A privilege that could not be denied her

[Cc'ing Brother L______ in case I have your address wrong]

Sister L______,

Here is the quote I was thinking of. I couldn't find a copy of Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith so I couldn't verify whether it's in that book, but I found it in another source.

"He [Joseph Smith] also said many would awake on the morning of the resurrection sadly disappointed; for they, by transgression, would have neither wives nor children, for they surely would be taken from them and given to those who should prove themselves worthy. Again he said, a woman would have her choice; this was a privilege that could not be denied her." (Lucy Walker Kimball, as quoted in They Knew The Prophet, p. 136.)

-Max

--
Rock Is Dead. Long Live Scissors!

"The presentation or 'gift' of the Holy Ghost simply confers upon a
man the right to receive at any time, when he is worthy of it and
desires it, the power and light of truth of the Holy Ghost, although
he may often be left to his own spirit and judgment." --Joseph F.
Smith (manual, p. 69)

RE: Church Question

P.S. If you find all that confusing, let me try again: it is not true that there is only one God. As you originally observed, Jesus and his Father and the Holy Ghost are all Gods, and they are three different people. When Jesus told the Jews he was the Son of God, they accused him of blasphemy, and he said, basically, "In your own scriptures it says you are all gods. How can you say I'm blaspheming then because I say I am the Son of God?"

 

John 10:31-36:

 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

 32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

 33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

 34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

 35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

 36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

 

He's referring back to Psalm 82:6, "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." So anyway, the simplest and most basic true answer to your question is, "It is not true that there is only one God. That is an old sectarian notion and is false."

 

-Max

 

--

Rock Is Dead. Long Live Scissors!

 

"The presentation or 'gift' of the Holy Ghost simply confers upon a man the right to receive at any time, when he is worthy of it and desires it, the power and light of truth of the Holy Ghost, although he may often be left to his own spirit and judgment." --Joseph F. Smith (manual, p. 69)

 

To us there is but one God...

[In answer to the question, "I was studding Egyptian Religion, when I got thinking, we are suppose to believe in one God. Yet dont we believe in the father and the son, and dont we believe that they are both gods, so wouldnt that make two gods that we believe in?  Then there is the holy ghost, which doesnt that make three deities?  Then where does the devil play into it all.  We belive he is our brother, he is collecting an army of his own to fight agianst us, is he not a god in his own right? Would he not compare to anciant religions form of the god of the underworld?" I wrote the following]

 

When I read the scriptures, the impression I get is that when it talks about there being "one God," it's as a contrast to the many idolatrous gods of the Egyptians and the Babylonians, etc. They had a god of rain and a good of the river and a god of fertility and a god of the sun and on and on--and none of those gods were real or able to do the slightest thing, they were just blocks of wood or stone. It's offensive to see the children of God worshipping things that aren't even real, instead of a real being who actually has power to help them and advise them. Anyway, that's the feeling I get from e.g. Exodus 3:13-14. Moses asks, when they ask me which God sent me, what shall I tell them? And the Lord basically says, "The real one."

 

So when the Lord says, "There is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me" (Isa 45:21), I don't think he is any way intending to exclude his Father from consideration. He's just saying, "None of the gods YOU think are god actually are. Baal is not a God, nor Isis, nor Horus."

 

I suppose from a mythological viewpoint you could view any powerful being with a following as a god, and that would make Satan a god from that perspective. (In fact, Satan is referred to in scripture at least once as the "god of this world," i.e. he whom Babylon worships.) Ultimately, though, he is weak and no more a god than any other thing which has no power in the eternities, and is not a God at all.

 

That's my take on it anyway. What's yours?

 

-Max

 

--

Rock Is Dead. Long Live Scissors!

 

"The presentation or 'gift' of the Holy Ghost simply confers upon a man the right to receive at any time, when he is worthy of it and desires it, the power and light of truth of the Holy Ghost, although he may often be left to his own spirit and judgment." --Joseph F. Smith (manual, p. 69)

 

 

Health care solution

I sent the following note to both my Senators and my Congressman:

 

Subject: You can have my vote if...

