Am I repeating myself????

About the impact gay marriage will have on our lives, in many ways unknown, is what I've been watching out for.  I see the Church being open and seeming to diffuse critics by laying it all on the line...a video about garments, pictures of Temple interiors, open houses of Temples, more visibility of women in areas of service and all sorts of openess. 

When that Family Proclamation was introduced in 1995, along with others, I had the same thought...well, of course! marriage is between a man and a woman!!...  We have had years to absorb this document and to see the far reaching impact it is having in our society.  I'm thinking it's the tip of the iceberg and we are in danger of collision.

As gay marriage starts to sweep the nation I'm appalled.  Once it started gaining momentum I could see there would be no going back.  This movement reminds me of one of those old time toys that was a joke.  A can with a snack food label and when you open it a coiled snake expands and makes you jump and scream.  One of those fabric covered springs.  Once out of the can it is near impossible to stuff it back in the can.

I believe there is no stuffing this entire movement back in the can.  Those advocates are just waiting in the wings and enjoying the moment as immorality sweeps the nation.  I have noticed that the General Authorities have mentioned, at various times, that persecution will rear it's ugly head and will impact us.  It appears that this is where the impact of man's laws will slap our religious beliefs and challenge us on unknown fronts. I'm curious as to how this movement will impact the simplicity of me just worshiping on Sunday.  Will things remain peaceful within the Chapel and on the grounds? And at my nearby Temple?  So many unknowns.

It is chilling to read this Apostolic warning in the last part of the Proclamation to the World...

Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

This article here is so well written and I wanted to share it with you.

Mothers- what a challenge to prepare/teach your little ones how to love the sinner but not embrace the sin.  Won't you have to call a spade a spade?  Yikes!! 

Peace within. don't we all want that?

Thanks, Ami, for your comment on yesterday's post! I enjoyed it so much!  You are on track and that is terrific!  It's a tough situation for all of us to deal with and ignoring what is thrown in our face is not very smart!  Thanks again!....

"Thank you for that wonderful scripture at the end. I was teary reading it because it helped me focus on what I want my kids to believe and feel rather than on what is changing in the world. I know in the end they will decide for themselves but I am encouraged when my 13 says he wants to study his seminary lessons during the summer! One thing that encourages me is to watch the strong spirits of my children and how they are able to separate the teachings of the gospel from the ways of the world. As you so nicely put, being in the world and not of it, is the goal. I also have to say STRONGLY that I am not a bigot or teaching my children to hate others who do not believe the same as they do. There is a difference in loving others and supporting them with votes and accolades. Thank you for speaking your mind, helping me to make sense of what my role is as a mother, and encouraging me to continue to teach love, peace, and faithfulness to my children.  Ami"

After I posted it, I did wonder about it.  Would it be received in the light I meant it or not?  It is how I feel and I think, we each need to examine how we feel, in light of the happenings and decide --am I going to forever be debating/arguing/endlessly talking about the same subject??? OR am I going to look within myself, weigh out what is going on worldly-wise against last day prophecies, make peace and move ahead???

I'm in the Church for religion.  I'm in the Church because I love the doctrine in so many ways.  I am excited about the possibilities of the Holy Ghost as a constant companion for guidance and direction.  Spiritual experiences buoy me.  Priesthood!...right here on earth.  The Temple and the blessings from that and other acts of obedience that only bring me joy when accomplished are wonderful!  I can't make a short list of why I enjoy my Church membership.

 I seek peace in a world of chaos. 

I don't want to debate and argue and put down others.  I want peace.  The Gospel, according to the Savior promises peace, and I want that.  I want that for me and for everyone else.  Isn't that the message of hope we present to investigators?

I don't want to get sidetracked with causes/rallies/petitions.  At the same time I don't want to be an ostrich and ignore the events surrounding my life-- choices being legalized at the insistence and demands of others.  Choices that to me are deal breakers and not a part of the laws of the God that I choose to worship.  

I want to weigh the words of the strident pleadings/incessant demands, against the teachings of the Savior coupled with Latter-day Prophets.

and then I just want to live the Gospel and enjoy it's fruits. 

Others will choose to live their life different than mine and they will valiantly fight for their cause.  I love the respect afforded them, and us also, in our 11th Article of Faith...

 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.

