Sunday's Spiritual Message: Men’s Hearts Shall Fail Them

"And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people" (Doctrine & Covenants 88:91).

Happy Thanksgiving!

First, let me say to one and all, Happy Thanksgiving!  I really enjoyed my day off with family and friends.  My daughter ran around (trying to escape her parents' restrictive arms) so much, she fell asleep with pie in her mouth, on the way home.  Good times.

In addition to my family, I'm very grateful for this nation and the religious freedom we enjoy.

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

To that end, I highly recommend this article on the pilgrims and religious freedom, from the LDS newsroom.

Today's Spiritual Message: Eastern European Youths Discuss Their Experience with the Book of Mormon

A number of young people (I assume members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) accepted the challenge to read from the Book of Mormon for 20 minutes each day.  Below, they share their experience.

Rugby Star Gives Up Millions for Missionary Service

"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God" (Doctrine & Covenants 18:10).  In my mind, this scripture is one of the principal answers to the question, "Why would a 19-year-old leave behind millions of dollars to serve a mission?"  The story of young rugby player Will Hopoate is just one such example:

There is another inspiring story of a young man who gave up two years of his life and, in his case, an opportunity to play on the best rugby team in the world.  His name was Sidney Going.  He is widely recognized as one of the best rugby players to ever play the game and is often referred to as "Super Sid."  His story begins at 2:15 in the video below.

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

 "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matthew 28:19-20).

Tangled Hairless

Tangled.  I've been hinting to the F-Word I would do this post, for some time, now.

Back when I saw previews for Tangled, I more or less shrugged and went on with my life.  Then, about two or three months ago, I believe my wife was losing her sanity with our daughter, so she purchased an iSomething version of Tangled.

I'm surprised to say I was quite delighted with the film.  Being a father of a daughter, now, I'm much more concerned about the modesty (or lack thereof) and innuendos in princess movies than I used to be.

I enjoyed this film's plot-line and particularly the rare fact that, for once, the princess actually had a mother and a father.  Yes, I know things can happen to parents:  My father passed away when I was seven.  On the other hand, I've been dazed and confused about parental-princess situations for so long, now, it's true.  Regarding Tangled and as the F-Word described, nearly one year ago, I felt rather choked up, during the movie, especially to see the king lament the ongoing absence of his sweet princess, after some seventeen years.  I still feel pained to think of losing my own daughter and how devastated I would feel.

So, as the F-Word did, I strongly recommend this film to anyone seeking out a wholesome and uplifting princess movie (or simply a Disney movie with a decent plot, some adventure, emotion, and a lot of laughs).

Hairless.  Now to the part of this post's title I'd actually been hinting at:  Hairless 7 Part Dos.  While I'm generally inclined to give my every last thought on something, today, I'll try to keep it short and sweet for you:  I disliked this movie.

Call me a purist. Call me boring.  All I ask is that you, gentle reader, consider what the film did to an exceptional novel:  In the words of Paul, "As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other Hairless unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."

Okay, okay, I'm the first to admit a movie is incapable of capturing every marvelous detail from such a glorios novel (even in 276 minutes or 4.6 hours, combining the two movies).  On the other hand, why is it the filmmakers have constantly changed the plot-line, broken the everlasting goodness?

Rather than produce a ten-page, bullet-point list of serious infractions, I'll simply recount three, here, that come immediately to mind:  1) Hairless and V-Mart grabbing each other around the neck, jumping off a tower, and zooming all through the castle.  What in the wide, wide world of sports?  2) Rather than V-Mart leaving Snape in a cold and pitiless manner, we have Hollywood gore, with blood splattered walls and Snape convulsing against them.  Honestly.  3) Hermoine and Ron try to kill the snake by chucking rocks at it, and it dodges them, just getting annoyed.  Wow.  In my mind, 3) and 1) are almost up there with Vader screaming, "Noooo!" after Emperor Palpatine almost nervously informs him he killed Padme.

In sum, I was revolted with how often the film tangled up the novel's previously crisp story or gratuitously added unnecessary Tom-foolery (wink, wink).  In a day where movies drip with extravagant bursts of action and brief tweets of plot, I suppose what I've written is exactly why the film is one of the highest grossing productions of all time . . .

Today's Spiritual Message: A Book of Mormon Story

I hope you enjoy today's spiritual message about an English bishop from Jamaica's experience with the Book of Mormon.