2008-6-19 05:07:00
Here is a continuation of my early struggle with truth. I think I'll change the name of this series to: "Youthful Recollections."
I discovered that blending in with the other guys who were as bored of church as I was took the edge off dealing with the problem. I made a number of friends who went to church, usually dragged there by their parents, and enjoyed mingling with them after the service was over.
As we were talking before going home we often had our own theological discussions much more interesting than church services. Some of the questions for speculation were:
This was probably the number one mystery to us as all of us enjoyed good food and didn't want to go without it in the next world.
I remember my friend Brent visiting me after a rebel friend came back from a mission. He entered the door with a somber look on his face.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
He looked at me and said, "They got him!"
"They got who?"
"Nels," he said. "I never thought Nels would go religious on us but they got him."
"That's too bad," I said. "Maybe he'll shake out of it after a while."
"I don't know," said Brent. "He's even got that missionary twang when he speaks.
Nels did partially recover but he and others scared us as to what we could become if we were not careful.
During these discussions I must have told someone I believed in reincarnation as one day the Bishop again called me into his office and said, "I hear you believe in reincarnation."
"Yes" I said. "It makes sense to me."
"That's a false doctrine," He said. "In fact it is the doctrine of the devil."
"Is that so?" I asked incredulously. "Is there anything in the scriptures about it?"
"Yes there is," he said and fetched a Bible and turned to Hebrews 9:27 and read: "It is given to man once to die and after this the judgement." He put the Bible down and said, "See. This tells us we only die once. That means there is only one life."
"It does seem to say that," I said.
The Bishop looked at me again and added, "Furthermore, the Prophet has said there is only one life and we know he is correct because he speaks for God. Now will you accept there is only one life and stop telling people you believe in reincarnation?"
The prophet speaking for God didn't impress me that much but I did believe the Bible was true and the scripture did seem to indicate one life. Based on that I told the Bishop I would accept the idea of one physical life, though at the time it did not seem a fair system.
While still in my thirteenth year I developed an interest in making homemade rockets. I was a little like the guy in the movie October Sky except my first rockets were completely homemade including the engines.
On the day after Christmas Dec 26, 1958 my friend Larry Larson and I were completing a rocket engine made of a CO2 cartridge fueled match heads from book matches. I was just finishing tamping the last match heads of the 25th book when it exploded in my left hand in the kitchen.
After the smoke cleared I looked at my hand and saw that it was a mangled mess. I thought I was going to lose my whole hand. Then I wondered about my right and was afraid to look at it. I could live with the loss of one hand, but what if both were damaged? Finally I drummed up the courage and pulled my right hand up before my eyes. I was greatly relieved to see that it was OK. My mom wrapped my hand in a towel and got a neighbor to drive me and Larry to the hospital. Larry had a couple pieces of metal strike his hand but he was not hurt badly.
After we got to the hospital they did surgery on me for eight hours. A lot of the work consisted of digging out match heads that were blown up into my wrist and arm. They finally sewed me up with over a hundred stitches.
As I was recovering I received a lot of visitors. There was one thing everyone said and that was how lucky I was. I didn't feel very lucky, but everyone said I was lucky I wasn't dead.
Another thing that just about all visiting adults, especially church authorities, said was:
"I bet this taught you a lesson to never make rockets again."
I enjoyed tweaking them by replying:
"Well, I won't be making them until I get out of the hospital. I will be more careful next time though."
This statement always sent a jolt through their consciousness.
Actually, this was a truthful statement. I did plan on making more rockets after I got out of the hospital. In fact someone brought me a book to read on rockets and my interest was much greater than ever.
Reading this book changed my life in two different ways. First it increased my desire to learn scientific principles and secondly it was the first book I had ever read in my life. I read what I had to in school, but had never read a book through on my own. It took the boredom of a hospital room to force me to start reading so there was a silver lining in the accident.
As it turned out I lost three fingers and badly damaged the rest of the hand. Altogether I had six surgeries over a three year time period to make a useable hand.
After I got out of the hospital I built more rockets than ever, but safer ones. Instead of making my own engines I ordered them pre-made from Colorado. After church I often invited a crowd over to my place to watch the launching of a new rocket.
This kind of concerned church authorities as some thought was leading other kids in a dangerous direction. I had difficulty in convincing some adults that the new rocket engines that were pre-made were safe.
As I now look back I am surprised I didn't get thrown out of the Mormon church earlier than I did.
-- End Of Part 4 --
"People who throw kisses are hopelessly lazy."
-- Bob Hope (1903 - 2003)
Word of the Day
Statism (or Etatism): 1. Specific instances of state intervention in personal, social or economic matters. 2. A form of government or economic system that involves significant state intervention in personal, social or economic matters.
The term can be used loosely in a derogative sense to describe an instance in which a country or other political entity is more Statist than the user of the term believes is desirable (in the case of anarchists, this may include all of the world's countries). More rigorously, a specific area of policy within a country may be described as Statist, which would allow comparison with another country in which that area of policy is completely non-Statist.
The term tends to be used most often with respect to economic policies. For instance, Merriam-Webster defines statism as a "concentration of economic controls and planning in the hands of a highly centralized government." Advocates of economic liberalism typically use the term "statism" to refer to any economy that does not conform to the standard of laissez-faire capitalism. "Statism" is also used to refer to specific policies in countries that would not be identified as statist overall (for example, the state monopoly on mail delivery in the United States.
Go To:
Youthful Recollections, Part One
Youthful Recollections, Part Two
Youthful Recollections, Part Three
Youthful Recollections, Part Five
Youthful Recollections, Part Six
Youthful Recollections, Part Seven
Copyright © 2008 by JJ Dewey, All Rights Reserved