A Well-Behaved Mormon Woman

Story Media Doesn't Want YOU to Know: Modern French Revolution!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:09:00 +0000

A brilliant story has the delegates at the 2013 World Conference of Families buzzing. I mentioned the French rally’s for marriage and family briefly in the first day’s report but I have some more detail that is absolutely fascinating and worth going into detail. As many of you may know, a gay marriage and adoption bill is being presented to French Parliament but the people took to the streets in protest in unprecedented numbers (1 million people marching Paris at EACH rally). In fact, these rallies are historic in that they are the largest in French history, and likely world history for this particular social issue. Maxime Legoce, a young Frenchman I had the opportunity to speak with in between sessions, was a significant player in the French rallies in Paris and around the world. He gave several speeches on his experiences and one was titled, “The French Movement for Defending Marriage and Leadership in the 21^st Century.” I hope my reporting does it justice, and more importantly, I hope Maxime’s morally courageous story of the La Manif Pour Tous (“Demonstration for All”) pro-family movement gets shared around the world. It is inspiring!

The organizers of these highly successful rallies in France, along with other French citizens around the world, were predominantly made up of young people. This is fascinating not only because they are young but also because they live in a relatively agnostic and secular country. When people heard about these pro-family movements around the world, they were shocked and couldn’t figure out why the French youth would be so passionate about marriage and the family unit. But this is proof that there is much “hope smiling brightly before us” with the rising French generation.

Why were these high school and university age youth the driving force for protesting gay marriage and gay adoption? The answer lies in the history of their parents. The May 1968 French “Sexual Revolution” created a generation of mass divorce, abortion, broken homes and families, euthanasia, drop in education and so forth. The young people of 2013 have experienced firsthand these negative social “freedoms” did to their families and home life. They were damaged by their parents’ and grandparents’ destructive social behaviors that they wanted to get rid of it. With the mass divorce, these children felt that they were the victims and needed to take action. They are taking a stand against the very things their parents fought for in the 1960’s.

How did the cause for marriage and family in France gain so much support and traction? Maxime said that the movement was all carried out through the power of social media and people who were passionate about this cause. Here are a few things they did that made it so successful:

Social Media: Very low cost advertising and potential to go viral very quickly. Where we used to have to place ads in the newspaper or on television at great financial expense, they are able to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other French social media outlets to get the word for countless rallies and demonstrations of support very quickly to a lot of people. The “La Manif Pour Tous” Movement Facebook Page is highly successful and there are a lot of neat photos that inspire people to get involved. https://www.facebook.com/LaManifPourTous?fref=ts

1. They used creative ways to engage people. For instance, one movement included encouraging everyone to change their Wifi name to “No Gay Marriage”. Whenever neighbors would be searching for Wifi access or logging into their system, anyone made this change would show up. Maxime said he changed his one night and the next day, his neighbors all changed theirs. It created an underground resistance movement.

2. They had a very easy to remember, non-religious slogan to reach all people across the board: “1 Father, 1 Mother = That’s Marriage”, “Father, Mother, Children, It’s Natural!” and also “La Manif Pour Tous which means The Demonstration for All” and this is a play on words for the pro-gay marriage side whose slogan is “Marriage for All”.

3. Blogging. There is a huge network of Catholic bloggers around the world that are all organized under the “Catholicsphere” (a narrower version of the “blogosphere”).

4. They made it cool to show their pro-family T-shirts, sweatshirts, bumper stickers, flags, banners etc.

5. For people who were physically unable to come to Paris to march, they created the first ever E-march online. This was absolutely brilliant in that they used geo-localization with IP addresses to create a heat map of all those virtually attending the rally online (pictured below).

6. They encouraged everyone to go viral fast and furiously with any updates or information on what was happening on the ground during the rallies. For instance, the media and police said there were only about 300,000 people (only? That still seems huge!) at one of the rallies where they absolutely had over a million people total. Everyone was tweeting or Facebooking images to debunk this false information by the pro-gay marriage media.

7. Technology Allows For Immediate Reactivity. Prime example: at one of the rallies (all peaceful mind you), police decided to take 70 people into custody. What did they immediately do? They tweeted photos of them in the police vans and posted pictures on Facebook asking for help. By the time they reached the police station, there were already supporters there. The supporters grew and within only two hours, the police released all 70 people.

Another interesting thing happened with the police and the media manipulation. The photos they showed on the news were doctored to show far less people supporting the pro-family rally. However, as soon as these photos showed up on the news, people started submitting real time photos proving that not only did the media edited out tens of thousands of people, but they also photo shopped existing trees and lamps and parts of the boulevard, which automatically proved they were trying to cover up the real numbers at the rally.

One part of their rallies that was highly effective was their use of “flash mobs” using car parades. They would randomly pick and then list a certain street online for supporters to jump in their cars and drive down the street waving pro-family flags. Other rallies would be huge signs draped over the many bridges of Paris or in front of hotels or government buildings where members of Parliament are scheduled to visit. The La Manif Pour Tous movement call it the “welcoming committee”.

8. Technology Supports Generosity. Not only were supporters able to donate money to the cause, but they were able to use social media to donate things and services to help make it easier for people able to attend the rallies. For instance, people living in Paris would offer accommodation for those who lived in the country and didn’t have the money for a hotel. Other people would offer carpooling to the rallies, while others would offer babysitting or meals. The kindness of strangers quickly turned these people into friends. That’s the beauty and generosity of the human spirit!

I know I wasn’t the only one at WCF who was touched by Maxime’s story and I hope that we can use these powerful tools for future rallies and events. I know there are great opportunities here for learning and implementation. I hope we can have more Maxime’s and La Manif Pour Tous movements around the world where gay marriage and adoption bills are coming into the picture.

Let’s share my new friend’s story with everyone and also remember it when we start hearing of whisperings of gay marriage bills (or other social issues) coming to our states and countries. Let’s act and follow the example of the French and this brilliant and successful movement.

Here is an inspiring short clip with footage from the rallies (it made me want to go to France to support them on May 26 for their next rally!) : v=cjumSgw6cDk

Here is the website. It’s a fantastic template for others who want to start movements in their state or country:http://www.lamanifpourtous.fr/en/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Candlelight vigils every evening by high school and university students are held 24/7, with people taking turns supplying food, water and bathroom breaks. Thousands upon thousands of young people gathering each night to peacefully protest by singing, reading poems and lighting candles:

Note: Thank you, Angela, for sharing this courageous story with us. How inspired we all are! It is clear why the media is not reporting on World Congress of Families. There's too many important things coming out of WCF to strengthen the cause of those who desire to stand up and say NO to so much of what is going on currently that is just wrong. It is not up to our politicians to manage our agency for us in order to have our voices heard on these things that matter most. If we expect to maintain our freedoms, as in the days of Captain Moroni, we, too, must hoist our own title of liberty, just as the French!

Our job now.... is to begin sharing this information with others. We have a ton, more than most can digest, but as we break it down and help others know how to use it, we can begin, together, to take powerful action that will affect important change for the good! We begin by sharing hope.... and by sharing stories like this one, that the media didn't want us to hear about... until we did, just NOW!

tDMg

Kathryn Skaggs

Angela Fallentine reporting directly from The World Congress of Families conference, Sydney, Australia, May 18, 2013.

Photo/top: Christian Post
Photo source/slides: Angela Fallentine

Day Two I: World Congress of Families Get Serious

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:39:00 +0000

Whew! I have so much to share that it will just take time to sift through everything. There are incredible stories of sacrifice, strength, courage and resilience with these remarkable people. All of them have made personal sacrifices in order to follow promptings and desires to support and defend the family.

Looking around the auditorium today, I felt that I was sitting at the feet of giants and great leaders. There were about a dozen (or more) members of the LDS Church from all over Australia and the USA. They are doing incredible things at the United Nations and have fantastic organizations. These people have started by walking out into the unknown with one single step, placing one foot over the cliff...but it is the second step that really takes faith because you're truly committed.

Gosh, so much to write! I come back exhausted and it's a lot of walking back and forth on the subway and all over the place. Whew. Definitely not a relaxing vacation (and I didn't expect that one bit).

More to come! ( Just got word, right before I hit publish, that I have a part two of this report, coming later tonight! Whoa! ~ Kathryn)

Plenary Opening Session – Main Auditorium *Packed to capacity, standing room only = exciting!

Patrick Parkinson (Family Law Attorney, Consultant to Family Law – London). Speech: The Economic Rationale for Governments to Invest in Family Stability

There is a rapid increase in the fragility of families around the Western world. There is a tipping point in which it is likely too late to reverse the trends. Unfortunately, social calamity is the result of the collapse of the natural family. There are intergenerational impacts such as poverty, diminished educational opportunities, and downward mobility in socioeconomic status. This is all manifested in a rise in parental stress, neglect, abuse, poor mental health and so forth. Ultimately, the public costs for fragile families are very high.

There is a growing crises in mental health with adolescents and the trend is correlated with divorce in all cases (the data proves it). There is an alarming crisis in particular with teenage girls of divorced, broken homes. Of all the girls ages 12-14, ¼ have some serious mental disorder and attempt self harm and binge drink, at a rate of SIX times greater than boys. There is a 90% increase in the rate of self harm for girls aged 10+. Reasons: Fragile families have serious impacts on children’s wellbeing.

· Implications: How much family instability can we cope with before we finally get serious about reversing the trend? It is an inconvenient truth, but it needs to be addressed.

Peter Meurs, Area Seventy, distinguished businessman. Speech: The Impact of Work on the Family

· The LDS Church is a tremendous part of the World Congress of Families and always has been.

· There is a shift and change of even the most basic values in society. This was illustrated in a personal experience he had. He shared story of a business dinner he was at with a group of colleagues. His phone rang and it was his daughter’s boyfriend calling to ask for her hand in marriage. Elder Meurs returned to his business dinner and shared the conversation he had just had with his colleagues. These men (who considered themselves family men) were utterly SHOCKED at 1) the young man asking for his daughter’s hand in marriage; 2) his daughter wasn’t already living with her boyfriend; and 3) they were actually going to get married. This story illustrates the change in our culture.

Elder Meurs shared the stories of his company working to employ the Aboriginee people of Australia and showcased the incredible changes that hard work and family values made in their lives. Pulling people out of poverty and getting them to work rather than be on welfare is key.

Dr. Miriam Grossman, Psychiatrist, author and UN Status on Commission of Women. Speech: A Brief History of Sex Education: Where Today’s Madness Comes From.

Sex education used to be about the facts of sex and something more special and bigger: the relationship between husbands and wives. Things have changed. Now we have sexuality education which involves complex issues such as gender identity, sex, abortion, non-discrimination policies, gay sex and children are taught that they are sexual as soon as they are born. The terms “husband and wife” are never used. They also teach that gender is a complicated matter and to them, a boy might turn into a man or he might turn into a woman, or something else.

Alarming video clip from Planned Parenthood Childhood innocence?

Forget about it with the current and trending sex education lessons. They are providing website and resources for children which include astonishing, bizarre and disgusting behaviors. You wouldn’t believe it if I told you what recommended websites are teaching children. So where did all of this stem from? The book “The History of Sex Education” by Dr. Grossman.

To sum it up, modern sex Ed. began in the 1960’s. A deeply disturbed psychologist named Alfred Kinsey believed that anything goes when it came to sexuality. His biography documents his horrible beliefs, including “traditional morality and religion is destructive and damaging.” His research wanted to prove the way he lived was normal. SECUS is the group behind sex Ed. and they aggressively promote teaching guidelines around the world based on Dr. Kinsey.

Another disturbing sex Ed. promoter was Mary Caldrone. She went on a crusade to change morals and society and felt there were too many rules in sex Ed. She wanted to teach that children are sexual beings. The book she authored, “Talking with Your Child About Sex” (1982) was unbelievable. Modern sex Ed. is all about breaking boundaries.

In 1955, John Money, PhD started the false premise that being male and female is just a feeling and we are born “gender-neutral” and society conditions us to determine if we are male or female. He was a pedophile who believed incest was normal love. These people used fraudulent data and their personal ideas to succeed in transforming Western society’s sex education. It quite literally came from disturbed individuals who wanted sex Ed.’s end goal to have children open to any and all sexual experimentation. Change society one child at a time.

· How does this continue to remain unchecked? SIECUS, Planned Parenthood, etc. are incredibly strong voices. Where is the accountability?

· Sometimes it appears as though this situation is like David and Goliath. However, the secret weapon is biology and scientific truth, which refute all of the aforementioned people’s false premises. The battle is uphill, but think of David and Goliath: Who won that battle?

Faith, Family and Civilization: Page Patterson USA and Rabbi Shimone Cowen, Australia

· We’ve heard about much of the darkness that has invaded our civilization. But it is very important to not focus on the evils but it is important that we bring to the floor the light that can transform society. We reflect on the sources of our values. Let’s tap into that light and make it more conscious to all of humanity.

· There are eternal values found within the human spirit. We need to begin again and discuss the human spirit. This is part of the Charter for the World Congress of Families. There is a moral template for society here.

The values of the Abrahamic religions are fundamental principles for governing the relationship between God and man. If we can reveal the human spirit, these values will return and resonate with people.

· Current moral libertarianism is only one voice. Over and over again, they say to leave religion aside. They deny that we have a spirit. They only go for reason. The key is to uncover the human spirit and soul, and there we will find that morality isn’t an imposition but a realization.

· There is freedom in being good, freedom in choosing the right. Human beings were created for a divine mission and this is perpetuated in future generations with the union of a man and a woman with God.

Break Out Sessions: How various sectors impact marriage and family life.

Panel: UN Issues, globalization and human rights.

1^st Speaker: Human Rights Agenda and the War on the Family, Sharon Slater USA (an LDS woman who presents regularly at the United Nations) www.familywatchinternational.org

· Children have rights to protection i.e. food, shelter, water, clothing, safety. However, we are moving towards a “sexual rights revolution” where they believe that children have a right to fluid sexuality, to do whatever pleases them and they are defined as sexual beings. Also, there are about seven different ways to identify with a gender. No longer two (male/female).

· The United Nations funds programs that promote sex education from International Planned Parenthood (IPPF) and Sex Education Committee (SECO). These groups comment that the biggest obstacle to sexual rights is 1) Religion and 2) Parents.

· The United Nations is not supposed to be interfering with each country in the world; instead, countries are supposed to decide policy for themselves. However, with sex Ed. they are interfering. The wealthy countries of the world are blackmailing the poor countries into their ideas of sexual revolution (abortion, homosexual marriage and adoption). If these countries don’t comply and help promote these agendas, their aid and help is threatened to be pulled. The main offender? The USA.

Video: Documentary - Cultural Imperialism, The Human Rights Agenda

www.standforthefamily.org

State and UN Policies to Strengthen the Family: Farooq Hassan, Pakistan/USA, Distinguished scholar and legal mind

There is a great deal of adversary at the United Nations. The UN is not as important as is your individual country. One side of the UN is family based; the other is non-family and antagonistic to the family. The enemy is not necessarily the UN, but the wicked countries that make up the UN.

The UN only does what the countries want it to do. Two specific matters: Homosexual marriage and adoption.

· Who is the biggest culprit for leading the charge against the family? Sadly, the United States.

· Interestingly enough, the third world countries are the strongest voice in standing up to same gender marriage and adoption.

· What can we do? We need more young people to be educated in the law, public policy, international affairs, etc. We need more professionals in the field and on our side!

Parental Rights: Sweden’s Failed Policies – Dr. Ruby Harrold-Claesson

**This was done via video due to the time constraints and travel to/from Sydney and Sweden. However, they have made her presentation available on YouTube and it will literally blow you away. The whole audience gasped at what Sweden is doing in their family policies and this particular story she shares is literally unbelievable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domenic_Johansson_custody_case

Bob McCoskrie, Director of Family First New Zealand: Government Policy to Strengthen Marriage and Family

In dealing with legislators and the general public, it’s not what you say necessarily but how you say it. The book “After the Ball” outlines the homosexual lobby’s strategy and end game. Very organized and they admittedly (and unfortunately) have done a brilliant job in pushing acceptance onto the public and the youth. How did they do this? They used the manipulation of verbal labels. For example:

- Instead of pro-abortion, pro-choice (made it sound better).

- Instead of homosexual, they use the word gay (they don’t like it when the word homosexual is used).

- Day care changed to “early education center”.

- STD changed to “STI” Sexually transmitted infections. (disease sounds so terrible)

- Pornography changed to adult entertainment.

-Transvestite changed to transgender.

- Gay marriage changed to “marriage equality” to make it sound like a positive thing.

How do we use this same strategy now? Turn the label around and make it sound negative. i.e. instead of the liberal term “right to die” use “assisted suicide”. Sounds much more negative.

Session on Promoting Family in the Media

Miranda Devine, Australian News Columnist and Writer (She was very articulate and gave a great presentation).

Started by talking about the movie “The Sound of Music” Why was it the top grossing movie of all time? What made it so successful around the world? It is a story about the family unit, love, marriage, and the family triumphantly standing up to tyranny. A prime example of media that celebrates the family.

The dominant mindset of the media is hostile to family values. The elites control the media … insiders vs. outsiders.

People still hunger for virtue even if they aren’t sure how to achieve it. That’s why wholesome media pulls at the heartstrings. We can protest immorality and violence in movies; we can make a stand that WILL matter.

We each have the power to change the culture. The trick is to influence the culture directly. Shape attitude.

Lessons: 1) Individuals and small organizations must work together to make noise and an impact and 2) Action makes a difference.

Human beings have an innate moral compass. The pendulum can swing back—we just need to give it a stronger push.

Karl Faase (Media and Radio Personality) – Promoting the Family on the Air

TED Video – Alone Together (Sherry Turkle: Connected, But Alone?)

Media does a great job of isolating us and creating an inability to make meaningful relationships.

We need to rebuild and reframe the marriage discussion. We’re sold on the idea of same sex
marriage by the media. However, if we want to shift the values, we need to be kind and very well spoken.

In any debate, you only hear the noisy extremists but there is a much larger middle ground we need to focus on. Yes, we need to acknowledge the noisy opposition, but we need to talk to the middle.

Loud and extreme words and actions don’t make differences. If you attack someone’s position, you are more likely to reinforce it.

We need to get cleverer about how we communicate. Let’s remember that the middle groups are desperate to hear us. We just need to find the best way to have them hear us.

Don’t write blogs, news articles, media postings in caps, exclamation points, bold, etc. It’s not
necessary or more effective. Just say it…don’t go into hysterics.

Michael Cook – Promoting the Family in Online Media

Don’t be terribly despaired about society.

The new media: Blogs, web, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are influencing public opinion on the
internet. These things are the future.

People are looking for diversity and different points of view on conventional news.

