Effects of Porn

                Pornography is all around us.  It graces the covers of magazines at checkout stands.  It is in movies.  It comes into our homes through the Internet and movies.  The more I learn about pornography, the more I understand how damaging it is to young and old.  It is particularly damaging to marriages and future marriages.

                Billy Hallowell, a blogger, writer, speaker, and professional truth sayer, published at theblaze.com reported on a new study that analyzed how pornography affects young men.  The study was titled “Are Pornography and Marriage Substitutes for Young Men?”  The study was conducted by Dr. Michael Malcolm, a professor of economics and finance at the University of West Chester, Pennsylvania, and George Naufal of Timberlake Consultants.  Their study “found that smut has become a replacement for marriage for many of the 18-35 year old males who use it.”  The report explains how pornography causes young adult men to satisfy their sexual needs without the problems involved with marriage.

                Matt Walsh published at theblaze.com an article explaining how men “are hurting your wife and killing your marriage” in four different ways.  He listed pornography as #1.   

                “There probably isn’t a more efficient way to make your wife feel betrayed, used, and violated than picking up a porn habit.  Obviously adultery would also accomplish all of those things, but porn is adultery….

                “There are a lot of reasons to hate pornography, but one of the reasons certainly has something to do with how delusional it makes us.  Many married guys insist there’s nothing wrong with it….

                “He rationalizes that what he does and says there won’t impact people, including himself, the same way it would in three dimensions.  There’s no basis for this rationalization.  It makes no sense, yet we all fool ourselves into thinking it, for one reason or another.  Still, despite the lies we tell ourselves, a woman who discovers porn on her husband’s computer will feel just like a woman who finds out about her husband’s affair.  And that feeling will only be made worse by the fact that her husband will claim it’s `no big deal’ and much of society will echo those sentiments.

                “This says nothing of what porn does to us as men.  It becomes an addiction just like any other.  It lessens us.  It pulls us away from our families, away from our wives, away from God.  It makes us liars and hypocrites.  I think any man’s porn compulsion comes wrapped in a thick layer of guilt, but that must especially be the case for men with daughters.  … I cringe particularly when I think of older fathers who look at porn involving women the same age as their own children.  It’s perverse and disgusting.  These men are not bad people, but they are doing a bad thing – a bad thing that, to make matters worse, has been dressed up as innocent and playful.

                “It’s definitely not an easy time to be a virtuous man.  Everywhere we look there are words and images trying to grab our attention and send us into a spiral of lust and sexual greed….  It’s easy to give in, but we have to fight it.  We owe ourselves that much, and more importantly we owe our wives.  Porn is adultery.  Porn will wreck your marriage, guaranteed.”

                I know a young woman who agonized over the fact that her husband was addicted to pornography.  Her marriage was annulled three months after the wedding.  Three years later she married another young man; they have two children and are very happy.  She was smart to get out of the marriage early and before any children joined the family.

                The effects of pornography stretch far and wide.  A husband and father that uses pornography damages not only his marriage but the future marriages of his sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters.  Pornography is poison, and it destroys marriages and families.  

War on Women

                The Democrats continue to claim that Republicans are waging a war on women.  Even with the Democrat lies, no one would consider Republican words and actions as a war on women if they knew more about the real thing.  Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a global advocate for women’s rights, knows and continues to warn Americans about how women are treated in Muslim countries and other people involved in mainstream Islam.  

                Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia and was subjected to female genital mutilation when she was five years old.  Her father opposed the traditional practice and was in prison when the mutilation took place.  When her father escaped from prison, he moved his family to Saudi Arabia, then to Ethiopia, and finally to Kenya.  By that time, Hirsi Ali was 11 years old.  She grew up as a Muslim woman; she read and accepted the Quran and its teachings.  She fled to the Netherlands when her family tried to force her into an arranged marriage.  She then became a translator for Somali women seeking asylum. 

                When Hirsi Ali learned of the many women in the Netherlands who continued to suffer under Islam, she became a politician to bring attention to the problem.  She was elected to the Dutch parliament in 2003.  She gained the attention of Theo van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker.  She wrote and narrated a film “Submission” about oppressed women.  The film outraged Muslims in the Netherlands.  As a result, van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death in Amsterdam on November 2, 2004, as he rode his bicycle to work.  The killer used a knife to pin a letter to the body of van Gogh; the letter contained a death threat against Hirsi Ali.  She resigned from parliament and moved to the United States in 2006, but she continues to be accompanied by a security detail wherever she goes.

