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I had an amazing experience this evening brothers and sisters. My younger sister asked me to give her a blessing. While what I said was for her ears alone, I was covered in the Holy Ghost while I was speaking to her. I've given many blessings in my life, but this one was a very special one. I knew I was speaking for God. I've always taken my blessings seriously, and have tried to feel inspired and I believe that I said what God wanted me too. But this time, like only a handful of other times in my life, I literally felt the power of the Holy Ghost descend upon me, almost like a light blanket although that description is inadequate. The holy Melchesidek priesthood is real. God has restored it through Joseph Smith, and it's power comes from our Saviour Jesus Christ. I just wanted to share that with you all this evening.

I think laronius is on to something here. Yesterday, interestingly, Pastor Lutzer on the Q&A segment of his radio show tackled the question "can we separate salvation by faith from discipleship?" (https://www.moodymedia.org/ask-pastor-lutzer/archives/question-184/ ). Pastor Lutzer kind of hedged on the answer, but basically would not say that anything is required beyond that initial statement of faith. On another occasion, he responded to the question, "Is repentance required for salvation?" His response was to call that question "a hornet's nest" because there was a lot of debate in Christian circles. Again he kind of hedged that repentance should follow faith, but would not declare it necessary. It sometimes seems that some Protestants will take the "sola fide" part of their theology so seriously that they are very careful to never demand any action on our part to be saved. At this point, I don't think I would be seeking "answers" to his claim that baptism is not required. I might be seeking more to understand his position in more detail. As @Anddenex asked, does he pick and choose commandments to obey, or does he believe that obedience to any commandment is not required? At the end of the day, if your friend is Protestant and you are not, there may not be an "answer" other than, "My study of the scriptures leads me to believe that God expects us to strive to obey commandments." and agree to disagree from there.

This disagreement is really just a symptom of a much larger question that has to do with faith and works. My guess is he believes that we are saved by merely accepting Christ as our Savior. So any other act/work is merely optional including baptism. So if you are to gain any traction with this guy (as unlikely as that is) it will be done by addressing the larger more fundamental question.

Did you know that "Carb" is an anagram for "Crab"? I wonder if he was born in late June or July. "Carborendum" is an anagram for "Um...corn bread?", which seems like it might be a very Texan thing to say. Other anagrams include "nor care dumb", " bear drum con", "rob [dang] cure", and "run comb dare". And, hey, "eardrum bonc". That's a good one.

Mystery Object That Fell from Sky through Kentucky Man’s Home Still Unidentified WARNER TODD HUSTON -- October 26th 2019 The object that reportedly came crashing through a Kentucky man’s home is still unidentified, but the Federal Aviation Administration says it is not an airplane part. Tommy Woosley says that the still unidentified object smashed through the wallof his Burgin, Kentucky, mobile home last weekend. The homeowner says that the object must have hit the home when he was gone over the last weekend because when he came home, he found wall damage and damage to his bathroom. The Mercer County Sheriff’s Department says they are seriously looking into reports of an object that may have fallen from an airplane and landed into the side of a man’s mobile home. The device is some type of pressurized canister. Read more at: https://godfatherpolitics.com/mystery-object-that-fell-from-sky-through-kentucky-mans-home-still-unidentified/

Wonderful. Thanks for sharing. I have felt as you have felt.

Thanks everyone, Had a bit more time to digest your advice. I am not the type of teacher to deliver a lecture - so I am glad that many of you have given the advice which matches my preferred teaching style. I am much more predisposed to get people active and doing things (too many years of teaching practical subjects) In order to facilitate a class discussion which focuses on the doctrine and its application to individuals, I believe that I will need to be well versed in the doctrine covered in the reading; so am spending my time identifying the doctrines covered and making sure I have plenty of sources to keep the conversation on track. I know the importance of use good questioning skills to ensure that everyone can participate and contribute no matter what their level of understanding, so again am preparing a range of questions that may be useful to get things going. Of course this fortnights reading covers BOTH the second coming and the fall........ plenty of room for speculation and going off topic; so will make sure that the discussion stays on what is discussed by Paul at this time (is it time to start preparing for Revelation already???) and make sure we focus on the positive messages in the reading.

As incompetent(among other things) as the Trudeau government was, it should have been fairly simple for the Conservatives to gain more seats than they did. Unfortunately this didn't happen...

