Tuesday, May 06, 2008
http://www.vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/
Friday, May 02, 2008
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/11/prweb180294.htm
Circumcision Not Cost-Effective Says Study
Circumcision increases health-care costs and decreases wellness. Insurance companies would be better off PAYING parents and doctors to NOT circumcise boys.
(PRWEB) November 20, 2004 -- Circumcision increases health-care costs and decreases wellness according to a cost-utility analysis by Robert S. Van Howe, MD, MS, FAAP, Department of Pediatrics, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Marquette, Michigan, in the latest edition of Medical Decision Making journal.
"If neonatal circumcision was cost-free, pain-free, and had no immediate complications, it was still more costly than not circumcising," says Van Howe. "Neonatal circumcision is not good health policy, and support for it as a medical procedure cannot be justified financially or medically."
Over the past century, some doctors have said circumcision benefits the boy later in life and is therefore justifiable as a prophylactic procedure. According to the findings of this study that isn't true. Wellness decreases as a result and with that goes an increase in health-care related expenses.
Circumcision costs everyone since both Medicaid and Medicare cover infant circumcision and its complications later in life. Medicaid pays for 28% of all infant circumcisions in the United States. Thirteen states do not cover circumcision in their Medicaid programs.
The analysis is based on published data from multiple observational studies, comparing boys circumcised at birth and those not circumcised, using the Quality of Well-being Scale, a Markov analysis, the standard reference case, and a societal perspective. Neonatal circumcision increased incremental costs by $828.42 per patient and resulted in an incremental 15.30 well-years lost per 1000 males. The only ones to gain from this unnecessary and harmful surgery are the attending physicians and hospitals.
ICGI has created a task force to discuss calling for a nationwide moratorium on the routine circumcision of baby boys based on this article's conclusion, and other bioethical concerns.
No experiment or random control trial has ever proven any of the alleged benefits to routinely circumcising baby boys. Circumcision of girls is considered a human rights violation and is illegal in the United States. Prophylactic tonsillectomy is no longer practiced, but was equally popular as circumcision in the United States medical community.
Dr. Robert Van Howe may be contacted at 906-228-7454. Contact ICGI for his email address.
Watch this Video:
http://www.livevideo.com/video/2F1276DA3E38487D9CADE02A5D370762/aap-releases-circumcision-poli.aspx
After reviewing 40 years worth of medical studies, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Task Force on Circumcision concluded that the "potential medical benefits of newborn male circumcision... are not sufficient to recommend routine neonatal circumcision." While this 1999 policy may be revised soon, it is still the current official recommendation for parents and doctors.
Here are some highlights from the report:
Role of Hygiene
"there is little evidence to affirm the association between circumcision status and optimum penile hygiene."
STDs including HIV
"behavioral factors appear to be far more important than circumcision status."
Penile Cancer
"in a developed country such as the United States, penile cancer is a rare disease and the risk of penile cancer developing in an uncircumcised man, although increased compared with a circumcised man, is low."
Urinary Tract Infections
"breastfeeding was shown to have a threefold protective effect on the incidence of UTI in a sample of uncircumcised infants. However, breastfeeding status has not been evaluated systematically in studies assessing UTI and circumcision status." meaning that the earlier UTIs studies results were confounded.
Even if their numbers were accurate, in order to prevent one UTI during the first year of life by circumcising a baby boy, approximately 195 babies who will not get a UTI would need to be circumcised. Also infant girls commonly develop UTIs(in some studies at even higher rates than infant boys) and the standard treatment for them is antibiotics which works just as well for infant boys with UTIs. The AAP concludes this section noting that "the absolute risk of developing a UTI in an uncircumcised male infant is low (at most, ~1%)".
