My First Blog Post: Lier is going to be so proud of me...haha

Good Day for Lier

On a happy note, my amazing wife transitioned into a new job today and I am so happy for her. Her previous working conditions were very sub-par at best but she had freedom with her schedule…We could go on and on about how bad it was for her but on the bright side she in now the Surgical Coordinator for a Plastic Surgeon here in Honolulu and has an intense job description but is eager and willing to take on all the many tasks she has in front of her!

I am proud of you Lier and all of your hard work! You are so deserving of this wonderful opportunity! Thank you for taking care of me while I have been on crutches for the last 4 months, I know it wasn’t easy and you’ll never know how much I appreciate all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and many more sacrifices you made for me. I love you!

Fun with the Jehovah Witnesses

A feeling of emptiness: here I am on my spring break sitting at my computer doing homework when there is a knock at the door. I answer it and it is 2 older guys from the Jehovah Witness church proselytizing to me. They start off telling me they know I am struggling to live in these conditions and I don't have a job because I am home during the day...I laughed and said, "Well I am a college student and this is my spring break-I am actually doing homework right now." They said, "Well you probably won't get a job when you graduate." I thought to myself, "Well thanks Satan you're a nice guy...now how can I help you." They asked me where I was from and I said Utah. They then said oh Mormon country huh. I said, “Yeah, I joined the church when I was 18 and I went on a mission to New York City.”One of the guys said, “I was a member of the Mormon church for 25 years until this guy (his companion) showed up on my doorstep and taught me the truth.” I said, “Oh, well good for you, if that is what you think is right then good for you.” They started teaching me, “When we die our souls die too and it says that right here in the scriptures.” They showed me a verse in Ecclesiastes to back up their statement. I just shrugged my shoulders and said that is sad, but I don't believe our souls die too. They went on to tell me how babies are inherently born with sin because of Adam and we all are sinners because of him. I said, “I’m sorry but I don’t believe that either. I believe we are all sinners because we all have the agency to choose good and evil and we sometimes make the wrong choice. The guy took one step towards me and with much self conviction said, “We are all sinners because Adam couldn’t keep the commandment to not eat the fruit.” I could see this was going nowhere but I like learning about different religions. He kept on pushing the point to me that babies are born sinners and I about lost it…haha. I said, “You really believe that a baby is born a sinner?” He said, “Yeah Chandler-does your church really believe children are innocent until the age of 8.” I said, “Yes we do.” His name is Larry, and I said, “Larry, really try and reflect for a second-do you really think a baby just born…even 2 years old, is a sinner?” He said, “Yes it says so in the scriptures.” I spoke with him for the next couple of minutes about doctrine from the Book of Mormon clarifying these points he is making from his scriptures about infant Baptism Moroni 8 on how “little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; (Christ says) wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them; and the state of Adam and the fall in 2 Nephi 2:23-25 “And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in the state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.” “But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.” “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.” Larry, looked at me and said, “We don’t respect your Book of Mormon or what it says.” This man was probably 65 years old and I about threw him over the railing of our apartment…which is exactly what Satan wanted me to do. So I said, “I don’t respect your version of the Bible as correct either but I had enough respect to listen to you and hear you out.” You want to have this argument over whether or not we are born sinners and inherently because of Adam our souls are going to die, when you should be teaching people how we can overcome our own mistakes and teach people a joyous message. The term gospel means “good news” if I want to hear of all the terrible things that are going on in the world I can turn on CNN. A religious organization is suppose to prepare its members for the future, helping them acquire faith and virtue in this perilous world we live in. Don’t come knocking at my door trying to give me a spiritual beat down…telling me they know why I don’t have a job, children are sinners, and Adam was a bad man because he partook of the fruit. I feel like such a missionary again right now. If they only knew Adam is Michael the archangel who will be standing at Jesus’ side at the time of their judgment. I think it will be a huge shock to them when they find out the man (Adam) they are blaming for the conditions of this world is the man that stands at the head of this world and reports directly to Christ. . I believe we are all sinners because we choose to sin…I just found it crazy when Larry told me we would have all lived in the Garden of Eden if Adam didn’t eat of the fruit. He doesn’t understand that when they were in a state of innocents they didn’t know how to have sex-so they could multiply and replenish the earth so we all could be born here on this earth.

Anyway, enough about that. I am just grateful to belong to a church that brings tidings of great joy to all men and women everywhere. This man who I opened my door too went on to tell me I am not a Christian and I don’t believe the Bible because I believe the Book of Mormon. I ask myself, “Who…just who is at the head of his church.” I was holding my Bible following along as he read scriptures to me. He said that he recognizes our church’s name has Christ’s name in it but we don’t believe in Him. Wow! Meanwhile, Earnest the shorter guy that was Larry’s companion had his head ducked the whole time. He told me he was Mormon for 25 years and was so happy in the beginning of the conversation but at the end I could see that he felt bad about how Larry was talking to me. Larry looked at his watch and said, “We have to get going we have an appointment in 5 minutes.” I looked at Earnest (who was also probably 65 years old) and said, “Earnest, is this really what you believe now? I know he felt really stupid because of what happened and because being a member of the church for 25 years he knew the doctrine I was telling him…anyway, Larry interrupted me while I was talking to Earnest and walked away. Meanwhile, I saw them knocking on doors in my neighborhood for the next 20 minutes which means he was lying by saying, “We have an appointment in 5 minutes.” Frustrating…. Haha oh yeah, Larry also told me his New Testament portion of the Bible was written before Christ’s time…haha the New Testament starts when Christ was born and continues till after his death. That is one inspired New Testament if it was written before Christ’s time. His argument in telling me this was that his Bible was more correct than The King James Version of the Holy Bible…go figure. If this is what your representatives of your church are teaching people their souls probably will die…along with all their blasphemous teachings. Thank you Heavenly Father for Prophets who you inspire and guide so that we can know the “good news” and know what we need to do to get to heaven. I am so grateful to be a Mormon-a believer of Jesus Christ as my Savior and Redeemer and a believer of The Book of Mormon and the Bible, and I am thankful for Father Adam partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Without him doing so we would not exist and Adam and Eve would still be in the Garden of Eden as innocent children…knowing no good for they knew no evil, hence…to know, they had to Partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Fascinating huh?

Now that I am done going off I better get back to my homework…