                Hirsi Ali continues to be a “fearless critic of Islam” and often speaks out about the treatment of Muslim women.  She was slated to receive an honorary degree from Brandeis University last April, but the university reversed its decision under pressure from student activists and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).  A CAIR spokesman called her “one of the worst of the worst of the Islam-haters in America.”

                Hirsi Ali is not the only person speaking out against the harsh treatment of women.  Ashe Schow gave seven examples with pictures of this real war on women.  His examples are (1) Malala Yousufzai who was shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting education for women; (2) Fakhra Younus who left her abusive husband and was attacked with acid for her actions; (3) Jyoti Singh Pandey who was gang raped and murdered; (4) Afghan Senator Roh Gul Khairzad who was shot while traveling home; (5) Noor Faleh Almaleki who was murdered in an “honor killing” for being too “westernized;” (6) Amena Jan who was poisoned for attending school, and

(7) Gendercide – “the practice of aborting a child based on its gender.”

                Ashe Schow wrote another article about the war on women; she referenced a New York Post writer who listed “5 places women shouldn’t spend their travel dollars.  The article listed four countries that keep women down:  Turkey, Indonesia, El Salvador, and Saudi Arabia.  The fifth place on the list is Utah.  The author of the article apparently thinks Utah treats women as badly as the four nations named above!

                “The reason?  Women in the Beehive State earn less than men by a wider gap than the other 49 U.S. states.  Citing the Global Gender Gap Index – which lists the U.S. as 20^th out of 142 countries in terms of gender parity – the Post piece makes its case that Utah is horrible for women….”

                The first two articles show the blindness of people who claim Republicans are waging war on women; the third article shows the stupidity of a reporter who apparently looked at statistics and did not take other facts into consideration in making her judgment.  With all the horrible treatment of women in the world, how can anyone think Republicans are warring against women?

Susan B. Anthony

                Susan Brownell Anthony was born on February 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts.  She was born to Daniel Anthony and Lucy Read and had one older and five younger siblings.  It seems natural for her to become an activist because her family cared a great deal about social reform. 

                Ms. Anthony’s father was a Quaker as well as an abolitionist and a temperance advocate.  Her mother was not a Quaker but was tolerant of her husband’s religious tradition.  Her father insisted that his sons and daughters be self-supporting; he gave them responsibilities at a young age and taught them business principles.  Her two brothers, Daniel and Merritt, moved to Kansas to support the anti-slavery movement there.  Merritt was with John Brown in his battle against pro-slavery forces, and Daniel became a newspaperman and mayor of Leavenworth.  Her sister Mary became a public school principal in Rochester as well as a woman’s rights activist.  In later years Susan and Mary shared a home.

                Ms. Anthony went to school at The Friends’ Boarding School in the Black Hill section of Plainfield, Connecticut.  She was sent to a Quaker boarding school in Philadelphia when she was seventeen years old but attended only one term due to family financial problems.  She left school to teach at a Quaker boarding school to assist her family.  

    

                The Anthony family moved to a farm outside Rochester, New York, in 1845.  They became acquainted with some social reformers who had left their Quaker congregation; they formed the Congregational Friends in 1848.  Local activists gathered to the Anthony farm on Sunday afternoons; Frederick Douglass, a former slave and prominent abolitionist, became a lifelong friend to Ms. Anthony.

                Ms. Anthony moved to Canajoharie in 1846 to become the headmistress of the female department of the Canajoharie Academy.  At age 26 this was the first time for her to live away from the influences of Quakers.  She began to wear more stylish dresses and stopped using the traditional forms of speech used by the Quakers.  She was interested in social reform; she was especially interested in equal pay for equal work.

                Ms. Anthony became the manager of the family farm in Rochester when the Canajoharie Academy closed in 1849.  This allowed her father to spend more time in his insurance business.  After a couple of years, she was increasingly drawn to reform activity.  Her parents’ supported her desire to become fully engaged in reform work and lived almost entirely on speaking fees for the rest of her life.

