Bedrock

(Originally posed an earlier version of this with a more specific title, one that attracted spam comments among other things. My intent is to explain why I am who I am and why I believe as I do; doing it in the negative seems easier for many to grasp.) Over the years, whenever I've tried to explain what I believe, as soon as I use certain words, people would take off on their own understanding of those words, no longer listening. Perhaps that is why the Lord (or Moses, if you're hung up about that) gave the Ten Commandments in the negative, even though they pretty much summarize , “ Love God completely, love your neighbor as yourself ”— the Great Commandment (which as it happens is at the top of my personal list of priorities!). Our poor brains or foolish hearts seem better able to focus on negatives. I am not WHATEVER, first, because I don't trust people . For all the nice-sounding rhetoric, in most WHATEVER systems, a person must allow someone else control

“So I'm gonna hold my nose and vote for Romney,” said a self-identified Christian caller on the DennisMiller radio show . Miller immediately reacted to the caller and suggested he didn't represent what he, as a non-Christian, understood to be a Christian attitude. I agree . I am ashamed of the public face that many presumed believers put out there for people to see and hear. First of all, God gave his children no authority to condemn whatsoever. Confronting error is not a matter of publicly declaring oneself right and another wrong. Our task is to be redemptive, not judicial, and public condemnation is exercising God's prerogative and is at least as shameful as many of the matters being condemned.  Too often, such remarks are nothing but a bit of self-aggrandizement. Secondly, God has not given authority to rule unbelievers to the Church. While I may agree that the Mormon religion is in error, as is many a Christian denomination, “holding one's nose” i