Fireproof Your Marriage

My wife and I went to see the film Fireproof today. How refreshing it was to watch a movie with morals -- a movie that stood for something -- a movie that spoke about goodness, forgiveness and love. It seems there are mostly movies about revenge, greed, avarice, and immoral behavior. I highly recommend this movie. What a great movie! There was no bad language or crude scenes. It was of highest quality.

An LDS magazine named Meridian had this to say recently. The above pictures by Amy Fisher were taken from that website. It shows protesters outside the Los Angeles LDS temple.

Editor's Note: As some of you know, Meridian was hacked into last week, apparently by Prop 8 opponents, and in the place of our content was placed a homosexual pornographic film.

I simply do not understand the hate coming from the gay and lesbian community. We did not event what a marriage is. That's as old as Adam and Eve.

I believe and support...


The Family: A Proclamation to the World, which reads:


We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.

We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God's eternal plan.

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

This proclamation was read by President Gordon B. Hinckley as part of his message at the General Relief Society Meeting held September 23, 1995, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Veteran's Day - Again

A friend of mine sent this video.

This morning I had a strange dream. It was Veteran's Day and I wanted nothing but to go home. I was in a very bad neighborhood in the U.S. – a fictional city with a real name, to put it in 'dream' speak. I was threatened by a transient with an M-16. Someone killed/murdered him and cut off his head. It was horrifying and excessive. I tried to get a friend, who also happens to be one of the top executives of Oracle, to allow me to leave the area with him and his wife. He didn't see me. I was stuck in the very horrible neighborhood — the kinds of horrors and horrible ghettos which are only in dreams, at least to most of us. I "stole" a truck-like conveyance, then some cross county-type skis to get out of town. The people harassed me and chased after me. I took off running just to get home. It was a nightmare.

There are some Veteran's who have experienced things that I never have or likely never will. They indeed have demons. They've seen things – and others have done things – that are truly horrifying, though justifiable in war. Some of them are my closest friends, and they just want to come home. But the thoughts of their nightmarish experiences resurface again and again. They cannot run away, though they try. Their thoughts will always stay with them though they may physically be home.

God bless all those who serve. Those who haven't experienced fighting for freedom can never truly understand the gratitude of freedom and peace. It is the bane of warriors to keep us safe, and I cannot express my gratitude enough for them – my colleagues, my teammates, my friends.

...some of them didn't make it home, some of them never will.

Anti-Traditional Family Seekers Riot in California

I went on a full-time mission for my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in southern California. I served there for two years. I also lived there after my mission and volunteered as a temple worker at the L.A. temple.

A Google search reveals the threats pouring out against the church. Those who want homosexual marriages are attacking my faith since we stand for traditional marriages. Fortunately, many good people and institutions feel the same way we do. For instance, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento released a statement which began:

Catholics stand in solidarity with our Mormon brothers and sisters in support of traditional marriage — the union of one man and one woman — that has been the major building block of Western Civilization for millennia.

We live in interesting times...

Picture: Los Angeles Police Department officers guarded the Los Angeles Mormon Temple during a "No on 8" protest this past Thursday.

Case Law and People's Will Destroying Families

A federal appeals court ruled in February that [Massachusetts] can deny parents the right to remove their second-graders from classes that required reading books such as King and King, which is about two princes marrying.

That was from an article I read last week in USA Today. It caused the hairs on my neck to rise!

Interestingly, and thankfully, the gay marriage ban in California, known as Proposition 8, passed, according to the LA Times. It's a sign of tragedy, however, that the numbers were so close: 52% to 48%.

A close and trusted friend of mine rebutted my opinion by saying that one of his closest friends is a lesbian who lives in Mass. I have met and worked with several people of the gay and lesbian community, but I do not believe that the minority should rule. Most importantly, family is what matters most. The family -- a mother, a father and children -- is the fundamental unit of society and it should be strengthened as such.

Sex and TV

RAND has produced some excellent reports in terrorism studies. Recently, however, I discovered some researchers also found out some shocking news. The title and the studies' abstract tells it all:

Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings From a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

Objective
There is increasing evidence that youth exposure to sexual content on television shapes sexual attitudes and behavior in a manner that may influence reproductive health outcomes. To our knowledge, no previous work has empirically examined associations between exposure to television sexual content and adolescent pregnancy.

Methods
Data from a national longitudinal survey of teens (12-17 years of age, monitored to 15-20 years of age) were used to assess whether exposure to televised sexual content predicted subsequent pregnancy for girls or responsibility for pregnancy for boys. Multivariate logistic regression models controlled for other known correlates of exposure to sexual content and pregnancy. We measured experience of a teen pregnancy during a 3-year period.

Results
Exposure to sexual content on television predicted teen pregnancy, with adjustment for all covariates. Teens who were exposed to high levels of television sexual content (90th percentile) were twice as likely to experience a pregnancy in the subsequent 3 years, compared with those with lower levels of exposure (10th percentile).

Conclusions
This is the first study to demonstrate a prospective link between exposure to sexual content on television and the experience of a pregnancy before the age of 20. Limiting adolescent exposure to the sexual content on television and balancing portrayals of sex in the media with information about possible negative consequences might reduce the risk of teen pregnancy. Parents may be able to mitigate the influence of this sexual content by viewing with their children and discussing these depictions of sex.