This blog has a name.

Tithing

2012-01-25T16:00:00.000-08:00

And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things
which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s. -Luke 20:25

So, there's been a lot of hoopla about Mitt Romney and the money he's paid in taxes, and to charity. People are making a big deal out of the fact that he pays so little in taxes, and that he's finding loopholes with which to pay less taxes. First off, please stop being hypocrites. I don't care how much you make, or will, or whatever, you will always look for any and all ways to pay less taxes. And if you think to say, "oh, I won't, that's irresponsible, you should pay the government the money, they need it!" Nope. Why would giving your money to an establishment that is notoriously mis-managed, corrupt and in such dire straits financially be a good thing? I would say that's irresponsible. Moving on; Romney has paid his taxes, is not a tax evader (like much of Obama's staff) and is something of a philanthropist. More so than any other relevant politician at this time (see here). He's also kept the law of tithing, and has been shown to pay a bit more than required. So we can safely say that he has kept the commandment given above, by Christ, in the book of Luke.

On to the subject matter: tithing. What is it? I believe that tithing is a portion (10%) of your income, given as a voluntary donation to the church. A 1970 letter from the First Presidency stated that:

notwithstanding the fact that members should pay one-tenth of their

income,"every member of the Church is entitled to make his own decision

as to what he thinks he owes the Lord and to make payment accordingly".

Hence, the exact amount paid is not as important as that each member feels that he or she has paid an honest tenth. Some want to say it's a requirement to be a member, it is not. It IS, however, a requirement to be a member in good standing, and to be able to enter the Temple.

TANGENT: Mormons have different kinds of buildings used for different purposes in the church. Firstly, there are the church building, then there are the Temples. The churches are used for regular worship every Sunday, and occasionally for activities and meetings throughout the week. Temples, on the other hand, are a holier place where we go to be closer to God and to perform more sacred rituals, like marriage for time and all eternity (more on that in a later post). Think of it like this: a church building is basically like a Jewish Synagogue, and the Temple is like Solomon's Temple. Did they let just any 'ole person into the Temple in Jerusalem? Nope. Only worthy Jewish people could enter. Back to my point.

To be a member in good standing with the ability to enter the temple, yes, you are required to pay your tithing. You are also required to keep all of the other commandments too. Tithing is a commandment, and if it's not kept, you cannot be considered a person doing their utmost to keep the commandments. If you decide you don't want to pay your tithing, that's fine, that's what free agency is about (more on that in the future too, basically the freedom to choose). If you don't pay your tithing, you can still attend church, you can attend functions, you can even get counseling from the Bishop and attend General Conference! Most people won't even know whether you pay your tithing or not, and honestly, nobody cares! (if they do, well, they shouldn't). No major life changes, no excommunication, no "shunning". You simple cannot enter the temple. Tithing, like most commandments, are between you and the Lord. Only he can (and will) judge you.

The heart is the important thing here, not the money.

The next question is, what does the church DO with all that money? Tithing funds are always used for the Lord's purposes—such purposes as the building and maintenance of meetinghouses, temples, and other facilities, as well as for the partial support of the missionary, educational, and Welfare programs of the Church, not just in the United States, but all over the world.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house,

and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the

windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room

enough to receive it. -Malachi 3:10

I love this scripture, because the Lord is basically issuing us a challenge; "Prove me wrong" he says, "Pay your tithing, and see if I don't bless you for it!" I believe very strongly in the law of tithing. I believe wholeheartedly in the blessings promised when we pay our tithing. Catherine and I have begun to call it our "48 hour rule". It seems that, especially when we are having especially difficult times, whether we are struggling financially or otherwise, when we pay our tithing, we are richly blessed in some way, and the blessing comes (usually) within that 48 hour time period. I will continue to pay my tithing even if the money could have been used to save my life, I will trust in the Lord first, and pay my tithing. It hasn't failed me yet, and I don't expect it to anytime soon.

So yes, tithing is a requirement in that it is a commandment. But in the end, as with all of the commandments; it's your prerogative whether to follow the commandment, or not.

I LOVE this picture! Notice those around her, how they scorn her small offering. And yet, despite the size of the offering, the blessings are the same. (if not more for her greater faith in hardship!)

