God, as Understood by Monotheism

I originally wrote this for a college paper back in 2013. But I've been thinking a lot about the nature of God lately so I thought I'd revisit my old writing. I hate having word limits on my papers because I always I'm compromising on material for the sake of an arbitrary number, and I really think this paper needed a bit of a face-lift so I did do a lot of editing and some additions that I was unable to do three years ago. I hope this helps someone with any questions or thoughts they might have.

The question of the identity and purpose of God has been discussed by Kings, Philosophers, Prophets, Magicians and Peasants for thousands of years. The answers of course have varied considerably over time and perhaps all have merit when considered on a grander scale than the simplistic lives of mankind. Some suggest that God is an essence, intangible and omnipresent, spread throughout all creation; others say that God is a King among other gods; and some insist that there is no "God" but a natural sense of logic or mathematics instead. When looking at monotheism as a whole, the belief is that there is only one actual God; but the details are frequently disagreed on and argued.

Labeled by Sin or Name

I think a lot of people need to remember this when talking to others. Too often I hear members of the Church (and other churches) refer to people by whether or not they drink, smoke, are gay, looked at porn, had premarital sex etc. and continue to refer to that person by their sin for years. Just because we try to follow Christ does not mean that the Devil still can't use our mouths to do harm. 

Showing off Fort Myers

My home; the subtropical, somewhat quiet, somewhat pretty, somewhat old and historic Fort Myers located in South West Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. It's really an odd place, we're subtropical with tons of natural beauty but we're no Key West; we're actually a rather large metropolitan city area but we're no Miami; we're close enough to major tourist attractions to be on the map but just far enough away that we miss most of the heavy traffic problems. This odd mixture of cultures and situations is reflected in the city's architecture, politics, businesses and history.

First off let me show off an aerial view of the region:

Thank you Google Earth!

Mormons for Trump?

Anyone who personally knows me will know that I have absolutely no respect for Donald Trump as a person or as a Presidential candidate, I've been quite clear on my views regarding his lack of qualifications and unsafe social/political positions. However, at this point I'm not going to go on a tirade about Trump himself or his views/policies. Instead I want to touch on a few basic realities about Mr. Trump and primarily focus on how terrified I am that Mormons, even "high ranking" leaders (including retired ones) are actually supporting him in his candidacy.

Donald Trump has proven himself to be racist, on multiple occasions and in multiple ways. Most recently he discussed torture tactics and promoted a (false) mass murder story of Americans butchering Muslims and claimed that that was the direction America needed to go in. Click HERE for CNN story. He's also promoted plans to forcibly identify Muslims in the U.S. (very similarly to how Jews etc. were treated in Nazi Germany) and bar immigration to an entire ethnic and religious group of people worldwide. All of this is in addition to other statements made against Blacks and Hispanics.

President Hinckley, one of the longest serving Presidents and Prophets of the LDS Church made his views on racism perfectly and crystal clear:

Are Mormons at War?

It may not be obvious to everyone but what you say and how you say it does and will affect the behavior of those who listen to you. Regardless of your intentions, your words have the power to inspire good behavior or extremely inappropriate actions. My purpose in this article is show that the LDS Church has repeatedly encouraged hostility against LGBT individuals worldwide, despite some official statements denouncing bullying and the like.

NOTE: In this post I am not contesting the Mormon position on sin. I do not believe that homosexuality is a sin but I recognize that at this time that is not the position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Instead my focus is literally that hostile quotes frequently circulated in the Church inspire and encourage, as well justify, various forms of bullying among the LDS people.

I imagine a lot of people will ask me why the opinions the Church or its members would or should hold any weight to me after all the horrible pain they've caused me over the years. If you want some clarification on that bad blood and history feel free to read one of my previous articles The Church and I. As for the question itself, I'll counter with a question. Let's say you had an abusive parent or sibling, yet you still found place in your heart to have love for them (they're family); would you care about their perception of you? For some, the answer is undoubtedly "no", but we can see examples of a resounding "yes" all around us. The Church has meant everything to me for my entire life and their opinion still has the power to hurt or uplift me to some degree. Mind you, I do not consider the opinion of the Church to be always be the same as the opinion of God; if they were always the same there would be no need for future revelation on any subject. Nevertheless, the Church has its pull on me spiritually.

Family History

Here's a little snippet about me as a person and something I am very excited and passionate about: DOING GENEALOGY! I've loved doing my Family History work since I was a little kid. I was fortunate that my grandmother had recorded a decent amount of her husband's line years and years ago. She was able to contact grandparents and great grandparents for letters and information that they could verify going back with certainty to 1818 and with some question marks all the way back 1690. I loved doing genealogy so much that I actually worked on memorizing the names, birthdays and locations of as many direct ancestors as I could (which actually was a habit that paid off later on during my mission for the Church).

I'm not going to bore you with a detailed history of my ancestors (though I'm more than happy to provide some) but I am excited to show just how much information you can find going back to the early 1600's and even farther. I'll also share a little bit of why genealogy means so much to Mormons (Latter Day Saints).

The Church and I

I've been thinking lately that I've never truly explained who I am and what my situation is with the LDS Church. Today I'll give a short (hopefully) overview of my story and why I am willing to risk so much to criticize the Church on the errors and injustices I see. Even though I'll be sharing my story honestly I do not intend to share all I've been through, I intend to be very candid and forthcoming about my experiences but there are definitely things that are better left unsaid or said in very limited detail.

Technically I was born a third generation Mormon since it was my grandparents who were baptized which incidentally led to both my mother and I to eventually be born into the Church. I say "technically" because for a long time my mother and I were the only ones in our family to actually be active members. I was baptized by my Bishop at 8 years old, received the Priesthood at 12 and served in virtually every Presidency available to young men my age. I graduated Seminary (Mormon youth scripture study program during the high school years) with all the extra awards for full attendance and scripture memorization etc. I served a Full Time 2 year Mission for the Church, Spanish speaking, received a 4 year Diploma in graduating Institute (the college version of Seminary), and served in various leadership and teaching positions. I studied the scriptures so much, and thankfully had a good memory, that whenever others had gospel related questions they usually came to me for the answers.

Mormonism 101

So I'm thinking that somebody, somewhere, somewhen (yes I know that isn't a word), might find my blog even though they aren't actually Mormon and I'm thinking that they might not know a lot about what the Church is and whatnot. I understand that there is a lot of mixed information out there from different sources and so I thought that this might be a good place to just go over a few basics; how the Church got started, what it claims to be, what certain terms mean, what the organizational structure looks like etc.

I know I've written a lot of really long posts lately so I'll do my best to keep this short and sweet!