Vruskophile

As I mentioned during my general conference address Sunday morning, followers of Christ should follow Him by forgoing contention and by using the language and methods of peacemakers. In our families and other personal relationships, let us avoid what is harsh and hateful. Let us seek to be holy, like our Savior.

During the Sunday morning session, President @OaksDallinH invited all to follow the Savior’s example by loving their adversaries and being a peacemaker. #GeneralConference thechurchnews.com/general-confer…

“As followers of Christ, we should seek to live peaceably and lovingly with other children of God who do not share our values and do not have the covenant obligations we have assumed. “In a democratic government we should seek ‘fairness for all.’ In countless circumstances, strangers’ suspicion or even hostility gradually give way to friendship when personal contacts produce mutual respect.” — President Dallin H. Oaks (@OaksDallinH) #GeneralConference

I want to apologize for not responding to any of the 22 thousand comments my last post inspired. I’ve been filming all week and just noticed my observations about Jimmy Kimmel and a former plumber named Markwayne Mullin have gone viral. I've also noticed that many of the comments are from people who genuinely seem to believe that Jimmy wasn’t belittling plumbers at all, but was instead, simply trying to point out that Mullin is not qualified to lead the DHS. Here's a small smattering... Roger Bicknell... Mikey stop. Kimmel wasn't making fun of plumbers he was making fun of Mullin. Rebecca Piatt Gonzalez... Dearest Mike, it's not anything to do with his being a plumber. It's him NOT being skilled in Homeland Security. Patrick Wise... Being a plumber qualifies you to be a plumber. Period. The issue Jimmy and the rest of us at the adult table recognize is that jobs require certain training and experience and being a plumber does not qualify you to be Sec of DHS. Had Roger, Rebecca, Patrick and all the others who rushed to Jimmy’s Kimmel’s defense actually read what I had written, they would see that I did not suggest - even remotely - that a plumber was inherently qualified to hold a cabinet position. What I said was that being a plumber should not disqualify a person from holding such a position. Big difference. Doctors, lawyers, veterinarians, fireman, and university professors are no more or less qualified to run the DHS than plumbers, electricians, or carpenters – but should they all be dismissed as “unqualified” simply because they made a living in some other vocation? As I wrote in my original post, credentials and diplomas are great ways to bolster a person’s credibility, especially if we’re talking about mastering a specific skill. I think we can all agree that plumbers, accountants, mechanics, and surgeons should all have to prove themselves competent before hanging out a shingle. But what do their credentials and diplomas have to do with their actual competency? Are we not already surrounded by a legion of perfectly qualified experts who don't know what the hell they're doing? Moreover, what do credentials and experience have to do with wisdom, honesty, common sense, integrity, courage, the ability to lead, or any other virtue we’d like to have in our elected officials? There are plenty of legitimate reasons to question Mullin’s suitability for this role. But there’s no legitimate reason to disqualify him simply because he used to be a plumber. Just as there was no legitimate reason to dismiss AOC because she used to tend bar. As for the joke itself, here’s an honest question. If Senator Mullin was a retired doctor instead of a retired plumber, do you believe he would have would made the same joke? Roger, Rebecca, Patrick...be honest. Do you really think Jimmy would have said to his audience, "So, now we have a DOCTOR in charge of protecting us from terrorism? Hey – it worked for Dr. Suess – maybe it’ll work for Markwayne!" Personally, I don't. Not in a million years. Why? Because no one would have found it funny, that’s why. Even though doctors are no more “qualified” to protect us from terrorists than plumbers are, Jimmy knows that doctors are widely respected in society, and that plumbers are not. He knows that medical degrees and doctorates are aspirational credentials, whereas plumbing certificates are not. The entire premise of his joke was based on a personal bias that he knew his audience shared – a bias that presupposes plumbers are uneducated, one-dimensional workers who never made it to college, and are therefore "unqualified" to do anything but plumb. Jimmy is entitled to his opinion, along with anyone else who believes that Mullin is unqualified to lead the DHS. The Constitution, however, says otherwise, and so does the Senate. Likewise, reasonable people can disagree as to what is funny and what isn’t. Frankly, I couldn’t care less. What I do care about, is the extraordinary shortage of plumbers and electricians our country is facing, and the longstanding stigmas and stereotypes that continue to discourage people from considering a lucrative career in the skilled trades. Jimmy’s joke – and his audience’s reaction to it – is proof positive that those stigmas and stereotypes are alive and well. PS. We have a lot of money set aside to help train the next generation of plumbers. Apply for a scholarship at mikeroweworks.org Who knows? Could be the first step on your road to President..

