Life

Cain and Abel

I recently heard someone relate the story of Cain and Abel and as they began to explain it and tried to apply it to real world comparisons, I found they deeply misunderstood it. 

For those that are unfamiliar with the story you can find it in Genesis Chapter 4. In the story the sons of Adam were commanded to make sacrifice to the Lord. Abel made Sacrifice of the firstlings of his flocks and Cain made sacrifice of the fruits of the ground. The Lord accepts Abel’s sacrifice while rejecting Cains. Why did Cains sacrifice get rejected? Under Levitical law grain sacrifice is acceptable but Cain’s was not. If we read 1 John 3:11-16 we read: 

11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

We can gather from this reading and other sources that it wasn’t the type of offering that was rejected but the spirit with which Cain offers it. Cain could have humbled himself and made an offering to the Lord in love but instead in his pride continued down the destructive path of hate and murdered his brother. 

The lesson to take is that it is important to have the correct spirit with an action as the action taken. With the Love of others should be the center of all we do. While not the only motivators out there love and hate are powerful. I’ve been finding those that are motivated by hate find it difficult to understand those motivated by love. They will often attribute different false narratives for while people are really doing what they are doing. They will often call people “haters” that don’t share that motivation. It’s a perverse reflection of what is the actual reality of the situation. All I can say is that we should follow the example of Christ and love one another.

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Love one another

Today, I found myself reflecting on two particular scriptures: John 13:34-35 and Matthew 22:36-40, which I’ve included below for reference.

John 13:34-35 reads: “I give you a new commandment: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Matthew 22:36-40 states: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

These passages do not suggest that our love for others should be conditional, dependent on agreement or approval of one’s lifestyle or choices. They call us to love others simply and purely. Often, we impose conditions on our love, but the love Christ demonstrated is unconditional, and we are called to emulate that kind of love.

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Best lies have a bit of truth

The best lies have a bit of the truth at the center. That is what I thought of when I ran across the story of Tim Ballard. Ballard has made himself a name as the rescuer of sex-trafficked individuals but has recently come under scrutiny as allegations of sexual assault and misconduct have come in against him. You can find more about the timeline of the allegations at this abc4.com article. Ballard is the center character in the movie “Sound of Freedom” but as anyone familiar with sex trafficking begins to examine the movie you can tell the stories have been greatly exaggerated or are likely fabricated. At first, I wasn’t going to say anything about the movie until learning of the allegations and that last week Ballard was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and received a public condemnation.

For those that don’t know, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and we are often known by the nicknames of LDS or Mormon. I am also a survivor of all forms of childhood abuse and personally know individuals who had been trafficked from my time growing up in foster care. Excommunication in the LDS Church isn’t shunning as it can be in some churches but is a part of the repentance process and people can be rebaptized after completing the repentance process under the guidance of appropriate church leaders. For repentance of any major sin, a council is brought together for the decision, and a church court is convened. There are three levels of Church Courts beginning with the Bishops Court which can be appealed to the High Counsel Court which can be appealed to the First Presidency Court. For more information on Church Courts please read, “The Principles and Purposes of Church Courts”. 

“Members sometimes ask why Church disciplinary councils are held. The purpose is threefold: to save the soul of the transgressor, to protect the innocent, and to safeguard the Church’s purity, integrity, and good name.

The First Presidency has instructed that disciplinary councils must be held in cases of murder, incest, or apostasy. A disciplinary council must also be held when a prominent Church leader commits a serious transgression, when the transgressor is a predator who may be a threat to other persons, when the person shows a pattern of repeated serious transgressions, when a serious transgression is widely known, and when the transgressor is guilty of serious deceptive practices and false representations or other terms of fraud or dishonesty in business transactions.” (A Chance to Start Over)

For Ballard to be excommunicated he would have to participate in a High Counsel Court held by his Stake President and High Counsel, as that is the first level where the excommunication of a Melchesidic Priestholder can occur. A Church disciplinary council would never undertake to reverse a decision of the courts of law. So they often wait for legal proceedings to complete before taking action. When there is exceptional evidence they occasionally move forward before the legal proceedings are completed. So in Ballard’s case, there must have been some strong evidence. In addition, I have heard Ballard try to blow this off as him being excommunicated for going to strip clubs as part of his anti-trafficking work. Strip clubs are not something that will get you excommunicated. Generally serious sexual sins such as adultery and pedophilia or sins with victim such as murder will get a member excommunicated and sins like visitation of strip clubs would have a period of disfellowship (can’t hold a leadership position or pray for the congregation).  So we can deduce that the excommunication was related to one of the allegations of the women against him. 

So from understanding why he was excommunicated, I can’t recommend anyone watch the “Sound of Freedom” as it is a fictional work that purports to depict events that didn’t happen the way they were dramatized and also leaves out the sexual conduct of Ballard. Sex Trafficking is a major issue and I am disappointed Ballard decided to use his position of trust to abuse women and enrich himself. I hope my commentary will help those who are my friends and not members of my church to better understand what went on and its significance.

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That time I had Measles

So let’s go to a less emotional yet unique occurrence. Going back in memory a bit I remember while with my bio mom she took us to a clinic and got us vaccinations. They had to chase me around to get my shots. Unfortunately MMR wasn’t part of that vaccination.

Later staying with my bio-dad and his girlfriend. I remember feeling really sick and then I started getting spots and I was worried I was getting a different looking version of the chicken pox. It was a bit of a confusing experience as a kid. I remember staying on a couch downstairs for over a week. I remember them telling me later that what I had was the measles. Considering the lack of medical care and really even much home nursing, I guess I’m just a survivor. I later also had the MMR vaccine for school shot records so I guess now I’m pretty well protected against it by being double covered.

Nowadays I’m just glad my children don’t have to live through chicken pox and measles like I did as a kid.

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