Summer, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Since I also follow Andrew on Twitter, I figured he hadn’t actually gone through such malevolent avenues to do such a thing as steal another contributer’s post, I was just speaking out of frustration since this isn’t the first time this has happened, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I know Buzzfeed’s editorial system isn’t a perfect one, it just becomes bothersome sometimes when you see your post or others’ passed over for a Staff member’s similar one. It can make us who aren’t employees feel cheated. It’s an odd competition of sorts out here among us, isn’t it? Anyway, I will certainly continue providing any content I find interesting and buzzworthy to Buzzfeed. Sorry for the trouble.

I know it seems ironic to people that he played with Deadmau5 after giving this speech, but read his quote again. What he’s really talking about is that music should be felt and come from an emotional place.  He’s saying it should be respected as an art AND a craft and that cookie cutter, slickly produced auto-tuned songs are not music. You can make emotionally true electronic music and be a master of that instrument.  It’s kind of like the difference between getting a piece of flash art as a tattoo or getting something custom done that means something personal to you. Even if both tattoos are butterflies, one is infinitely more valuable.

If Christianity means “historic orthodox mainstream Christianity” of today then I would agree that Mormonism is not historic Christianity; at least not in every doctrine. Although Mormons have much in common with other Christians Mormons also believe differently than historic Christians in some key areas. But the real questions to ask are 1) What is original Christianity? 2) Is mainstream Christianity of today the same as original Christianity? Mormons are not supposed to be Christian because we have some doctrinal differences with other Christian groups of today. The foundation for the beliefs of these other groups is the creeds of the 4th. 5th, and 6th centuries and so on.  It is claimed that Mormons are wrong because they believe in extra-Biblical revelation and scripture. Yet much of Christianity believes in extra-Biblical creeds and councils formulated centuries after the time of Christ and the Apostles. Most of the wording formulations in these creeds cannot be found in the Bible. This is often the excuse used to exclude members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) from being Christian. It is well known to historians that Christian doctrine changed over time and across different Christian groups. The Bible is then viewed through the lens of these creeds causing certain interpretations to be favored and other biblical teachings to be minimized or ignored. Interestingly, if you look at the doctrines of the early church fathers before the creeds, they are very Mormon-like. In a number of doctrinal areas the early Christians were good Mormons and would be rejected as non-Christian by many Christians of today. In many areas of belief (probably the majority of areas) Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) believe the same as most other Christians. It is true that in some limited areas – some very critical ones – the beliefs of Mormons differ from other Christians. Likewise there are some major areas of difference between Catholics and Protestants and likewise between one Protestant group and the next. Every denomination could make the claim that the other groups are not Christian because those other beliefs differ from their own. Joseph Smith taught “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it”. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 121). The central belief of Mormons is that Christ came into the world as the Son of God. He healed the sick, caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and restored life to the dead. He commissioned twelve Apostles to whom he gave authority. He suffered in Gethsemane, died on the cross, and was resurrected and will come again. He, and only He, provides the means for us to be washed clean in his blood from our sins, which sins we can never correct on our own or through our own works. If that is not Christian I don’t know what is. Christ never taught the need to believe in anything like the creeds. Those came later. Mormon belief is very much like the teachings of the earlier Christians – before the creeds – and also matches the teachings of Christ and the Apostles. The further back in time you go the more Mormon-like Christian doctrine becomes. Mormons are often portrayed as non-Christian when we don’t believe in the later extra-Biblical creedal formulations.  The early Christians did not have the extra-Biblical creeds of later centuries. Were they then not Christian? The ontological debates and the wording formations of later centuries are not found in the words of Jesus or the words of the Apostles or in the words of the pre-creedal Christians . There is not a word about a one substance god in the Bible or in the early beliefs. If believing in the creeds is necessary to be Christian then that makes the earlier Christians not Christian – it even makes Christ not Christian.  One other interesting aspect of this topic: Some Christians claim that we must get our beliefs and doctrines from the Bible only. It is claimed that God finished his work and no longer has prophets or gives revelation. They say the Mormons are wrong to have prophets and extra scripture. Consider this: If the Bible is sufficient and no post-Biblical revelation is allowed, then the post-Biblical creeds are not necessary and are not authorized by God. If God authorized the creeds then why aren’t they in the Bible? How could they be from God if the Bible is complete, if God has finished his work, and if there is no more revelation? They are extra-Biblical and no one should be held to them as a requirement to be Christian. It is so ironic that Mormons are criticized for having extra-Biblical revelation by people who themselves believe in extra-Biblical creeds. Once one puts on the glasses of the creeds then everything in the Bible is filtered to match the creeds.  Mormons believe in original Christianity restored to the earth through revelation to new prophets. Nowhere does the Bible say that God has finished his work, that the cannon of scripture is closed. It seems ironic to us that we Mormons are accused of adding to the Bible by people who have done just that – added creeds and metaphysical definitions to the Bible. We advocate for believing original Christianity.