Ethics
Of course here, they hedge and say while even though cutting off part of your baby's genitalia "is not essential to the child's current well-being" they are perfectly fine with parents and doctors using cultural tradition as justification. This report is also the first time the AAP has acknowledged(after decades of doctors mindlessly repeating the belief that babies don't feel significant pain) that circumcision without anesthesia is traumatic and if circumcision is to be done, anesthesia should be used.
I would like to know if the AAP thinks cultural tradition is an acceptable reason to cut off the clitoral hoods(biologically analogous to foreskin) of infant girls especially if it is done with anesthesia as is the case here: http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL3dhdGNoP3Y9eFd2aTQ3NWNZWlk=
(the video is not particularly graphic as it was made by a mother who had her own clitoral hood cut off when she was a baby and she wants to continue the tradition)
If you want, you can read the full AAP policy here: http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmNpcnAub3JnL2xpYnJhcnkvc3RhdGVtZW50cy9hYXAxOTk5Lw==
Friday, April 25, 2008
*I am NOT the originator of this. Just the messenger.* SNM :)
Based on the figures in the church's financial statement for 2006 (ref. http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/ScannedAccounts\Ends5100242451_ac_20061231_e_c.pdf; thanks njrd on RfM for posting the link!), the LDS Church's "Total resources expended" for 2006 was £28,373,000.
The published value for the church's "Total assets" in the U.K. for the year ending on Dec. 31/06 was £321,359,000 (approx. US$606 million).
The LDS Church (U.K.) spent £705,000 on "Youth conferences" in 2006 and £1,264,000 "for the relief of the poor and needy not only in the United Kingdom and Ireland but also other countries in Europe and Africa."
In 2006, members donated £1,455,000 to the "Fast Offering fund" and £366,000 to the "Humanitarian Aid fund".
The church's senior patriarchal leadership decided to spent only 69.4% of the funds donated by Latter-day Saints in 2006 "for the relief of the poor and needy". The total population of the U.K., Ireland, the rest of Europe and Africa is more than 1.6 billion.
"One out of five Europeans — 93 million people — lives under the poverty line." (ref. http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/english/regions/europe/index.htm)
"In Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 218 million people live in extreme poverty. Among them are rural poor people in Eastern and Southern Africa, an area that has one of the world’s highest concentrations of poor people. The incidence of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa is increasing faster than the population." (ref. http://sociolingo.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/map-rural-poverty-in-africa/)
In summary, in 2006 the LDS Church (U.K.) spent less than one-half of one British pence on each impoverished person in Europe and Africa. However, according to its published financial statement for the year, "Closing total shareholders' funds" were £271,786,000 (approx. US$513 million).
According to Matthew 6:19-21 in the New Testament, Jesus preached the following in his Sermon on the Mount: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Clearly, the "heart" of the LDS Church continues to be focused on wealth-accumulation, not alleviating suffering, which is something that Jesus (the man described in stories in the New Testament) was greatly concerned with. Such is the 'spiritual enlightenment' of the 'prophets' who run the multi-billion-dollar, shopping-mall-and-condo-constructing, religious-corporate empire based in SLC.
Joseph Smith translated by Revelation
Saturday, April 19, 2008
http://mormontimes.com/DB_index.php?id=927
By Rodger L. Hardy
Deseret News
Published: Friday, Apr. 11, 2008
PROVO -- The only way Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, could have written the Book of Mormon is the way he said he did, Daniel C. Peterson said in a lecture at the Olivewood book store Thursday.
To have created it any other way would have required scholarly instincts and experience the young, uneducated farm boy did not have, Peterson said.
Yet critics claim the church's first prophet may have copied another manuscript or memorized passages to appear he was translating as he dictated to a series of scribes, including his wife, Emma. To do so, he would have had to memorize some 5,000 words daily, day after day, an impossible feat, Peterson said.
Making up the book "on the fly" would have also been impossible for the unlearned young man, Peterson said.
The Brigham Young University professor of Islamic studies and Arabic also sought to dispel some of the myths surrounding the Prophet's translation of the scripture.
