I am grateful for the scriptures #givethanks

 

8 We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.  9 We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. Articles of Faith #givethanks I am always, daily thankful for the scriptures. 

Free Printable Family Tree Templates and Online Family Tree Ideas

 

https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/family-tree-templates-family-tree-maker/

This is a really good idea. I am always looking for new examples of family trees and this came along at just the right time. You should take some time to look at the links in this post. 

I am thankful for genealogy #GiveThanks

 

I started exploring my family's genealogy almost 40 years ago. Most of what I do now is directly or indirectly a result of my earlier interest and continued work. I am grateful for all of the thousands of ancestors and relatives I have discovered over the years. I am grateful for all the people I have come to know both living and dead as a result of my genealogical research. I am looking forward to doing a lot more. #GiveThanks

The Problem of Racism

 

In the October 2020 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson said the following:

Each of us has a divine potential because each is a child of God. Each is equal in His eyes. The implications of this truth are profound. Brothers and sisters, please listen carefully to what I am about to say. God does not love one race more than another. His doctrine on this matter is clear. He invites all to come unto Him, “black and white, bond and free, male and female.”

I assure you that your standing before God is not determined by the color of your skin. Favor or disfavor with God is dependent upon your devotion to God and His commandments and not the color of your skin.

I grieve that our Black brothers and sisters the world over are enduring the pains of racism and prejudice. Today I call upon our members everywhere to lead out in abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice. I plead with you to promote respect for all of God’s children.

The question for each of us, regardless of race, is the same. Are you willing to let God prevail in your life? Are you willing to let God be the most important influence in your life? Will you allow His words, His commandments, and His covenants to influence what you do each day? Will you allow His voice to take priority over any other? Are you willing to let whatever He needs you to do take precedence over every other ambition? Are you willing to have your will swallowed up in His?

Again, in a short talk posted on YouTube.com on November 20, 2020, President Russel M. Nelson, condemned racism. See https://youtu.be/tlcILxGmVrI. 

President Dallin H. Oaks, of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gave a talk at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah on October 27, 2020. A synopsis of the talk was reported in a Deseret News article entitled, "Latter-day Saint leader tells BYU audience to ‘heed our prophet’s call’ to end racism" and on some social media websites including Instagram. 

Some of the comments generated by the publication of the talk perfectly illustrated to me one of the real problems with racism. Rather than listen to what President Oaks had to say, there was an immediate reaction to the talk from a purely political standpoint, and the discussion revolved around condemning the "Black Lives Matter" organization for such things as demolishing the police, destroying the nuclear family, and advocating Marxism. President Oaks' comments made no reference at all to the organization. 

Many of the comments to the news article denied the existence of "systemic racism" in the United States and yet we have a significant number of people in our American society that support a political view that encourages "White Supremacy." The comments included assertions that the talks were politically motivated and effectively equated statements condemning racism as being "Marxist." 

Racism is a personal and cultural issue. One of the commentators replied to President Oak's talk by saying that he wasn't racist and didn't know anyone who was racists and couldn't understand why the leaders of the Church kept talking about racism. I have seen systemic cultural and personal racism again and again throughout my life both inside and outside the Church. Given the politicization of the issue of racism in the current election, I think it was both appropriate and important that the leaders of the Church have spoken out on this issue. I know people who consider themselves to be "good members of the Church" who systematically support extreme attitudes of discrimination. 

Here is a link to President Oak's talk at BYU. https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/dallin-h-oaks/racism-other-challenges/ Here is a final quote from his talk.

Now, with prophetic clarification, let us all heed our prophet’s call to repent, to change, and to improve. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can unite and bring peace to people of all races and nationalities. We who believe in that gospel—whatever our origins—must unite in love of each other and of our Savior Jesus Christ.

FREE Virtual Family History Classes, Webinars, and Videos from the BYU Family History Library

 

https://fh.lib.byu.edu/

Although the Brigham Young University Family History Library is closed to both volunteer/missionaries and patrons, we are hosting a broad offering of free online classes, webinars, and videos. All of the present offerings are outlined on our "Classes and Webinars" webpage. 

https://fh.lib.byu.edu/classes-and-webinars/

The classes and webinars include:

• BYU Family History Library Webinars
• Sunday Virtual Classes
• Virtual Indexing Classes
• Instructional Videos
• Family History Basic Tutorials

In addition, for the students and faculty who still have access to the Library, we have a virtual consultant video station in the Library with live, online missionary volunteers every weekday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. The students and faculty simply have to walk up to the video monitor and start asking questions. 

