Family Proclamation #5

            Families, communities, and nations are strengthened when individuals understand and live the principles contained in the inspired document known as “The Family:  A Proclamation to the World.”  The proclamation on the family is inspired counsel from living apostles and prophets and contains counsel to help strengthen marriages and families.

The fifth paragraph of the Proclamation states, “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.”  This principle shows the importance of life in the plan that God has for His children.  The reason why murder and abortion are such terrible sins is because they destroy life. 

Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stated, “The joining of a man and a woman to be legally and lawfully wed not only is preparation for future generations to inherit the earth, but it also brings the greatest joy and satisfaction that can be found in this mortal experience.  This is especially true when the powers of the priesthood proclaim a marriage to be for time and for all eternity.  Children born to such marriages have a security that is found nowhere else”  (“Becoming Goodly Parents,” Ensign,November 2012). 

President Gordon B. Hinckley taught, “I plead with you to control your tempers, to put a smile upon your faces, which will erase anger; speak out with words of love and peace, appreciation, and respect.  If you will do this, your lives will be without regret.  Your marriages and family relationships will be preserved.  You will be much happier.  You will do greater good.  You will feel a sense of peace that will be wonderful” (“Slow to Anger,” Ensign,November 2007) 

Life holds many challenges for each of us because we all have problems and disappointments.  We all have good things that happen in our lives also.  We were all sent to earth in order to be tried and tested but also to find joy.  We can either stumble because of our trials or we can use them as stepping stones.  Life depends on us.  Each life has value and is a cause for gratitude as shown in a hymn entitled “Each Life That Touches Ours for Good” (Hymns, 293).  Words were written by Karen Lynn Davidson with music by A. Laurence Lyon.

Each life that touches ours for good

Reflects thine own great mercy, Lord;

Thou sendest blessings from above.

Thru words and deeds of those who love.

What greater gift dost thou bestow,

What greater goodness can we know

Than Christ-like friends, whose gentle ways

Strengthen our faith, enrich our days.

When such a friend from us departs,

We hold forever in our hearts

A sweet and hallowed memory,

Bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee.

For worthy friends whose lives proclaim

Devotion to the Savior’s name,

Who bless our days with peace and love,

We praise thy goodness, Lord above.

Heavenly Father will bless us and our families as we gather together in family prayer.  “Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed” (Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Christ, 3 Nephi 18:21).

Boys of Pointe du Hoc

                The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is the simple fact that the “greatest generation” earned their title and deserves our gratitude.  June 6, 2013, marks the sixty-ninth anniversary of one of their greatest sacrifices as well as one of their greatest accomplishments.  Today we remember D-Day.

This is an official Army statement about D-Day along with a powerful video: “June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied Troops landed along a fifty-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France.  General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which `we will accept nothing less than full victory.’  More than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foothold in Normandy.  The D-Day cost was high – more than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded – but more than 100,000 soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler.

On June 6, 1984, forty years after D-Day, President Ronald Reagan stood where a battalion of Army Rangers scaled a bluff – under heavy fire – in an attempt to silence the guns shooting the troops landing on Omaha Beach.  President Reagan, always a powerful speaker, honored those Rangers while giving one of the greatest political speeches of all time.  

The following transcript of President Reagan’s speech, courtesy of Real Clear Politics, is as follows:  “We’re here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty.  For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow.  Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation.  Europe was enslaved and the world prayed for its rescue.  Here, in Normandy, the rescue began.  Here, the Allies stood and fought against tyranny, in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.

“We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France.  The air is soft, but forty years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon.  At dawn, on the morning of the 6^th of June, 1944, two hundred and twenty-five Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs.

“Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion:  to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns.  The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here, and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.

“The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers at the edge of the cliffs, shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades.  And the American Rangers began to climb.  They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up.  When one Ranger fell, another would take his place.  When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again.  They climbed, shot back, and held their footing.  Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe.  Two hundred and twenty-five came here.  After two days of fighting, only ninety could still bear arms.

