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Show Saturday, December 30, 1S95 The Daily Herald Long-ter- m vision will balance out greed , 1 "Where there is no vision, the " people perish (Proverbs 29: IS). I remember vividly one morning just after World War II working with r my brother-in-laLloyd Soderborg. in the crawlspace under an Orem A J 1J SI tm y2z Ni building. Lloyd, a refrigeration engineer, had me there ineffectively pounding a hole through a concrete wall. It was nasty, hot. dusty, cramped work. j remember pausing for a minute and askins Llovd which of several v..-- Maiden J. OSaik m r' Matter Unorganized available occupations I should choose. Lloyd paused for a moment, then asked quietly, "What do you want to be 20 years from now?" I sat there on the dirt gasping at the marvelous simplicity and wisdom. What to be? I knew that Lloyd meant far more than just what occupation. What kind of person? What associates? What use of whatever talents? And a dozen other reverberating questions. In that one carefully worded question. Lloyd had presented me with a priceless boon, a simple but real vision. He had prevented at least this one person from perishing. ' Anyone who has been following the'sequence of columns by Duane Jeffery in the Herald, the latest of which came appropriately on Christ-Tria- s Day, could hardly help recogniz-ing'- a vision talkman w ith long-tering; to a whole society who seem hellon bent almost literally its future. own destroying His may be the voice crying in the wilderness. I don't want it to be the only one. After decades of rather slow though steady growth, the current boom might seem wholly positive. But Jeffery points to our mindless devotion to growth amid immediate prosperity, with almost no concern for the devastation being wrought to our Unite resources of water, land, forests, open wilderness and minerals: His distinction between politicians (who look only to short-tergrowth and and prosperity plus statesmen (who "see and serve the view regardless of present long-ter. economics and upcoming elections") d strikes me as a picture of what is happening in our state. The problems and the distinction apply far wider than just Utah. Though w e seem less aware of our problems, they are only an exaggerated version of those in the rest of the country and the world. But there is at least some evidence that the country and world are at last facing up to some of the problems (witness the beginning of controls over the destruction of tropical rain forests). We fret that our children will be the first generation with a lower standard of living than their parents have. and I fret with But Jeffery frets him that it will be the first one ever to face a world with fewer natural resources than its predecessor. Few in Utah or elsewhere seem to fear the ultimate accounting to our Creator for what we have done as stewards of his earth. We fret over the gangs and drugs and killings, as we should, but few of us really fret over the lost moral energy, the lost vision, that religion ought to restore to us. We fret over "disappointing" retail sales for Christmas and possibly over record-depth- s of family credit card 'indebtedness, but not much over moral and spiritual callousness toward the heritage we really owe to our children and their children. ' rMaybe what we need most as we too-vali- is fewer frivolous resoluface 19 tions but much serious study of what we' are really doing to ourselves and our future by grasping for short-tergrowth and prosperity. Maybe we could then arrive at real vision and become real statesmen, able to give an accounting to our God and our posterity as faithful stewards over the land which the Lord our God has given 'us. We need not be without vision. Mr need we nor our children perish. Manlen J. Clark is a retired professor of English at Brigham Young . University. 4 P5V Photo courtesy ot FARMS This architectural rendition shows the Book of Mormon Research Center, a building planned by 40,000-square-fo- the fall of 994. the minister of tourism for Israel was visiting Brigham Young University as part of a lecture series sponsored by its David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies. Without hesitation, he asked Ron Clark, director of public affairs and guest relations at BYU. about The Book of Mormon. Clark says the official told him that he thought it was interesting that Mormons had another set of scriptures besides the Bible. Clark says that led to a meaningful discussion about but he felt inadequate answering the man's questions. Again. Clark felt uncomfortable with his responses related to questions about his faith when in September the Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway v isited the Mor In Mor-monis- fund raising efforts are complete in 1996, construction of another lecture series. S6 million and FARMS officials say they have about $2 million in Although the judge left with a d copy of the set of scriptures. Clark felt he hadn't fully answered the man's questions. He stresses that even though his office is not in the business of proselyting for The Church of Jesus Saints and thai Christ of Latter-da- y are treated with university guests respect and dignity toward their faiths, they w ant to know about the book and initiate the questions. Clark is now excited that The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies has purchased for more than S75().