posted
Two years ago in General Priesthood Meeting, war stories were prominent. I thought to myself: we're going to war.
This time we heard more war stories and talk about troubled times ahead for our youth, and I'm thinking to myself: they're re-instating the draft.
There was mention made of our boys having to uphold their standards in a war situation in which they are surrounded by boys who do not have the same standards.
I am thinking about the draft because up to this point, the majority of our volunteer military is made up of good, Christian boys who share many of the same standards. If we have a draft, we're going to have one or two Christian boys in a barracks, surrounded by all manner of boys. I think that is what the brethren forsee for our youth.
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posted
I agree. There are already all types in the military right now, and it is a struggle to stay chaste and keep the word of wisdom.
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posted
Considering by far most of the US identifies itself as Christian I highly doubt there would be such disparities in a draft.
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Okay, we've got a lot of Utah volunteer units assigned in Iraq, Bosnia, and Afganistan right now, and a few boys from our ward have been deployed. They have chuch meetings every Sunday with the other LDS boys in their unit.
In conference we heard about "sacrament-for-one in a foxhole," and "praying alone in the barracks." That does not sound like a volunteer unit from Utah.
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posted
I was surprised to hear that "father" in particular are in Satan's crosshairs.
When I look at my own life, it seems either that we (society I have seen around absent fathers) have expected men to not measure up or that men refused to measure up.
I am biased since my own dad once complained to me (after I became an adult) how the reason he never made-it-big was because he was forced to pay child support.
The funny thing is that he never paid child support while we were kids. It wasn't until they passed some laws that enabled women to get back child support that his paychecks were tapped. And then we just moved jobs each time they found him so he wouldn't have to pay old debt.
Finally, when my mom found out the statute of limitations had passed, she let him know. She wanted to see if he would be a man at last and pay, or if he would apply to discontinue his debt. He chose selfishly.
Pathetic. Anyways, I like to here that men are expected to be men. I like to hear that the roles men play in family is important.
**in defense of our soldiers. During my three years in Korea, I got to know a number of GIs. American military are known for they reckless behavior in Korea. All you have to do is look at all the red-light districts by our bases to know what is going on. At least, that is what I thought. As I got to go in bases and meet a variety of people, I realized that the average soldier was a very good, kind person who missed his/her family and stayed on the base to avoid trouble.
Because only the jack-apples went off base and caused trouble, Koreans only saw the minority percent that made America look bad.
posted
It sounds like the units my cousin (West Point graduate, Navy pilot, not Mormon) belongs to.
My cousin did have a Mormon co-pilot once, and was impressed by the standards he kept. If it was normal, it wouldn't have been commented on.
--
Heh. That was incidentally a fun conversation. "Have you heard of the church before?" "My cousin is on a mission right now. Does that count?"
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Yah, clearly a huge emphasis on the family, and specifically not letting the world's slipping view of the importance of family interfer with what you know (or should know) to be God's greatest work here on earth: marriage, raising children, and sealing families up into eternity.
And by the way, I love the phrase "sealing up into".
posted
I have a friend who recently left the army.
Yes there were church boys.
There were also women who tried to get pregnant so as to avoid front line duty.
There were Goths, Gangs, D&D Players, Nerds, and, well, basically a nice cross section of people from the US.
If you make the military your life, then it instills in you some very good and powerful things. The secret is the word "instill", as in it brings it out of you, not puts it in you.
However, there are a lot of folks in the Army for the short term, or reservists who may not have that military instilled morality.
They may even be gay.
That may be who the father was refering too.
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quote: There were also women who tried to get pregnant so as to avoid front line duty.
I thought they didn't send women into the front lines?
I was very sad to hear about Sister Hinckley. She and President Hinckley are about the cutest couple in the entire world. When President Hinckley came to Memphis he had her stand up and talked about how wonderful she was and gave her a big hug. I hope that if I'm married for more than sixty years my husband will feel that way for me .
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quote:If you make the military your life, then it instills in you some very good and powerful things. The secret is the word "instill", as in it brings it out of you, not puts it in you.
But..."instill" means "to implant something gradually", not "to cultivate something which already exists", doesn't it?
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posted
SM, women don't go in combat infantry, but somehow Private Lynch got captured by the enemy. When the man was in the military, women could get released from their enlistment if they were pregnant and asked to be released. I don't know if the rules are still the same.
Alexa- if you only read/listen to one talk, I think you'd like L. Tom Perry's. But I don't know if that is where your quote is from.
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quote:I agree with Jon. Famiy, family, family, family, family, family was the messgae I heard.
Do you have any idea where that was pointing to in the modern day issues? I'd be more concerned with the direction of the statements, not just the statements themselves. Perhaps it's a direction that the family unit emphasis should be placed?
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posted
Traditional family, Argent, which as you know is a "code" for right wing-Christian definition of a "family". Mom, Dad, kids. Though I'm sure plenty of non-christians would take exception to my labeling it a Christian concept.
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posted
While it's always interesting to see the themes that crop up in conference talks (since everyone decides on their own subject), it's important that we not read too literally into anything. The principles are important. The emphasis on family and young people is always important. While I fully believe in the ability of our prophets to forsee situations we'll need to be familiar with, I think we'd be better to apply the principles taught to as broad a spectrum as possible rather than trying to predict specific future events like imminent war or the draft.
My Dad used to be into "doom and gloom" and hard-times type of stuff, and I grew up frightened and seeing every announcement in conference as being sinister and portentous. It's only been recently that I've realized that the gospel is a gospel of peace. It's important that we're intelligent and prepared, but more important that we learn to feel the peace of Christ in our lives and live in faith rather than in fear. I especially appreciated Elder Oakes's talk on being prepared for the second coming and his emphasis on spiritual preparation. Being spiritually ready for the last days is the hardest part and our biggest priority.
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