God Pouring Out His Love Through Jesus (Religion)

Disclaimer: This article is solely my personal opinion and is not endorsed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

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While listening to the October General Conference on Sunday, I briefly nodded off.

Due to insomnia, I had gotten little rest the night before.

Anyhow, during that brief moment asleep, I saw a man who I realize now was a water-bearer around whom were gathered a crowd.

"I bring water," he said, "to share with everyone freely so that those of you who drink of it may live."

Having said that, he carefully filled a cup with water from a large water bag on his back, and let each person who had assembled before him drink from the cup.

Then I awoke, and realized that the man was Jesus Christ. Through this dream, God was reminding me of the importance of General Conference to each and everyone who listens to, and/or studies the conferences.

Through all the speakers at the General Conference God is conveying his love for us all. Just as the conference speakers share good news about Jesus, so too is Christ Jesus pouring out his love for all mankind through his atonement, and who sacrificed his life so that we may have eternal life. That love is expressed in Mark 22:37-40 when Jesus says:

"...Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

"This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

For these two commandments confirm that God is pouring out his love for mankind through the Christ Jesus.

It's Been Awhile (satire)

To all my fans/followers:

My excuse for not regularly posting articles on my blog is this: I have been obsessed with work, mainly because my new boots allow for walking for 5.5 and 6 hours.

It is possible that I've almost walked a thousand miles. Hence my need for prescription medications such as gabapentin (relieves neuropathic pain), flexeril (relaxes the muscles in my shoulder, and recently bupropion (Zyban is said to cure cigarette smoking).

Even the Zyban had the wonderful side effect of causing me to not indulge in bad habits — mainly paying more attention to my technology than to my surroundings.

Within 15 minutes playing attention to my technology, I feel the the signs of a relapse but alcohol or drugs is not my vice. Instead, I madly type on my keyboard and create articles like this one.

Look, I have cut out coffee and tea, alcohol, masturbation, and smoking. Instead of sinning quietly, I catch myself reading the Gospel Library app. Though a few people are not clued in that when I pulled out my smart-phone or tablet, I am not about to surf to porn websites. Instead, I am searching for a quote by Joseph Smith, but came up with this quote from the New Testament:

Little children, let no man deceive you.
He who does rigorousness is righteous,
even as he is righteous. — 1 John 3:7

To masturbate or watch porn or indulge in adultery and prostitution, or commit homosexual acts, is condemned by John when he wrote:

He who commits sin is of the devil,
for the devil sinned from the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested,
that he might destroy the works of the devil. — 1 John 3:8

By praying to the Lord and beseeching Jesus Christ instead of indulging in booze, cigarettes, wine, soft and hard drugs, adultery, masturbation, prostitution, coffee and tea, and homosexual acts, I shall eventually be rid of the evil that these things do to me that even comes to affect my family and friends.

Oh dear! I have become no fun anymore to the all sorts of decadent hedonists, those salt of the earth who party and stay up late at night.

All it takes is confessing your sin to someone trustworthy like a bishop, a priest, a reverend, a rabbi, a shaman or even a trusted friend, and earnestly repent. The worst that could happen to you is not taking sacrament next Sunday. In due time, by following the doctrines of your faith, you will discover that worldliness is only fun for the worldly.

Once we are baptized, the best way to renew our covenant with God is to faithfully attend sacrament meetings on Sunday, the Lord's Day. For the baptized are born of God after being dipped in the baptism fount.

Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

For it is better to be a child of God, born of God, than to be a child of the devil. When you practice righteousness, you are of God, and so too are they who love their brothers and sisters.

For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. — I John 3:9-11

Yet the habits that you used to love, you come to detest them, not being satisfied with what you do to get relief. That love is a false love because the more you indulge yourself with a bad habit, the more you are socially isolated from the world.

For desire when indulged leaves a bitter-sweet taste in your mouth; but your love is false because desire is more likely to lead to sin when indulged. As for love, it is best to remove all conditions associated with it so that we may love unconditionally.

So, I have been praying about and meditating upon my life, only to see that Joseph Smith's words are true: each of us are free agents who can choose to do good or to do evil.

Indeed, in the heat of passion, I once blamed others for my trespasses, but no more.

Instead I enjoy giving sacrament to members who, because of illness, cannot attend church. It is also why I enjoy participating in discussions during the Elders Quorum meeting most of all.

Now that I have confessed my sin of avoiding responsibility for my actions, I shall repent and try to be the quiet silence in the aftermath of a storm.


Thanks for reading this blog entry. Please take care of yourselves lest you entertain the devil unaware. ;)

The Most Thoughtful Yet Depressing Mormon Hymn (satire)

After first hearing Hymn 197 - O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown - I greatly moved by its subject.  Within context of the church, it sobers the repentant heart.

If this song is sung "thoughtfully", then its apt for Easter which fits all the Easter songs in the Hymnbook.

Even I cannot reach the lowest notes; though, being a guy, I cannot hit High C either.

Though, the music of this hymn is based on a hymn by J.S. Bach who improved on the original hymn written by Hans Leo Hassler.

Anyway, to give you an idea of what this song is like, I will quote the whole thing.

