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Everything posted by JohnsonJones
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Christology in the Book of Mormon
JohnsonJones replied to HaggisShuu's topic in LDS Gospel Discussion
This is most likely what I would back. Joseph Smith fell back onto what he was familiar with during the translation in many instances. It most likely is not a word for word translation, but one that also was done in accordance with what Joseph was familiar with. This happens with some translations today as well, especially in texts where it is more poetic. There is a choice in these texts on whether to go with a word by word translation, which will be a literal translation of what the document actually says, or go with a more substantial translation which confers what the document actually means. For example, if we had a phrase in the United States in English that says...Go break a leg...or...beating a dead horse...and translated it to another language people may be confused why we were wishing someone who was about to do something big to go break a leg, or why people who were rehashing old arguments were beating a dead horse instead of talking. Poetic texts are even tougher than that to confer what the author actually means. In addition, there is the question on whether to try to keep the poetry of the writing, or whether to go more towards what is a standard language. Take Virgil's Aeneid. In it, you have all these choices regarding translation. If you go for a pure translation a lot of the symbolism and other areas of the work could be lost. If you go only for one that tries to stay as true to the words, but also convey the feelings and experiences of it, you may lose some of the actual wording utilized, and may not convey the feeling of the poetic verse (dactylic hexameter). If you try to go and convey the feeling of the poetry in motion by replicating the meter of the poetry, you may lose both some of the actual meaning while not staying true to the words. It is a tricky thing translating many of the ancient works. At times, it is left to the translator's best understanding of the matter. Some times they already have exposure to a particular type of translation of the work (for example, many translators of the Aeneid choose to go for a more literal word on word that remains close to the actual meter of the epic poem, but that means that the casual reader will miss quite a bit of some of why things are done or the symbology and meaning of some of the work). It is what they are familiar with and so they go with that tried and true form of translation. Joseph Smith did not have the exposure to a lot of various translations of the Bible during his time period (or at least most likely did not, and/or utilized one version of the bible for most of his actual reading and studying). Hence, just like other translators he probably fell back on that familiarity during his translations. This is why much of the Book of Mormon, especially when it repeats a portion found in the Bible, replicates those portions of the Bible. It was what he was familiar with. The same could go for certain terms in the Book of Mormon. He was familiar with the name of the Lord in the New Testament and when a descriptor of that name came up during translation, he fell back on what he was familiar with. So, the actual term could have been another term or word, but as Joseph was more familiar with the term Christ (which one could view as an actual title rather than a name, Joseph and Mary did not have that as a last name, or at least most Scholars agree they didn't), when a term meaning the anointed one popped up, that's the term he utilized. -
Borders, Trade and International Developments
JohnsonJones replied to Traveler's topic in Current Events
Only thing I have read was during my glance at the news today. It seems Trump ended trade talks with Canada. With the TACO acronym, I expect something will happen next week and they'll be back on or resolved or something. (supposedly it's become such a pattern that it's the best way to make money on Wall Street currently, because any other prediction or method seems to crash and burn with the unpredictability). -
The War in Israel may be at it's end.
JohnsonJones replied to Emmanuel Goldstein's topic in Current Events
I think the bigger point, is that any Conservative should want a smaller government and less Welfare going out. Why are my tax dollars paying their full time employees to work at Walmart? As I mentioned above, if Walmart want's to subsidize their workforce that way, have them pay our government to reimburse us (the taxpayer). I propose that they pay us 10X the amount we subsidize any of their full time employees. Any welfare or food stamps or anything else that a full time employee (note, full time means that this should be the only job the employee needs to do) has to use or qualifies for and uses, will need to be paid back to us 10 fold. Stop using taxpayer money to subsidize their own workers. This would reduce our Welfare monies we spend, reduce the social programs needed, or bring in more money for us to use on other things in the government. -
The War in Israel may be at it's end.
