skalenfehl

Sometimes I laugh at the things my son comes up with. He just turned 20 and still living at home. As some of you might know I'm an adoptive father and teaching my boys about the benefit of following the Word of Wisdom hasn't always been easy. Needless to say my older son smokes. He understands that there is absolutely no smoking inside the house and when he smokes outside he is to throw all his butts in the garbage. Well of course, being the typical youth, he "forgets" to throw some away and consequently my wife and I find butts in our yard. So my wife confronts him about it recently with a dose of humor. She told him that one of his friends must have come for a visit the other night because there are cigarette butts all over our yard (visible now that all the snow is melting!). My son then replies by saying that it was the last rain and condensation that's making all the cigarette butts come out and that it wasn't him. Of course my wife reacts with the typical 'yeah right' reply. "It happens with frogs!" was my son's reply. I'll admit that was very funny and creative and I laughed. The things that kids come up with, even in their later years.

Welcome!

Perry is north of Willard and both towns are adjacent to each other and have many orchards. I love buying and eating fruit from here too!

A bishop can marry you civily but does not hold the keys of the Priesthood to seal you in the bonds of eternal marriage.

Adam and Eve did not need a license, but they were married by the sealing power of God's authority for all time and eternity.

Apologies. It was the first analogy that popped in my head.

He also gave us the technology to make computers and have an internet. That doesn't mean we should view pornography.

The short answer? That's what we've been commanded. My opinion/the long answer? God is no respecter of persons. If someone can handle only one beer but someone else can't, well then Father in Heaven probably just makes it a commandment across the board. Kind of like Mom or Dad saying, "If I let one of the kids do it..."

Pictures!!

In the biblical times, people would give one tenth of their income in flocks and grains, etc. Even the pioneers, I believe, would pay this way and the church storehouses would be filled this way for the benefit of the membership. Today, we really aren't an agricultural society as much so we give in the form of our income, which is money, so we tend to say 'pay' instead. Just my two cents.

kona, I've only lived 38 short years, but through my trials and ordeals in life I have learned one important and incontrovertible truth: 1 Ne. 3: 7 7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. If you prove to the Lord of your willingness to endure the test of your faith, He will prove to you His ability to see you through it. That is my witness to you, brother. Best wishes.

Hell has always been metaphorical. There are no literal flames, but living in hell has been described in the scriptures as "unquenchable fire", meaning the sheer regret of what we will throw away for eternity if we don't do what God commands. Outer darkness has no glory. It is a place all its own specially prepared for Satan and that one third of the hosts of heaven who rejected the plan of salvation and for those like Cain who rejected God's glory. As for the Telestial, Terestrial and Celestial, they are all degrees of glory, but even then, only progress can be made through exaltation. Hence anything other than exaltation, is in a sense an unquenchable fire. If I may make a silly analogy, think of the V8 commercial where you bop yourself on the head for not having a V8 and magnify that infinitely. Edit: But to return to the fire insurance thing, when Christ returns, the Earth will burn as a fiery furnace. That part is literal.

I, too, am here to stay.

kona, I for one am happy that you are here. My reply to your comment further back was sincere and honest. While we believe that our church is the true church, correct in doctrine and perfect in organization, the members for the most part are definitely not. I myself am far from it. I regret that there are members who do carry themselves in a holier than thou attitude and can display a self-righteous demeanor when associating with others. It is wrong and unacceptable, but this sort of attitude can also be found in any religion and regrettably so. I hope that you continue to post here and understand that some of us really do care and enjoy the company of those outside our faith. Best wishes.

heh heh, I thought you were a guy until the last paragraph. I think you have a cool name. I used to play tons of video games until my boys monopolized the PS2 and I just grew out of it. Welcome to the forums and I appreciate your approach.

Let me get this straight. First you accuse us of believing "that stuff" (pertaining to my reply) blindly, then VisionOfLehi replies what pertains to him and you reply with what seems an accusation that we are judging you? What part do you find lovely?

Yeah, that sounds about right, too.

I guess I really don't know how else to interpret that scripture. I don't want to test it, if you know what I mean?

Tithing is an important law of sacrifice that goes back as far as the beginning of the Old Testament. Malachi, a prophet of the OT rebuked the Israelites in Malachi 3:7 for they did not pay their tithing to the Lord, therefore "robbing God". Today we pay ten percent of our income for the building up of the Lord's kingdom. Everything in life that we have, even our very lives, is a gift from God. All he asks of us (or commands) is to return a small portion of that to build up His church, which really is for the sake of man's salvation (see Moses 1:39). My two cents.

I don't think such a scripture exists in any of the standard works. I tried looking and cross referencing, but couldn't find anything. I could still be wrong, though. Sorry, bud.

While we believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church here on earth, we don't believe that all members therein will be saved because of the poor choices in life that they may make. Therefore not all Mormons will be saved. There are also those souls, who in life, will not have had the opportunity to hear the true gospel and become converted. They will have that chance in the next life before they are judged to accept or decline that truth. Therefore there are those that never became Mormons who will also be saved.

I submit: You're here to collect ammunition. This time I'm outta here!

One last post in reply to this (I wondered if and when you'd finally try to slip it in!) My reply: 3 Ne. 11: 29 29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. Therefore I'm removing myself from the equation.

Malachi7, I'm curious, what really is your purpose here? We clearly have our feet planted on opposite sides of a fence. While you have been a gentleman here, this topic has hardly been productive. It has only served to inform, but can never serve to convince. Our mission is not to convince. I cannot convince you, nor do I want to, that I am on the correct side and you cannot convince me that you are on the correct side, just as neither of us can prove to the other the very existence of God! You have made it very clear that you don't believe that I am a Christian and that is your prerogative, but this topic has not felt positive for several pages. It feels like you have inflicted a wound and ever so subtly rub salt in it. I believe you have made your subtle points very clear. Good day.

I should point out that this difference doesn't mean that the LDS church does not consider the Catholic church a Christian church. But we may have differing opinions of the definition of Christian. We believe that anyone, regardless of faith or religion, who believes in Christ, that He is the Son of God and endeavors to follow his teachings is a Christian.