1. Some people think you can set up a blog and make it work. You have to post a lot! Recommend posting 3 new things per week. New things is key = News.

2. Everything you do must be done with professionalism. Good writing, conform to grammatical standards, keep it interesting and have flair, personal stories.

3. Don’t allow your writing and commentary to border on hysteria or over reaction. It is much more effective if you write and present things with calm, concise words. Presentation is critical.

4. You have to be knowledgeable. You can’t just give your opinion. The writings must be fact based and original.

5. When setting up your site, remember that your website or blog is about creating a community. So when you’re writing, draw people together in a community of commentary that will attract them and keep them coming back.

6. Comments from readers are invaluable! Always have comments allowed on your posts. Don’t worry about the nasty ones. What will happen is your fans will come in and support you. The conversations between both sides are valuable for everyone in your blogging community.

7. Sometimes you may feel you are preaching to the converted. Remember, there is always a constant need to be converted. We all need support for our ideas.

Robert Bahr, The Movie Guide

New media, aka social media, can reach the next generation in a cheap way. There are one billion active Facebook users.

1. Understand your audience. For social media, the main audience is women ages 12-34. The 15 year old girl is the MOST effective for getting things to go viral.

2. Understand your medium. Google is a research tool, Facebook is an entertainment tool.

3. Be real and authentic.

4. Allow conversation to be real and raw.

5. Humor or controversy are very effective.

6. USE PICTURES. People are very visual. Also, 90 second video clips are usually the most people are willing to watch.

Note: Once again Angela has provided us with some amazing information in regard to the family, from day two of the World Congress of Families conference, because both of us feel it is that important for all of us to have it. Clearly she has done an excellent job of sending to us uncensored, unfiltered content, that I'm sure not everyone would be happy to see coming out of the conference, or feel is credible -- for whatever reasons. Nonetheless, here you have it, take it or leave it, agree or disagree with it. We are doing what we have set out to do... deliver it all of you! Now, go share it!

tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs

World Congress of Families Gather to Inspire on Day One!

Photo credit: MGF

Frances B. Monson Loving Wife of President Monson Has Died

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:57:00 +0000

Sadly, the Mormon Newsroom has reported that Frances B. Monson, President Thomas S. Monson's loving wife and eternal companion, passed away this morning, at 6:35 am, in a Salt Lake City hospital surrounded by her family. Although we as Mormons believe in life after death, we still mourn the temporary separation from our loved ones that death brings. Our hearts go out to our dear Prophet at this time, knowing the deep love that he has for his sweet wife, and to the entire Monson family at this time we send our prayers of comfort and peace.

From the Mormon Newsroom:

Frances B. Monson, wife of Thomas S. Monson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away at 6:35 a.m. this morning in a Salt Lake City hospital surrounded by family. She had been hospitalized for several weeks and passed away peacefully of causes incident to age. Sister Monson was 86 years old. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Recognized by her husband as the family’s beacon of love, compassion and encouragement, Sister Monson lived a Christ-centered life in word and deed. She will forever be remembered for her kindness and quiet, sustained support of her husband in his Church duties.

Born on 27 October 1927, Frances Beverly Johnson was the youngest and only daughter of Franz E. Johnson and Hildur Booth Johnson’s five children. Her parents were delighted to have a little girl in the family whom they promptly named Frances, after her father Franz.

She grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah as a child of the Great Depression where she learned the value of hard work and thrift, which served her well throughout her life. She graduated from East High School and the University of Utah where she excelled in math and science. When asked why she enrolled in these difficult classes she replied with a twinkle in her eye, “… because that is where all the cute boys were.” Frances was also an accomplished pianist and was often seen playing tennis in Liberty Park during her teenage years. Later, she worked in the accounting department of a large department store to help pay for her college education.

It was also during her university days she met a handsome, strapping young man also of Swedish descent, Thomas Spencer Monson, at the time known as Tommy. “The first time I met Frances, I knew I’d found the right one,” he would later say about their courtship. They met in 1944 and were married on 7 October 1948 in the Salt Lake Temple.

The couple was blessed with three children: Thomas Lee, Ann Frances and Clark Spencer. The children soon learned that they had a very special mother. She helped her sons learn about, buy and raise Birmingham Roller pigeons, at one point helping her son to travel to England to meet a Birmingham Roller expert. She allowed one son to keep a pet snake in the bathtub. Most mothers would shudder at the word snake, let alone have one in the tub. The herd, gaggle and flock of family pets eventually included chickens, more pigeons, a dog, geese and other animals.

Daughter Ann Dibb said her mother was always good at bookkeeping, budgeting and “being mindful of where the best bargains could be found.” Ann’s mother followed the Church’s provident living advice of thrift and self reliance, making her grocery money go farther by researching and buying items on sale and then storing them at home. Up until recently she continued to read both Salt Lake newspapers looking for coupons and bargains.

She was known as the family assembler and fix-it person. Early every Christmas morning found Frances assembling bikes, toys and doll houses and on other occasions fixing an electrical switch or plumbing leak. Ann said this was something her father readily admitted was her mother’s talent, not his.

She served in the Relief Society and Primary and spent many hours preparing lessons for those callings. She also served alongside her husband when he was called to preside over the Church’s Canadian Mission, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario from 1959 to 1962. Both concur that the mission was a beautiful experience that gave them many opportunities to learn and grow both spiritually and intellectually.

Frances was blessed with an endearing sense of humor, a part of which President Monson shared in a general conference talk: “Several years ago my dear wife went to the hospital. She left a note behind for the children: ‘Dear children, do not let Daddy touch the microwave’ – followed by a comma ‘or the stove, or the dishwasher, or the dryer.’ I’m embarrassed to add any more to that list.” Her recipe for life included plenty of encouragement, kindness, and hard work, with a dose of humor thrown in for good measure.

Most importantly, Frances will be best remembered for the love and support she showed to her husband and family and the service she rendered to others. Ann said, “She dearly loved my father and recognized his talents and the gifts that he’d been given and took pleasure in supporting him and helping him magnify the talents that were his.” She completely supported her husband in all of his Church duties. She also delighted in being a mother continually teaching her children the importance of sacrifice and serving the Lord.

Ann shared a tender example of her mother supporting her father in his Church callings. As a newly-called member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, the then Elder Monson was assigned to speak in general priesthood meeting. Frances tried to stand in the doorway of the Salt Lake Tabernacle to listen to her husband speak, but the ushers wouldn’t allow it, so she stood as near to the window as possible to hear the talk. She loved to listen and show her support, and accompanied him many times on the visits to the elderly and those with poor health.

Frances radiated patience and compassion when serving others. She tenderly cared for her mother who suffered from cancer for more than six years. In April of 1988, the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s Villa, an elder-care facility, presented Frances and her husband with the Continuum of Caring Humanitarian Award, honoring both of them for their dedicated and untiring service to the senior citizens of Utah.

Never purposely in the spotlight, Frances Beverly Johnson Monson, was always gracious, kind and supportive in everything she said and did. Her quiet influence felt around the world will be missed.

tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs

Deseret News: Frances Monson, wife of LDS prophet, passes away

"I Knew I'd Found the Right One": The Monson's share thoughts about love...

Mormon Beliefs About Heaven: Before and After Life

Dallin H. Oaks: Teacher, Tutor, Recipient of Prestigious Canterbury Medal for Religious Freedom

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:14:00 +0000

All of us have a certain teacher, those who we look to who have influenced us and taught us the most important lessons about those things in our lives which we become passionate about. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has become, for me, a sort of tutor from afar, on the topic of religious freedom. The Mormon Newsroom reports “Elder Oaks was presented the prestigious Canterbury Medal for his lifetime service in promoting the cause of religious freedom. The medal recognizes individuals who demonstrate courage in the defense of religious freedom and is named for Canterbury Cathedral, where Thomas Becket stood in defense of religious freedom against King Henry II.”

I heard late last night, that Elder Oaks was receiving this well-deserved award, and could not help myself from “noising it abroad” via social media as fast as my fingers could make it happen. As I said, Elder Oaks, to me, is my virtual tutor on this topic: religious freedom. I have spent many hours reading and re-reading many of his articles/speeches over the last few years as I’ve desired to better understand the principles of religious freedom, and how to best fulfill my covenants, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to defend my beliefs in the public square. His counsel and instruction is the foundation upon which I have conducted myself in much of what I do in speaking out on many sensitive issues with confidence. His CES fireside address, given in September of 2011, "Truth and Tolerance" is among my favorites.

I am a proud ‘student’ of Elder Oaks', nearly beaming with delight on his behalf. It must be such a satisfying feeling to have spent so much of one’s energy in life teaching these righteous principles of truth, but also feel humble to then receive such an honor. “The free exercise of religion is the basic civil liberty because faith in God and His teachings and the active practice of religion are the most fundamental guiding realities of life," Elder Oaks said.

I also loved hearing, as reported by the Mormon Newsroom that Princeton Professor Robert P. George, serves on the Becket Fund Board of Directors. If that name sounds vaguely familiar, it should. George is one of the three authors of the very important book, "What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense" “George praised Elder Oaks not only for being an example to “people like myself, Catholics and Evangelicals, people of other faiths who look to Dallin Oaks not only for his excellent judgment and leadership as a lawyer, but also for his great love of God and the great witness he gives as a man of God.””

This year, I have personally seen a great uniting of many faiths as we have pulled together in defense of religious freedom, so that we might better defend values such as traditional marriage. In my opinion, It is no wonder that George would think so highly of Elder Oaks, as they share the same love for righteous principles. I sincerely believe that these are the points of truth upon which the children of God will ultimately find unity, as one, in Christ. We need each other, and it is truth that will bring us together.

Which brings me to 'why' my ultimate love for religious freedom: it allows those who love truth, to find one another. It allows truth to be revealed. Without the maintenance of religious freedom, we become a bound people without the ability to freely express and live who we are. However, we will only lose our freedoms by not speaking up to maintain them. We lose our freedom through our own fear.

The Mormon Newsroom has a beautiful report up on the proceedings of this medal presented to Elder Dallin H. Oaks. I honor him tonight and give thanks to him for his life’s work in this important area: religious freedom; and for what he has taught me personally. It has strengthened me to do that which I have come to love: speaking what I know is right and true, even when difficult.

I am grateful for the agency which God has given to me. I never want to be found binding myself because I feared man more than God. I am confident that the Lord expects each of us to not be silent, or tolerant, of those things which we have made covenants to stand as witnesses for, and against, and which is why we have an Apostle of the Lord upon the earth, at this time, boldly teaching, to the entire world these principles upon which all of our greatest expressions in this life can be realized: our liberty and freedom.

Elder Oaks' presented a powerful address at the award's ceremony, in a desire to strengthen the future of religious freedom. As with most of his speeches/talks, at least for me, it requires multiple readings; thus my 'student' status when it comes to his works. I've already been through it once and can see that truly we have a watchman on the tower, looking ahead at where we are headed and what we need to do to best manage the future of our priceless freedoms.

tDMg

Kathryn Skaggs

Mormon Newsroom:

Elder Dallin H. Oaks Honored for Championing Religious Freedom

Transcript: Strengthening the Free Exercise of Religion by Elder Dallin H. Oaks

An Introduction to Religious Freedom

World Congress of Families: Interview with Shelly Locke Founder of The Power of Mothers

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:53:00 +0000

Angela Fallentine while attending day one, World Congress of Families 2013, had the opportunity to sit down and, not only have dinner with Shelly Locke, founder of The Power of Mothers, but interview her. In Angela's own words...

At dinner I had a wonderful opportunity to interview Shelly Locke, former Utah's 2007 Young Mother of the Year and delegate to the United Nations and The Howard Center for Religious Studies, humanitarian and attendee of nearly all the World Congresses.

Locke spoke about the power and courage of all of the people (presenters, speakers, organizers, etc) involved with the World Congress of Families. “They have all experienced persecution, death threats, hostility and have made incredible personal sacrifices in defending the traditional family and religious belief."

When you look around this auditorium, you need to know that these people are incredible. They are highly educated scholars, legal minds, policy makers, politicians, sociologists, church leaders and so forth, and they have been targeted by the opposition for their pro-family and pro-religious work.” Shelly continued, “There are hundreds of people here with amazing stories that need to be told. They are on the front of the battle lines and the rest of the world needs to know about their sacrifices and what they have done to protect and defend the family. I think there is potential for a huge story here. Each of their stories needs to be told.”

In my interview with Shelly, we came to the conclusion that we need to feature these inspiring people in the blogging community and put a human face on this fight for faith and family. She later went on to tell me about the persecution and protests that the World Congress and the presenters and delegates have experienced throughout the years.

Several years ago, the World Congress of Families was held in Amsterdam, and she recalled, with great detail, the paint bombings and protests outside the speakers' hotel and the congress venue.

She was in the hotel lobby with Elder Russell M. Nelson and Sister Nelson, Sheri Dew and other LDS Church leaders. They were waiting to get into a cab to take them to the WCF sessions when they were met with screaming, intimidating and vulgar protesters. At one point, she was followed and her path was blocked from entering the building. Dodging the force of one particular protestor, she made it into the building and on went the Congress.

That must have been quite the dinner conversation! Well, until tomorrow when Angela sends us her report of day two, happening right now, from the World Congress of Families. If you happen to of missed her full report from day one, don't!

World Congress of Families Gather to Inspire on Day One!

tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs

Photo Source: Deseret News

WBMW Latest: There's a NEW Normal? I Think NOT.

Mormon.org: The Family

World Congress of Families Gather to Inspire on Day One!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:58:00 +0000

Hundreds of the world’s best and brightest pro-family scholars, religious leaders, anthropologists, sociologists, educators, doctors, policy makers, government officials and legal minds have converged in Sydney, Australia for the World Congress of Families 2013. Their goals include presenting powerful data and discussion to help further defending, preserving and maintaining the family as the fundamental building block of society. It’s about shifting key debates surrounding preserving and maintaining the natural family unit.

Because I am so grateful for the opportunity to attend and because I want everyone to experience it and learn from these incredible people, I’m obtaining video and website link to all the presentations and will be sharing it as soon as it is available. Trust me, you will want to pour over them and share them. They are outstanding!

Here are brief recaps from each of the speakers I heard at World Congress of Families on my first day. It’s approaching midnight here in Sydney, so I hope my notes are reasonably coherent. J

My initial impression was that this is a gathering of righteous people who are fearless in defending faith and family. The power in this Congress is that it's tangible and real. One thing that became immediately apparent, was the caliber of the presenters: they are sharp, educated, articulate and powerful public speakers. The media tend to show a very different picture of those who have strong religious and pro-family belief. Far too often they paint them as uneducated, inarticulate, redneck bible thumpers (for lack of better terms). This is what the media would have us believe but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The World Congress is about children and the future of the family. Essentially, this is a “family of families” and a fight for the family. We can’t do it alone and this is why WCF is so critical. Allan Carlson, founder of World Congress of Families, talked about the debates in the UN and about the nature of the family and said that:

“The World Congress of Families envisions a culture of marriage where young women are growing into wives, homemakers and mothers. Where young men are growing to be husbands, home builders and fathers.”

Honorable Greg Smith, Attorney General of NSW Australia said, “Thank you for not avoiding a discussion about the more controversial and difficult topics!”

A fascinating speech was given by Konstantin Malofeev of Russia (bio forthcoming). He talked about Communism and the huge advances Russia has made towards Christianity. 30 years ago, Christians from the West helped Russia out of Communism and out of a culture of erasing God and religion from their life. Now, the tables have turned. The Western culture is in the process of erasing God and religious belief out of life. Ironically, Russia is becoming more pro-family and pro-religion. “Like the Christians 30 yrs ago that helped us overcome Communism, now it is our turn to give back to you and help you with family and Christianity.” (His speech was powerful and emotional—wait for the video!)

Dr. Ian Harper, Australia’s best known economists: “I’m a well known economist but more importantly, I’m a husband, father and grandfather.” “Healthy families are essential to healthy economies. Where economies struggle, look at the structure and nature of the breakdown of the family.”

Bradford Wilcox, Director of the National Marriage Project and Sociologist: (Fascinating presentation!)

Kids thrive on stability and two parent homes. Strong families are due to strong fathers and mothers in the home, but it is the father in the home that really makes the difference in the success of his children educationally. The value of two parent families are contingent upon the father and how engaged he is.

Honorable John Anderson, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and religious leader:

Why isn’t the pro-family, pro-religious movement not gaining more traction?

What can each of us do when we return to our communities to affect change?

Why is it so difficult to affect change?

The breakdown of the family is essentially the breakdown of truths and absolutes. There is self-obsession in the name of equality. We’ve lost the sense of what we traditionally believe as true/false and right/wrong. Our young people need to be better educated in morals! We’re losing our ability to engage in sound debates. You MUST believe in truth and believe that one outcome is better than the other (i.e. man/woman = marriage). If you have bad debates in government, you will get bad public policy. Society has forsaken absolute truth and we are struggling to have a reasoned debate with the other side.

What can we do together?

1. Recommit and remodel our own commitment to absolute truth. How can we expect deep committed relationships in our children if the world around them doesn’t honor commitment? We must be a model of commitment for the rising generation.

2. Engage in reasoned debate. Commit to a higher standard of analysis. Respectfully engage with the other side. Use personal stories of how marriage affects you, how divorce affected you, etc.

Real stories by real people = trust. Don’t forget to honestly showcase personal stories by people affected by family breakdown. Often they may not want to share but they need to be encouraged so that we can have personal and real stories to show why marriage matters and what affect divorce etc. has on the children.

3. Remember who we’re fighting for: CHILDREN.

We need to muster all the commitment we have and see it as a challenge but not overwhelming or all consuming/depressing.

Dr. Patrick Fagan, Senior Fellow at the Family Research Council in Washington D.C.

Farming analogy:

The quality of the seed (children) sown is dependent on the quality of the farmers (parents). The family is the future of the world. The woman in the home raising children is of greater value than the husband in the marketplace. Divorce alone creates 1/6 drop in the economy each year in the USA. Key: Chastity and monogamy. The restoration of chastity is essential!

William B. May, USA “Getting the Marriage Conversation Right”:

There is a campaign of intimidation and silence. The victims are our children. We need new ideas, new ways of thinking and opening up a new front so that we are on the offence and not the defense. The battle for marriage is in our home and we need to learn ways to teach it so our children can speak and defend it without fear. How can we do this?

1. Learn better ways of communicating our values to our children.

2. Research: Get well versed in research on the need for mothers and fathers. Religious sermons are wonderful but we need to be able to talk about marriage from a non-religious perspective as well because this is what will ultimately cut right to the heart of the matter with non-religious people.