JohnsonJones replied to Emmanuel Goldstein's topic in Current Events
I can't speak for @Phoenix_person, but that's not what a lot of people think when they are talking about Corporate Welfare. The biggest one I can think of, which was probably the worst that we've seen in the past few years were the Loans to keep Banks from going under during the early part of this century (21st century) when we started the "Great Recession" as many call it. Was it necessary to prevent us from possibly going into a depression...probably. On the otherhand, we probably should have let all those companies and businesses go under. Nothing should be "Too Big to Fail" in that way. It would have hurt a Lot more initially, but I think in the long term we would have had better capitalism and a stronger economic future (probably cheaper housing for our children and grandchildren, many who now are wondering if they will ever even be able to afford a house, more competitors in the banking arena and car market, as well as more securities that came about due to capitalism rather than government intrusion in regards to loans and banking options, etc) overall. If we want to talk about Walmart specifically, it isn't the CEO payments that are causing the corporate Welfare, it's literally giving the Company Welfare from the government Coffers For Welfare. What I mean by that, is that Walmart underpays it's employees (especially in rural areas where it is a big employer and driven mom and pop shops out of business). They do not pay a living wage. Thus, though the employees are working full time in those areas, they also qualify for food stamps, housing assistance, and welfare in general. AS one for smaller government and less money spent, I actually am sort of outraged by this. My proposal (which will never occur due to how massive corporatism is in the US, with Walmart being very much involved with government policies) would be to charge the companies. If they have an employee that uses food stamps, welfare, or other social programs to aid the poor, WE CHARGE THEM 10x the amount we spent on their employee. We, as taxpayers, don't need to be paying Walmart for their own company. Let them pay their employees to work, not us. This type of change would either force them to pay employees enough so that my tax dollars are not supporting them, OR...bring in more money to our coffers (who knows, with that amount, maybe we could even pay off the US debt...though I highly doubt even Walmart could afford that). Corporate Welfare means that we are literally paying that companies employees to live from our tax monies, rather than the company actually supporting itself without using our tax dollars. This has nothing to do with some CEO and the Board's pay, and everything to do with lowering government costs by doing away with a Welfare state which these companies promote in order to make a bigger buck by using the Taxpayer's money to supplement their worker's incomes. -
The War in Israel may be at it's end.
JohnsonJones replied to Emmanuel Goldstein's topic in Current Events
I think you are confused about what socialism is and how it can be both socialism and a public good. Fire Departments, Roads, and even police departments are all socialism and run via socialistic policies. All socialism is, is a system where something is owned or run by the people or the state, or owned collectively and run by the state (aka...government...aka...why the Fire Department and Police are almost always also part of the County or City government organizations in the area...OR...run by a group of citizens in the area itself). If a Road is owned by the government, paved by the government, and paid for by your taxes...it is...by definition...being made available via socialism. I'm not sure why you think a Public Good cannot possibly be from socialism, when in fact...a LOT of public goods as you may put it, are directly from socialistic policies in the United States. Of course, the most socialistic program in the United States is none other than the US military (which is ironic, considering how right wing it is). As a sort of flawed notion (as @Phoenix_person could easily point out, but for the purposes of the discussion it is interesting to point this out).... That also points out an obvious problem that conservatives could utilize if they truly wanted to point out the problems with Socialism. One of the biggest expenses in the United States is it's military. The military is completely socialistic in most ways, from the way they provide housing and clothing, to how they provide food and even medical care. Everything is given to them by the state (or via an allowance), so all they need to focus on is the job of defending the nation in which ever capacity they have been appointed. The military composes less than 10% of the population, but consumes much more of the Budget than that. There is no way to extend this type of socialism to the rest of the US without bankrupting it. Of course, pointing out how socialist our own military is, while saying they support that same military and how it operates, is sort of an ironic twist regarding how one would say they are opposed to socialism, but at the same time supporting the greatest pillar of socialism in our nation. -
The War in Israel may be at it's end.
