Backroads

The question has been raised.. How can we gain the Blessing of Obeying the Law of the Fast without Obeying the Law of the Fast, and I think we are having a Can't see the Forest because of the Trees moment.   The heavenly laws of Fasting are not some special snowflake laws that behave differently from all the other laws in giving blessings so we can expand our question to how do we get any blessing from heavenly laws that are broken?   The answer to that question is so profound that it is the foundation of our religion. Christ and his atonement. Christ fulfilled all the Laws of Heaven and through his Atonement (Which we do not really understand)) can extend all the blessings of obedience to us.  The Law of the Fast is just as much covered by the Atonement of Christ as any other Law we might fail to live up to.   Invoking the atonement to cover us has some pretty well understood steps.  First is Faith in Jesus Christ.  If we do not believe and accept that, then our works are dead works and profit us nothing.  Second is repentance.  Christ has given us commands and laws. We are expected to continually repent and try to live those laws.  We will fail and that is expected, but as long as we keep trying, Christ will keep the blessings flowing.   So how does this break down in practice?  You have members that are going through the motions.  They do it because that is what we do.  They may be technically fulfilling the Law but for whatever reason their Faith is not active.  So fasting is without effect for them. Then you have the members that are doing the Fast technically and with Faith, the Lord has Mercy on them in their shortcomings, the atonement works and these people get the blessings.  Then you have the members legitimately can't meet the technicalities of a fast, but they really want to, so they take it to the Lord. They do what they can, maybe even offer up a substitute to help show their heart and mind,  the Lord has Mercy on them in their shortcomings, the atonement works and these people get the blessings.   The catch with that last one is that we as a people can't really tell who is sincerely trying and those whose Faith, if it exists, is weaker than their hunger so they make up an excuse or milk everything they can out of otherwise good reason.  They are neither using faith or repentance, so they get no blessings.. And yes we absolutely need to be careful about encouraging that

“… The Lord has instituted the fast on a reasonable and intelligent basis, and none of his works are vain or unwise. His law is perfect in this as in other things. Hence, those who can, are required to comply thereto; it is a duty from which they cannot escape; but let it be remembered that the observance of the Fast Day by abstaining twenty-four hours from food and drink is not an absolute rule, it is no iron-clad law to us, but it is left with the people as a matter of conscience, to exercise wisdom and discretion.” (Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1939], pp. 243, 244.)
 
Edit: also from the same:

 “Many are subject to weakness, others are delicate in health, and others have nursing babies; of such it should not be required to fast. Neither should parents compel their little children to fast”

I submit that what it really says is that there is a law law says: "All blessings are predicated on obedience to laws."  Given this law, we understand that "whenever we obtain any blessing, it is through obedience to the law upon which said blessing was predicated".  (My interpretation.)
Of course, there's also the more general law of obedience, so perhaps it really is one law - when we obtain blessings, it is because we obeyed.  (But "upon that law" implies "as opposed to some other law", so, yeah, back where we started. )  It occurs to me that this debate could be solved through perfect obedience...  Then the question of which laws or how many laws or whatever would become academic...
I recently heard (and have yet to try to confirm it) that a 2-day fast will cause the body to produce HGH (which is good for you), so, yeah, maybe longer fasts ought to be more common (assuming this or other benefits will result).

I think our modern society forgets that prolonged time-without-food was once a norm. I daresay the 3-meals-a-day is more cultural than anything. The average human body can likely survive just fine on more than 24 hours. Perhaps not the more harrowing lengths mikbone referenced, but a few days without food likely won't have more detrimental effects than some irritability. 

I think our modern society forgets that prolonged time-without-food was once a norm. I daresay the 3-meals-a-day is more cultural than anything. The average human body can likely survive just fine on more than 24 hours. Perhaps not the more harrowing lengths mikbone referenced, but a few days without food likely won't have more detrimental effects than some irritability. 

I think it would be fair to say that doing anything that physically harms our body would be breaking the word of wisdom or in more generic terms, breaking a law of God. For most people fasting is actually a healthy exercise. But for some it is not. So it could be argued that it is impossible for those individuals to obey both laws. What then?
Like @Vortsays, I think there are blessings that are missed when, for whatever reason, we fail to obey a commandment. But I also believe in the compensating power of God to make these people whole because of divine grace. How exactly that happens I don't know. But I believe it just the same.
 

Mark 9: 29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
Wonder if they would come forth with a partial fast and half hearted prayer?
During internship we would care for patients with pancreatitis.  The treatment was strict fasting no food or water for sometimes weeks.  They all lived.  It’s uncomfortable and we gave them IV fluids and occasionally IV nutrition but the human body can survive a prolonged fast.  A 24 hour fast is not really that impressive.

Read this then complain about a 24 hour fast.

