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  1. Hello All, Since you were so friendly last week, I thought I should update you all and let you know I started reading the Book of Mormon on my way into work today. Don't worry, I take the train so I wasn't reading and driving! Ha. Again, thank you all for taking the time to answer and respond to my post; I do greatly appreciate it.
    3 points
  2. I have attended my current ward in the UK since I was 13, and I'm 28 now. In my experience of both the US and UK is that the US tends to be more accepting of religion in general. The UK as a whole tends to be sceptical and views religious people as naive, perhaps stupid. The area that my ward is located in is run down, one of the poorer areas of the city I live in. The issues caused by having a ward in this area got so bad at one point that the stake president attempted to close it down, but was overruled when a new stake president replaced him. This stereotype of religion exists even more deeply in these areas, and people trying to "sell" religion are viewed as worse than door-to-door salesmen trying to scam already poor people out of even more money. 99% of our missionaries are fresh faced American boys from the US, who repeatedly demonstrate very little local knowledge regardless of how long they've been serving their mission. I've watched them come and go over the years, and each set of missionaries make the same mistakes as those before. They come into the ward, get invited into lots of houses, get the local people to come out to the ward on Sundays and then move on happy in the knowledge that they've bought a few families into the ward. They never see the aftermath that occurs when these families realize that despite their conceptions about the local "American church" as having very deep pockets, they aren't going to just be handed money because they have are poor and have 10 kids to feed. Once they realized the support they'll get from the church is limited, they disappear never to be seen again. I've seen this happen, time and time again over the past 15 years. We've had people come to church because they are present illegally in the UK and believe the church has enough influence to help them obtain a visa, we've had many people with the financial difficulties mentioned above, we've had people with severe health problems that need a lot of money for support and the result is always the same - the church doesn't just hand out packets of cash upon request and they leave. The young American missionaries have left at this point, and never see these results. Their replacements are there bringing in yet more people for the same hidden motives. Don't be surprised. Based on my experience above, this is relatively normal.
    2 points
  3. This isn't a problem that is specific because it is same-sex attraction. This is a problem with attraction and priorities. I am attracted to the opposite sex. Somehow I manage to control myself and not cheat on my wife. This is something many, many people deal with in their daily lives, being same-sex attracted does not make a difference in this situation.
    2 points
  4. You might find this helpful: Early Christian and Jewish Rituals Related to Temple Practices The Encylcopedia of Mormonism articles on the Endowment, Garments, Prayer Circle, and Washing and Anointing should be helpful to you in preparing for some of what to expect at your Endowment: http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Endowment http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Washings_and_Anointings http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Garments http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Prayer_Circle You are right, the LDS temple is not exactly what was going on in Solomon's temple, since different priesthoods are involved, and we see that animal sacrifice was practiced anciently, but is unnecessary today. However, you will find many elements of the LDS temple tied to ancient Jewish and Christian practices. There are many books and articles available on that subject, and I think they will be helpful to you after you receive your Endowment. I have always loved the Initiatory washing and anointing that you receive at the beginning of your Endowment, as it includes a clear, explicit reference to ancient Jewish practices related to washing and anointing. A great book for you to read after your Endowment is: The Gate of Heaven: Insights on the Doctrines and Symbols of the Temple. It touches on many of these ancient (i.e. restored) aspects of the temple. As you continue your scripture study, concepts I think that you should focus on include things like washing, anointing, sacred clothing, new names, creation, the Fall, Atonement, covenants, returning to God's presence.
    2 points
  5. Aside from getting a lawyer, start documenting everything - dates, times, phone calls, when he drops the ball, financial matters, etc.
    2 points
  6. The addition of white clothing is a relatively new invention that is not scriptural and not strictly necessary. It is used for it's symbolic value, but if no white clothing were available, the presiding authority could authorize the baptism to continue.
    2 points
  7. Greetings from the land of the living and the blessed! After spending some time reading and adding a few posts late Thurdsday evening and battling what I believed to be some severe heart burn, I finally went to bed about 11:30 central time for some shut eye. About 4:30 AM the heartburn returned with a vengeance and included profuse sweating and after self diagnosing and debating with my wife over the merits of seeing a doctor she took control and ordered me into her car and raced to the emergency room. The short version is I had a heart attack and passed away briefly after being admitted..had I not listeded to my wife I would no doubt be mingling with Spirits. More of the story to come.....