 

I'm a conservative-leaning independent, but I think the Democrats could instantly get my support for the public plan (even at a $1 trillion price tag over ten years) on one condition: hospitals must be required to let me pay cash for medical services at the same rate they would charge the public plan. One problem as I understand it with the health care industry is, if you took the same money you want to spend on health insurance and simply self-insured (i.e. invested it in bonds or CDs), when you actually needed health care you'd find that the hospitals charge you more for a given service than they charge health insurance companies, because of economies of scale and business leverage. I see that as a problem because it means you're forced into the insurance industry, you can't buy health care out of pocket, so the health CARE industry automatically inherits all the problems of the health INSURANCE industry. By letting me pay cash at the same rate as at least one insurance company (the public plan), it brings market forces back into play and, assuming that the public plan negotiates rates that are not foolishly high, gives health INSURANCE companies their most important competitor--not the public plan but me as an individual--and I don't have to be afraid if the public plan does happen to put the other health care providers out of business, even if there _were_ "death panels," since I could just buy care myself if the public plan won't provide it. Basically I'm using the government as a proxy to negotiate my rates for me.

 

Anyway, if you enable individuals to compete you'll have my vote even if I end up paying for something I'd rather not (the public plan) to get it. Fixing the structural problems in the system is worth it.

 

-Max

--
Rock Is Dead. Long Live Scissors!

"The presentation or 'gift' of the Holy Ghost simply confers upon a man the right to receive at any time, when he is worthy of it and desires it, the power and light of truth of the Holy Ghost, although he may often be left to his own spirit and judgment." --Joseph F. Smith (manual, p. 69)

Christopher Columbus and the Book of Mormon

So, you know Columbus is mentioned in the Book of Mormon, right?
 
1 Ne. 13: 12-13
  12 And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.
  13 And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.
 
Okay, so does everyone. Did you also know that Columbus realized he was being inspired? And that he was visited by angels? In order that we may gain greater understanding of 1 Ne. 13:12-13, I quote from the Oct 1992 issue of Ensign:
 
The novelty of Columbus's idea was not that the earth was round—every major geographer and scholar since the ancient Greeks accepted a spherical earth, as did seamen and educated people of the time. Rather, it was that the earth was not as far around as everyone believed. The most respected geographical authority in Columbus's time was Ptolemy, who had calculated the circumference of the earth at 21,840 miles (the modern measurement is 25,902 miles). Columbus preferred the estimates of Arab mathematician al-Farghani, who came up with a measurement of about 20,000 miles.
 
More important for Columbus, however, was the ratio of land to water. Here he made his greatest miscalculations. Marinus of Tyre had suggested that land extended for 225 degrees around the earth, leaving only 135 degrees of water between Portugal and China. But even that was too far for Columbus. Had not Esdras written (in the Apocrypha) that six parts of the globe are habitable land and only one part water? Columbus therefore reduced the width of the ocean by 28 degrees to account for a larger Asia and then another 30 degrees to Japan, because Marco Polo had reported (without seeing it, of course) that the island of Cipango (Japan) lay 1,500 miles off the coast of Cathay (China). Columbus subtracted 9 more degrees when he decided to depart from the Canary Islands.

Thus, he calculated the distance from the Canaries to Japan at about 2,400 miles. He was wrong, of course; the actual airline distance is 10,600 miles. But remarkably, what did lie about 2,400 miles west of the Canaries was an entirely new continent, unknown to anyone in Europe or Asia.
 
...Columbus would not be put off. He continued to promote his project so tenaciously that it gave rise to sundry stories and myths to explain his dogmatic certainty. There are so many flaws in these stories that it is amazing anyone ever believed them, much less modern critical scholars. Yet some people are willing to believe almost anything to explain Columbus's unmovable conviction rather than accept his claim that he was led by God. "I could sense his hand upon me," wrote Columbus, "so that it became clear to me that it was feasible to navigate from here to the Indies, and he gave me the will to do it."
 
...On the third voyage, he was unable to control the open rebellion that had broken out in the new colony he had founded on his second voyage. In October 1500, Columbus was arrested and deported to Spain in chains.

