User:Visorstuff

"To tell the truth, there was something about him they could not understand; some way he knew more than they did, and it made them mad."

"Now I don't believe like he did; but every man has a right to his religious opinions, and to advocate his views, too; if people don't like it, let them come out and meet him on the stand, and shew his error. [He] was always ready to exchange views with the best men they had."

-The Saints' Herald (Plano, Ill.), Volume 28, Number 11, (June 1, 1881) Page 167. [1]

Wikiholiday: Due largely to threats made to me and my family because of my work on Wikipedia, I have become very selective in my editing and discussions I participate in on Wikipedia.

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This user is part of the Welcoming Committee.

enThis user is a native speaker of the English language.

This user tries to do the right thing. If they make a mistake, please let them know.

This user is a historian.

This user graduated from Brigham Young University.

This user enjoys do-it-yourself projects.

gkThis user is a geek.

@This user can be reached by email.

Use of Visorstuff's Contributions

I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages and photographic and graphic contributions, as described below:

About me

Most of myedits focus on corporate pages, technology, the Latter Day Saint movement and Mormonism-related topics within the Wikipedia:WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement and within the technology sector. I seek NPOV, but do not tolerate errors in Latter-day Saint history and doctrine. Most of my time is spent correcting and providing context on discussion pages, or updating out of date pages. I am the second-longest continuing LDS editor on Wikipedia, and one of the first 200 Wikipedia administrators.

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I've been an active Wikipedian since July 2003, and an unregistered editor for a few months prior. I created List of articles about Mormonism, which was a forerunner of the above-mentioned project. As an Admin (as of 12 March 2004), I am against broken links to empty articles - don't create a link without creating a stub. I am a part of the Welcoming committee. Lately, I like to review corporate pages and clean them up.

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I am a believer that when it comes to matters of faith, multiple coincidences add up to be evidence. I have hands-on training in archaeology and some of my historical research and other writings have been published. My educational background includes: religion, communications (primary degree), United States history, business management, American literature, multimedia and architecture.

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I am not an apologist, but a seeker of truth. I am a student of history, and align to faith-based topics (from all religions) from a faith-based standpoint - I have no reason to doubt the Joseph Smith, Jr. story, the Fatima story, the Joan of Arc story, the Moses account or some Gnostic writings. I try to not judge supernatural experiences for any more than what they claimed to see/experience. While I do not understand how all of these fit into my own world view, I treat them all as historical events, rather than taking a naturalistic point of view.

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I may be emailed at visorstuff@yahoo.com

Editing philosophy

Each Wikipedia editor has a great deal to contribute. I am enjoy differing opinions and realize we are all on different levels on our various spiritual paths. And although I may come across as a know-it-all, I try to err on the side of what is known, rather than speculation and cultural viewpoints. I sometimes come across as part of a snobby religious intelligentsia, that has a condescending tone and rambling-answer/response tendencies, but I want to make sure that my responses are thorough, when possible.

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I'm not perfect, and I fear many editors follow my condescending and blunt example, which is unfortunate. I definitely don't know everything, nor do I claim to. There is just simply have too much we don't know. The few things I do know deal with matters of faith. I am a strong believer in Jesus Christ, Mormonism, and continuous revelation.

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It is tiresome to hear the same arguments over and over again, especially when most debate are unfounded and overly-simplistic or absolutist in nature. Many arguments are not educated and seem to draw on the same five or so secondary or tertiary sources again and again. I try to spend most of my time reading the primary sources, and therefore probably have a different view than the analysis that others read.

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I guess I’m saying I'm just glad to be a part of this.

Some Favorite Quotes

• "If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; If he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties." -Francis Bacon

• "First doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

• "It is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and great in itself, and to unfold and simplify it so that a child can understand it." -John Taylor

• "The doctrines of the gospel are revealed through the Spirit to prophets, not through the intellect to scholars." -Boyd K. Packer [2]

• "To Know; To Dare; To Will; To Keep Silent" - Supposed inscription from inside the Great Sphinx (Context from a historical perspective, not modern magical use).

• "It has been said that the gate of history turns on small hinges, and so do people's lives. The choices we make determine our destiny...some choices may seem more important than others, but no choice is insignificant." -Thomas S. Monson

• "[I]t is not always wise to relate all the truth. Even Jesus, the Son of God, had to refrain from doing so, and had to restrain His feelings many times for the safety of Himself and His followers, and had to conceal the righteous purposes of His heart in relation to many things pertaining to His Father's kingdom." - Joseph Smith, Jr.

• "Watch yourselves, and think. As I heard observed... 'think, brethren, think,' but do not think so far that you cannot think back again." - Brigham Young

• "Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation" - Senator Robert F. Kennedy

• "Whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it" - Attributed to Ghandi

• "In our time, the only restraint left is self-restraint" - Jeffrey R. Holland

• "Is there anyone more to be feared or hated than an iconoclast, one who tears down, and bombs and destroys rather than builds and beautifies?" - Spencer W. Kimball

• "The righteousness of God [is] revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." (Rom. 1:17-18.)

• "You find the spirit of contention [among] apostates and those who have denied the faith, those who have turned away from the truth and have become enemies to God and his work. There you will find the spirit of contention, the spirit of strife. There you will find them wanting to 'argue the question,' and to dispute with you all the time. Their food, their meat, and their drink is contention...." Joseph F. Smith

• "Have you ever thought that what was contrary to the order of heaven in 1840 might not be contrary to the order of heaven in 1960?" Harold B. Lee

• "The first rule of historical criticism in dealing with ancient text[s] is, never oversimplify. For all its simple and straightforward narrative style, this history is packed as few others are with a staggering wealth of detail that completely escapes the casual reader.... Only laziness and vanity lead the student to the early conviction that he has the final answers on what the [texts] contains. - Hugh Nibley [3]

• "Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing worth knowing can be taught." Oscar Wilde

• "The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil. It is not for you to choose what he shall know, what he shall do. It is chosen and foreordained and he only holds the key to his own secret." Ralph Waldo Emerson

• "Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in" Alan Alda

• "It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mostly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty." Albert Einstein

• "We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final." - Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson

• "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." Fictional J.K. Rowling character, Albus Dumbledore

• "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up" Attributed to Pablo Picasso

Useful/Interesting Links

• Wikipedia:MediaWiki_custom_messages
• Wikipedia:Policy_Library
• Wikipedia:Community_Information_Directory
• Wikipedia:Administrators' reading list
• Wikipedia:Administrators'_how-to_guide
• Wikipedia:MediaWiki custom elements
• Wikipedia:Article_series message info
• Wikipedia:Administrator's_noticeboard
• Wikipedia:Dealing_with_vandalism
• [4], [5] [6] (some tools on user edits)
• Copyright myths
• Vacuous truth
• Invictus
• Was the transgression in the Garden of Eden a Consenual crime or Victimless crime? Was it malum prohibitum ("bad because prohibited"), or malum in se ("inherently bad")

• Decide what to do with my list missing wikilinks in Mormonism articles.
• Welcome tags - ex: {{LDSWelcome|Bishop (Mormonism)|Visorstuff}}, found at Template:LDSWelcome.
• Talk page responses {{Template:Response|Visorstuff}}.