tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.comments2016-07-27T22:11:18.805-06:00Owl's Cyber NestCrouchingOwlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11487490296599614185noreply@blogger.comBlogger139125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-54619966393205738422016-07-27T19:53:01.617-06:002016-07-27T19:53:01.617-06:00Profound and beautiful.Profound and beautiful.Whitakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02963834676511791231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-28375942292062211612016-07-18T16:56:40.546-06:002016-07-18T16:56:40.546-06:00Well said, Justin.
Hugs,
MomWell said, Justin.<br />Hugs, <br />MomWhitakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02963834676511791231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-86835453144825618672016-06-27T05:57:05.358-06:002016-06-27T05:57:05.358-06:00Very well pit from one call center ex-employee to ...Very well pit from one call center ex-employee to another.Bobbihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03281165034873162128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-43282173678358864832016-06-27T05:56:18.489-06:002016-06-27T05:56:18.489-06:00Very well said. Very well said. Bobbihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03281165034873162128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-53194745549568697252016-04-11T11:44:43.323-06:002016-04-11T11:44:43.323-06:00Sorry for your loss.Sorry for your loss.Bobbihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03281165034873162128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-5238918907994279582014-08-27T10:19:12.392-06:002014-08-27T10:19:12.392-06:00Looking back on my experience in special education...Looking back on my experience in special education is frustrating. The administrators were competent enough- the appropriate diagnosis just didn't exist yet so they were completely guessing as to what I needed. They could see all the pieces but there wasn't any picture for them to put it together into yet.CrouchingOwlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487490296599614185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-56275991408687303422014-08-26T08:07:23.086-06:002014-08-26T08:07:23.086-06:00That's been one of my concerns as well. Thankf...That's been one of my concerns as well. Thankfully, based on my recent studies in a music ed program, public school educators are better trained to teach students with all varieties of abilities and special needs. When I was in public school, they had no idea what to do with me, and ended up putting me in special education home rooms, mostly isolated. Now, students are given a more beneficial and integrated education for all students, ridiculous standardized testing aside. I found, even my fellow music ed students, who were 4-9 years younger than me, were already much more used to the greater integration. It was no different for the students I observed and taught during student teaching assignments. It was normal for them to have classes with students that had IEPs and 504s. Quirks didn't seem to phase them, and there was zero tolerance for any kind of bullying, from students and adults alike. In that way, regardless of whether or not you send your children to public or private school, I think you'll find that your son's peers will be much more understanding, accepting, and even embracing than our peers have been for you and I. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11974529283961699432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-54613152848642313372014-03-29T20:25:29.243-06:002014-03-29T20:25:29.243-06:00I've had plenty of experience being lonely and...I've had plenty of experience being lonely and having my thoughts consume me. I don't always want to interact with people and sometimes people and interactions with them can be immensely frustrating for me. Sometimes I withdraw myself from interacting but at the same time, I wish that I didn't have the problems with it that I have. I usually fill my mind with things like TV shows that I don't have to invest in. Something that I can have in the background and not truly have to think about. I have my boys here and that can help sometimes even if they aren't as loving as a dog or cats would be. But they still make me badly to come home to. <br />I'm sorry you feel that isolation. I know all too well how that feels. sleepyhamsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12469636806320270929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-82314081797588995552013-11-24T23:39:29.773-07:002013-11-24T23:39:29.773-07:00Funny funny. You'd probably remember the pers...Funny funny. You'd probably remember the person if I told you who it was, wasn't in our ward but he was around. I seem to remember that he seemed to be growing up just fine as time past, but I wasn't enough in his life to keep up with anything beyond appearances. Everyone needs a chance to grow up.CrouchingOwlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487490296599614185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-24592205523209066072013-11-24T22:23:19.890-07:002013-11-24T22:23:19.890-07:00I loved this post. It really brought me back, beca...I loved this post. It really brought me back, because I was able to witness so much of the Justin Schooling Story. However, I thought we had an agreement that you weren't going to tell everyone how I wanted to be a hacker or a drug dealer.kingforaweekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10032372484153860130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-62252435233169570752013-10-19T00:23:02.495-06:002013-10-19T00:23:02.495-06:00The