Proverbs 3:5-6

2012-01-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

Proverbs 3:5-6
The above scripture has become something of a loud noise in my head of late. Prepare for the wordvomit.

Some time ago, I received a very distinct impression that I should attend Southern Utah University for whatever reason. At the time, I was working for an up and coming company called Rain Nutrition, and things were looking good. So Catherine and I went and visited the campus in Cedar City, and even took Marie with us and made a trip of it. It was loads of fun, and we felt really good about the entire thing. Also, for some reason I don't have any pictures of this trip, only video...

Anyways, some time later, we decided that it was in our best interest to stick around and not attend SUU. I had a good job that I enjoyed, and was offered a better position in the company. Soon, Catherine got a job, which required her to have a car. We weren't planning on going anywhere, so we bought her a new Toyota Corolla. Also, the vehicle that we had been using, hardy though it was, had it's own cavalcade of problems, and needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, nobody would give us a loan for a used vehicle, only a new vehicle, so we looked for a vehicle that would fit us in the lower range for approval. That's how Navarre ended up with a Kia Soul. Not long after this, Navarre also ended up being laid off. Again.

Being in an uncomfortable position, and deciding that we weren't really tied down to Utah for any reason in particular, we decided to venture out and see how we would do on our own. A few years previous we had worked in Dallas Texas, and had enjoyed the area, so we decided we could move back. And so we did.

We've lived here now for almost a year and we've learned a number of things. Cheifly among those, I believe to be the teachings found in the above quoted proverb. If we had but listened and trusted in the Lord more than in our own understandings, I think things would be a lot different for us. Texas has been a great boon for us emotionally, spiritually and economically. I have completed all of my general education and now need to settle on a major. We've grown and we've strengthened our relationship and our understanding of the love that WE have for our families and for Utah. Sometimes to understand what great blessings you have, you just have to step out of the box. Or, in this case, the bubble :) But now it's time for us to return. We've asked the Lord again, and we believe we have been answered again. We are glad he hasn't tired of us "leaning on our own understandings" and continues to answer our prayers in the same manner he always has. We have already been tempted a number of times to change the course, but we are resolved to not allow the winds and waves to move us.

As I look back I realize that a great amount of misery and pain could have been avoided if I had but trusted the Lord, and not my own understanding. I let my fear and desires for perceived security get in the way of true safety and eternal planning. So we learn and we grow. And we move forward with new resolve.

We will trust in the Lord, and we will accomplish our goals.

Nerdcore

2011-08-20T17:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, gotta get my nerd on.

So first, a shout out to Ephixa for creating a dubstep of some Zelda tunes. Mad mad props brosef. I also really do like the raps he put together, they're pretty awesome, and right on! These songs make my car BUMP!!

Ok, back to the purpose of this post: STAR WARS.
So I have this picture as my desktop background right now:

And I've been looking at it for a few days and I noticed something interesting:

Here it is closer:

Yup, I'm pretty sure that's the Millenium Falcon. Just to legitimize this, the painting can be found here, full painting here. It was done by Yanick Dusseault, the Lead Matte Painter on Star Wars Episode III. He has a very reputable resume btw. So....yeah. Here is another picture by someone else that clearly shows the same thing:

I thought that was pretty cool. Would be fun to find out what the Falcon was doing there, and who might have been the pilot at the time, etc. etc.

Nav can cook, and you can too!

2011-08-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

When I was in elementary school, we would hang out in the back of dad's jewelry store and watch episodes of Remington Steele and Yan Can Cook. All I remember is that Pierce Brosnan is a good lookin' man, and "If Yan can cook, can too!!" This engendered in me a desire and natural willingness to try my hand at cooking, and have the confidence to succeed. Ok, no it didn't, but I still try to cook sometimes. And Catherine tries (and fails) to wear a hat like a gangster. She wouldn't listen when I told her the hat had too much tilt.

Here are some recent cooking excursions for your viewing displeasure.

We made a massive delirious omlette. (There's no link to the video of this, but if you watch the movie Paulie with Tony Shalhoub, it'll make sense. Yes, you have to watch the whole movie.) It had eggs, onions, spinach, mushrooms, cheese and cilantro. And it was delirious.

We also made Meatloaf and Potatoes:

Catherine made some cookies, that we subsequently forgot were in the oven when we went to rent a movie.

