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I’m really loving just the sheer detail. To get this kind of detail on my own I would have to, as the author has done, delve into the thousands of journal entries and newspaper articles and documents and revelations and etc., etc. I mean I’ve read the Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt and The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother. And while those both have an extremely valuable inside perspective on the subject, they are really only a small piece of the whole. I think this book probably comes the closest to the whole that one can get without a time machine and mind reading powers.

And just to complicate terminology more, there are different levels of "free" associated with "gifts". Salvation from death - mentioned above - is a great gift given to us through Christ's Atonement. It's akin to "free beer" that is given once, and (grateful or not) ownership is transferred. Salvation in the exaltation sense is also a great gift given to us through Christ's Atonement. It's akin to "free puppy" that is given but requires action on my part or the gift is no more. Both are free, and both are gifts, but they are definitely different from one another.

I am pleased to report that I went thru the Nauvoo Temple today while visiting here this weekend and I never got into trouble while in the Temple. That is all !!

Hi everyone, I am a born and raised Catholic who has spent most of my life questioning my faith. Now I am a mother of two, and have moved to a town with a small but active LDS community, some of whom I've become friends with. Two things speak to me: How refreshing it is to see the way they live their faith every moment of every day, and that there are some doctrinal issues that I've alway held and am surprised to see held by the LDS faith (preexistence of the soul, a letting go of the Trinity doctrine, a focus on good works rather than the sola scriptura model, etc). These things all speak to me, and I have been fascinated with the LDS faith but have not yet stepped up to asking my friends if I can join them sometime. I have asked them a lot of questions, and I've attended social events, but I still haven't actually been to an LDS Sunday service. I'm not sure where to go from here. Joining the church seems to be a HUGE committment as far as tithing (my husband is agnostic and completely supportive of whereever I land religious-wise), volunteer work, children and adult faith formation classes, etc. I just don't know if I'm ready to invest, and I'm still half-heartedly attending my Catholic church. I'm feeling so torn, so lonely, so lost in my search for the truth. Any advice?

Moroni 10: 32-33. A parents forgiveness doesn't result in the child becoming pure and without spot. We simply forgive. President Boyd K. Packer's talk "The Mediator" is one of the better explanations specifying the importance of our Lord's atonement. As pertaining to God being constrained it really depends on what one means by the word "constrained." If I were good, would I do anything evil? The answer is simple, no, I would not choose or do anything that is evil because I would no longer be good. So one could describe this as being constrained.

This is what I was kind of referring too. Shows stats for various types of bikes. http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/desktopnews/popularity-of-high-performance-motorcycles-helps-push-rider-deaths-to-near-record-high A crap load of statistics of every kind http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/motorcycles/fatalityfacts/motorcycles When I read that stuff I come away with If you don't drink, you don't speed, and you wear a helmet statistically speaking motorcycles aren't the death machines of legends. Still riskier than a car of course but I don't believe it is this crazy insane risk people make it out to be.

I believe you 100% that your husband is not a risk taker. The risk is the other drivers. For example: http://kxl.com/2015/04/19/woman-dies-on-3-wheel-motorcycle/ Studies have been done on why so many alert drivers say they never saw the motorcycle. They found that the drivers were telling the truth. In stressful situations (pulling out onto a busy road) the brain can ignore information from the eyes that it deems unnecessary. The brain can literally make a motorcycle invisible under the right circumstances. If we lived in a country where motorcycles were common, riding would be much, much safer because the brain would be conditioned to look for them. Unfortunately this is not the case. I would love to get a bike. I drooled over a brand new 1993 FZR-600 6-speed. I decided not to drop the hammer when I noticed how much the insurance went up with personal injury protection. That got me thinking.

