Effective introduction

            The most effective introduction that I could think of is in the talk “His Grace is Sufficient” by Brad Wilcox. Brad begins his talk by telling a story of a conversation he had with a girl while working at BYU. I personally liked it a lot because of how I was able to relate to it so quickly. Because the student is a BYU student having questions about how to receive forgiveness because of all the mistakes she has made it was really easy to relate to her and it caught my attention very quickly. In an attempt to win over the listener, he took on a very comfortable, easy-going attitude that was very non-threatening.

                                                       His Grace is Sufficient

A BYU student once came to me and asked if we could talk. I said, “Of course. How can I help you?”

She said, “I just don’t get grace.”

I responded, “What is it that you don’t understand?”

She said, “I know I need to do my best and then Jesus does the rest, but I can’t even do my best.”

She then went on to tell me all the things she should be doing because she’s a Mormon that she wasn’t doing.

She continued, “I know that I have to do my part and then Jesus makes up the difference and fills the gap that stands between my part and perfection. But who fills the gap that stands between where I am now and my part?”

She then went on to tell me all the things that she shouldn’tbe doing because she’s a Mormon, but she was doing them anyway.

Finally I said, “Jesus doesn’t make up the difference. Jesus makes all the difference. Grace is not about filling gaps. It is about filling us.”

Seeing that she was still confused, I took a piece of paper and drew two dots—one at the top representing God and one at the bottom representing us. I then said, “Go ahead. Draw the line. How much is our part? How much is Christ’s part?”

She went right to the center of the page and began to draw a line. Then, considering what we had been speaking about, she went to the bottom of the page and drew a line just above the bottom dot.

I said, “Wrong.”

She said, “I knew it was higher. I should have just drawn it, because I knew it.”

I said, “No. The truth is, there is no line. Jesus filled the whole space. He paid our debt in full. He didn’t pay it all except for a few coins. He paid it all. It is finished.”

She said, “Right! Like I don’t have to do anything?”

“Oh no,” I said, “you have plenty to do, but it is not to fill that gap. We will all be resurrected. We will all go back to God’s presence. What is left to be determined by our obedience is what kind of body we plan on being resurrected with and how comfortable we plan to be in God’s presence and how long we plan to stay there.”

Christ asks us to show faith in Him, repent, make and keep covenants, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. By complying, we are not paying the demands of justice—not even the smallest part. Instead, we are showing appreciation for what Jesus Christ did by using it to live a life like His. Justice requires immediate perfection or a punishment when we fall short. Because Jesus took that punishment, He can offer us the chance for ultimate perfection (see Matthew 5:48, 3 Nephi 12:48) and help us reach that goal. He can forgive what justice never could, and He can turn to us now with His own set of requirements (see 2 Nephi 2:7; 3 Nephi 9:20).

“So what’s the difference?” the girl asked. “Whether our efforts are required by justice or by Jesus, they are still required.”

“True,” I said, “but they are required for a different purpose. Fulfilling Christ’s requirements is like paying a mortgage instead of rent or like making deposits in a savings account instead of paying off debt. You still have to hand it over every month, but it is for a totally different reason.”

           

Opinion Editorial Topic

The topic that I have chosen to write my opinion editorial on is the unfairness of BYU enforcing parts of their dress code on off-campus housing. The reason I chose this argument was after noticing several different parts of BYU’s dress code being enforced at my own apartment and after thinking about it for a while I found it to be the same at all off-campus housing.

            The first argument that I would make is that the students living at these off-campus housing are not all BYU students. Utah Valley University’s enrollment has gone up by well over 10,000 students since the year 2007. So what that means is that the amount of housing has to go up as well. Many of these students are choosing BYU off-campus housing because of the closeness to their school compared to other housing options. These students have not all agreed to live by the honor code at BYU because they are going to another school, but are being held to some of the same standards, for example bikinis are not allowed at the swimming pools (a strong belief of the LDS faith)

Another argument that I way I add that many of these students who are living in the BYU off-campus housing are not members of the LDS faith. 98.5 percent of BYU are members of the LDS faith, which leaves approximately 360 students who are not members, enough to fill up an entire apartment complex. With Utah Valley University being a public university there students are not required to reveal their religious faith, but it is estimated that anywhere from 50-60 percent are members of the LDS faith, which leaves a projected 14,000 students who are not members. Where I’m getting with all of this is that there are a whole lot of students in Utah Valley, whether BYU, UVU or other smaller schools that need housing, and it’s not fair to force an honor code that is based upon a religious belief in an off-campus setting when many of the people living there are either not BYU students or not members of the LDS faith. A strong standpoint of the LDS faith is the idea of religious freedom and not forcing their belief on others, but by setting this honor code on people who are not at their school or members of the LDS faith is contradictory to the beliefs that they pronounce.

