Bathtub thoughts*: Wha DjuWant? Bono v MoTab

*Bathtub thoughts are the deep profound questions that float around my head while I do hydrotherapy exercises. My guess is that Sister Jepperson will find most of these thoughts neither deep nor profound, but maybe only one will be both.

I was going to title this, "you want some of this" but that + bathtub seemed too provocative for the wonky tone I carry in my heart.

Considering the state of the world -- Iran preparing for war with Israel; misogyny becoming a political party in the US; bishops making up political fights so they can feel relevant even though 99.9% of their flock sins on a daily bases (i know, shocker!) -- I can't help but wonder if conservative/orthodox/calvanistic christians, mormons, jews, catholics, muslims, etc etc etc aren't stimulating war on purpose?

If you believe in Old Testament Ezekiel and the Battle of Gog and Magog, couldn't you believe that this is the happy one?  The one that is not about physical blood but the triumph of man over sin?  When we prove to the world that John was right when he told us that "perfect love casteth out all fear".

I know hawks who see war as a way to separate the wheat from the tares.  Hawks believe that the Earth might actually need to burn up so that God can come again and bring the white dove of peace. Because that guy never forgets to bring wine to a dinner party ... ya know!

I wonder how Hawks reconcile those notions with this idea from Elder Maxwell:

If you sense that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, why not do so now? For in the coming of that collective confession, it will mean much less to kneel down when it is no longer possible to stand up!

Jesus explained this pretty clearly to a "certain ruler" in Luke 18:18-24, "how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!"?  He teaches, first learn to control yourself and cleans your "inner vessel".  Live the Old Testament basics before you try to live the higher law.  "Line upon line, precept on precept".

Jesus is basically saying, don't kill, cheat, lie, steal, etc for any reason. As the Salvationist Captian and Tenielle used to say: "Love, love will keep us together.  THink of me, babe, whenever some sweet talking girl comes along ... Stop, cuz I really love you."


Love people the way you know you need to be loved.  “If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves” (Teachings, 343). Which is why King Benjamin says that "when you are in the service of your fellow beings you are only in the service of your God".

I think what they are getting at here is that this separation of God and man is false.  The veil itself is an invention.  The rich are no different than us, they are just so scared that when they start to feel threatened they attack.  Like distrained pitbulls. You can rescue that puppy, but it will always be scared.

Regardless, we can all embrace the peace that Jesus taught now.  Like right this second. If we all just decide not to fight, we probably won't have as much fighting.  That is how it works on playgrounds.

To to my calvinist friends, i think i think what Thoreau meant was you have to face the fire.  Humans go through the pain in order to live.  Without opposition, one can't  know love and pleasure.  "the only way out is through", it's true. But you can build bridges or use bulldozers.  WIthout tasting salt, you can't describe it.  Without experiencing sour and sweet, you can't explain the difference.  So it is with life.  We can't know love, until we have known hate.  That doesn't mean we have to hate though.  We can love.

I know that in the hierarchy of the animal kingdom insects are worth exterminating where as the "worth of the soul is great in the eyes of the Lord".  But in the hierarchy of the pop, Beetles really crush the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Which is why we sang "All you need is Love" at Didi's funeral.




Since we feel true stewardship for the earth, we do everything in our power to protect and beautify the earth. Aren't we supposed to cherish the love the earth wants to give by growing gardens, enjoying recreation time as a family, following the words of wisdom about how to treat our bodies, and how the way we treat our bodies affects our souls.

I guess it is this worldview I hold of the worth of every soul and the divine nature of this planet and the country I was born to.  I learn things like the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill (DWHOS) is not the biggest oil spill ever in the world.  Just the biggest one over here, in this part of the globe.  560-585 thousand tons of crude oil.

Oddly enough the largest "oil spill" lead to some fires and additional spills that lasted the entire year of 1991.

Starting in January 19, 1991 the Persian Gulf Oil Spill which dumped 818–1,091 thousand tons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf. Twice as much as spilt in the Gulf.  But wait, there's more ...

Resulting fires burnt 136,000-205,000 thousand tons of crude oil into the atmosphere.  The Kuwaiti oil fires unleashed 2000 times as much oil as Deep Water Horizon.   No one knows if its worse for it to go in the air or in the water.  People will claim a definitative, and then its proven wrong.  Chicken and egg question.  There is no answer.  They are equally atrocious, and we need to figure out how to get that muck out of the atmosphere.

(I have to say, I wish the bishops would care more about spilled oil than spilled seaman.)

I'd love to add a couple of satyrical verses to this popular Mormon hymn.  They'd be about the current political environment which also causes me to "stand all amazed":