I considered getting a motorcycle for a time...then literally everyone I knew started talking to me about how dangerous it is etc... I guess it depends a bit on where you live probably not as such a great idea in a place like New York city. Pros: Better fuel efficiency. Less costs on gas. A coolness factor. Generally easier to maintain. Takes less space. More nimble. Faster breaking speeds. Can almost always find parking. Less greenhouse emissions. Cheaper insurance. The easiest solution would be to avoid driving the motorcycle where you know there is high risk for accidents.

I usually unfollow It Works and such. I do political posts too because I'm Blue and everyone on my FB is Red, except, for 5 of us (including myself lol).

I am also new and exploring the LDS Church. Joe Buffalo, NY

Why always the negativity?

My wife and I commute on Motorcycles. Her commute is about 45 miles one way and mine is about 8 miles one way . I'm pretty sure we ride in the most dangerous state for motorcycles. The other day I was riding to work on the FZ-09 going about 85 when I saw thru the window of the car in front of me the breaks go off on all the cars in front of him. The cars all suddenly parted and there was a girl standing in the middle of the road. I brushed by her going about 55 , braked as hard as I could and pulled off the freeway. Another car stopped behind me and the jumped out and was looking over his car and told me his side mirror hit her. I ran after her only to witness her stand in front of then next lanes, one after another, causing them to swerve and brake. Luckily traffic had slowed down. She was attempting to kill herself. I tried to cross the freeway but traffic started up again and was between me and her. She jumped off the embankment and a trucker ran after her with his cellphone to his ear(police I suspect). Anyway..I was shaking all morning from that close encounter. It's pretty crazy here. I know so many men that don't ride because their wives don't like it. I consider myself pretty lucky that my wife rides. While going to BYUH she was in a major motorcycle accident, man pulled out in front of her. It could have killed her. She has major knee problems and can no longer run. Despite that, and being a Physician..and seeing allot at the Hospital, she still rides because it makes her commute enjoyable and she has unlimited access to the HOV lanes thus shortening her commute as well. The only positive thing I can think of outside of the fun is that getting an endorsement and riding a Motorcycle can make you a better, safer driver period. We both prefer "naked" street bikes or Hooligan bikes for their quickness and upright riding position. Being able to see and react to cars before or the same time as the car in front of you is helpful and the upright position helps with that. Both bikes are 900's so they have allot of power if needed but are the same weight as smaller bike. They are also very quick but much more maneuverable then race bikes which also helps avoid problems. From 0-60 my FZ-09 (flying pumpkin) is as fast as a Hayabusa (2.7 sec) but my bike is electronically limited to 135. Bottom line Bini, is that I do worry about my wife. I call her every single morning to make sure she arrived. Even though I ride as well I understand the anxiety because I have it too. We have to gauge the risks we are willing to take in life and whether nor not the reward is worth it. The same thing goes when I kitesurf, I know there are sharks out there, I hear about attacks here every month, but the joy and feeling of freedom kiteboarding gives me is simply worth the risk. I would not take that freedom of life from my wife.

I the Lord am bound when he do what I say ....DC 82:10

There are lots of gospel promises or blessings we can obtain. I have a list of 23 possible blessings that come from studying the scriptures. I compiled the list for a talk i gave a couple of years ago based off some quotes from modern-day prophets i found in my studies. So it is by no means a comprehensive list. I think it was Elder Scott who said that we would receive a "wealth of blessings [as a] result of scripture study." I don't know if you would consider some of these as promises. Many of them are fairly basic but some are kind of fantastical sounding. If you're interested in the quotes, let me know. I still have them. Here's the list: 1. Learn how to live in times of war. 2. Learn how to deal with persecution and apostasy. 3. Learn how to do missionary work. 4. Learn how to respond to the dangers of materialism. 5. Help us keep our thoughts clean and pure. 6. Increase the Spirit in our homes. 7. Increase reverence. 8. Increase mutual respect and consideration for others. 9. Decrease contention. 10. Parents will counsel with their children in greater love and wisdom. 11. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. 12. Increase righteousness. 13. Increase faith, hope and charity. 14. Increase peace, joy and happiness. 15. Strengthened resolve to obey commandments. 16. Strengthen our testimony of Christ. 17. Increased power to avoid temptation. 18. Increased ability to hear the promptings of the Holy Ghost and receive revelation. 19. Increased confidence in ability to overcome the challenges of life. 20. Give direction to our life. 21. Calm an agitated soul. 22. Heal emotional challenges. 23. Accelerate physical healing.

