LDS Church's New Website

For anyone that isn't aware: the LDS Church has recently released a website called mormonsandgays.org.
While I appreciate the softening of their stance on homosexuality, I think that the website is a little misleading.  Let me share two quotes from the website:

#1  "The experience of same-sex attraction is a complex reality for many people. The attraction itself is not a sin, but acting on it is. Even though individuals do not choose to have such attractions, they do choose how to respond to them. With love and understanding, the Church reaches out to all God’s children, including our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters."

#2   "No one fully knows the root causes of same-sex attraction. Each experience is different. Latter-day Saints recognize the enormous complexity of this matter. We simply don’t have all the answers. Attraction to those of the same sex, however, should not be viewed as a disease or illness."

#1 Implies that homosexuality (the attraction part) is not a choice.  This is not what leaders of the Church have told us in the past.  Elder Packer taught that such tendencies were not inborn but rather [bad] "habits" and "an addiction".
Cleansing the Inner Vessel, Boyd Packer 2010
"Some suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn tendencies toward the impure and unnatural. Not so! [Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone?] Remember, God is our Heavenly Father. Paul promised that 'God … will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.' You can, if you will, break the habits and conquer an addiction and come away from that which is not worthy of any member of the Church."

Elder Faust taught that homosexuality [or it's tendencies] is not inborn or inherited at birth:
Serving the Lord and Resisting the Devil. James Faust 1995.

"There is some widely accepted theory extant that homosexuality is inherited. How can this be? No scientific evidence demonstrates absolutely that this is so. Besides, if it were so, it would frustrate the whole plan of mortal happiness. Our designation as men or women began before this world was. In contrast to the socially accepted doctrine that homosexuality is inborn, a number of respectable authorities contend that homosexuality is not acquired by birth. The false belief of inborn homosexual orientation denies to repentant souls the opportunity to change and will ultimately lead to discouragement, disappointment, and despair."

These are just two examples out of many of Church teachings that do not line up with their newly released website.  I think it is dishonest to insinuate that the Church has always had the view that it portrays on its new website.

#2 suggests that homosexuality is not a disease or illness.  This is not what the Church has taught to its members or clergy in the past.  One can see Boyd Packer likening homosexuality to an addiction for example in the above quote. 
This link is the digital copy of a pamphlet called: Hope for Transgressors that is addressed to authoritative clergymen of the Church.  It was published by the Church in 1970.
http://www.connellodonovan.com/transgressors.html

Besides the fact that the pamphlet is extremely offensive, it makes reference to therapy, cures, etc as if homosexuality was either a disease, or the choice of the individual.  It is interesting to note that the church makes sure to emphasize at the end that: “Homosexuality CAN be cured.”

I find it completely interesting that the Church is tweaking these policies under the assertion that the newer stances were something that they have supported since the church's first recognition of "same-sex attraction".  I think the leaders of the Church are realizing that the mounting social pressures, feelings, and science conducted about homosexuality are requiring a softer touch than the hard-line approach they used to take. 
We are watching "We have always been at war with Eastasia" happen in real time.
The sudden change of stance without a mention of past beliefs is disingenuous.  

Clan Ever-Winter from the Chasm Glade of Beithur Seun

I finally finished my wood elves.  After being inspired by the videos of Tom Richards on youtube and with my insatiable desire to play/cheer with/for the underdog I decided that I wanted to start an army of wood elves.  When I found an amazing deal from Blue Table Painting where I could get the majority of the models (from their scrap yard) for under one hundred dollars, I put the money down.  While I almost did the army with an autumn color scheme, my wife convinced me to do winter.  In hindsight this was the smart thing to do so that I could use my Ogre Yhetees as Treekin and still maintain my theme.  I love the older (5th ed?) models, so it was fun to try and make them feel more current.  Sorry for the poor pictures.  If I can get better ones then I'll repost.

44 Glade Guard form the main battle line.  It's been really fun to learn how to maneuver units with some finesse rather than just push them forward to smash them into the enemy. 

20 Eternal Guard.  My favorite unit in the army, but rarely used since I've yet to find a way to make them effective.

8 Dryads.  Stripping these from the previous paint job was a fun learning experience.

22 Wardancers.  Enough to make 3 units of 7 with a hero option. 

6 Yhetees that fill in for Treekin.  I love having one heavy-hitting unit to protect my fragile shooty-elves.

11 Waywatchers.  I love (most of) these models.  Trying to get the camo effect on their cloaks was really fun.  Haven't tried them out yet. 

Eagles/Warhawks and Treeman.  I have a way of changing the bases for the Eagles, and I still have to get some removable riders painted up.  The Treeman was given an extra inch of leg and back branches to make him look more like a tree rather than a few stumps put together.

Heroes.  I like the sideways tree on the banner for some reason...even if it looks a little silly.

Although I have an unfinished Orion and about 18 horses and riders, I decided to stop building here, as I might want to use the horses and riders for other projects down the road.  Orion will eventually be done, most likely to be used as a Treeman Ancient.  I've also figured out a way to make the army double as a High Elf army by using the Wardancers as Swordmasters.  Almost like a High Elf army before the major split between the two groups of elves. 
This is my 6th Warhammer army.  All of them completely painted.  I only lack Dwarves in order to represent a showing of all the major fantasy races!  Next in line is some odds and ends and special projects for some of my existing armies.  Then I'll move on to my Nurgle inspired Beastmen.  Comments and criticism are welcome.