    1 point
  8. From Handbook 2: "Endowed members should wear the temple garment both day and night. They should not remove it, either entirely or partially, to work in the yard or for other activities that can reasonably be done with the garment worn properly beneath the clothing. Nor should they remove it to lounge around the home in swimwear or immodest clothing. When they must remove the garment, such as for swimming, they should put it back on as soon as possible." I used to remove my garments to work out until I realized (grew up enough, I guess) that I could very reasonably wear them when doing so. I was making excuses (primarily sweat) that, in my mind, do not qualify as reasonable. However, the handbook also says: "Members who have made covenants in the temple should be guided by the Holy Spirit to answer for themselves personal questions about wearing the garment." Therefore, it is incorrect to state "garments not needed', as it would also be incorrect to state, "garments required". It is a question to be taken to God and the Holy Spirit. But one should always err on the side of wearing them if it is reasonable to do so. The wearing of the garment is a privilege (this plays into how I grew up in my attitude a bit), and we should be look for reasons to wear them, doing so whenever possible, rather than the other way around. The blessings and covenants associated with them are far to precious to treat the wearing of them with a cavalier attitude.
    1 point
  9. The justice I am talking about is simple - everything that occurs to us (in this life, a previous life or in a following or next life, must be because of a knowledgeable choice that was made in order to bring about the result. I do not believe that justice is the result of a choice we do not or cannot understand – especially concerning consequences. Children before the age of accountability may be a good example of the kind of justice I believe to which you also may agree. I just expand on the idea. So if justice for us must be based on our choices such that all things that occur to us must be the result of a knowledgeable choice we make – otherwise justice does not exist and is an illusion. I am sure there are many kingdoms for various purposes and needs. Often the scriptures hint concerning things to which there is no actual doctrine. A mother in Heaven is an example of this and we even sing of this possibility in the song “Oh my Father”. I find evidence in scripture that indicates that there is a place for fallen spirits over which Jesus has singular responsibility as G-d and as the mediator with the Father. For example we see G-d (Jehovah or Jesus) governing not only earth but all the spirits in exile from the Father (Satan who was cast out of heaven – never to return among those over which Jesus governs.) Some think the tree of knowledge of good and evil to be a literal tree. We know from revelation that the sister tree (The Tree of Life) that is also in the garden is symbolic and Alma speak to us of a seed that we plant that grows to become the tree of life. In the Genesis epoch of the Garden Adam is warned that anyone that pursues the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil with intent to obtain this knowledge must of necessity be cast out from the father. The indication is in the day, or as we can understand from the ancient Hebrew – at the time such a choice is made all making that choice will surely die. We know this was not a physical death because Adam and Eve did not die right a way but much later – but they did die a spiritual death or death of being cast out or falling. Since the fall took effect on all the children of Adam and Eve – I cannot find any scriptural evidence that we remained with the father but rather became from the fall ever beholden to Christ to redeem our return. And so I submit that the choice by Adam and Eve was not unique among the children of G-d and that all that would come to earth to take on a mortal body in every way accepted for themselves the choice and all it consequences. So we are again upon the point that for us the fall is completely spiritual. And all fallen spirits, including even small children are redeemed by Christ in order to return to the Father. Our spirits are fallen and incapable of retuning on their own – regardless of how pure and clean we think them to be. Without Christ the fallen spirits of children could not return to the father. For me this is such a simple understanding. All that choose to participate in the plan that was made before the foundations of the earth rely on Christ as their mediator to end our exile from G-d. The spirit must fall in order to justly and rightfully inhabit a mortal body. Only a redeemed spirit therefore can inhabit a glorified eternal body. If the spirits of children had not fallen then such spirits could not be associated with a mortal body. It is by the atonement of Christ that the fallen are made pure. If there was no spiritual fall than there would be no knowledge of evil – nor is there knowledge of good. Good being the sacrifice of Christ that knowledge can only come from those redeemed from the fall.. Therefore only by falling and choosing to fall can one obtain knowledge of good and evil. one last point - this is how I do multiple quotes. I slect the quote button. Then in he following box for response I create a quite block. I delete all from the initial quote that I am not responding to in my first comments and copy that text into the quote box. This can be repeted as many times as desired by moving text from the previous text to the new quote box.
