Ordain (Mormon) Women

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From Fox 13 in Salt Lake City, UT:

A group of people advocating for women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be ordained to the priesthood officially launched their movement on Saturday in Salt Lake City.

I’ve read a comment on Facebook from someone that said “[the] church is not, has not ever been, nor ever will be a democracy.” I assume that comment is meant to suggest that the people from the above story are wrong to voice their opinion on a subject they feel is closed. Personally, I don’t have a problem with people sharing opinions and discussing topics, even topics such as this. People are free to advocate for whatever they want. There certainly is precedent for revelation coming after sincere questions or thoughts were posed by people. Section 89 of the Doctrine & Covenants, aka the Word of Wisdom, comes to mind.

Another person commented that, if the church is not a democracy, why do we have a sustaining vote for leaders of the church? That answer is just a bit longer.

The church utilizes what is known as “Common Consent”. It does bear certain similarities to democracy, but I maintain it falls short of we think of as democracy by purpose and design. In a purely democratic system, a choice is offered, people may have an opportunity to debate, and a vote is taken. One side or the other wins. People are entitled to their opinions, but can’t be condemned for failure to support the majority.

Via common consent, people are given the right to sustain or oppose. If they oppose, they are to be questioned privately as to why. The authorities then in place must decide if the reasons for opposition are legitimate or not and whether or not to proceed with the original course of action. In such a situation, a single objecting person with compelling information could overrule the majority will of the people (who might very well have objected themselves had they been privy to whatever information the single person objecting knew).

Alternatively, the number of people objecting could be larger than the number of people sustaining and if it were determined they were all objecting for invalid reasons, the sustaining could still be seen as having been carried out.

Some theological organizations provide for a means whereby a group can formally bring forth an issue and force a vote by a governing body. The LDS church does not. Sustaining of members called to positions within the church require common consent. New doctrine is subject to common consent before being accepted as part of the standard works of the church. Otherwise, authorities are sustained periodically and entrusted with the running of the church. They might choose to publicly act on issues brought to their attention, or they might not. And depending on how far people go in trying to push for change, they risk church disciplinary action, up to and including excommunication.

Yes, common consent has certain democratic similarities, but it is a long way from true democracy.

Marriage Equality

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So everyone and their dog changed their profile pictures on Facebook yesterday (and probably elsewhere, but I haven’t noticed) in support of marriage equality for homosexual couples. I think that’s what they were doing it for. I didn’t notice anyone calling out for marriage between people and children (though I’ll have to admit I didn’t look up NAMBLA’s website, either) or people and pets (also didn’t look at PETA’s website).

Anyway, my wife and I were talking about marriage equality…

I should probably tell this story before I tell that story. I believe that marriage is meant to be between man and woman. Not man and man, not woman and woman. I also believe that government has no role in licensing people to get married! It is between you, your spouse and whatever version of deity (if any) you believe in. If you belong to a church (as I do) where one of the precepts is that marriage and family are central to God’s plan for us (see The Family: A Proclamation to the World if you’re interested in what I believe) then you can’t support government sanctioned homosexual marriage. Fortunately, I don’t have to support government sanctioned marriage for anyone! So you don’t have to believe what I believe, and if you believe that you can marry your same sex partner, well, it really doesn’t matter what I think, does it?

So anyway, my wife and I were talking about marriage equality and the profile pictures and thought we should make one of our own. I thought of making one with two Almond Joy candy bars, but my wife Sandee suggested one Almond Joy and one Mounds. Remember the old jingle “sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t?” Well, in marriage, one should have nuts and be on top, and the other should have mounds and be on the bottom. See the picture below:

marriage-equality-candy-bars-signed

Lost Before Translation

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Just read an update of a friend of a friend on Facebook that was something like this: “finna pick up ma homie den me,ha an da bae hittin up {presumably some location}…..we finna be live in dis bytch”

Could someone tell me if this is a foreign language? Google Translate is absolutely no help! Or perhaps it’s an Al-Qaeda operative sending an encoded message to another terrorist cell?

Seriously, I don’t know the person that left the original message, and I really hope I don’t hurt anybody’s feelings with this commentary. I just wonder if this is an example of the person’s typical written communication or if this is just relaxed for the informality of Facebook? Whatever it is, it seems closer to “different language loosely based on English” than a simple dialect of English.