We have nearly 500 videos online on the BYU Family History Library YouTube Channel. Here is a screenshot of the Channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7hqNOQt-2AfeVEpDuc7sCA

If you have a question or a suggestion for a new video, please let us know. The contact information for the Library is on our webpage. Here is the link: https://fh.lib.byu.edu/contact-information/

Let God Prevail

 

Eugène Delacroix (1861) CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=386358
Jacob wrestling with an angel

The painting above depicts an event described in the Bible in Genesis (32:22–32; also referenced in Hosea 12:4) when Jacob wrestled with an angel and subsequently, received a new name, "Israel." 

President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke in the Sunday morning session of the Church's 190th Semi-annual General Conference on October 4, 2020. He began his talk by explaining that he had learned a new meaning of the word "Israel." The most common translation is "contends with God" but President Nelson indicated that Hebrew scholars also translated "Israel" as "Let God Prevail." He then gave some examples of letting God prevail including abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice. See "President Russell M. Nelson: Let God Prevail." 

I was impressed by his comments. Most of my early life was spent in a small town in eastern Arizona and in the larger city of Phoenix. After leaving Phoenix for a few years I returned and lived many years in Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Mesa. It took me a number of years away from Arizona and living in Argentina and Panama to realize that I grew up in de facto segregated communities. None of the grade schools or the high school I attended had any significant minority students despite the fact that Arizona has a significant minority population. Currently, the non-Hispanic White population is about 54% of the population. 

As I grow older, I have become increasingly aware of the systematic and cultural racism that exists in the United States. Part of my awareness comes from speaking Spanish fluently and subsequently being involved as an attorney in the Hispanic community representing Spanish speaking clients and teaching Spanish as a second language in the local community college system. Living in Panama made me acutely aware of the prejudice harbored against the Black community. 

Now, President Nelson had some very specific things to say about racism. Here is a quote from the above-linked article.

“Brothers and sisters, please listen carefully to what I am about to say. God does not love one race more than another. His doctrine on this matter is clear. He invites all to come unto Him, ‘black and white, bond and free, male and female’ (2 Nephi 26:33). I assure you that your standing before God is not determined by the color of your skin. Favor or disfavor with God is dependent upon your devotion to God and His commandments, and not the color of your skin.

“I grieve that our Black brothers and sisters the world over are enduring the pains of racism and prejudice. Today, I call upon our members everywhere to lead out in abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice. I plead with you to promote respect for all of God’s children.

“The question for each of us, regardless of race, is the same. Are you willing to let God prevail in your life? Are you willing to let God be the most important influence in your life? Will you allow His words, His commandments, and His covenants to influence what you do each day? Will you allow His voice to take priority over any other? Are you willing to let whatever He needs you to do take precedence over every other ambition? Are you willing to have your will swallowed up in His? (See Mosiah 15:7).” 

Although his words specifically identified Blacks as the object of racism, his words clearly apply to any discrimination of anyone because of their supposed "race." 

As a genealogist, I have learned that due to current studies in DNA testing, the concept of race can no longer be clearly defined. Here is a statement on the subject from Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. 

'Race’ cannot be biologically defined due to genetic variation among human individuals and populations. (A) The old concept of the “five races:” African, Asian, European, Native American, and Oceanian. According to this view, variation between the races is large, and thus, the each race is a separate category. Additionally, individual races are thought to have a relatively uniform genetic identity. (B) Actual genetic variation in humans. Human populations do roughly cluster into geographical regions. However, variation between different regions is small, thus blurring the lines between populations. Furthermore, variation within a single region is large, and there is no uniform identity.

I will have more to say on this subject in the future.  

FamilySearch has over 8 billion searchable names in historical records

 

A news announcement from FamilySearch recently noted the following:

Nonprofit FamilySearch published its 8 billionth free searchable name from its worldwide historic record collections online. The milestone is even more astounding when you think that each name is someone’s ancestor—8 billion family connections just waiting to be discovered. Explore the free databases at FamilySearch.org.

It’s an incredible feat when you realize that just 1 billion seconds ago, it was 1988, or 1 billion minutes ago the Roman Empire was thriving and Christianity was just beginning to spread.

“To digitally preserve and make so many names freely searchable online is impressive, but it’s the personal family connections that matter most,” said David Rencher, FamilySearch’s chief genealogical officer. “With each new record, there’s the possibility to find a missing link in the family tree. And that is soul-satisfying.” And FamilySearch adds over 1 million new records each day.

The last sentence in this short excerpt is important: "And FamilySearch adds over 1 million new records each day." Researching online is always an ongoing process. Because records are added every day, you never know if what you are looking for and could not find has recently been added to the online collections.