Suggestion From Lundbaek

[lundbaek]

Although it appears to me that most active members of this forum are not terribly concerned about restoring constitutional principles to the U.S. FedGov, there are some of you who are, and to whom I would like to make a suggestion. And if I can do this, you folks certainly can as well, probably better than I. This past testimony Sunday I started out on a different direction, but soon, loud and clear, added my testimony to that in D&C 101:80 by stating that "the Lord established the Constitution of this land by the hands of wise men whom He raised up unto that very purpose." I told them that a couple of Sundays earlier we had hosted a knowledgeable speaker who spoke on "The special importance of the United States Constitution to Latter-day Saints, and that "beginning with the Prophet Joseph Smith, almost every latter-day prophet has spoken of the importance of learning, upholding and abiding by the principles of the U.S. Constitution." I cannot remember all else I said, except that I closed by saying "A latter-day Prophet told us that "We must learn the principles of the Constitution in the tradition of the Founding Fathers."" I already knew our bishop is not keen on that subject, no more so than all but 3 or 4 of the rest of the ward (although one of his counsellors did attend that fireside). And I noticed some people making the effort to steer clear of me the rest of the block. So what? May I just suggest that you give it a try yourselves

[Original_Intent]

Years ago I set up a fireside for the stake that was a presentation by H Verlan Anderson and was basically covering his book "The Book of Mormon and the Constitution. I promoted the heck out of it and I felt like as it was for the entire stake that we would go into the overflow.

We did manage to mostly fill up the chapel, and afterwards Brother Anderson thanked me, saying it was by far the biggest turnout he had ever had for a fireside. I was disappointed until he told me that.

As far as your suggestion, I have tried to bear testimony on this, but I always felt like the spirit was not with me and if anything the spirit was telling me not to testify about this. I don't know why, but I won;t do it without a prompting, in fast and testimony meeting. I have no problem discussing it outside of church or if it is a topic of discussion during a lesson.

[lundbaek]

Thank you, OI, for the important reminder that what we are discussing here should be done only when the Spirit gives us the green light. There have been times when I felt restrained from saying such things, and times when I felt OK or strongly prompted to testify of my conviction of the importance of the principles of the US Constitution. Conversation and correspondence with the late Jerome Horowitz in 2014 alerted me to the possibility of more harm than good being done by promoting the responsibility of LDSs to maintain and abide by the Constitution. Enuf has been said in the past by prophets and apostles about this responsibility to fill a book. A GLORIOUS STANDARD FOR ALL MANKIND by Christopher S. Bentley is just that book, if it is still available.

[Original_Intent]

Yep, many books, as well as some very clear scriptures in the D&C. My feeling is there are really three groups of people - those that have read and accepted the responsibility, those that know but choose to ignore it, and those that legitimately aren't aware of the responsibility yet. I think particularly among younger people, there are many that fall into this category, and we need to continue to raise the voice of warning so they at least have the opportunity to study it out and sift themselves.

[Crackers]

I admire your courage and determination, lundbaek, and I feel similar sentiments to OriginalIntent. Anytime I speak up/out about an unpopular topic or position (within LDS populations particularly), it never seems to be well received. I don't know if it's the position/topic itself, the inept delivery by me, or the lack of interest in the receiver (probably all three), but it never seems to create any traction. For example, I was asked to teach a mini class in an RS activity about healthy eating. I emphasized eating less meat and trying to incorporate fresh salads daily, and gave all sorts of nutritonal and WoW reasoning. After that I started receiving snarky comments like, "Did you eat salad tonight???" People would speak to me argumentively in defence of their meat-heavy diets. Incomprehensibly, word started spreading that I didn't eat sugar or let my kids eat it either, and that I was vegan. How does stuff like that materialize out of thin air? I have tried three times to inform my bishop that I and my kids DO in fact eat treats. This not out of the blue, but because three separate times he has made some reference to me personally about my (non-existant) non-sugar ways. So, yeah, I get tired of trying sometimes. Sorry for the non-political example; I get the same results in political discussions. Ironically, it's hard being a political conservative in Utah.

[Original_Intent]

I do remember one fast and testimony meeting, I was thinking pondering and had some insight or other. I thought I should bear my testimony about it (something regarding the Constitution, I don't remember the details. I got the impression not to share it, that it was for me specifically, but I got carried away in the moment and "pushed thru" following my own will.

I felt such a complete lack of the spirit during my testimony. The "Oh! this is so neat!" feeling completely faded.

Like lundbaek, I do think that we need to stand up more and speak up in class and yes in testimony opportunities as directed by the spirit. And I love lundbaek for his steadfastness and devotion to the Constitution.