bad stuff will happen – do we sit by and watch?

You are right. We need to do all we can. Period.

The best example of this in the Book of Mormon is the general, Mormon, leading his people out of love for them even though he had absolutely no hope that they would repent. We aren’t in such a radical, bleak situation – and we might just have a Jonah experience where people we assumed were too hard-hearted to repent actually do repent. (which, btw, is what I beleive to be the main point of that story – a story which I read as a really important mythological tale / parable)

Fwiw, delivery is at least half of the message. Just something to consider as you think about how to address something like this in the future. “A soft answer turneth away wrath” is a good guide.

No argument here. I consider myself to be a balancer in my ward. When the discussion veers too far into judgmentalism, I try to throw in a little forgiveness. When it veers too far into works, I add a dash of atonement/grace (still the only way to salvation, even after all that you can do). But I am not trying to change the ward or others, I am just trying to help create an environment where it is ok to think (or be) a little different.

As an example: In SS there was much discussion on the school sponsored “Day of Silence” and how horrible it was that the school was pushing gay rights on our kids. I raised my hand and talked about how my 5 yr old daughter had been teased by her cousins for adding ketchup to her beverage (she says she likes it, and she does drink it) and how that had hurt her feelings. I said that if I were a school administrator, I would see it as a bullying issue. That we, as a school, want to resist an environment where kids need to be afraid of people finding out that they like to drink ketchup, or are adopted, or “such and such” for fear of being bullied. I see it as a day to take a stand against bullying.

In my example, the teacher rephrased something in my comment to apply back to the lesson and we moved on. Sometimes people may want to contend differently and you won’t get the last word. I have learned to be comfortable with this. I said my piece in as non-confrontational a method as I could think of and then I can be content. Just the fact that I am there with a different perspective means it is ok to think differently. I don’t have to win any debates. I just have to contribute and thereby add balance to “the force.”

Roy, I agree with mom3. It never really occurred to me that participation in class meant simply sharing ideas and getting our feelings out, not being right. There may be others in class who benefit from different perspectives and opinions even though they don’t say anything. Im gonna try to have this attitude from now on.

I know of a sister like that in Sunday School who irks me to no end.

But to the point; you are correct in what you said. Besides, wars and rumors of wars, men’s hearts failing them, natural disasters etc. is sort of the least of our worries. Read and study the Book of Revelation. That is some brutal stuff going down in that book and I think we tend to turn away from it because it isn’t going to be very pretty.

There are those that have an apocalyptic view that want things to get bad. To them it hastens the return of Christ. Not saying they wish harm on others but they see these “signs” as encouragement in a way that God is fulfilling his promises. The problem is it allows them to stand back and do nothing.

Personally I think the whole notion of Christ or God or any being coming to save us from ourselves is damaging. Things would be much better if religion never focused on the end of days and started preaching how good things could be if we learned some tolerance and pitched in to make things better.

The end of the world is a particularly popular doctrine to minority, disenfranchised, and especially oppressed peoples that have little to lose and everything to gain. Some of what we have here are just holdovers from the end of days worldview prevalent in the early days of the church. (Remember, they fled from “Babylon” [the world] to “Zion”[a desolate landscape in the middle of the continent] to escape the coming destruction.)

Silentdawning,

bad stuff will happen – do we sit by and watch?

What a great question. And I am loving everyone’s comments.

Here’s my thoughts. Of course we have the right/responsibility to be a positive influence within our sphere of influence. Evil thrives whenever good people do nothing. I can’t do anything directly to prevent wars and rumors of wars, but I can and must strive for peace in my heart and vote for peace-loving candidates at every opportunity. I can also avoid giving in to road rage, or any other kind of anger, violence or any other negative situation. Rather, I must encourage every positive emotion among all people I can. As Joseph Smith said:

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.