Personal Twitter Archive, February 2013

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2013-02-01

15:49:07: I can’t believe it has been ten years since the loss of Columbia. Nor 27 since the loss of Challenger. I don’t remember Apollo 1, too young.

2013-02-02

05:37:30: I only just learned of the passing of a friend from my first year at BYU. RIP Kerry.

05:55:29: “You are playing as Blue 4″ or “You are playing as Gold 1″. I think Windows Internet Spades borrowed it’s naming conventions from Star Wars.

17:17:49: I wish I could buy these nice Star Trek t-shirts. Too bad they only go up to 2XL. Yet another fashion choice taken out of my hands. #toofat

2013-02-04

01:35:55: Before the kick off, I told a 49er fan the only way the Ravens could hope to win the Superbowl is if they score more points. #propheticeh

01:41:26: @MarkDavis That’s not fair Mark, she has a great body! Oh, wait. Never mind.

02:02:48: Have I missed out on the opportunity to make Katrina jokes about the SB power outage?

02:03:23: I think this power outage is actually a clever ploy by the NFL to lengthen the season as much as possible.

02:20:59: Superbowl LXVII, brought to you by Coleman Lanterns. #sb47

02:21:20: Superbowl LXVII, played in the manner of the founding fathers: by candlelight. #sb47

2013-02-07

03:06:04: Having been watching a lot of Star Trek lately, it has finally occurred to me that cats are merely Vulcan dogs.

2013-02-11

19:54:57: Math for Bakers: pie is equal to 8.53973422267 because pi is 3.14159265359 and e is 2.71828182846. #themoreyouknow

20:18:15: Stanley won the charter school lottery! Hooray and hurrah and all that stuff!

2013-02-12

21:10:31: My mother loved popcorn. To remember her on this 21st anniversary of her passing, I’m having some Orville Redenbacher’s microwave popcorn.

2013-02-14

18:06:11: @PizzoC A guess: Charleston VA predates Charleston WV (because VA predates WV), and South Charleston is south of the river.

2013-02-15

04:32:18: @MommaSnider @EricDSnider Besides, we all know religious people don’t do that, and parents *never* do that. #thingsIwastaughtasachild

05:31:21: “A Nerd Like Me”, a parody of Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me”: http://t.co/PzKdWFvc #awesome

16:26:41: This just in: Obama is entering peace talks with the leaders of the suicide meteor that exploded over Russia so as to avoid war.

16:29:31: MT @thinkgeek Today in Geek History: ENIAC, 1st general-purpose computer, unveiled in 1946. It was so large programmers stood inside CPU.

22:10:34: From my wife’s Valentine to me: “[Y]ou’re the best guy a gal ever had!” How lucky am I to find the one girl in the world that believes that?

2013-02-16

01:19:31: I think the white smoke from the exploding meteor earlier means a new pope has already been elected by the College of Cardinals. Good show!

2013-02-18

01:48:47: 2013 is the 20th anniversary of the PCBoard Programming Language (a project I worked on for a former employer). #myhowtimeflies

2013-02-19

19:10:33: Just read this & *need* to share it: “T.H.I.N.K. before you speak: is it True? is it Helpful? is it Inspiring? is it Necessary? is it Kind?”

2013-02-22

00:43:27: I walked by Jesus today. Apparently he’s changed professions from carpenter to mechanic.

2013-02-27

06:39:39: The phrase “as you wish” is in 2 of the 1st 5 eps of Columbo (w/Peter Falk from The Princess Bride). Did not mean “I love you” though.

2013-02-28

02:40:10: @columbophile Updated stat: 3 of the 1st 7 eps of Columbo feature “as you wish”.

02:41:37: Updated “as you wish” stat: It is heard in 3 of 1st 7 episodes of Columbo. Assuming I didn’t miss any in the other 4 episodes.

Personal Twitter Archive, January 2013

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2013-01-01

19:01:14: The new year starts at noon, not midnight, right? So Happy New Year!

2013-01-03

01:32:18: Some people have a mortgage burning party once it is paid in full. I think I’ll have a divorce burning party when my kid turns 18.

21:44:02: @EricDSnider I’d be happy to let you stay here but Herriman is a little out of the way. I’ll work on buying a Park City summer home.