Luke is Luke because he’s a Latter-day Saint. He’s Luke because of his time as a missionary teaching about Christ from the Bible and Book of Mormon. He’s Luke because he learned his identity as a child of God. That’s what made him Luke. There’s no Luke without Mormonism.

@LukeFHan @magnoliastate18 And, after all, tu quoque is Latin for "balanced and thoughtful"

@magnoliastate18 I don't get paid for balanced and thoughtful takes. You get those for free!

Bruh is the Daily Wire like paying you or something? 😂🤣

@ThePrimeagen You misinterpret this move. This is simply Bell being put out to pasture.

Another fumble from microsoft. They recognize a problem and then use upper management who has caused this problem to solve the problem. Fire those responsible, bring in someone new

A young detransitioner, Fox Varian, has won $2 million damages in a medical malpractice lawsuit, in which she sued the psychologist and surgeon who approved her for a double mastectomy, aged 16. Varian's mother testified that she'd been against the surgery, but was pressured into agreeing because she'd been told that unless her daughter transitioned she was likely to commit suicide. As the floodgates open, and more and more detransitioners sue the clinicians who subjected them to an unregulated medical experiment, gender identity activists will almost certainly continue to ignore any evidence that fails to support their preferred narrative. They'll keep insisting that hardly any transitioned people regret their irreversible procedures, that gender clinicians know exactly what they're doing, that surgeries, cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers are of proven benefit and that minors who're denied these treatments will to kill themselves. All of this is a lie. Speaking at the WPATH conference in 2021, British endocrinology consultant Leighton Seal admitted 'we are doing procedures here where we don’t have outcome data.' A woman from Utah said she felt gender clinicians like her were making it up as they went along: 'Because I feel like we’re all just winging it, you know? And which is okay, you’re winging it too. But maybe we can just, like, wing it together.' (thefp.com/p/were-all-jus…) This will go down in history as one of the worst medical scandals of all time. Adults inside and outside the medical profession sold troubled young people like Varian the idea that all of their complex trauma would be resolved by removing healthy body parts. As more and more detransitioners arrive in court, the public will learn the full extent of the harm done to kids in the name of an ideology. Clinicians performing these 'treatments' will go down in history as barbarous activists who betrayed a sacred oath: to do no harm. But we should never forget how many people outside the medical profession urged these young people on, gleefully assuring them that anyone advising caution was an evil bigot. There are people in elitist professions like publishing and academia, not to mention politicians and celebrities with young fan bases, who did all they could to champion the idea of gender identity, and kept pushing it even as the evidence of harm mounted. They're just as culpable as the clinicians. Too lazy to think more deeply than the fashionable mantras that got them social media likes, too arrogant to look at evidence from anyone outside their political bubble, they've slurred whistleblowers and attacked anyone with valid questions. In doing so, they've created a cultural climate without which this appalling tragedy could not have taken place. Never forget, because only by learning the lesson can we stop this happening again. thefp.com/p/a-legal-firs…