The humiliation was overwhelming. In a letter to a friend, Columbus wrote, "The only thing that sustains me is my hope in him who created everyone; his support has always been near. On one occasion not long ago, when I was deeply distressed, he raised me with his right arm, saying: 'O man of little faith, arise, it is I, do not be afraid.' "

Later, during his fourth voyage, Columbus received another divine assurance during an extremely perilous moment when he was about to abandon all hope. "Exhausted, I fell asleep, groaning," he reported to the sovereigns. "I heard a very compassionate voice, saying: 'O fool and slow to believe and to serve thy God, the God of all! … Thou criest for help, doubting. Answer, who has afflicted thee so greatly and so often, God or the world? … Not one jot of His word fails; all that He promises, He performs with interest; is this the manner of men? I have said that which thy Creator has done for thee and does for all men. Now in part He shows thee the reward for the anguish and danger which thou hast endured in the service of others.' I heard all of this as if I were in a trance, but I had no answer to give to words so true, but could only weep for my errors. He, whoever he was, who spoke to me, ended saying: 'Fear not; have trust; all these tribulations are written upon marble and are not without cause.'" [emphasis added]

 

Columbus was wrong about some of the details of geography, and he didn't fully understand the purpose of his mission--but he knew that God had a work for him to do and he did it.
 
-Max

--
Rock Is Dead. Long Live Scissors!

"The presentation or 'gift' of the Holy Ghost simply confers upon a man the right to receive at any time, when he is worthy of it and desires it, the power and light of truth of the Holy Ghost, although he may often be left to his own spirit and judgment." --Joseph F. Smith (manual, p. 69)

Miss Manners (Is Hilarious)

Clever people make me happy. The line in bold reminds me of K.'s sense of humor.

 

-M.

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/18/AR2009081803382_2.html  

Dear Miss Manners:

When is it appropriate for men to wear white tuxedos? My family is planning an anniversary gala, and would like to have some of the young men escort guests to their tables.

So far so good, but they want the men to wear white tuxedos because it is August. I told them that since the affair was being held after 5 p.m. and it is being set up as a formal (semi-black tie) event, that white was not right to wear. I also said that the men would look like they were ready to pass out ice cream. Am I wrong?

 
Not about the hope of double scoops of chocolate whirl this will engender, if Miss Manners may judge by her own reaction. That white dinner jackets look silly, she agrees.
 
But they are not incorrect as summer evening clothes, so your objections about the hours and the degree of formality are incorrect. They do qualify as black tie. (Miss Manners has no idea what semi-black tie might be, but it sounds disheveled.)

 

--
Rock Is Dead. Long Live Scissors!

"The presentation or 'gift' of the Holy Ghost simply confers upon a man the right to receive at any time, when he is worthy of it and desires it, the power and light of truth of the Holy Ghost, although he may often be left to his own spirit and judgment." --Joseph F. Smith (manual, p. 69)

IQ and financial acumen

Surprise, surprise! IQ is a general cognitive phenomenon, it's not subject matter-specific. It turns out that having a high IQ means you're likely to make better financial choices.
 
See http://www.jerrypournelle.com/mail/2009/Q2/mail570.html#IQ which refers to:

People with higher IQs make wiser economic choices, study finds
http://www.physorg.com/print160077614.html 

People with higher measures of cognitive ability are more likely to make good choices in several different types of economic decisions, according to a new study with researchers from the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities and Morris campuses.

The study, set to be published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week, was conducted with 1,000 trainee truck drivers at Schneider National, Inc., an American motor carrier employing 20,000. The researchers measured the trainees' cognitive skills and asked them to make choices in several economic experiments, and then followed them on the job.

People with better cognitive skills, in particular higher IQ, were more willing to take calculated risks and to save their money and made more consistent choices. They were also more likely to be cooperative in a strategic situation, and exhibited higher "social awareness" in that they more accurately forecasted others' behavior.

The researchers also tracked how trainees persevered on their new job. The company paid for the training of those who stayed a year, but those who left early owed thousands in training costs. The study found that those with the highest level of cognitive ability stayed at twice the rate of those with the lowest.

The finding that individual characteristics that improve economic success--patience, risk taking and effective social behavior--all cluster together and are linked through cognitive skill, which could have implications for policy making and education.

