So, we have an authoritative statement by "the prophet to the Prophet", Heber C Kimball stating that SLC would be classed among the wicked cities of the world. That around 150 years ago. And today? Yes, I think so. Parts of the west side are gang-riddled. The Avenues are gay-riddled with copious amounts of rainbow flags waving in the wind every June (since when do we boast of our sin and defiance of the first commandment to multiply and replenish the earth - which cannot be done with butt sex and other gay practices not involving sperm and an egg?!?). We have wife-swapping and soft-swinging as a regular occurrence in the south end of the valley.
And, as I try to warn my friends and family in the valley of the impending judgments, all I get is a glassed-over stare in response. In other words, the people believe they are chosen and will therefore be saved, no matter the level of depravity that they engage in.
And then there is Utah County with BYU going woke and you really cannot tell a Saint from a sinner around here. At the heart of BYU housing south of campus, I find that there are now doggie poop bags everywhere as if it is now normal to have a pet while going to school. And sure enough, I saw a greasy-haired Millennial couple walking a dog (and of course, not being responsible for the poop their dog was extruding in the planting strip). I wondered if these could be some of the "plants" active up on campus, trying to change the culture and influence students away from traditional values. I do not remember having time for a frivolous thing like a designer dog during my time at BYU - let alone the budget for grooming and feeding, etc
I attended my neice's sealing in the Payson temple last Saturday. She is a real gem - one I am proud to call family. She is so goal oriented that she makes me feel like a complete slacker etc for what I was up to at that same age. I got to the reception a little late in Spanish Fork and found the groomsmen out doing what they do - decorating the Groom's little pick-up truck. All I saw going into the venue, was the fellows in white shirts and ties putting on the ribbons etc that you would expect. Several of them I recognized from the sealing room in the Temple.
About an hour later, I emerged from the building to find the truck parked in a corner and something in the street lights caught my eye. I thought someone had used candle wax to make a phallic symbol complete with testes on the side of the bed of the truck. Mind you, this was about 4' long. There was a bunch of other stuff hidden in code all over the truck - but the thing that was REALLY egregious was a depiction of what appears to be my neice giving fellatio to a male on the passenger door of the same truck. The door she would be using to leave for her honeymoon on. How distressing!! Either that her groom hung out with these buffoons or that she had to go to a carwash to attempt to clean this filth off when she should have been leaving for wedded bliss on her most memorable night of her clean/pure life. She is not about that kind of garbage.
I was completely in shock. When I told some people who saw it, they just laughed it off. The problem is, this kind of low-brow humor has been normalized in our schools and among today's youth. I call it de-sensification.
The first thing that went through my mind after the shock dissipated a bit, was that Koyle's prophecy of being able to move from Payson to Lehi without touching the ground and stepping only on the corpses of the dead after some future desolating scourge, were about to come true (in other words, the boys from Spanish Fork are just bad news). And then I remembered back to my BYU days and me driving my then fiance's Subaru with 8 BYU students inside and two on the roof through a treacherous stretch of Diamond Fork and some drunk cowboys coming up behind us in their redneck get-up cutting us off and threatening us with bodily harm as we were leaving the hotspring parking lot because they were too drunk to make any sense of the situation. And I remember just being glad that I did not have to live in Utah county after college was done. That was 35 years ago.
Then there was the statement by a daughter that the kids at Cardston High were like over 70% non-virgins. I asked if that was the kids from the Reserve or predominantly LDS kids and it was the latter including the Seminary teacher's daughter who "fell pregnant" by another Bishop's son (isolated case?, or common??). Not very Latter-Day saintish if you ask me. Bottom line is, our culture is in extreme trouble - and we should not be surprised if judgments come down on us.
Then there was a convo I had with SEVERAL of the women who are divorced who were complaining about the men on LDS dating sites and how they expect to have sex with you on the first date - or you are otherwise a prude. Or the reports out of Utah that there is such a thing as "soaking" where it is not sex if the guy puts his unit into a girl's unit but does not thrust in and out. And so we go down that slippery slope....
And we have people wondering after us in amazement when we talk of the long-overdue destruction that we have coming to us....
Speaking of Cardston, maybe now would be a good time to re-read the famous Cardston Temple vision, which was had in 1933 by Sols Caurdisto.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reliefmine.com/cardston-temple-vision-and-world-war/
She talks about the break-out of World War 3, while the humble followers of Christ being migrating to places of refuge designated by the Lord.
Very interesting with current events going on.
Those that end up getting pregnant can often be the most innocent because they were not thinking to err in the first place. And they seek to make the best of it at risk to their individual and family reputations and disappointment (anger in some parents’ cases). They have all their future dreams to step back from or postpone, in order to do the right thing, and try to get back on track and protect an inconvenient, innocent life. That indicates a mistake and noble character to disregard temptation to conveniently dispose of the life within, (especially if this is your first time and you don’t have a history of having multiple escapades with more than one partner over the years.) So mistake —indicates more of a mistake than a willful desire to lie to yourself about the sequential physical, spiritual, and emotional steps of disregard and denial that you are about to take.