exact definitions are hard to work with, since...The exact definitions are hard to work with, since the social expression of the law was different from place to place. The giving back of what ever you don't need is so inherently fuzzy in application. In a living social body like the church I can expect that local economic circumstances would probably cause dramatic swings in personal and institutional interpretation. The logistics of how to determine what poor people in other countries "need" compared to what middle class white people "need" would be extremely hard and potentially lead to a lot of hard feelings. It would expose a lot of people's prejudice. I once heard it directly stated in a Sunday school class by a participant that poor people in 3rd world countries didn't need our standard of living because since they didn't know anything better they could achieve perfect happiness without modern conveniences. Granted, people can learn contentment with just about anything given a good reason to expect that what they are doing is for a good reason or unavoidable. But to expect that poor people through the world over have no concept that they lack anything when their children die of lack of medical care and their wives die in childbirth and many die of simple starvation... is just crazy. When it comes down to it we don't really need our modern conveniences if we accept death as an acceptable alternative. Nobody needs anything if death is an acceptable alternative. But if needless death and suffering isn't an acceptable alternative, how would the law of consecration in modern times deal with cross national social inequalities?<br /><br />I think the church interprets the widows mite story to simply mean that we should appreciate that for many tithing is a sacrifice to pay and therefore the institution should fight misuse and embezzlement. They view Christ's pronouncement of blessedness on the widow as meaning that if other people are in a position to give their all to just to meet their tithing payment then they should give their all and more so that they can be just as blessed as the widow. <br /><br />I think a better interpretation is that Jesus didn't say that the woman had to give that much, didn't praise her for having given exactly a certain percentage no more no less. He just said that since her gift was a greater personal sacrifice for her to make since it was all the spare cash she could muster it was spiritually worth more than the giving of lots of money by those who could afford it. Christ didn't say that the wealthy should donate all that they possessed or all the spare cash they had. He just observed that their physical sacrifice is less and therefore spiritually of less significance. <br /><br />To put it in terms of time instead of money, someone who is retired and has a lot of spare time can donate hours of service in callings etc without it being as much of a sacrifice compared to a guy who works two jobs and maybe can spend an hour a week at church. The guy who spends only an hour a week at church because that is literally all he can give actually donating all the spare time he had and therefore should be considered more blessed than the retiree who attends all of his church meetings and has time consuming callings on top of it. There should be no rule that the person who can only afford to spend one hour a week at church is spiritually inferior because he or she donated less time or a lesser percent of his total time. The point should be that he donated a large sacrifice of what he had available.<br /><br />The same should be true of money. When someone due to poverty cannot afford to pay their tithing without serious consequences like being unable to pay for food on a regular basis or the loss of a house or bankruptcy, we should appreciate the sacrifices of what they can pay without judging them based on the part that they could not.CrouchingOwlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487490296599614185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-70871886012452887562013-10-18T19:16:34.997-06:002013-10-18T19:16:34.997-06:00I have never heard of excess as a standard to defi...I have never heard of excess as a standard to define the law of consecration. Maybe that is a Utah thing. As far as I was concerned, the law of consecration meant giving everything before you met your needs, and having faith that the Lord would provide, particularly by the Church giving back.kingforaweekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10032372484153860130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-59382488072196132292013-05-11T17:30:53.280-06:002013-05-11T17:30:53.280-06:00Oftentimes when I'm mentioning to someone that...Oftentimes when I'm mentioning to someone that I have a brother with Aspergers, I tell them how proud I am of you. I tell them how hard you have practiced to make things work in a neurotypical world and how proud I am of how far you've come in that respect. sleepyhamsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12469636806320270929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-63762059222088923772012-12-24T08:18:52.817-07:002012-12-24T08:18:52.817-07:00Thank you for sharing a point of view that I have ...Thank you for sharing a point of view that I have held since I first heard of the shootings, along with a dose of your unique perspective. ASAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-31695866658313258282012-10-29T00:56:39.628-06:002012-10-29T00:56:39.628-06:00I've updated the tags on more recent posts to ...I've updated the tags on more recent posts to make it easier to scan through previous posts about GWU if you are curious about it further.CrouchingOwlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487490296599614185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-51585311299108480982012-10-28T23:45:31.064-06:002012-10-28T23:45:31.064-06:00I don’t see LDS thought and science as necessarily...I don’t see LDS thought and science as necessarily being in conflict, but that there are many who feel life would be simpler to view as a battle or conflict and so try to interpret church doctrine in a way to give them an easy ground to stand upon to fight the science they don’t feel comfortable with.