As a day of rest, Sunday increases performance in the secular world

I will, in my every so often blabberings, accommodate those who do and who do not belong to my faith, touching on principle and theory as applicable to life and prosperity. The humble seeker of truth, of any environmental circumstance, needs only to heed and put to practice what is here proposed. I believe my writings to be very near and accurate to the evident truth and to the unseen reality, by means of both reason and instinctive feeling. I invite you to so ponder, test and experiment with what is here exposed. As always, feedback is appreciated and in future posts, a “comment” feature will be available.

“Keep my Sabbaths” My thoughts on an address given by Dallin H Oaks on November 4, 2007

We’ve all heard it before, “…the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.. “ – Ex 20:10. As a Latter-Day-Saint, there are things that I’m supposed to do, and things that I am not to do on Sunday. I won’t go into any details of the matter, but I want to comment on the previous verse: “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:” - Ex 20:9. A concept that Dallin brought to light for me tonight was the fact that if I were to truly live this teaching, I would work and labor hard for six days, and when Sunday would come around I would actually want to rest, not so much physically, but I would just need a break. Right now, I don’t exactly rest on Sunday. I pretty much go to church, do a little reading, and hang out with friends as I would any other day (with a limit to which types of activities are engaged in). Now, an attempt to tie this in secularly. Common behavior: to work/study every day of the week in a less-than-exhaustive way, resting on and off the job, sometimes performing in a leisurely way. My application of a spiritual teaching as a secular principle: to work/study hard for six days, almost to the point that if it weren’t for the seventh day of resting, you would break. This results in a substantial increase of productivity and performance. (working 7 days at 60% capacity < working 6 days at 99% capacity, for example). If an increase in productivity and performance (not just industrially, but physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally and socially as well) equals prosperity and happiness, then the proposed work six days/rest one day teaching applies secularly and to life in general.

(originally Sunday 11/4/07 11:56 PM)

Moral Debate

Wow, I had a lot of fun today. I spent some time on facebook. a societal networking website which has recently allowed the elicitation of morally debasing advertisements. I’ve joined a group against facebook’s condescension. The is a forum in the group where people sharing my beliefs of virtue and chastity have come under attack. There is nothing more that I love than defending the Truth. The attacks were not against the Church, but against morality in general, particularly an approval of pornography. I joined the debate, which was now a two on two debate, soon to find out that my partner was a member of the church from Canada. I debated very well, but I get really frustrated when I put together such a good point, just to find that my opponent is inept in his ability to even remotely conceive of a proper counter to any of my arguments. But, on the other hand, it is fun to completely destroy someone in a debate. Here are a few snippets of what I said:

The problem with pornography lies within the motive. It is unarguable that the motive is explicitly, in every case, a sought after attempt for a small moment of self indulged pleasure. So we see, pornography is the stimuli. Temporary pleasure is the result, but is not the sole result. Coupled with that temporary pleasure comes a lack of outwardly expressed love. A selfish person seeks to gratify his or her own pride, not the prosperity of others. This is the moral decay of society, enmity between self and peer. When a person indulges in such a practice, he has failed to to love another person, which is to destroy his relationship with them, ever so subtly. One time of indulgence may not be enough to destroy the relationship, but there is never a one-time indulgence. Because the impetus for pornography is a feeling of pleasure it becomes addictive, habitual. This habitual practice now becomes a regularly executed deterrent of giving love or supporting anything that is good and whole. Or in other words, a complete addict has no ability be a productive person, simply because he has an insatiable thirst for his own appetite, and not the prosperity of anyone else. CS Lewis says it best, “Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” Pornography, the misuse of procreation, is incongruent with love, and if the individual cannot quell it’s use, it will prove to be the disrupter of his relationships, happiness and overall state.

Here’s some more, with me quoting an opponent:

Tracey, my response:

“anyone who believes pornography causes rape is an idiot!”
Opinion, not fact.
“who knows but I know that looking at pornography is not going to put the idea of raping someone in the head of someone who didn’t have those urges to begin with!”
By starting a sentence with “who knows” you do not give me much confidence in your statement.

Those “urges” come from immorality which originated from a picture to a thought to a memory and desire for more. Where else could the “urges” come from?
“ALSO yes MARSHAL it is not ok for a child to look at porn but when they are teenagers and have it in context I believe it is normal!”
Please explain to me why it is normal for a teenager to view debasement.
“But when parents talk to their children about sexuality and don’t treat sexuality as a bad thing”
I agree, parents need to talk about it with their children. They need to tell them that sex is for a mother and father to make children and that pornography is a perversion of procreation, and that it is wrong.
“that when they are exposed to it they ca understand it and make better choices rather than hide it from everyone and then when they are finally exposed to sex (which they will be garunteed”
A good parent’s child would not be exposed to it before marriage. I never was.
“If you think that all sexuality should be repressed”
I don’t think it should be repressed. In the right way, between two married persons, it is essential to happiness and love. I do think that perversions of sexuality should be repressed, such as pornography and infidelity.
“a lot of serial rapist and sexual deviants come from a repressed household”
You mean a broken household with no values? A wholesome home, with parents who honor and teach their children correct values produces children who engage in sex at the right time and in the right way.
“The sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.” – The family: A Proclamation to the World

It’s so easy to win when you have the Truth.

(originally posted on Tuesday 10/31/07)