1.O Savior, thou who wearest
A crown of piercing thorn,
The pain thou meekly bearest,
Weigh'd down by grief and scorn.
The soldiers mock and flail thee;
For drink they give thee gall;
Upon the cross they nail thee
To die, O King of all.

2.No creature is so lowly,
No sinner so depraved,
But feels thy presence holy
And thru thy love is saved.
Tho craven friends betray thee,
They feel thy love's embrace;
The very foes who slay thee
Have access to thy grace.

3.Thy sacrifice transcended
The mortal law's demand;
Thy mercy is extended
To ev'ry time and land.
No more can Satan harm us,
Tho long the fight may be,
Nor fear of death alarm us;
We live, O Lord, thru thee.

4.What praises can we offer
To thank thee, Lord most high?
In our place thou didst suffer;
In our place thou didst die,
By heaven's plan appointed,
To ransom us, our King.
O Jesus, the anointed,
To thee our love we bring!

Text: Karen Lynn Davidson, b. 1943. © 1985 IRI Music: Hans Leo Hassler, 1564–1612; adapted by J. S. Bach, 1685–1750 2 Nephi 2:6–9 Matthew 27:26–31, 34–35

Why I Don't Have Issue With the Same-Sex Marriage Decision in America

As a Mormon, I would like to say that Jesus commanded us to love one another; he also told us who are Christian to love our enemies. In short, Christendom ought to be loving toward the LGBT community on this decision, because the State has ruled for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender People.

Thus any hatred against the LGBT is a bigger moral sin than homosexuality itself. If a gay couple is harmed because of this decision and it is found that a Christian did it, then he is anathema to Christendom, because he violated Jesus' commandment to love one another.

However, this is merely my opinion and it is mine to maintain and treasure. While everyone quibbles about the black and white aspects of this decision, my respect for the LGBT community is colored like the rainbow.

The Restorational Faith of Leo N Tolstoy

Russia's most greatest of authors, Leon Tolstoy’s story is that of a bourgeoisie who has amassed riches but felt worthless to the point of melancholia.

Rather than ending it, all he restored a Christianity that was similar to the practices of the Doukhabors, who were Russian peasants who rejected the Orthodox Church priests, icons, and associated church ritual. As well, they rejected the tyranny and oppression of the Russian Czarist government.

Both Tolstoy and the Quakers helped pay the Doukhobors' passage across the Atlantic Ocean circa 1899. Some of them immigrated to Canada.

Sadly though, the Doukhobors ended up being persecuted by BC Premier W.A.C. Bennett, due to their unwillingness to be assimilated into Canadian culture.

Yet Leon N Tolstoy’s Christianity is also a restored Christianity that is practised without the doctrines and dogma of the Orthodox Church from which he had apostatized.

In 1882, Tolstoy first published his four-part series on his faith under the title of A Confession. Originally titled An Introduction to a Criticism of Dogmatic Theology, this series also consisted of "A Criticism of Dogmatic Theology", "The Four Gospels Harmonized and Translated" — the inspiration for "The Gospel in Brief" — and "What I Believe" which was also published in English as "My Religion" and "My Faith".

Because of the Russian Orthodox Church's censorship, the series was banned from publication, being censored in the Russian journal Russian Thought, No 5. So it was later published in Geneva in 1884, and again in Russia in 1906 in the Russian journal World Bulletin 1.

In 1887 it was translated, published and copyrighted by Thomas Y Crowell & Co.

Tolstoy’s restorational faith is expressed in the Introduction to his book, The Kingdom of God is Within You: Christianity Not as a Mystic Religion But as a New Theory of Life. Being restorational in nature, this book should be studied by intellectuals of restorational churches such as the LDS.

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References:

Doukhobor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doukhobor

Leo Tolstoy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy

The Prospect of Marriage Scares Me (satire)

Recently I have noticed hints by my fellow LDS leaders (a married missionary and a teacher who has the higher priesthood) about getting married to a single woman in our ward.

In the first incident, I had dinner with a Taiwanese LDS in the Melchizedek priesthood. As a part of introducing new prospects to Mormon life, I got invited to dinner with his family along with the elders who watched over my spiritual welfare.

Sometime before dinner, I accompanied Brother W to a female prospect at a house she rents with another prospect, but both women were out. Nobody was home - it was like they realized the LDS life is not right for them.

Even though I knew something might be up, I never mentioned my suspicion that he might be introducing me to a potential marriage prospect to Brother W since the LDS theology highly values traditional marriage.

In the second incident, at the Christmas dinner, the married Elder M tried get me to loosen up and stop being the quiet, shy and retiring guy that I am with a lady from Mongolia. We are having an awkward time communicating, but my observation of her behavior and the subtle hints of friendliness indicate to me that we are much alike in personality.

Even so, my aversion to finding a new mate as a new baptized member this early — my baptism was on August 29 - four months membership so far — is making me act like a man who is totally unprepared for marriage.

My income cannot support a mate - it could lead to complex financial difficulties for me, more complicated than the single life that I now live. Indeed, I know that I am not ready, so that is why I am acting like an unlikely prospect rather than like a man.

However, the life of chastity that an LDS member is supposed to follow will almost guarantee getting married if both he and the prospective wife have paid their tithes and fulfilled all their obligations regarding priesthood ordination.