ReplyDeleteThis innocent pair’s mistake may have done more good in course-correcting the actions and behavior of teens around them, then thousands of Sunday school lessons taught—yet they paid the price, and sought to make it right, and do the more difficult thing (adoption would also be considered doing a difficult thing).
Now I get that there has to still be a step by step increase in the level of choosing to “engage,” or to break the law of chastity, even with the more innocent scenario.
One has to willingly choose a place to be private and not within site of others, unless one is at a depraved party or something.
So one — I mean it takes two— isolate physically from family and friends —conscious and first step. Isolating is behind closed doors in bedrooms or rooms or cars, or hammock out of the way of all the outside house lights or, other. That is a conscience choice and an admission that one is pre-planning even though you are madly “in-love.”
The other thing that is less planned, more instantaneous is the “keep it vertical” rule. It is a safety net in case you have pre-planned to isolate. A conscious and subconscious “alarm” should go off as you go from vertical standing or sitting to horizontal. Hormones plus convenience equal the danger zone then when in horizontal mode.
The “stay in public place or place with family/friends” usually tends to be incremental, however the “keep it vertical, because a pair can be prone to make out,” can tend to be a spark on an already built fire. Fires can be helpful or harmful based on context and purpose.
So with the law of chastity breaking, there are incremental steps — usually like a couple self-grooming each other if they allow enough unrestrained time together or the more experienced one grooming the more innocent, who enjoys the seduction—assuming those involved are both consensual participants and near the same age. [I am just describing dynamics right now of consenting participants.]
Also, when your “friends,” who were your friends perhaps in junior high begin to leave you out in high school, you can bet they are posturing for some fun and pleasure that you would not stand for, so do not be all too sad about it; they are doing you a favour.
Or just within days, the “friends” you hang out with, all have begun going somewhere without you out of the normal pattern. They leave you out of their plans suddenly, or you find out they all went here, but you weren’t notified…take it actually as a compliment. They know you don’t stand for what they all are about to do (unless they were planning a surprise party and that should be quite temporary).
One’s tendency might be to feel sorry for oneself, but they are revealing who they really are (until they change and become something or someone different). That change may take time, and by then, one may have journeyed on.
Point is, usually the breaking of the law of chastity involves concrete, sequential physical steps. You have to keep one’s brain in a certain denial or frame of reference to disregard these steps of decline.
ReplyDeleteIt is “the 70%” who pre-meditate and pre-plan to prevent with a willing disobedience and then a step from that, those with wild abandonment do not care or would rather risk an after-the-fact abortion than let anyone know their plans….reputation is their god and their future plans a “my will” not “thy will”
If one is at a depraved party, then most likely you have come with a certain intention in mind and your moral compass has exploded a long time ago (not that it can’t be repaired through an arduous journey and Christ’s atoning blood).
What kind of friends does your niece's husband have and how much is he apart of that mentality especially at a temple wedding?
ReplyDeleteBeing from the SLC valley I am unaware of any of that sexual activity, but then I don't socialize that much. We did have a couple in our ward whose 3 child was supposedly to be fathered by someone other than the husband, I suppose similar things happen in each ward. The problem is when it becomes a habit that is hard to break. I see these movies where boy meets girl and decides this is the one, even though they both had been in and out of other sexual relationships, and I laugh my head off, what makes either one of them think that they are going to stop their behavior???? A major change has to come upon them both with the realization and acceptance that what they were doing is wrong with Godly sorrow and desire to be better. I will add with God's help to be true and faithful, other wise it is all bullshit. In fact they may still fall off the wagon, but frankly, you didn't premeditativly kill anyone, you can still repent and do better. It's just when you give up, is the problem, when you accept the negative behavior and give excuses for it and turn your attitude against God or the Church, the Prudish society of conservatives, Republicans or whatever, is when you are really screwed. But then, you can still repent, but I think this is one purpose of the cleansing. To bring about, a come to Jesus experience to cause the people to turn and repent or be lost. Selfish behavior is wholly opposite to God's patterns, and to persist is death in this world and the next.
I miss the convenience of living in the central part of SL Valley with beautiful mature trees, a lovely garden we now don't have; but our neighborhood was loosing members, realtors were telling people that the Mormons were moving out, meaning this would be your kind of neighborhood. I felt uneasy with all the BLM signs and rainbow flags in the area. Even a few members had these in their yards. On memorial day I would pass many beautiful old homes on the way to the cemetery that were once populated by decent and moral people now populated by scum. Just makes me sick. For me these signs in peoples yards represent division of people (BLM), and acceptance of perversions as normal behavior, again more division. Some may not see it that way, but those people have their heads up a very dark place.