3. Identify false premises that are being taught in the media. We need to speak truth: Marriage unites a man and a woman with each other and any children born from their union

The #1 thing to remember is that marriage is worth fighting for! The dominant elitist left would want you to think you are losing so you won’t fight. But remember: History is not written yet.

Peter Westmore:

A child needs a model of each sex. It is the optimal configuration since time began. We all hear the argument that same sex marriage is inevitable. However, if we listen to this argument, we just might believe it. But 90% of the world’s countries are against same sex marriage, only 13 have allowed it. That means 90% of the population don’t want it.

Not one country in Asia wants it. Not one country in the Islamic world wants it. And note that these are all non-Christian countries. The countries that have legalized gay marriage have abolished a child’s birthright and children have been/will be subject to an uncontrolled social experiment. No government should allow laws legalizing and normalizing a motherless or fatherless situation.

Jose Ureta, France. Marriage for All, the French Experience: (This was a fascinating presentation!)

1.5 million French citizens marched on Paris against gay marriage, making it the largest rally in all of French history. This movement interestingly enough was driven by the younger 20-30 something aged generations. Why? They have seen the result of their parents’ generation which was rife with divorce and moral relativism, and they have had enough. There is an awakening of faith filled youth in France! The younger generation is more conservative than their parents. They are rising and ready to fight for family values. They are rejecting moral liberalism.

*The neatest thing happened in this session! I was sitting by the young man (probably in his mid 20’s) who was one of the top rally leaders against gay marriage in France. Someone started cheering in the audience for the courage of these French young people, and then they started, one by one, singing La Marseilles, the French anthem. The whole auditorium started clapping and everyone who knew the words started singing. It was incredible and inspiring!!

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Janice Crouse, UN Delegate on Commission for Women, Presidential Speech Writer...

The family is under attack in numerous and unprecedented ways. It is imperative for each of us to understand social science and use this evidence to teach the future generations.

- When we deviate from the norm, fixing the broken pieces of the family is extremely complex and difficult.

- Every child needs an adult who is absolutely crazy about him/her.

-Children are the only future the family and any nation have.

Question and Answer Panel of Experts:

John Anderson:

- Western Society is doing to ourselves voluntarily what communism did to the world (i.e. erase God, religion and morals from society).

- Let’s understand that we have not equipped our children with the framework or moral vocabulary to combat moral relativism. What we need to do a.s.a.p: 1) Get our own houses in order and humbly extend our examples of family life and religious belief to others; 2) Get ready for battle. We’re fighting for our children and the future of the world.

- Live a life that is worthy of our children to follow.

- We need to be courageous; we cannot afford to be complacent.

- It is UNBELIEVABLY important for our children to have a mother and a father. Yes, there will be single parents and often they will feel offended or feel sensitivity to this issue. But truth is truth and we must still teach the ideal and show the research of how important it is that children have a married mother and father. But it must be taught with sensitivity and kindness and gently work through the issue and research in a supportive way.

Angela Fallentine reporting directly from The World Congress of Families conference, Sydney, Australia, May 15, 2013.

Photography: Angela Fallentine
Mormon Children's Choir
World Congress of Families convention floor

Note:
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, Angela! I don't know about the rest of you, reading her report, but I am overwhelmed with the amount of information she has sent to us from WCF, and I can truly feel the Spirit of the conference, and Angela's spirit of enthusiasm in being there on our behalf. What a treasure trove of fabulous and inspired counsel; and to think she has given us only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak of what she's actually experiencing, and what will come out of this conference and be made available to us very soon!

I also have one more treat for you, from Angela, that I will post a little later today!

Update: Interview with Shelly Locke Founder of The Power of Mothers

tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs

WBMW Latest: There's a NEW Normal? I Think NOT.

Mormon.org: The Family

Worth Repeating Weds: There's a NEW Normal? I Think NOT.

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Thu, 16 May 2013 00:50:00 +0000

It seems that we continue to have before us, as a constant barrage, many of the same important issues that I've previously addressed here on WMBW, and other places online, multiple times over the last few years; and not surprising, they all, ultimately, come back to the breakdown of the family, as God has ordained.

I've decided to begin doing something new, on an 'occasional' Wednesday, when time permits, of reposting (And when necessary updating.), past entries that continue to be relevant and categorize them as: Worth Repeating Weds; hashtag #wrw. Also included will be written into updated or following post, an explainer as to why I think still relevant, and original source information; such as in today's post, which is one I actually wrote on a friend's blog, to celebrate The Family: A Proclamation to the World, originally titled: There's Nothing Normal About the New Normal.

Curiosity got the cat last year when I caught wind that a new sitcom; The New Normal -- the one that a Utah television studio had decided not to air -- was premiering, following a TV show that I did watch. I had only to view the first ten minutes to understand why that decision was made. That was more than enough. It’s really bad. A show like that is further evidence, not that we need more, of why the Proclamation is necessary, for our times. And most important, why each of us must stand ready to defend the positions that the Church does take, publicly, on moral issues that affect the family.

Gordon B. Hinckley, then President and Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) gave this introduction prior to the Proclamation’s first reading, on September 23, 1995:

“With so much of sophistry that is passed off as truth, with so much of deception concerning standards and values, with so much of allurement and enticement to take on the slow stain of the world, we have felt to warn and forewarn. In furtherance of this we of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles now issue a proclamation to the Church and to the world as a declaration and reaffirmation of standards, doctrines, and practices relative to the family which the prophets, seers, and revelators of this church have repeatedly stated throughout its history.”

That was about 17 years ago. Thank heaven, literally, for the inspired foresight given to these prophets of God, to unabashedly teach the bold, eternal doctrine of the family, to not only the membership of the LDS Church, but to the world -- and why.

“The family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children.”

For those of us who have been around for more than a few years, never would we have imagined the world in which we now live, where not only are homosexual relationships considered normal -- or at least that is what mainstream media would have us believe -- but also in some states same-sex marriage has now been legalized. Believe it or not, it wasn’t too many years ago that such things, even as a possibility, were unthinkable.

Same-sex marriage is a relatively new phenomenon, that until recently was never even suggested, let alone discussed. And not because we were all a bunch of ignorant bigots, but rather because society never imagined that God’s law for marriage, between a man and a woman, would be challenged – by anyone. It just wasn’t on any of our radars. But God saw it coming and through His prophets, as prophets are called to do, “felt to warn and forewarn” His children of what was ahead. And here we are.

Perhaps this view, or experience, seems somewhat naïve, or foreign, to those of you who now live in a world where tolerance for any lifestyle of one’s choice is considered not just acceptable, but expected. Nevertheless, for those of any generation that acknowledge God’s laws, above all others, we are bound by covenant, to stand in defense of what we know to be right.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World was given so that when the time came, which is now, when the family unit, as God ordained it, became distorted, those who call themselves “the children of Christ” would know how to act on these matters, and why.

Of great significance, taught in the Proclamation, is an understanding of gender, as an eternal characteristic of every soul. Today’s war on the family begins with gender identity issues, which when misguided leads to an undermining of the plan of salvation. Same-sex sexual relations cannot naturally produce offspring, therefore biologically halting the great work of creating eternal families as God intends. Same-sex marriages/relationships have no life beyond this life – they are temporal. God’s plan is for His children to progress eternally. There are two forces at work here, and one is not God.

Mormons believe that marriage between a man and a woman is intended to create families. The ideal family unit, as ordained by God, consists of a mother and father, with their children – ultimately sealed to them for all time and eternity. If for some reason having children is not possible in this life, to those who honor the marital covenant, the opportunity will exist in the next. Eternal marriage is only available to a man and a woman united in what is considered a traditional marriage. From God’s perspective, all civil/traditional marriages, between a man and a woman, are on the path of becoming eternal. All others are not. It is the work of God, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, to bring to pass not only every soul’s immortality, but also Eternal Life – the exact kind of life that He lives.

Because of the important doctrines and inspired counsel given and explained in the Proclamation, I believe, we can know exactly where God stands on many of the social issues that currently affect society, and ultimately the family – and why. For instance, because we know that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God we don’t have to wonder what God thinks about same-sex attraction. Homosexual behavior is wrong. Therefore, we don’t have to wonder how God feels about same-sex marriage. It is wrong and we needn’t feel pressure to defend it as another’s misguided, insisted right.

In my opinion, the pressure that we should feel, based on information provided in the Proclamation, is the responsibility to stand as witnesses of revealed truths, in opposition to the many distortions that are continually perpetuated in mainstream society. And sadly, also by some within the Church who do not give heed to this document, as inspired, nor to the ongoing counsel of living prophets on such issues.

At the September 2012 CES Devotional, Jeffrey R. Holland, an Apostle of the Lord, gave this inspired direction regarding how the modern children of Israel, unable to flee as in ages past, can best accomplish our challenge to live in Babylon, until the Savior returns…

“Some principles are defended and some sins are opposed wherever they are found, because the issues and the laws involved are not social or political, but eternal in their consequence. And while not wishing to offend those who believe differently from us, we are even more anxious to not offend God -- or as the scripture says, "not offend He who is your law giver".

There is a wide variety of beliefs in this world, and there is moral agency for all, but no one is entitled to act as if God is mute on these subjects, or as if commandments only matter if there is public agreement over them.

In the 21st century we cannot flee any longer. We are going to have to fight for laws and circumstances and environments that allow the free exercise of religion and our franchise in it. That is one way we can tolerate being in Babylon but not of it.

I know of no more important ability, and no greater integrity, than for us to demonstrate, in a world from which we cannot flee, that to walk that careful path taking a moral stand according to what God has declared, and the laws He has given, but doing it compassionately, and with understanding -- and great charity.

Talk about a hard thing to do -- to distinguish perfectly between the sin and the sinner. I know of few distinctions that are harder to make -- or at least harder to articulate. But we must lovingly try to do exactly that. Believe me, brothers and sisters, in the world into which we are moving we are going to have a lot of opportunity to develop such strength, display such courage, and demonstrate such compassion -- all at the same time.”

I am profoundly grateful to have in our possession, in these last days, an inspired and timely declaration about the eternal importance of the family -- The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Since it was first presented, it has continued to be taught, discussed and quoted at all levels of teaching, in the Church – which, as I understand, constitutes doctrine. Therefore I believe, with all my heart, that we can safely cling to its teachings as the will of God in matters pertaining to the family.

The blessing of having living prophets among us, is that we need not be tossed to and fro with the winds of secular change and popular perceptions, not knowing where God would have us stand. I believe that through His prophets, He has spoken in such a way that we can confidently act, knowing that in doing so we are helping Him to accomplish His great work -- of which we were sent here to do.

To those of you who are holding out defending the family, thinking that this is all an overreaction, feel we should allow others to live as they choose, even legalize it for their benefit – next up: Top Hollywood Director Believes that Incest is Acceptable.

Normal? I think not.

I originally wrote this piece as an entry on Middle-Aged Mormon-Man, and was delighted to participate in a 'Proclamation Celebration'; one of the few times I have guest blogged. It was brought to my attention, at that time, that there were a few objectionable comments submitted, that he did not approve. In re-reading this piece, now months later, considering much that has happened, since, with the many changes in the area of legalizing same-sex marriage, I think, yes, that is true, but then I ask myself the question: Has the Lord changed? No, the Lord has not changed.

Personally, I felt there were many instances during the April 2013 General Conference where clear evidence that the doctrine so clearly spelled out in The Family: A Proclamation to the World, is just that, 'doctrine', were well taught by leaders of the LDS Church. In particular though, Elder L. Tom Perry, in his Sunday morning address to the Church, clearly stated, in no uncertain terms, in referring to the Proclamation, that its content is "doctrine". I point this out, as often this is debated by, granted, a small group, within Mormonism, who at times advocate for that which is unorthodox.

"The doctrine of the family and the home was recently reiterated with great clarity and forcefulness in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” It declared the eternal nature of families and then explained the connection to temple worship. The proclamation also declared the law upon which the eternal happiness of families is predicated, namely, “The sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.”"

"God reveals to His prophets that there are moral absolutes. Sin will always be sin. Disobedience to the Lord’s commandments will always deprive us of His blessings. The world changes constantly and dramatically, but God, His commandments, and promised blessings do not change. They are immutable and unchanging. Men and women receive their agency as a gift from God, but their liberty and, in turn, their eternal happiness come from obedience to His laws. As Alma counseled his errant son Corianton, “Wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10)." (italics added)

The LDS Church launched its new website, mormonsandgays.org as an outreach to the gay and lesbian community, which has been a positive in helping members to better understand the challenges that members and their families deal with as they strive to find loving support within the LDS community. I expect this area of focus within the Church to continue to grow, and yet acknowledge the many challenges that we all face: LDS leaders, LGBT community, gay members, all members, gay members' families, etc...

I also acknowledge the ever-changing scientific information about homosexuality, as well as the abundance of misinformation that is continually perpetuated; requiring all of us to ever be vigilant in verifying such as credible, before accepting it as fact. Meaning, we have a lot to learn in this area. However, we have been counseled by prophets to love and accept these members and support them as they navigate a difficult challenge in their lives. We can do that! As more gay members come into our midst, let us accept them with open arms, however they come to us --- let us not judge them... let's just love them where they are, and I believe that Christlike love will lift them to where He is -- as the gospel intends it to do.

As 'members' that is our part. Let's leave the administration of the gospel to those with keys, and as members, let's just love!

Over the next few days here on WBMW, Angela Fallentine will be sharing information from Sydney, Australia, reporting on what she is learning from The World Congress of Families. I'm delighted to be hosting Angela's reports here and hope that you will share the information with others, and if you have a blog, consider reposting the content; with attribution, of course.

I'd love it if you'd consider sharing this post with others...

tDMg

Kathryn Skaggs

Mormon Newsroom: Approaching Mormon Doctrine

Motherhood and Mothers Who Long to Have Children

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Sun, 12 May 2013 10:04:00 +0000

Happy Mother's Day! To every woman, I honor this divine nature, which God has placed within us, to mother, and to be mothers. It is truly what is beautiful about being a woman, and what makes us unique, and distinct, from our male counterpart. It's the part of me, that I love best about myself -- now. It's the part of me that has made me stretch the most, because it has exposed the parts of me where I was my weakest; and thank God, those weak fibers were malleable, when the pressure of humility was forced upon them long and hard enough; though painful at times. Mother as student: you don't want to go backwards and do it again, but you wouldn't give back the lessons either, if you had to give back what you've learned; the value beyond measure. Twenty six letters are not adequate to express my thoughts and feelings about my own, five beautiful children, and the joy they bring to my life. They are my everything... along with my eternal companion; my husband.

I often think... how could anyone who believes in God, possibly imagine that He would create this beautiful world, allow us to fall in love, bring children into this world, form families and love them enough to give our lives for them, and then... done. What? No. That's not how it goes.

Eternal families are what Heavenly Father intends for our families to become. Our relationships are to last beyond this life, because they began before this life. Every mother who holds her new infant child, in her arms, knows that she is not meeting some foreigner. The depth of love we feel from the very beginning for our children, began long ago, and will continue throughout eternity, because families are forever...

I've thoroughly enjoyed the overwhelming response to the invitation that I extended to the incredible women who have graced this blog over the last few days; in total, 12, including my own. (links to other entries included at the bottom of this post) I've been touched by their insights, faith and humor, but also their unwavering commitment to home and family, above all other endeavors. To me, that is what sets this group of women apart and is why I chose to bring them before you, to honor womanhood and mothers.

Along with each of their posts, they have included a small bio, which was intentional. I hope that you've taken note of what these women do in their lives; alongside of raising their families as their number one priority. In each case, these sister's lives are living testimonies of the principles that they profess. Not one of them would ever presume to make an example of themselves. Nevertheless, they are willing to be 'out there' and stand for the right, in their own unique way.

My final guest blogger, by now, should be familiar to most of you, Angela Fallentine. What you don’t' know about Angela though, is that she has not, yet, been able to conceive; making Mother's Day, as it is for many women, who, for various reasons, are not able to have children, a very difficult day. This woman continues to give me cause to be grateful that we have become friends.

Angela's courage, strength and faith in the Lord, stand alongside the likes of Esther. It truly is a privilege to know her. She is currently preparing to attend The World Congress of Families in just a few weeks, and as many of you know, WBMW is a strong supporter of her attendance and will be receiving her reports from Sydney, Australia, and posting them here on this blog.

On this Mother's Day, I honor Angela Peterson Fallentine, in her walk along the path of discipleship...

Mother. Motherhood. Women. Womanhood. These words are among the most beautiful and meaningful ones in the human language. One of the reasons that these words evoke such powerful emotions is that we all have mothers and other women in our life who have shaped us into the people we are today. We’re all aware of the power and influence of women, but perhaps too often we fail to recognize our own significance and purpose. Yet even in the most ordinary of circumstances, all women of God are extraordinary.

President Spencer W. Kimball described the power and potential of women when he taught:

“There has never been a time in the Church when women are able to do more to show what their true role in the world can and ought to be. The impact and influence of women and mothers on our world is most important. The thought that “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world” is more viable today than ever before. … To be a righteous woman is a glorious thing in any age. To be a righteous woman during the winding up scenes on this earth, before the second coming of our Savior, is an especially noble calling. The righteous woman’s strength and influence today can be tenfold what it might be in more tranquil times. She has been placed here to help to enrich, to protect, and to guard the home—which is society’s basic and most noble institution. Other institutions in society may falter and even fail, but the righteous woman can help to save the home, which may be the last and only sanctuary some mortals know in the midst of storm and strife.”

This is an incredible quote. With all that is going on in the world with the attacks on the family, marriage, women and motherhood, we need to be reminded of the force for good women have in the world—especially when we’re united in this purpose. We need to proclaim the doctrine and role of righteous women more often. We need to shout it on the rooftops so we don’t forget. So the world doesn’t forget.

Perhaps this Mother’s Day will be a particularly happy one for you. For others, it may be more difficult--especially for those who are longing to have children. I remember sitting in several Mother’s Day Sacrament meetings during the past few years, with tears in my eyes because of the stinging reminders of what I lacked. We had gone through the difficult process of being diagnosed with infertility and had limited time to have children. We also had experienced the rigors of completing and submitting our papers for adoption, knowing that it would take a miracle to be placed with a baby in the country where we live. We had done everything we could, and I felt helpless. While my husband never doubted or wavered in his faith that we would have children, I still felt sad, confused and disappointed. Never at the speakers or the doctrine of motherhood (I love it and have a huge testimony of it!) It was more of feeling of wondering why the most important part of Heavenly Father’s plan was being withheld from a temple worthy, covenant keeping couple that had always been faithful and loyal to Him. However, the Spirit was telling me that I still needed to go deeper and get closer to my Heavenly Father in order to be tutored by this trial and to not let it consume me. There had to be a reason for all of this, and I needed to find it out for myself. That was a pivotal decision for me, and I embarked on a process that was absolutely necessary for my path to becoming a better disciple of Jesus Christ and a more trusting, believing daughter of God.

