When words get ruined

In going over the Articles of Faith, one of the places where I almost stopped for a tangent was on the 10th with its reference to "Zion."

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-tenth-article-of-faith.html 

It's not my only word problem. 

We have patriarchs in the church, and patriarchal blessings, which are special and good.  There may even be times when they talk about fathers as patriarchs of their family... that doesn't need to be bad. None of that takes away my desire to smash the patriarchy, with all of the other things "patriarchy" can mean.

I may feel some discomfort using the word, but the flip side is that I am sure some people will hear "smash the patriarchy" and feel very threatened. They only know about ways in which that can mean positive things.

I try and be sensitive to all sides, with decreasing sympathy the more the ignorance seems embraced.

It is also not the first time I have seen very negative uses involving "Zion."

I remember reading an article in the 80s about ZOG, the Zionist Occupied Government.

That is part of a conspiracy theory about the Jews ruling the world. Yeah, that is simplified.

I believe that particular phrasing is from The Turner Diaries, so had been around for a while before. Theories about Jewish control of the world go back much further. The reason I heard of it when I did probably relates to the murder of Alan Berg by the terrorist group The Order.

I don't want to get too caught up in writing about Palestine right now; it is a big issue and I have written about it before. I even wrote about the word "Zion" before. Still, there may be some room for reiteration.

First of all, a reminder that there were Jewish people who repatriated to Palestine before Israel existed. It didn't have to become what it is now; there were choices involved.

Secondly, criticism of Israel does not have to be anti-Semitic. There is plenty to criticize and that can be done fairly.

That being said, antisemitism is nonetheless on the rise. It creeps and blasts into these discussions all the time. 

Because that is a bigotry that goes so far back and is connected to so many really unhinged conspiracy theories, it is a bad path to follow. That may be part of its popularity in this particular climate, but it should be noted along with that how the people who made Palestine their main issue have actually made Palestinian lives worse -- along with many other lives -- while actively ignoring the requests of the Palestinian people or acknowledging any of that now.

That takes some chutzpah. 

For the Latter-Day Saints, our definition of Zion has two main elements:

1. Pure in heart
2. No poor

Without wanting to belabor the obvious, you do not get purity of heart through lies, hatred, and viciousness.

Those qualities also don't solve poverty.

We have to love each other and become better by being willing to own our mistakes and change. That is easier when motivated by love.

I think the reason there are no really successful examples of thriving, happy communism or socialism is right here. They go after their goal by trying to eliminate all their enemies; then they just keep finding more enemies. 

This is why both fascism and communism/socialism so easily end up becoming authoritarian. You would think being opposites, they would have different outcomes, but their similarities are more important, and more destructive.

If you truly want things to be better for everyone, you're going to have to learn how to love them. 

Related posts:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2024/06/dominator-culture-and-social-media-gaza.html  

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2025/03/clarification.html 

Scripture reading update and lingering questions

I finished writing about the Articles of Faith.

It's nice having a goal in mind and accomplishing it.

There were a few places where I seriously considered taking breaks to write about a tangent that the content suggested. 

Sometimes things that are very understandably distracting start detracting. That happens a lot on the main blog.

I am going to go back over the thirteen posts and see what else I think I should cover. 

I do have some things in mind, but I also know that other people have other points of view. 

I am encouraging you to let me know if you have questions. You can post a comment (which can be done anonymously) or contact me some other way. 

For now, you may remember a different (and bigger) goal that I wrote about in February, though I started it in January, reading through all of the standard works this year:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2026/02/reading-all-of-standard-works-in-one.html 

It has mostly gone how I have expected. 

I switched out my third Old Testament day with my Doctrine & Covenants day. That wasn't a big deal, but since the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine & Covenants are both in my triple, whereas the Old and New Testaments are in my Bible, it's just a matter of switching the books around less. 

I have also changed days for travel, so that I only took my triple to Seattle and only my Bible to Cincinnati.

Am I learning more for being in all of them around the same time? I think I am noticing some patterns better, though that is also influenced by the accrued knowledge from previous readings and from my Ensign reading, especially for 1982:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-eight-article-of-faith.html

So much of my learning comes from reading new things, but returning to old things many times, especially for that which is spiritual, also brings great learning.