Yet I know from the five failed relationships that the prime cause of their failure is premarital sex. Added to this is the realization that my sexual hangups is related to being not "marriageable" i.e. the married life is more expensive than the single life.

Overall though I shall attempt to be less aloof and unsociable as time goes by as a Mormon but for now, I have some reading to do...

TO BE CONTINUED

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Ordination: http://www.linkapedia-christianity.com/digest/ordination/97407342/20d869b1c88ebc297049467acf69543d?checkLogin=1&lnkpd4f3b8=18f16

A Meditation on the Lord's Prayer

In this article I shall quote the Lord's Prayer and interpret it according to what I have learned about the Bible. If this interpretation differs from any other official interpretation, then it is to glorify God and bear witness to the return of the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

First let me introduce the first part of the prayer:

Our Father, who art in Heaven
Hallowéd be thine Name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy Will be done
On Earth, as it is in Heaven.

In the first five lines of the Lord's Prayer is the promise that the Kingdom of God will come upon us, though it be without warning. This is a distant reference to the Millennial Age when Christ will rule over the Earth before the End of the (Latter) Days is upon us.

These five lines have been written in my heart as the penultimate Millennial Promise of God sung by the angel of song.

In the second part of the Lord's Prayer we have:

Give us this day our daily Bread,
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us
and lead us not to temptation
and deliver us from evil.

Contained in the first line of this part of the Lord's Prayer is the transubstantiation of the body of Christ from the bread of sacrament. Although we as Christians have sacrament on the Sabbath — the day of rest — it represents the renewal of the covenant and reminds us to remain repentant — and thus refrain from sin.

In the third and final part of the Lord's Prayer is the acknowledgement that the Kingdom, the power and the glory is of God, which lasts for a long, long time.

For thine is thy kingdom,
the power and the glory,
Forever and ever.
Amen.

Commentary:

With respect to the history of Christianity — founded by Jesus and written by Luke, it is like the history of ancient Rome — founded by Romulus and written by the Roman historian Dionysus — and the history of the Hebrews — founded by Moses and written by the historian Josephus — with each founder being born from God.

For Romulus was born by the river Tiber, while Moses came floating down the Nile and Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan.

Over the past two thousand years his being born from God has become the literal truth in the Christ's story as an established Truth that frees all of humanity who accepts Jesus as their savior from their past sins in apostasy, now ritually cleansed away by baptism, provided that they "go and sin no more."

That provision — to go and sin no more — is the essence of repentance.

Afterwards, repentance becomes an ongoing process that is sanctified by weekly church meetings on Sunday, and by daily prayers based on scripture. Indeed, the weekly taking of sacrament of bread and water that symbolizes the body and the blood of the Christ renews their covenant with God. That covenant consists of following the commandments of their church and the observance of fasting and taboos of the respective religious denomination.

In the case of LDS theology, their taboo that addresses addiction consists of no coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs.

Additionally, the taboo regarding the law of chastity implies no coveting of another person for immoral purposes, such as fornication, be it heterosexual or homosexual. This also includes adultery, including that of the heart e.g. looking upon another person as a sexual object. Finally, there is a taboo against masturbation and pornography.

I can see wisdom in making these things taboo: having no money to buy energy drinks prevents temptation of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.

With respect to chastity, my choice of the term "coveting" means the wanton desire to use another person for sexual purposes. Fornication implies a sexual act. As for masturbation, the avoidance of pornography is the result of the taboo against it.

Indeed, the study of the Scriptures — the Bible (Old Testament and New Testament) and the LDS scriptures (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price) — is purported to be an inspiration to keep the law of chastity.

Though I prefer a cold shower now and then.

Returning to the first part of the Lord's Prayer, I still hear it being sung as though by an angel of song who clearly sings the promise of Jesus Christ to return to rule over the Kingdom of God in the Afterlife when End of Days is upon us.

Our Father, who art in Heaven
Hallowéd be thine Name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy Will be done
On Earth, as it is in Heaven.

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Reference:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_the_Apostles#Genre.2C_sources_and_historicity_of_Acts
  
• Wikipedia article on the Lord's Prayer
  
• The Lord's prayer - The Singing Nun- this is the song I heard on the radio in the 70s.

What's Love (and Sex) Got to Do with Agapé and Eros

In grade school, it was fun to play with the girls until the boys shamed me into playing with them.

As well, I was subtly bullied by a girl in Grade 6 when in Grade 2, due to her frustration in teaching me math that was simple for her but mysterious to me.

Though that never stopped me from excelling at math.

Then after Grade Three I spent the summer holiday with my first crush.

However, he teasing in Grade Four after my classmates found out I had a summer crush led me to realise romance has to be discreet ie not in my hometown.

The fact that my mother put a stop to it due to being late for supper makes me cautious lest I ruin my relationship with my roommates.

However, the best kind of love is between friends. This love has many names, but two of them are familiarly known as Agape and Eros.

Both Agapé and Eros are two sides of the same coin called human love.

Human love is so fickle though.

Unconditional love demands us to stop placing conditions on love. This is why friends love each other dearly: their love is unconditioned.

