LDS Freedom Forum

Being a very new member of the Latter-day Conservative Forum I may be speaking out of turn and apologize in advance if that is the case.

After following the forum for a month or so, my impression is that the topics are interesting, some more intense than others, and nearly all address issues we as LDS people should be aware of and concerned about.

My feeling is that most of us wouldn’t be here if we felt that all was well - either in the social culture of Mormonism or in the greater political reality of our time. As with many discussion sites the tendency is to ‘talk’ too much about the finer differences we have. Folks often get caught up defending personal convictions or ‘proofs’ to support an argument.

I came to this group hoping to find Latter-day Saints who share my concern over the direction in which this nation is being driven. Through hard experience, I have come to the conclusion that the only way we can save our constitutional republic is by applying gospel principles to a course of action directed by the Holy Spirit.

Being faithful to the covenants we make, magnifying our callings in our homes and at church, and being worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost is essential to living the Gospel at the highest possible level in whatever circumstance we find ourselves.

Not always an easy task, but basic to becoming a vital part of building the Kingdom of God on earth.

MY THOUGHTS ON WHAT CAN BE DONE

We are blessed beyond our capacity to fully comprehend. We have been given the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have the scriptures which establish the commandments and promises upon the bedrock of eternal truth and provide a continuous record of men and women who applied those principles in their lives, to their blessing or who failed to apply those principles, to their condemnation. We have living prophets, seers, and revelators to guide us in these ever more chaotic times.

The most wonderful record of all is that of our relationship with Christ from the ‘beginning’; of his work before his mortal ministry, of his mortal ministry, of his ministry between his death and resurrection, of his ministry as a resurrected being, and of his continuing work to ‘bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man[kind]’. In this record we find our own divine destiny and purpose.

To a greater or lesser degree, we surely must have comprehended the Theory of mortal experience in the pre-existence. But, without death we had no real test of our conviction. Mortality provides the means to implement the Plan of Salvation on a physical level along with the very real PHYSICAL continuation of the War begun in Heaven between the concepts of LIBERTY & COMPULSION.

In order for us to assist Christ in bringing about ZION I believe it is imperative to serve our fellow beings in mortality. We need to ACT – to DO.

We have been given the measure by which we can discern right and wrong, truth and error. I feel there is an urgency for us to put off ‘the natural man’ in order to truly become ‘saints through the atonement of Christ’…’that the time [has] come when the knowledge of a Savior shall spread throughout every nation, kindred, tongue, and people (Mosiah 3:19-20)’ that we must work with increasing vigor to be worthy to ‘be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters (Mosiah 5:7)’.

Scripture and the words of modern prophets is the LAW - the Iron Rod to help us measure our own progress as we remain humble and teachable.

The Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, upon which our republic is founded, has been called by the Lord Himself the “…law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me”.

KNOWING the LAW is critical to employing it; but knowing is only the first step. Sacred LAW can serve us best by being used as the gold standard to determine the correctness of our own private and public conduct. I believe we must also utilize sacred LAW to guide us in determining our personal and public responsibility to this nation and to the nations of the earth.

We may also utilize sacred LAW to determine if actions and policies of our elected and appointed officials DO in fact, honor their Oath of Office to ‘Preserve, Protect, and Defend the Constitution of the United States’. DO their actions and policies truly represent our best interests as free people and are they in conformity with the LAWS of God?

We yet retain the freedom to discuss. Nonetheless, I am afraid it is possible to squander our time and energies on endless discussions over finer points.

If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest. Proverbs 28:9

To be absolutely honest about who I am, I must express my most grave concern over what I perceive as an unrelenting attack upon our birthright sovereignty as a constitutional republic. I do not know how to express my concern more strongly. (I am working on a post to follow in the next few days which may shed light on the weight of that declaration.)

How can we separate the divine principle of Liberty from the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.

Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light. D&C 93:30-31

If the constitution stands as a just and holy principle for all people and nations shouldn’t we be doing what we can to defend it from all enemies – those from within as well as those from without? The problem is in identifying those enemies.

…even so I desire that ye should stand fast in this liberty werewith ye have been made free, and that ye trust no man to be a king over you.

And also trust no one to be your teacher nor your minister, except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments. Mosiah 23:13-14

We are admonished

...to importune for redress, and redemption, by the hands of those who are placed as rulers and are in authority over us--According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I [the Lord] have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles (D&C 101:76-77).

It is my hope as a new member of the Latter-day Conservative Forum that through sharing our individual strengths, perspectives, talents, and gifts we will combine our best efforts into a course of action by which we can apply eternal principles to specific means of bringing light and truth to ‘all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God’. I see there are several new members in various parts of the world so my hope extends to every nation on earth in which we perform a vital role, but with particular emphasis on our responsibility here in the United States to be a standard of hope and light - as we must be.

Therefore, dearly beloved brethren [and sisters], let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed (D&C 123).

My husband and I are farmers by choice. We have a small flock (60) of longwool sheep used for handspun yarn, a few horses, 3 dogs, a few chickens, 5 or 6 goats, & a couple of city cats. I met my husband in Utah. Although he is not a member of the LDS Church after 27 years of being married to one and attending church nearly every Sunday, he remains my greatest support in my dedication to the gospel. We live 63 miles from the nearest ward and the Bismarck, ND Temple. I work at the temple most Thursday evenings. I weave horse blanket/rugs in my free time.

Welcome!

I'm always excited to get more female voices in here! As to the point about separating liberty from the gospel, have you ever read Cicero? I have not read much of his stuff, but it's interesting the wise conclusions he was able to reach during the time in which he lived. Since many of our founders studied his works, I'd like to become more familiar with them. Basically though he came to the conclusion of natural law, which is the law of the Creator. He wasn't very popular for believing in a Creator. The discovery he made was that these natural laws couldn't be violated without consequence.

Liberty and the gospel are forever intertwined. We have agency to act as we choose, but agency is not liberty really (though they are confused) agency is a liberty, but it isn't of itself liberty. We only maintain liberty through the gospel. This is where most of the debates come in which go on and on, people want so badly to seperate liberty from the gospel, and it cannot be done. When it's tried it's a slippery slope.

Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you more, and hopefully learning some truths from you. I've had to do a lot of pride swallowing these days, and I've actually discovered that it isn't so bad, because I've progressed more that way. I think the ability to swallow pride should be a requirement for the board so that we can be most effective.

Yes welcome!

Pitchfire's pride left when you smacked him with a spatula at Edwards! Okay, so most of it anyways.

Our one pet peave here is that people are so afraid of contention that they will not correct each other when they need it (that would be attacking the individual). We are what we post by and in large, for heaven's sake slap us with a spatula if we need it!

Very good points about Cicero!

We want to commend you on your self-sufficient lifestyle Buffalo girl. When we saw the "newest member is: Buffalo girl," We so wanted to post the song (wont you come out tonight...) to coax you into posting, but we didn't have to wait long.