“And behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs.  And before me are the men who put them there.  These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.  These are the men who took the cliffs.  These are the champions who helped free a continent.  And these are the heroes who helped end a war.  Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender’s poem.  You are men who in your `lives fought for life and left the vivid air signed with your honor.’

“I think I know what you may be thinking right now – thinking `we were just part of a bigger effort; everyone was brave that day.’  Well everyone was.  Do you remember the story of Bill Millin of the 51^st Highlanders?  Forty years ago today, British troops were pinned down near a bridge, waiting desperately for help.  Suddenly, they heard the sound of bagpipes, and some thought they were dreaming.  Well, they weren’t.  They looked up and saw Bill Millin with his bagpipes, leading the reinforcements and ignoring the smack of the bullets into the ground around him.

“Lord Lovat was with him – Lord Lovat of Scotland, who calmly announced when he got to the bridge, `Sorry, I’m a few minutes late,’ as if he’d been delayed by a traffic jam, when in truth he’d just come from the bloody fighting on Sword Beach, which he and his men had just taken.

“There was the impossible valor of the Poles, who threw themselves between the enemy and the rest of Europe as the invasion took hold; and the unsurpassed courage of the Canadians who had already seen the horrors of war on this coast.  They knew what awaited them there, but they would not be deterred.  And once they hit Juno Beach, they never looked back.

“All of these men were part of a roll call of honor with names that spoke of a pride as bright as the colors they bore:  The Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Poland’s 24^th Lancers, the Royal Scots’ Fusiliers, the Screaming Eagles, the Yeomen of England’s armored divisions, the forces of Free France, the Coast Guard’s `Matchbox Fleet,’ and you, the American Rangers.

“Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here.  You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you.  Yet you risked everything here.  Why?  Why did you do it?  What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs?  What inspired all the men of the armies that met here?  We look at you, and somehow we know the answer.  It was faith and belief.  It was loyalty and love.

“The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next.  It was the deep knowledge – and pray God we have not lost it – that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest.  You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause.  And you were right not to doubt.

“You all knew that some things are worth dying for.  One’s country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.  All of you loved liberty.  All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.

“The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home.  They fought – or felt in their hearts, thought they couldn’t know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4:00 a.m.  In Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying.  And in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.

“Something else helped the men of D-Day:  their rock-hard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause.  And so, the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer, he told them:  `Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we’re about to do.’  Also, that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua:  `I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.’  These are the things that impelled them; these are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies.

“When the war was over, there were lives to be rebuilt and governments to be returned to the people.  There were nations to be reborn.  Above all, there was a new peace to be assured.  These were huge and daunting tasks.  But the Allies summoned strength from the faith, belief, loyalty, and love of those who fell here.  They rebuilt a new Europe together.  There was first a great reconciliation among those who been enemies, all of whom had suffered so greatly.  The United States did its part, creating the Marshall Plan to help rebuild our allies and our former enemies.  The Marshall Plan led to the Atlantic alliance – a great alliance that serves to this day as our shield for freedom, for prosperity, and for peace.

“In spite of our great efforts and successes, note all that followed the end of the war was happy or planned.  Some liberated countries were lost.  The great sadness of this loss echoes down to our own time in the streets of Warsaw, Prague, and East Berlin.  The Soviet troops that came to the center of this continent did not leave when peace came.  They’re still there, uninvited, unwanted, unyielding, almost forty years after the war.  Because of this, allied forces still stand on this continent.  Today, as forty years ago, our armies are here for only one purpose:  to protect and defend democracy.  The only territories we hold are memorials like this one and graveyards where our heroes rest.

“We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world wars.  It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost.  We’ve learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent.  But we try always to be prepared for peace, prepared to deter aggression, prepared to negotiate the reduction of arms, and yes, prepared to reach out again in the spirit of reconciliation.  In truth, there is no reconciliation we would welcome more than a reconciliation with the Soviet Union, so, together, we can lessen the risks of war, now and forever.

