Xmas = Christmas, with no difference in meaning (no, seriously!)

Is writing Xmas offensive to you?  It is to some!  It shouldn't be...  Xmas isn't taking the "Christ" out of Christmas, but is a Greek writing for Christ that literally means Christ (or Χριστός) and doesn't lose one jot or title of the meaning.  In fact, the X in Xmas is actually as old as Christianity itself.

The Greek word for Christ is "chi"just as the third letter of the Greek alphabet is "chi."  So, Xmas is a capitalized writing of Christmas!  Even written in the 1948 Vogue's Book of Etiquette where it warns that "'Xmas' should never be used" in greeting cards (Fenwick, Millicent, Vogue's Book of Etiquette: A Complete Guide to Traditional Forms and Modern Usage, Simon and Schuster, 1948, p 611, retrieved via Google Books, December 27, 2008; full quote seen on Google Books search page).  But, for those of us who are offended by the use of Xmas may very well just be completely unfamiliar with the long history of Christians using an X in the place of 'Christ' (Wikipedia, "Xmas").

I understand where the feelings of having your God slighted or eliminated comes from and feels like, but, a little understanding and charity needs to be applied here.  Even if it's written by a person simply to abbreviation, we can not cast the first stone.

JPS

Hanging onto that pain, suffering, or offense?

It seems to me that when we are hurt or afraid (fearful) or just hanging onto that feeling of sorrow or pain, we do ourselves a disservice and simultaneously, and necessarily are blaming someone else for that pain or sorrow or hurt or fear...

Why?  Why would we want to do that?

In the words of Bob Newhart, "Stop it!"

Also, in the words of President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Stop it!"

Why can't you, or I, or we, just stop it?  Why do we feel that we have no choice but to feel hurt (which implies that someone or something is hurting us), feel afraid (implying that someone or something is frightening us), or are sorrowful (implying that something or someone is making us feel sad or low or depressed).  Why can't we just stop feeling that way?  At other times in our life we are burden-free and happy, even joyful; so why can't we always feel that way?  Why is it so easy to plunge our psyche, our feelings, our self-worth, and our whole person into this mess-of-a-way-to-feel?  Why would we choose to be in this funk?

Why is it so hard?  The answer to this last question is: We are gaining or getting something that outweighs the pain/sorrow/hurt/fear.

Huh?  We want to keep hurting, want to keep feeling sorrow, or want to keep feeling fear?  That just doesn't make sense...

It does, however, explain why anyone would choose to continue feeling this way.

What could possibly outweigh the pain or sorrow that we feel?  Maybe feeing the pride of being correct when another (or others) is (are) wrong.  Maybe feeling the pride of superiority ("well, at least I don't do that" or "at least I am not that way").  We want to feel that pride more than we don't want to feel hurt?   Yes, every time we betray ourselves and choose to act in a way that we know we shouldn't.

Betray ourselves?

In actuality, that feeling of pride or the numbness that blankets the pain is the same thing--a sort of slow poison that eats at us until we become the poison itself.

So, what does "betraying ourselves" or "self-betrayal" mean?

I think it means that you are acting fundamentally in way that contradicts or goes against what you know deep in your heart; deep in your mind; deep in your soul to be wrong.

It's more than just telling a lie or an untruth.  So, can you give me an example?

When you see a situation and you have that initial impulse to make a choice--that choice will be honest and correct 9 times out of 10--but choosing to do anything else (no matter what reasons or evidence you have to choose differently) is self-betrayal.

For example, you awake to hear your new baby stirring; your initial impulse is to get-up and see what's wrong or sing the baby back to sleep.  To get right-up and do just that, is to live honestly--to be honest with yourself.  Whereas, to stay in bed and wait to hear your spouse wake-up and get take care of the baby's needs is, you guessed it, self-betrayal (Bonds that Make Us Free, Warner, C. Terry).