For a more specific update...

Old Testament: Lamentations
New Testament: Hebrews
Book of Mormon: 3rd Nephi
Doctrine & Covenants: Section 128

Here is the really cool thing...

Most of the Pearl of Great Price books have their obvious (at least to me) counterparts.

Moses and Abraham go with the early chapters of Genesis, Joseph Smith - Matthew goes with Matthew, and Joseph Smith - History goes at the very beginning of the Doctrine and Covenants. 

Those obvious counterparts are also all at the beginnings, but I was not sure where to put the Articles of Faith.

They were written with the Wentworth letter and you can check the dates for the different sections, so that was going to be my approach. 

It looked like the closest D&C section to the articles would be Section 128, which I got to just as I had finished blogging about the articles individually.

Sometimes things work out. 

The Thirteenth (and final) Article of Faith

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say we follow the admonition of Paul -- We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.  

I think the thirteenth is a good way of saying that we can't cover everything, but we know that there are many things that are good.

Part of this that may not be obvious is that there will be individuality. There are too many potentially good things for anyone to pursue them all. The different choices that we make can still all be good, even if they are not automatically all good.

It also serves as a reminder that we have to choose. It can be so easy to just follow the current; you can lose hours playing on your phone. We will not ultimately find satisfaction that way. We should be intentional about pursuing good.

That will mean serving others, of course, but it also means building relationships, seeking knowledge, and developing talents.

And don't forget rest is very important!

There was one other things that struck me this time. 

It is because of a talk from Elder Bednar from the last conference, "All Who Have Endured Valiantly."

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2026/04/16bednar?lang=eng 

He speaks on the connection between charity and enduring to the end, and he makes a good case for it. Some of the defining characteristics we have for charity are how it suffereth long and faileth not. That sounds like enduring.

Then, charity becomes they way we can endure to the end, with love.

So, seeing how the admonition of Paul goes... "We believe all things" (faith), "we hope all things" (hope), 
"we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things"... that sounds like endurance, and it is, but also it is charity.

Faith leads to hope which leads to charity, and that's how we make it through.

That makes sense. 

 

The Twelfth Article of Faith

We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. 

I find this one a little harder with the current administration, though it is not the first time I have felt that way.

Then I see horrible behavior from people who claim to be against the government on similar grounds -- perhaps with other differences -- and I have a lot of thoughts.

There are responsibilities to living in a society. That is not just the responsibility we might have to each other under any circumstances. When we become a unit, where there are benefits to that but also restrictions and opportunities for conflict, it can be complicated and frustrating.

One thing I appreciate the phrasing is that not all governments are the same, but issues related to the social contract can still apply.

If you have a bad king -- or a bad president who would prefer being a king -- can one ethically be subject?

I believe so, but then how do we do that?

In a democracy that certainly means participating and working for the common good. 

That sounds simple enough, but there are people who feel like their vote isn't worth the bother, with other people doing things like setting ballot boxes on fire because they suspect the submitted ballots are "wrong". 

In that way it relates a lot to the eleventh article:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-eleventh-article-of-faith.html 

If the system has an abusive hierarchy spread through it, that's corruption to fight, but it is very easy to be sure you are in the right and that other people are the problem.

It ends up taking humility and love, which often appear to be in short supply.

One important step is considering the consequences:

What message will this send? Who will receive it? What will be the effects?

I have written about this before, mainly about Palestine. Regardless, if you are inconveniencing a lot of people who can't make the changes you are hoping for, that's probably not the way to go. If the reason you are picking on them is because you are scared of the people who are in charge, or just angry that people are not properly acknowledging your superiority, those would be clear signs that you are on the wrong path, but possibly signs that are hard to admit to yourself.

It takes thought and listening. It takes wisdom, which can be difficult, but prayer can help.

It takes a lot of honesty, especially with yourself. 

And it takes integrity. 

Knowing something is terrible but thinking that the ends justify the means is unlikely to be true. It's unlikely to help.

These are difficult times. I know. Navigating them is tricky, but I have not given up hope.