23:38:31: I moved my blog to http://t.co/53cFEmO6 Sep 2009 (09/2009) and to http://t.co/V1DzeLeq Dec 2012 (12/2012). Next move should be 15/2015.

2013-01-05

21:57:11: Was just reminded I need to lose more weight when passed gas had to maneuver through folds of fat before escaping into the room. #sigh

21:58:42: Back in 2009 I archived my first three months of tweets on my blog. In January 2013 I just caught up to December 2012! http://t.co/JJVUncYn

22:29:54: RT @bazecraze I like how we say “vegan” now instead of “eating disorder”.

23:27:58: Can any LDS friends point me to scriptures or doctrine (if they exist) to explain near death experiences ? I have thoughts but want more.

2013-01-06

04:14:53: @dwonderly You need more whine? I think you’re whining plenty already! #ha #justkidding #sorryforyourconfigurationpain

21:48:09: @rd1701 How about Chinese Pizza?

2013-01-07

01:15:48: @EricDSnider Do they have to watch the whole thing or just the 9 minute preview? If the latter, it was nice knowing you. Have a good life.

05:14:19: @genique Oh, it took me 45 years to get to where I am. I’ll take time to lose it too. Fortunately, I’m making progress. Thanks though!

2013-01-09

23:22:13: @NathanFillion Please wear it on camera too. Or just stop by my house and show it to my wife & I. DM me for the address. ;^)

2013-01-10

05:44:30: Configuring a server to accept email *&* restrict access to secure pop3 *&* work with gmail is not fun. #twodaysofmylifeiwillnevergetback

07:08:42: NHL’s Gary Bettman: It’s not time for “Monday morning quarterbacking” over length of NHL contract negotiations. Mixed metaphor for the win!

22:10:24: You know how Dec 21 was supposed to be the end of the world? Whatever came of that? I didn’t watch the news that night.

22:45:07: @Apolloyon1 So glad to hear I didn’t miss it! :^)

2013-01-11

21:48:50: @GenAdFemale I do not hate you! I also love your music. Wait, you’re not country music star Sara Evans? Well I *still* don’t hate you! #HA

2013-01-12

00:46:54: @EricDSnider Oh, he got the point: Studios want to buy good reviews and he is more than willing to sell them for the price you quoted.

06:25:08: Obama’s team won’t okay building of a Death Star? Can they do *nothing* right?!? http://t.co/QcLAMA3x

2013-01-13

03:32:40: So Facebook won’t let me change my username. Easy solution: Create a page with my new username to keep it for myself! Take *that* Facebook!

05:50:16: {jedi} This is not the tweet you are looking for. {/jedi}

21:54:08: When asked if I would be willing to help the young women at my church learn a sport, I volunteered to teach competitive eating. #mywifesidea

22:37:55: On a cooking show, Kathy Najimy (a vegan) says her biggest competitor is another vegan. Wrong: I say it’s anyone who will cook with meat.

22:57:54: Congratulations to those unstoppable Seattle Seahawks on their incredible win over Atlan… Wait, what? Oops. Where do I send the crow?

2013-01-14

05:32:29: Thanks for the follow @EateromaAmerica, though I must admit I am not really a competitive eater. It would help explain my weight, though.

21:09:23: Obama says he will not negotiate with GOP holding “a gun at the head of the American people” over debt ceiling. Nice use of metaphor. #not

2013-01-15

06:39:50: I grew up in Lamar Co, TX & live in Salt Lake Co, UT. Weird to read about plane crash there involving people from here. http://t.co/lbZAsZCy

06:46:17: Even weirder about that airplane crash site: I’ve driven right by it many times to visit a friend. Before it was a crash site, of course.

06:50:10: Based on reports, my best guess of the crash location should be here: https://t.co/qLxB0lXE

2013-01-16

01:01:39: @EricDSnider Are any hyphens needed in the following sentence? “I was born Oct 31, 1967, you do the math.”

01:10:25: A little late, but “Mitt Romney Style” http://t.co/0YFR0XOj Funny, though the actor looks more like Jon Huntsman Jr than Mitt.

01:11:56: Other flaws with “Mitt Romney Style” besides actor appearance are wine & cigar usage. Mitt Romney is not Senator Crapo from Idaho! #zing

05:30:24: @wilw You say it’s been down for 3 hours, but how do we know that’s not just a cover story? Were you at the Paul Reubens Memorial Theater?