“It’s fitting to remember here the great losses also suffered by the Russian people during World War II.  Twenty million perished, a terrible price that testifies to all the world the necessity of ending war.  I tell you from my heart that we in the United States do not want war.  We want to wipe from the face of the earth the terrible weapons that man now has in his hands.  And I tell you, we are ready to seize that beachhead.  We look for some sign from the Soviet Union that they are willing to move forward, that they share our desire and love for peace, and that they will give up the ways of conquest.  There must be a changing there that will allow us to turn our hope into action.

“We will pray forever that someday that changing will come.  But for now, particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it.

“We’re bound today by what bound us forty years ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs.  We’re bound by reality.  The strength of America’s allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe’s democracies.  We were with you then; we’re with you now.  Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.

“Here, in this place where the Wet held together, let us make a vow to our dead.  Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for.  Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened:  `I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.’

“Strengthened by their courage and heartened by their value [valor] and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.

“Thank you very much, and God bless you all.”

President Reagan was a great leader because he remembered historical events and helped us learn from them.  The waters of Normandy ran red with blood of brave heroes on D-Day.   The boys of Pointe du Hoc understood that tyranny is evil and must be opposed whenever it rears its ugly head.  They were willing to give their lives to destroy tyranny.  The “greatest generation” was brave because they had faith that their cause was just.  It is fitting that we remember their sacrifices. 

Benghazi - Again

                Information keeps coming out about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, in which Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed on September 11, 2012.

                Bill Gertz posted an article at WashingtonTimes.com reporting on a claim posted online by a terrorist affiliated with al Qaeda.  The terrorist, Abdallah Dhu-al-Bajadin, claimed that Ambassador Stevens “was killed by lethal injection after plans to kidnap him during the Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi went bad.”  The terrorist claimed that the “plan was based on abduction and exchange of high-level prisoners.  However, the operation took another turn, for a reason God only knows, when one of the members of the jihadist cell improvised and followed Plan B.”  The terrorist did not state what substance was injected into the Ambassador, and no official cause of death for the Ambassador has been made public by the Administration.  This claim has not been dismissed by U.S. officials, but they declined to comment on it. 

                While our Ambassador and other Americans were being killed and still others injured, members of our national security team were watching the attacks in real time as they were transmitted by a spy drone.   Our President met with the Secretary of Defense at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (11:00 p.m. in Benghazi).  He then retired to the family quarters in the White House and had no further contact with the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of State while Americans were suffering and/or being killed.  There is little wonder that the Obama Administration hopes this scandal falls by the wayside and is overshadowed by the IRS scandal!

IRS Scandal

                The scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative individuals and groups seems to be picking up steam.  The House Ways and Means Committee heard testimony from six different conservatives who were targeted by IRS.  There were several interesting moments in the hearing.  Becket Adams of The Blaze highlighted four of them and ranked them.

                Number four:  Congressman Jim McDermott (D-Washington) proved he is an idiot when he blamed the conservatives for the targeting.  He plainly said that they would not have been targeted if they had not applied for tax exempt status.   Conservatives should be grateful that Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) was on the job.  He decided to forego asking his original question and obtained answers that clearly showed McDermott’s “blame the victim” strategy was not going to go unchallenged.

                Number three:  Becky Gerritso (Wetumpka, Iowa, Tea Party) spoke plainly and to the point:  “I’m not here as a serf or a vassal. I’m not begging my lords for mercy.  I’m a born-free American woman, wife, mother, and citizen.  And I’m telling my government that you’ve forgotten your place.

                “It’s not your responsibility to look out for my well-being and to monitor my speech.  It’s not your right to assert an agenda.  The post that you occupy exists to preserve American liberty.  You’ve sworn to perform that duty and you have faltered.

                Number two:  Testimony was given that the IRS was protecting Planned Parenthood. Sue Martinek (President of the Coalition for Life of Iowa) testified that she was told “verbally that we needed to send in a letter with the entire board’s signatures stating that under penalty of perjury we would not picket/protest or organize groups to picket/protest outside of Planned Parenthood.”  She was told that the application from her group would go through as soon as IRS received the letter.  She was also asked for details of the group’s prayer meetings.

                Number one:  John Eastman, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, testified that NOM has proof that the IRS intentionally leaked the confidential information of his organization’s donors to groups opposed to his organization.