JohnsonJones replied to Emmanuel Goldstein's topic in Current Events
The problem in the United States is not so much Capitalism, but Corporatism and Monopolism rather than Capitalism. Unfortunately, in many instances, Capitalism evolves into Corporatism and Monopolism as the "Survival of the Fittest" edges away the smaller companies, companies merge and giant corporations that have far more power than any other business emerge. When we have companies that engulf such a large amount of sales such as Amazon and Walmart in comparison to other companies, such as Mom and Pop shops, the ability those corporations have to affect government and the economy far outscales anything that normal Capitalism can compete with. In order to have a real capitalistic society, social controls over how large corporations, companies, and co-ops can get must be written and legally enforced. The problem we have had is that these laws have been slowly eroded over the past half century, where as at the same time a great reluctance to enforce anti-monopoly laws have crippled our government in regards to stopping such corporatism from taking place. Part of this is that we see benefits of having large companies control large swathes of our economy in relation to others (an China took note and has attempted a very similar thing, which we can see it's impact on us today). An example... Microsoft, though we took a soft punch at it over two decades ago, never really got broken as a Monopoly. As a result, though other systems are utlized, on the desktop environment, over 75% of the computers worldwide (this does not include phones or tablets, just the desktop and PC environments which we use in such places as schools, offices, etc) still dominate the OS. Thus, ideas such as forced updates, forced creation of accounts, and other things just to unlock our computers to use for the first time are the norm, because all those things are on Windows. Linux, Unix, and other OS's, despite having better ways to do things in these areas are largely not utilized due to Windows dominance. In essence, the competition is not ideal. There is no real capitalism in this environment. Some would say it is a good thing, as we have more universal usage and commonality. It has allowed the United States to control the computer environment (and now along with Apple, even greater control with the phones and tablets) of the world. However, in regards to capitalism, Capitalism is dead in this arena, and has been for decades. If it were alive and well, the US may not have the control it does over these environments throughout the world. If we want Capitalism, than we have to enable capitalism to exist, rather than allowing companies to have basic monopolies in certain areas. Many do not see the advantages of it in relation to where we stand today in regards to the Corporatism that has engulfed this nation. Much of the problems people try to point out regarding Capitalism in the United States is not so much a result of Capitalism itself, but Corporatism and Monopolism in regards to their impact on our Government and Economy. -
The War in Israel may be at it's end.
JohnsonJones replied to Emmanuel Goldstein's topic in Current Events
I think he has an uphill battle. He's going to have an independent (who has been a democrat) probably running against him and that is going to decrease a lot of his votes. Cuomo at least probably won't run as well (if he did, I think that would almost guarantee Zhoran would not win). I don't think his policies (the ones you listed) would fail if he actually was able to bring them about. New York is a very expensive place to live already, and a minimum wage of $30 is probably equal to a minimum wage of $10 to $15 in the rest of the US. City-Owned Grocery stores probably won't be as successful, but I imagine there would be a few small grocery stores in food deserts that would lose money continually, but actually remain. Rent controls are probably heavily needed. Let the rest of the nation catch up before the rents go crazy again. There's too much valuable land, buildings, and the ports in NYC, the wealthy will always be there, or at least will remain until the proposals cost a LOT more than what the mayoral candidate is proposing thus far. I think he may run into problems with the Jewish population and the Sunni population with some of his current views and statements. I have no idea if he will win this or not, I think it depends on whether a certain independent candidate (edit just in case no one knows who I am inferring about: Eric Adams) continues to run or not, and how successful that candidate is in drawing votes for himself and away from the Democrats. -
The War in Israel may be at it's end.
JohnsonJones replied to Emmanuel Goldstein's topic in Current Events
Off Topic: I'd love to get a bigger image of your histomap quoted above. I opened it in it's own tab but still couldn't get it big enough to read it. Getting old, eyes can't read things that small. It looks very interesting though and I'd love to have one that I could really see really easily and read over. -
The War in Israel may be at it's end.
JohnsonJones replied to Emmanuel Goldstein's topic in Current Events
Iran and Saudi Arabia have had a far more hostile cold war between them than the US and the USSR did in the late 20th century (though earlier in the century it probably was hotter between the US and the USSR). They absolutely hate each other. Some of it is over religious disagreements. It has benefited the US greatly (Saudi Arabia is one of the US's oldest allies, and lean greatly on the US for support, much of it due to wanting and needing weapons and defense in regards to this cold war). -
I'm the slow one in this thread. I don't think I understand the question. I went to the link and it just appeared to be a post about holdings and then talking about the church's holdings. I didn't find a quiz. I'm not even sure why it matters in their context. I don't get it. I suppose that means my social media literacy score is...extremely low??
