Author: Dustin

Latter-day Blogger

Open Rebuke, Secret Love

Proverbs 27:5 states “Open rebuke is better than secret love.” This passage of scripture caught my interest, but I’m not sure why. What does it mean.

Looking at the footnote it has a reference to Proverbs 28:3 which states, “He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.”

After pondering these scriptures for a while, I started to think of times that I may have heard someone talk badly about someone or something. How many of those times would I simply let them talk and criticize and scorn such things. How long would I allow a contentious attitude. Even worst than this, how many times might I join in with my own criticisms and support them in their complains and talk bad about others. I find that I often do this to avoid contention myself and to gain favor in the eyes of those I’m with. It could be a friend or a spouse or even an aquaintance.

How much better would it be to stand up and defend a person or thing. Even if you don’t have to courage to do so, how much better is it to silently show you dissapproval at such talk. Could this be what this scripture might mean?

Faith to Heal

Stories of the Prophet Joseph Smith never cease to amaze me. The following was taken from pp 26-27 of How To Pray and Stay Awake:

One of the best known incidents in church history is when the Prophet Joseph Smith healed the impoverished and dying Saints in the swamps of Nauvoo. Have you ever wondered why the elders had not begun administering to the sick before conditions had become so acute? The truth of the matter is that the elders had not waited. In fact, elders, seventies, and high priests had been administering to the ill for days, time and time again, but all in vain. Parley P. Pratt tells us that after the prophet had healed those on both sides of the river, he was surrounded by many of the brethren, most of whom had just been made well by the power of Christ. To this group, which included some of the Quorum of Twelve, the youthful prophet made this statement: It is time that such things ended. Let the Elders either obtain the power of God to heal or let them cease to minister the forms without the power!

(Life and travels of Parley P. Pratt p. 294)

It makes me wonder how many times I’ve “ministered the forms without the power”.

[tags]Joseph Smith, Parley P. Pratt, LDS, healing, sick, priesthood[/tags]

Jerusalem Lost in Translation

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Something always gets lost in translation, but usually not an entire city.

“Jerusalem. There is no such city!” the Jerusalem municipality said in the English-language version of a sightseeing brochure it had published originally in Hebrew.

The correct translation: “Jerusalem. There is no city like it!”

Carrying a photograph of the brochure, Israel’s Maariv newspaper said Wednesday tens of thousands of flyers had been distributed before city hall realized its mistake.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Wow, think of all the mistakes that might possibly be in the Bible due to translation errors 😉

Should the Church Teach Tithing?

OK, I find this rather humerous. I was reading my Gmail when I saw this little ad with the tagline, “Tithing Rebuttal by PH.D.” and linking to www.shouldthechurchteachtithing.com (seriously, I don’t know why I’m giving this guy free traffic!).

I guess if you put a “PH.D.” next to your name you can say that you don’t need to pay tithing…

… When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.

2 Nephi 9:28

I would love to see this guy in a debate with Dave Ramsey 😀

Prayer Poem

I often say my prayers, but do I really pray?
And do the wishes of my heart go with the words I say?
I may as well kneel down and worship gods of stone
As offer to the living God a prayer of words alone.
A prayer uttered without faith, the Lord can never hear,
Nor can He to those lips attend whose prayers are not sincere.

– Author Unknown

Tips for a Patriarch

We had a new Stake Patriarch called last Sunday. The previous patriarch had served for the past 30 years. The new patriarch bore his testimony and told the congregation that he had visited with the previous partriarch the night before. He said, “He gave me some good counsel I think I will find useful in my new calling. He said, ‘Don’t swear and don’t make things up!'”

Uplifting Internet

Larry Richman wrote a recent post on his blog entitled “Why use the Internet?“. I highly encourage you to read his post.

It brought back memories of my first exposure to the internet. I graduated in 1996. My senior year (1995) was the first time I ever got on the internet. After graduating, I worked for the Duchesne County School District. I would set up computer labs, fix computers & printers, and run CAT5 & fiber optic cabeling. It was a fun job. My boss gave me a laptop to take home and gave me internet access through the Utah Education Network. I used to get on some kind of chat room often, though I have no idea now which one and I doubt it still exists. I would often bring up the subject of religion. There was one occassion in which I talked in length to a girl about the church. She had never heard of it before. She agreed to read the Book of Mormon if I sent her a copy. A couple days later I happened to run into the missionaries and they gave me a copy. I sent it off to here in the mail. The last I heard from her, she had received it and started reading it. I never did hear from her again though because shorty after that time I turned my laptop in and entered the mission field. I always wonder if she read it and what became of her.

Has anyone had any internet missionary experiences they would like to share?

Thankful for Cake

Last Saturday my wife was making cake for a funeral in our ward. Our neighbor had died after a long battle with cancer. My wife tried to explain this to our 3 year old who is always by her side when she’s making cookies or cake. After the cake was in the oven we made lunch and our daughter said the prayer. Now this is really sad and I don’t think my daughter fully grasps the concept of death, sadness, and grief, but we had to smile and shake our heads at her innocence when she said, “I thank thee that the lady died so we can make cake.”