                How do we know that the IRS was targeting conservatives?  More than 500 hundred conservative groups had difficulty obtaining tax exempt status while no liberal group had problems.  J. Christian Adams of Breitbart.com wrote of liberal groups who enjoyed tax-exempt status while conservative groups were held in limbo.   “Campaign finance zealots and free speech regulators have sought to stifle the freedom of conservative organizations, such as the Tea Party, by falsely claiming they are `political’ while giving a pass to leftist groups that still enjoy unimpaired 501© IRS tax-exempt status.  As the IRS attacked Tea Party groups, it left hundreds of leftist activist groups alone.  A quick review of just eight of those leftist, tax-exempt activist groups demonstrates the IRS’s hypocrisy.” 

                The eight leftist groups reviewed by Adams are:  1) Americans United for Change (supports progressive ideas), 2) Ruckus Society (part of the Occupy Movement), 3) Women’s Action for New Directions (funded by George Soros), 4) New World Foundation (community activists), 5) Fierce (organizes gay activists using the Saul Alinsky organizing techniques), 6) Black Alliance for Just Immigration (advocates for immigration changes), 7) Brennan Center for Justice (works to derail public policies such as photo voter identification laws), and 8) Voto Latino (works to mobilize Latino voters).

                There is sure to be more exciting news about the IRS scandal.  The Obama Administration is surely hoping that this scandal will take our interest off the murders of Americans in Benghazi.

James Wilson

                James Wilson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wilson signed both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.  He was born on September 14, 1742, in Carskerdo, Fife, Scotland.  He was one of seven children born to William Wilson and Alison Landall, Presbyterian farmers. 

Wilson attended the University of St. Andrews on a scholarship; for two years after graduating from the university he studied Scottish Enlightenment thinkers.  He immigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, (still British America) carrying valuable letters of introduction as well as the ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment.  He begin tutoring and then taught at The Academy and College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania.  A few months later and as a result of his petition, he was awarded an honorary Master of Arts.

                Not long afterwards Wilson started studying law with John Dickinson; two years later he passed the bar in Philadelphia and set up his own successful law practice in Reading, Pennsylvania a year after passing the bar.  As a successful lawyer, he soon earned a small fortune and owned a small farm near Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  He took cases from eight local counties and lectured at The Academy and College of Philadelphia.

                Wilson married Rachel Bird, daughter of William Bird and Bridget Hulings on November 5, 1771.  Six children were born to the couple:  Mary, William, Bird, James, Emily and Charles.  Rachel passed away in 1786, and Wilson married Hannah Gray, daughter of Ellis Gray and Sarah D-Olbear and widow of Thomas Bartlett, M.D., in 1793.  This couple had one son, Henry who died at age three.

                Joining the patriot cause of liberty, Wilson published a pamphlet entitled “Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament” in 1774.  “In this pamphlet, Wilson argued that the Parliament had no authority to pass laws for the American colonies because the colonies had no representation in Parliament.  It presented his views that all power derived from the people.  Though considered by scholars on par with the seminal works of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams of the same year, it was actually penned in 1768, perhaps the first cogent argument to be formulated against British dominance.”

                Wilson was commissioned Colonel of the 4^th Cumberland County Battalion in 1775 and through promotions reached the rank of Brigadier General of the Pennsylvania State Militia.  He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1776 and “was a firm advocate for independence.  Believing it was his duty to follow the wishes of his constituents, Wilson refused to vote until he had caucused his district.  Only after he received more feedback did he vote for independence.”  Beginning in June 1776, Wilson served on the Committee on Spies with John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Rutledge, and Robert R. Livingston; this committee determined the definition of treason.

                The Fort Wilson Riot began on October 4, 1779, when a mob – drunken with liquor and enraged by the writings and speeches of Joseph Reed, President of Pennsylvania’s Supreme Executive Council – “marched on Congressman Wilson’s home.”  Why did they march against Wilson?  He had successfully represented twenty-three “people from property seizure and exile by the radical government of Pennsylvania.”  Wilson barricaded himself in his home – along with thirty-five of his colleagues; thus, his home was nicknamed “Fort Wilson.”  Six people lost their lives in the Fort Wilson Riot and at least seventeen people were wounded.  Eventually, Philadelphia’s soldiers rescued Wilson and his colleagues.  Joseph Reed pardoned and released the rioters.