 

The End of the World?

After watching the movie Deep Impact recently (decent emotional movie, and I have a thing for both Tea Leoni and Leelee Sobieski), I couldn't help but think of the sense of apocalyptic-doom that has flooded Facebook walls and social interaction lately.

I don't think that the end of the world is nigh.  I don't buy that stuff.  Do you know how many times people have predicted the end of the world?  Go ahead and  look on Wikipedia how many people have prophesied the end of the world, the return of Jesus, or any kind of deity bringing about the destruction of mankind.  Go look at all those predictions and with an open mind consider how those errant prophecies are similar to the ones that you might believe.  As far as I can tell all of those predictions have at least one thing in common: they have all been wrong so far.  I'm sure that many if not all of the people that prophesied what they did also had the same conviction that what they believed was definitely going to 'come to pass' the same way that many of my friends, family, and acquaintances are convinced that their apocalyptic expectations are correct.  

I've had the delight to see the TV show Doomsday Preppers on the National Geographic channel.  While I can appreciate the preparation that those people go through to make sure that they are safe from harm/disaster, I can't help but emphasize the end of every show.  Doesn't anyone else notice when the producers of the show ask 'the experts' what the likelihood is of things like a polar shift, the US financial collapse, the eruption of the super-volcano under Yellowstone, societal collapse from peak oil, etc?  I'll summarize for those unaware: the likelihood is razor thin.  These people are living their entire lives for a fraction of one percent.  It's simply gambling unreasonable amounts of money and time for the sake of bad information and fear.
  
Now I'm sure that things like the US losing economic power, society slowly moving in a liberalized direction, and religion losing orthodox believers make it seem like the world as we know it is about to end.  But if we can learn anything from history then we can understand that things change, and after the changes occur people still exist, the world is still intact, and apocalyptic prophesies are proven wrong.  Even after applying this simple logic, I can hear the apologists chiming in: 
"Yeah. those past predictions were wrong because they didn't have the full truth".
"You're taking their words out of context, when they said: 'the end of the world' they meant..."
"The phrase 'the last generation' was just metaphorical then, but today's last generation is really the last one".
All I hear from this is heavy doses of psychological phenomena I believe are called informational influence and confirmation bias.  

Listen, I know that when your political hero doesn't win it can be devastating.  When the US seems to be taking a direction that you believe is incorrect a common instinct is to fall back on doomsday prophesies and apocalyptic-speak.  I don't think that the world (or the US for that matter) is ripe for destruction or is teetering on the brink of an omnipotent-being's vindictive wrath.  The world is just changing.  So far humanity has only gotten better since as far back as we can remember.  The world is more full of knowledge, safety, compassion, equality, and health than it has ever been before.  Even governments have slowly evolved from large slaving-organizations to compassionate-like wills of the parent societies.  

Please stop all this nonsense about the world being at the brink of the end times.  In four years when the Republicans and Democrats fight over the same political and social issues, people that are wailing about society's imminent downfall will look a little foolish.

Peace and love all. Pics of the finished Wood Elves coming up later this weekend. 

Modesty

I recently participated in the local “Undie Run” that had two main objectives. First to donate the clothes off your back (and any others that you were willing to give) to the local homeless shelter in preparation for the winter. Second, to 'lighten up' the state that I live in that is so well known for its fundamentalist conservative nature. There were plenty of people there protesting their individual beefs with the state, many of which I agreed with. But for me and my small family this was an event that allowed us to support our community, prove our love of our less-fortunate fellowmen, and to enjoy the company of some freethinking people who were not afraid to stand for what they believed in.

Our participation in the event led to some drama when family and friends (of a conservative-like persuasion) stated that they thought we were wrong and inappropriate for being so immodest. So I thought I'd write a post on modesty.

I feel that modesty is a fluid term. Mostly because it is contextual. What is considered modest is largely determined on the type of activity that you are engaged in. Bathing while naked is certainly modest while being naked while working for your law firm might not be considered modest. Wearing an evening gown (see pretty much any Disney princess) when shopping at a grocery store is not modest while wearing one to a ball or black-tie event would be considered fine.

Because modesty is so fluid I don't think that it is wise to connect it to any sense of universalized morality to it. It is not only silly for a westerner to look at a humble African tribe and declare that their naked bodies are immoral and immodest, but it is most likely short sighted. If the tribe doesn't care about seeing more skin then westerners do then who are we to say that our codes of modesty are any better than theirs? Perhaps tribesmen like that are a little more mature than westerners because they don't feel the need to sexualize the human body or parts of it unnecessarily. Maybe the lack of clothes serves as a statement of equality of members of the tribe. Maybe judgments within the tribe are more easily made concerning who and individual is rather than what he/she looks like.

