I am proud to be a democrat. This did not occur overnight, it was in fact, very difficult to decide. I had to decide within myself where I felt that I was. MY change had little to do with the present election or any President of either party. I cannot honestly tell you that it DIDN'T get some help from a few politicians in each direction, but that was not the deciding factor. I started to understand a lot of the consequences from the actions taken. I started to understand what the ramifications were of the bills and propositions that were being passed and how I was voting for them. I started to see how the Republicans stopped becoming themselves and lauded President Reagan as if he were a God. I respected President Reagan, but if I am to be successful in the military, I will be successful as a Winter and NOT as a Reagan surrogate. I need to make the most of my life through the family that my God gave me regardless if they feel the same way that I do, or whether they believe the same way that I do. We agree to disagree and we know that there are beliefs that we will not see the same way, and we have no desire to change that.
I was not always a Democrat and I was consistent in my beliefs. I was NOT aware that I was consistently wrong and uneducated about what I was voting for. That is no reflection of my parents. My parents were taught in the ways of their parents and they too see and have differences between their parenting styles and personal beliefs. It isn't right or wrong, it is simply different. It is a difference we learn to respect and leave it at that.
I was not understanding the whole picture. I did not see with my own eyes. I saw what people wanted me to see. I appeased people and told them what they wanted to hear. I had to learn the hard way to be true to who I am. I have made several problems for myself because of this both small and large and it has affected relationships, my marriage, my schooling, my mental and emotional growth. It has affected me in every facet of my life.
It took a person to show me that there are politicians who are willing to tell me what I did NOT want to hear. I did NOT convert solely for and because of Barack Obama. I was already leaning that way for the last 10 years. The more that I was able to see a new paradigm, the more I understood that dichotomy between the Repulican and Democratic parties and I understood more of what I hadn't before.
This may be a bit strong for evangelicals to accept. But those who are LDS may see how I have come to this change in my life.
D&C 29:36
36 And it came to pass that Adam, being tempted of the devil—for, behold, the devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the ghosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency;
If you click on the title of this post, you will read an article regarding the plan of salvation and how our free agency is applied and how it came to be.
If we are to be more like Christ, we should want to understand his thought process. We are NEVER going to know as much as he does. We may never be remotely close to following his will in all that we do. He gave us free agency and we can choose of our own free will whether we choose to return to God's presence. The most obedient would go to Heaven and the glory would be unto God.
Satan’s plan of compulsion, whereby all would be safely conducted through the career of mortality, bereft of freedom to act and agency to choose, so circumscribed that they would be compelled to do right—that one soul would not be lost—was rejected; and the humble offer of Jesus the First-born—to assume mortality and live among men as their Exemplar and Teacher, observing the sanctity of man’s agency but teaching men to use aright that divine heritage—was accepted. The decision brought war, which resulted in the vanquishment of Satan and his angels, who were cast out and deprived of the boundless privileges incident to the mortal or second estate.
So what does this have to do with my desire to be democrat? It has EVERYTHING to do with that. When people commit abortions, when gays choose to get married, when we go to war and when people die of drugs, it all relied on our ability to handle things ourselves. Christ does not enjoy seeing the rampant crime that is being done. But he has to suffer it to be. It is the process of free agency. When we force people to follow what is right, we are following the Adversary's plan REGARDLESS of how correct they are or how they feel.
With the LDS Church insisting that marriage is solely heterosexual and they get very close to the lines between church and state by making phone calls and visits, they are uniting with those to make marriage solely for heterosexuals. In so doing, the LDS Church here in California is forcing compulsion in this matter to the extent that everyone in California, regardless of whether they are LDS or not, are now in accordance with LDS rules which dictate that marriage is ONLY for man and woman.
IF this happens, we are being forced to do what is right according to LDS faith and their rules. "We" is not JUST members of the LDS faith or the population of California, but we as in every person from San Francisco, CA to Bangor, ME. We are being taught that we MUST do what is right. Our free agency is no longer ours. While I appreciate the zeal of those in the LDS Church and the republican party who feel they need to enforce what is right as a statewide law. I am an (in)active LDS member who goes through the motions, there are somethings that simply do not work. This is one of those things.
I am not pro abortion or pro life. I am for free agency. That woman needs to make a choice and they must live with the consequences of that choice. If she decides to have sex, she needs to decide whether she will keep that child. She must also decide quickly because the longer she waits, her indecision becomes her decision. "You can choose a ready guide/In some celestial voice/If you choose not to decide/You still have made a choice" -Neil Pert (Freewill, Rush)
the more her free agency challenges and impacts the free agency of that fetus. As long as that fetus has a heartbeat, it also has its own free agency to consider.
If we could personify the fetus, who is to say that fetus would WANT to be a child to the mother whose more loose than a slot machine in Vegas? She has no job, she has 15 more credits in high school to go, she has no man by her side, she smokes or drinks...is that something a fetus would voluntarily want to be born into? I doubt it. But she has to make that choice and she has to consider the best future for that fetus and be aware that THAT future may not include her. God, Christ, you and I all have to accept that she may or may not make the decision we would like her to make. It is what is part of free agency. If we force her to have kids, she may be a horrible mother, she may not...but the odds are not on her side. She still has no capability of paying the bills that will come her way and may not have anyone to really help her. We assume that people will step up and help. We NEED to stop doing that. It is NOT a guarantee, it is a blessing when it DOES happen. She may not have the resources or the money to take care of that child...She may do the right thing and have the child adopted. It is a choice she has to make.
I am not for or against guns. I am for gun safety and security checks because too much is at stake in regards of guns. We should have the responsibility to be able take care of guns in every way, because it is the person behind the gun that dictates the free agency of others if used errantly. I feel that we need to make the right choices in our lives in a self compelled way and we ought to do it of our own free will and NOT being forced into doing what is right. We are incapable of choosing the consequences, but if we deny ourselves from even having the right to choose, then the choice is already made for us as is the consequence. We do not have any input on either.
Gay people deserve to be happy. They make decisions that we disagree with, but if we force them to follow what WE feel is right, they are compulsed to do what is right according to a state law and a religious commandment that they do not agree with or believe in. It is about free agency. WE may not agree with free agency or gay marriage, but to keep the integrity of the free agency that Christ has offered us, we have to accept and maintain free agency for all people so that Christ's free agency gift is not compromised. The moment that we force people to do what WE want them to do, we have compromised their free agency. At that point, how are we any better than Che Guevara or Fidel Castro?
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