<br /><br />As far as the no death before the fall thing, several apostles actually have taken rather strong stances on that subject for and against the idea. The general authorities who believe the idea have been influential enough that the arguments for that are included in lesson manuals etc and the opposing viewpoint is not. So I came across them assuming that they were the official doctrine of the church as opposed to the personal beliefs of Joseph Fielding Smith. General authorities who believed this view were influential enough in spreading their case that its even written down as if it were official doctrine in the LDS bible dictionary under the entry “death” on page 655, in the Doctrines of the Gospel institute manual between pages 19-20, and in other sources as well. B.H. Roberts and James E. Talmage in particular disagreed with this teaching and we apparently have writings of his where he speculates that the humans on earth before the bible time line describes Adam were probably some other dispensation of the gospel that God decided not to tell us about. A good summary of the conflict on the subject can be found on the following website http://en.fairmormon.org/Mormonism_and_science/Death_before_the_Fall<br /><br />When I took institute classes in which the no death before the fall was presented as solid doctrine and I realized that there was no possible way that could be true unless God made us an earth with the appearance of age (fake or recycled bones, radioactive decay information, tree rings, coral reef growth patterns, etc) for no apparent reason. I’ve never found the argument believable that God is messing with us on purpose to see if we will believe him regardless of the fake data he plants in the earth. So I was actually greatly comforted to know that some General Authorities had who rejected this idea and were willing to work with the hard facts of humans existing before the intuitive biblical date for Adam’s fall at 4000 B.C.<br />CrouchingOwlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487490296599614185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-6555280800331647012012-10-28T23:44:59.891-06:002012-10-28T23:44:59.891-06:00Whew, takes me a bit to catch up to respond to you...Whew, takes me a bit to catch up to respond to your post. Sorry I was not quick in replying.<br /><br />For history here in my past I attended a George Wythe University which had little or no science program to speak of. I am now at USU. Most all of the statements about science I ever heard from the GWU were pretty uninformed or were simply trying to fit or invent ideas to match with their personal religious interpretations. Making stuff up about the fossil record, claiming things about quantum mechanics that were mostly mystic hocus pocus and not actually real science, etc… Dr. DeMille had no particular use for science as it didn’t give him a direct route to a revelatory experience of absolute truth. As far as other religions, ummm, each instructor would have a unique opinion but Dr .DeMille tended to accept any religions claims regarding itself at face value even if history proved that a different account was true (such as accepting the traditional claims of antiquity of the writing of kabbalic texts even if scholarship proved them to be of recent origin). He was willing to be pretty extreme in this acceptance as long as he could reinterpret the religious belief system to be somehow derivative of a monotheistic adamic religion. So the religion of the ancient Greeks he couldn’t accept except as a metaphor for human behavior because the polytheism was too deeply rooted in the system to be ignored. As long as he could keep the adamic derived religion idea going in his head he was willing to accept the validity of human sacrifice and crystal energy healing. You asked if the school was primarily LDS or not. The answer is yes it was primarily LDS, but the interpretation of LDS thought was driven by the faculty’s interest in christian Kabbalah and the buddist inspired writings of Ken Wilber. GWU changes rapidly and different faculty bring with them very different approaches and ideals. The current president of the school, last I checked, actually has training as a sports medicine therapist or something like that and therefore has something of a biological sciences background and may have steered the institution away from the bizarre stuff I noticed when I was there. <br /><br />If this all seems extreme and strange, for context Dr. DeMille participated in founding GWU with a self awarded Phd and a mail order JD before he officially had graduated from BYU with his undergraduate’s degree. There is a very large rabbit hole to go down on this issue but it boils down to that the people who frustrated me at GWU were not qualified to make any sort of