                “Wilson closely identified with the aristocratic and conservative republican groups, multiplied his business interest, and accelerated his land speculation.  He also took a position as Advocate General for France in America (1779-83), dealing with commercial and maritime matters, and legally defended Loyalists and their sympathizers.  He held this post until 1798 (until his death).”

                As a very successful lawyer, Wilson was considered to be “the most learned of the Framers of the Constitution.  A fellow delegate in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia made the following assessment of James Wilson:  `Government seems to have been his peculiar study, all the political institutions of the world he knows in detail, and can trace the causes and effects of every revolution from the earliest stages of the Grecian commonwealth down to the present time.”

                Wilson was a member of the Committee of Detail, “which produced the first draft of the United States Constitution in 1787….  He wanted senators and the president to be popularly elected.  He also proposed the Three-Fifths Compromise at the convention, which made only three-fifths of the South’s slave population total to be counted for purposes of distributing taxes ad apportioning representation in the House and Electoral College.  Along with James Madison, he was perhaps the best versed of the framers in the study of political economy.  He understood clearly the central problem of dual sovereignty (nation and state) and held a vision of an almost limitless future for the United States.”  Addressing the Convention 168 times, Wilson’s mind was described by Dr. Benjamin Rush as being “one blaze of light.” 

                Because of the compromises necessary, Wilson did not totally agree with the full Constitution, but he worked diligently for it to be ratified by his state.  Following his lead at its convention, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the document.  “His October 6, 1787 speech in the State House courtyard has been seen as particularly important in setting the terms of the ratification debate, both locally and nationally.  In particular, it focused on the fact that there would be a popularly elected national government for the first time.  He distinguished `three simple species of government’ monarchy, aristocracy, and `a republic or democracy, where the people at large retain the supreme power, and act either collectively or by representation.’”  He was later a leader in the redrafting of the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 “leading the group in favor of a new constitution, and entering into an agreement with William Findley (leader of the Constitutionalist Party) that limited the partisan feeling that had previously characterized Pennsylvanian politics.”

                President George Washington nominated Wilson to be an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court on September 24, 1789.  He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 26, 1789, and received his commission on September 29, 1789.  The Court heard only nine cases from the time of his appointment in 1789 until his death in 1798.  He was one of the six original Supreme Court justices appointed by George Washington.

                In 1790 Wilson became the first professor of law at the College of Philadelphia.  He “mostly ignored the practical matters of legal training.  Like many of his educated contemporaries, he viewed the academic study of law as a branch of a general cultured education, rather than solely as a prelude to a profession.

                Wilson had serious financial difficulties in his last years, mainly because he invested heavily “in land that became liabilities with the onset of the Panic of 1796-1797.  He spent some time in a Debtors’ Prison in Burlington, New Jersey, until his son paid the debt.  Wilson then went to North Carolina to avoid other creditors but was imprisoned briefly again. 

                James Wilson suffered a bout of malaria in 1798 and died of a stroke at age 55 while visiting a friend in Edenton, North Carolina.  His body was interred in the Johnston cemetery on the Hayes Plantation near Edenton but was moved in 1907 to the Christ Churchyard, Philadelphia.

Controversies Involving Land

                The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from Article III, Section 2, and Clause 1:  “The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority … between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States.”   When disputes involve lands or grants in states other than their own, this provision gives citizens of the same state the right to have their case heard in a federal court.

                “When this provision was discussed in the debates there was great concern that this measure would deprive the states of their legitimate jurisdiction over the affairs of their own citizens.”  (See W. Cleon Skousen in The Making of America – The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p. 604).

                Skousen continued with a number of questions, which were answered with quotes from the Founders.  Basically, the Founders said that this type of dispute should be considered the same as “determination of controversies between different states and their citizens” (A. Hamilton), “this provision does not affect the internal affairs of the State” (W. Davie), “this clause takes nothing from the States” (Wilson), and “such disputes involve the interests of two states” (Marshall).

