young Men to be men of God. So what can you do to help them?

The elders and high priests of the ward can be their immediate examples of Godly manhood. "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12. You can model how to treat women, how to choose appropriate media, how to work hard, how to be good sports, how to keep your temper, how to do your home teaching, how to serve others, how to accept and fulfill priesthood assignments faithfully, how to attend your meetings regularly, how to accept correction gracefully, and how to share the gospel. You can show them how to give blessings, how to step up and volunteer when there's work to be done, and how to be united in the brotherhood of the priesthood.

The women of the ward can suggest service opportunities to the Young Men, and express your appreciation as they serve. We are always looking for good service projects, but even small opportunities to serve benefit a boy. You can teach them what kind of girls they should be spending their time with. Teach the young men to consider more than just looks when they start dating. Tell them what kinds of qualities they need to develop in order to be happily married. And teach the Young Women to spend time with the Young Men who are good, and not just good-looking.

The young women of the ward can help the Young Men by challenging them to be better, by expecting good behavior from them, and praising the righteous things they do. Challenge the Young Men to be worthy of you by gaining as much education as you can, by developing your own character and personality, and not following the fads and trends of the world. Reward them with your company when they behave righteously, and give them a piece of your mind if they do things that aren't appropriate for a man of God. Make sure they understand you'd never date or marry a young man who looks at pornography.

The primary children can help the young men by asking them to be good examples. If they are mean to you or do something wrong, tell them Jesus wants them to be nice. You can also help them by not annoying them or trying to make them lose their tempers.

And finally, to the Young Men I read the Savior's words to the Nephites: "Know ye that ye shall be judges of this people, according to the judgment which I shall give unto you, which shall be just. Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." (3 Ne. 27:27).

Tag Play Modified: Once Tagged, Decay

2011-09-12T17:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun game I just made up for our Family Home Evening activity. We had a lesson on Jesus healing the 10 lepers today. I like to try to have a game that relates to the lesson, but I was having a little trouble with this one. So I thought for about twenty seconds and came up with this variation on tag:

Things needed for the game: at least three players and a timekeeper (either a person or a repeating timer)
One person starts as the leper. The leper tries to tag as many people as possible. Every thirty seconds the timekeeper gives a signal (or the timer beeps) at which point the leper loses a limb at a time in this order: 1st chime - one arm, 2nd chime - one leg, 3rd chime - other arm, 4th chime - other leg. After losing all body parts, the leper falls down until the end of the round. The 30 second chime rate could vary, of course, depending on the intensity and number of the players.
Anyone tagged by the leper before all his body parts fall off becomes a leper, too, and they lose their body parts in the same order. The last person un-tagged is the winner, unless the lepers all fall to pieces before they can tag everybody else. In that case, as soon as the last leper falls down, the first remaining runner to tag a leper wins.

Although I'm very pleased with the game in theory, we didn't get to play it because I have a gimpy foot right now (so no running) and Rachel is six months pregnant (so definitely no running), and Elliott couldn't follow the rules to save his life (though he's plenty good at running and falling down). So if anybody else tries this, let me know how it goes! And please leave suggestions for modifications in the comments.

Leprously,
Steve Stay

P.S. Leprosy is a terrible but very easily treated disease. The game is, of course, potentially offensive to people with leprosy and those who love them. It could be changed to zombies and work just as well, but our Family Home Evening lesson was not about Jesus healing zombies. Though that would have been awesome.

P.P.S. After making up my game, I decided I couldn't have been the first to think of something like leprosy tag. Indeed, I was not: Exhibit A (see about half-way down the page or search for "tag game"); Exhibit B.

Trite Poppins Mantra Overlooks Terrible Disease

2011-07-05T11:48:00.008-07:00

As fun as Mary Poppins makes turn-of-the-century London seem, it really glosses over the negative health effects of the industrial revolution. So I decided to rewrite one of the most popular songs from the movie to more accurately reflect the common concerns of the day:

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!

Even though the sound of it

Is something quite atrocious

If you say it loud enough

You'll always sound precocious

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!