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So, the history of the bible, and the history we hear in religions and churches do not always match what we read in history itself. History during that time period in Egypt is probably the Middle Era and a Golden Era for Egypt. It was also a different dynasty than the original Pharaohs of Egypt. In that light, historically speaking, the Pharaoh may or may not have been directly related to the original Pharaoh (some would say it definitely had connections, others would say it would have been impossible for there to be a connection between them...genetically speaking. It depends on the historian and the slant they are taking. Some of the opinions are more popular than others). Obviously we have problems if there is a direct line between the two, but if there is no connection between them (and we are talking hundreds of years and more...historically speaking rather than religiously speaking as the start of the Egyptian rulers and those of the Middle Kingdom would be quite vast)
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The War in Israel may be at it's end.
JohnsonJones replied to Emmanuel Goldstein's topic in Current Events
To be clear and upfront, I support this action. I feel this is not something that Trump wanted to do. In fact, I think he didn't want to do it. He did it because it had to be done. He probably knew it would be unpopular. He probably knew polls, even from his own party, would show many who were against this act. But if he did this, I think the alternative was Iran with Nuclear weapons. I think they may have been close, and at this point, there was really no alternative. It was do it now, or Iran has a nuclear weapon. (and I'd be happy if someone proves me wrong, but the impression I get was that the reason Isreal took the actions it did, and what convinced Trump to do what he did was how very close they were to obtaining such a weapon). An Iran with a Nuclear Weapon is bad. They have declared death to Israel. They have declared death to the USA. They are one of the biggest backers and formentors of world wide terrorism today. I do not think it takes a great deal of imagination to think of what they may have done if they got nuclear weapons, and the damage they may attempt to do at US targets with such things. Acting offensively to kill others is not Christian, but we also know in the Book of Mormon that we can defend ourselves. Iran declared the US it's enemy decades ago. They have made no secret of things they have done to try to cause us harm. Acting to defend the US from such an enemy that would probably use such Weapons of Mass Destruction to seriously hurt us, I hope falls in line with self defensive actions to defend our nation, our lives, and our way of being. You all know I am not a fan of Trump (at all). However, I think this is one action I fully think he made the right call on. I don't think it's going to be popular (from what I've been reading in the news), but sometimes hard choices have to be made and this was one of them. No one wins with a Nuclear Armed Iran (even Iran loses, though they may not understand why). I know he says that it's a great success, but I think it's too early to tell currently. I only hope that we succeeded as well as Trump has stated (if not more so) after we finally can get the analysis of what damage we actually did or did not accomplish. -
Sorry for the late reply. I could have retired years ago, but I was reluctant to. It meant that I would have to monitor my money far more tightly and I also enjoyed being able to do what I was doing at that time. I had already worked a great deal with another career, and this opportunity to teach and research sort of leaped out at me. I took it and enjoyed it greatly. However, various factors combined to finally make me take the jump and go off the cliff to retirement. #1 - Politics. Not the politics that we think about, but university politics. I was responsible at times for getting grants and contracts and overlooking grants and contracts. There were several factors that were making them much harder to obtain or to feasibly consider. It was getting to be a chore and really making my life a rather unfun experience at times. #2 - My health. Healthwise I am not doing so great these days. As I get older, my health just doesn't want to keep up. It also appears that I may have gotten some dementia (and I do not know how long that means I'll be able to remain as I am, or if it will get worse and eventually I'll not be able to do things. I do not want to be a burden on my family, but if it gets worse...then we will be there). In addition some other health concerns have popped up that could get worse relatively quickly. It's estimated I may have only 1 to 3 years left. If I only have so much time, I want to spend it doing what I want to do. I may get a miracle, but I've lived my life and if I don't, I'll be happy with where I'm at. I'm trying to convince a son or in-law to at least sign onto these forums so when I am no longer able to visit, they at least can keep people updated. #3 - It just feels like it's time. The world and the students are changing, and sometimes I just feel like a fish out of water. I think I'm ready to be done with this stage of my life. On the bright side, I am retired now. I've gone traveling (and really crazy thing happened in Utah while I was there. They actually closed the entire Federal Highway Last weekend! I've never seen another state completely close the highway down without any real reason (Beyond construction). Normally they find a way to at least keep one side open. I've gone to Disney World with some grandkids (we went to all 4 parks. It's different when you are older. I think I prefer Animal Kingdom these days to the other parks, though the grandkids probably enjoyed the other ones better). I went throughout the Western States and I've visited several of the National Parks out there. On the downside, I've found I am going to have to cut back as much as I can on spending. Finances will be tighter and I'm still adjusting. I am fortunate to have a buffer, but I still need to ensure that I stop overspending and take time to focus more on the spending necessities and less on what I would like (for example, my summerly trips overseas...done [though that was usually for research trips rather than pure enjoyment]. My thoughts on touring Europe...currently it seems like it may be a little too expensive for my retirement budgets). Bills and Budgets are tighter now and I'm feeling it. Maybe more car trip traveling around the US during the summer than going internationally, and more time with family than experiencing sights and culture.
