I think this question really has another question implied within it. It's not just about whether we can know if we've been forgiven, but also about whether we can know if we have truly repented. Even if forgiveness is certain, it will be of little consequence if we have not repented. We'll just go and commit the same sin again.

Latter-day Saints have a scripture that is pretty clear on the repentance question:

Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more. By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them. (D&C 58:42-43)

For Latter-day Saints, confessing sins usually means admitting to yourself that you have sinned and confessing your sins to God in sincere prayer. And in cases of serious sin, confessing it to the bishop of your ward.

To forsake a sin is more than just not committing the sin again. It's renouncing it. Abandoning it. Turning entirely away from it.

Our internal disposition has much to do with the process of repentance, of course, and it is important. But for Latter-day Saints, confessing and forsaking our sins is a sure way to know whether one has repented.

Now about the forgiveness question. In my last post about this, I was fixated on one aspect of the LDS perspective – that we can know God has forgiven us when we have truly repented (see above) and when we feel feelings of peace and joy through the Holy Spirit. I think that can be true, but I worry that feelings can also be misleading – that we can “feel” we have been forgiven when we truly haven't.

And so I have been interested in the Catholic sacrament of Reconciliation. From the Catholic perspective, when you confess your sins to a Catholic priest acting on behalf of Jesus Christ and he pronounces the words of absolution, you are truly forgiven, whether you feel you are forgiven or not. I find that certainty of God's forgiveness appealing.

But as I attended my LDS sacrament meeting today, as we prepared to partake of the Sacrament (of the Lord's Supper), I had a powerful moment of realization: the Sacrament is what provides certainty of God's forgiveness for Latter-day Saints.

LDS believe that partaking of the Sacrament constitutes a renewal of the covenants you have made with God, including the covenant of baptism for the remission of sins. In fact, LDS often mention specifically in sacrament meeting talks and prayers that the Sacrament represents a renewal of the baptismal covenant.

A very basic way to think about a covenant from a LDS perspective is that it is a two-way promise between us and God.

LDS believe that when we are baptized, we covenant with God to:

• Take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ
• Keep God's commandments
• Serve God and others

And God covenants with us that:

• His Holy Spirit will always be with us
• Our sins are forgiven through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ

Catholics believe Reconciliation is a tangible, outward act providing certainty that God has forgiven you of sins, regardless of whether or not you feel forgiven. For Latter-day Saints, the ordinance of the Sacrament (of the Lord's Supper), in conjunction with sincere repentance, provides that same certainty.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 186) #faith #Christianity

This is an excerpt from Chapter 7, entitled “The Ideology of Machines: Computer Technology.” He is warning against thinking of “machine as human” and, by implication, “human as machine.”

Perhaps the most chilling case of how deeply our language is absorbing the “machine as human” metaphor began on November 4, 1988, when the computers around the ARPANET network became sluggish, filled with extraneous data, and then clogged completely. The problem spread fairly quickly to six thousand computers across the United States and overseas. The early hypothesis was that a software program had attached itself to other programs, a situation which is called (in another human-machine metaphor) a “virus.” As it happened, the intruder was a self-contained program explicitly designed to disable computers, which is called a “worm.” But the technically incorrect term “virus” stuck, no doubt because of its familiarity and its human connections. As Raymond Gozzi, Jr., discovered in his analysis of how the mass media described the event, newspapers noted that the computers were “infected,” that the virus was “virulent” and “contagious,” that attempts were made to “quarantine” the infected computers, that attempts were also being made to “sterilize” the network, and that programmers hoped to develop a “vaccine” so that computers could be “inoculated” against new attacks.

This kind of language is not merely picturesque anthropomorphism. It reflects a profound shift in perception about the relationship of computers to humans. If computers can become ill, then they can become healthy. Once healthy, they can think clearly and make decisions. The computer, it is implied, has a will, has intentions, has reasons – which means that humans are relieved of responsibility for the computer's decisions. Through a curious form of grammatical alchemy, the sentence “We use the computer to calculate” comes to mean “The computer calculates.” If a computer calculates, then it may decide to miscalculate or not calculate at all. That is what bank tellers mean when they tell you that they cannot say how much money is in your checking account because “the computers are down.” The implication, of course, is that no person at the bank is responsible. Computers make mistakes or get tired or become ill. Why blame people? We may call this line of thinking an “agentic shift,” a term I borrow from Stanley Milgram to name the process whereby humans transfer responsibility for an outcome from themselves to a more abstract agent. When this happens, we have relinquished control, which in the case of the computer means that we may, without excessive remorse, pursue ill-advised or even inhuman goals because the computer can accomplish them or be imagined to accomplish them.

