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As I was studying this weeks chapters, I noticed something I never have before. After all the destruction, in chapters 9 and 10, the voice of the Lord is heard throughout the land, talking about the destruction, the persecution of the prophets and saints, and that they need to repent. That wasn't new to me, but then I compared it to the voice the people heard in chapter 11. I don't know how many talks and lessons it's been pointed out that it took the people three times to understand. This didn't seem to be a problem in 9 and 10. I wondered why. My first thought was that in the darkness, they didn't have any distractions. Not being able to see might have helped them be more open to listening. Second, this voice wasn't described as small voice. The Lord seemed to use a different volume, if not a whole different method, to communicate in the earlier chapters than in 11. Third, having just gone through the destruction, they were shocked and probably looking to God very fervently for safety and relief. A few years ago, I noticed something between chapters 8 and 10. In 8:5, it says that the destruction all started in the first month, fourth day, the beginning of the 34th year. In 10:18, Mormon says that he'll show us that at the end of the 34th year that the Nephites were spared and had great favor. Usually, when people talk about Jesus visiting the Nephites, they seem to think it was within days of His ascension (40-43 days after the destruction). But it seems to me that it would have been at least 9 months afterward. So maybe the people, while looking weren't as in tune as they had been right after all the destruction.

On the subject of the voice... in Chapters 9 and 10 it seems to be the Voice of Christ. Whereas in Chapter 11 it seems to be the Voice of the Father (Pretty much the only time we hear the Father is when he introduces the Son). I am not sure why that would make a difference. But if you are pondering why they hear it in 9 and 10 and did not really hear in 11 at first that should be added to the list of things to ponder. On the subject of the Time Frame we read in Chapter 8 verses 1 and 2 that Mormon himself has questions about the timing. He was 400 years after the events in question and we do not know why he had questions. All we know is that he acknowledges a mistake could have been made and goes with what was written. Contextually we have a jump of time at the end of Chapter 10. Chapter 11 begins months after the destruction, with them gathering and remarking on the changes made. One could understand the gathering and remarking right after but the more that time passes the more it becomes the New Normal. To gather and remark on the changes many months later strikes me as some kind of memorial or anniversary, or maybe one of the High Holy Days (I do not know enough about Jewish Holidays to guess)

Yes, my read is that it was a full year.

Having had some experience with kissing gone beyond the FSOY standards, I decided I wouldn't participate in any kissing unless we're standing or wearing seat belts. Satan and I know my weaknesses, and those are objective check points. The only people I expect to adhere to those standards are myself and any guy kissing me. That being said, I feel a bit obligated to warn you about passionate kissing, which some call making out. Once that line is crossed, and you feel that feeling, you want to feel it again. It can be incredibly difficult to deny yourself once you've given in, even when you know it's the proper thing to do. I'll get a little personal. When I was in high school, I had some lie down, passionate make out sessions with my boyfriend. When a divorced RM I was interested in dating after college suggest we cuddle, I was all for it. Cuddling led to spooning, and I didn't know how to change course in the middle of it. Before I saw him again, I called him and told him that, while I still liked him and enjoyed cuddling, I was not comfortable with spooning. He said he understood, but it wasn't longer than a few months before it was happening again, because we both allowed it. It's the old story of how to boil a frog. It also influenced the final lesson I gave to my YW as I moved out and they graduated high school (3 of them were going to BYU-I, and a fourth has joined them). I had planned to teach them about the talk to "Stay in the Boat," not realizing they had that lesson the week before. So we compared Joseph of Egypt and Potiphar's wife with Samson and Delilah. I told them that if any guy ever got "Delilah-y" with them, to be like Joseph of Egypt and RUN! One girl, probably trying to come off as her usual sarcastic self (although I suspect she had reasons), challenged me with, "What if he's on the boat?" I looked her straight in the eye and said, "Push him out."

