The Mormon 'Miracle'

by Farkel 12 Replies latest jw friends

  • Farkel
    Farkel

    : What I found interesting about big cats, is that they will keep a kill around for quite some time, and eat it as it's rotting ... blech!

    Sounds like what dubs do to someone who is disfellowshipped!

    Farkel

  • Quendi
    Quendi

    I’ve never lived in Utah, but have visited the state when I visited a Mormon friend back in 2000. His family came with Brigham Young in 1846 when the empty valley of the Great Salt Lake was first settled. So they were eyewitnesses to the first days of Mormon settlement and they also related the seagull story.

    I won’t go into Mormon history as that can be read elsewhere, but the seagull story is more than likely true. The Mormons had planted their spring crops in a region where such vegetation was completely alien and foreign. It was also quite nutritious and its appearance no doubt contributed to an explosion in the native locust population. I say “locust” because that is what Mormon crickets are in actuality.

    An abundance of food brought these insects into the fields in unimaginable numbers and they proceeded to do what locusts do: eat everything in sight. Nothing could stop them and the settlers tried everything: fire, water, guns, shovels, etc. All efforts to drive off the locusts failed and the Mormons were facing starvation.

    It was when all seemed lost that the seagulls appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. What is most probable is that the birds became aware of the crickets’ presence and came to feast on them. Seagulls are not uncommon in the interior West as I know from my thirty-one years of living in Colorado where I saw them frequently.

    The birds descended on the fields by the thousands and devoured the locusts. They weren’t content with simply eating them. They ate until their stomachs were full, vomited out their contents, and went right on eating. After everything the settlers had tried failed, the crickets were destroyed and the colony was saved.

    Given the times and circumstances, the Mormons attributed this rather natural sequence of events to an instance of divine intervention. I doubt if any of us had been present back then that we would have done otherwise. It’s easy to ridicule others for their beliefs about and explanations of natural phenomena but I think that is unwise. The Mormon presence in Utah today is a direct result of the seagulls literally saving their colony. The seagull is Utah’s state bird and a monument stands in Salt Lake City as a symbol of gratitude Mormons feel toward them.

    I’ve said this before and will again: Just because we don’t like a certain group doesn’t mean that everything they say or believe is a lie, worthless or without merit. I’m no Mormon, never have been, and never will be. I like almost nothing about their religion, but I’m not going to disbelieve the seagull story because of that dislike, especially when I see the descendants of the original settlers still firmly entrenched there.

    Quendi

  • TweetieBird
    TweetieBird

    "I think you should start a thread entitled:

    "What the Fark?" for these types of observations!!!!!!!"

    I agree!!!! Would be awesome.

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