The Dangers of Moral Relativism

There exists a belief that right and wrong is subject to human interpretation, called moral relativism. This is very dangerous to society for a number of reasons. Here are some:

First, and most obviously, without a fixed standard of right and wrong, people will do whatever they want.Without thinking that there is a right and a wrong, people do whatever they feel like doing. They give in to the animal side of man.
If everybody one day decided that nothing was morally superior, there would be no laws, personal or public. Murder, thievery, dishonesty- all of these, and more, would abound. It wouldn't be safe to go anywhere, because for all you know you could be killed. What would the punishment be for these actions? Nothing.

Next, happiness would be diminished, if not entirely extinguished. This happens naturally, because the soul recoils in the presence of sin, and anybody who has ever sinned knows how it feels to have that sin weighing on you. Happiness is impossible in the presence of sin.

Also, civilization would be lost if moral relativism became widespread. Civilizations are devloped through leisure, as Bastiat points out in one of his essays.* With people not having a set of moral rules, they would plunder, because that is the easiest way to gain. Work would take up mouch more time, because the people who didn't participate in plunder would have to try even harder to supposrt themselves.



Moral relativism is sometimes easy to accept. It's easy to say that there isn't any right or wrong, and that we all behave in ways that are just as moral. But it is absolutely not true. I don't claim to know everything, because I don't. I'm a young girl, and I have a whole lot of stuff to learn. But I know that God established right and wrong before this world was created, and I know that we have to try to follow the right way.

  

  "And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away."

2 Nephi 2:13

*"And here we have a glimpse of one of the finest harmonies in the social world. I allude to leisure: not that leisure that the warlike and tyrannical classes arrange for themselves by the plunder of the workers, but that leisure which is the lawful and innocent fruit of past activity and economy.... Is not leisure an essential spring in the social machine? Without it, the world would never have had a Newton, a Pascal, a Fenelon; mankind would have been ignorant of all arts, sciences, and of those wonderful inventions prepared originally by investigations of mere curiosity; thought would have been inert- man would have made no progress."- Frederic Bastiat,  Capital and Interest. Bastiat also expounded upon plunder in The Law

My Funny Valentine

Today, I was listening to Frank Sinatra. As I was enjoying his wonderful voice, the song My Funny Valentine came on. At first I thought it was a kind of strange song, because he pointed out all the faults of this lady, but then I realized that it is really quite sweet. It's one of my favorite songs, because its lyrics are as beautiful as its sound.

Just because we may not be perfect according to the standards of the world, doesn't mean we aren't wonderful in our own special ways. We are unique, and beautiful.

Here are the lyrics:

"My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable
Unphotographable
Yet you're my favourite work of art

Is your figure less than greek
Is your mouth a little weak
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?

But don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is valentines day"
(Note: I just looked up the lyrics online.)

Here is a recording of Frank Sinatra singing this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKvrSHVsRDo

Honour and the Downfall of American Society

Yesterday, I was emailing a very intelligent friend from LEA, and he sent me this:
 "I was reading A History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbons a couple of days ago, when I came across a passage that said, ''He (speaking of the Gallienus, the Emperor of the time) was even destitute of a sense of honour, which so frequently supplies the absence of public virtue.'' Sound familiar? The word honour has slipped from the vocabulary of the average American, and most of our lawmakers are sub-average. That is why, after reading that, the loss of morality in our society is no longer a surprise. When honour fails to be a word used correctly and not lightly, expect that society's downfall. We are Rome. We will fall, unless we fix quite a few things up, and soon."

After this, I looked up the word honour in the Webster's 1828 dictionary, because I like that dictionary. Here are some of the definitions:

1. The esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation.

2. A testimony of esteem; any expression of respect or of high estimation by words or actions;

4. Reverence; veneration; or any act by which reverence and submission are expressed,as worship paid to the Supreme Being.

6. True nobleness of mind; magnanimity; dignified respect for character, springing from probity, principle or moral rectitude; a distinguishing trait in the character of good men

As a society, we don't respect anything except our own desires. We look at reverence and venration as foolish. We definitely don't value true nobility of mind. We must learn to respect virtue, to remember that there is something higher than ourselves, and be keepers of virtue, or we will not keep freedom. As John Adams said,
"Our Constitution  was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

This new year, let's all try to improve ourselves so we can preserve this freedom for ourselves and future generations of our children. 