Just stop it.  Get yourself up and out of bed to take care of your baby.  Stop conjuring-up excuses about why you shouldn't, why somehow you deserve to not get-up, or why someone else should get-up and take care of the baby (after all, it's their turn, right?).  No.  Stop it.  Stop it and get out of bed!  This, of course, is all metaphorical talk about just doing what's right!  Don't deceive yourself and act contrary to those initial feelings of doing what's right.  Just get out of bed and take care of the baby yourself and try to save your poor spouse the trouble of waking-up when you're already up yourself!

As long as you hang onto that offense or supposed-offense that you need so badly to help you to feel justified in feeling the way that you do towards someone, just let go of that sickness and feel good about yourself again.  You are a great person and are of infinite worth.  Stop conjuring-up feelings and thoughts about yourself that make you greater than you are and at the same time stop conjuring-up feelings of worthlessness or pain.  Just stop it!

...

I'll write more about this in later posts, just as I've already written about this in the past.

JPS

Movies? Escapism?

With the ever-increasing numbers of movies being produced, viewed, purchased, and seen in theaters, I ask myself, "Why?"  Why are there more and more movies "consumed" by the public?  Is it because they just keep getting better and better?  Graphically and cinematographically speaking, maybe...

It's not because there just aren't any new ideas out there and we must turn to the next set of cinematographic muses to inspire us; or is it?  Are we that pathetic?

I believe that movies have become a new drug, or better put, movies allow anyone watching to live in a different world, a different relationship, with different cars, homes, toys, and jobs than we have right-now in the present world--the real world!

Is that bad?

I guess it's better than self-medicating...  Or is it just another form of self-mecation?

Remember the "feelies" from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World?  Or the place where I originally heard "The New Drug," which was talking about pornography.  It's all the same thing, though, if you think about it.

The difference, though, would be my wife and I don't sit down to watch a movie to get high and there is not the same repercussions, in coming down off the high.  I can get addicted though, just like the new drug or watching feelies.  My brain could still go through similar changes.

Originally, I was thinking of a soft-drug called leaving reality for two hours for a small vacation.  Is this bad?  What do I mean by, "bad"?  Is it harmful?  The answer to this question is: No, it is not.  How can I respond so quickly?  Well, is it bad to escape in your head while you read a book?  No.  Is it bad to lose yourself in thought?  No.   It (watching movies) can become harmful, however, if the movies that are watched

I guess I just answered my own question, and it's not the answer that I originally anticipated: movies or the "escapism" that accompanies watching a movie, is not harmful, in and of itself.  Like most other things, though, it can become harmful if taken to an extreme.

JPS

Are Mormon's Christian? (epilogue)

As a capstone to the question of whether or not Mormon's are, in fact, Christian, I offer from the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi, chapter 25 verse 26:

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

Just to say, once and for all whether or not Jesus Christ we also read in 2 Nephi 25, but in verse 20:

". . . behold I say unto you, that as these things are true, and as the Lord God liveth, there is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ, of which I have spoken, whereby man can be saved."

After all, that is what we were talking about, right, being saved by Jesus Christ.

JPS

Are Mormon's Christian? (part 3)

Mormons are followers of Christ.  Of Jesus Christ.  In the April 2013 session of LDS General Conference, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the quorum of the twelve apostles (who also happens to be a former Utah Supreme Court Justice) gave a talk during the Sunday afternoon session entitled, "Followers of Christ."

In his talk, this modern-day apostle of Jesus Christ outlined some of the ways in which members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints follow Him.

He begins by saying, "Like all other Christians, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints study the life of our Savior as reported in the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I will review examples and teachings contained in these four books of the Holy Bible and invite each of us and all other Christians to consider how this restored Church and each of us qualify as followers of Christ."

Elder Oaks (we refer to the 15 living apostles as Elders) continues, "Jesus taught that baptism was necessary to enter the kingdom of God (see John 3:5). He began His ministry by being baptized (see Mark 1:9), and He and His followers baptized others (see John 3:22–26). We do likewise.

Jesus began His preaching by inviting His listeners to repent (see Matthew 4:17). That is still His servants’ message to the world.

Throughout His ministry Jesus gave commandments. And He taught, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15; see also verses 21, 23). He affirmed that keeping His commandments would require His followers to leave what He called “that which is highly esteemed among men” (Luke 16:15) and “the tradition of men” (Mark 7:8; see also verse 13). He also warned, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). As the Apostle Peter later declared, the followers of Jesus were to be “a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9).