However, the only rule in friendship is remain loyal to each other, though it is loyalty with discretion.

Yet friendships rely on each of us to respect each other's right to be free, and to grow as individuals.

However, do not expect a friend to do anything for you, since it may lead to conflict. Such an expectation is unreasonable since it expects too much of a friend.

Do expect a close friend to be there when you need them but remember: friends are not slaves to be toyed with.

If you want anyone who is your friend to become reliable, then be reliable to them. Do anything for them as is necessary, and limit yourselves accordingly.

A good friend is a loyal helpmate. You are that friend.

My first crush was my best female friend, not a girlfriend but a friend who happened to be a girl.

I am happy that such a friend exists for me.

It can only be platonic though, for a man ought to be mature enough to call BS on the myth about platonic friendships.

Indeed it is a pernicious lie to assume a platonic relationship has a subtle sexual ambiance to it.

This lie is based on the error about the mythical libido, which is misinterpreted as the sex drive.

Libido actually is related to life and its propagation, and can be successfully sublimed into service, be it work or play.

Returning to my first crush, it was play that brought us together. Yet duty to my family nipped that in the bud.

Thus the libido must often be tamed, lest friendships be threatened by its excess.

So, my mother helped me to tame my libido by putting a curfew on me.

I suppose the cruelty such as beatings and burning moxibustion only showed the dark side of mother love - but because it was child abuse, it only served to make me fiercely independent when I was younger.

Yet here I am today realising that social isolation might be a side effect of the strong impression at a young age that I ought not associate with anyone lest they learn how dysfunctional I am.

However, the friends that I have show me that they tolerate whatever eccentricities I may have, which helps to moderate my behaviour accordingly.

For that is what unconditional love is actually about: accepting each other, warts and all.

Through daily meditation and prayer,
I daily sublimate Eros, and thus transform its motivational energy into Agapé, the vital essence of unconditional love.


Based on your life experiences, which love is the original love?

Remember: the libido is a manmade construct to explain sexuality, which too is manmade. While Eros and Agapé are two sides of love, the libido, Eros itself, is the subconscious call of the wild to propagate the species, which originates in each living being's survival mechanism.

In contrast Agapé is unconditional love which is the subconscious call from God Almighty to be of service to him by being a standing minister to worldly Gentiles and the apostates in the world today, often by being like an angel in disguise.

IMHO I feel that a healthy balance between Agapé and Eros is not often possible.

It is my contention that the gross energy of Eros (the libido) has often been sublimated and thus energizes Agapé. However sex is not love.

Therefore the sublimated libido energizes unconditional love. At the same time, that Love helps each of us through the grace of God to tame the libido.

I remember as a young boy how I was slowly growing out of control due to family strife due to my birth defects being used by my paternal grandmother shaming my mother because of those defects.

When it turned out that one of her sons, my uncle, had died of complications due to epilepsy, that foiled my grandmother. It is sad when a parent mentally abuses a daughter or son like this, and tragic especially when the same is done to an in-law.

Yet unconditional love is something we experience so little of in the world but have the opportunity to practice in the meetinghouse.

Still, it ought to be shared with the world, often without mentioning God Almighty, who made the world in six days not that we love Him only on the Sabbath, but also for the rest of the week from Monday to Saturday.

By sharing unconditional love with the world, it is then possible for standing ministers to share the Gospel with like minded Gentiles, so that they may come to know the truth about the LDS church.

For example, I have recently found Mormon cosmology to be almost like a light version of Buddhist cosmology, without the cycle of reincarnation and lacking the fullness of its Buddhist counterpart.

Of course, I attribute this to my ignorance of the richness inherent in Mormon cosmology due to my apostasy before baptism and LDS membership.

However, Buddhist cosmology contains a multitude of Buddha worlds of which the Pure Land is one.

IMHO the worlds awaiting the LDS members bound for celestial glory are like the Pure Land.

Yet the LDS literature is vague about the many worlds that those celestial latter day saints inherit.

With an understanding of Agapé and Eros, and of their respective commonplace terms, unconditional love and the libido, it is likely to help put human love into perspective.

Firstly, Agape is Love unconditioned and uncorrupted by carnal love, Eros.

Through the grace of God, after consistent prayer and meditation by a Mormon, Eros is sublimated which subtly energizes Agapé.

Thus is carnal love sublimated into unconditional love. However love is not sex.

Overall the Christ's call to love one another is tempered with his command to love your enemies and also to turn the other cheek ie accept the mental cruelty of zealous anti Mormon cultists without complaint.

Worshipping God as a Buddhist Mormon

In Article of Faith 11, it is written: "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may."

This article of faith guarantees me the privilege to be a Buddhist Mormon, even though the Christian faithful who are deep in Christology claim that such syncretism is anathema to Christianity.

For myself as a Mormon, my Buddhist roots help me to clear my mind so that I am able to worship God according to the dictates of my own conscience.

Most of my worship consists of reading Mormon literature, and understanding various aspects of the LDS faith.

Additionally, the dictates of my own conscience is greatly influenced by religious pluralism, which helps to inspire a Christology that is further illumined by my Pure Land Buddhist origins.

Amida Buddha of Pure Land is defined as the boundless light of wisdom and the boundless life of compassion.