Happy New Year! I hope it's full of love and improvement in our characters.

New Year, New Start

Today, I was reading a book by Emily Freeman, called Keepers of  What Matters Most: A Young Woman's Guide to Living the Values. It has sections for all of the Young Women values, and when I got to Integrity, I found this quote that the author shared:
"Live never to be ashamed if anything you do or say is published around the world."
- Richard Bach

I thought this was very meaningful, and something to consider at the end of this year. Although we have all made mistakes that we wouldn't want published anywhere, we can start again. Our thoughts are generally focused on starting to do better at this time of the year, because this year dies, giving us an opportunity to start again with the new year.






I hope everybody had a very merry Christmas, and that they were able to re-focus on what is really important in their lives.

Also, for your pleasure, here is a very funny video by Studio C about New Year's resolutions. (Don't follow Matt's example. Not a good idea. :P)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV5JFEmLbjM

Presents for Jesus

     In this Christmas season, everybody has been thinking a lot about gifts for friends, gifts for co-workers, gifts for random acquaintances, and it made me think about gifts that we can give to Jesus. Since we don't see him all the time, it would be hard to give him something physical, such as a teddy bear, or perhaps a soft blanket. Here is what I've found, which he has said in the scriptures that he wants.

1. A broken heart and a contrite spirit.
He wants us to come to him and be healed, so we can be perfected in him.

2. He wants us to take care of his siblings here on Earth, who need help.
He wants us to take care of every brother that we see who has the need of help that we can give.

  While I was writing this post, my little brother said, "What he wants us to give is ourselves." I thought this was very wise. He wants us to give all of ourselves for his holy cause of love and peace.
Marjorie Hinckley said it well:
“I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.
I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.
I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.
I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder."

George Washington and Superman

My little brother once said that George Washington is like the Superman of real life. I think that's pretty accurate. Let's look at the similarities.

1. They are both incredibly virtuous.
The only fault I can find with George Washington is that he tended get angry easily, which he learned to control in his more mature years. There isn't a fault with Superman.
2. They both stand for "Truth, Justice, and the American Way".
George Washington helped to establish America to begin with, and Superman saw how amazing it was and decided to protect it.
3. They seem to be bulletproof.
George Washington is famous for not having been shot one time during the whole Revolution, and everybody knows that Superman is bulletproof.

The differences?
One's real and the other is not. (And George Washington had a cooler wife.)

"If" for Girls

One of my favorite poems is "If", by Rudyard Kipling. It is a really great poem, which I would recommend that you all read. One day, I found a poem called "'If' for Girls", by J.P. McEvoy. I love this one even more. It's what i want to be.

"If you can hear the whispering about you,
And never yield to deal in whispers, too;
If you can bravely smile when loved ones doubt you,
And never doubt, in turn, what loved ones do;
If you can keep a sweet and gentle spirit
In spite of fame or fortune, rank or place,
And though you win your goal or only near it,
Can win with poise and lose with equal grace;

If you can meet with Unbelief, believing,
And hallow in your heart a simple Creed,
If you can meet Deception, undeceiving,
And learn to look to God for all you need;
If you can be what girls should be to mothers:
Chums in joy and comrades in distress,
And be unto others as you'd have the others
Be unto you - No more, and yet no less;

If you can keep within your heart the power
To say that firm, unconquerable "No";
If you can brave a present shadowed hour,
Rather than yield to build a future woe;
If you can love, yet not let loving master,
But keep yourself within your own self's clasp,
And not let dreaming lead you to disaster,
Nor pity's fascination loose your grasp;

If you can lock your heart on confidences,
Nor ever needlessly in turn confide;
If you can put behind you all pretenses
Of mock humility or foolish pride:
If you can keep the simple, homely virtue
Of walking right with God - then have no fear
That anything in all the world can hurt you-
And - which is more - you'll be a Woman, dear."