scientific claims and only a very few of them had the background to even understand anything about science at all. They didn’t want to see a conflict between LDS thought and religion so they re-imagined science to match their belief systems, such as Dr. DeMille claiming that the modern human species appears in the fossil record at a timing coinciding with the genesis account without DNA connection to the Neanderthals before them. It’s a really convenient claim spiritually, but scientifically bankrupt. I had accepted it upon first hearing it because growing up I had been taught that evolution was a dying idea that scientists persisted in because it gave them a last possible chance to deny God’s existence but that any reasonable person could see was untrue. Taking the basic biology classes required for my major at USU has made it pretty clear that that perspective was more or less propaganda, not really based on reality in which evolution is scientifically doing just fine.<br /><br /> The class I’m talking about in this post actually is one that I took at Utah State University which has a very rigorous science program and in general I am proud of the science they teach there. The instructors might be from any religious background, in general they don’t tell us what it is up front because it’s a state school and there isn’t much space for personal religious beliefs to be part of the teaching.CrouchingOwlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487490296599614185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-49538265918629007512012-10-28T22:22:06.707-06:002012-10-28T22:22:06.707-06:00Another way to look at the Esther being queen of P...Another way to look at the Esther being queen of Persia situation is that in a cosmopolitan environment where so many different cultures converge together that people to a certain extent stop paying attention to some things quite as much. For example when I lived on the east coast most people had very little reaction to knowing that I was LDS. There were many different religions and cultures mixed in our area that my being different did not make me significantly unique since I was one of many types of differences anyone around me could observe.CrouchingOwlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487490296599614185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-87133482937130890582012-10-27T00:29:47.728-06:002012-10-27T00:29:47.728-06:00No, I don't own a bike trailer.No, I don't own a bike trailer.CrouchingOwlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487490296599614185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-85043292373268977032012-10-26T06:15:38.398-06:002012-10-26T06:15:38.398-06:00Have you gotten a chance to do that yet?Have you gotten a chance to do that yet?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13655197693521484077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-5254930560991211842012-10-26T03:53:26.120-06:002012-10-26T03:53:26.120-06:00I looked up the university, but still am not sure ...I looked up the university, but still am not sure where to place it in the academic world I am familiar with. I grew up in Oregon, have been a member all my life and attended public schools and have an Associate's of Science from our local community college. <br /><br />I was in the honors philosophy/political science program which involved reading more source materials than non-honors students, and required a sophomore thesis to get an honors diploma. We did a lot of mock trial and simulations as part of our seminar classes, so I am familiar with some of the teaching methods that are described. Your experiences with your professors and science class don't fit well into any of those teaching methods, as they were in my program. <br /><br />We certainly had comparative religion classes that looked at both secular and religious beliefs as they developed with in the originating culture, but not with any attempt to prove one better than the other. Instead we were learning how the two impacted each other. LDS beliefs were included in the American Revival traditions, in that contest, but in the form of seeing the LDS as outliers who didn't see science in conflict with the basic doctrinal principles. How do the professors deal with that in other religions? (I couldn't tell from the school website or Wikipedia entry whether the school was primary LDS or not. There seemed to be a sense of not directly stating philosophies, religion or what groups are primary supporters.)<br /><br />** I hope that my questions don't come across as anything more than genuine curiosity. I haven't known LDS members who saw science and LDS doctrine as incompatible. I am sure that the large number of teachers, quite a few of whom teach science, and scientists working in that capacity professionally, made up a significant portion of most wards (more than 10% and in my home ward drivable close to 25%) impacted the fact that science and LDS doctrine were not compatible. <br /><br />Before the Bloggernacle, I had never been taught, or heard anyone expressing the thought that literal earth age claims, to fit Old Testament timelines, was part of LDS teachings in some groups and that there were people who didn't not believe in at least the basics of high school science. I had never heard the "no literal death" before the fall. Instead, the explanation that creative periods were probably millennia in "earth time" and that evolution was a tool that a God, with a deep understanding of the scientific laws of the universe, would use to create a diversity of creatures, as well as the bodies that could be ready to accept the souls of spirit children, made perfect doctrinal and scientific sense to me. I was taught that we don't know exactly how priesthood power was used in organizing the earth. For me, it made sense that since God is a God of order, who is able to see all times at once, I haven't ever doubted that He would carefully organize the materializes and circumstances for an earth that would supply all of the temporal things we need. <br /><br />So, I am curious how these things play out in your classes, if they are taught by LDS instructors. (I am assuming this since it says the college sometimes borrows professors from BYU and other LDS colleges in Utah, on the website.) In high school how was science taught, and how does that compare to my teenage understanding of the gospel and science?