 *******************************************************

 Perhaps you saw this article in May.  I made bold the part that really jumped out at me.  (read about talk here )

There are physical and spiritual dangers for Latter-day Saints and their loved ones, President Henry B. Eyring said during Women’s Conference at BYU May 3, 2013.

“[That] has been true for most of the world’s history from the Fall of Adam and Eve and their journey out of the Garden of Eden,” said the First Counselor in the First Presidency. “We will need divine protection in our journey through this last dispensation as it moves toward its climactic end.”

 *****************************************

John 14:27 ^aPeace I leave with you, my ^bpeace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be ^ctroubled, neither let it be afraid.

Off the sickbed and on the Soapbox!!

Things sometimes don't go as planned in deciding when to not feel/be sick.  Wednesday I finally left my bed of misery, after retching, for what seemed a century!  got showered.  came back here (yes, office still messy) and was hit by all the Supreme Court rulings!!  That was enough to make me sick again!!!

I've been to a couple of wonderful Church meetings lately and words have been used, such as, The Lord's work is hastening.  After the Sunday Night special Missionary Fireside and to hear there are 70,000 missionaries, and most are young people, I just felt like it was this beautiful flood of goodness just pouring over the earth.  Sharing truth and literally scattering sunshine with teachings of the Gospel and the light of the Savior.

At the same time, battle prep, is being made by the adversary....denied a family of his own it makes sense he would want to break up current and future families.   

It's all moving so fast!!!  Unreal!

The short time period, of 17 years, for something so monumental.  Something so basic.  Something our country is based on.  something all of mankind is based on and to see that shredding and people trying to convince believers that it won't effect you etc. etc.  Yes.  Yes, it will impact all of us.  Especially for Christians.  Already Christians are fussing over the Boy Scout Ruling and then faulting those supporting the decision.  I think this is just going to be quite the last days/signs of the times show to watch.

sorry off the subject.  I just wanted to say that even the NY Times acknowledges that it was rapid.
17 years!

New York Times
Court Strikes Down U.S. Marriage Act
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a 1996 law denying federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples is unconstitutional, in a sign of how rapidly the national debate over gay rights has shifted.

Now the ball is starting to roll, moving forward, on the adversary's side but we have...
 2 The ^akeys of the ^bkingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the ^cgospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the ^dstone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has ^efilled the whole earth.

At some point this year, Ellen DeGeneres, was awarded the Mark Twain Award.  I watched in amazement as she was applauded/lauded/plaudits for her courage in paving the way for honesty about being gay and at the end saluted her wife.  I watched this come full circle and caught the clip of her outing scene which sent her career plummeting but she is now on top again.  I wrote about her a couple of years ago  here  I don't follow her life but I have kept my eye open on her career. 

The Puppy Episode[edit]  (from Wikipedia about the show that brought Ellen  down)

Main article: The Puppy Episode

In 1997, Ellen made television history when the title character came out as a lesbian in the famous "Puppy Episode" (DeGeneres herself came out concurrent with the episode on The Oprah Winfrey Show and in TIME). To ensure a memorable moment, the coming out scene was made into a gag where, at an airport, Ellen turns and tells Laura Dern "I'm gay!" – only to realize that she had turned right into the intercom microphone, announcing her sexuality to the entire terminal. Ellen DeGeneres's mother Betty can briefly be seen as one of the people in the terminal with a shocked reaction to the announcement.^[1]

The episode was ranked #35 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time.^[2]

The revelation ignited a storm of controversy, prompting ABC to place a parental advisory at the beginning of each episode.

Ellen was successful enough in its early seasons to warrant annual renewal, due largely to DeGeneres's perceived appeal and comic ability, but only with Ellen's coming out did the show make its way into the wide public consciousness and hit a critical plateau. However, after the initial coming out frenzy, the show's ratings declined and ABC began feeling the pain of a backlash regarding the "gay content" being exhibited. The final episodes of Ellen were criticized for focusing too much on gay issues,^[3] a criticism begun in anti-gay circles but which spread to the mainstream media. Eventually, even some members of the gay community, including Chaz Bono (who at the time was the media director for GLAAD), began to criticize the show's serious new tone as well.^[4] ABC pulled the show from the air in May 1998 after five seasons.

Ellen, once so black-listed/rejected is now the darling it seems... worldwide....

SYDNEY (AP) — Ellen DeGeneres was applauded by a rapturous Aussie audience like a cherished part of the family as she introduced her Australian-born wife, Portia de Rossi, on a Sydney Harbour-side stage on Saturday to begin pre-recording Down Under segments for her popular U.S. TV show.