    1 point
  10. To Latter-Days Guy: Here's an article I wrote a few years ago that you will probably enjoy. http://spamldsarchive.blogspot.com/2010/05/why-temples-esoteric-teachings-and.html?q=esoteric+teachings When i taught the Temple Prep class in a ward where we used to live, i used to stress to the members in it that we have to keep in mind that temple ordinances are full of symbolism. Mormons tend to be very literal about our understanding of spiritual things. When it comes to ordinances, like baptism for example, that they are assigned meanings by the Lord. Think for a moment of a stop sign. It is so common (like baptism) that we automatically know what it means when we see an octagonal red sign anywhere in the world. However, there is nothing about the octagonal shape or the color red that inherently means "stop." We have assigned the symbol a meaning and it has become commonplace now. Baptism is an example. Aside from the imagery of bathing, burial, and resurrection that we might see with our eyes, the dunking of a person in water has been assigned a specific meaning by the Lord and taught to his servants. It symbolizes a covenant to always remember Jesus Christ, take his name upon us, and keep his commandments. Likewise, the Lord elegantly used the common symbols of bread and wine to remind us of a covenant. He could have used something else, but he used things that were commonplace. It would have been novel when it was first instituted, but now it's a generally accepted symbol. When you go through the temple, the ordinances are given specific meanings by the Lord and we learn them as he has designated them. Like a stop sign, they are abstract. They only have meaning because the Lord has assigned them those meanings. If they resemble something else familiar to us or anything outside the temple, we need to remind ourselves that we need to understand the Lord's assigned meaning. Here's another example. We all have a strong emotional reaction to the swastika because of its association with Nazi Germany. However, the swastika is an ancient symbol that was sacred to Native Americans. There is no connection between Native Americans and Nazis separated by an ocean and thousands of years. The symbol means different things to them. Likewise, there have been some people who have tried to connect the endowment to other traditions or sources, like Freemasonry. That trouble some people unless you realize that the meanings are different because, regardless of any similarities, the Lord has assigned the signification of temple ordinances. When you go to the temple, keep an open mind, expect to see commonplace things that are given spiritual significance by the associations with the temples. It is a beautiful experience. Its meaning is only understood through revelation. That revelation comes little by little with repeated visits. As you'll see in the linked article, the temple has long been a part of the Christian faith.
    1 point
  11. The issue in reality is that the government has gotten in to the business of mandating that a private entity must provide health care to its employees. This whole notion is an absolutely ridiculous bundle of nonsense, irrationality, and madness. Businesses use to offer health care because it attracted the best and the brightest. Now the American psyche has been diluted so that we believe an individual MUST provide healthcare to another individual. Private business is but an extension of the individual. The goal of this current Administration is to bring all entities under government control and rule. The philosophy is one of where the government provides the answers to ALL of the ills of mankind. Government must be large and have its tentacles in every aspect of people’s lives, at all levels. Only those who are in government are exempted from their own rules. This is done supposedly, for the "good" of the people. We have a largely ignorant population who worry about the Kardashians and know the lyrics to the latest rap and pop-songs but don't know what it means to be a Republic. They don't know what it means to be The People. There is a large portion of the country that depends on the government coffers for their livelihood. There is a certain segment of society (irrespective of race) that purposefully and quite consciously remains under the poverty level so that they can receive free food, free housing, free phones, free healthcare, etc. The Liberal Left depend on this segment. They depend on the secularization of the country because it provides the rationality that government, not God, is the answer to life's difficulties. They depend on the ignorant remaining ignorant. They depend on outright lies and the principles of sophistry to win the day. The reason why the Hobby Lobby win is a limited win and barely a win to liberty and for the Republic is because the law which is the catalyst for this legal decision is still alive. The ACA is a travesty and it is criminal. It is the fruit of liars, robbers, thieves, and murderers. What worries me is that it seems only a relatively few in the country recognize what is happening and that a large majority of the People haven't yet awoken to a sense of their awful situation: Ether 8 -Finrock