Peterson said the Book of Mormon was revealed to Smith through a seer stone. Smith never went through the golden pages of the ancient record, but instead put the seer stone in a hat, then buried his head in the hat to shut out ambient light. The stone lit up a line of text, about 30 words at a time, which Smith then dictated to his scribe. Once the text was transcribed correctly, the line disappeared and a new line came into focus, Peterson said, quoting eye witnesses who were 19th Century farmers associated with Smith.
When Smith came across words he couldn't pronounce or understand, he spelled them out. The translation in 1829 took about two months of time, although it was spread beyond two months.
One of his scribes, Martin Harris, found a stone that looked much like the seer stone and when Smith wasn't looking, switched it. When Smith buried his head in the hat, the stone failed to respond. The seer stone was put back in place and translation continued, Peterson said.
"It was a translation by revelation," he said.
No single account of how Smith translated the Book of Mormon exists, but scholars have assembled bits and pieces to put the story together. Smith, himself, never disclosed how he did it, Peterson said.
If Smith had negative feelings toward his wife, the seer stone quit working until Smith apologized. Then the translation could continue, Peterson said.
A common belief among LDS members is that Smith put up a blanket or sheet between him and the scribe, primarily Oliver Cowdery, so the scribe couldn't see Smith working with the plates. But Peterson said the only sheets that were put up were to screen the work from folks passing by the windows, more often at the Peter Whitmore home where much of the translation took place.
So why did Smith even need the gold plates? Peterson said he didn't know, except perhaps as a reassurance and an evidence to him that they existed. The plates and other objects, including the sword of Laban, may have helped him understand that the translation wasn't subjective, Peterson said.
Emma Smith said when her husband wasn't in the room she felt the plates under a cloth, heard the rustle of the metal pages, but never admitted lifting the cloth to take a look.
Peterson cited several passages in the Book of Mormon that stood out for him and which would be impossible for Smith to know. Among them were the correct descriptions of the land in the Middle East that the prophet Lehi's family and followers passed through; accurate descriptions of seismic events in what is now known as South America; and word structures that are more Hebrew in nature than English.
"Critics seem to think he (Joseph Smith) had access to things, even which hadn't been written yet," Peterson said.
He also disputed studies that the DNA of Native Americans fails to coincide with the Book of Mormon claim that the people were of Hebrew heritage. The Americas were already populated with natives when the followers of Lehi arrived 2,600 years ago, Peterson said. The people of the Book of Mormon were by comparison a small group.
"(By now) the genetics in a lot of areas is gone," he said.
EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed
EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed
If you haven't already heard, this is the title of a new propaganda movie by Ben Stein. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, is a propaganda movie being promoted by radical religious extremists that claims Hitler was inspired by Darwin to kill millions of Jewish people. (insulting - yeah)
If anyone plans to see the movie, please skim through http://www.expelledexposed.com/ to see how full of crap the movie is. And for fun, here are some reviews of the movie that may save you $8.
Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Vaccines And Autism: Are 1 in 50 Children at Risk?
Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Vaccines And Autism: Are 1 in 50 Children at Risk?
Mitochondria, the powerhouses that fuel your body's cells, have been implicated in at least one case of regressive autism. Some researchers estimate that the number of people suffering from the mitochondrial dysfunction, which may lead to autism, is much more common than the current estimate of 1 in 4,000 people. In fact, it could be as low as 1 in 50.
If so, the potential implications for autism are staggering.
In the recent landmark Hannah Poling case, federal officials conceded that Hannah's autism was caused by an underlying mitochondrial dysfunction that was aggravated by vaccine injections. At the time, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding claimed that Hannah's case was a rare incident with little relevance to the other autism cases pending in the federal "vaccine court."
Since then, however, Dr. Gerberding and other CDC officials were made aware of a Portuguese study reporting that 7.2 percent of children with autism had confirmed mitochondrial disorders. Some now estimate the rate of mitochondrial dysfunction in autism to be 20 percent or more, and the rate among children with the regressive sub-type of autism is likely even higher.
