I don't know if I really get along with white people anymore... A stranger came and visited our church the other day, and he was just such a weirdo... Not in anyway like the white people I remember back home! He came up to each of us missionaries and asked us what we wanted to do when we got home, and after I told him my thoughts about studying psychology he looked me dead in the eye and he said "This is the problem with your generation. GO PUT SOME COLD WATER ON YOUR FACE AND WAKE UP BOY!" At this point I was a little confused and frustrated, "Yeah, you can study psychology, if you want to be living in an apartment and driving a used car for the rest of your life!..." Then he went on to try to convince me not to go after my dreams and pretty much just crush my hopes. If I were to put it in to his own words, he "peed all over my future"... I didn't fight back or anything, just had the sticks and stones kinda attitude towards the guy ya know? sticks and stones... :,l
In other news, I guess that Christmas is coming?... So that's nice. We'll get to talk soon!
Um did I tell you the electric fence story from Impala Park?... Well, I don't know what I was thinking, but I had everybody link pinkies and then I grabbed it... I'm an idiot... But it was pretty funny to watch the video after, and I can check another thing off my bucket list! WORD OF ADVICE: If you are in a national park that literally houses lions and hyenas, DON'T touch the electric fence... It is a very bad decision. Funny though... But a very bad decision...
But, I want everyone to know that the Book of Mormon is true. I don't care what people may say. It could not be possible for Joseph Smith, or any man, to write that book. It is far too good, it is far too spiritual, and it is far too complex. I had talked about a study of Alma and Korihor last week, and, though I'm still not done with what I'm doing, I have learned SO much.
1. The philosophers have said time and time again that we can know things through five different means,
a. reason (Ex. mathematics, it is a sure thing)
b. sense experience (Ex. you hear the tv, you see the tv, so the tv really is there)
c. authority (Ex. you can trust the word of a doctor, because he is an expert)
d. intuition (Ex. "how do you know when you're in love?..." "well... uh... eh... um.. ya just do...)
e. phenomenological awareness (Ex. something told me to enter that raffel and I won!)
2. As I was pouring over the arguments this past week, Korihor brought up several different points on his side,
a. No one has ever seen God (false), and so there must be no God (also false)
b. All these silly traditions are taking peoples freedom away!(also false[another interesting thing to study with this is the difference between the Law of Moses and the traditions of the elders, kinda see where he's coming from])
c. you get along by your own means and can't do anything wrong and there is no Christ (wrong, wrong, and wrong [and as well, all these points remind me of a special conversation between a special man named Jacob and a whacky man named Sherem, Jacob 7])
I could go on and on, but I feel like you get the point. Anyways, Korihor makes all these points and tells people to follow him out of his authority?! Because he's an expert in this stuff?! Ppssshhhh yeah right Korihor.... Let's jump back to how we know really quick, to point C. This form of knowing, though very possible and common, is parasitic to the other forms of knowing. It has to piggy back on the other 4! Did he have any other root to base his knowledge? No. Every time he spoke he was only giving dogmatic assertions, or in other words, he was opinionated and said a lot of arrogant things! For sake of time, I will leave you with this, Alma comes back and just blasts the guy with the truth and bears his testimony. I would like to add mine to his. A perfect harmony exists in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of the modes of knowing. We know for ourselves that this is Christ's gospel and church, through all of these things, and it is proven time and time again. Let us all either find out for ourselves that these things are true, or hold tight to what we already know and put full faith and trust in those with authority! Thomas Spencer Monsen is God's prophet on earth today, and I know that. I want you to ponder the question of "How can I be more in/all in with and for this church and Christ?". I can go on and on and on with this and I hope that I didn't just butcher it because of the lack of time, but again! The church is so stinkin' true! In the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN!
elder fraga
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