It was a good movie. I don't remember what it was, but we haven't rented a bad one in a while.

We made Jelly-Fish (not to be confused with jellyfish, cuz you'll die) in honor of Andrew.

We also made an epic massive meatloaf.

That's ground beef, cheese, brats, bacon, onions, bell peppers, and some other stuff. I can't remember, but it was delicious and lasted for about a week.

This week, we ate at Sweet Tomatoes. We go there almost every Saturday, it's something of a tradition now. A delicious tradition.

And finally, we thought this picture was pretty funny.

Unfortunately the catfood was not nearly as delectable as the rest of the fare posted herein.

Until Next Time! If we live that long.

How Masterchef Relates to Politics

2011-08-06T07:07:00.000-07:00

Catherine has always been a fan of cooking shows, and her favorite are the Gordon Ramsey shows: Hell's Kitchen, Gordon's Great Escape, Kitchen Nightmares and Masterchef, to name a few. I enjoy watching them with her while playing Civ 5, or anything on my computer really.

Don't be fooled by the nice smiling man in the middle. That's Joe Bastianich, and he's the smartest and cruelest of them all.
That's not a happy how are you smile. That's a smile that says, I'm about to eat you alive, then tell you how disgusting you taste.

In masterchef, a number of cooks compete against each other to create dishes that the judges will like so they don't get kicked off the show, often cooking with limited ingredients and with a time limit. They call it pressure cooking, I say that's an apt name for it. Sometimes, they do an awesome job and you get to hear some not often uttered praise from one of the judges. Usually, the critique is extremely critical and often leaves a contestant in tears. It's brutal really, I've always said, if you want to understand the definition of "scathing", Masterchef can do that for you.

Anyways, on to the point. One episode of Masterchef had the contestants working in teams to make competing dishes for a group of guests. The guests would vote for their favorites and the winning team would get the most votes. Here's where it gets political: it hit me that this was a perfect example of how the Electoral College works.

In this particular episode, the contestants made 3 competing dishes, one appetizer, and entree, and a dessert, in total 300 luxury hors d'oeuvres. The guests voted thusly:

Appetizer: 64% Red Team, 36% Blue Team
Entree: 0% Red Team, 100% Blue Team (First % in show's history for this challenge!)
Dessert: 53% Red Team, 47% Blue Team

When broken down by wins, the Red Team wins by getting the most votes for both Appetizer and Dessert (2 wins, 1 loss). When counted based on actual numbers of votes (100 Votes being the total for each course) the Blue Team wins in a landslide with 183-117 of the popular vote!!

Now, if you imagine that each course is a state, you can see how a political candidate might win the popular vote, but lose the election. Roughly (VERY ROUGHLY!) speaking, the electoral college takes the majority of votes in it's state, and declares that person the winner. If 500 people vote for a Blue Candidate in California, but 150 people vote for a Red Candidate in Montana and 300 vote Red in Utah, Red Wins, because they won more electoral college votes for both Montana and Utah, whereas in a popular election, Blue wins because Cali's 500 population is more than the 450 population of the other 2 states combined. (like I said, that was rough)

The electoral college process is much more elaborate than that, but you get the gist of it. If it really was California vs Utah and Montana, California would have won because they get more electoral college votes.....yeah, not going to get into that. Here is a map of how many Electoral College votes each state gets:

I don't know what's going on with Nebraska and Maine, but I'll figure it out eventually.
That's right you two, I will uncover then truth, and then, then you will pay....

So, yeah, Masterchef and the Electoral College are totally the same. Kinda. But not Really. But sort of. But also not... :)

A post about Presidents.

2011-07-29T17:53:00.000-07:00

Firstly, I think the IRS is campaigning for Ron Paul.

Our 2009 Taxes were audited. Apparently we filled out two forms, but were only supposed to fill out one form, but it doesn't really matter, but then again it does. And we did it all online, guided every step, but it's still our fault. And we owe them a bunch of money.

Ron Paul supports the elimination of the IRS. So yeah.

Also, did you know that Theodore Roosevelt is the only person in history to have been awarded both the highest war honor, and the highest honor for peace? The Medal of Honor, and the Nobel Peace Prize. Yup, awesome. I recently did a report on Theodore Roosevelt, and learned quite a bit, and have a new respect for the 26th president. In fact, I think he's my favorite President.