Operative word there, "was".  When I moved here 20 years ago, we were a good purple, sometimes leaning red, sometimes leaning blue.  Every year since, we've turned bluer.  Red folk are leaving for Arizona and Texas and Florida (Half a dozen from my stake and friend groups.)  As California empties out, they're coming to Colorado (I know personally at least two dozen recent Cali transplants, with more arriving weekly.  
I am the FotF CS crowd - that's El Paso county, the last populous red county in the State.  Lauren Bobert makes national news, but her 3rd congressional District covers half the state but only has ~12% of the population.  Our front range corridor from ColSpgs through Fort Collins is growing at something like 5-8% yearly, and they're all blue refugees from failing liberal places. 
Denver is like the whiny little brother to Seattle and Portland.  Those two get their safe injection sites and zero cash bond programs going, and Denver is running after them wailing "wait up guys I wanna come too".

I think I would feel more comfortable if kids' faces could be scrubbed out, but I find myself doubtful if enough parents would settle for less than a live feed.
As for clipping things out, I could still see parents of certain special education students still demanding that (understandably, they don't want public record of their child's meltdown or medical episode).
My husband is on the other side of the fence than me, and made some good points, mainly around the idea that pornography and harassment issues are likely very low risk and parents with privacy concerns could simply petition for non-camera classrooms (every school could have a few).
Hallway cameras have been known to have their perks, and those tend to operate on a request basis.

How do you comfort a distraught English teacher?  Pat their hand while saying, "There, their, they're."

Years ago, shortly into my career as a teacher, I made a decision to not tie kids' shoelaces. Why? Someone mentioned loose laces in the bathroom and I have since been permanently disgusted.
Today, one of my wigglier CTR 5-year-olds inexplicably untied his shoes to show his friend, started licking the shoelaces, and then asked me to tie them. This was all during the scripture and talk in sharing tie them.
My refusal to tie shoes came into play, especially with the licking. 
Finally, one of the presidency comes over to tie his shoes. I don't know if she noticed me refusing. I also did not inform her of the shoelace licking.
No one said anything to me or even looked at me like I failed, but I kind of feel like a heel.
Yet I stand by this kid gross shoelace boundary.
 

Powerlessness is what causes people to want to overcompensate.
A kid was bullied, so he grows up wanting enough power and control to be able to bully others back again (as opposed to simply wanting to be strong enough to defend himself). A guy is internally very self-conscious and unsure of himself - he feels powerless.  So, he over-compensates by doing things that (he believes) will make others believe he's really got it all together.  So, he will use unethical means of obtaining money, women, power, fancy gadgets... What is more powerless than feeling like you can't even control yourself?  Habits, addictions... To seize power, we lie to ourselves and say that this addiction is what we really want. For being either powerful or powerless, the corruption that comes with it is not universal.  We all know that.   But when people become corrupt, the corruption doesn't come from a vacuum.  The light of Christ that is given to all men from birth is pushed out of our hearts by certain mechanisms.
For many, the two biggest variables come from having too much or too little control over our lives (and ourselves) as we are children.

It is activated during any public contact.  I turn it off the rest of the time.

Heh...I wear a bodycam on every call...

I'm aware.  But when something happens that far away, how on earth are we expected to keep an eye out (for example) for a "blue Corolla"?  And nowadays when so many people telecommute, I don't even get out on the road very often.  One of my cars goes less than 100 miles/month.
Don't get me wrong.  I really wish I could help.  But the fact is that this is one area where I'm basically useless.

For the past several years, I've wondered how to shut those things off.  I never know anything about these people anyway.  They're in a far part of the state where I wouldn't know a tree from a cactus.
But this morning all of our phones woke us up this morning due to an amber alert.  I got up and looked at it.  I sat and wondered... even if it is no one that I'm familiar with, would there be anything I could do about it?  I knelt and prayed.

I've tried not to weigh in too much on this, because I have mixed feelings about Ballard specifically and about the way awareness of human trafficking is being raised more generally.  But I will at least say this . . . 
From what I understand, at least within the United States, the sorts of scenarios we envision with The Sound of Freedom and Ballard's work generally, are statistically a relatively small proportion of the total "human trafficking" that occurs here.  By and large, human trafficking victims aren't abducted by sinister men driving nondescript windowless vans; they aren't kept chained up in squalid motel rooms or storage sheds with half a dozen other victims; they aren't even necessarily homeless or runaways.  The far more common scenario is for children to be trafficked by their own parents--most frequently by a single mom trading access to her daughter to a dealer in exchange for drugs; or to a landlord in exchange for a month of free rent; or to a boyfriend and/or his friends in exchange for what passes (in the mother's tortured, addled mind) for affection or emotional support.  In a large proportion (probably a majority, as I understand it) of human trafficking cases, bringing the children home is darned near the worst thing you can do.  
I wish well for Ballard, his organization, and his movie.  It's desperately important that we have a cultural renaissance regarding the importance of childhood innocence.  There are theories being bandied about, and becoming increasingly mainstream, that tend to justify the exploitation of children and erode the institutions that have traditionally stood between children and the adults who wish to sexualize them.  Those theories need to be exposed for what they are, and Ballard is one of the leaders of the charge on that issue--which I think is why he generates a lot of the pushback that he gets (though certainly not all--he does strike me as a bit of a poser; and I have methodological issues with some of the historical theories he has published).  I do worry, though, that he sort of sucks all the air out of the room in any discussions regarding the allocation of anti-trafficking resources.  Even if Ballard were 100% successful and effective against the specific subsets of trafficking he targets--we would still have a major child trafficking problem in this country.  