The answers came gradually, but profoundly. Some are too personal to share. Others came in the form of tremendous opportunities and the opening of unexpected doors. It is impossible to transfer this understanding to another, because each of us must go through this intense path of discovery for ourselves. However, a powerful answer came while listening to an interview with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. It cut to the center of my heart. I finally understood what the Lord was trying to teach me. It is a principle that applies to all women and all circumstances, and was a message that totally changed my perspective. I quote from him here:

“I don’t know how it is for everybody, but I know that in my own life, salvation is not a cheap experience. No one is going to have rich, abundant experience for minimal effort. God’s opportunity is our extremity. I don’t want that to sound depressing, I don’t want to make it sound that it always has to be hard, because it doesn’t. It isn’t always hard. You know it isn’t always hard. And there are wonderful blessings. But I do believe that there is something in this walk of salvation--this quest--that says we have to pay something for that. When we come to know the Savior, it is when we’ve been out at least in the borderlands of Gethsemane. The road to salvation always goes through Gethsemane. And it will always require a journey to the summit of Calvary.”

Elder Holland continues, “If we say we are Disciples of Christ, then we walk where He walked, we feel what He felt, we pray the way He prayed, and we shed the tears He shed—at least in some proportion. At least in some symbol. The invitation always is: Come, follow me. But what we have to be fully prepared for is that some of that journey will be into at least the borderlands of Gethsemane. At least somewhere in the shadow of Calvary. I do not know any other way that it can happen. My convictions and feelings for the Savior of the world have been born in the most desperate hours of my life. … Now it isn’t always like that, and it isn’t supposed to always be like that, and we’re a little self-pitying if we act like it’s always like that. But some parts of the discipleship require that walk. Basically, His walk.”

I can say with certainty, that I have been shown a deeper understanding of why trials—especially those unique to women—are necessary while walking the path of discipleship. There are also wonderful blessings and incredible opportunities that come from being a righteous woman and a righteous mother in the last days. The doctrine of motherhood and the divine role of women are constant, unchanging and beautiful! This Mother’s Day is the perfect opportunity to be reminded of the value our Heavenly Father places on every righteous woman, wherever she may be in her unique journey towards discipleship.

****

Angela Peterson Fallentine was born and raised in a Alberta, Canada and is a Canadian turned Kiwi (a Can-iwi). She and her husband fell in love with the scenery and peaceful lifestyle of New Zealand and they now call these islands in the South Pacific "home". She loves being a wife and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Take some time to enjoy the many insights of all of our guest bloggers, 12 Voices total (including mine here) who have shared thoughts on womanhood and motherhood over the last few days here on WBMW:

Motherhood "That is influence. That is power."

Nevada's 2013 Young Mother of the Year Shares Thoughts on Motherhood

Reconciling the Okay Mom and Anti-Mom

Mothering With Power, Strength and Conviction

Motherhood, I Will Rejoice in it Forever!

Good News and Bad News on Motherhood

Guest Post: Motherhood "That is influence. That is power."

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Sun, 12 May 2013 06:07:00 +0000

I have long conversations with my next guest blogger, Michelle Linford, of Mormon Women: Who We Are, and usually late at night. I highly respect and admire the good that this LDS woman does online, to honor women and support the work of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I've had the pleasure of meeting Michelle on one of my trips up to Utah, for General Conference. She's one of 'those people' that you instantly feel like you've known all your life, in like, five minutes. It's a pleasure to honor Michelle Linford, for her valiant service in strengthening the daughters of God, and continually placing before them those things that are of great worth to all women, as they journey toward their eternal home.

My friend, and sister in Christ, Michelle Linford...

The Bible Dictionary tells us that only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness. To me, that suggests that nowhere in the world is the potential for channeling and experiencing God's power the same as in the temple and in our homes

That has been my experience, and experiencing His power has often come in simple (sometimes even mundane) moments. For example, I have felt God's power when:

- I had very sick children (a severe and persistent stomach bug -- my nemesis!), and the Spirit whispered something akin to, "There is nothing more important that you could be doing than caring for your child right now."

- I take the time to make a meal and gather my family around the table for dinner and dinner conversation. (I call this our little gathering of Israel!)

- I learned about food storage and how to bake bread. I don't make it very often, but it felt good to learn a skill that can benefit my family in a temporal way.

- I look at a child eye-to-eye and just listen.

- I tuck my kiddos in at night. (Thus far, they haven't outgrown that. I hope they never do. I was moved when my husband recently told our teenage son that he wished his mom would still come tuck him in. Do we ever really outgrow the need for a mother?)

- I teach and learn and listen when we discuss the gospel together -- sometimes in those fleeting moments during the day (the ones that sometimes I miss when I'm too busy!)

- I laugh and play and work and walk and talk with my children.

- I stop to enjoy sunsets and stargazing and cuddle time and council time and....

(What are some of the things on your list?)

In a world continuously urging women to look and lean outside the home for fulfillment and influence and power, I'm grateful that our doctrine and the Spirit continually remind me that "There is eternal influence and power in motherhood" (-Julie B. Beck, "Mothers Who Know").

****

Michelle is a wife and mom of three. Before marriage and motherhood blessed her life, she served a mission, got a B.S. in Psychology and an MBA (Organizational Behavior emphasis), and worked as a business consultant. She's been grateful to be a stay-at-home mom since her first child was born. Her hobbies include volunteering on a college advisory board and as managing editor of mormonwoman.org.

WBMW:

Woman: "The Crowning Creation and Glory of the Human Experience"

Mormon Women, Priesthood and Equality

Photo: LDS.org

Nevada's 2013 Young Mother of the Year Shares Thoughts on Motherhood

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Sat, 11 May 2013 19:40:00 +0000

Today I have the fun of having Montserrat Ventura Wadsworth, as a guest blogger here on WBMW. I say 'fun' for a variety of reason, not the least of which being that Monserrat is simply just that, and so much more. To be honest, if I had come upon her in my own early years of mothering, I would have turned immediately the other way upon seeing her in the halls at church and run; can you say 'intimidating'? With the rise in our ability to get to know each other, which the Internet now provides, we are able to break through barriers that once kept us from truly seeing that we are actually more alike that once perceived. (If we choose to use it that way.) I first came to know Montserrat when writing together about our love for The Family Proclamation and found that she, too, loves chocolate; a match made in heaven. It's been up hill since as you can imagine. If you have similar interests, stay with us, and don't let anything she might say, such as changing a 'dirty diaper', intimidate you.

Montserrat Ventura Wadsworth, I honor you for all that you do to inspire other women to rise up and claim their god-given divine nature to mother others, in whatever way is before them...

Recently I was in a public restroom changing my newborn son's soiled diaper. A middle-aged woman walked in and started cooing over him. "He is so adorable! How old is he?" I replied that he was two weeks old. "Oh!" she exclaimed, "so tiny! Is he your first?" I took a big breath, looked her square in the eyes, smiled really big and said, "No. He's my tenth." I braced myself for the reaction I knew would come. It is the same response I've had from almost every stranger I've met since my fourth child was born. "Tenth? Don't you know what causes this?" As if all of a sudden this cute tiny baby is now a disease. "Sure. A lot of prayer and an answer from God that another blessing should come to our family." "Good Lord," she cursed. I smiled again, "Yes, the Lord is good, isn't He?" Disarmed by my comment she turned and left. I've heard them all and have a good comeback for each. It's unfortunate I have to have any to begin with.

Our society has shifted to a place where children are becoming less valued, less wanted, more of a burden than a blessing. Oh, the first one or two a family welcomes into their home are celebrated but three, four, five or more and a couple is walking on dangerous ground. And people aren't afraid to let you know it. The world is focusing on the wrong thing. They are tied to the earth and all its earthly pleasures. Child raising, while it does cost money, is not merely a temporal pursuit. This is an heavenly business! The immortal souls of men are at stake and heaven is there to help us through it. It is service of the highest order caring for God’s children. I love how Elder Jeffrey R. Holland puts it,

“Through these years, mothers go longer on less sleep and give more to others with less personal renewal for themselves than any other group I know at any other time in life. . . Do the best you can through these years, but whatever else you do, cherish that role that is so uniquely yours and for which heaven itself sends angels to watch over you and your little ones” (emphasis added).

I have felt those angels helping me more times than I can count. Earthly angels in the form of friends, family, other mothers and aunts who fill in the gaps where I am lacking. Heavenly angels, great-grandmothers from ages past, who have experienced similar worry and heartache and joy and are cheering me on. I feel their presence. And I am in awe. What power this great institution of motherhood wields! With that power comes great responsibility. It may not seem like it in the every day, in and out, repetitive nature of the daily tasks we perform as mothers. We can easily loose sight of the "heavenly business" we are associated with when our days are far from heavenly.

"As mothers, our work is not washing diapers and mending holes in jeans—that is what we spend much of our time doing, but it is not our work. Our work is rearing children; but it is much more than that, for we rear our children to fulfill their potential. We might have dreams of their success on earth, but we are being shortsighted. For them to be successful, they must inherit the celestial kingdom. The little people with whom we share our homes are more than gifts from God. They are gods in embryo themselves. Our work is to help them realize that awe-inspiring fact and then to live so that they will not fall short of their divine potential.

"Clothes may have to be mended and dishes washed, gardens tended, floors swept, and beds made, but all these things are gifts of God to us. They are tools that we may use to develop our own divinity and help our children develop theirs. We don’t become righteous in spite of dishes, diapers, and dirty floors, but through them. We sweep floors, weed gardens, tend babies, and learn and grow—our spirits along with our bodies. No one grows in a vacuum. One does not just sit in a white room and think great thoughts and thus become divine. The earth and everything on it are designed to function as a great schoolroom; the things we need to develop our celestiality are here. Divinity is developed in us as we use the tools of the earth to create our own celestial environments—houses of God." (Petrea Kelly, The Joys of Motherhood)

"We don’t become righteous in spite of dishes, diapers, and dirty floors, but through them." I just love that line. On my living room wall I have the following quote in big vinyl letters "Only the HOME can compare with the TEMPLE in sacredness." My home can be sacred, even with Cheerios spilled on the floor and peanut butter fingerprints on the wall. It is the attitude with which I approach my mothering that will make it sacred and holy. I am very aware of my shortcomings, my faults, and my lack in some areas so it amazes me that despite all of my failings God still trusts me and my husband to take care of these souls sent to us as our children. In the Family Proclamation we read, "Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity." Oh, I am so thankful for a wonderful husband who stands by my side encouraging me, sustaining me on my less than perfect days! To be honest, that means every day. It makes all the difference in the world to have him there by my side. I love motherhood! There is so much I have learned about myself and about the Lord through serving my family and my children. Recently I have had the honor to be named Nevada's 2013 Young Mother of the Year from American Mothers, Inc. I get to be a representative of motherhood. Me with the unorganized house and moldy food in the fridge, who has to count heads so no one is forgotten when we are out and about, and who, on occasion loses her temper and yells at her kids. Imperfect me gets to represent all of us imperfect mothers as we journey this road together.

What a glorious journey it is!

****

Growing up Montserrat thought she would change the world by discovering cures for diseases. She was well on her way when she entered college at 15. God had other plans for her life. Now as the mother of 10 children she is changing the world one child at a time. Maybe one of them will find a medical cure instead! Montserrat blogs about her families varied adventures homeschooling and farming, crafts, recipes, and living her faith.

Chocolate on my Cranium: http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/

A little too much chocolate is just about right.

Chocolate is cheaper than therapy and you don't need an appointment.

Note: To learn more about Montserrat's journey in being chosen to become Nevada's Young Mother of the Year, you can read the post she wrote on her blog here: http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-taste-of-humble-pie.html (She probably won't like that I've included this link; because she did not. But, I thought that some of you would enjoy learning more. And because I'm here in Southern California and she's out on some farm, there's not a whole lot she can do about it. Right?) ❤ツ

You can also watch this video to learn more about American Mothers, the organization.

2013 AmericanMothers from AmericanMothers on Vimeo

Guest Post: Reconciling the Okay Mom and Anti-Mom

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Sat, 11 May 2013 00:41:00 +0000

The more I spend time getting to know other LDS women, who are willing to give us a glimpse into their very personal lives, and how they faithfully strive to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the midst of the realities of everyday life (The honest kind, and not the cutesy life, that is often portrayed online; which for some may be true.) the greater respect I gain for their faithfulness and example, and desire to recommit myself in my own efforts to try just a little more, each day, to lift another along the way, too.

I see that quality in both of these covenant mothers who have agreed to share their thoughts on mothering in this post: Joyce Brinton Anderson and Stephanie Dibbs Sorenson; two strong voices for righteous principles. I love and respect both of these sisters and feel a great bond with each of them; bound tightly with our love for the truths of the gospel, and a commitment to the same covenants.

It's a pleasure to honor Joyce Brinton Anderson and Stephanie Dibbs Sorensen: two covenant mothers among women...

Joyce Brinton:

I go in and out of phases in my like of Mother’s Day.

There have been years where I have loved it. There have been years, especially when I was in the throes of fertility issues, that I conveniently found myself in the ladies room hiding on Mother’s Day. This year I feel like I am on an “out” phase, and I have not been looking forward to Mother’s day at all. And I figured out why.

Reconciliation.

I am in a phase of reconciliation with motherhood and myself right now.

I am in the middle of figuring out what I want and who I want to be as a mom. Some might laugh at that, as I have a few kids and I’ve been doing this gig a few years now. But it’s true, just when I think I’ve got it down, I realize I don’t have it down and I need to reconcile what I know, with what I want to be, and where I am taking my family.

Here is the advice I am giving myself this Mother’s Day:

I am me, and I can be whatever kind of mom I choose or want or need to be. It’s ok that I am not a feminist. It’s ok that I have, wisely, given up arts and crafts. It’s ok that I am not trying to run a home business or trying to be involved with too much outside of my home. It’s ok that some days I don’t get dressed till after lunch and that I don’t really enjoy running around the park with my kids. It’s ok that I am happy to be a stay at home mom, even on the hard days. It’s ok that I never want to return to the job I had before I was a mom, and that if I do need or want to work in the future I can choose something different. And it’s ok that I can do things differently than my mom did when I was a kid. It’s ok that I do things differently than my friends or siblings do with their kids and it’s ok if I decide to change how I do things from time to time.

It is hard work to reconcile what the world expects of me, and what the LDS community expects of me, and what I expect of me, but I am slowly figuring it out. Some days are harder than others, and sometimes I feel like I am a spectacular failure, and that’s ok too. Just as long as I remember what Anne Shirley wisely said, “tomorrow is a brand new day with no mistakes in it” and that I can make tomorrow’s motherhood whatever I want it to be.

****

Joyce Brinton Anderson is a mother, wife, sister, school teacher, Bulgarian speaker, conservative, lover of good music, social media junky and sometimes a whole lot of trouble. She and the family reside in a remote mountain community where great discoveries have been made. When not changing the world, she enjoys the occasional bowl of chips and salsa.

You can also follow Joyce on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theatomicmom

Stephanie Dibbs Sorensen:

A while back, I came upon a headline in my news feed called “The Rise of TV’s ‘Anti-Mom’.” I don’t really recommend the article, but its main points alarmed me. It summarized the evolution of the way mothers are portrayed in popular television programs, tracing their history from Beaver’s mom and Donna Reed, to Carol Brady, Mrs. Huxtable, and then into Rosanne and some current mother characters in “Desperate Housewives” and “Modern Family.”

The implications are obvious. What society expects from mothers has drastically changed. We now celebrate, cheer for, and empathize with what the article calls “flawed moms,” claiming that the happy, organized mothers of the past “set up an atmosphere for women that was just impossible to actually stand by.”

Reading the article made me sad. And it didn’t even touch on the dangerous “reality” TV moms. The very concept of “anti-mom” shows a shift from concern and care for others to an obsession with self and individualism. I immediately thought of Sister Julie Beck’s recent talk and this bold claim:

“A lot of the antifamily messages that you are hearing are targeting young women. Satan knows that he will never have a body; he will never have a family. He will target those young women who create the bodies for the future generations and who should teach the families. They don’t even know what they’re being taught in the messages. It’s just seeping in, almost through their pores. Because Satan can’t have it, he’s luring away many women, and also men, and they’re losing conﬁdence in their ability to form eternal families.

. . . . Anti-Christ is antifamily. Any doctrine or principle our youth hear from the world that is antifamily is also anti-Christ. It’s that clear. They need to know that if it’s antifamily, it’s anti-Christ. An anti-Christ is antifamily.”

I don’t have a large platform or a very loud voice, but my testimony demands that I defend the divinity of motherhood, and I just can’t keep my mouth shut. I know that motherhood is more than a job. It certainly requires more than an actress. It is a calling, a purpose, and a mission. And despite what the media chooses to portray, motherhood is powerful, important, and critical to the happiness of families and society in general. We need to reclaim our role as mothers who know. When we do it as a group, we can make a difference in the world. As a team, we can show our children and others’ children a better way of doing family. We can build a generation with tools for happiness and worthy of God’s blessings. We have to, because there’s simply no room for the “anti-mom” in Zion.

****

Stephanie Dibbs Sorensen is a mother to three and teaches Church History and Doctrine at BYU. She blogs about finding faith in motherhood at her blog, Diapers and Divinity, and her new book, Covenant Motherhood, is available at most LDS retailers.

Guest Post: Mothering With Power, Strength and Conviction

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Fri, 10 May 2013 05:18:00 +0000

I'm honored to present four beautiful women in this post, who will share some of their sweet and profound thoughts about motherhood. Each one of them, have come into my life in different ways, but all of them, rooted in the very same cause: a love for the family as ordained by God. There have been more than a few occasions that each of us have had cause to find ourselves in either personal one-on-one conversation, or in a group discussion about serious issues affecting home and family, which all of us are deeply concerned about, and find reason to share a sweet sisterhood; which is why I am sharing all of these sisters with you this week. I can't think of a better way to connect with other LDS women, than on this occasion of honoring divine womanhood and every woman's inherent nature to mother.

I wish I could tell you, specifically, details about each of these women; worthy of your time to get to know beyond this page. Of the four, thus far I have only met Jan in person. And oh my, she is just as fun as you would think she would be, by looking at her in the picture you see here! And as wise as her writing.

Diane and I have plans to attend family conferences in the future. And Jocelyn and I will no doubt meet eventually; it's in the cards, I'm certain. It's not possible to keep crashing into the same person over this thing or that, and not be destined to be in the same place, eventually. Christina and I have recently found a connection. There is no doubt we are on a similar path; we think too much alike. I love how this great web continues to weave our lives together.