Latter-day Saints understand that we should not be “of the world” or bound to “the tradition of men,” but like other followers of Christ, we sometimes find it difficult to separate ourselves from the world and its traditions. Some model themselves after worldly ways because, as Jesus said of some whom He taught, “they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:43). These failures to follow Christ are too numerous and too sensitive to list here. They range all the way from worldly practices like political correctness and extremes in dress and grooming to deviations from basic values like the eternal nature and function of the family.

Jesus’s teachings were not meant to be theoretical. Always they were to be acted upon. Jesus taught, “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man” (Matthew 7:24; see alsoLuke 11:28) and “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing” (Matthew 24:46)."

Another way that everyone can see and know that Mormons are Christian is: "As Jesus taught, those who love Him will keep His commandments. They will be obedient, as President Thomas S. Monson taught this morning. Following Christ is not a casual or occasional practice but a continuous commitment and way of life that applies at all times and in all places. The Savior taught this principle and how we should be reminded and strengthened to follow it when He instituted the ordinance of the sacrament (communion, as others call it). We know from modern revelation that He commanded His followers to partake of the emblems in remembrance of Him. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints follow that commandment each week by attending a worship service in which we partake of the bread and water and covenant that we will always remember Him and keep His commandments.

Jesus taught that “men ought always to pray” (Luke 18:1). He also set that example, such as when He “continued all night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12) before He called His Twelve Apostles. Like other Christians, we pray in all our worship services. We also pray for guidance, and we teach that we should have frequent personal prayers and daily kneeling prayers as a family. Like Jesus, we pray to our Father in Heaven, and we do so in the sacred name of Jesus Christ.

The Savior called Twelve Apostles to assist in His Church and gave them the keys and authority to carry on after His death (see Matthew 16:18–19; Mark 3:14–15; 6:7; Luke 6:13). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the restored Church of Jesus Christ, follows this example in its organization and in its conferral of keys and authority on Apostles."

He continues, “Some whom Jesus called to follow Him did not respond immediately but sought a delay to attend to proper family obligations. Jesus replied, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Many Latter-day Saints practice the priority Jesus taught. This includes the wonderful example of thousands of senior missionaries and others who have left children and grandchildren to perform the missionary duties to which they have been called.

Jesus taught that God created male and female and that a man should leave his parents and cleave to his wife (see Mark 10:6–8). Our commitment to this teaching is well known.

In the familiar parable of the lost sheep, Jesus taught that we should go out of our way to seek after any of the flock who have strayed (see Matthew 18:11–14; Luke 15:3–7). As we know, President Thomas S. Monson has given great emphasis to this direction in his memorable example and teachings about rescuing our fellow men and women.4^"

In our efforts to rescue and serve, we follow our Savior’s unique example and tender teachings about love: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39). He even commanded us to love our enemies (see Luke 6:27–28). And in His great teachings at the end of His mortal ministry, He said:

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34–35).”

Two other examples testify of Mormons being Christian: giving to the poor and needy and missionary work.  Elder Oaks tells us of some concrete numbers of both: “Most Christians give to the poor and the needy, as Jesus taught (see Matthew 25:31–46; Mark 14:7). In following this teaching of our Savior, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members excel. Our members make generous contributions to charities and give personal service and other gifts to the poor and needy. In addition, our members fast for two meals each month and donate at least the cost of these meals as a fast offering, which our bishops and branch presidents use to help our needy members. Our fasting to help the hungry is an act of charity and, when done with pure intent, is a spiritual feast.

Less well known is our Church’s global humanitarian service. Using funds donated by generous members, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sends food, clothing, and other essentials to relieve the suffering of adults and children all over the world. These humanitarian donations, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars in the last decade, are made without any consideration of religion, race, or nationality.