"It is difficult for an empty bag to stand upright."
- Benjamin Franklin
"Holy crap Javert, it was a friggin' loaf of bread for pete's sake.  Give it a rest - this ain't good for you."
- Theater kids
 
In all seriousness though, this is absolutely a thing.  We see it in the US whenever there's a large scale disaster that prevents aid and supplies from showing up for a week or two.  People get hungry, thirsty, dirty, cold, and scared, and social order breaks down pretty dang quickly. 

I'm not so sure about this.  I like conspiracy theories better than most.  Lying about the budget only seems "plausible".  Buying up the tickets?  That's hard to swallow.
And if it was actually $400, the break even mark would be more like $900.

In terms of total dollar amounts, you're correct.  I was looking at it from a profitability perspective.
Indy had a budget around $300 Million.  Add to that the distribution, marketing, financing fees, etc.  They need to make around $700 Million to $800 Million just to break even.
Sound of freedom was so low budget, and the marketing was mostly free.  So, the profitability is much higher.

If we didn’t watch movies because we disapproved of the ideologies of some of the principal actors, directors, or producers, we’d never watch anything.
I note that a number of Harvey Weinstein films are still enjoying some degree of popularity . . .

Apologies for having been away for a few months. I am back--and back to my original calling. Many of you know that I retired from federal prison chaplaincy in December 2022. For the past two years I've taught secondary Bible and US History at a local Christian school. Beginning a few months ago I sensed God drawing me back to chaplaincy. I checked with the state DOC (WA), and there was a position at the women's facility. God opened the door, and I start full-time, beginning tomorrow. So prisonchaplain is a prison chaplain again! 🙂  I figured that this was also a good time for me to return to thirdhour.org, say hello to old friends, and perhaps even make a few new ones. -- PC

https://nypost.com/2023/07/01/university-of-cincinnati-professor-formally-reprimanded-over-biological-women-remark/
(the paper which broke the story is behind a paywall).
Summary:
A University of Cincinnati student used the term "biological women" referring to women to differentiate biological men who pretend to be women (non-"quote" language is mine, not hers). The professor failed her for "using non-inclusive language" in her paper and decided that failing her would be the lesson she needed in order to be more inclusive. The school sided with the student and mandated that the professor take "free-speech training." I would point out that this was most likely a liberal student.  The class was "Women's Gender Stuidies".  I have trouble believing any conservative would be taking such a course.  Liberal women (some would call them "TERFs") know they are being marginalized by this movement.  But now they are running afoul of the trans movement wiping them out.
I recently heard an interesting interview with Naomi Wolf (who is still a liberal, but is siding with conservatives on this issue) wherein she indicated how powerful this movement has become.  And feminists are now being forced to accept men in locker rooms and showers with women.  More women are being raped by men who claim to be women, but because of this movement, they (the women) are being told to shut up.  
Yes, you heard that right.  These biological men are so powerful that they are allowed to rape women with impunity -- just because they're pretending to be women.  School officials are falling on their swords to prevent accusations and criminal charges against these men.
Maybe, just maybe, more rulings like this may turn things around.  But most liberals are all for making excuses for these men.

Handmaid's tale is a show I wish I could watch, but the content is too explicit for me.
But it's interesting to think about such news stories in light of the aging population, and nations facing issues of their birthrates falling below replacement levels.

Well, my personal pet hypothesis is that Disney is looking at a liquidity situation. 
There have been rumblings for years which pointed in this direction, like the whistleblower who claimed that the parks were juggling numbers to appear more profitable and the claims that Disney maxed out one or more lines of credit to make the Fox purchase. 
So long as everything was, in general, making bank, however, Disney could pretend like there wasn't an issue. 
When the lockdowns happened, however, Disney saw everything but their TV channels and Disney+ shut down. 
What's happened since? Several high-profile flops, combined with Bob Iger being ousted under suspicious circumstances right after FTX collapsed, a number of controversies over different movies and TV shows, the flap with Florida, and several other issues. 
All of the rumors, reports, allegations, whistleblowers, and speculations all have money somewhere at the heart of it. I suspect that Disney was leaning too hard on credit to actually get the day-to-day done in the hopes that each of their big-budget blockbusters would print money. They'd gather the cash from these movies, then use it to subsidize the flops before paying off their lines of credit. Whatever was left was profit. This is how Cannon Films used to do it before they deviated from their formula, and that deviation led to their demise. 
In this case, they haven't made the money they need. They're in trouble because they don't have enough liquid cash to handle various expenses and payments, and they know it. That's why the CFO - a position where we usually talk about "golden coffins" instead of "golden parachutes", suddenly decided to spend more time with family; as CFO, she should have sounded the alarm a lot sooner. And let's face it: the chief diversity officer is gone because her little "agenda" joke got several movies destroyed at the box office, movies Disney needed to be successful. 
It also explains the situation at Lucas Film, with Leslye Hedland and others having their projects cancelled and then being paid a pittance in compensation.