In Christianity, the light of Christ is akin to the spirit of Christ, and thus is closely identified with the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit). As well, the Christ is referred to as the Word. Thus, the Word symbolizes the spiritual wisdom derived from the truth of Atonement i.e. that Jesus Christ sacrificed his life for the sins of mankind and God's Mercy is a free gift to all Christians whose sins are washed away in baptism.

Thus the Holy Ghost is the agent by which spiritual wisdom is derived by acting on the Christian through prayer and meditation inspired by scripture.

Likewise, compassion is symbolized by God's Mercy for all Christians who repent of their sins by following the articles of their faith.

Thus, much of my Buddhist practice of meditation helps me in my study of the Book of Mormon and related LDS scripture, which is vital to the greater understanding of LDS ideology.

Indeed, I am thankful to God for the privilege of his worship according to the dictates of my own conscience.

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References:

• LDS Articles of Faith: http://www.mormon.org/beliefs/articles-of-faith
  
• Why Mormons Are Buddhist and Vice Versa: http://mormonmatters.org/2008/03/12/why-mormons-are-buddhists-vice-versa/
  

Born Again

This article is a continuation of my daily personal testimony about my Mormon baptism of which the immersion part occurred August 29, 2014 and the Holy Ghost part occurred on Sunday, August 31, 2014.

On Friday the baptism went very well. I got baptized and as I surfaced, experienced catharsis and almost cried. Then I swiftly recovered, and later changed back into my clothes from the baptismal garment. Then, when called up, I read the poem I wrote for this occasion.

On Sunday, church went great. I received the laying on hands for the baptism by Holy Ghost, and was requested to read my baptismal poem again. Tactfully, nobody complimented me on that because there is no point in it. This is church, not Toastmasters.

Everyone who knew me, congratulated me and welcomed me to their community.

Since the end of May I have been coming to church. and right now,

Every time I attend church and Tuesday instructions, I feel like I fit in. Whether I am at home or at work, I smile more. My mood has improve greatly over the past three months.

I actually look forward to any calling assigned to me. It is not in my best interest to lose faith and sit around home feeling lonely. For I belong.

Regarding any claim by anti-Mormons that the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saint is a cult, I consciously joined the Mormons with eyes open because I know what I am getting into. Nobody pulled the wool over my eyes, and I am not fooling myself.

Honestly, being a people pleasure led to positive feedback that motivated me to improve my personal hygiene, buy a white hoodie, new underwear and socks, and wear a white shirt for church. This is because I always liked to fit in, and my fellow church members make me feel at home.

Gee, the improvement in hygiene made me wonder who I was falling in love with — indeed, it's like I am in love with the Christ. It reminds me of a dim memory when a Christian asked me, "Did you know Jesus loves you?" Yes, and I love Him. Indeed, God loves me, wants me to be successful and His desire is to bless me.

Sometimes I hear my inner voice explaining that this is all self-justification, that soon I'll lose faith, feel out of place at church, and at future church events, but it always stops talking when I confront myself mentally and focus on my memories of Friday's immersion baptism and Sunday's baptism by Holy Ghost.

At the moment I feel thankful to God for His Mercy, and His guidance, especially when I picked Luke 15 which contains the trilogy of repentance consisting of the lost sheep parable, the lost coins parable and the lost son parable. It reminds me of that part in the Lord's Prayer that goes "Thy will be done."

When I ask myself How I shall make this love for God last until my death after a well-examined life, the answer is simple: through prayer and meditation.

At the moment, i am reading Sydney S. Reynolds' article "He Knows Us; He Loves Us" in the 173rd Semi-Annual Conference (October 2003) after searching for "God loves you." Once again, it is like God is guiding me to the material to complete my daily prayer and meditation.

It is almost like I let go and let God guide me, and I really am fine with that! Thanks to God, I am a Mormon.

Now, over 9 hours after the baptism by Holy Ghost and over 28 hours since baptism by immersion, I genuinely feel like I have been born again.

My Life as a Jack Mormon (satire)

“Baptism is a sign to God, to angels, and to heaven that we do the will of God, and there is no other way beneath the heavens whereby God hath ordained for man to come to Him to be saved, and enter into the kingdom of God, except faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, and any other course is in vain; then you have the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost.” — Joseph Smith, Jr - History of the Church, 4:553–557

From this quote, baptism shows God, angels and heaven that the baptized does the will of God. Along with faith in the Christ and repentance, it is the only way God has ordained me to come to him to be saved and enter the kingdom of God.

Repentance means that I am committed to not sinning by following Mormon precepts and values. However, there is some leeway here since I am currently an unbaptized prospect.

It is only during times when I am tired or stressed that I might be tempted to sin, but have overcome alcoholic use because I have barely used alcohol for about seven weeks. I stopped smoking completely, and resisted all relapses. Hot drinks require only time for them to cool down; therefore I have kept that Mormon precept. As for dangerous drugs, I currently do not use any of them. Thus I keep the precepts about alcohol, tobacco, hot drinks, and dangerous drugs.

As well, I have even decided to keep chaste, mainly because I am sure that prayer and meditation will help me resist temptation.