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13655197693521484077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-75715623589735481892012-10-26T02:45:54.694-06:002012-10-26T02:45:54.694-06:00I haven't done any research, but I have certai...I haven't done any research, but I have certainly heard it suggested that the change had to do with a chance from being subject to paying monetary taxes, to being physically taxed or proscripted. If they were only paying taxes, they would have had the chance to acquire more than they needed for subsistence and paying taxes. Someone who works for Pharoah would not be given more than was needed to survive, and so wealth couldn't be accumulated or political power created under those conditions. <br /><br />If Esther could become queen, (or a wife of Pharoah) it is likely that the physical differences between Egyptians and Jews were not readily evident. Her uncle certainly knew a lot about palace politics, and while personal servants might know the habits of their master's house, it would be a stretch to say that a political understanding of the kingdom would be easily discernable from a servant in the household of the Pharoah. Political power is needed beyond the walls of a single household, even if that household is that of Pharoah. <br /><br />I can see why Jewish leaders, and God, would not want the Jews to become too entrenched in a political/religious system that was changing from a taxed "agent," to a slave who is dependent on the government of Pharoah for all their needs, without political voice or power to influence what work is being assigned and the terms of daily life. Thanks for an interesting read and letting me think about something, besides the election, in depth. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13655197693521484077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-2491581373342412342012-10-26T02:22:54.878-06:002012-10-26T02:22:54.878-06:00This is said very well. I think that some of the a...This is said very well. I think that some of the ambiguity is on purpose. God doesn't want every person to act in exactly the same manner. Differences, of time, place, position, personality, testimony and opportunities vary widely. That is why we are given general principles that can almost always be trumped by personal revelation. Or, we may have circumstances so far out of the norm that there is not a "right" answer, only a good, better, best choices. Even if we don't choose the "best," the Atonement can make up the difference for everyone involved, as long as they accept the gifts of the Atonement. <br /><br />I know that your life is incredibly busy, but if you have the time and interest, I am inviting a number of bloggers I respect to write a post which addresses the differences between culture and doctrine. From what I have read on your blog so far, I suspect that you may have some unique thoughts. If you are interested, it is post twelve in the Mormon Moment Series, which posted yesterday afternoon. You are welcome to simply leave a comment, but I would love to publish a guest post, which you can cross post, or not, on your blog as well. <br /><br />You can see the post at poetrysansonions.com and if you want to do a guest post, you can email me at findingmywaysoftly@ gmail.com (just move the space)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13655197693521484077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-68742115779240233512012-10-25T23:20:17.098-06:002012-10-25T23:20:17.098-06:00Hello Julia. Based on the link your comment creat...Hello Julia. Based on the link your comment created it looks like you have a blogger account as well. I'm afraid I don't have any fancy button on here for you to click on, but if you go into your blogger dashboard there should be an "add to reading list" button you can click on from which you can enter my URL. At that point it will ask if you want to follow anonymously or publicly. Sorry I don't have a more direct way to do that like you appear to have on your blog. <br /><br />I don't have time to post that much between doing the whole full time worker, part time student, any time possible dad thing, but feel welcome to enjoy what I have here.CrouchingOwlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487490296599614185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5419859334208041139.post-60263721179469120612012-10-25T06:07:51.197-06:002012-10-25T06:07:51.197-06:00Thank you. This has a lot of truth, and I really a...Thank you. This has a lot of truth, and I really appreciate your explanation of gendered roles, and our modern misunderstanding of their historical functions. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13655197693521484077noreply@blogger.com