First they came for the uploaders, and I did not speak out because I wasn’t an uploader…

During college, I worked at Universal Chain Company in Maplewood, NJ. For 2 months in the summer and every January I would feed round wire into a machine that made it into square wire. Then, we’d feed the square wire into machines that fed, bent, turned, and tapped it into chains, link by link. I still find machines like this fascinating to watch.  In its heyday, UCC had factories in Maplewood, Toronto, and Havana. The older workers were mostly Germans, skilled tool-and-die makers. The middle, less skilled, were South Americans (many from Ecuador as I recall) and Cubans. The lowest tier, and youngest, were mostly Puerto Ricans. Women worked in the finishing rooms, soldering gold and silver chains on the second floor. Non-union and hardworking, somewhat stratified, but everyone got along.  There was one young married couple, a really cute white woman and a really good looking latino guy - they were obviously so much in love that everyone just got a good vibe from being around them. Years later, on jury duty, I actually met one of his cousins (we were alternates with 8 hours to kill while the jury deliberated) who told me that she had died of kidney failure, leaving him with young kids to raise. Even then, I couldn’t imagine them not being together. There was exactly one African-American employee and one college student (me). We got along because oddly enough, we had the same birthday and worked in the same section. They were the 99% before there was a 99%.

……………………………………..________
………………………………,.-‘”……………….“~.,
………………………..,.-“……………………………..”-.,
…………………….,/………………………………………..”:,
…………………,?………………………………………………,
………………./…………………………………………………..,}
……………../………………………………………………,:`^`..}
……………/……………………………………………,:”………/
…………..?…..__…………………………………..:`………../
…………./__.(…..”~-,_…………………………,:`………./
………../(_….”~,_……..”~,_………………..,:`…….._/
……….{.._$;_……”=,_…….”-,_…….,.-~-,},.~”;/….}
………..((…..*~_…….”=-._……”;,,./`…./”…………../
…,,,___.`~,……”~.,………………..`…..}…………../
…………(….`=-,,…….`……………………(……;_,,-”
…………/.`~,……`-………………………………./
………….`~.*-,……………………………….|,./…..,__
,,_……….}.>-._……………………………..|…………..`=~-,
…..`=~-,__……`,……………………………
……………….`=~-,,.,………………………….
…………………………..`:,,………………………`…………..__
……………………………….`=-,……………….,%`>—==“
…………………………………._……….._,-%…….`
……………………………..,

So let’s get this straight: Gryffindor are a bunch of lazy fanboys and casual gamers who wouldn’t know a good game if you threw one directly at their head. Slytherin are gamers who like boring brown shooters and are willing to be charged 12 times just for the right to play one game. Ravenclaw is full of weeaboo’s and technophiles begging for attention from Western developers while putting up with wave after wave of crap from Japan. And Hufflepuff is pretty much just the name for all of the furries in Gryffindor? I’m not saying you’re wrong I’m just wonder if you realize the implications on the Harry Potter universe. More importantly what are PC gamers then? Are they death-eaters? They are the glorious master-race of gaming.

If it’s not hipster, then it’s “Suicide Girl” Barbie. Happy?

wtf, my original comment was deleted, because i called this out as a repost????

Or you could just not cheat and MAYBE not encourage others to cheat? Don’t blow off your education, you guys. It’ll suck for you if you get caught, and believe it or not, it’s emotionally draining for the teachers who want to care about you but always feel kind of betrayed when shit like this happens.  You don’t have to get an A in everything. It’s better to honest than have a 4.0. Just my humble opinion.