Lung-diddle diddle diddle Lung di-disease

Because I was afraid to work

In mines when I was young,

My father gave me neck a jerk

And showed me his own tongue!

He told me that its blackish hue

Was healthier than red

He'd lived in ease with this disease

And this is how it's said:

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!

Even though the pain of it

Soon verges on ferocious,

If you have it long enough

It might cure halitosis:

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!

Lung-diddle diddle diddle Lung di-disease

In old South Wales is a coal mine

Where men slave night and day.

With coal dust in their lungs,

Their strength quite quickly ebbs away.

They cough and hack up blackened phlegm

Until their lungs collapse.

The local doctors shake their heads

For those unlucky chaps.

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!

If unchecked it will effect

Full vascular necrosis.

Saying it five times a day

Will give you a neurosis:

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!

Hippopotomonstrosesquipidaliophobically,

Steve Stay

P.S. You have to say "pneu-" where the original song says "Oh..." as the wind up to the chorus. And you have to say the syllables starting with "-sil-" at double-speed. So if "-monoultramicroscopic-" is all eighth notes, "-silicovolcanoconi-" has to be sixteenth notes and you can end with "-osis" at the same speed as the original's "-ocious." Then it fits perfectly! :)

P.P.S. While researching some points as I wrote this parody, I stumbled across this add from the U.K. What the world really needs is more of this kind of advertising.

Temptation Prevented. Married? Observe These Directions

2011-05-27T04:12:00.006-07:00

To discourage anyone from tempting you to be unfaithful to your spouse, it can be helpful to develop such habits and personality that only your spouse can tolerate your presence.

Sagely,

Steve Stay

LDS Scriptures in Kindle PRC Mobi format

2011-02-03T10:01:00.004-07:00

After downloading the Standard Works (King James Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price) in html format from here, I used MobiPocket Creator to turn the multiple html files into one Kindle PRC mobi file. It's the only free way I've found to get the scriptures on Kindle with all the cross-references included. And the paid versions I've found wouldn't index on my Kindle 3. You can download my version of the scriptures from the MemoWare website, but I don't have a direct link available yet. A few other people on the LDSTech wiki for developing Kindle scriptures have mentioned projects of their own that sound more advanced, but I haven't been able to find them available for download.

(Urim and) Thummim Probably Might Open Treasured Data

2010-09-12T17:47:00.004-07:00

I've occasionally wondered what would be the value of all my blogging and digital photos and computer journaling, etc. if civilization collapsed. If I had hard copies of everything, at least they could be read or viewed without any technology. Everything digital, on the other hand, becomes instantly worthless to future generations if we so much as lose electricity, let alone the appropriate computer programs. Unlike records which can be listened to with a pin and a paper cup, CDs, DVDs and hard drives are several difficult steps removed from manual decoding.
Written language is far less likely to become uninterpretable than digital technology, yet languages do die out. God foresaw this and provided the Urim and Thummim to help seers (e.g., Joseph Smith and King Mosiah) interpret ancient records.
But maybe the Urim and Thummim is more than just a really advanced Babelfish. When the earth becomes a Urim and Thummim by which celestial beings can learn of all things pertaining to that sphere, it could operate by reading the data stored in all the echoes of sound and light and energy since the world was created. It would be, both figuratively and literally, a universal data reader! For something like that, breaking DVD encoding would be a piece of cake.

Decryptically,
Steve Stay

Take Pictures, Mix Order, Type Dialogue!

2010-05-31T19:43:00.005-07:00

A little webcomic for your reading pleasure. We made this on a Saturday afternoon and evening. Pictures took about 20 minutes. The layout and story took about four hours! But we really like the result.