    1 point
  12. Yet some how wearing a white shirt to church seems to be mandatory...
    1 point
  13. Thought as much myself but wanted to make sure I'd not got it wrong. The OT temple was primarily to do with the sacrifice system and atoning for the Jewish nations sins. But since that was done away with through the atonement of Jesus Christ that part of temple worship was no longer needed. Also with the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood as you state the full benefits and ordinances of that priesthood are now available in the temple today. I've been learning so much over the last few weeks about the temple and how it all fits into the plan of salvation, it's just amazing what Heavenly Father has done for us, and what he makes available to us through the churches temples. They are the house of the Lord!
    1 point
  14. Do to a disease I was diagnosed with, I have to stay away from grains.
    1 point
  15. This is an issue I have struggled with for years. In 1970 I read Adelle Davis's books on nutrition, and tried to change my family's diet to improve our health. I still very much believe in them, and feel we have been much healthier because of it. I almost completely quit using white flour and other refined grain products. I have a wheat grinder in the kitchen, and turned it on when I was ready to make something using flour. My children knew when they heard it go on in the morning that the pancakes would be ready in 10 minutes. They were raised on cracked wheat cereal, corn meal mush, brown rice cereal, etc. All pretty healthy kids, hardly ever a need for antibiotics, no serious illnesses, etc. In the past few years, we have been hearing all this stuff about celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, etc. I read "The Wheat Belly Book," whose author doesn't want us to eat any kind of wheat or gluten containing grain. After much study, prayer, and thought, I still don't know if I should be eating wheat or not. But I do know one thing. We should not be eating white flour or refined grain products. Ever. So much of the food value has been removed that it doesn't resemble the real stuff. And maybe, as Adelle Davis, says, the nutrients we are removing are the very ones that will keep us from developing allergies. I wish I could tell you her list of percentages of each nutrient that has been removed (I don't have access to the book now, as I am on a mission in Australia). All the vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, etc. We need all those things to be healthy.
    1 point
  16. D&C 76: 71 And again, we saw the terrestrial world, and behold and lo, these are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of the church of theFirstborn who have received the fulness of the Father, even as that of themoon differs from the sun in the firmament. 72 Behold, these are they who died without law; 73 And also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited, and preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh; 74 Who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it. 75 These are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by the craftiness of men. 76 These are they who receive of his glory, but not of his fulness. 77 These are they who receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father. 78 Wherefore, they are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and differ in glory as the moon differs from the sun. 79 These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore, they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God. 80 And now this is the end of the vision which we saw of the terrestrial, that the Lord commanded us to write while we were yet in the Spirit.
    1 point
  17. I live in Riverside! Welcome to lds.net!
    1 point
  18. dahlia

    Why can't life be easier?

    Also document any time you deal with him and he is drunk, high, or whatever. Ditto on the divorce lawyer (and not a generalist. Get someone who does this a lot.).
    1 point
  19. I would respectfully disagree. The modern temple rite is done under the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood. The Israelite temples functioned under the authority of the Aaronic priesthood; therefore the modern endowment could not have been practiced in the Israelite temples except surreptitiously by the few prophets who held the Melchizedek Priesthood (and were generally perceived as renegades by the Levitical priests who oversaw temple worship). Moreover, the rites of the Israelite temple are carefully recorded in the Pentateuch; and--at least superficially--there are almost entirely unrelated to the modern endowment. The closest you really get, IMHO, that the initiatory ordinances make reference to an ancient Mosaic ritual and (again, IMHO) are better seen as a "memorial" (see D&C 124:39) to that ancient rite, not a re-enactment thereof. Bear in mind that the LDS temple endowment isn't technically one ordinance. It's a series of ordinances, punctuated by instructions and explanations, that are administered over about a two-hour period. I think that conceptually, the LDS temple endowment is very ancient--the idea of man's separation from and return to God; the ideas of making specific covenants with God and getting particular signs and tokens of those covenants (along with an increased proportion of the Spirit as one keeps those covenants); the idea of sacred vestments, and so on. I also believe that the specific covenants made in the LDS endowment ritual are probably, in essence, the same ones that were done anciently. But the liturgy and procedure of the LDS temple endowment has evolved quite a bit since 1842 (the original endowment lasted for six hours); so I have no reason to think that the ritual the Church administers in AD 2014 is liturgically identical to that received by Adam, Abraham, or the other patriarchs of old.