                “Derived from Article IX of the Articles of Confederation, the Framers included the Land Grant Jurisdiction Clause along with the Citizen-State Diversity Clause in order to promote `peace and harmony’ among the states by providing, as Justice Joseph Story described, an impartial federal tribunal in matters where `a state tribunal might not stand indifferent in a controversy where the claims of its own sovereign were in conflict with those of another sovereign.’  Town of Pawlet v. Clark (1815).

                “The Framers were mindful of the possibility of serious disputes over the western lands among the states and between citizens of the several states and of the same state. It was the same concern that had led to the predecessor clause in the Articles of Confederation.  Maryland refused to ratify the Articles of Confederation until 1781 – four years after the Continental Congress had approved the document – because of conflicting land claims.  Maryland’s primary concern was that Virginia would be able to dominate the national congress should it prevail in its extensive claim to all the lands west `to the South Sea,’ as conveyed in its initial royal charter.  Moreover, several other states – Massachusetts, Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia – had similar, overlapping claims, derived from their own royal charters, and New York as `suzerain of the Iroquois Indians,’ also laid claim to vast expanses of land west of the Delaware River.  These conflicting claims threatened to embroil the states in a series of border disputes that were significant enough to place the new union itself at risk.

                “Virginia’s cession of the lands northwest of the Ohio River in 1783, the parallel cessions of the western lands by the other states over the following decade, and the passage of the Northwest Ordinance while the Constitutional Convention was meeting all defused much potential conflict.  These often-overlooked cessions demonstrated the commitment and the sacrifice that the states made for the sake of the future stability of the union.  Nonetheless, boundary disputes among ten of the states convinced the Framers of the need of a federal forum to settle such conflicts….” (See John C. Eastman in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, p. 255.)

Living Water

                Have you considered the value of water?   Do you appreciate the clean and fresh water that is readily available in most places in the United States?  I have not always appreciated the water that is available to me, but I have learned to value it.  My children and their friends often mention how they miss the water in Alaska and how they long for a glass of it.  After spending some hot weeks in San Antonio, Texas, I came to understand what they mean.

                About ten years ago our water line sprang a leak where it connects to the main city line.  I discovered the leak just a day or so before I flew out to meet my husband in Utah to bring our new truck back to Alaska.  I finally connected with a contractor, and he arranged to get the water turned off.  Meanwhile our daughter was home without water.  She hauled water from the Church in five gallon jugs and showered at the Church until our Bishop and neighbor discovered what she was doing.  He invited to stay with his family until we returned home.  We made the trip up the Alaska Highway as quickly as we could do so safely.

As soon as we arrived, we arranged with our backyard neighbors to connect our hose from their outside spigot to our outside spigot and run water into our house that way.  This meant that every time we flushed a toilet or took a shower, they heard water running in their house.  I am sure it was not a pleasant experience for them, but I am grateful for their sharing their water and being able to do so without increasing their water bill.

The contractor came to make the repair, but when he began to dig the hole – about fifteen feet deep – he discovered that the soil was full of water.  He stopped digging because the soil kept sloughing off, making the hole wider and wider and threatening the integrity of our driveway and the street.  We waited a week or two for the ground to dry enough to be workable; meanwhile, we were getting our water through a hose.  Eventually, the repair was made, and our water was turned on again.  Yes, I know the value of water.

                Elder David A. Bednar spoke of the value of water on February 4, 2007, at a Church Education Fireside (CES) for young adults held at Brigham Young University (BYU).  He began his talk by asking a question:  “What is the most valuable substance or commodity in the world?  We might initially think that gold, oil, or diamonds have the greatest worth.  But of all the minerals, metals, gems, and solvents found on and in the earth, the most valuable is water.

                “Life springs from water.  Life is sustained by water.  Water is the medium required to perform the various functions associated with all known forms of life.  Our physical bodies are approximately two-thirds water.  Whereas a person can survive for many days or even weeks without food, an individual will usually die in only three or four days without water.  Most of the world’s great centers of population are situated near sources of fresh water.  Simply stated, life could not exist without the availability of and access to adequate supplies of clean water.”

