Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things

How ironic that some would have us believe our dedication to God is ignorance. On the contrary, the true believers are tested to not follow blindly, but are constantly questioning and seeking—they do not have a sure knowledge. We walk by faith with trust and hope. Contrast that with the self-assured who would deceive us and have us believe our path is folly. It is they, ironically, who are closed minded in their beliefs and lifestyles for they question not and seek not. It is the disciples of Christ who grow line upon line, from precept to precept, who rely daily on God’s goodness and mercy, who grow from grace to grace who are open minded and seeking for the truth daily, trusting that God will reveal. It is, ironically, our uncertainties that remind us that we are keeping an open mind and constantly seeking to add to the truth, light, and knowledge we have already received.

All things shall work together for your good

The ancient apostles walked and talked with Christ. They testified that He lived, but they also saw firsthand that He died and they knew it with certainty. How terrible to witness of that death and yet how important that they be able to testify absolutely that He died, for otherwise their testimony of His living again would have been questioned and doubted! God made to "work together for your good" the pain of the apostles' experience. God can make our pains and suffering serve high purposes, His purposes.

The Danger of Fear

Is it any wonder that we are commanded so many times in the Scriptures to not doubt and to not fear? Fear is a powerful weapon, for it can keep even the most capable individual on the sideline. Anger, commonly thought of it being powerful, can motivate us to irrational action, but at least it motivates us to action. Fear alone can keep us from acting.

Sample References
Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.—Matthew 21:21

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?—Matthew 14:31

Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth. ... And whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the earth. ... O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him.—Mormon 9:21,25,27

Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.—D&C 6:36

Foundations

A house built upon a Sandy Foundation
Can-not withstand the tempests and storms
The foolish man built on a Sandy Foundation
Such wisdom to him, a quaint remnant of yore

Relations, like houses, begin with foundations
Sandy or rocky: just how will we build them?
Those that are built on a Sandy Foundation
Will suffer great falls, as the wisdom of old

So too Conversations are built on foundations
We build them each time we converse with another
The wisdom of ages will guide through the danger
Reminding us always to look where we start

To build up Relations we use conversation
But what are we building and where did we start?
For no matter the stature and beauty of housing
The foundation is surely what matters at heart

Higher Quality Government

13 October 2013

Governor Jerry Brown

c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173

Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Governor Brown:

In 1949 Winston Churchill expressed a truism that has withstood the test of time: “If you make 10,000 regulations you destroy all respect for the law.” So it is with disappointment I read that you recently signed a number of bills including Assembly Bill 48.

As a representative of the People, we expect you to act in our behalf as a common-sense safety valve when the legislature goes astray, and veto such bills. You are the gateway and must require that the legislature produce only sensible, intelligible, and necessary legislation that preserves the rights and freedoms of its citizens.

With your experience as a former California Attorney General I expected you to quickly grasp the fundamental flaws in bills such as AB48, including the absence of a “grandfather clause”—literally creating a new class of criminal out of law-abiding citizens, ex post facto—and the absence of a specific exemption for law enforcement or entities that service law enforcement (e.g. FedEx and UPS).

I have specifically addressed AB48 in this letter, but I do so only to illustrate. There are many other bills that are badly flawed. By signing these bills, you have added dozens of new rules, regulations, and laws that are ill conceived—even unintelligible—and ultimately unconstitutional. These bills will cost the taxpayers millions of dollars to litigate (we will have to prosecute with private funds and defend with tax dollars) and we will ultimately see them struck down, a huge waste of time, resources, and money, irrespective of where anyone stands on the issues behind the bills.

When considering legislation, I ask that you consider this 3-step process:

1. Adopt the philosophy espoused by the Supreme Court of the United States and require that legislation be “written to be understood by the voters” (Heller, 554).
2. Require that the legislation account for mens rea, perhaps better stated as criminal intent. Many bills could meet this requirement by simply adding eight words: “when used in the commission of a crime.” Certainly this requires more work than what the legislature has produced of late, but given the legal background of its members, this is completely feasible and reasonable.
3. Demand a legislative analysis that estimates the number of affected individuals and that illustrates the overlap of the proposed with existing legislation—heed the warning of Prime Minister Churchill. Any legislation that imposes more rules and regulations on the People should be held to the highest standard; if it is truly worth passing, it is worth being done well and done correctly, and bills that are struck down do not meet that standard.

Governor Brown, the People and the State deserve and demand higher-quality legislation from those who represent us. We look to you to send that message loudly and clearly to the legislature. Please veto all legislation that does not meet the criteria outlined above.

Smarter than the average bear

There are times I like to think I'm smarter than the average bear. But then I realize that only holds true so long as the bear doesn't have the home field advantage.

There's lots to know and experience in life, and none of us knows everything about everything in every circumstance.

One Reason Why America is Different

Guns scare most people, and with good reason. Perhaps as much as anything, the right to keep and bear arms represents the very nature of the relationship of the People to their government. As someone once summarized, the People have a government, not vice versa. The Second Amendment is both a manifestation and a reminder of that fundamental arrangement.

Charles C.W. Cooke, a former(?) Briton who writes for National Review recently had an article published about this. He grew up believing that Americans were "batty" and wondered, "Who needs an AR-15? What is all this nonsense about 'liberty'? If you want to play with weapons, join the military." He started out with that in mind as he put together his thesis in school. As he got into the topic, he discovered some interesting things.

Tench Coxe, the 1789 delegate from Pennsylvania, on the importance of the proposed Second Amendment noted: "As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms."

One great quote from Cooke's article, "As Coxe implied, the oft-repeated notion that the Second Amendment exists as an anachronism or was passed to protect 'sport shooting' or 'hunting' is as defective as the idea that the First Amendment exists to protect Shakespeare or the Beatles. Certainly it does those things, too. But primarily such protections were chiseled deep into American scripture in order to afford the people the perennial scope to take their government to task."

He goes on to say, "Nobody doubts what guns do. The important question is, Who in society gets such weapons?" He also points out that it was John Locke's beliefs that led us to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (as expressed by Thomas Jefferson). "...from the notion that one controls one's body and may defend it, we get the attendant right to bear arms; you can't defend yourself with parchment." "The police, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly held, are employees of the public, not the sole enforcers of public order. Americans who would leave the means of violence in the hands of the state and, inevitably, the criminals would remove the means of self-defense from the one group in American life for whom the social compact was constructed: the People."

It seems to me that there is too much unjustified trust in the government to handle all our affairs. As Mr. Cooke points out, our own history shows that governments can and do go bad, and that "it did happen here." In the 17th century, he notes, "colonies prohibited the sale of guns to Indians, while the 'Black Codes' of 18th-century Louisiana required free French colonists not only to disarm but to beat 'any black carrying any potential weapon.'" "After the Civil War, the Democratic party's own 'Black Codes,' which were designed to prohibit freed slaves from owning guns in the South, had the same execrable purpose. [As a response to this abuse] the first draft of the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act rendered it a federal crime to 'deprive any citizen of the United States of any arms or weapons he may have in his house or possession for the defense of his person, family, or property." It's easy to say it can't happen here, that we can't become like Venezuela. History says otherwise, I think. "We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion."

As unpleasant as guns may be to some or many, it seems to me that things would be very different (worse, I think) without them.