Our massive relief effort following the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami provided $13 million in cash and relief supplies. In addition, more than 31,000 Church-sponsored volunteers gave more than 600,000 hours of service. Our humanitarian assistance to the victims of Hurricane Sandy in the eastern United States included large donations of various resources, plus almost 300,000 hours of service in cleanup efforts by about 28,000 Church members. Among many other examples last year, we provided 300,000 pounds (136,000 kg) of clothing and shoes for the refugees in the African nation of Chad. During the last quarter century we have assisted nearly 30 million people in 179 countries. 6 Truly, the people called “Mormons” know how to give to the poor and needy.

In His last biblical teaching, our Savior directed His followers to take His teachings to every nation and every creature. From the beginning of the Restoration, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has sought to follow that teaching. Even when we were a poor and struggling new church with only a few thousand members, our early leaders sent missionaries across the oceans, east and west. As a people, we have continued to teach the Christian message until today our unique missionary program has more than 60,000 full-time missionaries, plus thousands more who serve part-time. We have missionaries in over 150 countries and territories worldwide."

Finally, Elder Dallin H. Oaks bears his testimony to the world and confirms his apostolic words and truths: "I testify of our Savior, Jesus Christ, whose teachings and example we seek to follow. He invites all of us who are heavy laden to come unto Him, to learn of Him, to follow Him, and thus to find rest to our souls (see Matthew 4:19; 11:28). I testify of the truth of His message and of the divine mission and authority of His restored Church in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

JPS

Are Mormon's Christian? (part 2)

I've tried to define what makes a christian and tried to show that Mormon's fit, perfectly, into the teachings of Jesus Christ and conclusively demonstrate how Mormon's are Christian.  When Joseph Smith was asked, in March 1842, "[a]t the request of Mr. John Wentworth, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat, I have written the following sketch of the rise, progress, persecution, and faith of the Latter-day Saints, of which I have the honor, under God, of being the founder. Mr. Wentworth says that he wishes to furnish Mr. Bastow [Barstow], a friend of his, who is writing the history of New Hampshire, with this document. As Mr. Bastow has taken the proper steps to obtain correct information, all that I shall ask at his hands is that he publish the account entire, ungarnished, and without misrepresentation", he included 13 of the definitive collection of Mormon's collective faith, which are:

"1 We ^abelieve in ^bGod, the Eternal Father, and in His ^cSon, Jesus Christ, and in the ^dHoly Ghost.

 2 We believe that men will be ^apunished for their ^bown sins, and not for ^cAdam’s transgression.

 3 We believe that through the ^aAtonement of Christ, all^bmankind may be ^csaved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

 4 We believe that the first principles and ^aordinances of the Gospel are: first, ^bFaith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second,^cRepentance; third, ^dBaptism by ^eimmersion for the ^fremission of sins; fourth, Laying on of ^ghands for the ^hgift of the Holy Ghost.

 5 We believe that a man must be ^acalled of God, by ^bprophecy, and by the laying on of ^chands by those who are in ^dauthority, to^epreach the Gospel and administer in the ^fordinances thereof.

 6 We believe in the same ^aorganization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, ^bprophets, ^cpastors,^dteachers, ^eevangelists, and so forth.

 7 We believe in the ^agift of ^btongues, ^cprophecy, ^drevelation,^evisions, ^fhealing, ^ginterpretation of tongues, and so forth.

 8 We believe the ^aBible to be the ^bword of God as far as it is translated ^ccorrectly; we also believe the ^dBook of Mormon to be the word of God.

 9 We believe all that God has ^arevealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet ^breveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

 10 We believe in the literal ^agathering of Israel and in the restoration of the ^bTen Tribes; that ^cZion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will ^dreignpersonally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be ^erenewedand receive its ^fparadisiacal ^gglory.

 11 We claim the ^aprivilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the ^bdictates of our own ^cconscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them ^dworship how, where, or what they may.

 12 We believe in being ^asubject to ^bkings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in ^cobeying, honoring, and sustaining the ^dlaw.

 13 ^aWe believe in being ^bhonest, true, ^cchaste, ^dbenevolent, virtuous, and in doing ^egood to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we ^fhopeall things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to^gendure all things. If there is anything ^hvirtuous, ⁱlovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Joseph Smith."

JPS