()(X) three older homes that occupy of an acre near about the McDonald Health Center and the new Ezra Taft Benson building to construct the Rook of Mormon Research Center. buildThe than is more to cost ing expected financial commitments, said Brent Hall. FARMS director of operations and development. Now FARMS is asking for additional support to raise the rest of the money to construct the center. As soon as the funds are raised. Hall says construction will begin. Fitzimmons Associates, a Salt Lake City architectural firm, is helping design the building which will resemble a pyramid and fean and New ture ancient World styles. Noel'B. Reynolds, FARMS president, believes in addition to providing improved and expanded work space for the foundation, the building will let FARMS provide new and unprecedented services. FARMS is an organization that encourages and supports research about The Book of Mormon and other ancient scriptures. mon By SHEILA SANCHEZ The Daily Herald theFoundationforAncientStudiesandMormonResearch.lt Church-owne- school as part d leather-boun- three-quarte- rs 4(!.(KK)-square-fo- near-easter- is expected to begin in 1997. The building will be constructed at the south end of Brigham Young University. The five-stor- y building will lectures and presentations for broadcast and video productions. include two levels of underground A library will be a resource cenparking, a level for public funcoffices for and ter tions, a level containing computers, books, research areas and a level for audio and help for students working on and video recording research papers and projects about The Book offices and distribution areas. of Mormon. It will also be a place A display hall will feature matewhere reference materials will be rials show casing Mormonism's available through the Internet to scriptural heritage, with space for teachers and students. The library 10 displays. The will contain the electronic FARMS approximately Book of Mormon Bibliography, space will be Fixed as well as interactive tempowith more than 10,000 annotated rary displays are anticipated. The entries of Book ofMomion scholarhall will also be used as meeting ship. space and for informal lectures and "Not only will this building presentations. serve as a symbol of commitment A lecture hall will accommodate to our scriptural heritage, it will approximately 50 people. It will also be a place where we can edube uset' for lectures on The Book of cate the public by displaying the Mormon and other scriptural topics results of research and projects by scholars as their research is in The Book of Mormon and the about progress and as they are ready to other scriptures," says Richard present the conclusions of their chairman of FARMS Winwood, also be will work. The area Committee. studio for as a Building filming designed multi-function- technology chops huge tomes down to size CD-RO- M Images, music also appealing to young audience By GARY MAYS Chicago Tribune After a long day at school. Yitzy Wengrow doesn't hit the books, he pounds on his computer key board. Yity. 12. attends Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi. a Jewish private school in Chicago, which requires him to study Hebrew and sacred Jewish texts such as the Soncino CHICAGO Talmud. But like most of those growing up in the information age. Yitzy has little interest in thumbing through bulky texts in his home. He would much rather slide a disc into a drive and watch the computer bring it to life on his CD-RO- screen. Among his favorite programs is the Judaic Classics Library, which contains dozens of Jewish texts on one disc. "The Talnuiu is very thick, and now it's all on a CD." he said. "I have all of it and more right there in front of me." Not even our spiritual selves are beyond the protracted reach of the personal computer. During the 1970s, w hen he was a young seminarian in St. Louis. the Rev. David Abrahamson's biblical research methods were a bit more primitive than they are today. "1 would have had books and papers spread all over a desk." said Abrahamson. pastor at St. Luke Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chicago. "Now what I used to do in five hours. I can do in an hour." Today, bis office computer is loaded with MacBible. a CD-ROprogram that contains the entire Bible, accompanied by a database thai allows the user to conduct extensive searches for biblical characteis and themes in seconds. Beyond basic religious texts, interactive programs focusing on Jerusalem are particularly useful in explaining the city's significance to Jews. Christians. Arabs and Armenians. In Pathways Through Jerusalem, published by Future Vision Multimedia Inc., cybervisi-tor- s can tour the city through the eyes of several hosts from varying including King backgiounds. David. Herod and Daniella. an enthusiastic. modern-da- y Jerusalem resident. Not only do such programs deliver information quickly, the colorful images, film footage and musical scores help prevent the remote-contrgeneration from w ith religion, say bored becoming the creators of these computer ol pro-cram- s. Thirteen years ago. long before powerful personal computers invaded many American homes. Rabbi Alan Rosenbaum and his partners at Chicago's Davka Corp. publisher of more