                Elder Bednar continued his talk by discussing the Savior’s use of the term “living water.”  The New Testament teaches about an experience of Jesus Christ and His disciples as they passed through Samaria on their travels from Judea to Galilee.  They stopped at Jacob’s well located in the city of Sychar.  Jesus waited at the well while His disciples went into the city to buy food.  While Jesus waited, a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water, and He asked her for a drink of water.

                Since the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, the woman was surprised at Jesus’s request and questioned Him about it.  “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

                “The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep:  from whence then hast thou that living water? …

                “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

                “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:7-11, 13-14).

                Elder Bednar explained that the “living water referred to in this episode is a representation of the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel.  And as water is necessary to sustain physical life, so the Savior and His doctrines, principles, and ordinances are essential for eternal life.  You and I need His living water daily and in ample supply to sustain our ongoing spiritual growth and development.

                “The scriptures contain the words of Christ and are a reservoir of living water to which we have ready access and from which we can drink deeply and long.  You and I must look to and come unto Christ, who is `the fountain of living water’ (Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 1 Nephi 11:25….), by reading …, studying …, searching …, and feasting … upon the words of Christ as contained in the holy scriptures.  By so doing, we can receive both spiritual direction and protection during our mortal journey….”

                Elder Bednar explained that we can access the “living water” in the scriptures, and he reviewed “three basic ways or methods of obtaining living water from the scriptural reservoir:  (1) reading the scriptures from beginning to end, (2) studying the scriptures by topic, and (3) searching the scriptures for connections, patterns, and themes.  Each of these approaches can help satisfy our spiritual thirst if we invite the companionship and assistance of the Holy Ghost as we read, study, and search.

                After further explanation of how to use the three methods, Elder Bednar said, “Each of these approaches – reading from beginning to end, studying by topic, and searching for connections, patterns, and themes – is edifying, is instructive, and provides an intermittent portion of the Savior’s living water.  I believe, however, that the regular use of all three methods produces a more constant flow of living water and is in large measure what it means to hold fast to the rod of iron.

                “Through normal activity each day, you and I lose a substantial amount of the water that constitutes so much of our physical bodies.  Thirst is a demand by the cells of the body for water, and the water in our bodies must be replenished daily.  It frankly does not make sense to occasionally `fill up’ with water, with long periods of dehydration in between.  The same thing is true spiritually.  Spiritual thirst is a need for living water.  A constant flow of living water is far superior to sporadic sipping.

                “Are you and I daily reading, studying, and searching the scriptures in a way that enables us to hold fast to the rod of iron – or are you and I merely clinging [to the iron rod]?  Are you and I pressing forward toward the fountain of living waters – relying upon the word of God?  These are important questions for each of us to ponder prayerfully?”

                Nephi, an ancient American prophet, encouraged his people to “feast upon the word of God” in order to learn the things that they should do (Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 2 Nephi 32:3).  A “feast” is more than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  We usually consider our Thanksgiving Day dinner to be a feast.  Banquets are usually considered to be feasts.  A feast is a meal that usually contains a lot of different rich and special foods.  A feast is usually a joyous time of celebration and delight.  I think we should all frequently ask ourselves: Do I study the scriptures with joy and delight?  Do I “feast” on the scriptures or do I simply “snack” or “nibble” on them? 

                A couple of years ago I had an interesting experience with the scriptures in three different ways.  I listened to the Book of Mormon as I jogged each morning.  I read a chapter in a Book of Mormon for one grandchild.  I marked words and phrases and wrote principles in a Book of Mormon for another grandchild.  I learned that I did not concentrate too well while listening, but I gained a little more by reading and much more by concentrating on what I wanted my grandchild to gain from the scriptures.

                I am grateful for the opportunity to have the scriptures in my home and for the ability to read them.  I am grateful for the knowledge and testimony I gain from the scriptures.  I know that the scriptures are living water for our souls, and I encourage you to drink from the living waters daily.