Mainly because of prayer and meditation is all of this possible. However, faith in the Christ helps me to maintain repentance, preparing me for baptism in a few years.

Even so, a Buddhist who adheres to Mormon precepts is but a Jack Mormon. For I am not a baptized member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Having attended Sunday meetings at the local meetinghouse, I have become friendly towards Church members and Mormonism, having sympathized with them, and have taken an active interest in their belief system, even though much of how I view Mormonism is seen through Buddha eyes.

Of course, "Buddha eyes" is metaphor for "seeing and understanding life with a caring and compassionate heart".

This comes through regular meditation to develop the calm mind necessary for seeing with the heart until I understand that life is meaningful due to suffering when it inspires us to see the truth about suffering. and reject the vain grasping of desire that is "evil passion", which is merely the act of mental calculation to commit error and thus "sin".

Therefore meditation is heavy duty prayer, and merely giving thanks to God is enough to begin my meditations, which help keep me focused on living like a Mormon. Although it would be impossible for me to completely think like a Mormon, I know that it is not in my nature to be radically conservative.

Indeed, I would rather balance the conservatism of Mormon thought with the liberalness of Buddhist humanism, for the ecumenism of Mormonism does counterbalance its conservative elements.

My path into Mormonism however is not a course in vain. Rather, it is a cautious journey into a religion that not only has conservative elements in it, but also liberal elements. In my heart, I know that Mormonism isn't just a fad for me. It has drawn from my own Buddhist faith to help enlighten my understanding of the Mormon way, which ranges from conservative to liberal.

Returning to baptism, "unbaptized" reminds me of the phrase "the unwashed masses" — I used to be one of them. Even though I remain "unwashed", in my heart all those sins are being washed away by keeping the Mormon precepts.

Perhaps one day when I am baptized the gift of the Holy Ghost that is promised will help prepare me for becoming a full member of the Mormon faith.

Indeed, today I feel like I truly belong, because Mormons have come to know and love me. They even pray for me, and I am thankful for that.

Just as in Mormonism, thanksgiving is a vital part of my Buddhist faith. I know that much of that faith will help "fill in the blanks" where Mormon literature preaches the Christology, though I will tactfully refrain from filling in the blanks for Mormons.

Yes, I admit to adhering to religious pluralism. However, the light that shines before the world is the spiritual light of what Mormons call the Christ. I would call it Buddha Nature, which also may be described in terms of water as the drops of each person's faith that mingle together into an ocean of pure compassion.

For no matter what faith I was born into, the tenets of Buddhism are the core elements that inspire me to yield to what Mormonism wishes of me, provided I continue to purify my mind through meditation so that all that is Mormon fits with all that I know of Buddhism. This means the Pure Land will akin to the Celestial Kingdom as a destination in the afterlife where the faithful Mormons go to receive spiritual guidance from the Christ.

Will I forget about baptism? No, but my continued association with the Mormons will be worth the change of faith. As for now, I am satisfied with my life as a Jack Mormon, balancing Zen and Mormonism.

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Reference:

Jack Mormon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Mormon

Evolution of Race Relations in Mormonism (satire)

In 1954 Mark Petersen, a Mormon apostle, supported racial segregation in America at the Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level.

He had been influenced by the racial superiority myth popular in America at the time, saying in a speech at the conference, "What is our advice with respect to intermarriage with Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiians and so on? I will tell you what advice I give personally. If a boy or girl comes to me claiming to be in love with a Chinese or Japanese or a Hawaiian or a person of any other dark race, I do my best to talk them out of it. I tell them that I think the Hawaiians should marry Hawaiians, the Japanese ought to marry the Japanese, and the Chinese ought to marry Chinese, and the Caucasians should marry Caucasians, just exactly as I tell them that Latter-day Saints ought to marry Latter-day Saints."

This kind of attitude made it hard on Mormon converts in Africa and Asia before the change that happened within the past 30 years.

Nobody in the Mormon church believes in this kind of racist rhetoric, especially have the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Most of Petersen's writing are less obnoxious than this speech was, but those times are over. Since 1978, when the first black Mormon became a bishop, Mormonism has grown to endorse a meeting of minds with Buddhists, Hinduism, Islam and other faiths.

This makes it possible for my path to becoming a Buddhist Mormon, though I reject Petersen's words because they segregate humanity by race. It reminds me of the time when I sent away for information for a US dating club and received material that endorsed racial segregation in dating. In response, I demanded and received a refund from that dating club and vowed never to request such material from the US ever again.

I believe that the reason why the Mormon church chose to consecrate bishops of any race after 1978 because the racial superiority ideology was turning off visible minorities who were Mormons and slowing conversion efforts in Japan and in Asia.

As well, it was hard to sell Mormonism in Japan because of unscrupulous practises like allowing a Japanese convert pressure members into buying a cookware product offered by a company that was a multilevel marketing promoter of that cookware.

It was only until after 1978 that Mormons in Japan became more culturally sensitive to Asians and other races all thanks to the success of Martin Luther King Jr's civil rights movement in the 1960s.

Today, nobody endorses the racial superiority policy publicly in the Mormon church because it would be detrimental to gaining converts.

