Another Bluetooth Sermon

Well...I got a new phone, a new wallet, a new driver's license, a new bank account...kind of a new everything. :p

The phone is a Samsung MyShot...it cost 9 bucks with the contract, and I'm pretty happy with it so far. I did some crazy things to get some ringtones on it...Let me preface this by saying that my mom and my sister have the same phone as I do.

For my ringtone, it wasn't too bad. I took a song that I like by Matthew West, called The Motions. I downloaded an audio editing program from off the internet, and used it to edit the song to a 30 second clip of the best-for-a-ringtone sort. Basically the chorus, when he sings it the loudest. So, I get that finished, I put it on my jumpdrive and give it to my bro. He sticks it on his Mp3 Player, which has bluetooth capability.

(Something I forgot to mention, the Samsung MyShot has open Bluetooth. That means that not only can you use the bluetooth technology to connect your phone to a headset, but you can also connect to other bluetooth capable devices, and do file transfers between them.)

So now the ringtone audio clip is on my bro's mp3 player...he then connects the phone and the mp3 player using the bluetooth wireless, and transfers the song from his player to my phone. Now I have it on my phone, and can use it as a ringtone...That's not the craziest thing either.

For my mom and sister...they had songs that they had heard on YouTube that they liked, and wanted as ringtones...That took a little more time.. I found a program online that would convert YouTube videos to any other downloadable format. So I could convert a video to AVI, MP3, MP4, OGG, etc...I took the video, converted it to an MP3 format (essentially stripping the audio from the video, and just using the audio), and then did the same thing I did with the Matthew West song...So now we all have custom ringtones on our phones. :)

Playing Frisbee today...We had some Morman's come over and approach our moms, who were sitting off to the side watching us play. Sam and I immediately ran over when we saw them coming, and talked to them for 30-45 minutes, using our WVA training. Interestingly enough, the two questions they never answered were also the ones upon which their faith was based.
1). Why do we need the Book of Mormon (as opposed to only the Bible)?
2). What makes Joseph Smith so special? (i.e...Mohammed allegedly received visions from Allah...how do we know he wasn't right? Why should we believe a man claiming to recieve visions?)

They skirted both of the questions.

Apparently, when the Apostles and Jesus died, the Christian Church died also...well..it started to fragment, and no one had true Authority like Jesus, or His 12 Disciples. So for hundreds of years, the Church grew farther and farther apart, splitting into many many denominations, and ending up with the thousands of different beliefs and churches that we have today. And apparently, since we have so many different churches, and don't really know which one is the right one, God decided that Mr. Smith needed not to go to Washington, but to go grab some gold tablets, and reveal Another Testament of Jesus Christ to the World (as if the first one wasn't good enough?). (Btw, that paragraph was an summary of what the Mormon Elders told us, not what I believe).

Well, unfortunately...I believe in the Bible that it says that whoever Believes in his Heart, and confesses with his mouth that Jesus is Lord will be saved. You don't have to go believe in a certain method of baptism. You don't have to dress in a suit and tie. You don't have to tithe 11.5% of your net income. There are no rules, no regulations, save that you Confess and Believe. You see, when you base a religion on Morals, or principles that MUST be followed in order to achieve this end, the Salvation of our Souls, eventually someone will get there, and achieve everything. And then you have nothing left save the Pride and Glory of having achieved something great. And that kind of destroys the Faith. The whole basis of our Faith is founded on the fact that Man CANNOT redeem himself, and that he needs a higher power to help him. But God's gift is Free, we can do nothing to earn it. He's offered it to all, and all we need to is accept it, but we cannot earn it. We cannot make God owe us something. He owns everything. It is foolishness and folly to believe that we could ever do something that would either make God give us Salvation, or do something good enough to earn it.

It's a GIFT people. Take it or leave it. But when you take it, don't worry your head about "how should I baptize", "Is it okay to clap and dance in church" or "What REALLY happens to the bread and the wine when it's blessed"...concentrate your thoughts, emotions, feelings, and passion on HIM. Serve HIM. Be ye Holy, as He is Holy.

More later...I'm sermoned out. :p