Do the work, ask God for help, and THEN Vote

October 6, 2020

Americans,

Each and every one of us should not only vote, but also spend time learning about the candidates as well as the major issues, their stated stances, and the actual record of their actions. However, it is increasingly difficult to do that by relying solely on mainstream sources. There is much dishonesty and corruption within our news media, and mass media in general.

This week, I’m pretending (mentally) that I’m a Joe Biden supporter. I’ve been visiting his website, learning his platform, reviewing his 47 year record, reading his tweets, watching his campaign speeches, taking note of his criticisms of Trump, learning about his life, success and failures, writing down the pros and cons…and ultimately pretending like I will have a public debate where I have to defend Joe Biden and his stances on the issues in order to win $1M dollars. I will do Trump next week, and then possibly the 3rd party candidates. Join me!!

Hearts and minds can be changed, or positions even more tightly held and defended when we put forth the effort and challenge ourselves.

There is so much noise, misinformation, and disinformation, on all sides, for every issue, that we must seek out multiple sources, from disparate points of view, understand their bias, come to grips with our own confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance, and use our critical thinking skills to make a fully informed and well-made decision.

If you don’t put in the hours and days of work needed, looking for holes and gaps, pros and cons, listening to the candidates words, reading their platforms and ideas, understand their stances on all the major issues, and become a fully knowledgeable voter to best of your ability, then you do yourself and our country a great disservice. You also disqualify yourself from the ability to complain or protest about ANYTHING the winning candidate does. You lose that right when you don’t vote, or ignorantly vote.

There is both good and bad when it comes to Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and the other candidates on the Presidential Ballot. But where they stand on the major issues of the day…there is clear and stark difference. I suggest we all focus on the issues. Mine include Life & Abortion, Marriage, Morality, Civil Rights, 2nd Amendment, Immigration, Education, Healthcare, Religious Freedom, Economic Ideas/Taxes, Wars/Military, Foreign Policy, Climate Change, LGBTQ Agenda, the Courts, Sex Ed, among others. Yours may be similar or different, and some will be more important to you than others. You should vote for the candidate that most closely aligns with your views on these issues.

Don’t only listen to the talking heads, commentators, op-eds, pundits, and MSM, who get paid to create noise and drama. Dig deeper. Try harder. Do more. Trust yourself. Ask God for help. Then VOTE VOTE VOTE!

Now, I want to share a recent Facebook post I made last Sunday…

“My thoughts this Sabbath are on our Beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ, as well as on our troubled Country.

As ancient and modern prophets have foretold, there is much division, unkindness, hatred, violence, and tumult in these last days…

Jesus taught us, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:37–39)

How are you personally doing on that? If you were to meet God today, and He asked you about this, how would you reply?

Jesus then teaches us how to show our love to God and our neighbor with a simple yet profound invitation, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” and “If ye love me, feed my sheep.” God gives us commandments because He loves us, and we then show that we love Him by keeping them and inviting others to do the same.

But He doesn’t stop there: “And behold it is written also, that thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy; But behold I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you.”

Doing an honest internal assessment, do you feel you love your enemies and pray for them who persecute you? Could we all do better?

This is the higher law that all true followers of Jesus Christ take upon themselves to practice and obey.

We are all God’s children, “black or white, male and female, bond or free;” He is our Heavenly Father, and He loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to atone for our sins, to lay down His life for us, and to take it back up in His glorious resurrection. We are all created in God’s image and have His divine attributes and light within us. When we recognize that we are all His children, and He is our Father, we come to know that we are all literal brothers and sisters. Though we may look different, live in different places, speak different languages, vote differently, etc, we are family. Though within a family there are disagreements, differences of opinion, accidents, honest mistakes, weaknesses, and more, we love and care for one another, and strive to love as the Savior loves.

For every follower of Jesus Christ, as imperfect as we may be, there is absolutely no room for racist or prejudiced attitudes or actions of any kind. Racism should be rooted out and condemned. Violence of any kind, against anyone, should be quickly and forcefully condemned. Unkindness and disrespect should be replaced with love and patience, tolerance, debate, and mutual respect. Those who practice or preach violence or hate, for any reason, whether believed to be justified or not, are not keeping our Lords commandments and stand in need of repentance.

Jesus also taught us that we are subject to the laws of the land. When asked about taxes and tithes, a conspiring man tried to trap Jesus when he skillfully declared: “Render to Caeser what is Caeser’s, and unto God, what is God’s.” Elder Dallin Oaks reminds us “the First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the ‘right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. That is the authorized way to raise public awareness and to focus on injustices in the content or administration of the laws.” He adds, “Obeying the laws of the land does not mean that we agree with all that is done with the force of law. It means that we obey the current law and use peaceful means to change it. It also means that we peacefully accept the results of elections. We will not participate in the violence threatened by those disappointed with the outcome. In a democratic society we always have the opportunity and the duty to persist peacefully until the next election.”

If you find yourself feeling anger, hatred, or resentment towards President Trump, former Vice President Joe Biden, their followers and supporters, or ANYONE else, or if you support any form of racism or any form of violence against anyone or anything, I invite you (and me) to prayerfully consider repenting, pleading for forgiveness, starting over, asking God to open your minds and hearts to see one another as He sees us, and to be agreeable in disagreement, regardless of our personal preferences and beliefs. We cannot control anyone else, but we can surely make these changes within ourselves.

As we pray for our friends and enemies, and seek to be more like our Savior, our hearts and natures will be changed and we will become more like Him. We will experience true peace and joy, despite the ongoing challenges we face individually and as a Nation, and we will be a light to those around us, in an ever darkening world.

I am grateful to be able to repent, to try again, to be a little better every day, and to work harder on being the Father, son, brother, uncle, citizen, and neighbor, that Jesus would have me be.

Let us all elevate our discourse, soften our hearts, pray for our enemies, pray for our Nation and our leaders, speak kindly, and invite all we encounter to learn of our Living Savior and to accept His loving invitation to “Come, Follow me.”

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Of this I testify, with you my dear friends and family, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”