Thursday, August 20, 2009
Today, Like The Days Of Noah
Editor's Note: A talented creator of LDS YouTube video favorites, davidkat99, has produced another powerful short in Today, Like the Days of Noah. The video compares the faith required to build Noah's ark on dry ground to the trials of modern-day discipleship. All the quotations and voice overs in the video are from General Authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In the short discussion below, the creator of this video explains additional insights that led him to develop this presentation. The Top of the Morning staff, after a rather long summer vacation, is back in the Top of the Morning offices, and gosh, golly, jeepers, does it feel good to be back, ready for another year of our very best. Thanks for joining us for our yearly journey featuring videos, in-depth articles and of course, more on the Book of Mormon. We're getting back into "school" with this artistically rich, and prophetically thought provoking video from davidkat99.
From the Director, davidkat99:
It's been sometime since I have felt inspired to create another video. To tell you the truth, it has been nice to have a break and focus on family, reading, church and work. But I have felt strongly the need for this video to be created. A friend of mine, Karen Boren, a wonderful author and researcher found the quotes which prompted me to create this video.
There was only one time in history, where men were given in marriage to men, and women given in marriage to women. Want to venture a guess as to when? No, it wasn't in Sodom and Gomorrah, although that was my guess. Homosexuality was rampant there, of course, but according to the Talmud, not homosexual marriage. What about ancient Greece? Rome? No. Babylon? No again. The one time in history when homosexual marriage was practiced was during the days of Noah. And according to Satinover, thats what the Babylonian Talmud attributes as the final straw that led to the Flood.
"The generation of Noah was condemned to eradication by the flood because they had sunk so low morally, that, according to Midrashic teaching, they wrote our formal marriage contracts for sodomy and buggery--" Leviticus Rabbah 18:13. Quote from "Jewish Bioethics," Dr. Fred Rosner and Rabbi David Bleich, Ktav Publishing House, Israel, December 1999, page 219:
It is interesting that we are experiencing all of the same things that happened in the days of Noah. Same sex marriage laws have been passed recently in Connecticut and Iowa. Vermont and Maine will honor same sex marriage in September and New Hampshire in January 2010.
But as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man; For it shall be with them, as it was in the days which were before the flood; for until the day that Noah entered into the ark they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage; And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. JST Matthew 41-43.
Now this video is not about same sex marriage, but rather about the need we have to prepare both spiritually and temporally for what is to come.
__________________________
Join author David G. Woolley at his Promised Land Website.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Welcome back.
Time to go on a spiritual shopping trip. Wood for the ark, oil for the lamps, ........ good reminder.
It's such an interesting tightrope to walk -- being able to have standards that can't be lowered, and to support efforts to sustain marriage as the holy and God-ordained institution that it is, while still being sensitive to the situations of those who authentically struggle.
What bothers me is that sometimes it feels like we demonize those who identify with homosexual behavior, when many of them truly feel that it is something as natural to them as heterosexuality is to another. I think we (as Latter Day Saints) have got to do a better job of being kind, being understanding, being welcoming and helpful -- being Christlike -- than we currently are. That certainly doesn't mean supporting homosexuality or homosexual marriage, but we've got to figure out a way to help those who struggle not feel like outcasts in the church.
I think that the pamphlet "God Loveth His Children" is a great place to start. But sometimes it seems like it's such a more difficult issue than we make it in Sunday School lessons. But then again, any time we're dealing with real people, whom we love, in real time, it is. And it takes such conscientious effort to be spiritually in tune enough to know how and when to say or do certain things, and when to simply mourn with those that mourn, etc.
Interesting post.
Dear Makayla,
I hope this comment will find you. Commenting on an old post is chancy at best, but I have no other way to contact you.
I resonated with your concerns. That's why I thought of you this week after I read the following:
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/public-issues/elder-bruce-c-hafen-speaks-on-same-sex-attraction
It is very well done on many levels. I hope you will find it thought provoking, inspiring, and above all hopeful.
Thank you Anita. I checked back today, saw your comment, and read the ENTIRE talk (and it was kind of lengthy... lol).
It was very helpful, in many ways. And in addition to be framed for those suffering with same-gender attraction, I think it encompassed a more basic point that anyone struggling could use: it offered hope for the hopeless. Thank you for providing the link.
(David, I don't know if you read it, but this is your blog and sometimes I feel silly not addressing comments to you -- but thanks for allowing your blog to be a conversation space sometimes. Tonight it was a blessing.)
Post a Comment