Ensign to the nations? Get a fucking clue.

It's interesting to think about Salt Lake City as an ensign to the nations. Or, god willing, Jackson County, Missouri (the place of the future Mormon City) as an Ensign to the nations. Why? Because they're landlocked and isolated. What's with these religious leaders; how can they think the way to influence other nations is to cut yourself off from them?

No, if you want to see someone that is a standard to other nations, you look at New York, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, etc., what do these powerful cities all have in common? Yeah, you guessed it; they're port cities. They have contact with the outside world on a daily basis! Other nations go to them to establish and engage in trade. Their proximity to the ocean facilitates that trade, and so, these cities have power and persuasion over other countries. When other countries engage in trade with them, the traders can't help but pick up on the new and different ideas and cultural values they see. And then, they take these new ideas and values home.

Why would anyone nation or trader go to Jackson County, Missouri? They wouldn't. There's nothing there! They would have no reason to go there, no trade to engage in, and so the church would have no means of really influencing these nations.

It was such a joke to see all the church leaders talking about the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. They said it was the fulfillment of prophecy to have all the nations come to Utah for these Olympic games. Wrong. They weren't coming to Utah for the gospel, they were coming because of the fucking snow. That's why they came. That's what they wanted.

If I were a church leader and had two cents of understanding, I would start buying up real estate in a port city, like San Fransisco. With all the church's money I'm sure this wouldn't be difficult, and then I would put myself in the position of the primary trader to the outside world. Then, as other nations would come to trade, they would also start to pick up on aspects of my religion; it would expose them to new ideas that they could then take home with them. In this way, I would be influencing the world through trade, just like the Greeks, Egyptians, British, Americans, Japanese, etc.,

Or, I could get 10,000,000 acres in the middle of fucking nowhere and sing hallelujahs all day long and hope that my prayers would influence the rest of the world. And then I'd ride the wild unicorns.

Jesus died for us, now get over it.

I had a talk with a good friend the other day, and we were talking about our ol pal, Jesus. We were chattin about our missions and how every single moment we tried to think thoughts of Christ; we spoke of Christ, we praised Christ, we worshipped Christ. But then my pal asked me a question:

If you saved a kids life, would you want that kid to worship you?

Well, kinda. I thought about that for a minute, and then it hit me: Jesus wouldn't want us to worship him, he would want us to live our lives. He would want us to dance and be grateful we were alive because he saved us, not to spend all of our waking moments thinking about how great and wonderful he is. He doesn't give a shit! Get over it!

At least that's what I think. If I saved a kids life (kinda what Jesus has done for us) I would tell that kid not to mention me again, and to live his life by embracing and enjoying it.

Or you could spend your days on your knees weeping to Jesus, for the love.

Free at last

Thank god almighty I am free at last.

It's been about 8 full months since the last time I walked through the doors of my mormon church. Eight wonderful months. Sundays are so refreshing now :-)

I've never felt so free of all the emotional, guilt-ridden, hyper-religious reality in my whole life. I'm finally free from their grasp, and it feels good. It feels great.

I'm in a situation now in my life where I make the calls; I decide what is good and what is bad; I decide what I should do with my life and how I do it. Not god, not the spirit, not the brethern, not my culture, and not my church. Can you imagine the freedom? Can you imagine what that feels like?

Whenever I get some guys from the elders quorum over I usually ask them when was the last time they can remember that they made a decision for themselves, not for Jesus, the spirit, their wives, their mothers, their church, but just because they wanted to do it. Usually, they have to think long and hard, because they don't even realize how much they have given away to others.

I'm still in Provo. I plan to move relatively soon, but after I've stopped my attendance at church and BYU, Provo has grown on me. I like it here, at least until Winter comes.