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Reference:

The Untold History of Mormons in Japan: http://elderkikuchi.blogspot.ca/2010/05/heading-another-heading-row-1-cell-1.html

Mark E Petersen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_E._Petersen

Black People and Mormonism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people_and_Mormonism

Update on Books I am Currently Reading (satire)

Books I am currently reading:

The Small Talk Handbook, Melissa Wadsworth - I'm reading this to help prepare for future scenarios where it might come in handy.

The Narcissism Epidemic, Jean M Twenge & W Keith Campbell - Certainly narcissism is getting to be a problem, but rather than address the empath and sociopath aspects of this problem, it all gets lumped under narcissism. Within this context, I finished ME Thomas' Confessions of a Sociopath and Jon Ronson's The Sociopath Test as well as Daniel Smith's Monkey Mind.

Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion - This is going to take awhile to read. Perhaps I'm over my league here. I mainly bought this because Whedon created Buffy, Angel and Firefly. So I might be short-sighted in my purchase.

No god but God, Reza Aslan - In this post-911 world, it makes sense to keep abreast of the history of Islam. I started with this book, which leads me to...

Islam, Karen Armstrong - The definitive book on Islam, even though it might be weak on the intervening history between Mohammed and the mid 18th century when the West certainly conflicted at great length with Islam, even though by then it was starting on its decline.

American Crucifixion, Alex Beam - While this book comes across as anti-Mormon, I'm not giving up the chance to read an expose on Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. So far, it reads like a Western, complete with megalomania and a sociopathy so complex, I'm almost siding with the ex-Mormons.

However, the favorable spin on Mormonism tends to condemn the apostate a little too harshly. For example, the slut-shaming of innocent women courageous enough to not participate in Smith's polygamy scheme is unwarranted. Even so, I find the muted name-calling from the pro-Mormon literature unwarranted as well. It made the polygamy chapter hard to get through. Pro-Mormon literature blames Bennett for polygamy, and proclaims Smith innocent of all charges.

My reason for so many books:

IMO I may suffer from mild ADD. When a book gets tiresome to read, I get bored. So I rest a moment, and then read a new book from the stack. Currently, of the above mentioned titles, the Mormon book and the two books on Islam are being read more often than the Small Talk Handbook

If I feel like curling up to a book for a good read, then I can do so with any of the seven books I am currently reading. For me, book reading beats going to bars, hanging out at the beach, and shopping. Though, at some point in the near future, I am going to have to get off my ass and trade in a heap of books I've read.

As for now, I have a lot of reading to do and love it.

Without a Soul to Save, Only the Good Life Awaits (satire)

I'm pretty sure the fact that The Book of Mormon is in the English of King James version makes it a difficult read for me.

What if, instead of the Celestial Kingdom, I'm fine with rebirth in the Terrestrial Kingdom?

I'm not sure if a Mormon can understand that. In Buddhism, the reason why there is no baptism is because the metaphors about water refer to how the multitude of Buddhists are a part of mighty ocean of wisdom and love.

However, the goal of an earnest Buddhist is not to be reborn in the Six Realms of Desire but to escape rebirth itself through meditation and related acts of mindfulness.

I suppose meditation is mysterious to a Mormon who equates baptism and giving up worldliness with achieving the Celestial Kingdom in the Afterlife.

Nobody in America can really fathom how sitting on your ass achieving calmness of mind is supposed to lead to nirvana, let alone Enlightenment, except perhaps a Buddhist.

Yet that calm mind leads to the clarity of mind to realize almost the same thing that a Christian knows to be true: seeking fame and glory does not lead to a truly good life and neither does seeking riches.

In this way is Buddhism almost on the same page as Christianity. For, even without baptism, I can avoid the delusions that chasing fame may lead to, and also avoid the pitfalls of financial success.

After all, the Buddhist principle of no-self implies that there is no soul to save. Instead, there is only a good life to make my own.

Looks Like I'm Going to be a Dry Mormon (satire)

My desire to become a baptized Mormon died when I was told I couldn't be baptized because my roommates are "living in sin" aka in a common law relationship. That didn't make me want to take up smoking though.

Of course, I let the Mormons know I put my roommates before the Mormon church. Hopefully they'll respect that devotion to my roommates.

However, while waiting for church to start today, I happened on the Rational Wiki which had a hilarious spin on Mormons, though no True Believer Mormons would be laughing at it as much as I am.

After reading about dry Mormons, which are people who attended Mormon meetings on Sunday but aren't baptized due to complications like mine, I found the concept amusing as I did Jack Mormons, who are apostate Mormons who try to outdo the secular decadent hedonists in south Utah.

I know for myself that I don't self-identify as a cafe Christian, who is just on the edges of being a Christian. He'd give up coffee & tea, cigarettes, alcohol, and dangerous drugs, but he might come up with excuses not to attend Sunday meetings at the Mormon meetinghouse.

Just for the record, I am not disappointed at not being able to be baptized soon. However, I'm going to go out of my way to be virulently anti-Mormon, because of that one Buddhist precept that says a believer should never disrespect the Buddha. Even though a Christian prophet is nothing like a Buddha, both of them are spiritually alike.

