Tuesday, December 18, 2007

The Rights of Parents

I just received what follows in an email from an old and trusted friend. He had apparently received it from another friend. I appreciated his added comments and the citation of the excerpt from the Proclamation on the Family.

I’m not fully sure what I think of this yet, so I’m offering it up here for perusal and discussion. I looked at the website that is the original source, and found it interesting. On the surface, it seems to be worthy of support.

Still all things political need to be weighed very carefully, especially when it comes to amending the Constitution. If it’s warranted, and the wording stands up to scrutiny, I will support it in the long run. For now, it looks good in my eyes, but I’ll withhold final choices until I’m better informed.

In the meantime, read on and tell me what you think:


To my family and friends with whom I share many common convictions. Please consider this email below carefully, which I received this morning from a respected and trusted friend and concerned parent. Though I am no expert in these matters, this sort of involvement strikes me as being in harmony with the final paragraph of the Proclamation on the Family (in bold), issued by the Lord's prophet and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. I've included an excerpt from that proclamation for your consideration:


"'Children are an heritage of the Lord' (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society."


Again, please take a moment to consider this email below, and respond appropriately.

CT


Greetings Folks,

I am sending this to you because I believe it to be an important matter and your assistance will be both helpful as well as quick and easy.

The proper and necessary rights of parents have long been under siege in our country. And now, the God given authority of parents is not only at risk from within our own country's legislative and judicial processes but also, believe it or not, from international law, vis a vis the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

There is an effort now to make a Constitutional amendment which would positively ensure the rights of parents to exercise their authority in protecting and raising their children and it needs your support. Here is the draft of the amendment.

DRAFT PARENTAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT
FOR THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

SECTION 1
The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right.

SECTION 2
Neither the United States nor any state shall infringe upon this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served.

SECTION 3
No treaty nor any source of international law may be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article.

The link below will take you to more information on the subject and also a very simple and quick petition to sign. All it asks is your name, email and address.

http://www.parentalrights.org/

Please take a few moments to consider this issue and the signing of the petition.


So, let’s all look at it and discuss!

MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com

A Few Random Christmastime Thoughts

I love Christmas, and this year is going to be especially fun. I don’t know why it’s any different. Maybe it’s because we’re finally settled into our new house, or maybe because we’re buying presents, but we’re not really going overboard so much this year.

Although, if you’ll let me digress a minute, one of my all-time favorite Christmases was the first one with Jodi as my wife. We went absolutely crazy, and way way overspent on each other. The funny thing, though, is that what I remember about that Christmas was not any particular regret about spending too much money, or how hard it was to pay off (and it was hard), but rather how much fun I had picking out her presents, and how wonderful her presents to me were. I can still remember what most of them were. I had a ring custom made for her, she bought me tickets to see Jethro Tull… It was a great Christmas. We had our tree, our first tree as a married couple, up and lit before Halloween. It was a blast.

But I digress.

One of the things I think about as I’m listening to Christmas Carols and making Wassail, is just how connected many of our Christian celebrations are. We give thanks, we give gifts. But ultimately, none of that would make any difference if it weren’t for Easter. If Jesus hadn’t suffered in Gethsemane, bearing my sins, weaknesses, and sorrows, then we would have no reason to celebrate his birth. Ultimately, with no way to bridge the gap back to God, the Father, there would be no reason to be thankful, no reason to celebrate.

MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com

Sunday, December 16, 2007

I Have Been Snarked!

I’ve been blogging here for about five years, now. I’ve really enjoyed it, but I don’t seem to have much bloggernacle cred. There are others that get more traffic than I, there are others more controversial than I. There are even some that seem to find joy in seeing how far from their own testimonies they can go and still be called a “mormon blog.”

At one point, someone made a study of the LDS blogs to see who had the oldest, and I was winning for a while, but then someone found a blog with about a months worth of posts in his archive older than mine.

Nonetheless, I’ve not gotten the fame and glory that I so richly deserve. I’m a Mormon Blogger, so the world should be hanging on my every keystroke, right? What I type should change the world, right?

Well, this last week, I hit another milestone. I have now arrived. I am one of the special, even one of the chosen blogs.

I got snarked!

I know, I know, some may point out that there were a lot of other blogs that were snarked in that same posting, but I still know that I will rise above them all and take my fair place as… as…

Oh, well…

Whatever…

Still, it was kinda cool to see me listed there… I actually, and in all seriousness, enjoy reading the snarkernacle. It’s kinda fun to see someone else’s take on how we all seem to take ourselves way too seriously.

MRKH

Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com

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