If mitochondrial dysfunction can convert into autism in large numbers, then the connection between vaccines and autism could be quite strong. Some experts believe a trigger, such as vaccines, a viral illness or even inflammatory corn oil and corn syrup in the American diet, is triggering underlying mitochondrial dysfunctions into autism.
The CDC is reportedly looking into making changes in the vaccine schedule to address this newfound connection. The most difficult decision is how and when to vaccinate children with proven mitochondrial dysfunction.
Sources:
Common Sense Vaccination Guidelines
In light of these new findings, the CDC is reportedly “immediately taking measures to address the current national vaccine schedule.” But I doubt their changes will adequately address the many problems with it.
So, I urge you to do some research of your own before deciding whether to vaccinate your children, and also learn your rights about how to legally refuse them. But if you do decide to have it done, the following steps may help to reduce some of the side effects:
- Spread vaccinations out, and only give one at a time. It is not uncommon for children to receive five vaccines at once, and this is simply too much for some kids to handle.
- Make sure the vaccine is thimerosal-free.
- Do not get your child vaccinated after an illness or surgery. This will increase the chances of injury.
- Make sure your child is healthy before vaccinating. Immune system weaknesses (allergies, asthma, digestive problems, infections) particularly should be resolved before you give them any vaccinations.
- Do not allow any vaccinations to be given at birth, namely the hepatitis B vaccine. The central nervous system of a newborn infant is extremely susceptible to toxic influences, and there is no reason to give this vaccine to a newborn.
- Think twice before giving these highly questionable vaccines: flu vaccine, HPV vaccine, chicken pox vaccine, Hepatitis B vaccine.
Thimerisol is far from the only ingredient I would worry about when it comes to what is found in vaccines.
www.tbyil.com/Vaccine_Ingredients.htm
Trusting the medical profession when it comes to vaccines and other drug safety is akin to a vegetarian getting diet recommendations from a butcher.
"The only safe vaccine is one that is never used."
- Dr. James R. Shannon, former director of the National Institute of Health
Shocking Facts About the Pharmaceutical Industry
Shocking Facts About the Pharmaceutical Industry
Big drug companies have been accused of putting profits above patients, spinning false PR campaigns and more. Here are some of the most shocking facts about the pharmaceutical industry.
The price of drugs is increasing faster than anything else a patient pays for: The prices of the most heavily prescribed drugs are routinely jacked up, sometimes several times a year. Some medications have a mark-up of 1,000 percent over the cost of their ingredients.
Your doctor may have an ulterior motive behind your prescription: Drug reps often give gifts to convince doctors to prescribe the medications that they represent. These drug reps usually have no medical or science education.
Pharmaceutical companies spend more on marketing than research: Almost twice as much!
Guilty of Medicare fraud: Pharmaceutical companies are being tried in federal courts as a result of their exploitation of Medicare. AstraZeneca had to pay more than $340 million in penalties for coaching doctors to cheat Medicare.
The combined wealth of the top 5 pharmaceutical companies outweigh GNP of sub-Saharan Africa: In fact, the combined worth of the world’s top five drug companies is twice the combined GNP of that entire region.
Americans pay more for prescription meds than anyone else in the world: $200 billion in 2002 alone.
"New" Drugs aren't really new: Two-thirds of “new” prescription drugs are identical to existing drugs or modified versions of them.
Drug companies are taking advantage of underdeveloped countries to perform clinical trials: In developing countries, government oversight is more lax.
For more shocking facts, click the link below.
Moving away from Mormonism: Group offers support to those leaving the LDS Church
Saturday, March 08, 2008
http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880308001
LISA LARSON
larson@thespectrum.com
It's been described as something akin to "coming out of the closet" but for most in this group the reveal has little to do with their sexuality. Instead, they're coming out against a religion they once called their own, seeking support in a group of like-minded individuals that comprise the Post-Mormon Community.