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Well, for now I've cut down on a bunch of meetings. Retired and sitting around now. I think I'll go on vacation (but is it really vacation if you are retired, or just travelling?) in June. I had one college who said I shouldn't retire, that those who retire are dead in 6 months. I hope not. I still have kids and grandkids to go visit. Still will have meetings for church, so I suppose I'll still have a few meetings to go to. Otherwise, I don't know if I'll have to worry about another work meeting for a while (though if some people's stories of their after death experiences are true, if I pass away I may have a lot more meetings all of a sudden in the near future).
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Trump (Or any Subject) Derangement Syndrome
JohnsonJones replied to Traveler's topic in Current Events
???? You are a confusing one... But, that said... You have a great day as well and hope that things go well for you. -
AI Is the Threat that Pres. Nelson Warned About
JohnsonJones replied to Carborendum's topic in LDS Gospel Discussion
I was able to view it without paying the WSJ. Not sure if it's due to this being my old work computer or not (it allows me access to certain sites and such), but I was able to view it. Interesting video. -
Trump (Or any Subject) Derangement Syndrome
JohnsonJones replied to Traveler's topic in Current Events
That's exactly what I said. In the very first post. If you are going to relate your anecdotal situation, I'll relate mine. That is, if we are going to relate anecdotal examples. For some reason, you then tried to demand that I my anecdotes must be facts or something strange like that. Which, I was kind of confused about, but shrugged and said...well...if that's what you want...I'm game. Not sure what you are aiming for, but sure...why not. My purpose was not to argue or fight, but see where you were wanting to go with this. Your complaint didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I wasn't upset about it, but kind of confused and curious where you were going with this and where you wanted to go with it. However, if it was going to go into the area where you were trying to back up your anecdotal experiences with fact (which I suppose you may have been wanting to do as you demanded me to back mine up with facts, AND, as my experiences were different than yours, perhaps you were wanting to prove that my experiences were less like what actually is reflected by the statistics and numbers than yours were) I didn't want to have to put up with a bunch of conspiracy information and fake information sites (such as I mentioned before...flat earthers, anti-vaxxers, etc). I wanted to be clear and up front that I am open to your opinion (whatever it was...as I said, I wasn't quite sure where you were wanting to go with this), but if you were going to go that route, please try to do things that would convince me rather than things that would do the opposite. (I'm open to valid discussion and debate, and open to being convinced, but if you are aiming to convince me of something, use resources that I consider useful rather than those I do not. I was trying to point you in that direction so that if you had valid points, you might be able to convince me of your viewpoints). In that light, I thought giving a few examples of what I would look for could guide you in the right direction. In that light, I actually started posting information on the lead causes of death as examples of what we are looking for in regards to facts. If we want FACTS, we can post FACTS. However, if we are going by anecdotal information, then demanding someone back up their anecdotes with facts for no apparent reason while you don't do the same is kind of...well...odd. Not offensive, but it didn't give me any idea of what you were actually wanting or after. This is the almost the exact same Phrase I used, except you separated two sentences with a comma (which is a common item to do with two sentences) and reversed their order. Otherwise, it's almost exactly the same thing I stated to begin with. However, as I admitted, what read as crystal clear to me, did not read crystal clear to others. -
AI Is the Threat that Pres. Nelson Warned About
JohnsonJones replied to Carborendum's topic in LDS Gospel Discussion