Sociality

2010-02-09T20:46:00.002-07:00

When the Savior shall appear we shall see him as he is. We shall see that he is a man like ourselves. And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy. (D&C 130:2)

We don't use the word sociality much anymore (in fact, my spellchecker doesn't believe it's a word). So this verse has been a bit of a mystery to me, one of those verses where I kind of think I get what it means, but wouldn't feel confident explaining it to someone if they asked. That's usually the sign of a good topic for scripture study! So I looked up sociality in the 1828 Webster's dictionary that Joseph Smith used. The entry is short: "SOCIAL'ITY, n. Socialness; the quality of being social." Social's entry is a little longer:

1. Pertaining to society; relating to men living in society. or to the publice as an aggregate body; as social interests or concerns; social pleasures; social benefits; social happiness; social duties. True self-love and social are the same.
2. Ready or disposed to mix in friendly converse; companionable. Withers, adieu? yet not with thee remove thy martial spirit or thy social love.
3. Consisting in union or mutual converse.
4. Disposed to unite in society. Man is a social being.

So we could rewrite v. 2 several ways that aren't necessarily mutually exclusive:

"And that same [disposition to unite in society] which exists among us here will exist among us there..."
"And that same [readiness or disposition to mix in friendly converse or companionship] which exists among us here will exist among us there..."
"And that same [society] which exists among us here will exist among us there..."

At first I wondered if this was teaching a similar principle to v. 18 (i.e., whatever degree of sociableness we individually attain to in this life will rise with us in the resurrection). I think it does: you'll probably be just as shy right when you're resurrected as you are the moment you die. But the verse says "sociality which exists among us" (emphasis added), so it can't be applied individually. That is, we won't just be floating around playing harps and singing praises to God forever. Instead we'll be interacting with each other, enjoying each other's company, serving and teaching each other, etc. That's hardly new doctrine for Latter-day Saints, but it jibes well with what I've been learning about Joseph Smith's temperament by reading his journals. He wrote (and/or dictated) lots of entries like these (spelling and punctuation unchanged from original):

17 January 1836 - Sunday
In the after noon I joined three couple in matrimony, in the publick congregation.... We were then invited to Elder Cahoons to a feast which was prepared on the occasion, and had a good time while partaking of the rich repast that was spread before us, and I virely [verily] realized that it was good for brethren to dwell together in unity... like the dew upon the mountains of Israel, where the Lord command[e]d blessings, even life for ever more.

14 January 1836 - Thursday
[After another wedding]
We then took some refreshment and our hearts were made glad with the fruit of the vine, this is according to pattern, set by our Saviour himself, and we feel disposed to patronize all the institutions of heaven

11 January 1836 - Monday
Monday morning 11th at home There being no school I spent the day at home, many brethren called to see me.... I delight in the society of my friends & brethren, and pray that the blessings of heaven and earth may be multiplyed upon their heads.

9 January 1836 - Saturday
[Joseph received a note at the Hebrew school inviting him to a feast for the poor]
I dismissed the School in order to attend to this polite invitation, with my wife father & mother
We attended the feast, a large congregation assembled a number was blessed under the hands of father Smith, and we had a good time, returned home and spent the evening

I could keep going, but these illustrate my point well enough: Joseph Smith loved spending time in the company of others. Heaven to him meant, at least partly, a lot of joyful dinners with loved ones.

Amen to that.

-Steve

Tagging Picasa Metadata: Onerous Task Digitized!

2010-01-10T19:37:00.004-07:00

I've recently spent time using Picasa's face-recognition feature to tag people in all my photos. It's kind of mind-numbing, so my mind came up with some silly ideas to pass the time.
Like, maybe Picasa is just cloud-sourcing its bid to become the ultimate repository of data for a Big-Brother-style security camera system. Are they counting on enough people doing this to be able to identify anyone in any image anywhere?
Or what if Picasa kept finding the face of someone in your photos who you'd never noticed before and didn't know... yet they were somewhere in the background of almost all your pictures! Ooo, creepy.

Recognizably,
Steve Stay

Traditional Polite Message Offered Today Digitally

2009-12-22T11:36:00.003-07:00

Hey! It's Christmas! That also means it's Christmas letter time. Since I love technology and Rachel loves me enough to let me do it this way, you get our Christmas letter online this year. If you can see past the tackiness of doing it this way, click here to read it.