Alright. Let’s slow this down and actually say it cleanly, because the gotcha stuff on here depends on people not understanding theology. We believe God is literally our Father. Not metaphorically. Not poetically. Literally. Before mortality, we existed as spirit children of God. Every one of us. That includes prophets, atheists, angels, rebels, the quiet, the loud, the faithful, and the fallen. All of us. Scripture is direct about this. Hebrews teaches that God is the Father of spirits. Acts teaches that we are His offspring. Romans teaches we are children of God and joint heirs with Christ. Job shows the sons of God present before the world was formed. None of that language is symbolic. It is relational. That means something important, and this is where people get uncomfortable. If God is the Father of spirits, then no created being competes with Him. Not angels. Not men. Not Satan. There is no cosmic rivalry between equals. There is only one God, eternal, uncreated, sovereign. Everyone else exists because He allowed it. So when Latter day Saints say Jesus and Satan were brothers, we are not elevating Satan. We are explaining family order. Jesus Christ is the Firstborn of the Father in the spirit. The Only Begotten in the flesh. Divine by nature, role, authority, and perfect obedience. He stands apart from all creation. He is God. He is the Son. He is the Redeemer. Satan is a created spirit. A son who rebelled. No divinity. No authority. No creative power. No glory. Just agency misused. Calling them brothers does not make them equals any more than Cain and Abel being brothers made Cain righteous. Family does not imply sameness. It implies origin. And here’s the part people miss. If Jesus being our brother somehow diminishes Him, then so does the New Testament. Because it openly calls Him our brother. It says He is not ashamed to call us brethren. It says He took upon Him our nature. It says He descended below all things so He could lift us. Christianity without embodiment, without family, without real relational theology becomes abstract fast. God becomes distant. Christ becomes untouchable. Salvation becomes legal instead of relational. Restored doctrine fixes that. God is a Father. Not a force. Christ is a Brother and a Savior. Not a myth. We are sons and daughters. Not accidents. Salvation is return. Not escape. So no, we do not worship Satan. No, we do not place him next to Christ. No, we do not confuse the hierarchy. We understand it. There is God the Father. There is Jesus Christ, His Beloved Son. There are His children. And there is a rebel who chose separation. That framework does not weaken Christ. It magnifies Him. Because He did not save strangers. He saved family. And that is why we call each other brothers and sisters. Not as a slogan. As a statement of eternal reality. Uncomfortable? Maybe. Biblical? Yes. Coherent? Completely. Unapologetic? Always. 😃

He didn’t draw his gun. He was shot after being disarmed. You’re adding lies to sound less ridiculous. It’s not working.

@LDS_Dems @moroni_memer I infer from this that you believe there should be no negative consequences for illegally entering the country as long as the individual comports himself well. Is that correct? If so, what kinds of actions should result in legal consequences?

@moroni_memer I personally think we can follow the counsel of the Church and show compassion towards asylum seekers and even offer illegal immigrants a chance to square themselves with the law while they continue to work without them having to offer themselves up as slaves first.

Leftist members of the Church like to wrest the scriptures when talking about illegal immigration. "But muh Ammonites were refugees!" The Anti-Nephi-Lehies offered themselves up as slaves to the Nephites. They wanted to be part of the Nephites At. Any. Cost. They weren't sending resources back to the Lamanites. They didn't refuse to send their sons to war. They didn't refuse to be a part of society. They did the opposite. Find ONE illegal immigrant with that attitude. You can't.

I grieve the passing of President Jeffrey R. Holland. Our relationship in education and Church service began more than 50 years ago. It was a long and loving relationship in the work of the Lord. During my service as President of Brigham Young University, I had the privilege of inviting him—then a young scholar in his early 30s—to serve as Dean of Religious Education. From the beginning, his influence strengthened the university’s sacred mission to unite spiritual purpose with academic excellence. Over the last three decades as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he lifted the weary, encouraged the faithful, and bore a powerful witness of the Savior—even through seasons of significant personal trials. We honor his unwavering devotion, his steadfast witness of the Savior, and his inspired ability to strengthen faith and deepen understanding. We thank our Father in Heaven for the blessing of shared service and for our united witness that Jesus Christ lives and directs His Church today.

And in despair I bowed my head; "There is no peace on earth," I said; "For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!" Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Lump of coal for you.

"For myself, I find I become less cynical rather than more--remembering my own sins and follies; and realize that men's hearts are not often as bad as their acts, and very seldom as bad as their words." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, November 1963

Most people never notice this about the Book of Mormon title page. According to Joseph Smith, it originally appeared at the end of the metal plates. That odd detail turns out to be one of the strongest internal clues to authenticity. Details:

@code Yeah! Green is the perfect color for unpaid QA work in the service of a multi-trillion dollar company! Let's all help Satya get a higher bonus!

Who here is team green?

“Carrying U.S. currency isn’t a crime, but it’s possible we’ll steal it from you, and then we’ll flip the burden so that you have to prove it wasn’t connected to criminality.” This is simply legalized theft. Uphold the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. End civil asset forfeiture.

The president continues to behave in ways that not a single parent I know would tolerate from their elementary-school-aged kids.