I am not really a big fan of AI. I'm glad I don't have to deal with it academically anymore (I am now...officially retired...finally). I didn't have to worry about it as much because my testing tended to be old school (you go to the testing center, they give you a blue book, you write your mid-term and final in the blue book) for under graduates, and the graduate students are held to a higher standard than what you will get out of AI (I think). I know some professors have had great difficulties with it. Personally, if it was something that they could use AI for in my classes, I think due to requiring sources and references, they would need to do just as much work to do prompts and other inputs to get an accurate report as they would if they just did it themselves without the AI, that they would learn what was needed either way. But AI is getting more complex and more advanced and I don't know if that would continue to work in the future. Some already felt that it had surpassed what we could monitor already during my last year or two at the university. It opens many ways for students to cheat, and that obviously is not what the Lord would probably want. I personally dislike a LOT of the AI we are seeing today. I want to turn it off of Google half the time I'm doing a search now as I would prefer the actual sources than a summation. I don't want it in my PC (but I have no idea how to turn this copilot thing off), and don't want it on my phone. It seems they want to put it everywhere, whether we want it or not. I can see that many kids these days will probably only read the first thing on Google (which is the AI summary) and accept that rather than do further research. With that type of mindset, with AI ideas or items getting more prevalent in every electronic device in our lives, I can see how these future adults and leaders could be easily duped into believing things without trying to look further than whatever the AI tells them to. In that instance, I could see how important being led by the spirit may be in the future. I don't know if this was the exact thing President Nelson was warning about (it could be part of it along with many other things) but I can definitely see how it could be. -
AI Is the Threat that Pres. Nelson Warned About
JohnsonJones replied to Carborendum's topic in LDS Gospel Discussion
What did I just watch???? Why would people use AI to make something like this? I had some kids watching behind me and they found it hilarious. I made sure to tell them that the entire video was fake, but they already knew this apparently. What a strange video. -
Trump (Or any Subject) Derangement Syndrome
JohnsonJones replied to Traveler's topic in Current Events
This is what I claimed I bolded and underlined the part you missed. I thought it was obvious that when I stated we are going off of anecdotal information, you would understand that your statement on who died from being vaccinated was absolutely anecdotal, and that this also was stating MY INFORMATION was anecdotal (sorry about the all caps @NeuroTypical, but it seems when I don't do this, people may be missing something I've been saying, I've been trying not to use them though). Everything in the post was anecdotal. Thus, anecdotally, NO ONE WHO WAS VACCINATED DIED from Covid-19. That's 100% no one died. This is anecdotal information. It's 100% fact (once you realize, that this is anecdotal). Anecdotal doesn't mean it's true overall, but is based on what you have personally experienced. It's 100% fact that in my personal experience, I didn't see anyone who was vaccinated from Covid-19 die from the disease. In your anecdotal post you claim it was personally what you saw (but many of your posts besides that one, such as where you claim hospital workers are manipulating information don't say that it's an opinion, anecdotal, or anything of the sort, but are literally saying it like they are facts without anything to back them up). Why do you think I included that this was anecdotal information except to point out that what we both were doing was using anecdotal information in our posts? I thought you were wanting to try to prove that being vaccinated was a higher cause of death than dying from Covid-19, if we go off your personal thoughts or something. If that's what you feel or think, I'm am open for you to try to present your case. If not, I'm not sure why you are wanting me to prove something I already said was anecdotal (and I think I've been pretty clear since then, if you didn't catch it on the original post) as absolute truth rather than...as I said...anecdotal information. I can show that dying from being vaccinated was not as high a cause of death as Covid-19 was...or is, most likely. In fact, during 2020-2022 it (Covid-19) was one of the leading causes of death...while being vaccinated from Covid-19 was not and had a very SMALL chance of causing death (an even smaller chance than some of the other vaccines out there, so those going on about peope dying from the vaccine is a little odd to focus on this one rather than others which have a higher mortality rate). I posted some actual references to that above, but am open for you to show counter references to back something up that you feel is wrong, or of a different opinion of. -
Trump (Or any Subject) Derangement Syndrome
JohnsonJones replied to Traveler's topic in Current Events
