Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts

Friday, April 8, 2011

America's Best Dance Crew: Season 6

ABDC: Season 6 is here!



I'll admit, I was afraid the show had been canceled--especially since the last episode of season 5 was an idea that I'd had for a final season of the show. But I'm really glad we're doing season 6. Personally, I think IaMmE had the best performance of the night. What can I say? I love tutting and isolations.

I love hip hop and ABDC, baby!

Did you know Mormons dance too?

Here's some info about music and dance from the legendary For the Strength of Youth pamphlet, a pamphlet to help young people make decisions about standards they will uphold for the rest of their lives. The pamphlet is sometimes lovingly referred to as FSOY.

"Music and Dancing

Music can help you draw closer to your Heavenly Father. It can be used to educate, edify, inspire, and unite. However, music may be used for wicked purposes. Music can, by its tempo, beat, intensity, and lyrics, dull your spiritual sensitivity. You cannot afford to fill your minds with unworthy music. Music is an important and powerful part of life. You must consider your listening habits thoughtfully and prayerfully. You should be willing to control your listening habits and shun music that is spiritually harmful. Don't listen to music that contains ideas that contradict principles of the gospel. Don't listen to music that promotes Satanism or other evil practices, encourages immorality, uses foul and offensive language, or drives away the Spirit. Use careful judgment and maturity to choose the music you listen to and the level of its volume.

Dancing can be enjoyable and provide an opportunity to meet new people and strengthen friendships. However, it too can be misused. When you are dancing, avoid full body contact or intimate positions with your partner. Plan and attend dances where dress, grooming, lighting, dancing styles, lyrics, and music contribute to an atmosphere in which the Spirit of the Lord may be present."

Warning: This is a personal interpretation of a Mormon standards and is not an official statement by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Basically, the counsel given in FSOY is to avoid music or dancing that may potentially lead you to make poor choices or commit sins. Let's be clear, these standards are not declaring it is a sin to listen to certain types of music or dance in a certain way. The standards are warning you that being careless about your music or dance choices may lead to sin.

This is confirmed on the front page of the pamphlet.

"You can avoid the burden of guilt and sin and all of the attending heartaches if you will but heed the standards provided you through the teachings of the Lord and His servants" (emphasis mine).


Yes. This means that you can still run into "good" Mormons (those who are trying not to sin) in the strangest and perhaps even the most compromising of circumstances. I'm not a perfect example of Mormonism, but I'm trying. But I still went to Summer Jam when Sean Paul, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, and Jay-Z came in concert. My point is, there are still good people (I'm not going to count myself as a "good" person) who consume media that is generally not considered spiritual in nature...or at least you won't find this media in the "Gospel" or "Religious" section of your local store.


Even the Mormons of the olden days struggled to reconcile mainstream media with their solemn understanding of their beliefs.


"The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children" (Matthew 11:19).

And it is this that we Mormons often need work on: separating actual sin from situations that are questionable at best. It is one thing to try to avoid sin altogether. It is another thing to claim that failure to avoid and prevent sin completely is sin in itself. That's just called "looking beyond the mark." And when we look beyond the mark, we might miss seeing the Light altogether.

Monday, April 4, 2011

What is "sin?"

Warning: This is a personal interpretation of a fundamental Mormon doctrine and is not an official statement by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'll leave the responsibilities that accompany such statements to living prophets. What follows is merely an attempt to explain how I understand the doctrine.

So here goes.

If you know Mormons or have heard of them, you probably have also heard that there are certain things Mormons can or can't do. Most of those rules you've heard about probably have you all scratching your head like, "WTF?"

Well, let me allay your fears and attempt to clear up your confusion by reassuring you that Mormons can do absolutely anything within the scope of human possibilities. Anything at all. Yes, Mormons can lie, cheat, steal, and kill with the best of 'em. And some do. The rub is that Mormonism attempts to persuade its followers to choose not to do such things (i.e. lie, cheat, steal, and kill). Why? Because such activities are commonly seen as sins.

I say "commonly" because sin is a concept that is often circumstantial.

But wait! So Mormons believe that sin is relative? Mormons are Relativists? Well...sorta.

Let me try to explain...

As Mormons, we believe that one of the purposes of this life is to follow Jesus Christ's example and emulate His attributes and character so we can be prepared to meet God when this life ends. So a lot of our decision making processes revolve around how we perceive our course of action relates to our aim to become more like Jesus.

This idea is found in the Book of Mormon.

"And we see that death comes upon mankind...which is temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state...which is after the resurrection of the dead" (Alma 12:24).

So what is "sin" then?

In its simplest construction, sin is intentionally rejecting an opportunity to emulate and become more like Jesus Christ.


So is that why Mormons don't drink wine or smoke or see rated "R" movies? Well, that's why some Mormons don't do those things--they interpret those actions as harmful to their goal to become more like Jesus. On the other hand, some Mormons don't do those things purely out of habit or cultural convention. Still, others don't do those things simply because they don't have the opportunity.

So is one group of Mormons mentioned above better than the others? It's hard to say. After all, it would depend on how you define "better" and how you would determine a measurement to fit your definition. Really, the people who know best would be the people involved in the decision making process. So you'd have to ask them.

What I can say is, if you have Mormon friends who accept / decline an invitation to participate in a particular activity, feel free to ask them why. You might be surprised / confused by what they might say.