Thank you. The Melchizedek Priesthood is the key to divine Law, Ordinance and Covenant - without which the Kingdom of G-d cannot persist nor can any divine doctrine have meaning. There is no knowledge or understanding that can substitute for the experience of an apprenticeship with Christ as the master. The Traveler

It is a common 'born again' belief. All you have to do is confess Jesus is your savior (as long as it's not the "Mormon Jesus". You have to believe in the 'Real Jesus') All other commandments are good suggestions, but not necessary to be saved.

Update: I found the second quote. It's from Miracle of Forgiveness... "Those who claim their love is dead should return home with all their loyalty, fidelity, honor, cleanness, and the love which has become embers will flare up with scintillating flame again. If love wanes or dies, it is often infidelity of thought or act which gave the lethal potion. I plead with all people, young and old, bound by marriage vows and covenants to make that marriage holy, keep it fresh, express affection meaningfully and sincerely and often. Thus will one avoid the pitfalls which destroy marriages." Still looking for first quote...

Ah, yes. The famous optional commandment. "Thou shalt not kill, unless, you know, you decide otherwise."

Everybody above gave great answers. I'm going to give you the easy LDS answer juxtaposed to the Catholic perspective whose flaws led to the Protestant perspective. The restored gospel revealed the truth that Baptism is the ordinance by which the children of God enter into the Covenant with Jesus Christ. This Covenant became necessary when we accepted the Plan of Salvation. For us to gain knowledge and progress, we need to go through mortal existence (2 Nephi 2). But no unclean (sinful) thing can dwell in the kingdom of our Father, therefore, we had to go through a spiritual death (separate fully from our Father). Without our Covenant with the Savior, there wouldn't have been a way for us to go back to the Father's kingdom and dwell with Him once more - as there wasn't a way for us to be cleansed. Jesus Christ offered Himself as payment for our inequities to cleanse us and allow us to dwell with the Father once more. But this salvific offering cannot be forced upon us. WE HAVE to accept the salvific sacrifice of Jesus Christ and enter into the Covenant of our own free will to have Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The way to enter into that Covenant is through Baptism. The Catholic perspective, on the other hand, is missing the teaching on pre-mortal existence and the eternal nature of our spirit. This led to the Catholic position that God created Adam and Eve - spirit and body - from nothing. They lived in perfection with the Father until Eve, tempted by the Devil, caused Adam to sin with her leading to the Fall into mortal existence. Every offspring of Adam and Eve, therefore, are tainted with Adam and Eve's original sin. Baptism, therefore, cleanses us of original sin and puts us in communion with Christ our Savior which then allows us to be resurrected to live with God after mortal life. Another missing teaching from the Catholic perspective is post-mortal progression. Because baptism can only be done before death in the Catholic faith, the Catholics have made it a practice to baptize infants as early as possible so that they may not risk dying without having their original sin cleansed. This practice has led to much confusion on the status of infants who die before they are baptized - are they then deprived of heaven? What about people who are born and die without having heard of the name Jesus, let alone have the opportunity to be baptized? Do they get deprived of heaven without their knowledge? These and other confusing questions has led to the Protestant reformation that gave birth to other ideas in an attempt to resolve these questions. Some Protestant faiths carry on the tradition of Baptism as practiced in Catholicism to cleanse us of original sin. Other Protestant faiths carry on the tradition of Baptism as a symbolic/ceremonial ordinance that may be optional. While others believe that Baptism is a "Work" that buys heaven and is, therefore, heretic.

I was not trying to bridge the partisan divide in our country - I was trying to give understanding to the conflicts of the Middle East and why our allies seem shallow to our interests. The Traveler

If Christ is all-powerful, than He could have just as easily have saved us all by doing a tap routine on Dancing With The Stars, as by letting the Romans crucify Him. The issue isn’t what He could do (or ask us to do). The issue is what He does do (and asks us to do). He does command us to be baptized, period.

I know. And i was dead serious... as always... 😜

As long as you need. They won’t start without you.

Just for you!

He told me he prefers money. What a whiner.

1 + 1 = 3

A father was telling Torah stories to his young children. He read, "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city and never look back. But, his wife looked back, sadly, and so was turned to salt." His son asked, "What happened to the flea?"