In October 2026, we live in a world where generative LLM AI is being used to write software, news articles, and social media posts. To create images and music and videos. It is being used by millions of average people to do much of their thinking and creating for them. It is being used by corporations to replace human workers. It is being used by governments to make decisions to presumably improve the lives of their citizens – and also to intentionally destroy human lives.

I can see the potential of generative AI to do tremendous good. But it must be developed and used intentionally and responsibly. I believe we should not be so careless as to abdicate our responsibility for human life – for ourselves and for one another – and for our planet to a combination of sophisticated programming and hardware housed in massive, environmentally destructive data centers that continue to be built at break-neck pace.

I have 77 pages left to read in “Technopoly,” but I can already recommend it to anyone interested in technology, its benefits, and its problems.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 185) #tech #AI #books

This blog is all over the place topic-wise on purpose. I figured I could just write about whatever I felt like and the Topics page and the hashtags would allow folks to follow the topics they were interested in and ignore the topics they aren't so interested in.

I did it this way to make it easier for me, but I worry that it's not so easy for readers to follow this way, especially those subscribed via email. Maybe it's off-putting to some readers to see blog posts about prayer alongside blog posts about the latest Linux distro I'm trying.

I've wanted to write more about my faith journey, but I've been trying to maintain a balance for the sake of those who might actually be paying attention to the blog – to not saturate it too much with one topic and neglect the others people might be interested in.

I know I shouldn't care. It's my blog, why not write whatever I want? Well...I do care. I do think about how what I write might impact the handful of people that read it. It's a public blog, after all, not a private journal.

I'll keep thinking about it for a bit. But I'm leaning towards starting up my “Newfangled” blog again. I'd be posting about tech, music, and nerdy stuff over there, and keeping the deeper topics like philosophy and faith over here.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 184) #writing #faith #tech

I signed up for an account this morning and it's absolutely delightful. Open registration ends at 2026-10-23 20:07 UTC if you want to check it out. I think it will be by invitation only after that.

I love it. It's like the internet was before what we now call “Social Media” and all of the algorithms, ads, monetization, etc. completely ruined how we interact with each other online.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 183) #socialMedia

Thanks, once again, to the wonderful Fediverse (I use Mastodon), I just learned that eBay automatically opted in all of their users to training their AI with personal data without their consent. You can opt out at this link: https://accountsettings.ebay.com/ai-preferences

They're not even trying to respect users anymore.

How can we even fight this madness? All of the Big Tech companies are doing this, and so much of our infrastructure, communication, and how we function day-to-day are dependent on the products and services of these companies.

A mass boycott of these companies would require us to stop, well, everything. Besides, boycotting doesn't work without good parallel systems in place. There are alternatives, and there are good people working very hard to make them available and as easy to adopt as possible.

But we are so far down this rabbit hole, we're not going to be able to get out without massive disruption to, again, everything.

The best we can do right now is spread the word about what these companies are doing, use and promote alternatives, and help each other navigate this technological nightmare as best we can.

Get involved in local government and oppose AI data centers.

Vote for leaders who are nohellscapet bought and paid for by Big Tech and are committed to reigning them in.

Opt out of whatever you can opt out of. Tell your family and friends.

#100DaysToOffload (No. 182) #tech #AI

I love to read. I probably do most of my reading online, these days, but I try to be intentional about sitting down with a book for a while. But it's either feast or famine with me. I go through stretches where I read several books in succession, then stretches where I'm not reading any books.

Actually, if you knew how many books I have on my wish list that I am regularly tempted to buy but haven't bought yet, you'd be proud of me.

There's still a lot of empty space on my “To Read” bookshelf, though...