"It's more of a validation that others are feeling what you feel and you're not alone," said Trish Reinert who has been part of the Post-Mormon group since she left The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2002.
Chapters of the Post-Mormon Community are beginning to crop up worldwide with concentrations in the Europe, Canada and the United States, including a chapter in Southern Utah. Groups consist of former and/or current members of the LDS Church in various stages of leaving their faith. According to the group's Web site, postmormon.org, they do not consider themselves "anti-Mormon," rather they choose to be "open about the Church's misrepresentations and the way in which its dogmatism and authoritarianism have proven detrimental to many individuals, families and communities."
When asked about the LDS Church's stand on the Post-Mormon organization, LDS Media Relations Manager Robert Howell said the church "respectfully declines to comment on this specific organization but in general we encourage all who wish to know about what we believe to come to official church sources for their information."
Jeff Ricks of Cache Valley founded the Post-Mormon Community after he voluntarily left the LDS Church back in 1993 because "I just couldn't believe in it anymore." He spent the next several years feeling alone in his decision and unsure of how to cultivate new friendships. He decided to start a support group in Cache Valley and "see if anyone showed up."
That was in 2002. In 2005 the group registered as a corporation and in 2006 they were granted non-profit status. In the past year they started using billboards in places around the state to advertise their group with the recent St. George billboard going in as No. 7.
"We're growing rapidly," Ricks said, crediting the billboards for much of that growth. "I think this year you're going to see even greater growth."
Locally, the Southern Utah Post-Mormon Association convenes monthly to participate in lectures and discussions on controversial church issues and support one another in their decisions to leave the church.
Shelley Smith, who refers to herself as "an extremely devout Mormon" prior to leaving the church, said she started wondering about aspects of Mormon history like polygamy and current practices like the Word of Wisdom Ñ the Mormon health code that, among other things, commands members not to use alcohol, coffee and tea and tobacco or other harmful substances.
And after roughly 45 years of her life "entrenched" in this faith, she left.
"That shift has been unbelievably harder than I thought it would be," Smith said.
Which is why she comes to the Post-Mormon meetings looking for support.
"You don't just have your life shattered and turn and walk away," she said.
Brad Biedermann, a spokesperson for the Southern Utah Post-Mormon Association, said in a sense people have to go through a period of "de-programming" as they struggled to decide whether or not they've done the right thing.
Guilt is a subject mentioned frequently by those who attend the Post-Mormon meetings.
When you even think of leaving the Mormon church you feel guilt, said Donnie Alexander.
But Alexander has never actually been a Mormon. Instead she comes to the Post-Mormon meetings to "support people," and to tell them to "go for whatever it is they're looking for," she said. "I'm not here to convert nobody to nothin'."
Another participant who has never been part of the LDS Church is Charles Wood, author of "The Mormon Conspiracy." He said he was approached to join the LDS faith when he moved to the area but decided against it. Now he attends the Post-Mormon meetings and shares his book with people but stands by his position that "it's not an anti-Mormon group." "My objective is to help out wherever I can," he said.
Many of those who have left the church say that, while the end result is what they wanted, the process of removing themselves from the cultural and religious ties is extremely painful.
"My discovery about the dishonesty and deception that took place in early Mormonism caused me more pain and tears than my divorce or the death of my parents," said Arza Evans.
Evans said he was excommunicated from the LDS Church after writing the book "The Keystone of Mormonism" which calls into question the validity of The Book of Mormon as ancient history or inspired scripture. The Book of Mormon is used by the LDS Church as a companion to the Bible.
Evans said he did not go out looking to find fault with the church but now he feels guilty for the people he misled while he was a member. And he's left to try to maintain harmony in his family that is now about half LDS and half that are not.
"I try to keep peace in the family but that's not easy," he said.