    1 point
  20. mdfxdb

    Why can't life be easier?

    Get an attorney he is trying to move away from his obligations
    1 point
  21. I disagree with this analogy. There are boy scout leaders who have done reprehensible things -- that would be more accurate as to the Mountain Meadows analogy IMHO. Even better would be the idea that there are certainly some Mormons out there who support planned parenthood. So would it be accurate to say the church, accordingly, supports planned parenthood? No. However, if members of the church supported it and the church took a sanctioning response (either by saying nothing, thereby giving tacit approval, or by actually stating that they supported the decisions of their members) then it would be appropriate to say the church supported planned parenthood. The church's response to the Mountain Meadow's massacre was not approval, tacit or otherwise. I don't know a lot about the Girl Scouts, but I'm guessing they've never censured or otherwise disapproved of local units for supporting planned parenthood, and thereby it would be accurate to say that they support it.
    1 point
  22. What a rough situation . . . . I have no idea what you are going through. It is horrible when families for one reason or another are broken up. I wish that we could learn the lessons of life without having to go through such trials. Unfortunately, many times we can only learn the lessons of life by going through such horrible circumstances. Life is very hard and every individual must go through their own Gethsemane so to speak. The power of the Atonement helps us endure those circumstances better. For some individuals it is a divorce with multiple kids, for others it is Stage 4 cancer with multiple kids, for others it is the death of a child, the loss of a job, for some it is disability. Sometimes it is multiple situations at once or at different times in our life. Sometimes we might feel like Job. This much I do know, if we are humble and willing to listen to God, He will hear us, He will give us relief, He will answer our prayers. Sometimes the answer may not be what we want, but the answer will be for our best interest. We must learn to trust in Him completely with our whole soul saying that we will be willing to do whatever He asks of us, if He will only show us the way. He will then send to us ministering angels to lead and guide us when He knows we need it the most. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2002/04/for-thy-good?lang=eng&query=pains+and+sufferings https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/the-atonement-covers-all-pain?lang=eng&query=pains+and+sufferings#5-PD50028768_000_1050
    1 point
  23. I think you were a little idealistic. I served in South America. Inactivity was 80%. My home ward inactivity rate s somewhere between 65-70%. This is normal. This is normal not only in the LDS church, but in other not for profit/volunteer/charitable organizations, and every other church in the world. There are many reasons why people fall away. It is ridiculous to take it personally when someone does. I baptized many on my mission. Some went on to serve missions of their own, some fell away, our AP even went inactive shortly after returning home. Don't equate what you see in Utah/Idaho with the rest of the world. In those states the church is cultural and social as much as or even more than faith based.
    1 point
  24. Hi all, first time here. I found an old thread talking about the church in Saudi Arabia, and wanted to post. My family started the church in Saudi in 1970. My dad was the branch president. Also Elder Howard W. Hunter came to visit us, and stayed at our home while we were there. We lived there for 4 years. Membership went from 5, my family, to 100 in Dhahran, with 99% activity. We also helped establish the first branch in Jeddah. I was the first person baptized in the Persian Gulf in the latter days, in 1971, and my sister was baptized in the Red Sea. The Muslim people are really wonderful people.
    1 point
  25. My daughters were in Girl Scouts for a while (until all the leadership moved or had to get jobs and the troop disbanded). It was a wonderful experience - they had a blast and learned a lot and made friends and had experiences and won patches, etc etc. I don't get all the passion about making an official part of church structure. If you're so hot on it, go join a troop already. (We had to drive across town to the troop we preferred, passing several troops that were not a good fit.)
    1 point
  26. There is no member prohibition on being in Girl Scouts, so that question is solidly aimed at her parents, so go ahead and tell her why you won't let her be in Girl Scouts (assuming the organization itself isn't refusing her).
    1 point