On this day, I honor four beautiful Mothers in Israel: Jocelyn Christensen, Christina Bartholomew, Diane Robertson and Jan Tolman, and thank them, for sharing a part of themselves, with us...

Jocelyn Christensen:

I love that my daughter wants me to scratch her back "for a long time" before she'll fall asleep at night. I love hearing her sing mostly incoherent words throughout the day, as if her heart is spilling out into a song that she cannot contain.

At age four, her schedule seems to be one long string of lyrics and melodies interrupted only by lunchtime, nap time, and dinner.

It is said that happy is the child who sings. But I know a companion truth: Happy is the woman who hears her children sing, day in and day out, within the walls of her home.

Sometimes my kids aren't singing. They are crying or screaming or arguing. And sometimes I'm the one who is snapping back. And do you know what the best sound is then? It's the sound of one or all of us saying, "I'm sorry, will you forgive me?"

Those words are often difficult for me to say to anyone else, but for my children, I'll be wrong a million times over in order for them to give me just one more chance to become better every day and one more chance to show them, "I love you forever, no matter what."

Some of the sweetest words I've ever heard as a mother, outside of "I love you," were spoken by my son the night before he started kindergarten. Seeing the mix of emotions in my eyes, he hugged me tight, as if he were the adult and I was the child, and said, "Don't worry Mom, you've done enough."

You've done enough. Words that we seldom hear in the world. However, in motherhood, it is rewarding to know that every once in a while, our very best is just exactly enough.

****
Jocelyn Christensen is a former TV producer (CNN) turned stay-at-home mother of four. She is the author of God Gave You a Body (a free download) and shares her love of motherhood, children, and the Savior at We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ.

Doing My Dream Job
Hearing our Children's Secret Wishes
The Man Who Knew the Tooth Fairy
Being the Temple Matron in Our Own Home

Diane Robertson:

My name is Diane Robertson. I am a stay at home mom to 9 kids, and wife to my best friend, John. My oldest is 15 and my youngest is 9 months. I wash about 4 loads of laundry a day and I have more dishes than I ever imagined possible outside a restaurant. I wouldn’t change my life.

This week I will be attending a reorganizing meeting for a non-profit political group that I write and volunteer for, United Families International/ United Families Utah. I work with some of the most amazing women I have ever met. They do so much good for families across the globe. I am honored to be a part of their organization. I feel called by God to be a part of their organization. With this organization, I stand up for political issues that affect the family. Sometimes this is frightening. I am not working on the glamorous politically-correct side. Still, this work is more exciting than changing diapers, wiping noses, and reading that favorite story for the one hundredth time.

When I go to this meeting, I will be asked to donate more time. I want to do more. Eventually, I want to do a lot more and eventually I can do a lot more. Family policy is important to me. My family is important to me too-- much more important to me. Right now, my family is young.

As a covenant mother, my first calling is to my family. There will be nothing I can do—not service—not a job—not a church calling—that is as important as my job as a mother. I will regret losing time with my young children if I make them my secondary job.

In today’s world, being a mother is not glamorous. Being a mother is looked down upon. You might get more praise from the world if you choose to be the manager of McDonald’s. Being a mother is hard work. You are not going to get a pay raise for a job well done. You will probably be tired every day. That is okay. Feeling tired, under appreciated, and overworked is very little cost for the joy your family and your children bring when motherhood is your number one priority. And that joy will last for today, for tomorrow and for always even as you wash that 1000^th load of laundry.

****

I blog about my family at The More the Merrier

I am a writer at the United FamiliesInternational Blog

Christina Bartholomew:

This week, we celebrate what some of my younger children refer to as "Smother's Day." After the way some of them behaved at Church recently, jostling for the prime position on my lap, breaking my necklace, refusing to attend nursery without me there and then writhing on my lap refusing to engage with the other children for the next hour and a half, I felt just a bit smothered.

My great-grandmother was fond of saying, "Your children are your priceless possessions." She said it often throughout her life. In her later years, as her mind got more and more confused and scattered, this one phrase would stay constant. She said it to everyone multiple times a day, and one day when she said it to me, I heard her daughter and primary care-giver mutter under her breathe in exasperation, "I feel possessed."

Smothered and Possessed. That's the way of life when you're the primary care-taker and nurturer full-time. Tied down. Letting your talents lie dormant and losing yourself and your intellect in the stifling stagnant atmosphere of your own home.

Or so many teach in the world today. Success is measured in wealth, power, and prominence, and choosing to stay at home nurturing children brings none of those things. It is a quiet road with few honors and recognitions.

But it has much to offer, this road. The Savior has taught that the worth of one individual soul is great and His ministry was so often to the one. He has taught that when we minister and help the “least of these” we are really serving him. The truth is, my children are not objects to be possessed, they are souls to be nurtured.

As a mother of nine precious souls, I’ve learned what it is to minister. Each child I have is unique and wonderful and it is a privilege to work in partnership with God to create a home that helps them to reach their very best potential. I am a gardener growing the most precious of plants. It’s not an easy job. The work is tiring, the weeds never-ending, the sun and storms unrelenting at times. Sometimes (ok – often) the call of the work comes in the middle of the night. Hardest of all is that my plants take time to cultivate and on a day-to-day basis, it’s hard to see the progress I’m making. Being a mother is not convenient, it’s not easy, and the call of more prominence or prestige could cause me to neglect these tender plants. But the satisfaction of knowing that God’s hand is in my life, directing my labors and helping me meet the needs of his precious children, is the greatest reward of all.

So I’m happy to accept being smothered and possessed at times. It’s part of the package of being given the greatest job in the world, that of Mother.

****
Christina Bartholomew is the mother of nine young children and blogs about life in a large family at http://handsfullmom.blogspot.com/

Jan Tolman:

Our role, as mothers, has been influential throughout history. Eve partook of the fruit that man (kind) might be. Rebekah knew just when to send Jacob in to receive his birthright (as father of the House of Israel). During hard times in life it is the mothers who stay home to save, preserve, and influence.

In our day, mothers need to be the spiritual lighthouses that call out and bring to safety Heavenly Father’s children.

Ever since Eve’s first profound words we women have understood what it means to bring life to this world. “Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil.” (Moses 5:11)

Later the Lord commands “to teach these things freely unto your children,” (Moses 6:58).

The Doctrine and Covenants declares that wives are given to men:

…to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfill the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified. (D&C 132:63)

I have a glorious purpose, as a woman of God, in this world and the world to come. The following explanation of this verse comes from Rodney Turner, a former professor of Religion at BYU:

“This remarkable statement greatly enlarges upon the stated reason for childbearing as found in biblical references. It establishes a four-fold purpose for marriage and procreation: a) to fulfill the measure of the earth’s creation by bringing upon it the spirit progeny of Man (1 Ne 17:36), b) to fulfill the Father’s promise to his spirit offspring that those who kept their first estate could be added upon with mortal bodies and thereby be given an opportunity to obtain eternal life (Abr 3:22-26), c) to enable those who did, in fact, gain eternal life to join their Father in his work and his glory by also bringing forth spirit offspring (Moses 1:39), and d) to assure the continuation of the never-ending work of God (D&C 132:31).” (Rodney Turner, Woman and the Priesthood, Deseret Book, 1974)

These are the last days and we have the fullness of the gospel. It is up to us, who are women of God, to bring to pass the opportunity for all of Heavenly Father’s children to be born on this earth, to teach them, raise them unto the Lord, and guide them to the temple, so that they can receive all the blessings unto salvation.

Thank you Mothers! For doing the work of the Lord with power, strength, and conviction.

****
Jan Tolman, wife, mother of six, grandmother of five, student, cook, writer, Relief Society President, voracious reader, sometimes insane. Please see her website at www.ldswomenofgod.com.

Guest Post: Motherhood, I Will Rejoice in it Forever!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Thu, 09 May 2013 18:12:00 +0000

I'm delighted that Cheryl Savage has recovered, sufficiently, from speaking at BYU Women's Conference, in order to share a few of her thoughts on motherhood here with us, on WBMW; and trust me, she has many. But I can assure you, that Cheryl is not the type that would want me, to in anyway, give you the impression that she is a supermom. No. Just the opposite. Cheryl is a realist. And that is why, perhaps, she and I connected in the first place; we are, both, quite frank, about most things in life; and willing to be open in talking to others about the more difficult parts of religion, and life in general.

Today, I honor Cheryl Savage: a faithful and powerful Mother in Zion...

Being a mother is hard work -- the hardest of work. I always assumed it would be something that would stretch me as a person. I heard the stories; I observed my mother and my aunts gathering around with their children, taking care of meals and healing scratches and letting out sighs of exasperation when we wouldn’t go to bed on time. But until I entered the trenches of motherhood, I could not have imagined what awaited me.

Motherhood has stretched me beyond anything I thought I could do. It has become my identity forever (for who can claim otherwise when a child gently whispers, “Mommy?”) and it brings to the surface all of my sins and flaws, mistakes and weaknesses. It is a schoolroom, where I find myself following after the only brief patterns I have seen in my life, relying on God, and searching for truth from prophets who know. I am staving off warriors of evil who would ensnare my children. It is an unseen battleground, and I am training as I go.

Motherhood has been the vehicle in which I have sacrificed much of my life. Following the promptings of the Spirit, I have given up and set aside much of who I was and what I thought I wanted in order to give my children what they need. Even interests I believed were helping our family have been given up in the name of Mother. Each sacrifice, each item checked off the list, each moment of letting go has been sanctified by the Holy Spirit of Promise and the knowledge that I do not do it blindly –because the Lord is with me.

Motherhood has given me a faith I didn’t know I held in my heart. Each time I say, “yea, Lord, thy will be done” and bring another child into this world, my courageous faith grows a little. Even when the clouds of my mind (depression) insinuate from a world’s perspective that I should give up and walk away, even when I am told my sacrifice is not needed, even when the rushing of the wind around me claims I am wasting my life… Even when! Because they do not see the tiny souls in my arms, nor the husband at my side, nor the light which resonates from our Rock.

Motherhood is my burden and my joy. I will rejoice in it forever.

BIO:

Cheryl has been blogging for many years about --but not limited to --her children (there are six), her husband (there is one), her depression (not fun), her travels (very fun!), her religion (loves it), and anything else that strikes her fancy. Right now she's probably reading a book or changing a diaper, maybe at the same time...

www.cherylthoughts.blogspot.com

BYU Women's Conference: Cheryl Savage: In Which I Spoke to Women about Womanhood and Motherhood

Guest Post: Good News and Bad News on Motherhood

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Thu, 09 May 2013 02:45:00 +0000

I woke up Monday morning, and as I usually do, lay in my bed, pondering. I soon found myself contemplating it being Mother's Day, this Sunday. It didn't take long before I was drawn back to the many years I dreaded the coming of that awful day. Insomuch, that I honestly wished I could sleep through it and wake up Monday; as if it had never happened. It took a determined and conscience effort to turn that attitude around, for which, today, I am deeply grateful that I made that decision to to do so. If I am describing you, or someone you know, I sincerely pray, that something, together, that we will do here, over the next few days, in honoring womanhood, and mothers, will lift your spirit and strengthen your soul, to in someway encourage you along your journey, as you continue on to fulfill your most important role as a daughter of God.

As I continued to think about what I wanted to do here on WBMW to honor mothers, I had this wonderful thought to reach out to some amazing LDS women that I've come to know online (some I've met), who also write, and invite them here, to share their thoughts about motherhood and being a woman, with you; so I did. You are in for a treat. Some you know, other you don't. I want to collectively thank them all, for their kind, immediate and incredibly enthusiastic response to my last-minute invitation. I've shed many tears, laughed out loud, and been profoundly enlightened by their teachings, as I have already read their words of wisdom.

Without further ado, I have decided to launch this honoring of mothers and womanhood with a bang! Which meant that I would begin this event with the one and only Dianne Hanks La Cour, known to many of you as Book of Mormon Reader! No one captivates an audience, or reads the BoM like Dianne! If you've never listened to her read a chapter on her nightly podcast, you are missing out. Dianne has a gift for finding what is relevant in the world today and connecting it to principles taught in the BoM. Your children will be captivated in this artistry and learn how to do this themselves.

Dear friends, Dianne Hanks La Cour, on motherhood...

By "Dazzling Dianne, Queen of Makeovers",

AKA "Book of Mormon Reader"

First, the bad news; Satan seethes with a deep-seeded hatred for celestial mothers. He desires to pluck away your children and your husband to destroy your family. If it weren’t for you, his sinister plan would permeate the entire world even more than we see now. You can see his determination and the lengths to which he will go to positively annihilate any and all seeds or fruits of righteousness and goodness. As such, you are and must be suited up every single minute of every single day for war.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that, suited up with the Lord’s infinite power (prayer and Priesthood), guide map (scriptures) and weapons of protection (covenants), you were specially chosen at this time because you already possess everything necessary to defeat him and knock him spiraling to the depths of hell; far, far away from your precious family, where he belongs. You are a skilled and capable warrior in every sense of the word, make no mistake. The Lord has entrusted you with his most special spirits and that’s because He knows you are up to the battle. You have proven yourself worthy of this most noble calling. No other requires so much devotion, patience, intelligence, and cunning strategy.

The weapons you have in your arsenal must be kept sharp and ready at any given moment. In addition to those already mentioned; Prayer, Priesthood, Scriptures, and Covenants,

Let me offer 11 WEAPONS that I have brandished myself or observed in conscientious mothers:

1) Be a student of your child. Find out their God-given talents and interests by assessing their intelligences. Locate an assessment tool online if you haven't already. Here is one I found on MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES Learn HOW they learn and share it with all their teachers if you don't home school. No two people on the planet share the exact same scores; so trying to teach all kids the exact same way is setting up many for failure. Know inherently that your child IS intelligent, you just have to mine the type of intelligence they possess.

2) Set them up to succeed by providing as many of the 40 Development Assets that help young people grow up healthy, caring, and responsible.

3) Use every surface your child sees to put something uplifting to read they can memorize and internalize; quotes, scriptures. Consider making a calendar with a different theme of quotes/scriptures that develop character; weekly or monthly make a change. Place the wisdom inside drawers, bathroom cabinets, towel cupboard, kitchen cabinets, mirrors, and doors, whatever!

4) Make sure each child has pictures of your temple, Jesus Christ, and the current prophet on the walls of their bedroom.

5) Use car time for singing, learning time, and patriotism. Place important things to memorize in a little packet in the seat pockets; 50 states, 50 capitals, the Preamble, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights. Quiz your kids, have fun! Play a part of a General Conference talk and ask if they recognize the voice of the apostle. Never yield your sacred time to the world.

6) Read with your children, and be silly while you do-- change your voices. Read scriptures every single day. Read something exciting, too. Introduce them to quality literature and poetry. Read fairy tales. Read mythology. Albert Einstein said, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” And Lady Montagu, in 1752, providing advice on raising her granddaughter said, "No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. She will not want new fashions nor regret the loss of expensive diversions or variety of company if she can be amused with an author in her closet.” "Wear the old coat and buy the new book," said Austin Phelps. Strickland Gillilan penned,

You may have tangible wealth untold.

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be –

I had a mother who read to me.

Finally, in Doctrine and Covenants 88:118 “… seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”

7) Nourish your children’s body and spirit with quality celestial food and your touch. Clutch them to you and tell them every day that you love them. Sing fun songs, sing hymns; sing, sing, sing! Never let the world feed your children with telestial pseudo food. Take seriously the responsibility and joy of nourishing your darlings. Think: ONE-ingredient foods, it is infinitely healthier and makes meal planning so simple, too! One mother whose children hated fast food when asked how she managed that said she drove them through the drive-thru, collected the toy and threw away the food. She did this about three times and they got the message. What a bargain when you consider the alternative!

8) Make holidays and birthdays special. Who else, but you, would make little leprechaun footprints in your house on St. Patrick's Day? Who else, but you, would make a sandwich for April Fool's Day with PICTURES of ham, pickles, mayonnaise between two pieces of bread? (My mom did that to us). Who else, but you, will pray in gratitude and hang the American Flag on Memorial Day and teach your children to honor true sacrifice and true heroes?

9) Teach proper etiquette – BE refined yourself. Manners are sorely missing, kids need moms to elevate and civilize them. This implies that YOU are a lady, too. Dress like it, talk like it, BE what God intends you to be; fully feminine. Daughters who have moms who take care of themselves emulate what they’ve learned. Wear dresses, makeup, fix your hair, and put on a little perfume. Viva la difference! Sons who adore their moms will adore their wives.

10) Whatever you do, don’t coddle your children. The world is a battlefield and your job is to prepare them to be ready at 12:01 AM on their 18^th birthday to face it alone. If you don’t, you do them and their future bosses, missionary companions, and spouses a HUGE disservice. One only has to glance around to see the spoiled, entitled, unappreciative, unhelpful, miserable, lazy generation that is now considered “adult”. It’s sickening, really.

Joseph F. Smith was driving a team of oxen at 8 years old, and served a mission at 15. Mary Kay was eight years old when she made all the meals, took care of her father, rode the bus into town and took in a movie. Kids will rise to your expectations, so make them HIGH and teach them to work work work!

Make them earn their own money and teach them to save and tithe it, not just spend it. Give them a real allowance that they can purchase their own toiletries and clothing. Experts recommend giving children a weekly allowance that corresponds to their age; so a 10 year old would get $10. That sounds like a lot, but remember YOU aren’t buying their stuff, THEY ARE! Not only will they truly look forward to saving for those shoes, they will take better care of them once they buy them.

11) Finally, share your way of life by documenting with photography, video and/or a blog. Just you being YOU, sharing your passions, along with snippets of your faith with others, provide a beacon of light to an otherwise darkening world. Once you integrate a few extra minutes to post on your blog or Facebook or Pinterest to your daily schedule, you will work out the discipline necessary to keep from getting sidetracked.

The war against our families is real. These weapons will help to provide guidance and protection as you slash your way through the adversary’s fiery darts with the sword of truth and love. Pure love is the most powerful weapon of all. What is a more pure love than that of divine motherhood? I know that God, our Heavenly Father, has a special place in His heart for His daughters who rear the family in righteousness.

A little about me:

My patriarchal blessing says, “The privilege of enjoying family life as a mother is truly the greatest blessing that can come to a young lady because you are a daughter of Father in Heaven and that is what He wants for you.” Can you imagine the comfort this provided when I was making education and career choices? If the Lord said that’s what HE wanted for me, then I aligned my will with His and have never regretted it, understanding we would be blessed because of our obedience.

When I was a mother of young children, I made sure that I was always home when they were. I found ways to make money that would still allow the flexibility necessary to make motherhood a priority. I thought at one point I would become a lawyer like my father, but quickly realized I would never be home, so I corrected my course of education to enhance my eventual role as a mother. I have always felt peace about that decision.