*By the way, I am a member of the LDS church and I support them 100%. I'm not saying the church is false because of this, it's just something that I find to be an interesting subject." 

Opinion Editorial

There are two things that we as human beings seem to cherish and fight for. 1. Our belief/religion and 2. Our freedom. So when one of the two is taken away we tend to fight for it. But what if one of the two is taken away because of the other? And even more, what if it isn’t our own belief that is taking away the freedom that we hold so dearly to us.

            At Brigham Young University there is a very strict dress code. Shorts must be knee-length or longer, and shirts must include sleeves, so on and so forth. These dress standards are set because of the belief of the importance of modesty from the Mormon Church, who owns and runs BYU. So I understand enforcing a strict dress code at a university that is both paid for and up kept by a religion, but what I don’t understand, and what I want to talk about in this paper is the fact that some of these same dress standards are enforced in the BYU off campus housing. Now if the housing was strictly limited to students actively attended BYU then I would understand, but with students from BYU, UVU, Paul Mitchell Hair school, etc. all living in these housing it’s not fair to enforce a dress code on housing members that is derived from the religious beliefs of a school that they don’t attend.  Students at BYU understand and agree to the fact that their university along with its dress code is going to be in accordance with the standards set by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. But when these same dress standards, which are based on the faith of the LDS church, are enforced on students going to other universities, who may not be members of the LDS faith, that is when the subject gets a little iffy.  Not all of the same standards are enforced, but an example of enforcing the dress code is the non-allowance of bikinis at the swimming pool. Now whether or not bikinis are appropriate is not the argument, the argument is whether or not it is fair to enforce a dress code on a group of people who have not made the promise to live by these standards either religiously or academically.

The worst movie I have ever seen!

The worst movie I have ever seen! 

You know that feeling that you get when you walk out of a movie theater and all you can say is "wow." It's a feeling that we all love, and frankly speaking is becoming more and more common these days with new special effect technology and the wide array of talented actors and actresses coming out. So when you do find the occasional movie that falls just a little short of great it catches you off guard. Well Cirque du Freak is the kind of movie that will not only catch you off guard, but also probably knock you off your chair and leave you confused for several minutes.  The original book is by Darren Shan, and with it’s exciting plot and many twists throughout the story, it’s one that is easy to expect a “wow” reaction from. At last that’s the expectations that I had when I first saw it. Well I soon figured out that my expectations were set WAY too high for this one.

            The movie depicts the main character, Darren, as a nerdy schoolboy, when in reality he is described in the book as the soccer star at his school and as having a lot of friends. Over a 12 book series Darren is found battling vampires and narrowly escaping death by his “athletic ability” but the Darren Shan depicted in the movie more closely resembles the kid who is picked last at recess. other main character is Mr. Crepsley, a vampire that travels with a freak show, and he too is depicted much different in the film than he was portrayed in the book. In the book Mr. Crepsley is led on to be a scary looking, intimidating vampire, but once you see the movie you’ll find Mr. Crepsley as a orange haired softy who judging by his appearance works on the side as a birthday party clown. It’s really hard throughout the movie to take this “vicious bloodsucking monster” serious when really the only thoughts that come to mind when you see him is of “Sunshine the clown” from your fifth birthday party.

            Have you ever tried filming a movie in your back yard? Did you involve any stunts? I’m guessing it didn’t turn out like the fight scenes in Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. No worries, you’d be hired by the filming crew of “Cirque Du Freak” in a second. The fighting scenes are bad enough with a clown and a schoolboy dancing around, but when you add special effects on what seem to be done on an old PC at your grandparent’s house, the outcome isn’t exactly “Wow.” It’s quite the opposite, and results more often than not, in either returning the movie, or regretting your purchase.

            I guess the final reason why this movie is the worst movie that I have ever seen is that it is two hours long! The average human being would have trouble handing this movie if it was a 30 minute TV program, but the fact that it is two hours long, just gives you an excuse to pop it in, sit back and have a nice nap, because trust me, you won’t want to watch the full two hours.

            Very simply, take my word for it. Cirque Du Freak is bad enough with the poor portrayal of the real characters in the book, but when you add in the less than professional special effects it’s a movie that if used for anything, should be used for punishments for kids that don’t behave. And with it being two hours long, you’re kids aren’t going to be acting up anytime soon after seeing this movie.

I mean look at that hair!!