Technology

The past few weeks I have been reading my favorite series of books. They're called the Tennis Shoes Adventure Series. There are 11 total so far.  The series revolves around a family of Latter-day Saints and the adventures they share and how it brings them closer to the Lord and helps them grow in the Gospel.
I was reading through them and in the 7th book in the series, I read something that I just thought was really interesting and I wanted to share it.
The book is called The Golden Crown and it's written by Chris Heimerdinger.
The prologue reads:
 

    "The two worlds weren't so very different, you know. That is, the world of our Savior in the first century, and the world of Joseph Smith in the nineteenth. . .
      It's actually astonishing how similar the two time periods were. Though separated by eighteen hundred years, the technology was almost identical. The daily lives and routines of the people were, for all practical purposes, mirror images of each other. Both depended on horse, carriage, and foot for transportation. Houses were heated by wood, coal, and dung. Water was fetched from wells, unless, like for certain wealthy Romans, it was piped into your home from the local aqueduct. Both had stock markets, and international postal service, and their populations whiled away the hours reading the world's great books--many of which had exactly the same titles.
     By the 1800s, the treatment of disease was still much the same as it had been in the days of Galen, the old Roman physician. many doctors still used his textbooks. Even where technological advances were obvious, like the printing press or gunpowder, Roman superiority in civil engineering more than balanced it out. The truth is, when Joseph Smith was born, the world had been struggling to reacquaint itself with Roman technology for three hundred years. By 1830, they were just about there.
     And then suddenly, overnight, technology exploded: Railroads and steam engines. Telegraphs and telephones. Automobiles and airplanes. Computers and cosmonauts. All in a little over a hundred and fifty years.
     The coincidence seems undeniable. As the Lord poured out spiritual knowledge upon the Latter-day Saints, He poured out every other kind of knowledge upon all the nations of the earth. The tow worked hand in hand, inseparable. One led to the other. After all, this is the dispensation of the fulness of times. Knowledge is knowledge. Truth is truth. . ."

So, I think that's a pretty awesome passage. My mom always told me the same thing, but I really like the way that the author writes this. It makes it all seem so sure, and so true. If you want to read the books, the series name is at the top, and they're really a good series.

Modesty

It's SUMMER!!!!!
Which means bikinis, tank tops, short shorts. . .etc. . .
Not for Latter-Day Saints.
We believe that our bodies are temples, precious gifts from our Heavenly Father. Therefore we believe in covering them modestly. Our dress code is fairly simple, nothing that shows shoulders, back, or the legs above the knee, and nothing too low cut in the front. And definitely no bikinis. Instead a one piece suit or a tankini that covers the stomach is perfectly acceptable. Many people wonder why we have such strict modesty codes, and many members have a difficult time keeping the modesty codes. Wearing modest clothing shows that we truly care for and love our bodies. We know that we don't have to show off everything on our body to get attention. We also don't want anyone to be thinking bad or immoral thoughts triggered by what we're wearing. We should all strive to keep our thoughts clean and pure and that's sometimes difficult for guys to do when they see a girl in a bikini.
Modesty isn't just for girls either. There are modesty rules for guys, though they aren't much of an issue since men's clothes tend to be modest anyway. The only things that guys really should not wear are wife beaters. Men's shorts are usually to the knee so that solves that problem as well.
In the summer it's especially hard because it's hot and tank tops feel so good, but in the end it's worth it. For me, it's worth it because I feel comfortable, I don't have to constantly be adjusting my top to fit of pulling my shorts down so they're not hiking up. I also know that I'm following the counsel of our church leaders and doing what I know I should be doing. Respecting my body, by clothing it modestly.
But modest can be beautiful, there are plenty of fashionable things that can look just as cute (if not more) as immodest things.