Posts

Salt of the Earth

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  Jesus said  "you are the salt of the earth" .  I've heard this over and over throughout my life.  My parents would comment on someone's character by saying, "they are the salt of the earth" .  While listening to the General Conference of my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, there was a talk about being the salt of the earth.  When I first heard it, it stood out to me and prompted me to further research SALT.  For some random reason it made me think of a report I gave in my high school biology class about how salt melts ice.  I have thought of these things for several days since conference.  As I thought of the high school report, I realized that I actually did not remember how salt melted ice.  I had to go look it up again to remind myself.......kind of pathetic, I thought.......after all, I've spent a great deal of my life studying chemistry and biology.  How could I not remember basics of salt?  Salt is a central part of both c

Never Knew

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A few weeks ago I was listening to someone I hadn't listened to before.  I love listening to radio shows and podcasts!  They provide a wide variety of perspectives!  I never knew I would like this show so much.  I never knew I needed the wisdom and truth he was espousing.  This particular show was about Karl Marx's life.  It was about his ideals, beliefs, misery and his connection to the devil.  Yes, Satan, and yes, he was a miserable person.  Much of his teachings were/are very Satanic.  Some of Marx's first writings were poetry and plays about the devil.  If Marx was atheist why would he have such a fascination with the devil?  He was about tearing down the traditional order.  He called for the " ruthless criticism of everything that exists ".   He critiqued his own existence and the existence of others.  He believed that " everything that exists deserves to perish "-Mephistopheles; this was his favorite quote. Through his poetry we learn that everythi

A True Foundation

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 In 2004, my first year of college, the University required freshmen to take a series of lecture classes.  You had to pick 4 lectures to attend.  The titles of these lectures were vast in their variety.  Many of these talks were to increase your thinking (groom your thoughts), and add diversity to your worldview (brainwash you).  Why do I say groom your thoughts and brainwash you? First of all I'm not against hearing differing opinions and viewpoints.  Many of these lectures were just that, differing opinions and viewpoints.  Some of these lectures did not use accurate information and did not tell the whole story.  Some had the intention to make you think a certain way, one way. I decided to go to a lecture on the Founding Fathers of this great nation.  I ended up walking out early because all I heard was how awful they were.  This was the first time I saw/heard these arguments.  This "side" of the story eventually became the 1619 project.  The lecturer painted a very spe

A Tale of Two Times

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]= "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, …” -A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens Charles Dickens used the back drop of a pre-French Revolution to tell an epic tale of love, sacrifice, and redemption.  As with all of Dickens' writings, he is teaching profound morals that center around a person's ability to change and society's ability to be resurrected (made new and whole again).  This is a story about how society falls into chaos, becomes institutionalized, and human life is so cheap that killing comes with ease and without emotion.  This story is about how things are not always what they appear to be.......someone who we see as bad, may actually be good and someone we perceive as good may not be so good.   In this story Dickens focuses on the value of human life, as one character sacrifices his life for another.  Dickens always does

To The Fathers

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  "A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth, without an anesthetic. A father is a thing that growls when it feels good–and laughs loud when it’s scared half to death. A father never feels entirely worthy of worship in his child’s eyes. He never is quite the hero his daughter thinks, never quite the man his son believes him to be. This worries him, sometimes, so he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him. A father is a thing that gets very angry when school grades aren’t as good as he thinks they should be. He scolds his son although he knows it’s the teacher’s fault. Fathers grow old faster than other people. And while mothers can cry where it shows, fathers stand there and beam outside–and die inside. Fathers have very stout hearts, so they have to be broken sometimes or no one would know what is inside. Fathers give daughters away to other men who aren’t nearly good enough so they can have grandchildre