For Biedermann, ultimately he's pleased with his decision, even though his wife is still an active church member.
"There's an intellectual freedom that occurs (when you leave)," he said. "You're able to question your own conclusions and find yourself more tolerant of others too."
But Smith finds herself still looking for answers to her questions.
"What do I believe (happens) after death now?" she said. "It doesn't matter what I believe. Truth is truth."
The Southern Utah Post-Mormon Association meets on the first Sunday of every month. For meeting times, location and topics, check out www.postmormon.org
The Search for Truth Challenge
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Dear Mormons,
I would like to speak for the majority of the post-mormon community. We do not hate Mormons. We hate what the church has done, what it continues to do, and how it has hurt us and those we love (our Mormon family members.) We have learned the truth about the church and it's history, particularly about the history of the founder of the Mormon church, Joseph Smith. We have learned the truth about the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Abraham. We have learned for ourselves that the Mormon church is not true, and that the leaders are perpetuating a lie.
We know there are some good things that the church teaches, and we have taken with us those good teachings. We also know that most Mormons are good people trying to follow their conscience and trying to do what you believe is right. You are taught by your church leaders that we hate you, and that we are "out to get you." You are also taught that we have left the church due to sin or because we have been offended. You are told this so that you will not listen to the things we have to say. So you will not give any credibility to the evidence we have. You are told that the church is aware of the evidence that we have, and that it is contrived out of hate in order to decieve. You are even told that we are guided by satan and that if you give heed to anything we say, you will also be choosing satan and therefore condemned to hell. We know all of this because we were once in your shoes.
We were once members as well. We were held captive by the fear and guilt that is placed on you by the church. However, we eventually reached a point where we realized that God is not the kind of God that would expect us to believe something without examining it from all angles. We realized that if the church really was true, nothing we read or heard could possibly sway us from it. However, in our earnest attampt to find the truth, we learned that the church we had believed in for so long (all our lives for some) was not what it claimed to be. We learned that the same leaders we revered and followed were in fact leading us astray, and keeping us in the dark about our true history. We searched earnestly to learn the truth.
Most of this searching we started because we accapted Moroni's challenge and did not recieve the promised answer. Our research did not start out as an attampet to discredit the church or to excuse any supposed sin, as you are told. It was undertaken as an attempt to truly find the truth, having been unable to recieve any witness, despite following the commandments and asking with a deep sincere desire to know. Much of the reasons we left the church come from the church's own writings, both scripture and those of the prophets, not from anti-mormon authors as you have been told. Our attempts to bring our fellow Mormons to the same knowledge that we have now found is made out by your leaders to be a personal attack on you. You are told that we hate you, so that you will immediately become defensive, and dismiss anything we say as hate speech. Some of our attempts may even come off as attacks, but that is simply because of the same Zeal you have to teach people what you believe to be the truth, (which many of us did as well)
Why can't we leave you alone? Because we have been in your shoes. We believed as you do, and have since found out that we were being lied to, and we now desire to help our loved ones know the truth as well. We have the same zeal to spread the truth as you do. Afterall, we were taught to have that zeal by the same church.
So, in closing, we do not hate you. We love you, because we were you. You are our friends, and our family. Our only desire is to help show you the information we have learned and to help lead you to know the truth about the oppressive, and dishonest church to which you have devoted some much time, energy and loyalty.
Contrary to what you are taught, we do not seek your suffering, but rather seek to end that suffering. Our motives come from nothing but love for you. We urge you to consider what we have to say. Examine the evidence we have. If your church is the true church, then nothing we have to say could disprove it, nor could it shake your faith.
You have nothing to lose by searching for the truth.
Prophet & Apostles Quotes and More
Thursday, February 21, 2008
1) "It is also to the Book of Mormon to which we turn for the plainest description of the Catholic Church as the great and abominable church. Nephi saw this ‘church which is the most abominable above all other churches' in vision. He ‘saw the devil that he was the foundation of it' and also the murders, wealth, harlotry, persecutions, and evil desires that historically have been a part of this satanic organization.(Bruce R. McConkie. Mormon Doctrine [1958], 130.)