Festively,
Steve Stay

P.S. Here's a bonus photo of Elliott being adorable in a pile of leaves.

Thanksgiving's Pre-Modern Origins: True Doctrine!

2009-11-24T05:18:00.008-07:00

I've read various histories of America's annual Thanksgiving tradition, and most point to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as the people who got it started. But I learned during my scripture study this week that the holiday's true roots go back much, much farther.

Thanksgiving originated in the law of Moses. The law of Moses was nothing if not specific about food, and the first instructions for what foods to eat at Thanksgiving are found right in the middle of the law in Leviticus (7:11-13):

And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the Lord. If he offer it for a Thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of Thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of Thanksgiving of his peace offerings.

Here we see that crackers and donuts played a very important part in the first Thanksgiving, as did dinner rolls. It's clear from v. 8 that dads have been eating the nice, crispy turkey skin from the very beginning:

And the priest that offereth any man’s burnt offering, even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered.

The long-standing tradition of little kids insisting on getting exactly as much food as their siblings finds its roots in this chapter as well (v. 10):

And every meat offering, mingled with oil, and dry, shall all the sons of Aaron have, one as much as another.

This difficult requirement was balanced by the fact that everyone was supposed to do their own cooking (v. 9):

And all the meat offering that is baken in the oven, and all that is dressed in the fryingpan, and in the pan, shall be the priest’s that offereth it.

This also explains why preparations for Thanksgiving still yield so many dirty pots and pans.

The amount of turkey prepared per person in ancient Thanksgivings was apparently smaller than in modern observances, since they were required to eat all of it before sundown (v. 15):

And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning.

Of course, due to the lack of refrigeration in those days, this practice might have been necessary to prevent food poisonings as v. 17-19 may indicate:

But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire. And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day... it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity [a Hebrew euphemism meaning "he'll get what's coming to him"].

From this we must conclude that the tradition of turkey enchiladas and turkey sandwiches made from leftover turkey was a much later interpolation, possibly from the Talmud.

Prayer was a later addition to Thanksgiving, an innovation brought back from Babylon by the Jews who returned to rebuild Jerusalem with Nehemiah (11:17):

And Mattaniah the son of Micha, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, was the principal [or first] to begin the Thanksgiving in prayer: and Bakbukiah the second among his brethren, and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.

It was none other than the psalmist who initiated the practice of moderating his food intake at Thanksgiving, perhaps having suffered long enough at the abundant table of an overzealous mother-in-law. When she asked if he wanted more, he replied saucily, "If I were hungry, I would not tell thee," (Psalm 50:12) but tempered the rejection with a joke and redirected her attentions to God, the rightful recipient of Thanksgiving offerings (v. 13-14):

Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High.

The psalmist also restored the practice of going to the temple at Thanksgiving (see Psalm 100:4) and apparently started the tradition of singing every Thanksgiving song in the hymnal within the week before the holiday (see Psalm 147:7).

In New Testament times, the new doctrine of considering all animals clean led Paul to recommend experimentation with non-traditional Thanksgiving foods, making him the patron saint of tofu turkeys and Chinese carry-out (1 Tim. 4:4):

For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with Thanksgiving.

So the next time someone tells you Thanksgiving started with the Pilgrims or a declaration by Abraham Lincoln, point them back to the real first Thanksgiving way back in the Bible.

Turkily,
Steve Stay

Try Producing Mixture Of Texts Divergent

2009-11-17T15:54:00.003-07:00

Silliness contest!
Ten points to the person who can write the best summary of a book that Nathaniel Hawthorn and Lucy Maud Montgomery might have written together if they had been contemporaries.

Some suggestions:

Anne of Seven Gables

The Scarlet Hair

Melodramatically-told Tales

The Blythedale Romance

The Marble Halls

The Great Stone Face and Other Tales of Marilla Cuthbert

Post your submissions in the comments.

