Jacob Luttrell, Artist who Deserves a Little Attention

I shot a concert for this guy a year or two back and have been a huge fan of his music ever since. I recently pulled out his album "Old Soul" again and popped it in. It was just as enjoyable and catchy as always. Seriously, this guy definitely deserves a bit of attention. He calls his sound Stevie Wonder, and I call his sound Robin Thicke. As a matter of fact I heard the new Robin Thicke song on Last FM the other day and could have sworn it was Luttrell. He has toured with Kelly Clarkson and others but now he is raising a family (cute family I might add) in the church here in Utah. Let me know if you want to hear his stuff and I'll be sure you do :)

Quick thought on Salvation and the Temple

Yesterday I was reading in The Holy Temple by Talmadge and I came across a quote that struck me in a way I had never thought of before. In the Chapter called "The Necessity of Obedience" it reads

"While professing belief in the possibility of a universal salvation, the Church affirms that salvation is assured only on condition of individual compliance with the requirements established by the Redeemer, without whose atoning sacrifice none could be saved."

So, in regular human speak (that's what's so cool about Talmadge, we get to read educated speak) I get this:

'We recognize that everyone COULD by saved [by saved we mean exalted/Celestial kingdom] but the church teaches us that in order to be saved we need to keep the commandments that Christ gave us. That same Christ who, incidentally, makes it so we can even be saved in the first place.'

For some reason I started thinking about the recent exhibition of the temple ceremony on HBO (I had temple on the brain since that's the focus of the book) and the people who say you can be saved just by accepting Christ, your actions should be true to who you are (even if they are in direct violation of the commandments.) And, now I'll break those apart.

First, in order to be saved we must keep the commandments - we believe that in order to recieve the knowledge provided in the temple one must also keep the commandments. Following that similarity, presenting the ceremony publicly is like saying salvation should not require obedience either since it negates the requirements of obedience and righteousness to recieve them. But, then again, that statement would be too surprising (see next paragraph). Unfortunately, our world is chocked full of this mentality. Because so much knowledge has become public, we feel we should have the right to know everything on OUR OWN TERMS - all I need is the desire to know about it. Talmadge's statement screamed at me that this simply is not true. Some knowledge must be learned through righteousness and obedience. Hence, the Savior taught in parables - only those with "ears to hear" could hear the deeper meanings. Fortunately, the temple ceremony is the same way. The phrase pearls before swine comes to mind.

Second, if Jesus facilitated our salvation. I mean, he atoned for our sins and rose from the grave - what makes us think that we don't have to do anything in return. But, 'in return' isn't really a good definition of it since it is only a win win action for us to keep the commandments. Win because it improves our own life, and win because it leads to salvation. The concept that we don't have to keep the commandments and God will just 'make everything okay' on the other side is ludicrous and, to a certain degree, contradictory to the concept of an atonement. Then why do so many of us feel this way - that God loves everyone so he will save everyone? It is true that Christ loves us all, no matter what - there is much comfort and peace in that. But "salvation is assured only on condition of individual compliance with the requirements established by the Redeemer, without whose atoning sacrifice none could be saved."

Art

Art is meant to reflect our attempt to capture the divine. Often I have found that art, good art, that is, springs from confusion, questioning, and the artist's attempt to answer the basic Gospel questions of who we are, why we are here, and where we are going. 'Search for truth' infuses the artist's work with passion and feeling. Of course, the obvious problem for a man of faith is this: I know the answers to these questions, my 'search for truth' is minute within the light of the Gospel and the source of answers is developed through my relationship with my Heavenly Father, not my work. SO, back the the thesis statement - the way for a man of faith who is at peace with his surroundings to still find that passion and feeling in his work is a burning desire to not only appreciate the works of God but to reach out in earnest effort to imitate them. To recreate the heavens and the mysteries of the earth. We may know the answers to the 3 big questions but we don't know what they look like, sound like, FEEL like! I want my art to explore those worlds that are just beyond our reach knowing that I can never truly recreate their beauties, but, if for only a moment, I can touch them then I have accomplished what art is truly supposed to do - elevate us beyond the mortal.