No, as I stated, this was anecdotal, just like @mirkwood had an anecdotal experience about the only ones he knew were those who were actually vaccinated. It's why I stated, it was anecdotal (meaning, based on personal experience. Perhaps I wasn't clear, though I thought by stating it was anecdotal information, people would understand my statement was anecdotal. I suppose what may have seemed clear to me, may not be clear to others). Personally, no one I knew that was vaccinated died from Covid-19. If we are going from anecdotal experiences, than I would imagine my experience is just as valid as anyone else's. I did know of people who died from Covid-19 (unfortunately), and I did know at least one member who had been vaccinated was seriously affected by it (he is older than I am, that was hospitalized [we did a fast for him] but he recovered luckily). I got rather sick during that time period, but not enough to go on a ventilator. I was blessed. I was also vaccinated. My spouse lost her sense of smell, and I know of one or two young people that experienced what one would term...long Covid, but most of those who died in from Covid were early on and were from my generation rather than the younger generations. -
Trump (Or any Subject) Derangement Syndrome
JohnsonJones replied to Traveler's topic in Current Events
You gave an anecdotal reference, so I also gave an anecdotal experience. I'm not certain how you can claim an opinon or personal experience (rather than using statistics) is not anecdotal. Especially when I outright state it is anecdotal (you know what anecdotal means...correct?) That said I don't mind as long as you use an actual source that's not some far right conservative wacked out conspiracy laden site that claims we never landed on the moon, vaccines don't work, the earth is flat, or other nonsense like that (and unfortunately, there seems to be a LOT of those out there and for some odd reason the Trump "Conservatives" seem to eat that stuff up. Normal conservatives...not so much. But there's a lot of nonsense out there. Anti-Intellectualism, Anti-Science, and Anti-Education seem to be on the rise these days). (To be clear, I don't mind conservative or liberal sources, but those that go off about how evil and wrong all scientists and science is...won't convince me...and I think your point is to try to convince me rather than just be a sounding board). If it's from a reputable source, and can be sourced to something reputable...I'm game. Okay, let's check for the top death rates of those kids who were 18 to 25 Those are the kids I mostly was over and worked with in the University system (and thus, the ones I would know about the most). I didn't know of any of those students that died from Covid, vaccinated or not. I didn't know anyone of the younger generation (up to their 50s) that died of Covid in my Ward or stake (personally known. I heard about some, and read about others, but no one I knew personally from those ages died from that cause. That's anecdotal again, however). For those who are in my age group you are going to be looking at those 70+ and older. I'd probably shoot for the years between 2020 and 2022. This is a decent example... Top causes of death for ages 15-24 number of deaths from Statista ages 20-24 This is pretty good. I consider the CDC pretty decent for that time period, though I know a lot of uneducated anti-vaxxers and flat earthers were against it. CDC's National Viital Statistics I'm not certain what you are trying to prove to me (though, maybe it's the idea you think that more people died from being vaccinated from Covid-19 than died from other causes (or even from Covid-19 itself), in which case that's not supported by any of the data I looked at above. TLDR: I'm game for you to post some things to try to convince me (Which is more of a chance an opportunity than I think most people would give me here), but if you wish to do so, please use valid sources rather than something that would waste my time. I'm always willing to listen and consider other opinions, but I'd also prefer a strong argument with valid sources than not. -
Trump (Or any Subject) Derangement Syndrome
JohnsonJones replied to Traveler's topic in Current Events
100% of the people my age who died from Covid were NOT Vaxxed. If we are going by anecdotal information. The only young people I knew who died during that time period, died from other things (suicide, accidents, and other sad situations). -
Brigham Young is a...rather interesting individual. He tried to press a view of our Father Adam, as well as Father Adam, and their relationship between each other and our lord, Jesus Christ. Some of his views he tried to get into canon, but was generally prevented by at least one solitary vote who did not agree with that view. Thus, he never had unanimous support among the twelve for certain parts of the doctrine. One portion that I've learned about later that is scientifically false, was his idea regarding Adam and Eve. His thoughts were that since woman could not have any see of their own, (or, in our idea and language, she didn't provide any DNA to help create a baby, she was merely the place the baby grew), and only Adam had that ability, Eve was said to come from his Rib, but it really was from