2) "I think no more of taking another wife than I do of buying a cow." - Apostle Heber C. Kimball, The Twenty Seventh Wife, Irving Wallace, p. 101.
3) "Brethren, I want you to understand that it is not to be as it has been heretofore. The brother missionaries have been in the habit of picking out the prettiest women for themselves before they get here, and bringing on the ugly ones for us; hereafter you have to bring them all here before taking any of them, and let us all have a fair shake." - Apostle Heber C. Kimball, The Lion of the Lord, New York, 1969, pp
4) "You may inquire of the intelligent of the world whether they can tell why the aborigines of this country are dark, loathsome, ignorant, and sunken into the depths of degradation ...When the Lord has a people, he makes covenants with them and gives unto them promises: then, if they transgress his law, change his ordinances, and break his covenants he has made with them, he will put a mark upon them, as in the case of the Lamanites and other portions of the house of Israel; but by-and-by they will become a white and delightsome people" (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7:336).
*I don't believe many of these "cursed dark skinned people" have yet to magically turn to a "white and delightsome people". Unless you count Michael Jackson, but given his iniquities I'd seriously question the claims that he has become "righteous" in any manner. Also I don't think a single person of color had their skin change color just because the converted and were baptised into the Mormon church.
5) "The day of the Lamanites in nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome. . . The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation. . .There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had had an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. Spencer W. Kimball; The Improvemant, Era, Dec. 1960, p. 923)
*Oops, my bad. They are "lightening". LOL Poor kid brother now is seen as still evil but the lightening brother is becoming more "pure". Of course if you notice this was in December when kids play inside and aren't exposed to the sun all that much. I bet once June rolled around again and the boys started to get some son, they assumed that the previously lighter boy must have sinned because he grew darker.
6) "You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind....Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, page 290).
7) "Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 10, page 110.)
*So, when will I be killed now? So many apologists say that the prophets can speak as prophets or men. The problem with this is in this quote. Here, a prophet of God is telling us the "law of God". Sounds like he is speaking as a prophet to me. Then, he says that this law will "always be so"...it has to since God is never changing. I really don't know how anyone, even a Mormon, could even come close to rationalizing this!
8) "Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness he became the father of an inferior race." (Tenth LDS President, Joseph Fielding Smith The Way to Perfection, p.101.)
*I'd love to hear what the NAACP has to say on this matter. So much for being judged by your own sins and not for Adams transgressions too.
9) "Let us consider the great mercy of God for a moment. a Chinese, born in China with a dark skin, and with all the handicaps of that race seems to have little opportunity. But think of the mercy of God to Chinese people who are willing to accept the gospel. In spite of whatever they might have done in the pre-existence to justify being born over there as Chinamen, if they now, in this life, accept the gospel and live it the rest of their lives they can have the Priesthood, go to the temple and receive endowments and sealings, and that means they can have exaltation. Isn't the mercy of God marvelous?
Think of the Negro, cursed as to the priesthood... This Negro, who in the pre-existence lived the type of life which justified the Lord in sending him to the earth in the lineage of Cain with a black skin, and possibly being born in darkest Africa--if that Negro is willing when he hears the gospel to accept it, he may have many of the blessings of the gospel. In spite of all he did in the pre-existent life, the Lord is willing, if the Negro accepts the gospel with real, sincerer faith, and is really converted, to give him the blessing of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get celestial glory. (Race Problems--As They Affect The Church, An address by Mark E. Petersen at the Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College level; Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, August 27, 1954.)
*Ahhh so good to know that "Negro"'s will still have job security once they die. Nothing like moving from one slavery job to another. I wonder what the African's in Africa would say to this, if they knew this was really taught?