05:31:16: @wilw BAH! I should know better than to tweet something like that without checking how many other people thought of it first. #DOH

20:54:20: @billprady I hope we get to see Howard rub Sheldon’s face in the fact that MIT was ranked #1 http://t.co/HUQ3u85r (& Sheldon’s response).

2013-01-18

03:58:14: @jonathanpenn @crell Political correctness mandates we use the term “Native American” instead of “Endian”. #sorrytobotheryouwiththat

21:48:55: @HornIT I can only imagine what you have gone through & it hurts bad enough to do that. May God bless your family as you continue to heal.

2013-01-19

00:29:41: The original “Dear Abby” has died at age 94. http://t.co/UXE7xb8e

05:36:35: @GenAdFemale You wrote on the blog that you are 45. I thought I was the only Sniderite my age (everyone else being at least 5 years away).

08:47:06: I just heard that Subway FOOTLONGS are an inch short. Leave it to a man to exaggerate the length…

18:26:19: @GenAdFemale I lived in Helaman my first year (86-87; Chipman Hall, which as I understand it is now women’s housing), off campus afterward.

18:51:49: @GenAdFemale Yes, Halloween. So less than two months unless you were born December 31. :^)

2013-01-21

04:53:39: Anyone else think Rachael & Guy are the perfect hosts for Celebrity Cook-Off? It’s all about style instead of real food substance. #yawn

17:48:21: I didn’t watch any inaugural stuff, but am curious as to whether Roberts got the oath of office right first try this time?

2013-01-22

17:35:37: @RandyTayler @snidog No, still is. Or GoDaddy’s domain search is way behind.

17:40:21: @RandyTayler DOH!

21:40:59: Today’s Programmer #protip: Do not type “expression >- expression” when you mean “expression >= expression”. The compiler won’t warn you.

2013-01-23

05:00:34: Happy Birthday Mom. I almost didn’t get it posted today, but I made it with a little time to spare.

06:47:26: Send Erica Under The Sea! http://t.co/wSVmgQ5o

07:32:18: @cardinestwit Bottles of water have an expiration date too, so it is probably the dihydrogen monoxide. #dhmoisdeadly

21:50:22: @necolas Thank you! This is a huge relief!

2013-01-24

02:56:11: Did you know: Near the civil war’s end, quite accidentally, a hero sneezed & abruptly seized retreat & reversed it to victory? #truestory

18:52:42: Salt Lake City Airport closed due to ice / freezing rain. Odd for Utah. http://t.co/3MYrZr6P I think we should blame the TSA.

19:04:07: An article entitled “Smart Mormons” (not written by a Mormon): http://t.co/prIgFRtx // I think it is worth reading.

22:20:05: Took a dog to the vet today. In and out in 30 minutes. I wonder if the vet will start seeing me in addition to my pet. #30minutesoritisfree

2013-01-25

22:55:44: Just called my dad to wish him happy birthday. He said to tell everyone he loves them. Consider yourself told. #islayme

2013-01-28

06:34:01: I renamed my Twitter handle from ScottRobisonUS to CasaDeRobison. In the process I broke a couple thousand links on my blog. #doh

07:25:01: Vampires can’t handle sunlight. Sunlight helps synthesize Vitamin D. Ergo, vampires are Vitamin D intolerant. #thingslearnedfrommyson

17:46:50: If you like clean humor & are on Facebook, check out https://t.co/2KqwPmks. If you are not on Facebook, buy the book! https://t.co/FP1WmaRU

2013-01-29

05:59:02: A nice video about Ronald McNair, one of the 7 killed in the Challenger disaster 27 years ago today. http://t.co/DL6SRPiD

22:15:58: Today I worked at a cannery for a few hours (church volunteer labor). Now I remember why I went into computer programming. #ohmypoorachybody

2013-01-30

03:10:08: Dear Kansas & Texas: Arkansas can be forgiven for having an Arkansas City (though not for being Arkansas). You have no excuse. Love, Me

16:25:10: When asked “what mammal sleeps the longest” my immediate unhesitating answer was “my wife”. #zing

2013-01-31

03:40:02: On #Bones Brennan suggests licking a bone as a test. Booth says “Who licks bones?” Really?

19:42:21: On the decline of teaching cursive handwriting. http://t.co/nrXeDFSC It’s not all bad, but it’s not all good, either.