The Leaf

There are many sites to help you find your leaf, your ancestors. The leaf is very important. This is not another Hillary article. Not because that's not a major issue, but because everybody else is on that story, and the FBI made it abundantly clear yesterday that Hillary has diplomatic immunity so why beat a dead horse. No, I'm going to address something I rarely, if ever, address. It's not tasteful, or politically correct, and incites widely diverse opinions. I have a water hose ready to extinguish the burning crosses on my lawn. 

In the evening I read countless articles, watch documentaries, check out the news, drink beer, and listen to music. Strangely, the beer/news thing generates ideas for my articles, something seemingly not even connected with the music being played. I'll watch a video, and when I hear a song some connection is made deep in my mind, and the trick is to explain this connection in such a way that the reading public can see it too. 

Last night the recipe was Christopher Hitchens, “Once Bitten Twice Shy” by Great White, and a Youtuber who goes by the name of “newcarabu.” You can check him out at 

https://youtu.be/LffNGRTWULA. He's a jolly old guy, but he's taken some hits when he left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and became a free thinker. When he did this he lost his family, and having lived through that myself, I can tell you it will take its toll. As happens when you are not aware of the Biblical Jesus, and you leave such a group as the “Saints” you may become an atheist. This man is a social worker, talking to people about their problems, but you can chalk him up in the non-believer category. He's not as articulate as Hitchens, but you can sense the wounds through his smile, and pleasant banter. 

He hasn't seen his new grandchild. While he and his daughter were very close when she was sixteen, apparently a divorce, and his subsequent leaving of the church has put a barrier between them, and he's finally come to the conclusion that he, and his daughter are no more. In fact, he refers to the girl as “dead!” This is called “disowning.” Now, bear in mind that I have ex-wives I haven't disowned. In spite of his cheerful approach, you can tell this is a milestone for him. 

I frequently listen to Shawn McCraney, who used to have a show out of Salt Lake called, “Heart of the Matter.” I said “used to” because about three years ago he changed direction and the show dissipated. Shawn would take LDS calls and rake them over the coals. He did this quite well. He is a fundamentalist Bible thumper, but, being from Texas I'm cool with that. What intrigued me was his continually hammering the “cult” nail. He alluded to the same situation in his own life where upon leaving the church he'd taken some family fire the same as the Youtuber I watched last night. I am not going to dissect Mormon doctrine because I believe that all organized religion is smoke and mirrors. I watch Penn and Teller instead. If I want a magic show I just go our to Vegas, and the drinks are free which makes the magic more believable. 

The word, "Cult" is thrown around in religious circles, and the definition is fairly simple: YOU have the “truth” and everybody else is a cult. Well, boys and girls, faithful and apostate, Brother Bill is gonna refine that definition for you, and save your fork ‘cause this is a gonna be good! Any time your religion separates you from your family then you are a member of a cult! When you switch your loyalty to strangers away from your own blood you've just had your gizzard cut out, and abandoned your very self. 

Now, as you know, I don't subscribe to any organized religion, but I am not an atheist. My reasoning is simple, because I'm a Simple Ol’ Boy From Austin. For all of our technological achievements, all of our science, and all of our understanding, we still cannot make a leaf from scratch! The Apostle, Paul, addressed this in Romans when he said that the very act of looking at nature shows the possibility of the existence of God. I think it was Romans 1:20 “For the invisible things of Him, being understood by the things that are made. . .” i.e. we can't make a leaf. 

While religious discussion is lively, even exhilarating, when it bleeds over to the abandoning if your family, your very essence, you have failed in your understanding of how this thing called the human condition really works. Your family history, what makes you YOU! This presents a paradox with the Mormons in that while they purport to seal families for here and eternity, that seal has a leak in it that allows families to be torn apart over disagreement about religious doctrine. When a young woman and her father are basically divorced over someone deciding to leave a church, or even disagree then you have a problem. 

Solution time! Now pay close attention because there's gonna be a quiz later. You have to establish the concept of “family first.” Unless you have a cousin who is a meth head, and is stealing your silverware to get a “rock,” family first. When you are “suggested” to shun a family member over some difference of opinion, or the decision to leave the church you just let them know that your family includes say, thirty people, and if they ever mention that nonsense again then on Sunday there will be thirty empty seats down at the tabernacle. That's thirty people who WON’T be tithing either. Now, math lesson. Average income for Utah is around $58,000. If the dirty thirty are tithing the way they're supposed to then each one will be contributing about $5,800. Let's multiply that by thirty, and you get $174,000 that just walked out the door. This will lead the church leadership into deep contemplation. Don't worry, however, because if enough people do this then they'll  get a divine revelation, similar to the one Spencer W. Kimball had back in 1978 when he turned all the black folk white. You can't make this stuff up, people. And this is what happens every single time someone claims to be speaking for the guy who made the leaf. Can I have an “amen?”