My love for the scriptures has increased exponentially the more time I devote to them. I am currently doing a daily podcast reading one chapter from The Book of Mormon, working my way backwards, along with commentary. It’s the first time I’ve included commentary publicly because I resisted sharing my own thoughts, naively thinking I might rob someone of their own inspiration. Now I know that’s silly; that my thoughts can actually inspire others to have their own inspiration BECAUSE of my thoughts. It’s been an interesting evolution.

One reason I do it is in the hopes that my children and one day my children’s children will tune in when they need to spend time with their mother or grandmother, since we can’t see each other on a daily basis anymore, now that they are grown adults. Can you imagine having YOUR mother or grandmother’s voice reading the scriptures? I would have loved to hear mine as well as their thoughts.

My Website:

My Pinterest Boards as Dazzling Dianne

My Book of Mormon Reader Daily Podcast:

My Pinterest Boards as Book of Mormon Reader

My about.me Profile

tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs

Photo Source: Molly Sleepin

Note: This post was edited 5/9/2013

The Verge Highlights LDS Church Family Search In Video and Feature Article

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:31:00 +0000

I want to briefly alert those of you interested in genealogy research that The Verge website has produced an outstanding report, following the recent RootsTech conference, updating the incredible advances within the industry.

No surprise that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family Search program is a prominent focus in both the video which they have produced, and that I've embedded here, and featured in an excellent article on their website.

"In March nearly 7,000 people traveled to the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, to spend the weekend at RootsTech, a yearly technology-focused genealogy conference sponsored by FamilySearch and a few other big names in the family history industry. Genealogy — the search for and documentation of one’s ancestors — and “technology” haven’t always been kissing cousins, but this conference speaks to and encourages a growing relationship between the two. The hobby, traditionally picked up near retirement age and most often by women, is now a billion-dollar industry with a growing younger demographic."

"In the past few years, finding and charting one’s family history has become trendy because it’s also become a lot easier to get started. Companies like Ancestry.com and FamilySearch have spent the last decade or so making all of their tools, records, and data available on the internet, revolutionizing genealogical research — and significantly lowering the barrier to entry in the process. What was once a pastime for older people or professionals with disposable income is quickly becoming a more mainstream pursuit. Taking a peek into the past now requires nothing more than a decent internet connection and a laptop. DNA testing, which just a few years ago cost thousands of dollars and offered little information for genealogists, is now a growing consumer option, reaching back hundreds of years to provide undreamed of amounts of information about our ancestors."

The Verge: Who am I? Data and DNA answer one of life’s big questions

Video: Spitting image: inside the big business of searching for our ancestors

tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs

Website: Family Search

Mormon Newsroom:

Family History Conference to Draw Over 5,000 Attendees

Mormonism in Pictures: Family History | 30 April 2013

Understanding Better Days Begins Now

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Tue, 07 May 2013 07:29:00 +0000

This week I'm focusing on women and motherhood, because it's Mother's Day this weekend. And because it feels like the right thing to be centered on; home and family. Which also makes it the perfect time to bring up this little book that I happen to really like; a lot: The Beginning of Better Days - Divine Instruction to Women from the prophet Joseph Smith.

It's a simple book, really. However, in it, is contained six sermons that the prophet gave in Nauvoo, wherein he taught specifically to the sisters, on a variety of issues that were of concern to the challenges that they were going through during those trying times, and of which today, not surprising, we can actually find parallels. These sermons are often referred to as the 'relief society minutes' and have only recently been readily available for anyone to read.

What adds to these little sermons, and makes them just a little more relevant to LDS women today, is the addition, at the very back of the book, of two essays: one written by Sheri Dew, the other by Virginia Pearce; both very insightful and, by LDS women I trust. I took the time to sit down and read both of these essays, as soon as I could get my hands on the book, immediately, when the book was first published. I'm ready to do it again, because I know when I dive back in this time, due to so much that is going on with current women's issues, I'm going to receive new insights that I know are important.

Book Description:

How important are women in the restored church of Jesus Christ? We learn something about the answer to the question from a simple historic fact: In 1842, the Prophet Joseph Smith took time to attend several meetings of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo and give personal instruction to the women there. He did this at a time of great personal turmoil, when persecutions were raging and his responsibilities were heavy. He did it at a time when society barely acknowledged women as having any kind of status at all. On six separate occasions, he taught the women personally about their privileges, their opportunities, their obligations, and the blessings the Lord had in store for them in His kingdom.

The Beginning of Better Days includes Joseph Smith's six timeless sermons to the women of Nauvoo, along with personal essays from Sheri Dew and Virginia H. Pearce that help us better understand the sermons and their relevance for Latter-day Saint women today. "We have attempted to share a little about our own processes of discovery regarding the sermons," writes the authors. "This is what worked for us. What works for you may be similar — or it may be completely different. The important thing is to dig in."

Video: Beginning of Better Days

To each individual sister, understanding her own 'better days' can begin 'now' -- as she takes it upon herself to ponder the counsel given by the Prophet Joseph Smith those many years ago, to see potentially how his inspired direction fits into her own life today...

tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs

WBMW:
A Very Special Mother's Day Video

Taking Mom Out of Mother's Day - Have We Gone Too Far?

Woman: "The Crowning Creation and Glory of the Human Experience"

A Very Special Mother's Day Video: To Every Mother

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Mon, 06 May 2013 23:19:00 +0000

Not much information was provided along with this video, just posted, in time for Mother's Day; although it clearly speaks for itself. But apparently it was produced in association with a number of faith oriented groups, and I'm assuming one of those, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) as a reminder to all of us, the importance of motherhood and the family.

Regardless, you're going to love this touching video, and you'll definitely want to share it with 'Every Mother' (its title), you know...

Video: To Every Mother

Link to share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PTfOA0gF08

To Every Mother...

Every time a child is born

So is a Mother.

An eternal bond is formed.

As you grow, your mother is there

There to tuck you in

to cheer you up

There to teach

There to send you off

and to listen

when you call

There to encourage you as you explore

create

and dance the night away

There to encourage

to build faith.

There by your side, when others have left you

There in good times

and hard times

There in the details of daily life

Life doesn't come

with a manual

it comes with a Mother

This Mother's Day thank the women who have

loved, mentored, and mothered you.

This year for Mother's Day, in order to honor the sacred calling of mother, I've extended an invitation to some exceptional LDS women; my friends -- who also blog -- to come over to WBMW and share some of their personal insights about motherhood. I've had such a delightful response, and so this Wednesday evening I'll begin sharing those special 'words of wisdom' with you.

tDMg

Kathryn Skaggs

Photo source: screenshot taken from video

Mormon Newsroom: Homage to the Home: Why Society Needs Strong Families

WBMW: Past thoughts on Mother's Day...

Taking Mom Out of Mother's Day - Have We Gone Too Far?

Woman: "The Crowning Creation and Glory of the Human Experience"

Set Apart: To Sing, Serve and Share Testimony of His Gospel!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 01:29:00 +0000

Lest I am accused of playing favorites, and particularly by my nephew, Jonathan Skaggs, a proud member of the BYU Men's Chorus, I am, in fact, here to make sure you are aware of the recently released album, Set Apart: Beloved Missionary Hymns, being made available as a free download! And, to give you a little behind the scenes insight, with his help.

I say this, because I have given great attention to the flurry of excitement in the lowering of the age of women who desire to serve a Mormon mission and the influx of new sister missionaries into the field; and rightfully so, as this is unprecedented in the history of the LDS Church!

As the Lord hastens His work, this totality in missionary service is thrilling for all to observe as we witness the rolling forth of the stone cut out of the mountain as it continues to gain momentum before our very eyes!

As my very first guest blogger, in the history of WBMW, it is my sincere pleasure to have Jonathan share his experiences both in the choir and in preparation to serve the Lord, full-time, as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for two years.

Jonathan Skaggs...

In August 2013, I became a member of the Men's Chorus at Brigham Young University, the nation's largest collegiate men's choir. There have been many wonderful experiences. I especially love singing hymns! In high school I often felt the spirit of our Savior when singing the hymns and other Christian music in different venues. However, this year has been a crowning experience as we had to strive to learn all the music necessary to reach our goals. We have been able to learn several pieces of music each week in preparation. We have performed in many different concerts.

The BYU Men’s Chorus recently sang in General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; but our biggest accomplishment is even greater. It began a few years ago when our director, Sister Rosalind Hall, felt she should reach a greater audience and wanted to accomplish more with the BYU Men’s Chorus. She decided to stretch the men beyond previous capacity. We were going to sing a full length concert at the Touchan Theater in Saint George, Utah, in November of last year. We prepared diligently for our performance and learned more songs than ever before; without sacrificing our sound. Everything was ready to go a week before when we were told the disappointing news that we would not be preforming at Touchan because of bad weather. We decided to turn this lemon into lemonade, by throwing a free concert here at Brigham Young University.

BYU Men's Chorus 2013

The semester was coming to a close and we performed a concert at the Mission Training Center. The Spirit was so strong it was almost tangible. Immediately following the concert we had our last meeting with the choir and Sister Hall announced to us her plan for the next semester. With President Monson’s missionary announcement, she wanted to do something for all missionaries. Missionaries are limited to spiritual and uplifting music while they serve a mission. She also wanted to reach a greater audience by creating a CD of beloved missionary hymns to be able to download absolutely free of charge.

After winter break we embarked on this journey. Putting the whole thing together was more work than I thought it would be; and I knew it was going to be a lot. We are an excellent choir, but there is no way that we could have done this project without the help of the Lord. I could often feel his presence as we sang and knew that we were doing what the Savior wanted to us to do.

I leave on a full time mission to the Argentina Rosario Mission on July 3, 2013. I know that the Lord has called me to serve in Argentina, and that as I learn to trust in Him he will bless me to bring the Gospel to the pure in heart. I am very excited to have this inspired CD that I can take on my mission, and that it will help me be more in tune with the Spirit. I have learned when we are striving for a righteous cause, Christ will help us to do his work and bless us in other ways also. I know that this is His work and He is hastening the Work!

Thank you Jonathan! You will be a tremendous Missionary in God's Army! Thank you for sharing your special experiences, and sweet testimony, with all of us here on WBMW. Now, everyone please go and download this beautiful album and share it with everyone you know!

Download Set Apart: Beloved Missionary Hymns FREE HERE.

"It’s not surprising that the BYU Men’s Chorus is often referred to as a “missionary choir.” If any choir knows the joy, excitement, dedication, difficulty, trials, and tears of missionary work, this one does. Nearly two-thirds of the 180 members have already served full-time missions for the Church, and most of the others either have their calls or are awaiting their assignment. Collectively, they’ve given over 2 million hours of missionary service, having walked, biked, driven, flown, and even canoed over 7.8 million miles to preach the gospel. These men have served in 98 different missions, speaking 31 languages, and covering 67 countries and 23 of the United States." The Set Apart Project

You can also LIKE BYU Men's Chorus Facebook Page

tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs

More from WBMW:

Boy Scouts of America Propose Brilliant Plan: Upset Pretty Much Everyone

Update: LDS Church Releases Brilliant Statement in Response BSA Proposal

Newly Called Sister Missionaries Unite and Create EPIC Video

New Missionary Age Requirement: It's NOT about you!

LDS Church Releases Brilliant Statement in Response BSA Proposal

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:06:00 +0000

In a very surprising move, probably to most, the Mormon Newsroom released an official statement today from leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in response to the Boy Scouts of America's highly controversial proposal to include openly gay youth in the program, that no doubt has set off, already, more than a few camp fires!

From the Mormon Newsroom:

"For 100 years, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has enjoyed a strong, rewarding relationship with Boy Scouts of America (BSA).

Recently, BSA has been reviewing a possible policy change in its standards for membership and leadership. Now that BSA has finished its review process and has proposed a resolution for consideration, the Church has issued the following statement:

“Over the past several weeks BSA has undertaken the difficult task of reviewing its membership standards policy. In their own words, this undertaking has been 'the most comprehensive listening exercise in its history.'

"While the Church has not launched any campaign either to effect or prevent a policy change we have followed the discussion and are satisfied that BSA has made a thoughtful, good-faith effort to address issues that, as they have said, remain 'among the most complex and challenging issues facing the BSA and society today.'

"The current BSA proposal constructively addresses a number of important issues that have been part of the on-going dialogue including consistent standards for all BSA partners, recognition that Scouting exists to serve and benefit youth rather than Scout leaders, a single standard of moral purity for youth in the program, and a renewed emphasis for Scouts to honor their duty to God.

"We are grateful to BSA for their careful consideration of these issues. We appreciate the positive things contained in this current proposal that will help build and strengthen the moral character and leadership skills of youth as we work together in the future.”

To those who regularly read this blog, it is doubtful that I need to say much about how I feel right now, as I went out on a limb only a few days ago, and basically said that I prayed that this would be the direction that the Church would take, and why. Needless to say, I am so pleased with this decision, as it is consistent with not only the current outreach to our gay brothers and sisters, but it is, in my opinion, how the Savior also would have responded.

tMDg
Kathryn Skaggs

WBMW: Boy Scouts of America Propose Brilliant Plan: Upset Pretty Much Everyone

Photo Credit: LDS.org

I Can't Go to World Congress of Families So I'm Sending Angela!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:04:00 +0000

Angela Fallentine (You all remember our courageous defender of the family!) needs our help to send her to next month's World Congress of Families, being held in Sydney, Australia. Angela has agreed that she'll report back, right here, and keep us informed with ongoing updates throughout this very important global conference on the FAMILY!

As soon as Angela told me about her desire to attend WCF, but her lack of means to get there, I was excited to get involved and help raise funds to get her there, as a way of vicariously going myself; and you can go, too! Angela knows that preserving the family means as much to all of us here at WBMW, as it does to her; she just needs a little help from a few good friends.

One of the highlights of this year's World Congress of Families is getting to hear our own Sheri Dew, who will be a keynote speaker (Trying to not be totally jealous.), who yes, Angela will, in our place, go and listen to, and report back, right here, on everything she has to say on the family!

There isn't a more wonderful person to address World Congress of Families than Sheri Dew!

In a world where women are turning away from the family and losing as their first priority the nurture and care of children, Sherri Dew stands at the forefront of successful, independent single women, who, no doubt would have given it all up, in a heartbeat, for a family of her own. I have such deep respect for her, in that as she has forged ahead in both her church assignments, with faithful dedication, as well her very successful, professional career, she has never missed the opportunity to share her humble testimony of where her inner most desires truly reside.

Now, back to the purpose of this post!

This is a great opportunity to have Angela go to WCF and bring back to us what she learns in helping to preserve the family! I know she'll do a great job. If each of us contribute whatever amount we are able, I am confident it will be money well invested! Not only that, your donation will say that YOU stand for FAMILY!

By golly, the way I see things, if I can't go to World Congress of Families then I'm going to do everything I can to help Angela go, because I know she is just as passionate about traditional marriage and family as I am, and will soak up every minute of the conference as I would, and will do an even better job than I would of reporting back here to all of us about what she learns! Not a bad return for whatever small amount we are willing to give her to attend.

So, to my faithful WBMW readers...

Let's send Angela to World Congress of Families!

*** Click Here to Contribute***

tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs

Angela Fallentine Goes Before New Zealand Parliament: Stands For Traditional Marriage

Official Website: World Congress of Families

Boy Scouts of America Propose Brilliant Plan: Upset Pretty Much Everyone

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 05:23:00 +0000

The Boy Scouts of America will present an important proposal at their meeting next month, that if passed will become effective January 2014, which will allow openly gay youth to fully participate in the scouting program; but will continue to ban openly gay adults. In my initial, positive response, I quickly came to realize that I was among very few who share similar feelings; and this, surprisingly, coming from both the left and right; Mormons and gays.

The instigating of this potential change in BSA policy

Due to increased pressure from the homosexual community and many of their commercial allies, who some have either already withdrawn funding or are threatening to withdraw monetary support if gays are not allowed to fully participate, BSA have been compelled to spend a considerable amount of time, since February, on an extensive journey with the intent to mine the best possible solution; so as not to compromise their long held conservative, religious values. This process has resulted in excellent feedback from those who are longtime supporters of the scouting program, and the general public, who have a great interest in the future of scouting in America; some who are strongly opposed to any changes and some who feel changes are a must.

But even with all of the input that BSA received, they freely admit the issue to be "among the most complex and challenging issues facing BSA and society today" and acknowledged the extreme difficulty in determining the possible impact of policy changes, of any kind, will ultimately have; but most agreed that youth should not be denied the benefits of scouting.

In regard to the proposed resolution, BSA made this statement: "The proposed resolution also reinforces that Scouting is a youth program, and any sexual conduct, whether heterosexual or homosexual, by youth of Scouting is contrary to the virtues of Scouting."

The message I hear in that statement, is that although openly gay youth would be welcomed to participate in BSA, they will be required to adhere to the existing standards of BSA; which I can't imagine anyone would find an unreasonable requirement for those wanting to participate in a group with a known expectation.

BSA proposal being viewed as caving into social pressure

This seems to be the popular, initial opinion that I'm hearing and reading online, from most... that BSA with this proposal is conceding by allowing openly gay youth to participate, but not allow openly gay adults to be leaders; is just a way to meet the gay community half-way.

In fact, some conservative Christian groups are promoting a specific day to get behind BSA and send a message of support. It is their belief that by doing so, perhaps BSA will have the strength to stand up against being bullied by the gay agenda and not allow openly gay youth to participate. (see video below)

Video: Stand With Scouts Sunday

Let me say publicly, that I'm opposed to this response. Not because I think that my fellow Christians are necessarily wrong. I just feel that they've not really thought this through completely, and that currently they are acting out of fear. Because once they do think it through, I honestly believe that they will begin to see this proposal, allowing gay youth to participate in the BSA program, as an opportunity to emulate the teachings of Jesus Christ.

As we've heard from BSA, the extensive research that they've conducted to reach this proposal is what brought them to this conclusion. Reuters reported that, "A report on the matter found religious groups linked to the Scouts were concerned with homosexual adult leaders, not with youth, and concluded "a change in the membership policy specific to youth only would be consistent with the religious beliefs of the BSA's major chartered organizations."

I think this is significantly, significant!

How I think BSA proposal could work for the LDS Church (Note: These are just my personal thoughts, as I am not in any way speaking on behalf of the LDS Church)

I'll admit, perhaps, that I probably view this BSA proposal through a different lens than most; due to the fact that I frequently blog about issues relating to gay Mormons. In other words, I see this proposal as a positive for faithful gay Mormons in the LDS Church; and from that perspective, I can see this as a very, very good thing! And not only for gay youth, but for faithful gay Mormon adults, too.