Combinatorially,
Steve Stay

Teased Person Misunderstands Others, Tries Discussing

2009-09-30T18:31:00.003-07:00

I need advice. People frequently tease me and then explain that they were just joking. To me, it looks like they think I didn't get it. That worries me, because I usually understand when people are just joking, and I think I respond in a way that makes it pretty obvious that I get it (e.g., smiling, laughing, making a snide comment in return, etc.). So why don't they get that I get it? And why don't they seem to have this problem with other people?

Perturbedly,
Steve Stay

LDS Prophet and Apostles Speaking at General Conference

2009-09-21T04:55:00.002-07:00

We're coming up on October again, and the first weekend is the semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I always feel excited about General Conference because I know I'll get to hear the Prophet and twelve Apostles speak. I've gone into more detail about why that's important in a previous post, but I'll mention it again here: it's no small thing to know that a man who's the equivalent of Moses lives on earth today and still reports God's most recent direction to his people. Nor is it a small thing to know that God will confirm for you that what the prophet says is true if you listen to what he says, ponder it over, and pray to God about it. It's the same pattern anyone can use to find out for themselves that the Book of Mormon is true.

So I hope that you'll join me (if not in person then online at the General Conference link above) to hear what God's only authorized spokesmen have to say this year.

Tiny Prodigy Mumbles Outstanding Theoretical Discourse

2009-08-30T09:07:00.003-07:00

Boy, this is a week of wonders! Not only can Elliott apparently crawl, but he can talk, too!

Absurdly,
Steve Stay

Tyke Prods Mom's Organs Toward Delivery!

2009-07-07T05:12:00.013-07:00

Despite this post being almost a week late, it's time to announce that on July 1, 2009 at 5:55 AM, Elliott Maxwell Stay was born to a very satisfied mom and dad. He was just a few pennies short of 9 pounds (8 lb. 15.81 oz., to be precise) and 21 1/4 inches long. He has been very well-mannered and adorable, and is probably the cutest baby ever to live. I submit the following for evidence:

Here he is with Grandma Stay

Here he is with hiccups he inherited from me.

Baby!

2009-06-25T13:00:00.003-07:00

Ha ha! Fooled you. No, the baby hasn't come yet, but Rachel and I made this cute clay animation movie to pass the time until he does.

We made a blacklight neon version, too!

We do have some news about the baby: Rachel is dilated to 5 cm and 70% effaced as of this morning's checkup. She hasn't been having frequent contractions, though, so there's no telling when Baby Stay might decide to make his appearance. I'll keep you up to date as more news comes. Until then, enjoy our movies!

Theory Predicts My Own Timely Discoveries

2009-06-21T14:45:00.004-07:00

Ever since I first read it, I've liked C.S. Lewis's definition of joy: "an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction." (Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life, New York: Harvest/HBJ, 1955). He connected it with the feelings of the Holy Ghost, and that rings true to me.

A few months ago, I skimmed a book called Animals Make Us Human by Dr. Temple Grandin (a scientist with autism who has written a lot about how autism can help us understand animals), and found an interesting connection to this idea of joy. At the start of the book, she quotes another researcher's work on several fundamental emotions that all animals seem to share, not only in their behavior, but also in their brain's anatomy. This is a quote from that section:

SEEKING [an almost universal drive among animals] is always about something you don't have yet, whether it's food and shelter or Christmas presents.... SEEKING is a very pleasurable emotion. If you implant electrodes into the SEEKING system of an animal's brain, it will press a lever to turn the current on. Animals like to self-stimulate the SEEKING system so much that for a long time researchers thought the SEEKING system was the brain's "pleasure center," and some people still talk about it that way. But the pleasure people feel when their SEEKING system is stimulated is the pleasure of looking forward to something good, not the pleasure of having something good.
Animals Make Us Human p. 6-7

This sounds just like how C.S. Lewis described joy: the anticipation is better than the fulfillment, like waiting for Christmas morning. Later in the book, Grandin refers to other researchers' idea "that novelty and unpredictability are attractive to animals and people." In a more mundane sense, I think these two desires are what makes for a good story, whether it be a romance or an epic adventure or a fairy tale: we know how the story should end (we anticipate it), but part of the fun of new stories is being surprised by how the storyteller gets us to the end we know is coming. Finishing a good book is almost never as good as reading it!