his loins. She was literally his offspring in that manner, and than as she was that, she also made him complete. A little confusing, but we know that's not how it works today. We know that the DNA for a child needs both parents, otherwise you only have half the genetic material required to make a child (at least, naturally). He was a very stubborn man though, and tried to push through some of these views regardless. He pushed them in some conferences. He pushed them in some sermons. He pushed them in the Temple, he pushed them at the churches. This, however, was the very reason he was Prophet. The saints HAD to have Brigham Young to be their prophet. He was the only one stubborn and strong enough to uproot them from their lands in the East, move them hundreds and over a thousand miles westward, to a desert land that seemed inhospital to human life in general, and then, with a willpower that really is remarkable, enable the Saints to form a thriving society. The church today, exists, because Brigham Young's willpower and stubborness was strong enough to make it happen. We had to have him as prophet so we could be. We can see this with other prophets sometimes. They are prophet at a specific time and they are the best ones to serve as leadership. The most recent is our Prophet President Russell M. Nelson. Do you think it was mere coincidence that we had one of the world's greatest doctors leading our church during a time of great medical difficulties in the world? I do not. This does not mean he is infallible, or perfect, or that he never makes mistakes or has misunderstandings. It is that he is the Prophet of the Lord and called to be such. As the Prophet he has missions that we know from the start, and missions that arise that were probably foreordained before the world was, but that he is called to serve in this capacity during their mortal ministry. I feel Brigham Young had some turbulent things he said and did, but when I see what he accomplished for the members and the church of the Lord against overwhelming odds that he would fail (and in fact, anyone else probably would have failed), there is no doubt that he was called to Lead the Church at the time he served as it's leader because he was the only one that could get the things done...completed as he did.
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I have been thinking on some very similar items recently. I've come to some conclusions. Justice is not fair. Justice is not necessarily good. It's not bad, but it's not good either. Justice can be incredibly unfair. Justice can be incredibly inequal. When people talk about justice, many do not mean that. They do not want justice, they want equality or they want something to be fair. However, there's nothing fair about justice in our lives, or at least sometimes justice is invariably unfair. This is why we MUST have mercy, because without mercy, life would not be fair. Some would have far better chances then others in receiving rewards. A prime example. A man is starving and his children are starving. He has no job because he was fired for no reason. He is willing to work, but no work is to be had. He goes to the grocer even though he has no funds. He steals 1,000 dollars worth of food. He gives it to his children. He then is arrested. He is charged. His children starve to death. He goes to prison for committing a felony. Another man works at the store. He is a manager. He dislikes the man mentioned above. The man above is the hardest worker in the store, but because he is disliked by the manager, he is fired. The manager then decides he wants to steal 1000 dollars from the store. He gets arrested and charged. His father is rich and has connections. With the best lawyer, and tweaking those connections, he gets off with a minimum sentence and fine. The both committed a felony. They both did the crime. Even with equal justice, both should serve a jail time and pay a fine. There are those in society that would say that this is not fair. I would be one that would agree it is not fair. How is it fair that children should die because their father was fired for no reason by a petty man? However, Justice is blind, or should be. Society operates because Justice is applied in this way. It doesn't matter whether you are rich or poor, powerful or not, Justice will be served. In this life we have those born into comfort and wealth. They have every blessing one could desire. They have the blessings of the gospel. Others are born into the most severe poverty. They are tormented by the horrors of this world at every turn. They never receive the gospel. That one goes to the Celestial Kingdom and one does not if they both do not sin, is justice. However, many would say that is not even close to being remotely fair. It's not fair because the situations are not equal. This is why we must have mercy. This is why there needs to be mercy, because this world is inherently unfair, and justice without mercy can be a very unfair thing.