It would be foolish of me to disrespect the Mormons in any way, and the mention of the Rational Wiki's take on Mormonism is not an attack on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint. Rather, it is an amusing spin on an American folk religion that evolved into another part of the Christian mosaic in the USA.

Oh, also I'm invited to a dinner with a Mormon family later on this week. We'll see how that goes when it happens.

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Mormonism - Rational Wiki: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Mormonism

An Otaku View of Mormon (satire)

At the temple yesterday I remember explaining the difference between -sama and -kun to a fellow Japanese Mormon, who's been a Mormon for over 40 years.

I also kidded him and said he'd be like my sempai since this is my third time at the temple.

Even so, the only thing that "got" me was Mormon cosmology, which is almost like Buddhist cosmology except it skips the Six Realms of Desire and the Pure Lands, and presents this false concept of immortality.

This is why I think of eternity as a finite time period of an exceedingly long length, and immortality as a life of an exceedingly long length that still will end when a person is reborn in a new realm --- because if God was once man in a previous life, then a person who might become a god in the next, might again be reborn in a new realm.

If the above is confusing, it appears being born again might be a part of a long cycle of rebirth.

I'm not sure if not desiring to get into the priesthood as a way to break that cycle is something I'd share with the pair of elders, though.

Sometimes I think my adventures with the Mormons would make a great manga. However, I am more interested in turning the cosmology into manga.

A Brief Look at Polygamy and the Mormon Church (satire)

According to what I read about Mormonism, the practice of polygamy in the early Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-Day Saints is what led to bigamy laws in America, not bigamists. In short, American bigamy laws were used to stop polygamy among Mormons.

By the time the fourth president of the Mormons, Wilford Woodruff, wrote his 1890 Manifesto calling for the eventual abandonment of polygamy, the bigamy laws were being used to persecute the Mormons.

Rather than waste valuable money fighting costly court battles, Woodruff decided to give up polygamy and by 1904 when the second manifesto was written, polygamy was no longer practised among newly baptized members of the Church.

Of course, it took many more years before polygamy was abandoned by the Mormons. However, the Fundamentalists refused to reform, and later, split off into factions which descended into corruption, including one faction being led by a Fundamentalist leader who plotted assassinations of rival Fundamentalists.

I feel that this internecine warfare between rival Fundamentalists shows that Mormon Fundamentalists felt so strongly about Zion that keeping Joseph Smith Jr's polygamy alive was vital for Zion coming about e.g. the communal pureness of heart as symbolized by New Jerusalem on a New Earth (Zion).

Yet polygamy is what leads Fundamentalists to become so spiritually impoverished that sister wives might often live in poverty while their husbands commit welfare fraud by lying about their other wives.

Thus the abandonment of polygamy by Mormons by 1904 is what helped contribute to their current success and especially the survival of the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-Day Saints. This is because it reduces the temptation to commit welfare fraud just to avoid federal or state bigamy laws. As well, it inspires church members who marry to work within a monogamous relationship to achieve Zion.

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References:

Wilford Woodruff - Presidents of the Church Teacher Manual - LDS: https://www.lds.org/manual/presidents-of-the-church-teacher-manual-religion-345/wilford-woodruff-fourth-president-of-the-church?lang=eng

Wilford Woodruff - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilford_Woodruff

The Many Gods of Early Mormonism (satire)

Recently I have been interested in Joseph Smith Jr, thanks to the excellent missionary work of the Mormons. Before people think I've gone off the deep end, let me reassure them: as a Buddhist, it is my duty to explore non-Buddhist religions so as to see what good they have may be reflected in my understanding of the world.

Having said that, I have read about the history of the Mormons. So this articles is about his "many gods" revelation. I will not be discussing polygamy here, but will declare that it was possibly a means of survival for the early Church of Christ of the Latter Day Saints.

One sign that Joseph Smith Jr might have been making his brand offolk Christianity was when he came up with the "many gods" ideology.

However, the "many gods" ideology isn't anti-Christian. It's just confusing to monotheistic notions of the one true God Almighty.

If you are of that kind of a person, then it will be hard to explain panentheism and the Hindu Pantheon, because most monotheists are ignorant of the fact that "deities" is akin to Elohim and the Muslim "We" which represents the "all things that are God".

Indeed, nobody will understand what I just said because it is simpler to think of one God rather than a God who has avatars who are merely reflections of all of His qualities.

Joseph Smith Jr realized this, too. However, this was too much for some of his Christian neighbours in Nuavoo, Illinois, who lynched him merely for having a novel interpretation of the Bible.

However, Smith wasn't referring to deities or gods, he was referring to the prophets and other people like Esther and Rebecca in the Bible. That this irked other God-loving people in Illinois is understandable since they had the notion that the First Commandment was vital to keeping the peace among their fellow Christians.

However, Brigham Young not only kept the polygamy part of Smith's works, he also allowed the "many gods" ideology morph into "baptism for the dead", which seems to me to be a way of relieving Mormon anxiety about dead loved ones who aren't Mormons. It also verges on ancestor worship, which is not strange at all and is probably Mormon in the sense that Smith almost worshipped all the people depicted in the Bible from Adam to Jesus and Mary to John.

At least, that is my understanding of what I read about Mormon history. If anyone who is Mormon wishes to correct me, then please do.