Asking In Prayer About the Book of Mormon

[from a conversation with B.J.]

When I was in the MTC, they kind of made a big deal about praying about the Book of Mormon to know if it's true.

I'd never done it before, and honestly I was kind of embarrassed to do so, but at the same time I knew that at some point someone (an investigator) was going to ask me if I had and it would be simpler to be able to just say, "Yes," instead of explaining why it was unnecessary.

So I did.

And the way the conversation went, metaphorically, was kind of like this:

[Heavenly Father is reading the newspaper]

Max: Um, Father? Is the Book of Mormon true?

[Heavenly Father raises his eyebrows as if to say, "I know that you know that I know that you know..."]

Max: Yeah, that's what I thought.

[end scenario]

It was kind of embarrassing, and sort of a formality, but we both knew why I did it, and it did make things simpler in the long run.

So that's my story.

--

Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.

Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.

Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.

Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.

Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.

I could not love thee, dear, so much,

Loved I not Honor more.

Killing

Then I cautiously raised the upper half of my body into the tunnel until I was lying flat on my stomach. When I felt comfortable, I placed my Smith Wesson .38-caliber snub-nose (sent to me by my father for tunnel work) beside the flashlight and switched on the light, illuminating the tunnel.

There, not more than 15 feet away, sat a Viet Cong eating a handful of rice from a pouch on his lap. We looked at each other for what seemed to be an eternity, but in fact was probably only a few seconds.

Maybe it was the surprise of actually finding someone else there, or maybe it was just the absolute innocence of the situation, but neither one of us reacted.

After a moment, he put his pouch of rice on the floor of the tunnel beside him, turned his back to me and slowly started crawling away. I, in turn, switched off my flashlight, before slipping back into the lower tunnel and making my way back to the entrance. About 20 minutes later, we received word that another squad had killed a VC emerging from a tunnel 500 meters away.

I never doubted who that VC was. To this day, I firmly believe that grunt and I could have ended the war sooner over a beer in Saigon than Henry Kissinger ever could by attending the peace talks.

-Michael Kathman, "Triangle Tunnel Rat"
as quoted in On Killing, by Lt. Colonel David Grossman

I find this story troubling. I think of myself as someone who is prepared to do what is necessary, but I suspect that I wouldn't have been prepared to kill the guy under the circumstances either, even though it is the clearly rational, tactically correct thing to do. (Who cares if he is pointing a gun at you at that exact instant vs. eating rice?)

Historical evidence is that most human beings are not killers by nature, and resist the act of killing even enemy soldiers in combat. I thought I wasn't like that but now I'm not so sure.

--

Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.

Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.

Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.

Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.

Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.

I could not love thee, dear, so much,

Loved I not Honor more.

Science challenge

Challenge: in thirty words or less, compare and contrast greenhouses and the Greenhouse Effect (specifically, as it pertains to carbon dioxide).

Here's my attempt: greenhouses trap radiative heat by preventing convection. Carbon dioxide traps heat by preventing re-radiation.

Challenge: explain in thirty words or less why climatologists think carbon dioxide emissions are disastrous.

Here's my attempt: write equations predicting climate change using basic physics. Predictions don't match reality, so increase carbon dioxide coefficient until equation matches. No such thing as an unknown variable. What's falsification anyway?

--

Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.

Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.

Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.

Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.

Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.

I could not love thee, dear, so much,

Loved I not Honor more.

A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief: original tune

http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/17054730

--

Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.

Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.

Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.

Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.

Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.

I could not love thee, dear, so much,

Loved I not Honor more.

Testing, testing

Multiple choice test, created for (http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/multchc.htm):

Cochlear refers to:
A: The ear
B: The eye
C: The mind
D: Theatre

Epidermis is located:
A: Within the thorax
B: Below the dermis
C: On the periphery of the integument
D: None of the above

Which of the following sorts is the best way to sort 300 million Americans by SSN?
A: Quicksort
B: Insertion sort
C: Bubble sort
D: Radix sort

--
Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.
Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.

I could not love thee, dear, so much,
Loved I not Honor more.