than 70 titles, including Judaic Classics Library realized the potential for technology to contribute immeasurably to Jew ish culture. Fortunately, he said, the transfer of scared texts onto computer disks was accepted without reservation. "We were there at the beginning, and Jewish people understood the importance of this right away." said Rosenbaum, vice president of Davka. which produces only Judaistic software. "Anyone who values their religion, if they see a tool that can advance it, they will welcome it." Religion and technology have intertwined throughout history. The rise of Protestantism in the 16th and earlv 17th centuries owed nearly as much to Johann Gutenberg's invention of movable type, which allowed the printing of the Bible, as it did to spiritual enlight- enment, said Benjamin Wright, associate professor of religious studies at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. "One of the things about religious traditions in general, specifically Christianity, is that it's always been adaptable to technology," said Wright, who hosts a popular religious discussion group on the World Wide Web. "Now you're seeing the same thing with computers." Tyndale House, one of contemporary Christianity's biggest publishers, has seen the handwriting on the wall when it comes to the future of religious publishing. The prodcompany's first CD-ROucts are scheduled for release next fall. Those who are successful maintain focus on goals What good is it for a man to gain the w hole world, yet forfiit his soul (Mark Most of us make the mistake of trying to do too many things at the same time. We're like that fabled cow boy who jumped on his horse and rode off in all directions. Then we wonder why we don't seem to be getting any-here. If you wanted to write out a prescription for victorious living in just a few words, it would be difficult to improve on the words of the apostle Paul in Philippians w 3:13. First. Paul's life had a focus, "but this one thing I do." Paul's focus was "the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Everything he did in life was limed in that direction. It was because of his focus that Paul had such an impact upon his own time and upon ours. In every walk of life, successful people are focused people. They know what it is that they want. They know where they are headed. Nothing distracts them. All their thoughts and energies are aimed in the direction of their John Conlon Vf VVa for which their gifts and talents are suited. They begin working at the wrong job. They marry the wrong person. They attend the w rong college. They join w ith the wrong group. They project themselves into situations which are not compatible w ith their personality. Most of this inaccuracy in relationship-building s Ate An- - Soul Food dreams. For many people, life is some kind of a race. They aie hurry ing here and there, but w ithout any perceptive destiny. They've entered the wrong race and find themselves tired, frustrated, angry and depressed, but they don't know why. Generally, it's because they have not focused on a goal precipitates from a wrong focus for life. Jesus provides the mark upon which his followers are to focus, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). In other words, focus in on that which will outlast the temporary thrills of this physical life. The strength of one's faith will determine the focus. When faith is without doubt, and one expects every word of Jesus to be fulfilled, he or she w ill let nothing detract them from that focus. Second. Paul also knew how to forget. "Forgetting those things which are behind." Some people become so concerned over the past that they destroy their future by not being able to release the past. They simply can't quit looking back. That could have happened to Paul. He was the leader of those who were bent upon destroying the Church. He could have let his guilt over persecuting the Church prevent him from giving his best. He could have hung his head and said. "Nobody's going to listen to me. Look what I've done. I'm finished. It's over." Guilt is a devastating thing. It's a much more powerful force in our lives than most of us realize. However, instead of Paul letting his past mistakes pull him down, he rose above them, and used them to show how the power of Christ can change lives. Finally. Paul was committed to forging ahead, "Reaching into those things which are before." Our perception is so often determined by the way we look at things. What we see in others depends largely on how we look at them and what we expect to find. That's also true with our perception of ourselves. Our actions, our feelings, our behavior and abilities are always consistent w ith our We will "act like" the person we perceive ourselves to be. Our self-imais important because it is the base upon w hich w e build all of our relationships - including our rela-- ! tionship with God. We can enter into this new year with the optimism of a Paul, or continue much as we have in the, past. Our choices will determine ! how we live. Our choices will determine who we are. Our choices will determine how we feel, i The thing we must remember is that the kind of a life we live will be mostly a result of our choices. Hew John Conlon is past-- r of ' the New lU'xinninys F '.'. wit ; Clnm h of The Na'zurene in hvvo. self-imag- e. ' ! |