I find this interesting in reading how the ABC network put a parental advisory before they gave Ellen the boot BUT  I remembered seeing a TV ad and I thought it was ABC and sure enough...unless they have changed it...they have two shows with gay families!

 


The Fosters is an American drama series on ABC Family that premiered on June 3, 2013. Produced by Jennifer Lopez and her production company Nuyorican Productions, the series follows the lives of the Foster family, an interracial lesbian couple who are raising biological and adoptive children together.

*****************************AND also*****************************
 
 


 Modern Family employs an ensemble cast. The show revolves around three families living in Los Angeles who are interrelated through Jay Prichett and his children, Claire and Mitchell. Jay (Ed O'Neill), the patriarch, is re-married to a much younger woman, Gloria (Sofía Vergara), a passionate^[33] Colombian woman, with whom he has a baby son, Fulgencio (Joe) Pritchett; and a 14-year-old son from Gloria's previous relationship, Manny (Rico Rodriguez). Jay's daughter Claire (Julie Bowen) is a homemaker married to Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell), a real estate agent and self-professed "cool dad". They have three children: Haley (Sarah Hyland) the stereotypical ditzy teenage girl,^[34] Alex (Ariel Winter), the nerdy, smart middle child^[35] and Luke (Nolan Gould), the offbeat only son.^[36] Jay's son Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), a lawyer, and his partner, Cameron (Eric Stonestreet), have an adopted Vietnamese child, Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons). In the first season, the adult cast was paid a range of approximately $30,000 to $90,000 per episode.^[37]

2 American Boy Scouts in the Berlin Gay Pride Parade

I have no intention of devoting my blog or my time or my posts to things like this all the time but sometimes I find that I've accumulated a lot of minutia and it's sort of eating at me.  This blog is one.  I am an adult woman, firm in my gender and role and totally heterosexual, a strong testimony of the Gospel.  I can't imagine the pain and suffering for families, friends and avowed gays with all the rejection.  The confusion/estrangement/heartache they go through. I won't reject them as fellow beings but I cannot accept legalizing their needs/desires/wants through marriage.  I do believe it will happen and those last 2 paragraphs in the Family Proclamation will come to pass .   Hopefully I'm proven wrong.  I will welcome it.  Maybe I've been way sicker than I thought?  Maybe I have a fever?
Maybe I'm delusional?  That certainly doesn't sound faith filled but I feel faith filled.  I think these last days are about being in the world and not of it.  Facing the happenings and gearing up for what we need to do, to keep ourselves and our loved ones on the Lord's side.

Mothers- You are the ones.  You are the ones that have to figure out how to teach this to your babies.  The rest of us will do what we can but you are with them the majority of the time.  I guess the cradle isn't any to soon to start preparing them for what you know, and I know and we all know... they are strong enough to make it through and lead us, as future leaders in the Church and have families of their own.  My prayers are always with you but especially on this subject.

Section 65

Revelation on prayer given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Hiram, Ohio, October 30, 1831.

1–2, The keys of the kingdom of God are committed to man on earth, and the gospel cause will triumph; 3–6, The millennial kingdom of heaven will come and join the kingdom of God on earth.

 1 Hearken, and lo, a voice as of one sent down from on high, who is mighty and powerful, whose going forth is unto the ends of the earth, yea, whose voice is unto men—^aPrepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

 2 The ^akeys of the ^bkingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the ^cgospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the ^dstone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has ^efilled the whole earth.

 3 Yea, a voice crying—^aPrepare ye the way of the Lord, prepare ye the ^bsupper of the Lamb, make ready for the ^cBridegroom.

 4 Pray unto the Lord, ^acall upon his holy name, make known his wonderful ^bworks among the people.

 5 Call upon the Lord, that his kingdom may go forth upon the earth, that the inhabitants thereof may receive it, and be prepared for the days to come, in the which the Son of Man shall ^acomedown in heaven, ^bclothed in the brightness of his ^cglory, to meet the ^dkingdom of God which is set up on the earth.

 6 Wherefore, may the ^akingdom of God go forth, that the^bkingdom of heaven may come, that thou, O God, mayest be^cglorified in heaven so on earth, that thine ^denemies may be subdued; for ^ethine is the honor, power and glory, forever and ever. Amen.