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 181) #books #reading

#100DaysToOffload (No. 180) #prayer #faith #quotes

The Pharisees once asked Jesus if it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar (Matthew 22:15-21). Jesus responded by asking them whose image was on the Roman coin used to pay the taxes. They replied that the image was Caesar's. And Jesus said: “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

The Roman coin had the image of Caesar stamped upon it. Therefore, it belonged to Caesar.

And whose image is “stamped” upon me? God made me in His image (Genesis 1:26). Therefore, I belong to Him.

But, unlike Caesar, God does not force me. He lets me choose.

Am I willing to give myself to the One whose image I bear? Am I willing to give myself to God?

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 179) #faith #Christianity

There are several reasons.

Gasoline prices have always been a factor, especially now. But generally, thought of not being dependent on gas for transportation has long been appealing to me.

Other countries are way ahead of the United States in terms of EV adoption and they are seeing benefits such as less dependence on fossil fuels and improved air quality.

Speaking of air quality, I live in beautiful Cache Valley nestled in the Bear River Range of Northern Utah. During the winter months, if it gets bitter cold, we have air inversion layers that set in. The inversion traps cold air along with smoke, smog, car exhaust, etc. on the valley floor. During such events we have among the worst air quality in the country. I think it makes sense to have EVs in a place like this (assuming they are able to function adequately in extreme cold temperatures).

I know electricity prices are rising, too. Perhaps the actual savings in fuel is – or will eventually be – negligible. But I think it's important to send a signal to the “powers that be” that there is a demand for EVs in the US. We're tired of being manipulated by oil moguls and tired of the price of oil affecting the price of, well, everything else.

I've presently had my eye on a Hyundai IONIQ 5. I've been wary of the long-term reliability of Hyundai vehicles, but it seems they've made strides in recent years. I also have been looking at the Subaru Uncharted. Toyota and Honda are also auto brands I trust in terms of quality and long-term reliability.

I will not ever consider a Tesla vehicle. Explaining my reasons for that would be a whole other blog post in itself. But I think most people understand the reasons why someone would not want to give Elon Musk more money (even if they may not agree with those reasons).

Will I ever own a EV? I hope so. But they're expensive and in high demand. I can't pay for one in cash right now and I'd rather not have a car payment again unless it's absolutely necessary.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 178) #automobiles #EV #tech

When our town finally got a Costco warehouse a few years ago, everyone went nuts. We didn't understand the hype – we already had a Sam's Club, after all.

We have never seriously considered a Costco or Sam's Club membership for various reasons. Lack of storage space, small family, etc. But I am trying to make some changes to my health and diet, and part of those changes calls for consuming quite a bit of whey protein powder.

The brand of protein powder I use – “Levels” – was recommended by relatives who have had to make similar changes to their diets. We all share the same genetic predisposition for high LDL cholesterol. None of us ate a double cheeseburger every day, but our bodies still can't seem to maintain healthy LDL cholesterol levels without extra help.

Protein is “all the rage” these days, and protein supplements are expensive. The protein powder I'm using is half the cost per unit at Costco compared to Walmart or Amazon. Of course, at Costco, you buy a lot more of it at a time. But at the rate I'm consuming it, it makes sense.

The cost savings of the protein powder alone justified the Costco membership, but my wife and I have found several other products our family uses regularly that are much less expensive there than elsewhere.

We opted for the “Executive” membership at $130/yr rather than the “Gold” membership at $65/yr for a couple reasons. First, you get 2% cash back on your Costco purchases. If we spend an average of at least $271 a month there, which we expect we will (like I said, protein powder is expensive), we'll make up the difference in the membership cost. If we spend more, we'll get even more cash back.

There are also a few extra perks with the Executive membership like early shopping hours and extra value on their Auto Program and Travel packages (a trip to Europe has long been on our bucket lists, so who knows?).

And if we don't hit that $271/month average spending mark, they'll downgrade us to a Gold membership and refund us the difference in membership cost. So we figured it was worth a try.

With the cost of, well, everything only going up, we hope the Costco membership will help us save a little more. And if it really doesn't, we don't have to keep it.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 177) #economy #shopping #money