Priestcraft and Deseret Book

Many of you know that I have long struggled trying to reconcile the conflict of interest presented by Deseret Book. Is it a for profit business or a holy library - easy answer, right? It's both. But how can an entity serve God and Mammon? Deseret Book seems to walk this line very closely. Are the books on sale being written, advertised, and sold to uplift and inspire or to make money? //P.S. I really wonder about this one when their books is advertised RIGHT after conference (usually several times) - I work in a marketing department, don't try to tell me that isn't prime advertising space.//

Furthermore, this question became especially distressing to me when The Church purchased Deseret Book a little while back. I have mulled it over and over and over again. I've asked people I respect what their opinions are and usually the answers were the same (which means they were probably right). I always got a "you're reading way too much into it, kid" kinda response. But the question continued to bug me. I might think more about this than most because I've thought about writing my own LDS fiction and deeply contemplated how, why, or if I should publish it. My discomfort reached an all time high when I decided to buy a copy of The History of the Church. You know, the large volume set referenced in the introduction to almost every section of the Doctrine and Covenants. Surely something referenced so often in canonized scripture would be sold at wholesale prices similar to the Missionary Library. Nope. The only available set in print is $200 and leatherbound. Ack! So I called them up and asked for an alternative. They recommended Gospel Link. I thought "Oh yeah, that program with like 5,000 books. I suppose I could buy a CD to get them." But I couldn't find Gospel Link anywhere on their website - at least not the software. The only available Gospel Link library is a pay-per-month Gospel Link service and website. Really, $5 a month is not much for so much knowledge...but I just couldn't bring myself to add yet another monthly expense to our bills. Especially since I know the financial reasons companies use monthly payments - it MAKES THEM MORE MONEY.

In the end, I came to an answer that I felt very good about. I will purchase a monthly service for Gospel literature when and ONLY WHEN I have exhausted all of my free resources. This includes all of the literature (scriptures, magazines, conference talks, etc) available through lds.org, all of the talks on ksl.com, the videos provided through kbyu and byutv and all of the books available through project guttenberg (awesome btw) and literature.org, etc. Since I know I have NOT exhausted those resources - not even close - I am content that I will not need to make a purchase at Deseret Book any time soon. Problem solved...for me. But what about the Deseret Book/Priestcraft conflict?

Well, last night while I was thinking about this relationship I finally came to an answer that makes sense to me: The Church purchased Deseret Book in order to ensure that it DID NOT become a wolf's den of priestcraft. Now, I'm sure Deseret Book started out with only the best intentions in mind but as soon as it became a viable revenue stream it could only be a matter of time before someone would start focusing more on the money than the message. I'm thinking The Church stepped in to stop that. Still, I'm sure there are LDS and 'Jack-LDS' authors who target Deseret Book because it's easier to get published in the smaller market and sell lots of books to faith seeking suckers...er...I mean members. To me the combo leaves a bad taste in my mouth - as it probably did with The Church. So rather than allow it to run out of control (LDS film making - ahem) they decided to wrangle it in so that they could protect members from an inevitable outlet for priestcraft. Does preistcraft still happen there - sure, though everyone involved will surely deny it. It's a business, but at least the church can keep it from getting crazy out of hand.

So here's my rules when shopping for LDS branded media:
1. Is it published by The Church itself? If not, always take it with a grain of salt because IT IS NOT 100% DOCTRINE, no matter the author.
2. Along with #1 - always try to have the Holy Ghost in order to discern what is written for commercial success and what is written for spiritual success.
3. Never, EVER allow the study of any book to replace study of the scriptures
4. Remember that quality requires time and that the artist, author, or musician had to spend a lot of their personal time to create it (so suck it up and pay for it) but remember it's not 100% doctrine.
5. I always have to remember that my testimony was bolstered during my formative years by some excellent LDS media. Heimerdinger's work most notably combined with LDS Pop music greats like Michael McClean (sp?), Kurt Bestor, and Kenneth Cope. I can't deny or despise that.
6. Is the purchase a popular / required item for the current Mormon Pop-culture trends? If so, don't buy it until it's out of fashion so as to buy it for a real purpose.
7. "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."