3 paths, 1 choice

I have a friend who was raised LDS by a very good family- Very Good! She always had trouble staying on the straight and narrow path. She wasn't much worried about it, she just wanted to have fun. She tried drugs in high school, went to Ricks College, to BYU. She lives in England now doing good things for the world (but good things are not enough) and is a vegetarian and a Buddhist. She recently got married and I was invited to her cocktail attire reception at a hotel, where no gifts were being excepted, just money for her organization. I didn't go. I couldn't go and pretend to be happy for her. She has denied the Savior, completely kicked him to the curb, left him with empty outstretched arms.

Moroni 10:6 And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is.

The following quotes are from a talk called The First Vision and Religious Tolerance by Joseph Fielding McConkie. You can read the entire article here:
http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/witness-restoration-essays-honor-robert-j-matthews/9-first-vision-and-religious-tolerance

It is philosophically impossible to reject truth without accepting error, to shut out the light without being immersed in darkness, to reject true teachers without cleaving to false ones, to reject the true Christ and his prophets with out giving allegiance to those who follow another Master.

Good conduct without the ordinances of the gospel will neither redeem nor exalt mankind; covenants and the ordinances are essential. We are required to teach doctrines, even the unpopular ones.

Yield on this doctrine, and you cannot justify the Restoration. The doctrine is true; it is logical. The opposite it not.... I find it so interesting that those who condemn us, reject the parallel path philosophy themselves when it comes to non-Christ religions. For if they do not, they have no reason to accept the Lord as our Redeemer or regard the Atonement as essential.. (mark 16:16) While the converging path idea is very appealing, it really is not reasonable.

Do you realize that the notion that all churches are equal presupposes that the true church of Jesus Christ actually does not exist anywhere?

.......It is to liken the plan of salvation to a lottery.

If any man or woman professes a belief in Christ we say, "so much to the good" they are at least on the road leading to gospel enlightenment. As my father noted, "It is better to be a partial Christian than a non-Christian. It is better to believe some of the doctrines of Christ rather than none at all. One truth paves the way for another, and we all need to advance in knowledge and understanding."

The 3 paths are:
1. The true church of Jesus Christ is the only chuurch that can give salvation.
2. Any Christian church is OK as long as it preaches Christ.
3. You don't need a savior at all. Thus Buddhist, Muslims, etc are except able because they preach living a good life.

Karen has chosen the non-christian path. Often I have heard it said - 'you can leave the church, but you can't leave the church alone'. That would apply to those who then persecute the church.

Joseph Smith told his story at the peril of his life. We tell it at the peril of social acceptance; surely we can stand that tall.

Many in the Christian world are anxious to draw a circle and exclude us, we choose to draw a very large and inclusive circle. We will pray with any man who is willing to do so. Our bookstores do not contain anti-anybody literature, we do not attack those of other faiths in our missionary lesson plans, nor do we do so in our church services or in any class sponsored by the church. We do not give out warnings against those of other faiths nor do we ever forbid our membership from listening to or talking to anyone they desire.

As to our enemies, we did not choose them, they have chosen us. We have always had them and we always will. Where we cannot befriend then we choose to live above them.

Last Time

Thanksgiving Day 2010

This is my Mom and Dad's house. They lived here twice with a 12 year stint in Minnesota where I was born. I lived here from 10 to 19, then while I was going to school to get a teaching certificate for about 2 years, then from 2006 to 2009. It's gone through a lot of changes. It used to be a 2 color house, with a maroon on the bottom and a mustard yellow on the top. The protruding window to the left my dad made. It was the garage, but with 5 kids there before I was born he made it into a very long family room. When we moved there when I was a kid dad took the basement and made a whole apartment out of it with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and living room. Another improvement was the deck. I had 2 brothers getting married with in 2 weeks of each other and dad decided we'd have the open house at our house- which we never did, but nonetheless dad built a deck from the dinning room. He took out the window- put it down stairs in the living room there, and then put in a sliding glass door. We recently put new railings up on the deck. Mom's planning on selling it and moving to Boise Idaho area. I was hoping for a Holiday with all of us there to tell the old house good bye. It didn't happen.

From the Left around the table= Ruth Rose Davis, Mom, Jason Mason, Becky Rose Mason, Spencer Perkins, Ryan Perkins, Caleb Perkins, Grace Perkins, Emily Perkins, Sarah Rose Perkins and Blake taking the picture. In the picture below you can see Blake Perkins. 3 of the 7 kids were there and 5 of the 26 grand kids were there. Mom also has 5 great grand kids with 2 more on the way.

Most of us are out west now. I just have one sister, the oldest Beth in North Carolina. I've been emotional 2 in the past few weeks about my family. I feel like I'm loosing them. I wonder if we'll ever have another reunion. So many have seemed to have already gone their own way and don't seem to care all that much. I guess that's the way of things. As some one who has no children it's a big deal though. I've spent my youth and single adult years visiting with these siblings and their families. Relationships are different and often strained and I don't like it. While it looks like we are all happy to be together and I'm sure If I wanted to come visit I'd be welcomed in each of their homes, it feels like closeness is gone.

This is the last thanksgiving at
15032 SE 44th St Bellevue WA 98006

It's Turkey Time!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Do You Have Room?

Elder Neal A. Maxwell: “Each of us is an inn-keeper who decides if there is room for Jesus!”

On a day where tears come on and off due to family drama and feelings of loss, this video reminds me what it's really all about.

Random News!

Dogs meet Cat

Parker met the cat on Saturday. His response was just to get face to face and smell and then turn his head as if no big deal. The cat was not afraid at all.

Coco met the cat today through a screen door. Coco started to growl, cat tried to get away but I was holding him. Coco stood statue still and was waiting for an opportunity to jump on him. Jason had him by the leash and dragged him away and the cat ran into the house further.

Domesticated Me

Back in my single days I would never cook. If I did I was trying to impress someone. When my family got together and the girls would be helping in the kitchen I would be some where else. Not that I was trying to avoid helping, some times I would and some times they would ask. There are 5 daughters in the family. I was normally playing with the kids or on the computer gathering knowledge. I always told myself that when the time was right and I had to, I'd do it. When I had a husband, when I had kids I'd cook and you know what? I was right! I cook a lot! I do simple things, but I still do it! I come home and the first thing is "what to cook, change the laundry, clean the house." While I'd like to just go on line and read, read, read or write, write, write, I do not. I take care of the house first. To everything there is a season.

TV at our House

We don't pay for cable, but a few months ago, we paid for high tech bunny ears. We get a few channels, but they come and go. It seems it stays during commercials and leave during the shows and the most important part of the shows. We also get the crappy channels. Channels that have adult cartoons like "The Family Guy", or Two and a half Men", or "How I met your mother". It's all really just bad, B rated, sex focused TV. I hate that it's in our house. My visiting teachers say cable is the same. But as Jason reminded me we could get Animal Planet, PBS, History Channel, and the like. I'd be all about educational stuff, but for now we suffer along and are thankful for the news and "House". Every night we try and read at least one chapter in The Book of Mormon and then watch a short Church History video. That is a good thing!

Parker Update

Parker's tail healed fine thank goodness. We are glad we didn't spend 300 dollars. Nothing that they said might happen (like the tail dying or him trying to chew it off, or an infection) has happened. He's still our happy little doggy that I call my baby, although he's anything put a puppy. (this picture taken before the healing)

Barber School

Jason started Barber School after Labor Day weekend. He drives Tuesday through Saturday up to Everett. His instructors tell him he's very good and he is really enjoying it. He thinks about hair, notices hair and has even cut the missionaries and others hair on his own outside of school. He's excited about his new profession.