                Embarking on her career of social reform, Ms. Anthony schooled herself in reform issues.  She was drawn to people with more radical ideas, such as William Lloyd Garrison, George Thompson, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  Ms. Anthony and Ms. Stanton became lifelong friends.  “Soon she was wearing the controversial Bloomer dress, consisting of pantaloons worn under a knee-length dress.  Although it was more sensible than the traditional heavy dresses that dragged the ground, she reluctantly quit wearing it after a year because it gave her opponents the opportunity to focus on her apparel rather than her ideas.”

                Ms. Anthony was heavily involved in civil rights issues for slaves and women.  She “traveled extensively in support of women’s suffrage, giving as many as 75 to 100 speeches per year and working on many state campaigns. She worked internationally for women’s rights as well.

                “When she first began campaigning for women’s rights, Anthony was harshly ridiculed and accused of trying to destroy the institution of marriage.  Public perception of her changed radically during her lifetime, however.  Her 80^th birthday was celebrated in the White House at the invitation of President William McKinley.  She became the first non-fictitious woman to be depicted on U.S. currency when her portrait appeared on the 1979 dollar coin.”

                Susan B. Anthony died on March 13, 1906, at the age of 86 of heart failure and pneumonia in her home in Rochester, New York.  She was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester.  

Indians Not Included

                The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from the Second Section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:  “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed….”  This provision gave Indians the right to remain members of their sovereign tribes and nations unless they were paying taxes and wanted to vote.

                W. Cleon Skousen explained, “The Indians always insisted that they were independent nationalities and the United States government therefore made treaties with them as though they were foreign nations.

                “In a short time, however, it became obvious that the Indian culture was part of the American culture, and that the native Indian population should no longer be treated as outsiders.   In 1924 the Congress therefore passed an act making the Indians living on the reservations full-fledged citizens, entitled to all of the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship.”  (See The Making of America – The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p. 724.)

Prayer

                Prayer is the act of speaking to Heavenly Father, and sincere prayer is one of God’s greatest blessings to His children.  Prayer is the act of “calling home,” the act of a child speaking to a Parent.  The Savior taught the Nephites “Ye must always pray unto the Father in my name” (Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 3 Nephi 18:19). 

                Prayer has always been a part of the gospel since the time of Adam when an angel of God commanded Adam and Eve to repent and call upon God in the name of the Son (see Pearl of Great Price, Moses 5:8).  God has never taken this commandment away because He desires to hear from His children.  Prayer has a great influence on our thoughts, words, and actions.

                There are many reasons why we should pray.  (1) To be obedient to God’s commandment, (2) to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness, (3) to gain strength to overcome temptations, (4) to ask for guidance and help in our daily lives, (5) to ask for blessings for ourselves, our families, our friends, (6) to ask for protection from our enemies, (7) to ask for success in our work or crops, (8) to express our love to our Heavenly Father, (9) to express gratitude for blessings, and (10) to ask for help in staying on the straight and narrow path back to his presence.

                We can pray whenever we feel the need and will never receive a “busy signal” or be put on “hold.”  We can pray vocally or silently.  We can pray as individuals, families, or larger groups. We can pray during any activity.  We can pray to ask a blessing on our food that it will be nourishing.  We can pray in our hearts and keep a prayer there continually.  We should pray individually every morning and every night and with our family morning and night.  

                We can pray in any position – standing, sitting, kneeling, or lying down.  The important thing is that we pray with a sincere heart and with real intent, having faith that our prayer will be answered.  Heavenly Father already knows everything that is happening in our lives, but He desires that we express our feelings and thoughts to Him.  We do not need to “multiply” our words but can keep our prayers very simple.

                We should address our Father with respect:  “Our Father in Heaven.”  Then we should express gratitude for the many blessings He gives to us and ask Him for what we need.  We should always ask that His will be done and always close our prayers “in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

                We can expect an answer to our prayers if we pray sincerely, but we may not receive the answer we desire.  God always answers sincere prayers:  sometimes He says “no,” sometimes He says “yes,” and sometimes He says “not yet.”  He may tell us “no” because what we ask for is not good for us.  The Lord will always answer our prayers at the time and in a way that He knows will help us the most.  If the answer is “yes,” we will probably have a warm, comfortable feeling; if it is “no,” we will continue to question or doubt.

                Sometimes the answer to our prayers comes through another person.  The Lord can inspire anyone to perform a kind act that will in reality be an answer to a prayer.  Someone may pray for help, and another person feels the need to check on the person or at the house.  Sometimes an answer to prayer comes from a talk at church or the words spoken by family, friends or neighbors. 