I personally believe that by showing some leg, shoulder, cleavage, knee-cap, ankle, etc does not necessarily determine who an individual is or what that person stands for. I don't see modesty as a line on a body that must be covered. I don't believe in condemning someone's moral code simply by judging how they look or by seeing what they do/don't wear. Ultimately I think that clothes are a social norm, but that being a social norm neither makes them right or wrong, just something our society has gotten accustomed to. In a non-judgmental world clothes would only serve to as comfort and protection from mother nature.

Modesty as a term speaks more to me when used by its other definition. I would rather people dress simply and with a sense of humility, refraining from gaudy attire. I think that that dress code might do more for us as a society rather than a dress code where people are required to cover up certain body parts for the sake of covering up certain body parts.

I'm almost finished with painting up my army of Wood Elves.  Here is a sneak peak.

Censorship

This blog started out as something that I wanted to completely devote to one of my hobbies, and even though I am particularly proud of my capability in that hobby I am even more intrigued with discussion.  Interaction with others over different ideas is something that I love reading and talking about.  So here I go trying to expand the theme of this blog.

Recently I have engaged some of my family and friends on some controversial subjects and many of those times I have been the voice of the opposition.  Sometimes my contrarian views have been well received and debated; and other times my blatant opposition has been ridiculed.  In a few of these occasions my thoughts and rebuttals were completely deleted and censored by the people that started the conversation.  I feel that the censorship of ideas is offensive and cowardly.

I believe that a healthy discussion can be had with many oppositional viewpoints.  In fact, I think that the best discussions will have more than one view represented.  I think that debate can make the debater smarter.  By stating what you believe and why you believe it, you strengthen your logical reasoning skills.  The act of reasoning (thinking logically) through your beliefs can also found those beliefs on something strong than “that’s just how I feel”.  A sad problem with debate is that people take it personally. I personally can recognize the difference between an argument and a person and that’s why debate/discussion is fun to me.  Some people cannot make that distinction and that is why people take offense to any sort of opposition to their ideas.

It doesn’t bother me at all when others tell me that they disagree, or that they think I am wrong.  So long as they are able to back up their thoughts with some logic and evidence.  I actually welcome anyone to show me how I am wrong in any one thing.  If someone can disprove my views then that makes my understanding of truth better. Pointing out flaws in my logic is a service to me, so that I can think and speak like an educated individual. If I refuse to be persuaded by real evidence and good presentation of that evidence then I am just holding onto a dogma for emotional reasons.  A wise friend once said: “I am open minded to anything that can provide evidence. But I have no tolerance for crappy ideas under the guise of ‘open mindedness’ and ‘tolerance’.  All ideas need to compete in the marketplace of ideas and there is no special deference for [any particular claim]” 

I am a firm believer that people should be respected.  Love, understanding, respect, and equality should be given to an individual.  I am also a firm believer that people's ideas, beliefs, ideals, and worldviews should be critically observed, weighed, and discussed.  No idea is above criticism because every idea may be presented.  I welcome any and all ideas into my discussions.  Nothing is off limits.  But not all opinions/beliefs are created equal.  Someone’s opinion on the existence of unicorns and dragons is not the same as someone’s belief in the medical properties of penicillin.  (Of course this would be different if someone could present some evidence to support the existence of unicorns and dragons).  When discussing honest ideas and beliefs no contrary belief should be dismissed simply because it is a contrary belief.  Please feel free to disagree with what I say, but please disagree with it on a foundation of logic and evidence. 

Warhost from the City of the Six Spires

In Warhammer, there are four major Chaos gods.  My favorite is Slaanesh, the youngest of the gods of Chaos.  He is the god of excess, sadism, and the dichotomy of pleasure and pain.  Since I had plenty of models laying around, I tried to find a way to bring them together into a cohesive army.  I think it worked well with the Warhost from the City of the Six Spires.

Older Dark Elf models with some Dark Eldar bits from Warhammer 40k became my Chaos Marauders.

 The Chaos Warriors from the game Battle Masters became my...uh...Chaos Warriors.

 With some Warhammer 40k bits from the Chaos Space Marine range, Chaos spawn bits, and some other random findings I created my unit of Chaos Forsaken.  Although they have found recent use as a unit of Chaos Chosen recently.

 My Demon princess was converted by taking an Inquisitor model, filing down the wires on her, sculpting her hair, and adding pegasus wings.  I still haven't gone back and fixed her eyes, but she doesn't see a whole lot of play, so I haven't felt the need.

 This is a completely converted Hell-Cannon.  This took a long time to fit together and sculpt.  I still am not entirely happy with all the flesh color.

 The guy on  the left holding the banner is awesome.  I am very proud of the Chaos star/eclipse on his banner.

Sotek's Host of the Serpent Coast

I aquired over 40 5th edition (?) Lizardmen skinks through a friend.  With some extra purchases I quickly had a complete Lizardmen army.  Since my particular Lizardmen spawning inhabits the Southlands, the larger Saurus are a rarity.  Most of my army is comprised of skinks who are buffed with the Slaan's light magic.

 Cold-One mounts pose as Kroxigor in my army.

Old (6th ed?) Cold Ones were converted into fire-breathing Salamanders.

 Plastic dinosaur toys became my stegadons.

 Chameleon skinks with blowpipes