ZappBrannigan

I think methadone is amongst the worst substances you can take. I have known several people that take it for various reasons (addiction recovery to chronic pain management), and it seems like more often then not they become severely addicted to it, and as soon as their tolerance raises from their theraputic level, then they start having uncontrolable phantom pain, hallucinations and in some cases suicidal ideations. As for the taper method, I do not know how effective it is, as the longest we could ever keep someone in the ER is 24 hours, and then ship them off to a treatment facility. I would assume that it has simular pitfalls to the methadone, although the plus would seem like they are only chemically addicted to one substance as opposed to two. With Alcohol, I am a huge fan of IV fluids, potassium, anti convulsants and time. The real issue that I experienced with Alcoholics who were in DTs was that they didn't want to get better, they didn't want to quit. Their families did, their friends did, but the people didn't want it for themselves. So we quite routinely saw the same people brought in time and time again by their friends and family, only to see them with alcohol poisoning later that month.

My name is Zapp Brannigan. You may be wondering why I am wearing what I am wearing today, or given the subject of todays talks, you may think you already know. I am actually wearing my uniform today because as soon as sacrament meeting is over, I have to leave for a 5 hour drive to Montrose Colorado for some training with my unit, in preperation for our Nov 2nd deployment date. A few weeks ago I approached the Bishp with a request that I be allowed to speak on Sunday the 31st, as that will be the last Sunday I know I will be able to attend our ward, and I wanted to begin my deployment on a spiritual high.. The Bishop recommended I speak this week as the subject might be a little more suited to me and my situation. That topic is The Divine Gift of Freedom. Freedom, what does the word mean to you? Do you picture the countless men and women who have sacrificed for you to be here today? DO you consider all of the hardships and the pain that those who came before us gladly went through because they believed that it would lead to a better life for future gennerations? If you are a member of our youth, do you think of Freedom in terms of what you are allowed to do by your parents, do you dwell on what freedoms you wish you had? I ask because to so many different people, the word freedom means very different ideas. When I was preparing for my first deployment to Iraq, we met an Iraqi woman who had fled the country after the fall of Sadam Hussein with her family. She was our language and culture teacher, and when she spoke to us about what Freedom meant to her, my entire platoon was in tears. She was a member of a small minority of Iraqis, because she was a Christian. She had seen first hand the horrors of a religious jihad, and had a brother and cousin who were publicly killed for being Christians. Furthermore, as a woman in a predominatly muslim country, she was not permitted to attend school past the equivilant of 3rd grade. When she went into public, she was required to dress in a burqa, showing only her eyes, so that she wouldn’t put impure thoughts into a man’s head because under Muslim law, a woman is responsible if a man has impure thoughts about her and can be punished severely. She went on to discuss with us how refreshing it was to be able to practice her religious beliefs openly, without fear that at any moment she could be killed. She marveled at the first time she was allowed to pick all of her own clothes, and was able to walk around public without hiding her face. She cried as she told us we have no idea the effects our service would have on those people we would probably not even meet. My Arabic instructor cherished and savored the freedoms that many of us take for granted everyday. As I remember that day, her words often times fill me with feelings of guilt and uneasiness. I am free to chose when, how and what I worship. I am not going to be dragged through the street and shot because I profess a belief in Jesus Christ. My wife is allowed to dress as she feels appropriate, and does not run the risk of being stoned because a man has impure thoughts about her. And yet, I often times do not feel grateful on a daily basis for all that my forefathers have accomplished for me. For the lives that were lost by the Colonists who were struggling to create a better society where we were not ruled by a tyrant. We have all seen the painting The Crossing, depicting George Washington leading his men across an icy Delaware River on a snowy Christmas evening. The whole story of why this was important was explained to me by my father while I was growing up; During the Fall of 1776, General George Washington had been on the retreat. Starting in August, Maj. General William Howe drove Washington first from New York City and then from New York. state. Lt. General Charles Cornwallis had then taken up the chase and sent Washington retreating across New Jersey so that in early December, Washington had crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. Washington knew that morale was down because the Continental Army had yet to secure a victory on the battlefield against British Army regulars. There were those in the Continental Congress who were beginning to doubt the ability of the Commander-in-Chief as well. His enlistments were running out at the end of the year and the weather was growing harsh so that he would soon have to enter winter quarters. General Washington knew that he and the Rebel cause needed some momentum before ending operations for the winter.. He decided to cross the Delaware River back into New Jersey and make a surprise attack on the British forces which had already settled into winter quarters. He chose the remote Hessian garrison at Trenton commanded by Colonel Johann Rall. On Christmas Night, 1776, what has been immortalized as 'The Crossing' took place in a snowstorm as Washington led his troops across the Delaware River and on to Trenton. This victory, although number wise is small by comparison had a huge effect. It increased morale, helped Washington reenlist most of his army, and proved those in the Continental Congress that doubted him wrong. A much less glorified, yet in my opinion touching scene took place the following winter, when General Washington was again leading his troops to Winter Quarters. General Washington had hoped to provide his weary men with more nutritious food and badly needed