There's a reason this man's face is carved in the rock on a mountain.

In fact, he probably willed the mountain to his likeness. It wouldn't dare do otherwise.

Happenings.

2011-07-08T17:23:00.000-07:00

Haven't updated in a while. I was on strike until Catherine decided to update. Guess she didn't want to, and the blog needed an update. Oh well. I guess I'll just make it MY blog! :) So...here are a few things that have happened since last update:

Catherine's Birthday.
Yay 23! We went to Olive Garden! She's not at Olive Garden in the picture. Just an awesome picture that she will hit me for later. :)

I saw a Lamborghini by the LDS bookstore in Dallas!!
Opposites day! Navarre got Quesadillas and Catherine got Ribs. Weird!!

More Bountiful Baskets!
And a fun picture of Navarre treating a restaurant for pests! Yay!
Yay for posts augmented by pictures!! Yay!

Happy Birthday President Hinckley!

2011-06-23T19:06:00.001-07:00

Here is my favorite picture of Church President and Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley. He was born today, June 23, 1910. We miss you!

Book of Mormon Musical

2011-06-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

With the storms and power outages, this one was kind of rushed. Sorry!

So, I was gonna do a whole write-up about the new Book of Mormon Musical, and replace all references of Mormons, the Book of Mormon, and such with references to Muslims, Islam, and the Qur'an. I wanted to point out that if the musical had been about Islam, satirizing Muslims and Mohammed , the world would have been in flames. Likely there would have been riots, flag burnings, and public backlash here in the USA. But, thankfully(?), the musical is about Mormons, who would have no such reactions. By the way, why is it tolerable for the so-named "religion of peace" to act in such a way, but not for any others? Kind of a double standard. NOTE: I understand that not all Muslims are the same, I am in no way trying to generalize, just make a point. Anyways, yeah, scratch that. Instead, let me just post the LDS Church's response, which I think was perfect.

In response to news media requests, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has issued the following statement regarding the Broadway musical entitled The Book of Mormon:

"The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ."

Yup, pretty spot on. Also, they have started a pretty heavy advertising campaign in New York City.

I believe that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It was saved for these last days, and provides us with more proof of Heavenly Father's love for ALL of his children, and proves that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Revelation never ends.

Once again, if you're going to, please flame responsibly, but first, watch this:

Thanks to Seth Smith for the video. His awesome blog can be found here.

Bountiful Baskets and a Bonzai Tree.

2011-06-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

First off, I just want to point out that I have a really hard time not updating this blog every single day, multiple times a day. This is a serious study in self control for me. But fear not! Eventually I'll calm down and post only, like, once a week. Until then, READ EVERYTHING I PUT OUT, I DEMAND IT!!! That is all.

So we've started doing bountiful baskets again. Basically it's awesome. We place our order Monday night and pick up the basket on Saturday morning. For more info, go here. Bountiful Baskets is a co-op that we participated in in Utah, and now also in Texas, we were so excited to find out they did it here. In Utah it was basically run by the Fire Dept, as any excess foodstuffs were donated to the Fire Dept, which was cool. Here, I'm pretty sure it's just run by a bunch of mormons, which is less cool, but still, pretty cool. Anyways, point is, we get a lot of good produce for not a lot of money. This week, $15 got us this:

This consists of:

1 Head of Romaine Lettuce
1 Bunch of Celery
1 Cantaloupe
1 Bunch of Bananas (did you know that bananas are slightly radioactive?)
1 Bag of Carrots
8 Plum Tomatoes
5 Fuji Apples
7 small Oranges
2 Zucchini
2 Cucumbers
7 Peaches
1lbs of Strawberries
5 Kiwis

Not bad in my opinion!

Also this week, Catherine bought me a Bonsai tree!! YAY!! I've always wanted one, and she got me one! It is actually a miniature Green Mound Juniper, and is an outside Bonsai. Did you know that "Bonsai" is not actually a type of tree, but a type of art form? Anyways, here's my Juniper Bonsai:

Yay!

The Greater the Struggle, the more Glorious the Triumph.