I also see this as a positive for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in their outreach to the homosexual community in general. Of course the Church will wait to give any official response or decisions until after BSA have taken their vote and made a final policy decision. Meanwhile I imagine the Church will prayerfully consider every angle of what accepting this proposal would mean for the Church.

Michael Purdy, Church Spokesman made this statement, "The Church has been provided a copy of the new resolution regarding membership standards for BSA. Church leaders will take the time needed to fully review the language and study the implications of this new proposal. We note that BSA will make a final decision on this matter at their National Annual Meeting next month."

Anything we discuss at this point is simply speculation about what hasn't even been decided by BSA, nor accepted by the LDS Church. If the first does occur, it would be very surprising, at least from my perspective, to imagine the Church not supporting BSA considering the current outreach to the homosexual community and the feedback BSA received. Again, I absolutely see this as a potential positive and even a brilliant proposal by BSA; almost tailor made for the Mormons!

Let's imagine....

Within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, faithful gay Mormons, could potentially be called, if their bishop or branch president felt inspired to do so, to serve as leaders in the scouting program of their branch or ward; because although they are same-gender attracted, they do not practice homosexual behavior. Faithful gay Mormons, most single, have chosen a life of complete celibacy, in making the choice to be obedient to God by keeping His commandment to stay morally clean. In my opinion, these individuals would make excellent leaders to serve with our youth!

In considering gay Mormon youth, it's important to remember that all youth, 12 through 18 (Usually the time when we would be concerned about most morality issues.) homosexual or heterosexual, regularly meet with their bishop for worthiness interviews to discuss personal spiritual challenges and growth. And certainly issues of gender identity require spiritual guidance.

All youth need the youth programs of the Church. The gospel of Jesus Christ is all inclusive, and in my opinion if this push by the homosexual community has forced BSA to include gay youth, then perhaps we are seeing the Hand of the Lord in action; as I can't imagine He would want it any other way. So in this case of gay advocacy, it has worked in favor of God's children; in my opinion.

I am not a scouting expert and so this post is not addressing many of the issues that those of you who are, may be concerned about. I realize that there are many of you who are thinking of the many logistics of having openly gay youth in the program. I understand your initial fears of things you don't fully understand and/or are not comfortable with. And one thing you probably don't understand, think about, or realize, is that more than likely, your son has already shared a pup tent with a gay boy that you just didn't know was gay at the time; or will in the future, regardless of whether openly gay youth are permitted or not. Also, there are equal concerns about pornography, masturbation, and sexual promiscuity regardless of sexual preference.

If this does go forward, and I personally pray that it does, I would hope that we will trust LDS leaders making the decisions about how to make it work, and that the program will be setup in such a way to help all involved feel comfortable, so that all of the youth involved will feel the inclusion that their Heavenly Father would have them feel as they participate in BSA.

Every child of God should feel included in His Church programs

Last week, in my stake we had Stake Conference. In the adult session, my Stake President took some time at the close of the meeting to informally speak to us about some of the current issues going on in the Church. In particular, he brought up the new website: MormonsandGays.org, which I blogged about here. He read the LDS Church position on homosexuality, posted on the website, and shared that he had recently spent some time with two gay members, recently baptized in our stake, and encouraged us as members to reach out and help them to feel of our love. He also commented on how the gay community, in general, see Mormons as the "enemy" and, although I don't recall his exact words, inferred that we needed to work to change that perception. I was deeply touched that my stake president wants to help the members of my stake learn to become more Christlike, and challenged us specifically relating to gay members.

"The experience of same-sex attraction is a complex reality for many people. The attraction itself is not a sin, but acting on it is. Even though individuals do not choose to have such attractions, they do choose how to respond to them. With love and understanding, the Church reaches out to all God’s children, including our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters."

I realize that I have not addressed every concern, not by a long shot, that have many of you upset with this 'half-way' proposal, as many of you see it. I know that some of you wonder what will happen when these gay young men reach 18 and would 'like' to become scout leaders? There's a simple answer to that: Individually they will need to make a life choice. right? I don't think BSA is required to worry about that in lieu of making the right decision for BSA; where youth are the priority and not the desires of adults. I think the statements BSA have distributed make that point pretty clear. I have to say, its kind of nice to see adults actually putting children first. It's truly a rarity in our day. So thanks, BSA -- much respect.

I have no clue what will ultimately end up happening in about a month from now with BSA, and less of how the LDS Church will respond. Heck, I probably shouldn't have even speculated about it. I guess I just have a tender spot for gay youth and our faithful gay Mormon members, and anywhere I see an opportunity to include them in ways that I believe Jesus Christ would do so, I would really like to see that happen; awkward as I am at it.

"As a church, nobody should be more loving and compassionate. Let us be at the forefront in terms of expressing love, compassion and outreach."

Elder Quentin L. Cook

tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs

Note: In regard to any comments you'd like to leave, make sure they are respectful in every way, and on point to what I've written about and not other facets of BSA that are not pertinent to this particular conversation. Thanks!

LDS.org President Monson Discusses Strengths of Scouting

New ERA: A Pillar Supporting the Priesthood

Photo Credit: LDS.org

Brazilian SCAM at General Conference?

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 03:49:00 +0000

Remember these two cute Brazilian guys with their adorable smiles and awesome signs, desperate to score a few tickets, just so they could get inside the Conference Center to see and hear living prophets at last week's LDS General Conference?

As I was just arriving at conference myself, I immediately noticed these energetic young men, and actually asked them if I could take their picture and share it; they were happy to oblige!

Being the social media enthusiast than I am, I posted the picture on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus, immediately! A lot of us were pulling for these guys, hoping that someone would come along and give them an extra ticket or two.

I mean, look at them!!!

Since then, not just one or two of you, but many of you have asked about them -- wondering if I ever heard if those cute Brazilian boys got a golden ticket? And frankly, I'd actually wondered myself....

Strangely, these two cutie-patooties had captured our hearts! I realized this fairly quickly, because as I was listening to President Monson announce the new temple to be built in Rio de Janeiro, my mind soon thought about those boys and how much I hoped that some angel of mercy had answered their fervent prayers, and that they were able to be inside the Conference Center for that historic announcement. What a tender mercy that would be! Right?

I then thought how fun it would be to later run into them and get to hear the exciting followup story, and get to tell you all about it -- oh the tears of joy!

Ah, but no! Instead, it seems as though I may very well have been majorly set-up! That's right. And you along with me. Uh huh. I, being the naive, fairly new conference attendee from SoCal, may very well have fallen for a conference-ticket-beggar-SCAM-artist! And a very proud one, or two... at that!

Here's how the heist (alleged) went down...

Wednesday on my WBMW Facebook page I received an alert from a guy who left a comment on above picture, posted on my FB wall: claiming to be one of the cute Brazilian guys in photograph, naming himself, the guy next to him; and a actually a third accomplice -- which if I'd used my iPhone in landscape mode I'd of captured. Rats!

I then responded to confirm that indeed it was 'he' and asked if 'they' got tickets?

He replied: that 'they' indeed did! And not only that, but that they got THREE tickets for ALL sessions!

Me: I thought WOW! There has got to be some AMAZING story that I must find out! And so I asked him if I could 'friend' him on Facebook to obtain the entire story? And he agreed. Whoopee!

Next: We took it to private FB inbox messaging and this is what I found out... (posted with permission)

Conversation started Wednesday
8:12pm

Douglas

Hi Kathryn, thanks again for the posting.
Are you related with elder Skaggs that served mission in Brazil?
8:14pm

Kathryn Skaggs

Hey Douglas,

I'm Kathryn, I'm the one who took the picture of you guys and the blogger on A Well-Behaved Mormon Woman Facebook Page who posted the picture!

Where did you see the picture? I have lots of questions about how you got your ticket... who from? I'd love to know more about you guys?

Were you excited to hear about the new temple in Brazil?

Anyway, since I'm a blogger and all my followers were so interested in your story I'd love to tell them you got tickets and anything else you guys would like to share about yourselves.

Kathryn
8:14pm

Kathryn Skaggs

Ha ha! We must have been writing at the same time! lol

I have bunch of nephews. Maybe? First name?
8:16pm

Douglas

Dan
8:16pm

Kathryn Skaggs

Yup! That's my nephew! How do you know him?
8:17pm

Douglas

We served Santa Maria mission together in 2005
8:19pm

Kathryn Skaggs

Oh cool! I see that you are friends here on FB.

Small world!

So how in the world did you score three ticket to all sessions of conference? Who found you and did that?
8:24pm

Douglas

Well...

lets start like this...
8:32pm

Kathryn Skaggs

?
8:33pm

Douglas

Since three of us Victor, Alessandro and I leave here in the US for a few years, we were not able to get ticket with our passaport. Then we decided to ask for tickets, but we didn't want to be like everyone else [with one simple piece of paper], so we exaggerated a little. Actually, we spent a few hours preparing the signs. After a huge brainstorm, we decided on those signs. Some of those included: "Mr Booggieman ate my ticket''. "Aliens seeking tickets" "3% OFF on your tithing for a tickets" and so on...
8:33pm

Douglas

...
8:36pm

Kathryn Skaggs

lol
8:57pm

Douglas

Probably 15 min after we were standing in the crowd next to the police and anti-Mormons, this beautiful blond woman came to me and gave us three tickets [of course I gave her a hug]. Since we had time, we stood there just for fun, when out of nowhere, another blond [Brazilian] gave us 2 tickets for the afternoon session. From there and on, we got one by one. Oh I can't forget to mention that I run into this elder from my previous ward back in Oregon [I was his scout leader], and he had an extra tickets as well. We had so much fun standing there asking for tickets. We felt the spirit and were very happy because we were in the same room as the prophet. When the Rio de Janeiro temple was announced, the started to high five each other - it was kind of fun. Best of all, with some of those tickets, we got plaza. And with a little bit of Brazilian way, we sit just a few rolls in front of the prophet - we didn't even had to watch the conference through the screen. As a result of our fun and 'accomplishment', we will repeat it next conference...with a little bit more salt and pepper.
8:58pm

Douglas

Oh Alessandro had your picture in his timeline
9:05pm

Kathryn Skaggs

What a wonderful story.

Now tell me... what do you mean when you say, "a little bit of Brazilian way"? and "a little more salt and pepper"?
9:07pm

Douglas

It's confidential.

just kidding...

Well, since we were in the plaza and there was some sits available in the front, we sit there. Alessandro and I were joking about going dressed as the pioneers or like captain Moroni... just a thought.
9:15pm

Kathryn Skaggs

Ha ha! You guys sound like a fun bunch of characters! I knew it when I saw you and that's why I stopped to take your picture!

Well, I don't know if we were all scammed or not (Because Doug and his buddies are just way too fun, and cute, to be scam artists -- right? Who knows, really, perhaps I'm being scammed again, right NOW, and they just want their 10 minutes of fame on my blog and indeed they never even got tickets at all!), but I'll be more skeptical when I see cute young Brazilian young men, with clever signage hanging out on the corner; trying to get tickets for General Conference next time around. NOT going to fall for it!

But Douglas, if you see me up at General Conference in six months... let's just say... you don't want to see me on that corner in six months...

tDMg

Kathryn Skaggs

Why Prophets to Proclaim TRUTH? If NOT a People Willing to Obey?

Why Prophets to Proclaim TRUTH? If NOT a People Willing to Obey?

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 05:46:00 +0000

I don't recall ever feeling to cherish a General Conference more than this latest one, because this one caused an epiphany beyond former realizations as to the dire necessity of our need to have prophets upon the earth; that they should speak and we must act.

That they did their part was glorious to me and tremendously faith reaffirming; giving me such a renewal of strength which, although I knew I was in need of going into conference, as we all generally feel, but when the injection came, it overwhelmed me in such a way that the strength of its force took me off guard; in that only after the fact did I realized just how deficient I had become; yet amazed that in discovering myself in such a weakened stated, even so I had miraculously, and unbeknownst, been sustained by His strong and mighty Hands; a humbling revelation.

Breaking away from past conference reporting...

This truly is a marvelous work and a wonder, with incredible Power behind it -- which is what sustains it, literally. This post is not going to be in my normal conference reporting style, as I feel to simply write what is in my heart and share my sincere thoughts with you. I made the decision a few days ago, that there are enough people this time around, who have provided detailed highlights, and so I really haven't felt the need to push that type of content out this time. And as the text is now available, earlier than in times past, I'm not going to worry about extracting an abundance of quotes either -- because I trust that each of you will now find what is personal, as you mine those sacred words in your own quiet spaces.

Rather, as the dust of last weekend's excitement has settled down a bit, I am grateful to now sit back and reflect on the importance of what was taught by living prophets during the April 2013 General Conference, and how that will affect my life, in personal application -- because for me, it was a profound and extremely meaningful moment in time, as a member of the LDS Church -- and specifically, as a Mormon woman.

The knock-it-out-of-the-park Sunday morning session!

I think the best way to express my feelings in regard to my overall response to conference, is to share with you my reaction, which, following the Sunday morning session (which is where I'll pick up since I did already write about Saturday), it would not be an exaggeration to say, I was on fire; and in every way, spiritually, possible!

I was filled with the fire of testimony, the fire of faith rekindled, and the fire of enthusiasm for having heard prophets boldly stand up and proclaim truth, in the face of what has been months of enduring relentless advocacy in opposition to their prophetic counsel and teachings, by many, and sadly even some active members, who believe them to be out and out wrong; publicly saying so; as hard as that is to believe.

But let me just say, that I sincerely feel, that everything said and done throughout the entire conference was conveyed as a manifestation of God's love for His children, with a spirit of true charity, which I believe would have been felt by all within the sound of their voices.

With that said, I also feel that there were clear doctrines and principles taught, intended to stir individual hearts' in hopes of seeing less of some of the problems that the Church has been dealing with over these last few months, in regard to perhaps those who have been advocating outside of the Church for ordination to priesthood, or even member support of gay marriage, or even perhaps some of the gender equality campaigns we have seen. And, of course this is simply my own personal opinion, or speculation, of how I see things, from my perspective.

Taken on morning walk to Conference Center...

For each of us, as it should be, General Conference is intended to be a personal, revelatory experience. And that experience, for me, began on Friday, as I shared with you in my last conference report, and peaked during the Sunday morning session while leading up to hearing from the man we sustain as President of the Church, Thomas S. Monson; who is also considered to members of the Mormon faith, to be a prophet, seer and revelator.

Social media report

I know that for some who have tried to use social media to share General Conference online, they feel it a distraction. My experience, however, is the complete opposite. I am intensely absorbed when needing to use my sense of hearing so acutely, in order to transcribe the words of prophets then out onto the Internet -- therefore deeply having their words impressed into my mind and heart while hearing them; while simultaneously, oftentimes typing them out at the same time.

Other times, I have previously transcribed them (only moments ahead), and then must carefully listen for when those words are physically spoken; so that I can then send them out at the exact right time. It is an interesting phenomenon, as they are not living words until they are both spiritually and physically spoken by the person/prophet who created them.

Therefore, when the words are actually then spoken, by a prophet/prophetess, the power of those words comes forth in their full power and witness to the world, and together, those listening, all experience that moment in time, regardless of where we are, or how that transmission comes to us; radio, satellite, living room, church building, tweet, Facebook, behind a computer screen, etc., -- as one.

And what happened to me, on Sunday, was overwhelming and unexpected, as the power in those words literally transmitted themselves into my ears, mind and heart simultaneously, then out through my fingertips into the ether and onto whatever social networking platform -- where eyes, minds and hearts were prepared at that particular second in time, to then receive.

That moment, where the world stops: I am SO thankful for Prophets' of God!

Meanwhile, my spirit being testified to of the living reality of what had just been spoken ... it being literally the words of God, bearing witness to the reality that these are His living Prophets', proclaiming His truth, with Power and Authority -- asking His people to willingly obey!

I was reminded, that this is not a gospel of coercion. This is a plan built upon the principle of agency, which God honors, deeply. And yet he sends forth His prophets to proclaim His truths to those who profess His Name and lovingly lays before us the desires of His heart that we might show Him our love, through counsel and commandments that He gives to us.

God will not force us to do what is right. Nor will He withhold; at least not now, the blessings of membership in His earthly kingdom... where He will continue to nurture us as babes, in hopes that we will ultimately come unto Him and follow Him... And so, as long as there are people willing to obey, the Lord will continue to send forth His prophets to proclaim truth.

On Sunday morning, I felt as though we had been given a double-play that knocked it out of the park, so to speak, in Elder L. Tom Perry and President Thomas S. Monson's talks placed back-to-back, that for me, coupled together, almost as if second-witnesses of each other -- almost as if the two of them had gotten together and planned it that way.

A Tale of Two Prophets

In fact, I can almost picture such a meeting in my mind's eye; kind of like the match story; but not quite as mischievous. No. This would have been much more serious minded, knowing that truth needed to be proclaimed, because the children of God needed to hear a clear message from their prophets; else WHY have prophets to Proclaim TRUTH? And by golly they too were asking the question about their own purpose in proclaiming God's word and wondering what's the point? IF NOT a People Willing to OBEY? This all made sense to them, so they made a plan and prepared their bold sermons to go forth throughout the land -- and put this system to the test; because frankly, things were starting to get out of hand in Mormon-ville... with this member and that member walking in his or her own way; some disregarding completely what prophets of late had clearly counseled...

On base:

Well, I have no clue how these talks came about, but for me the order in which they came seemed inspired and from my perspective it was, and I seriously doubt any conspiring was necessary, as I believe the Lord directs the affairs of the Church and inspires each of His prophets as to what is needful that they should speak in these conferences; making it even more of a witness to me of it being a divine message in how it came forth.

Here are some of the truths, that I was so deeply grateful to hear proclaimed, and with such power. I'm going to share excepts, beginning with Elder Perry's sermon, titled: Obedience to Law is Liberty but along with that I'm going to include what issue, that for me personally, it helped to clarify, or address.

Mainstream Society and the more liberal element even among those within the Church:

"Today we find ourselves in another war. This is not a war of armaments. It is a war of thoughts, words, and deeds. It is a war with sin, and more than ever we need to be reminded of the commandments. Secularism is becoming the norm, and many of its beliefs and practices are in direct conflict with those that were instituted by the Lord Himself for the benefit of His children."

For me, this addresses the issue of same-sex marriage very clearly; that there is no room to support or advocate for it. It's not going to happen -- ever. It is clearly oppositional to what prophets of the Lord are teaching. Elder Bednar also taught powerful doctrine along these lines as well. In my opinion it is time to get off the fence on this matter. I don't know how much more direct our prophets are required to teach on this matter.

"The doctrine of the family and the home was recently reiterated with great clarity and forcefulness in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” It declared the eternal nature of families and then explained the connection to temple worship. The proclamation also declared the law upon which the eternal happiness of families is predicated, namely, “The sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.”