One of the classic differences between a mathematician and an engineer is that an mathematician is greatly disappointed if there is ever any real applications that can be applied to mathematical theories - engineers, on the other hand believe mathematical theories are useless unless there is an application to the real world. One of the great criticism of Black Hole theory is that theoretical infinity has never been proven to exist in nature. Mathematics is a great representation of our universe of "things" but the universe is not comprised of anything mathematical. I find it most interesting that G-d says that his creations and works are not countable (thus infinite) to man but that they are (finite) to him. I interpret this to mean that G-d is involved with mathematics at levels we have not encountered yet. We keep developing new mathematical theories to explain stuff we encounter that does not fit the old system. For example the real number system is but a subset of the imaginary number system. A thousand years ago no one knew that imaginary numbers could be defined and have purpose. Anciently the number zero was not understood and causes a lot of confusion in ancient scriptures to modern thinkers. For example: many think that 1/3 of heave followed Satan. What we are told is that a third part followed Satan - which means that Heaven was divided into 3 parts - the assumption that the 3 parts were equal parts and thus 1/3 of heaven is a flaw in the understanding of ancient number theory. I do not believe we are quite ready to compare our number theory to G-d's or use our current theories to accurately explain G-d and his creations and works - but it is fun to try. The Traveler

I attempted to display the data from the official Utah website - https://coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts/ If you go to the site and look at the regions of Utah it shows that currently the Southwest area (where Zion is) it is currently (yesterday) at about 9 new cases per 100,000. Salt Lake county is currently at about 24 new cases per 100,000 and Utah county is at about 49 new per 100,000. Utah county yesterday had over 5 times the infections per 100,000 residents - Salt Lake county was only 2 and 2/3 times as many infections per 100,000 as southwest Utah. The death rate in Southwest Utah ought to be higher because that is primarily retirement communities - which means old people that are highly susceptible to COVID. The young dumb population should lower the death rate considerably. They are not likely to die from infection and if they keep it up we should have heard immunity in about 100 days - before the vaccine is available to all segments of the population. The Traveler

When we think on our mortality, will a human body ever be able to exist inside the sun on it's own. If we were left on our own, as we are, would our bodies ever be something other than what they are now? We hypothesize, we think, and conjecture, but perhaps physically it is impossible for our mortal bodies to do certain things no matter how much time is given. We can advance forever in our own sphere, but we cannot exceed our sphere. A comparison would be that of ants. Could an ant ever be a human in this mortal world? Could they ever construct a space ship? They can advance and increase in their own kind and way, but their own limitations prevent them from exceeding what man can do. What if we took a higher level animal such as a Dog or Monkey. They can emulate what a man can do, they can even imitate, but they will never be able to be or do what man is able to do today. Unless they changed (evolved as science would put it) into something greater, they will never be able to accomplish what men do today, a thousand years ago or even two thousand years ago in architecture, buildings, or science. In a similar vein I imagine the differences in the degrees of glory. Nothing prevents one from advancing in learning and experiences in the Telestial or Terestrial Kingdoms, each in their sphere, but much like ant or a dog or a monkey, they are limited by their own physical being. There are bodies telestial, bodies terrestrial, and bodies Celestial. They each can increase in their own way, but they are all different as well, with the greater have greater potential as a consequence of it's fabric of creation than those that are lesser. In my opinion.

If you are doing something to arouse sexual feelings in yourself or a person who’s not you spouse, you’ll find out why the Lord puts a giant warning “don’t go here!” sign. So people just want to touch the stove themselves...

I don't know that I have any answers but I do have some thoughts I think are relevant. First off, I don't think God would ever deny one of His children the chance to progress if they are willing to whether it be in this life or a billion years from now. But the question is will they want to (speaking of those in the lower kingdoms). We existed for however many eons of time before coming to this earth and I think our trajectory was already pretty well defined by then. Though perhaps this life could act as a "scared straight" experience for some. But when we consider that our ultimate destination is truly of our own choosing and that choosing took place over who knows how long of time it makes me wonder what could happen in the eternities that would all of a sudden make someone say "okay, now I'm willing to live a higher law." There is so much that hasn't been revealed like what will the inhabitants of the lower kingdoms be doing with their time? I don't know. We do know they will be happy with their allotment and perhaps that will breed contentment. But if progress between kingdoms was a real thing it would be a truth that would work against God's purposes in this life.