Incidentally, following these same feelings led to me writing this post: I read books that looked interesting (including the scriptures) because I anticipated finding something cool in them, and then I was surprised by connections I didn't expect to make.

Joyfully,
Steve Stay

Teenaged Piquing Masks Other Tender Desires

2009-06-21T14:10:00.003-07:00

Part of the fun of working with middle schoolers is watching them move from "eew, cooties!" to flirting. The way they make fun of each other, they must think irritation is the sincerest form of flattery!

Drolly,
Steve Stay

Things we do in the summertime!

2009-06-20T15:19:00.005-07:00

I thought about writing this as an official TPMOTD, but I think I'll just make it a regular ol' "here's what we've been up to" blog post.

I graduated!

Mom and Dad and Grandpa Holt came, and Doug joined us earlier in the day for a very nice picnic, courtesy of Mom.

I had a little trouble figuring out the hood at first...

Mom and Dad and Grandpa gave me very generous graduation presents, which I used to buy a new bike! Believe me: it was time.

I made the mudguard for the front wheel out of an orange-juice jug. Oh, and see the paper chain hanging by the wall? That's the number of days left until the baby's due date: 18 today!

With no school, no internship, and no work for either of us, and most of our preparations finished for the coming Baby Stay, we've had lots of time to do some things we've been meaning to do for a long time. I've been practicing the guitar using a book my sister-in-law, Jessica, gave me for Christmas.

Not to be outdone, Rachel picked up her violin again.

We've both been doing a lot of reading and eating.

And Rachel has been perfecting the Roman miniscule, modern 2 calligraphic font.

We also give each other lessons in our foreign languages, she to me in Spanish, and I to her in Arabic. Those of you with Rachel's phone number should call and ask her to do the Arabic alphabet for you!

We've also been enjoying the sights that Columbus has to offer before we move. We went on lots of walks, and to the art museum, the movies, and the zoo. I was jealous of the primates' ability to swing around, but they were my favorites.
The slumbering bear reminded me of Rachel's ever-more-frequent naps. Baking that bun in the oven takes a lot out of you!

And very big news: we got our house loan!

So this has been a very nice summer, and with the baby on the way and our move a month later, it's only going to get more interesting from here!

Two of my favorite quotes

2009-06-15T04:25:00.005-07:00

A lot of people have the impression that Latter-day Saint (Mormon) beliefs about who goes to heaven are some of the most strict and exclusive of any religion. But these quotes from Joseph Smith, Jr., the first modern Prophet, reveal just how merciful and inclusive God will be at judgment day:

“… While one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard; He views them as His offspring, and without any of those contracted feelings that influence the children of men, causes ‘His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.’ [Matthew 5:45.] He holds the reins of judgment in His hands; He is a wise Lawgiver, and will judge all men, not according to the narrow, contracted notions of men, but, ‘according to the deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil,’ or whether these deeds were done in England, America, Spain, Turkey, or India. He will judge them, ‘not according to what they have not, but according to what they have’; those who have lived without law, will be judged without law, and those who have a law, will be judged by that law. We need not doubt the wisdom and intelligence of the Great Jehovah; He will award judgment or mercy to all nations according to their several deserts, their means of obtaining intelligence, the laws by which they are governed, the facilities afforded them of obtaining correct information, and His inscrutable designs in relation to the human family; and when the designs of God shall be made manifest, and the curtain of futurity be withdrawn, we shall all of us eventually have to confess that the Judge of all the earth has done right [see Genesis 18:25].”6

“God judges men according to the use they make of the light which He gives them.”7

So anyone who never hears the gospel preached--or more accurately, anyone who never feels the spirit testify the truth of it to their hearts--who would have accepted it had they felt it will be saved. Doctrine and Covenants 137:7-10, a revelation to Joseph Smith the Prophet, says the same thing:

7 Thus came the ^avoice of the Lord unto me, saying: All who have died ^bwithout a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be ^cheirs of the celestial kingdom of God;

8 Also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who ^awould have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom;

9 For I, the Lord, will ^ajudge all men according to their ^bworks, according to the ^cdesire of their hearts.

10 And I also beheld that all ^achildren who die before they arrive at the ^byears of accountability are ^csaved in the celestial kingdom of heaven.