10) "We do not intend to admit to our campus any homosexuals. If any of you have this tendency and have not completely abandoned it, may I suggest that you leave the university immediately after this assembly.... We do not want others on this campus to be contaminated by your presence." (Ernest Wilkinson, president of Brigham Young University, in a 1965 lecture to the BYU student body, titled: "Make Honor your Standard."
*Ahhh . . .Back to the whole homosexual germ/disease theory.
11.)"I learned in serving almost 20 years as bishop and as stake president that an excellent insurance against divorce is the payment of tithing. Payment of tithing seems to facilitate keeping the spiritual battery charged in order to make it through the times when the spiritual generator has been idle or is not working." James E. Faust, April 2007, Liahona
*Hey, mom and dad, maybe you would have stayed together if you had just paid tithing better. Nothing is as sexy as that tithing envelope, to keep those batteries charged!
12)"We likewise own television and radio stations. These provide a voice in the communities which they serve. I may add that we are sometimes embarrassed by network television presentations. Our people do the best they can to minimize the impact of these." Gordon B. Hinkley, November 1999, Ensign
*Who are "these people" that are censoring what people watch? Is the FCC made up of Mormons? LOL Just another way to show how controlling the LDS can be. If they start implanting members with microchips so they can't enter a movie theater that is showing an 'R' rated movie then I know some LDS people who will be kind of annoyed! But hey! It's for their own good. They know whats best for it's members.
13)"The negative term most frequently flung at the LDS is “cult,” a term which can suggest images of pagan priests and rituals. But the truth is there is no objective distinction by which a cult may be distinguished from a religion. Use of the term cult does not tell us what a religion is, only how it is regarded by the person using the term. It simply means “a religion I don’t like.” Though non-LDS scholars have made many attempts to define a “cult” in a way that would distinguish it from a “religion,” to date every such attempt has failed. So far the major difficulty has been that any definition of “cult” that fits the LDS Church also fits New Testament Christianity! But that’s not bad company to be in." Stephen E. Robinson, May 1998, New Era
*Is this their way of acknowledging they ARE a cult?
14)"One of the sneaky ploys of the adversary is to have us believe that unquestioning obedience to the principles and commandments of God is blind obedience. His goal is to have us believe that we should be following our own worldly ways and selfish ambitions. This he does by persuading us that “blindly” following the prophets and obeying the commandments is not thinking for ourselves....."
(a few paragraphs later in the same article)
....."Then President Lee added a warning when he went on to say that we may not always like what comes from the authority of the Church because it may conflict with our personal views or interfere with some of our social life." Elder R. Conrad Schultz Of the Seventy, November 2007, New Era
*So ummmm yeah....they believe in blind obedience even if it conflicts with their personal views, social life, wordly ways and selfish ambitions.
15)"Unless young people who marry outside the temple speedily repent, they cut them-selves off from exaltation in the celestial kingdom of God. If they should prove themselves worthy, notwithstanding that great error, to enter into the celestial kingdom, they go in that kingdom as servants." [see Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 4 vols. (Salt Lake: Deseret Books, 1957-66), p. 196., Gospel Library, [CD-ROM], Infobases, 1998.']
*Oh goody! It's a good thing I married a man of color so we can both be slaves in the afterlife together!
16) "I have warned youth about the hazards of interfaith marriages—the sorrows and disillusionments which come from marrying out of the Church. But there seems to be a tendency on the part of many young people today to form their own opinions and their own conclusions to determine the right and the wrong of everything. We are concerned and disturbed that many of the people are married by justices of the peace or bishops or ministers, when there are temples of God which guarantee that if there is righteousness there will be happiness forever and eternally. " [First Presidency Message October 1979 Ensign; The Importance of Celestial Marriage By President Spencer W. Kimball]
*Ahhhh. So it wasn't the tithing that did my parents in. It was the fact that they didn't initially marry in the Temple! I wonder if this "guarantee" is a money back guarantee or not?