This matches my modest personal experience. Several weeks ago, I spent a few days asking various friends, "If you had a choice between $500 now or a 15% chance of $1,000,000 in six months, which would you pick?" I thought the choice was obvious, but in practice I was shocked at how many people picked the $500. While I can potentially imagine some scenarios in which the certainty of $500 has greater utility (you're living on the edge already and $500 is enough to keep you from losing your house and spiraling down into the disaster of homelessness) I can't possibly imagine that 60% of the people I know are in that situation, which means that most or all of them aren't making good financial decisions. You will never get another chance at an investment with a 60,000% annualized expected-value rate-of-return. All of the financial decisions you will ever make in your life are a worse bet than that. Take the 15%!!! 

And of course there's the whole mystery of credit card debt. Don't get me wrong--I've found some situations where it's useful to have a credit card, and there are even situations where I can see that it would be advantageous to carry a balance for a brief period of time, if an unexpected expense requires liquidating assets and you need more time to avoid taking a loss. Still, I remember the first time I was ever exposed to credit cards. I was somewhere around four or five years old, and I remember being at a store and watching my mom pay for something with a credit card--the clerk had this awkward contraption with carbon paper, and he put the card in there and worked the device (ka-chunka-chunka!) and gave it back to my mother, then did some paperwork for a minute and then we were done--and I was amazed. You can actually buy stuff without money! I also remember my disillusionment when I found out, later that day, that you have to pay the money back. My disgruntled reaction: "Well then what's the point?!"

 

And that's still basically my attitude toward credit card debt today. The crazy thing is that it should be the universal attitude, but somehow it isn't.

-Max

--
Rock Is Dead. Long Live Scissors!

"The presentation or 'gift' of the Holy Ghost simply confers upon a man the right to receive at any time, when he is worthy of it and desires it, the power and light of truth of the Holy Ghost, although he may often be left to his own spirit and judgment." --Joseph F. Smith (manual, p. 69)

Twin studies

This guy reminds me of Judith Harris. I wonder if it's still true.

 

"In graduate school at UC [the University of California] Berkeley, I was reading a book edited by psychiatrist D. D. Jackson on the etiology of schizophrenia. The first chapter, by a geneticist, was on twin studies. Then Jackson refuted it all with just the kind of [guff] you hear now against twin studies. He said families are the cause of schizophrenia. I remember saying in a graduate seminar, "Most of this stuff [in Jackson's argument] is junk"—I crawled out of the seminar room a bloody pulp. The reaction [from seminar members] was my first absolutely clear-cut demonstration that psychologists believed correlation is causation, ... and many still do."

 

http://www.jerrypournelle.com/mail/2009/Q3/mail578.html#Twins

 

-Max

--
Rock Is Dead. Long Live Scissors!

"The presentation or 'gift' of the Holy Ghost simply confers upon a man the right to receive at any time, when he is worthy of it and desires it, the power and light of truth of the Holy Ghost, although he may often be left to his own spirit and judgment." --Joseph F. Smith (manual, p. 69)

Soft-hearted dupes

M.,

 

I spent some time today trying to remember enough names to dig up this info--someone made a disparaging comment about HUAC and McCarthy, but the fact is that the in some cases HUAC was right and the soft-hearted "useful idiots" were wrong, even if they managed to keep the cases controversial. (That is, you don't have to be innocent to convince a lot of people that you're being witchhunted.) The Rosenbergs are a case in point. They were executed for treason fifty years ago. This has been "controversial" for a long time because a lot of people thought they weren't guilty. In 2008, one of their co-conspirators confessed, without regret, that the Rosenbergs and their supporters had lied to everybody all along and that they and he had actually done the things they were accused of (passing secrets to the Soviets), although according to him "spying" isn't the way he likes to think of it.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/12/nyregion/12spy.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

 

Anyway, I remember hearing about this at the time, but it took me a while to track it down and so per policy this time I'm notifying you and archiving the info (and Cc'ing the blog).

 

-Max

 

--

Rock Is Dead. Long Live Scissors!

 

"The presentation or 'gift' of the Holy Ghost simply confers upon a man the right to receive at any time, when he is worthy of it and desires it, the power and light of truth of the Holy Ghost, although he may often be left to his own spirit and judgment." --Joseph F. Smith (manual, p. 69)