Here is my opinion “Never do anything that could lead to sexual transgression. Treat others with respect, not as objects used to satisfy lustful and selfish desires. Before marriage, do not participate in passionate kissing” - For the Strength of Youth “The For the Strength of Youth pamphlet contains standards that, when followed carefully, will bring rich blessings and help us stay on the covenant path. Although it was written for the benefit of the youth, its standards do not expire when we leave the Young Men and Young Women programs. They apply to each of us all the time. A review of these standards may prompt other ways we can be more careful in our gospel living.” - Becky Craven, General Conference 2019

A note about impeachment and the operations of conspiring organizations to manipulate and control (in order to prevent the citizens from electing and controlling their own governments). When the impeachment of President Clinton was presented to the Senate the speaker of the house Newt Gingrich recused himself from operating in the Senate as a "Manager" over the fuss the Democrats made over him being two partial and thus preventing fairness. I would submit the the first step towards a secret takeover of a free country would be a double standard in the enforcement of the law. And the first sign of a secret combination is the protection from fellow members from being subject to the laws. In short able to transgress the law and deliberately not brought to justice. The Traveler

Happened to glance at my spam before deleting it, and boy, am I glad I did! I'm in the money, folks! CA$H DOLLAR$!! And i can tell this isn't your typical Nigerian spam scheme, because it's not from Nigeria! It's from some perfectly legit-sounding outfit called Astound.net (paint me astounded!) based, apparently, in Italy. Mamma mia! Can anything bad come out of Italy? I thought I'd share the news of my good fortune with you, so you can all feel appropriately jealous of me. You're welcome. ******************************* For Mutual Benefit Larry Paulson <[email protected]> Sep 17, 2020, 1:27 PM (20 hours ago) to petlar7 This message seems dangerous Similar messages were used to steal people's personal information. Avoid clicking links, downloading attachments, or replying with personal information. Looks safe Hello,I am Larry Peter Paulson Director Inspection Unit United Nations Inspection Agent in Hartsfield?Jackson Atlanta International Airport Atlanta GA. We are rounding up for the last Quater of the auditing, all abandom Consignment in US Airports are being transfer to our facilities here for inspection and confiscation. During our investigation, I discovered An abandoned shipment on your name which was transferred to our facility here in Hartsfield?Jackson Atlanta International Airport and when scanned it revealed an undisclosed sum of money in a Metal Trunk Box. The consignment was abandoned because the Content was not properly declared by the consignee as money, rather it was declared as personal effect to avoid diversion by the Diplomatic Agent also the Diplomat inability to pay for Non Inspection Fees.On my assumption, the boxes will contain more that $6M and the consignment is still left in storage facility till today. The Consignment is a metal box with weight of about 242LBS (Internal dimension: W61 x H156 x D73 (cm). Effective capacity: 680 L.)Approximately. The details of the consignment including your name the official document from United Nation office in London are tagged on the Metal Trunk box.I want to use my good office and clear the Consignment and deliver it to you. If you WILL ACCEPT MY C O N D I T I O N AND want us to transact the delivery for mutual benefit, you should provide your name, Phone Number and full address, to cross check if it corresponds with the address on the official document including the name of nearest Airport around you and other details. You should send the required details to me for onward delivery.All communication must be held extremely confidential. I can get everything concluded within 24 to 48 hours upon your acceptance and proceed to your address for delivery. But it must be on the condition that you will give me 30% of the amount contained in the boxes and i must get assurance from you concerning my 30% before i will proceed.I want us to transact this business and share the money, since the shipper have abandoned it and ran away. I will pay for the Non inspection fee and arrange for the boxes to be moved out of this Airport to your address, Once i am through, i will deploy the services of a secured shipping Company to provide the security it needs to your doorstep. or i can bring it by myself to avoid any more trouble. But i will share it 70% to you and 30% to me. But you have to assure me of my 30%. do respond to me immediately if you are interested to conclude this with me.Looking forward to hear from youBest Regards,Larry Peter PaulsonINSPECTION OFFICE

Make sure you pay tithing on it.