Spent a deligtfull morning at the DUP museum, indulging in what Mr. Shepherd referrs to as "Sport Museuming for Fun and Profit." More fun that profit, at least today. The Curator, who is absolutly delightfull, allowwed me "behind the ropes" for some closeup examination of a few tidbits. They now have a glass disdplay case of early Utah Masonic items- really fascinating. She was telling us that untill recently the powers that be had kept the stuff hidden. I mysef have never been the least bit bothered by the whole Mormon/Freemason thing. For one, every person whom I have ever met that I knew was a Freemason, has been a real stand-up guy. I cant say the same of every LDS person I have known.
The Freeemasons say, if I understand correctly, that their "rituals" have been passed down from the temple of Solomon. In the LDS church we believe that our Temple Ordinances are an inspired "Restoration" of early truths. If you have one thing being passed down for generations, and a restoration of the same things, to me it seems logical that there would be some remarkable similarities,no?
But once again i digress. And folks, if you havent visited the DUP museum, you really should. I have ben in a lot of museums, and it is hands donw my favorite, there is a ton of stuff to see there. ANd while some of th eartifacts are incorrectly labeled, the curator commited to me this morning that she will make any corrections thatwe bring to her attention. Yee Haw!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Why am I doing this?
The truth is, I dont really know for sure. "Jumping on the bandwagon" might have something to do with it. But with the exception of a brief period of my life wasted looking for Beanie Babies (Yes, I know...) the bandwagon has never really been my thing. Maybe its just to try to get some of my jumbled thoughts out of my head, I sometimes get too many in there and it hurts!
The first thing that I had better explain in case somebody actually reads this and cares enough to wonder, is the title "Latter-Day Danite".
If I need to explain to you what a "Danite" is you have either a:never lived in Utah or b:never studied Church history. In short, what a Danite is will vary depending on whom you ask. The asnwer will vary from something akin to terrorists and murderers, Bill collectors, and Batman-like vigilante/heroes. I think that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle...that they were a group of men who were sometimes operating under the direction of the Prophet and sometimes werent, who at times were used to collect money owed the Church and Church members, who at times were charged to act as bodyguards or local Milita, and who at times were excessivly violent.
I have sometimes said that if I had lived in the 19th century, I would probably have hung around with the Danites, folks like Porter Rockwell, Bill Hickman, Eph Hanks, and others. They have always kinda seemed like my kind of people for some reason. They were never called to speak in conference, or serve missions (Somebody please correct me on that if i'm wrong) but they were always there when they were needed.
Im kinda that way myself. I have never been called a "Peter Preisthood" and probably never will be. I'm not one to get up and bear my testimony every month (Or every year, for that matter). I am not one of those who gets called all the time to go and help give a blessing. But, when I have been called, I have gone. Every time. And in my experience, not every "Peter Priesthhod" I have known can say that.
But I am digressing.
I consider myself a modern day Danite, andf to be honest, I think that the Church(and our society in general) could use more folks like that today. Alot of people were scared to death of the Danites, in particular Porter. The mere mention of his name is recorded to have inspired some men to jump on the nearest horse and "get out of Dodge", so to speak. More than likely that fear kept some people in line while passing through the area. I really believe that that fear kept some bad things from happening. And if the bad guys being afraid helped the average citizen feel a little safer, seems like a good trade to me. Like somebody has said, "Gentle people sleep better at night because rough man stand ready to do violence on thier behalf."
I dont consider myself to be some kind of caped crusader hero riding in on a white horse, but I understand what motivates men like that to do what they do.
And I would like to think that men like Porter, "Wild Bill" Hickman, and others, would understand me as well.
The first thing that I had better explain in case somebody actually reads this and cares enough to wonder, is the title "Latter-Day Danite".
If I need to explain to you what a "Danite" is you have either a:never lived in Utah or b:never studied Church history. In short, what a Danite is will vary depending on whom you ask. The asnwer will vary from something akin to terrorists and murderers, Bill collectors, and Batman-like vigilante/heroes. I think that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle...that they were a group of men who were sometimes operating under the direction of the Prophet and sometimes werent, who at times were used to collect money owed the Church and Church members, who at times were charged to act as bodyguards or local Milita, and who at times were excessivly violent.
I have sometimes said that if I had lived in the 19th century, I would probably have hung around with the Danites, folks like Porter Rockwell, Bill Hickman, Eph Hanks, and others. They have always kinda seemed like my kind of people for some reason. They were never called to speak in conference, or serve missions (Somebody please correct me on that if i'm wrong) but they were always there when they were needed.
Im kinda that way myself. I have never been called a "Peter Preisthood" and probably never will be. I'm not one to get up and bear my testimony every month (Or every year, for that matter). I am not one of those who gets called all the time to go and help give a blessing. But, when I have been called, I have gone. Every time. And in my experience, not every "Peter Priesthhod" I have known can say that.
But I am digressing.
I consider myself a modern day Danite, andf to be honest, I think that the Church(and our society in general) could use more folks like that today. Alot of people were scared to death of the Danites, in particular Porter. The mere mention of his name is recorded to have inspired some men to jump on the nearest horse and "get out of Dodge", so to speak. More than likely that fear kept some people in line while passing through the area. I really believe that that fear kept some bad things from happening. And if the bad guys being afraid helped the average citizen feel a little safer, seems like a good trade to me. Like somebody has said, "Gentle people sleep better at night because rough man stand ready to do violence on thier behalf."
I dont consider myself to be some kind of caped crusader hero riding in on a white horse, but I understand what motivates men like that to do what they do.
And I would like to think that men like Porter, "Wild Bill" Hickman, and others, would understand me as well.
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