2011-06-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

Nick Vujicic is an amazing person. Every time I see this video below, I freakin' tear up! So good!

He also recently participated in an awesome award winning short film entitled: "The Butterfly Circus". It's about 20 mins long, so if you get a chance, I recommend watching. But watch it alone, cuz you'll cry. Not saying I did, but I know you will.

k fine, I did, so what.

Baptism for the Dead

2011-06-14T16:24:00.000-07:00

For those who don’t know, or maybe if you’ve forgotten (yeah, yeah, I only have 3 followers, and yeah, you guys all know, but let me pretend like I have lots of loving followers all over the world, k?) I’m a Mormon, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have a friend at work that has lots of questions about my religion and I LOVE IT! So here goes a try at answering one of her questions today, and I hope I do a good job!

Baptism for the Dead.

I think that before we can discuss this important topic, we first need to understand baptism, and the importance of that ordinance. Baptism is a Covenant we make with God, and one of the first of the Laws and Ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are:
first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ;
second, Repentance;
third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins;
fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Articles of Faith 1:3-4)

By being baptized we show God that we are willing to be obedient to his commandments. Jesus himself set the example by being baptized to fulfill all righteousness, even though he was without sin. (Matt 3:13-17; 2 Nephi 31:5-12)

A covenant is a two-way promise we make with God. We promise to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, to keep His commandments, and to serve Him to the end. He covenants to send his Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) to be with us always. This is a big deal! Baptism is the entry gate to eternal life, and all who wish to enter therein must first pass by the waters of baptism. Baptism is essential for salvation in the Kingdom of God. (John 3:5; Mosiah 18:8-10; Doctrine and Covenants 20:37)

What about the people who never heard of Christ? Are they damned? They never got a chance to hear the gospel and accept Christ! That’s not very fair! What about those baptized without proper authority? This is where Heavenly Father’s great Plan of Salvation comes in, and the ordinance of Baptism for the dead. God’s mercy is manifest in the ordinances for the dead performed within his Holy Temples. We learn in 1 Corinthians 15:29 that baptism for the dead was even performed during the time of the New Testament Apostles.

Baptisms for the dead are performed by proxy, meaning a living person is baptized in behalf of a deceased person. The person acting as the proxy uses only the name of the deceased, and stands in for them. The Church keeps a record of all who have been baptized, living or deceased. Some think that after a baptism for the dead is performed, their names are added to the membership records of the church, this is not the case.

By performing these proxy baptisms in behalf of those who have passed away, the blessings and ordinances are offered to those individuals for whom the baptisms have been performed. These individuals in the next life can choose to accept or decline what has been done on their behalf. This isn’t about “forcing” people to become members of the church, merely offering to them the opportunity to either accept or refuse these saving ordinances themselves. Free Agency is also essential to salvation, and to take that from another person is against the plan of salvation. Coercion to obedience is not Heavenly Father’s way.

So there you have it, baptism for the dead in a bigger nutshell than I intended! Feel free to post comments and questions you may have. If you want, also feel free to email me your questions or comments, I would be happy to address any questions or concerns! (navarreval@gmail.com)

tl:dr edition courtesy Jeffrey Nicholas Carter:
"We have to be baptized to enter heaven. Read John 3:5 then read 1 Cor CH15.

And remember, if you're going to flame, please do so responsibly!

Farewell to Utah and the Galbraiths.

2011-06-08T13:39:00.001-07:00

So we'd been living in Utah since before we were married, but due to a recent layoff and transfer, we've decided to move back to the Dallas area of Texas. Before we left, my good friend Wes took me out for some fun trying to fling mud with his truck. I got some video on my phone, and (finally) threw it all together with some music. This one's for you Wes! Thanks man!

Visit the video on YouTube for descriptions and song details.

To name a blog...

2011-06-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

Catherine wouldn't let me call it "Call of Booty." I tried to tell her it was pirate and gaming themed, but she wasn't buying it, and said: "No." I thought that was quite an eloquent and thought out argument, and I figured she had a point, so I couldn't bring myself to disagree.

So now we need a name for the blog. And no, I don't think she'll let me keep AAAHH MOTHERLAND!! either. So let's see if we can't drum up some comments! Anyone have a good creative name for our blog? Winner gets a prize! A surprise prize! YAY!