God reveals to His prophets that there are moral absolutes. Sin will always be sin. Disobedience to the Lord’s commandments will always deprive us of His blessings. The world changes constantly and dramatically, but God, His commandments, and promised blessings do not change. They are immutable and unchanging. Men and women receive their agency as a gift from God, but their liberty and, in turn, their eternal happiness come from obedience to His laws. As Alma counseled his errant son Corianton, “Wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10)."

By this point in Elder Perry's stirring declaration, I was moved by his bold pronouncements and in his willingness to just lay it all on the line, and tell it like it is, already -- and then he continued... again, emphasizing with the use of the word, "doctrine" again! And to those who take issue, wondering what is and isn't doctrine in the Mormon faith, Elder Perry is helping you out here; on this particular matter that some seem to be having a problem with lately.

"Surely there could not be any doctrine more strongly expressed in the scriptures than the Lord’s unchanging commandments and their connection to our happiness and well-being as individuals, as families, and as a society. There are moral absolutes. Disobedience to the Lord’s commandments will always deprive us of His blessings."

These things do not change.

"In a world where the moral compass of society is faltering, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ never wavers, nor should its stakes and wards, its families, or its individual members. We must not pick and choose which commandments we think are important to keep but acknowledge all of God’s commandments. We must stand firm and steadfast, having perfect confidence in the Lord’s consistency and perfect trust in His promises.

May we ever be a light on the hill, an example in keeping the commandments, which have never changed and will never change."

That was enough. I was good. I could have folded up shop and been content for another six months. My cup runneth over at this point, as I could hardly see my computer screen. I was literally typing through tears in that dim media room, as I was trying my best to get those last words out into the ether... before President Monson began to speak...

Up at bat...

And suddenly, I realized that something in President Monson's tone was different.... (Mind you, the room is dark, as the media room is in the back of the Conference Center, and my head is looking down at either the transcript or at my computer screen.) First of all, no joke to begin, but this... an acknowledgement of his prophetic responsibility and privilege to address the children of God.

"I seek an interest in your faith and prayers as I respond to the privilege to address you.

Throughout the ages, men and women have sought for knowledge and understanding concerning this mortal existence and their place and purpose in it, as well as for the way to peace and happiness. Such a search is undertaken by each of us.

This knowledge and understanding are available to all mankind. They are contained in truths which are eternal."

He then references the scriptures. As only President Monson can, as he has perfected this art of the teacher, after gently telling us that obedience is the higher law, acknowledges the lesser, in preparation of the unfortunate necessity to having to go there; which he does -- using himself, as a child, i.e.

'There is no need for you or for me, in this enlightened age when the fulness of the gospel has been restored, to sail uncharted seas or to travel unmarked roads in search of truth. A loving Heavenly Father has plotted our course and provided an unfailing guide—even obedience. A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God.

We learn obedience throughout our lives. Beginning when we are very young, those responsible for our care set forth guidelines and rules to ensure our safety. Life would be simpler for all of us if we would obey such rules completely. Many of us, however, learn through experience the wisdom of being obedient."

Once President Monson has shared the follies of his youth, he strives to raise us all to a higher level and inspires us on in the beautiful example of Abraham's obedience to God, although extremely difficult, not understanding at all the reasons why God would ask such a thing of him, nevertheless, Abraham was willing to do what God asked of him, without question, because he loved and trusted God; above all other people, philosophies, norms, etc.

Do we have such faith as this kind of obedience "requires"? The scripture that comes to mind: Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servant, it is the same... So again, I am brought back to issues such as same-sex marriage, priesthood, gender equality, etc., and any type of advocacy that take place outside of the Church, that cause division within; it simply cannot be in harmony with the Lord's way. No matter how hard I try to find a charitable place for it, it's just not there.

"A soul-stirring account of obedience is that of Abraham and Isaac. How painfully difficult it must have been for Abraham, in obedience to God’s command, to take his beloved Isaac into the land of Moriah to offer him as a sacrifice. Can we imagine the heaviness of Abraham’s heart as he journeyed to the appointed place? Surely anguish must have racked his body and tortured his mind as he bound Isaac, laid him on the altar, and took the knife to slay him. With unwavering faith and implicit trust in the Lord, he responded to the Lord’s command. How glorious was the pronouncement, and with what wondered welcome did it come: “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”

Abraham had been tried and tested, and for his faithfulness and obedience the Lord gave him this glorious promise: “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."

Although we are not asked to prove our obedience in such a dramatic and heart-wrenching way, obedience is required of us as well."

I love this assurance from our Prophet, even an "entitlement" if we will but give freely our obedience to the Lord:

"Obedience is a hallmark of prophets; it has provided strength and knowledge to them throughout the ages. It is essential for us to realize that we, as well, are entitled to this source of strength and knowledge. It is readily available to each of us today as we obey God’s commandments."

That is beautiful. And then, our brother and Prophet of God reminds us...

"My brothers and sisters, the great test of this life is obedience. “We will prove them herewith,” said the Lord, “to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.”"

All things. Not some things. But we must choose our obedience, willingly. That is the key.

"The knowledge which we seek, the answers for which we yearn, and the strength which we desire today to meet the challenges of a complex and changing world can be ours when we willingly obey the Lord’s commandments. I quote once again the words of the Lord: “He that keepeth [God’s] commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things."

Thomas S. Monson: Obedience Brings Blessings

I love President Monson's tender and humble way in which he closes his prophetic sermon. Because how can you teach obedience with coercion? You can't. Not if you represent the voice of Jesus Christ, and His Father, who beckon us to come follow Him...

And so I leave the thoughts to the title of this post with you, which are the very thoughts that have remained with me since, following that Sunday morning session:

Why Prophets to Proclaim TRUTH? If NOT a People Willing to OBEY?

How blessed we are to have prophets to declare these truths during these tumultuous times. May we rise up unto willing obedience and claim the privilege, that it is to have them in our midst! May they never find cause to wonder if we are "...willing to obey?"

"As the Savior instructed His early Apostles, so He instructs you and me, “Follow thou me.”Are we willing to obey?"

Mormon Women and Priesthood

Source: Daily Beast

Also of interest: On Sunday afternoon, directly following General Conference, I was interviewed by Newsweek/The Daily Beast reporter, Nina Strochlic, about Mormon women who are advocating outside of the Church, to be ordained to the priesthood; which I recently blogged about here. It was interesting that those outside of the Church find it almost hard to believe that most faithful women in the Church really don't have equality issues, and are not seeking to be ordained.

Another question I was asked about in the interview, but was not printed, was how I felt about the first woman who prayed in Conference? Again, I said that it was something that I had never noticed before. I did not see this as an equality issue, and that if some women in the Church were happy about it, then I was happy for them. I told her that not one single reader on my Facebook or Google Plus page mentioned it. And I only had one person on Twitter mention it; a guy who tends to like to give me trouble about most things gender related. But not one single Mormon woman out of thousands of you said a word.

Those who are advocating outside of the LDS Church and drawing the attention of the media on a national level and making gender inequality and ordination to the priesthood appear as huge issues in the Church for women, are attempting to create an issue to something much larger than it actually is are creating a false illusion -- and that's simply a fact.

Here is the link to the article if you'd like to read it: Mormon Women Face Off Over Right to Priesthood

It was of great comfort going into to this interview, which lasted about 30 minutes, armed with the strength that came from a wonderful, Spirit-filled weekend of General Conference. I felt the power of prophets with me, sustained by truth and righteousness, which allowed me to speak with confidence about those things that I know to be right and true.

I genuinely enjoyed speaking with Nina, and found her to be a lovely person, who seemed sincerely interested in understanding this issue from both perspectives and getting her story right. At the conclusion of our interview, I felt a very positive spirit; and we exchanged a few email messages.

tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs

Saturday April 2013 General Conference : Highlights

Three Highest Ranking Mormon Women Speak Out On Equality and Priesthood

Text Now Up! April 2013 General Conference

Meme: Doug Knuth

General Conference Photos: Mormon Newsroom
Thomas S. Monson
L. Tom Perry

Temple Photo: Kathryn Skaggs

Daniel Greenfield: The Deconstruction of Marriage

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 03:51:00 +0000

The only question worth asking about gay marriage is whether anyone on the left would care about this crusade if it didn't come with the privilege of bulldozing another civilizational institution.

Gay marriage is not about men marrying men or women marrying women, it is about the deconstruction of marriage between men and women. That is a thing that many men and women of one generation understand but have trouble conveying to another generation for whom marriage has already largely been deconstructed.

The statistics about the falling marriage rate tell the tale well enough. Marriage is a fading institution. Family is a flickering light in the evening of the West.

The deconstruction is destruction. Entire countries are fading away, their populations being replaced by emigrants from more traditional lands whose understanding of the male-female relationship is positively reactionary. These emigrants may lack technology or the virtues of civilization, and their idea of marriage resembles slavery more than any modern ideal, but it fulfills the minimum purpose of any group, tribe or country-- it produces its next generation.

The deconstruction of marriage is not a mere matter of front page photos of men kissing. It began with the deconstruction of the family. Gay marriage is only one small stop on a tour that includes rising divorce rates, falling childbirth rates and the abandonment of responsibility by twenty and even thirty-somethings.

Each step on the tour takes apart the definition and structure of marriage until there is nothing left. Gay marriage is not inclusive, it is yet another attempt at eliminating marriage as a social institution by deconstructing it until it no longer exists.

There are two ways to destroy a thing. You can either run it at while swinging a hammer with both hands or you can attack its structure until it no longer means anything.

The left hasn't gone all out by outlawing marriage, instead it has deconstructed it, taking apart each of its assumptions, from the economic to the cooperative to the emotional to the social, until it no longer means anything at all. Until there is no way to distinguish marriage from a temporary liaison between members of uncertain sexes for reasons that due to their vagueness cannot be held to have any solemn and meaningful purpose.

You can abolish democracy by banning the vote or you can do it by letting people vote as many times as they want, by letting small children and foreigners vote, until no one sees the point in counting the votes or taking the process seriously. The same goes for marriage or any other institution. You can destroy it by outlawing it or by eliminating its meaningfulness until it becomes so open that it is absurd.

Every aspect of marriage is deconstructed and then eliminated until it no longer means anything. And once marriage is no longer a lifetime commitment between a man and a woman, but a ceremony with no deeper meaning than most modern ceremonies, then the deconstruction and destruction will be complete.

The deconstruction of marriage eroded it as an enduring institution and then as an exclusive institution and finally as a meaningful institution. The trendy folk who claim to be holding off on getting married until gay marriage is enacted are not eager for marriage equality, they are using it as an excuse for an ongoing rejection of marriage.

Gay marriage was never the issue. It was always marriage.

In the world that the deconstructionists are striving to build, there will be marriage, but it will mean nothing. Like a greeting card holiday, it will be an event, but not an institution. An old ritual with no further meaning. An egotistical exercise in attention-seeking and self-celebration with no deeper purpose. It will be a display every bit as hollow as the churches and synagogues it takes place in.

The deconstruction of marriage is only a subset of the deconstruction of gender from a state of being to a state of mind. The decline of marriage was preceded by the deconstruction of gender roles and gay marriage is being succeeded by the destruction of gender as anything other than a voluntary identity, a costume that one puts on and takes off.

Destroying gender roles was a prerequisite to destroying gender. Each deconstruction leads naturally to the next deconstruction with no final destination except total deconstruction.

Gay marriage is not a stopping point, just as men in women's clothing using the ladies room is not a stopping point. There is no stopping point at all.

The left's deconstruction of social institutions is not a quest for equality, but for destruction. As long as the institutions that preceded it exist, it will go on deconstructing them until there is nothing left but a blank canvas, an unthinking anarchy, on which it can impose its perfect and ideal conception of how everyone should live.

Equality is merely a pretext for deconstruction. Change the parameters of a thing and it ceases to function. Redefine it and expand it and it no longer means anything at all. A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but if you change 'rose' to mean anything that sticks out of the ground, then the entire notion of what is being discussed has gone and cannot be reclaimed without also reclaiming language.

The left's social deconstruction program is a war of ideas and concepts. Claims of equality are used to expand institutions and ways of living until they are so broad as to encompass everything and nothing. And once a thing encompasses everything, once a rose represents everything rising out of the ground, then it also represents nothing at all.

Deconstruction is a war against definitions, borders and parameters. It is a war against defining things by criminalizing the limitation of definitions. With inclusivity as the mandate, exclusivity, in marriage, or any other realm, quickly meets with social disapproval and then becomes a hate crime. If the social good is achieved only through maximum inclusivity and infinite tolerance, then any form of exclusivity, from property to person to ideas, is a selfish act that refuses the collective impulse to make all things into a common property with no lasting meaning or value.

As Orwell understood in 1984, tyranny is essentially about definitions. It is hard to fight for freedom if you lack the word. It is hard to maintain a marriage if the idea no longer exists. Orwell's Oceania made basic human ideas into contradictory things. The left's deconstruction of social values does the same thing to such essential institutions as marriage; which becomes an important impermanent thing of no fixed nature or value.

The left's greatest trick is making things mean the opposite of what they do. Stealing is sharing. Crime is justice. Property is theft. Each deconstruction is accompanied by an inversion so that a thing, once examined, comes to seem the opposite of what it is, and once that is done, it no longer has the old innate value, but a new enlightened one.

To deconstruct man, you deconstruct his beliefs and then his way of living. You deconstruct freedom until it means slavery. You deconstruct peace until it means war. You deconstruct property until it means theft. And you deconstruct marriage until it means a physical relationship between any group of people for any duration. And that is the opposite of what marriage is.

The deconstruction of marriage is part of the deconstruction of gender and family and those are part of the long program of deconstructing man. Once each basic value has been rendered null and void, inverted and revealed to be random and meaningless, then man is likewise revealed to be a random and meaningless creature whose existence requires shaping by those who know better.

The final deconstruction eliminates nation, religion, family and even gender to reduce the soul of man to a blank slate waiting to be written on.

That is what is at stake here. This is not a struggle about the right of equality, but the right of definition. It is not about whether men can get married, but whether marriage will mean anything at all. It is about preserving the shapes and structures of basic social concepts that define our identities in order to preserve those very concepts, rather than accepting their deconstruction into nullification.

The question on the table is whether the institutions that give us meaning will be allowed to retain that meaning. And that question is a matter of survival. Societies cannot survive without definitions. Peoples do not go on existing through the act of occupying space. The deconstruction of identity is also the destruction of identity.

And that is what we are truly fighting against.

Reposted with permission.

Daniel Greenfield is a blogger and columnist born in Israel, currently living in New York City. He is a Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and a contributing editor at the Family Security Matters.

David was named one of the Jewish Press' Most Worthwhile Blogs from 2006-2011. His writing is found many place online, where he writes on a wide range of topics.

It is a privilege for me to be able to share this enlightening article about marriage with you on WBMW, reposted here, with Daniel's personal permission. Learn more about him, by visiting Sultan Knish Blog -- you can thank me later.

Warnings: His writing will give you cause to think -- a lot!

Photos: Sultan Knish Blog

I've been holding this post in draft for a few weeks now. In re-reading it, before posting, and since General Conference this past weekend, it has had an even more chilling effect than it did on first read -- which is what prompted me in the first place, to contact Daniel and request that I be allowed to share it here. I had to, as it articulates so many thoughts, and much more, that have been going through my own head over these last few months -- and which are also contained in The Family: A Proclamation to the World.

In considering 'deconstruction' as a doctrine (Greenfield, obviously not intending to do so -- nevertheless, skillfully reveals it to be such.), at least from my perspective, and in so doing I can easily apply the principle to many other social issues currently affecting mainstream society, and ultimately the eternal family, some of which were addressed during this past weekend's General Conference; and quite directly I might add.

Through agency and obedience (well taught in conference) we can choose to either construct eternal life through Jesus Christ, the designated Mediator in Heavenly Father's Plan, or deconstruct that plan by making choices, whose advocate is the author of all opposition to the Father.

tDMg,
Kathryn Skaggs

Text Now Up! April 2013 General Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Kathryn Skaggs) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:38:00 +0000

I don't even need to research it. That's how confident I am in what I'm about to say, or rather, declare. But there has never before been a General Conference in the history of the LDS Church that has provoked as much attention, not only from its membership from within, but also from many outside of the Church, prior to the actual conference. And not only that, but also following the conference there has been a continual barrage of memes, opinions and coverage of what was spoken, which have seemed nearly astronomical -- to the point of being... perhaps.... dare I say... okay fine, I won't. (bites her tongue)

I'd like to help you out a little, and clear away the Inter-cobwebs for you, so you can see your way back to the actual Word!

Oh, I know a lot of people have good intentions and all, in creating so many of these cute treats for you, and many believe they have some very intelligent things to say about what prophets, who have been called to speak for the Lord, had to tell you -- but honestly, let's try to not get too distracted by all the candy, and allow ourselves to become too 'treat-trained' by all the peripheral excess that the Internet so quickly tosses our way; as if we are all a bunch of seals at the local Prophet Stalker Park!

And before you go postal on me, please don't think I am saying that this is all BAD, because I genuinely believe that much of it is positive, and indeed supports and strengthens us -- if it is faithful and supportive of our testimonies and not in excess. And besides, I'm as guilty as the next person for handing a piece or two of it out myself -- on occasion.

Note: I'm just observing a little bit of overkill this time around. I'm just saying. That's all.

What brought this on, you might be wondering, before I've even finished my Sunday General Conference highlight post, that I'm in the middle of writing... needing to finish before the next conference, you ask? (Because I know you were wondering, right? Sure you were...)

Well, since you asked... one not-so-simple link that I'm about to share with you, and then I'll be done. And then I will go back to writing that other post, that is not candy, and that I sincerely hope you will find worthwhile.

LDS.org has complied in one place, a video-quote by each of the Apostles from the April 2013 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and if that is not the ONE link that is the current pearl of GREAT PRICE to be found on the Internet, then honestly I don't know what that would be...

And so upon that important discovery, is the very thing which caused me to stop everything I was doing to pass the information along...

And yes, I realize that I could have easily posted the link in the highlight post that I'm currently working on. But no, that option, I decided, would not do this particular link justice. This link, containing a current quote of each of our living prophets, deserved its own post.

A worthy bookmark and SHARE by ALL:

Apostles Speak at April 2013 General Conference

And while you're at it, you might as well go ahead and bookmark this link, too:

Read, Watch, Listen, Download All Sessions LDS General Conference April 2013

(Yes, that means the text is up for all General Conference talks! - the real candy!)

tDMg

Kathryn Skaggs

Saturday April 2013 General Conference : Highlights

How to Watch LDS General Conference April 2013

Photo Source: Mormon Newsroom