In a deviation from what would probably be considered the norm of this blog, if indeed a blog less than five months old could have a norm, today I have been feeling strongly about two pieces of media dealing with the issue of gay rights.  Both were originally presented to me in a surprising setting (an academic one) and both were disappointing on a similar fundamental level.  I would like to share them with you here before discussing what exactly the big letdown was, however, because I feel it is important for us to see and think about these things.  The first is a satire of the Proposition 8 debate in delightful musical form and the second a witty excerpt from NBC's series The West Wing.

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As always, I apologize for the delay in writing; it has been a switch in gears to sit down and write this part out, even though it is a great culmination of what we have discussed thus far -- and what a bright and cheerful culmination it is!  We are done with the dark stuff for today, done with the contemplation of error and on to the consideration of example.  Today we are going to discuss what sainthood means and what it demands of us, and what holy places we are to be found in.

So to begin, what is the "place" of the Saints?  It is certainly not Salt Lake City in the sense that Jerusalem was the "place" for the Hebrews, and it is certainly no other physical location.  Any reader has most undoubtedly jumped to the conclusion that the place of the Saints is in the heart, and is not made of buildings or brick, but of what makes that heart a proper home and vessel for the Savior to work through us.  This is true, but let's step back and acknowledge something about our peculiar selves, something that we often try to distance ourselves from.

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Today's topic is one that has taken me a lot of thought, and a few drafts, to put down on this blog.  The main reason for that is, I believe, the difficulty of the topic -- not only the act of writing it, but the sheer difficulty of considering it.  My intent was to write this entry immediately after the last because it acts as an illustration of the points made there; instead it has taken me quite a bit longer to formulate a way to place Samson into his proper context.

As we discussed last time, the tail end of the Book of Judges makes it all too easy to misinterpret its message; a major reason for the placement of Ruth directly following Judges is to act as a reminder of a message of strength in the Gospel.  The horrendous civil war fought amongst the Lord's chosen was not only devastating to the tribe of Benjamin, but to the worthiness of the entire House of Israel.  It is unfortunate then that the most popularized story in Judges is not one dealing with its theme, but that of the failed judge Samson; we must remember that Samson's story is not theme and thesis of Judges, but its theme's antithesis.

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If I were to encapsulate today's message within the confines of a single verse, I would be partial to the one found in Paul's epistle to Titus, in which he says, "[Jesus] gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."  This scripture, found in chapter 2 verse 14, comes from one of the latest of the great man's letters, and is all about the need for the Saints to live righteously.  The topic of the letter is timely because it is another retread of council given to Saints who are continually suffering from the same old problem of growing out of communication with the Church and with the Spirit.

We have talked about the similarities between modern and ancient Israel, and established that the vices that hold the Saints captive are widespread rather than grouped in any particular location.  We have also seen how divisions have crept into Latter-day Saint society in forms of judgment and despising.  Today we are going to look at the end result of such divisions, and turn our thoughts to a single broad guideline of what we can do individually to ward off such an end.

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We have seen that when Saints find they have issues, they have at their root the strength of one's communication with the Spirit and with the Church, two sources of guidance that are connected yet still separate enough that they must be nourished individually.  It is not enough to lead a family righteously, study the scriptures, pray, attend Sunday school, and in general stay in tune with the Spirit; likewise, it is not enough to alone listen to the council of enlightened leaders and truly hearken to the voices of the prophets.  These two sources of inspiration, from within and from without, are distinct while still supporting and testifying of the other.

We have also seen that the Church is in the midst of outside influences that give the Saints great potential either to rise to the task or to fail where they sit.  These influences are not relegated to the headquarters of the Church in Salt Lake City, nor exclusively reserved for those in densely populated Mormon regions, although to listen to some Saints voice their opinions, one may think this were the case.  Rather, we are surrounded on all sides, besieged and beleaguered, and the source of a communication breakdown with either Church or Spirit is often our ideas of what our priorities ought to be.  Today we will look at what Paul of the New Testament thought was the possibly terminal flaw within the Church, and what that means to us right now.

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My apologies for the wait between the last post and this one; this second part of my statement about the current situation in the Church has been long coming.  Finals season tends to be busy for everyone, but now that they are over and the university has been encased in and closed by snow, I ought to have more free time; hopefully, I'll be able to finish my thought!

To recap, last time we talked about the peculiar placement of Old Israel -- right in the middle of a dozen horrendous moral influences -- and the parallel to today's likewise placement of the New Jerusalem.  As Isaiah 2 states, the temple of the Lord's house may be established in the tops of the mountains, but the second verse also reminds us that "all nations shall flow unto it," which was the exact problem that the Israelites faced when they found themselves unable to distinguish between the things of supposed value that theirs and other nations had to offer.  However, as we will see today, while Salt Lake City may be both the headquarters of the Church and the Crossroads of the West, the problems, as in Old Israel, are spread far and wide rather than hidden centrally in Jerusalem.

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One of the principal frustrations in anything seems to be finding a starting point, whether it be to jobs around the house, telling a story, or what I'm trying to do here in this journal.  After a long time trying to figure out what the starting point was, the advice that my wife gave me was to stop trying to begin at the start, but to begin in the middle and continue on until the beginning (and the end) were made clear.  This was certainly appropriate advice, and irony of it was sweet because my intent had been to begin by discussing the middle!  The best place to begin this journal is the middle, because that is where it begins.  Chronologically, the story I'm trying to tell could stretch forward and backward, toward and froward; but the truest beginning of the story is right in the middle.

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