                The Lord has promised, “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee b the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers” (Doctrine and Covenants 112:10).

                I know God answers prayers because He answers my prayers.  I pray numerous times each day, either to ask for help for myself or others or to express gratitude for my many blessings.  I would be totally lost and inadequate in my duties if I could not commune with my Father in Heaven. 

Lost in One Generation

                Each generation of parents can strengthen their family, community, and nation by being vigilant in teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to their children by word and example.  Any family is just one generation away from apostasy, and there are plenty of people willing to help us and our families leave our religion behind.  The rising generation must know the doctrine in order to withstand the forces against them.

                “Change is always one generation away.  So if we can plant the seeds of doubt in our children, religion will go away in a generation, or at least largely go away – and that’s what I think we have an obligation to do.”

                The above statement was made by Lawrence M. Krauss, a cosmologist and theoretical physicist, while speaking to the Victorian Skeptics Café in Australia.  He made the following suggestion:  “What we need to do is present comparative religion as a bunch of interesting historical anecdotes and show the silly reasons why they each did what they did.  Instead of shying away from it, we have to explicitly educate people to confront their own misconceptions.”

                The scriptures give numerous instances where the rising generation did not follow the teachings of their parents and the problems that arose from their apostasy.  We live in a day when Satan is working hard to convince our youth to make bad choices, and we must give them enough spiritual support to keep them safe.   We can never give our rising generation too much spiritual reinforcement because they face the onslaught of Satan every hour of every day.  Someone once suggested that if we send our children out to face the day without family prayer and scripture study, it is as though we are sending them to battle in a swimming suit with a paper plate for their shield and a straw for their sword.

                The rising generation of today is in great danger of becoming like the one described in the Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Mosiah 26.  Three years before the death of King Benjamin, he called his people together in order to speak to them.  He told them that his son, Mosiah, would be their new king.  He told them that an angel had visited him to tell him about the coming of the Savior to the earth.  He taught the gospel of Jesus Christ to them.  When he was through speaking, he wanted to know if they believed what he had told them.  They replied that they did believe the words of their king.

                “And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us, all the remainder of our days, that we may not bring upon ourselves a never-ending torment, as has been spoken by the angel, that we may not drink out of the cup of the wrath of God” (Mosiah 5:5). 

                King Benjamin rejoiced that they had made this covenant and took the names of those “who had entered into a covenant with God to keep his commandments.

                “And it came to pass that there was not one soul, except it were little children, but who had entered into the covenant and had taken upon them the name of Christ” (Mosiah 6:1-2).

                A few years and twenty chapters later, we read that there were “many of the rising generation that could not understand the words of king Benjamin, being little children at the time he spake unto his people; and they did not believe the tradition of their fathers.

                “They did not believe what had been said concerning the resurrection of the dead, neither did they believe concerning the coming of Christ.

                “And now because of their unbelief they could not understand the word of God; and their hearts were hardened” (Mosiah 26:1-3).

                The rising generation of our day could also be led astray by men and women like Krauss who seek to destroy their faith.  The only way to keep them safe is to teach them to understand their part in Heavenly Father’s plan.

                A 2010 visiting teaching message by Julie B. Beck, then Relief Society general president, was about this topic.  “So what is it that will keep the rising generation safe?  In the Church, we teach saving principles, and those principles are family principles, the principles that will help the rising generation to form a family, teach that family, and prepare that family for ordinances and covenants – and then the next generation will teach the next and so on.

                “As parents, leaders, and Church members, we are preparing this generation for the blessings of Abraham, for the temple.  We have the responsibility to be very clear on key points of doctrine found in the proclamation on the family.  Motherhood and fatherhood are eternal roles and responsibilities.  Each of us carries the responsibility for either the male or the female half of the plan. 

                “We can teach this doctrine in any setting.  We must speak respectfully of marriage and family.  And from our example, the rising generation can gain great hope and understanding – not just from the words we speak but from the way we feel and emanate the spirit of family.”

                On September 23, 1995, President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke in the general Relief Society meeting and said, “The world we are in is a world of turmoil, of shifting values.  Shrill voices call out for one thing or another in betrayal of time-tested standards of behavior.”  He then introduced “The Family:  A Proclamation to the World” to the sisters, the Church, and the world.