I know that God is perfectly loving, merciful, and just, even if none of his followers can claim the same about themselves. That knowledge is what gives me the peace and calm that I feel every day.

Tongue-Pricking Meal Offends Taste. Darn!

2009-05-28T10:10:00.004-07:00

Is there such thing as an antispice? I put too many pickled jalapeños in a zesty shrimp pasta that I made on Tuesday, so it would have been great to have some canister of powder on my spice rack to sprinkle into the dish and bring its hotness down. Diluting spiciness is one way to combat it, I know (e.g., with sour cream), but that often changes the dish too much. There ought to be some food-safe chemical compound that neutralizes capsaicin's burn. I'm sure there would be a huge market for such a product! Wouldn't you buy it? Dave, let's get on this.

Piquantly,
Steve Stay

Trip Planned, Made. Outcome: Tiny Dwelling!

2009-05-26T07:50:00.006-07:00

We traveled to Carthage this weekend to go house hunting. We got up at 4 AM Saturday to catch our 6 AM flight out of Columbus, and we were at Rachel's parents' house by 10:30. They fed us lunch and loaned us their car (thanks, Mom and Dad Hall!) so that we could go meet our realtor, Dan Barger, two hours away in Joplin. We visited 8 houses we had picked out from online listings.

The first was built in 1880, and it looked okay from the outside, but it had been repossessed and locked up by the bank, so we couldn't get in. Fortunately, we saw enough through the living room window to convince us it would require too much work to get it into livable condition.

Several other homes were cute, but run-down beyond what we felt capable of restoring, especially with a new baby, and two were in parts of town that we didn't like as much as the one we finally chose. We had narrowed it down to two by Saturday evening when we went to have dinner with one of the junior high's science teachers who had offered to treat us. We enjoyed wonderful food and company as we ate dinner with her family, and we felt very welcome. We got home around 10.

Sunday we went to church and rested with Rachel's family, who are always delightful to spend time with. It was great to have the whole family there at once.

Then Monday morning Rachel's parents came with us to help inspect and choose between our top two homes. They also bought us lunch (thanks again, Mom and Dad Hall!). After some serious thought and deliberation, we settled on this one:

There's a small front and back yard, and room for a garden as well as flowerbeds. It has two bedrooms and one bath, plus a kitchen and large(ish) living room. No basement.

The previous occupant was an old widower whose grandkids operate a building company, so they fixed it up nicely after he passed on. We were fortunate enough to find them there cleaning up the debris of the home's new roofing job on Monday, so we got a lot of questions answered that we might not have otherwise. The home will still need some work (a garage floor, some attic insulation, a new water heater, gutters, fence repairs), but we think it's a good first home, and it just felt nice. We visited with two neighbors, too, and they vouched for the neighborhood. One of our neighbors informed me that, each year in August, 70,000 Vietnamese Catholics converge on a shrine one block down the street for a four-day mass. That's 5 times the population of the city! So we may be renting out camping spaces on our lawn soon after moving in this summer.

It was a long, tiring, whirlwind weekend, but we're grateful to our generous family and friends who are helping us make this move, and everything is falling into place.

Satisfactorily,
Steve Stay

Taking Pea-brained Mistakes Optimistically Terminates Displeasure

2009-05-15T06:00:00.002-07:00

This past Sunday I somehow managed to get strawberry jam in my armpit while scraping the jar with a spatula for a pre-bedtime snack. My wife's response of laughing and rolling her eyes reminded me of a post I read a few weeks ago at Apron Stage. Such exchanges are not uncharacteristic of our relationship, so I'm glad she views my unusual habits as delightful idiosyncrasies and not intolerable faults. Everyone should be so lucky.

Stickily,

Steve Stay