winter clothing, Congress had been unable to provide money for fresh supplies. That Christmas Eve, the troops dined on a meal of rice and vinegar, and were forced to bind their bleeding frost-bitten feet with rags. "We have experienced little less than a famine in camp," Washington wrote to Patrick Henry the following February. Washington expressed deep gratitude and awe for those soldiers who remained with him. He described men marching without clothes, blankets or shoes--leaving bloody trails in the snow--who displayed "patience and obedience which in my opinion can scarce be paralel'd I have oftentimes closed my eyes and pictured myself in those men’s situations. Marching without shoes through snow and ice, slowly starving to death, wondering what was happening to my family back home, if they were being fed, if they were warm. Would I be able to follow my leader as he struggled to find protection from the elements for me? Would I give up when I began to bleed from walking barefoot across frozen ground, through snow and ice? I don’t like to walk around my own home without shoes on, much less venture outside. And yet these men willingly did all of these things and more. Our founding Fathers realized that if their children, and their children’s children were going to have a better life, then they would be required to make sacrifices on a daily basis. So I will ask you again, what does freedom mean to you? Do you take for granted all of the blessings we have as Americans? Do you live your life in a way that honors the sacrifices our forefathers made? While our enemies might not be forming up en masse, and taking turns firing on us in ranks, there are still people in the world who seek to limit our personal freedom. What about spiritually speaking? What is spiritual freedom? We know from the scriptures what spiritual bondage is; Alma 12:11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell. And again from Mormon 8:31 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and all manner of abominations; when there shall be many who will say, Do this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such at the last day. But wo unto such, for they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. To gain a better appreciation for what is at stake with regards to our spiritual freedom, we should start with how it began; Moses 4:1-4 1 And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. 2But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the eglory be thine forever. 3Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; 4And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice We can see that in the premortal existence we chose freedom over bondage. We chose to come to earth and be tested. If we had not chosen freedom, we would have been cast out, like 1/3 of the hosts of heaven. So then why are there so many of us who look to the commandments as restraining? Why do we often times find ourselves saying things like “I can’t drink that coffee” or “I can’t watch that movie”, and when questioned by our nonmember friends, we explain it violates the churches rules, and leave it at that. But is it so simple? If this is our point of view, is it any wonder that our church is often regarded as strict, harsh, difficult or even demanding? In the July 1985 Ensign, Robert M Wilkes shared with us some thoughtful insight into how we should view Spiritual Freedom. I know of a little boy who came home from school one day long ago to find a new rented piano in the living room. “What’s this piano here for?” he asked his mother. “It’s for you,” she replied. “For me?” he asked. “Why for me?” “Because,” she said, “you are going to take piano lessons.” He said he didn’t want to take piano lessons. But she had already vetoed that decision. In fact, she had already arranged for a teacher. Well, this little boy began to miss a few lessons. One day his mother asked, “How was your piano lesson?” He said, “Fine. I’m doing pretty well.” “That’s interesting,” she said. “I just talked to your teacher, and she hasn’t seen you for a while.” He had been caught. He didn’t know what the punishment would be, but he knew it would be bad. Then his mother said, “Just for that, you may not take piano lessons.” He tried to look punished, but inside he was an inferno of joy. Mother, he thought, you have hit on the perfect punishment. I hope you use it often. Within his heart he felt that he had just been liberated. He was free from practice, free from lessons, free from discipline, routine, and regimentation—free from all that seemed to limit his freedom. When he grew to be a man, he was sitting one day in a church meeting during which a woman was to sing a solo. When her time to perform came, she walked up to the podium and announced, “My accompanist could not come today. I need someone to accompany me.” Looking over the congregation, she saw a man who used to teach piano. “Will you accompany me?” she asked him. The man came forward, and she handed him the music. As he watched this transpire, my friend who had avoided music lessons thought, What would I have done if she had asked me? If she had asked me, I would have been free to do only one thing: to say no. Suddenly, he realized that what he had assumed to be one of the great liberating moments of his life—when his mother said, “You may not take lessons any more”—was in fact a moment of bondage, not freedom. As he sat in that church meeting, he might as well have been handcuffed, for he could not have played the piano if he had wanted to. The other man was free; he could choose to play or not to play. Ultimately, then, freedom is more a matter of capacity and ability than of permission. Why would freedom be more a matter of capacity and ability than of permission? Because, if you do not have the capability of flapping your arms and flying, then no matter how many people tell you that you can try it, it will never happen. Continuing from Robert M Wilkes talk; “And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end. “And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.” (2 Ne. 2:22–23.) So freedom is not just freedom from—freedom from interference, restraint, responsibility—although there certainly are things we want to be free from. But the greatest freedom, the freedom of God, is the freedom to do. Ask yourself, “What am I free to do?” In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve knew the freedom from. They were free from every discomfort and mortal pain. But they had to leave that idyllic place and enter the dreary world in order to have freedom to do. This is what I have so far...