I like these verses in answer to your question: 1) Moses 6: 60 2) Alma 7: 24

We ride. We have on road and off road bikes. Mine happens to be dual sport...so I can ride it on and off road. My husband has the Suzukie Hayabusa and it is FAST! I love that bike...but, always a little afraid on it because it is super fast. Be sure to wear the right riding gear for the bike you or he will be on. It's a really fun experience. These are our bikes.

I just started it. Best 700 pages for $18 and change! Loved this part in the intro:

I think sacrament meeting is not the time to make social or political statements with ones dress or conduct. Imagine wearing a campaign button into an endowment session. Same impropriety, IMO.

I've read the book, although it was some time ago. I'll have to pull it off the shelf and browse through it again when I get a chance. I don't remember many specifics other than I enjoyed it a great deal. Don't remember anything I disliked about it. I guess what I appreciated the most is that Bushman was able to bring out Joseph's humanity (including his weaknesses) without diminishing his role as a prophet of God.

While not a complete solution to the salvation-by-grace vs. exaltation by grace-filled worthiness (my understanding of the divide in teachings), my experience is that most Evangelicals (including myself) use the term "salvation" and "being saved" to refer to CONVERSION. Most LDS do not consider themselves saved unless they are assured entry into the Celestial Kingdom, and are preferably headed towards exaltation. Even the Evangelical idea of conversion is somewhat confusing, since most LDS would likely consider a full conversion to be unto the restored gospel--meaning, at minimum, that one was baptized into the LDS faith. Regardless, we do all agree that any salvation is, first and foremost, a gift of God. Further, that for salvation to become meaningful, a convert must embrace gospel (holy) living--taking on the life of Christ, and "dying" to the old self. Our understandings are different--and these are dramatic and important variances. However, the grace vs. works battleground generally does a poor job at getting to the real heart of the discussion. IMHO, of course. :)

I love Facebook. It keeps me informed with my family and friends. I like the photos. I have learned to use the unfollow button for those who post too many political posts--both right and left wingers. Also, I have unfollowed a good high school friend who would post about 10 x a day about her favorite Christian band. Ugh. Got tired of it. I'll have to go back and take a look to see if she is still sharing so many posts about them. If she's calmed down somewhat, I'll refollow her.

Stalked by a temple worker...that would amuse me greatly.

Yes, you can wear an orange necktie without being a hypocrite. Your apparel is not an attack on or instruction toward the Church or its leaders or membership, but a remembrance of those murdered. Having said that, I still consider it inappropriate to introduce non-worship-related elements into our worship service. During sacrament meeting, at least, I think it would not be appropriate to wear an orange tie. But even then, I would not equate it with the "wear purple" people.

Crypto, you are correct. My wife is very sensitive to conflict. Unfortunately, there were no physical scriptures in the cafeteria. That's why she was using her phone.

I would think RS would be more helpful in the grand scheme of things, versus YW, when it comes to a teen mother. Despite age group, you suddenly realise that being in a class with other wives and mothers might be more helpful, instead of with a group of high school kids that cannot relate to being a parent and raising a child.

murphology is my second religion.

My experience has been that once a youth has made adult choices they are treated as an adult in other ways too. Maybe if it is a convert or non-member things are different though.

Sometimes, when someone on the interwebs says something incredibly stupid, I will respond to them in the belief that they might listen to reason.

I would tend to think that in those "unwise" areas, the only wise decision is to move. If a ten year old can't safely walk to the park alone, then I wouldn't want them to be in the neighborhood at all.