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Home » The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints » Current Church Doctrine » Right and Wrong (Wo unto those who call evil good and good evil.)
Re: Right and Wrong [message #1415 is a reply to message #1412] Sat, 10 November 2012 10:43 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Dragon is currently offline  Dragon
Messages: 499
Registered: June 2010
Location: Earth
Senior Member
iWitness,
First of all, welcome to the group! I sense in your post a desire to have open and intellectually honest discussions about spiritual matters. That is indeed difficult to find today. I hope you find here what you have been seeking.

Now, a brief coverage of the topics:

Eating meat
1Tim 4:1-5
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

D&C 89:12
Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;

I do not find justification in the scriptures for abstaining from the consumption of the flesh of animals which God has ordain for our use. I do agree most people, including many Saints, eat far too much meat. Also, my reading of the Law of Moses tells me we as a society have removed ourselves from what it takes to produce our meat. It is my opinion that everyone who eats steak or hamburger should witness a cow slaughter at least once. If they still want to eat beef, then they have a better perspective and understanding. The same goes for chicken. If you enjoy fish, go fishing some time. It will connect you with the animal more, which God intended.

or unhealthy food
The problem here is that everyone has a different definition of unhealthy. For instance, a person with a gluten allergy would find Whole Wheat Bread to be unhealthy. If I'm helping someone in the ward move, a boost of fat and sugar may be appropriate (aka the dreaded doughnut). While I agree there are some foods which are never healthy, the wise and conscious consumption of food is a different diet for each person.

Judging people
There is a phrase in scripture: Judge not, lest ye be judged. So people think they aren't allowed to judge others. But the correct phrase is: Judge not UNRIGHTEOUSLY, lest ye be judged. For with whatever measure you judge, it shall be measured unto you again.
Meaning, if you judge others harshly, God will hold you to the same standard. If you are lenient and understanding in the faults and failings of others, God will be lenient and understanding with you. However, we must be careful how we choose our friends. For many of us are easily overcome by constant peer pressure. Plus, you'll never get an uplifting or spiritually enlightening conversation from an inebriated 'friend'.

Watching television
There are many educational and uplifting programs on television. There is also a lot of garbage. It is the same as the internet. You will always find what you are looking for, but if you don't look carefully, you might find more than you bargained for.
As a personal choice, we do not have any kind of broadcast signal connected to our television. We about 10 shows we watch (only five are in season at a time) and we watch those online, so the schedule of television never affects us.

Wearing makeup
I would be interested to see a quote or rational argument against the careful use of makeup to enhance the natural beauty of a woman. I have made it quite clear to my wife that I do not need her to wear makeup to see how beautiful she is. She does wear it sometimes, but rarely more than once a week.

Watching sports
Haha! I could write my own book on why people watch sports and why they shouldn't! However, I understand the attraction to feeling part of something bigger than yourself. The biggest problem I have seen sports create (yes, even bigger than the time suck) is the hatred it instills against people who cheer for the other team. Some think you can't be a Utes fan without hating everyone who attended BYU. Or vice versa. Hatred is not a tool of God. (Enmity, maybe, but that's another discussion.)

Looking at fashion magazines/websites
I don't understand the attraction of this, so I can't comment, other than to say I agree with the lyrics of Everybody's Free (to wear sunscreen) "Do not ready beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly."

Movies with foul material(including R, PG-13, PG, and G ratings
This is a concept I had a hard time understanding. My first wife liked R rated movies, and at the time I didn't really see the harm. After all, it isn't church doctrine for the adults to avoid watching R-rated movies, that is for the youth. However, my current wife was able to help me see the effect on her when we watch an R-rated movie, and now we don't own any of those. After those had been cleansed from the house for awhile, I saw how some PG-13 movies were enjoyable, and others caused problems. We got rid of movies I enjoyed because of one or two seconds of film.

Gossiping
The temptation here is to feel better connected with your friends. So we try to share what is going on with each other, pass the news along. Yet gossiping goes farther, into speculating about the cause. I have speculated about the members of my ward, but only with my wife, and never shared those thoughts. There is a member of my ward who stepped down as 2nd councilor 2 weeks after being called. It was easy to think he'd had an affair. But I preferred to think his four children, full time job, and college studies proved to be too much for him to have a calling like 2nd councilor.
With the advent of facebook, we have a means of looking closer into everyone's life. Thus we can more often go straight to the source to discover the truth. However, this also allows for greater speculation. Very few users on facebook use it to communicate in a positive and healthy way with healthy boundaries.

There is one more reason people don't talk about these things. One of them may be your best friend's favorite sin. And discussion of it may offend them. However, in this world, every time we open our mouths we risk offending someone, especially when we take a firm stance on anything. I believe it is possible I may have offended you with some of the things I said earlier in this post. If so, I only hope you don't take it personally. Plus, only a fool takes offense.

- Dragon

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