I am giving a talk on Sunday with the subject "The Divine gift of personal freedom". I am having trouble transitioning from my experience as a Soldier and the debt we owe our founding fathers into spiritual freedom.

link General Authorities of the Church have also advised against tattoos. Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote, “The practice is a desecration of the human body and should not be permitted. … Latter-day Saint servicemen in particular are counseled to avoid the pitfalls of tattooing. Persons who are tattooed are not, however, denied the ordinances and blessings of the temples” (Mormon Doctrine, p. 775).

So let me get this straight, alcohol detox is a serrious medical problem that requires monitoring by a doctor, or a new beer? Maybe I should go a little into my professional history here, I spent 7 years working night shifts in an inner city ER. I have dealt with more alcoholics, meth addicts, "crackheads", drug seekers and other people with "serrious medical problems". But thank you for the brief description of "painful and sad". Why do you think I want my son to stay away from these substances so badly? While it was painful to watch my mother in law die from liver failure, I hope it helped convince my son that alcohol is best avoided. If I sound harsh when I say alcoholics or crackheads, well that comes from my natural sunny disposition, mixed with years of dealing with these people during their worst times. While I recognize that they are still children of our Heavenly Father and I must treat them as such, I do not have to be accepting or kind when I discuss their decisions.

He has attended the best of EFY when it comes to Denver. He also went on the Trek this last summer. As for seminary, it is not exactly voluntary, but he is starting to enjoy it.

The other purpose of a gun is to shoot nonliving targets. As for Zombie Movies, well, they are my guiltiest pleasure. Even thought I know that they are also a favorite sin of mine (sorry, but there is no way the Holy Ghost is hanging around while I am watching people kill and eat each other, much less the violence and language that often times accompanies these films). That said, Max Brooks is a genius. I love World War Z, and have the Zombie Survivor Guide as well. As for "modern" horror films, I think the more gruesome a film is, the less scary it is. I watched only Saw and Saw II from that series, because Saw had an interesting plot. What would you sacrifice to save your family? Would you cut off your own foot? The second one was violence for the sake of violence, which is not even mildly entertaining to me. And yes, I realize that seeing Saw and Saw II was not going to let me keep the HG with me, but at the time I was in a place where I didn't care.

Starship troopers was awesome. Terrible movie (the mormon outpost Port Joe Smith). I rather liked the book stranger in a strange land, because it spawned a lot of good debates in my high school lit class.

I am married because 3 weeks after I met my wife, I knew I would never be happy without her. Unfortunatly it took her awhile longer to see my side (like the year I spent in the friend zone)! Also, we are married because she was divorced!

