Arrows in the hand of a mighty man

I found this scripture last night, and I thought the imagery and symbolism were really cool:

3 Lo, ^achildren are an ^bheritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his ^creward.

4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

5 ^aHappy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

(Psalms 127:3-5)

Ephraim?

Is the Word of Wisdom especially tailored to Ephraim (in the Last Days, the tribe to be restored first to prepare the way for the others, etc.)? May they have a tendency for weakness in certain areas? Is this a reason why the Word of Wisdom was given—to help modern Ephraim avoid their stumbling block when confronting worldly vices? Not only alcohol, but other substances are a scourge in our times.

I offer here a comparison of Isaiah 28 and D&C 89, looking for common themes and images in order to explore the possible relation between these two revelations. Revelations come from a common source and may be more interelated than we might realize. (Or perhaps the relationships in this case are mostly part of my own imagination.)

KEY:
In what follows: Isaiah 28 is in regular type. D&C 89 is in italics. Points of contact are in bold. (Not all similarities are of equal significance, some may have no significance. Some are similar in imagery, but not context--can imagery be an independent system? One thing is sure: the way to find things is to search for them.)


1 WOE to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. . .
21 And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. . .


3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: . .
5 That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink
20 And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. . .


4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. . .
11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving. . .


5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, . .
2 . . .showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days-- . . .
19 And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures . . .


6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. . .
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. 8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. . .
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? . .
5 That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father . . .
19 And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures . . .
20 And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

See also 2 Nephi 28:77 for this prophecy of our time: Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us.

Would I do the same?

My friend made an interesting hypothesis a while ago- she said that you see people doing things for the same reason  you would do them. This caused me to reflect and I felt a little ashamed. When you are irritated with someone because you think they've snubbed you or you feel like they went out of their way to be unkind- does it mean that you would do the same to someone? I guess the Savior knows why we all of us do what we do, he understands human nature perfectly but he's not like that at all. What do you think?

Who's responsible for my health?

Have you seen "Supersize Me"? Basically the movie is a self documentary, about this this guy who decides to eat at McDonalds three times a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, for 30 days. He ordered a "value meal" each time, and if the counter person asked him if he would "like that supersized" he would say yes. So, that was his experiment, to see what would happen to him. In the end he gained a whole bunch of weight, and all kinds of health problems. Before the 30 day experiment was up, his doctor told him he better stop or he might die from the complications. I can't remember if the guy stopped before the 30 days or not.

I just went through the McDonalds drive through for lunch. Over the speaker the lady asked me if I would like my value meal "large sized" because it is on sale. When I got up to the window, I asked her if they changed the "super size" name to "large size." She said that large size is smaller than super size, and they don't have super size anymore because the guy who made the Supersize Me movie sued McDonalds and many of the McDonalds stores lost (I don't know if she meant went out of business or what). So, this guy ON PURPOSE eats McDonalds super sized meals three times a day for 30 days, his doctor tells him to stop or he is going to die. Then he sues McDonalds. What do you think about that?

Top Ten

Just to continue the technology discussion...





Top Ten reasons why technology makes our lives easier.



10) Cell phones have become smaller and smaller so that you can keep them anywhere and also lose them anywhere.

9) Cell phones also have special features now, like silent vibration and text messaging, that make it possible for any one of your aquaintances to track you down anywhere, anytime, if there's an emergency or if there's not.

8) Cars make it possible to get to farther places faster than our pioneer ancestors, so that we can get jobs in big cities and have homes in the suburbs, because the commute is only an hour and a half, and with eight to ten hours at work, that leaves approximately a half-hour of waking time actually at home with our families.

7) Television creates an opportunity for the entertainment geniuses of our time to do their stuff, and we have the opportunity to watch it five hours a day, seven days a week, time during which, if you use it to practice the piano or acting or tai kwon do, you could develop some pretty phenomenal entertaining abilities yourself.

6) Farming has now become industrial, and so a much bigger number of people can be supported by a much smaller number of farmers who employ techniques such as pest-spraying, unseasonal harvesting, and chemical preserving in order to actually be able to have the time to grow enough food to support such a large number of people.

5) The internet has made it possible to find any piece of information, anywhere, and it's so easy, even young children can use it; and do, every day.

4) With calculators, math is so much quicker and easier; in fact, they make it so quick, and so easy, that there are times when I've forgotten how to do long division.

3) With a credit card, it is much easier to go shopping, because you don't have to carry all this confusing cash around, and also you can buy all the groceries you want even at the end of the month.

2) With a digital camera, you can take hundreds of beautiful pictures of everything of importance in life and the colors and image are so true to life that you hardly even feel left out seeing all of this through the camera lens.

1) A computer is an amazing thing. Life is so much more organized, quick, and efficient, you can get so much done with a computer, it's even worth the hours each day of time spent figuring out how to make it work right.

The Dog and the Turnip


Once there was a lost dog. I don't know how he got so far from the farm where he lived--maybe he chased a cat too long, or maybe he was led away by a strange scent. Or maybe he just wandered away one night while he was dreaming. Once the dog realized he could not find his way home, he sauntered along the road, roaming this way and that, as dogs do.

There was a wide and spacious field near the road, and growing in the field was a turnip. The turnip called out to the dog, saying, "Ho there! You look like you're lost. Come over into this field and spend your days here." So the dog stayed in the field, catching mice for food. He amused himself by chasing butterflies. He comforted himself by rolling in the grass. He fulfilled his sense of achievement by barking all day and all night and all day and all night, until he was completely worn out. And he slept.

One day the dog said, "I'm lonely. I miss my family and I miss the farm. I want to go home."
"You don't ever need to go home," the turnip replied. "In this field we have all we could ever ask for. I am perfectly satisfied to spend my days here."

"But you are a turnip," replied the dog. "A dog needs more."

So the dog leapt up and ran out of the field, and back down the road again. After a few minutes, he heard a familiar voice calling him. The Farmer had been searching along that road for him ever since he was lost.

P.S.

"And yeah, if you are having children right now you are being selfish. You’re stealing. Stealing from the future. Stealing from the rest of humanity. Stealing from every living thing on the earth right now." --Steven Kotler

Just so you know, this conversation has still been going on here.