                The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has translated this prophetic document into many languages and given it to world leaders.  The proclamation asks citizens and government leaders `to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.”  This document is the foundation for Latter-day Saint beliefs about marriage and family.  If we hold fast to this proclamation and live by its precepts, we can strengthen our homes, communities, and nation. 

Four Freedoms

                The topic of discussion for this Freedom Friday concerns two of the four freedoms discussed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in his 1941 State of the Union address on January 6, 1941.  He spoke about four fundamental freedoms that he considered essential to people “everywhere in the world.”  His speech is known as the Four Freedoms speech and has its own monument in Madison Square Garden and its own park on Roosevelt Island.  The four freedoms FDR discussed are:  (1) Freedom of speech, (2) Freedom of worship, (3) Freedom from want, and (4) Freedom from fear.

                FDR delivered his speech just eleven months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the United States declared war on Japan the next day.  “The State of the Union speech before Congress was largely about the national security of the United States and the threat to other democracies form world war that was being waged across the continents in the eastern hemisphere.  In the speech, he made a break with the tradition of United States non-interventionism that had long been held in the United States.  He outlined the U.S. role in helping allies already engaged in warfare.

                “In that context, he summarized the values of democracy behind the bipartisan consensus on international involvement that existed at the time.  A famous quote from the speech prefaces those values:  “As men do not live by bread alone, they do not fight by armaments alone.’  In the second half of the speech, he lists the benefits of democracy, which includes economic opportunity, employment, social security, and the promise of `adequate health care’.  The first two freedoms, of speech and religion, are protected by the First Amendment in the United States Constitution.  His inclusion of the latter two freedoms went beyond the traditional Constitutional values protected by the U.S. Bill of Rights.  Roosevelt endorsed a broader human right to economic security and anticipated what would become known decades later as the `human security’ paradigm in social science and economic development.  He also included the `freedom from fear’ against national aggression before the idea of a United Nations for this protection was envisioned or discussed by world leaders and allied nations.”

                FDR and his administration did their best to grant these four freedoms, and the Barack Obama and his administration have done their best to destroy all four freedoms.  The fact is that no man has the right or power to grant these freedoms or others like them.  These freedoms come directly from God with two of them – freedom of speech and freedom of religion – are protected by our divinely inspired Constitution and its Bill of Rights.  The other two – freedom from want and freedom from fear - are conditional.

                Freedom from want is covered in “the right to an adequate standard of living.”  This right is “recognized as a human right in international human rights instruments and is understood to establish a minimum entitlement to food, clothing and housing t an adequate level.  The right to food and the right to housing have been further defined in human rights instruments.

                “The right to an adequate standard of living is enshrined in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights….”

                In other words those who are willing to work are supposed to give some of their hard earned money to others so they can have “an adequate standard of living.”  This is not the Lord’s way to prevent want.  He tells us that the “poor will always be with us,” but He expects every able-bodied man to provide for himself and his family.  He also expects everyone to pay ten percent of their income to Him in order to receive His blessings.  What are his blessings?  Here are the words of the prophet Malachi:

                “Will a man rob God?  Yet ye have robbed me.  But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?  In tithes and offerings.

                “Ye are cursed with a curse:  for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

                “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

                “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

                “And all nations shall call you blessed:  for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 3:8-12; italics in original).

                In other words, freedom from want comes from obedience to the law of tithing.  The Lord promises that He will “open the windows of heaven” and pour blessings upon our heads if we will just pay tithes and offerings.  He also promises that our works will be fruitful.

                Freedom from fear has also been declared a “fundamental human right” by The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  In FDR’s speech he equated “freedom from fear” to be “a world-wide reduction of armaments” that meant “no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor – anywhere in the world.”

                Again, the Lord has a different plan.  The Lord wants us to prepare for the future, particularly for the time He returns to earth.  “Yea, open your mouths and they shall be filled, saying:  Repent, repent, and prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand: (Doctrine and Covenants 33:10).  The Lord revealed at another time, “I tell you these things because of your prayers; wherefore, treasure up wisdom in our bosoms, lest the wickedness of men reveal these things unto you by their wickedness, in a manner which shall speak in your ears with a voice louder than that which shall shake the earth; but if ye are prepared ye shall not fear” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:30; italics added).

                If we desire to have freedom from fear, we must turn to the Lord in prayer and prepare for that which is coming.  If we are prepared, we will not fear!  We can have freedom from fear by keeping the commandments of God!