So I was reading some scriptures with my son this week, and ran across the conversion story of King Lamoni's Father. I can't believe the amount of faith he showed. This has quickly become one of my favorite Scriptures; Alma 22:18 O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck aas if he were dead. I will give away all my sins to know thee. Can you imagine that? I mean, I am not saying I am holding onto major, or in my opinion even moderate sins, but nonetheless, I know I still have my favorite sins that I am either too proud or too stupid to let go of. When I went home teaching with my son, he asked us what sins we wanted to hold onto, that would keep us from knowing our Heavenly Father. Makes you think...

Have you read Stranger in a Strange land by Heinlein?

Pretty sure I didn't say life is perfect except for other people. I am also pretty sure that opposition in all things is allowed to happen by man because there are certain aspects of life that can only be applied by one another (peer pressure for one). As for what happened to the Native American's, well, that is a whole different debate, with lots of different sides (obviously I think we would have some disagreements there as well). As for me "justifying" bullying as "part of God's plan"; I am not saying that it is an ESSENTIAL part of the plan, but just how Eve sinned in partaking of the fruit, Heavenly Father had the foresight to turn it into a positive. I guess the nuts and bolts of my argument is this; Bad things, such as bullying and beating people up happens. There is no way to eliminate it unless we eliminate free will. Thus, Heavenly Father in his infinite wisdom promised us a few things, first that we will not be tested by more than we can bear. Second that if we turn to Him, we will have our burdens lifted (ie the pain of being bullied) and finally that everything we go through in life, be it natural (cancer, sex drive, whatever) or unnatural (acts of free will) it will give us experience and be for our good.

As a parent of a teenager who has made some really large mistakes, I can tell you that it can be hard to place trust in your child again. The best advice I can offer is to be as transparent as possible with your parents, and make the extra effort to show then you have changed. As for the disciplinary actions, I don't know anything about them.

I am saying that bullying is a trial, and as such is allowed to happen for our good. Saying that if people didn't exercise their own will, and therefore didn't do anything bad to each other, then we would still have enough trials that happen "naturally" seems odd. Consider the scripture Mosiah 3:19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. So what is "unnatural" about men acting out towards one another if doing so makes you a "Natural Man" according to the scriptures? Also, consider the following scripture with regards to "Natural Man" acting naturally towards other people; Alma 14:11 But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day. So it would seem that if there is so much in the scriptures telling us that times will be tough, but we will be okay if we listen to the advice offered in Matthew 11:28-30 28 ¶ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Well, I have a little bit of experience in talking to Catholics about our faith. I might have even helped bring one into our faith (although, truth be told it was many people in my ward), you see, my wife was Catholic. She swore up and down that she would never change religions. Well, we were recently sealed, and every so often I remind that she should never say never. So here a few things I learned; First, do not ever, EVER tell someone from a different religion that their beliefs make it so they cannot feel the Holy Ghost. Several years ago my wife and I were in the gospel essentials class, and a lady said that she had recently been to a Catholic Funneral and that the spirit definatly was not there, and that as far as she was concerned, a funneral had to be LDS to have the spirit there. This was a few weeks after my wife burried her brother, and them being catholic, it was a catholic funneral. Now no doctorine that I can find from the church states that our services alone have access to the spirit. Rather, we are told that all are able to feel the influence of the spirit at different times. Second, don't let anyone tell your investigator that certain traditions of the Catholic faith are sacriligeous. My wife still lights prayer candles, because it was how she grew up. The difference is now she gets and lights the ones that don't have pre printed prayers on the sides. No where are we told that lighting a candle when we pray is offensive to Heavenly Father, rather we are told that we should pray often and sincerely. Just because a tradition seems odd to us, it doesn't make it wrong or bad. Third, it is ok if good things happen as a result of faith displayed by those who are not members of our church. For years now, it has struck me as odd how many different members of our church seem to think that blessings coming from acts of faith (such as praying) only come to righteous members of our church. Do these people not realize that we ask every nonmember to pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith? If Heavenly Father only answered prayers of members, then these people would never receive an answer. The point is, whether praying to Heavenly Father through a saint, or through our Savior, good things happen to people of all faiths. I hope these are benneficial. These are all things that would seem like no brainers, but all came up when my wife was investigating. And no matter how hard I tried, it always seemed like the wrong person said the wrong thing at the wrong time.