ZionsRodeVos

I've read a lot here and have seen many of your thoughtful responses and wonder if anyone here has asked questions such as I have and if you happen to remember scriptures that helped you. I've read the scriptures often and all the standard works more than once. Enough to know that I don't remember all I've read much less understood it all but lately I've been having questions that I have never bothered to ask before and I don't think the answers are in the scriptures, but its probably just that I don't remember it or didn't understand it as an answer. Anyway, my first question is, why are we not allowed to remember the pre existance? I remember being taught that it is because we are here to be tested and that if we did remember then we would do everything correctly and it would not be a test. But, what bugs me about this is that all that I was in the pre existance is hidden from me and I don't know how much if any of it is influencing me now. It seems to me that we would still have all the temptations we have now and all the distractions and so I am not so sure these would not have sway over us. But beyond that, why do we even need this test called life? Couldn't we just have come here with our memories, gotten our bodies, and continued to progress learning how it is to be mortal? I'm thinking we all must have progressed at different rates in our premortal life and it seems that by having us forget, we are starting over. It would be such a shame for someone who had progressed a lot, to be damned here because they couldn't remember and couldn't gain the faith needed to do what is right here, when if they had remembered they would not have been damned because they would have continued to progress from the point they were at in the pre existance. Why was it so important that we not be allowed to remember everything from our premortal life?

I put in the first chapter of the novel I am writing and it correctly said I am male. I think I have seen this once before and I was sure the sample of my story I put in last time had it saying I was female.

I don't remember ever hearing anything like this, but it won't surprise me if I just wasn't paying attention. I've been an active member most of my life. Anyway, I don't plan to give 10% to the church upon my death. I'll want everything given to me children as fairly as possible and it will be up to them if they choose to pay tithing or not. I was given some money when my grandmother died and though I don't remmeber, I'm pretty sure I paid tithing on it because I was actively trying to live as I was taught. Should I ever be fortunate enough to inherit money again I would pay 10% as tithing because too me, it would be an increase.

I have a common name, Robert. I am fine with it and haven't had too much trouble with it. When growing up my nickname was Robby which I changed at some point as I got older. I don't encounter many people actually called Robert because most people with the name Robert are called Bob or Rob. I don't like it when people see my name or when I tell them I'm Robert and then they try to call me Bob or Rob. So that is the main problem I have with my common name. Children will find ways to make fun of any name, but it seems some get more made fun of than others because of their name. For my children I wanted them to have uncommon names, but ones that are not so unusual that they would get made fun of more than other names. And one of the names we did change the spelling of it as a couple posters have said not to. Her name is Sharleen, which sounds exactly like the common name Charlene. It has meant that we always have to tell people how to spell it otherwise they spell it wrong. Other than that I don't think she's had much problems with the name. One of the names we gave one of our sons is Adonis, which most people pronounce different than he is used to because we use the Spanish pronunciation for it. It is a rather well known name because of greek mythology, but doesn't seem to be very common in the US. He hasn't had a problem with his name. My other two sons (Willem and Liem) have had a few problems with their names being misspelled and/or mispronounced because they are so similar to other names more common in the US - meaning William and Liam. But they are also fine with their names.

I remember when I started going to church again that I was trying to learn as much as I could or you could say relearn and remember. I was astonished at how much I had forgotten and yet it came back to me quickly. I hadn't gone to church for about 2 or 3 years when I returned. It never occurred to me that I had to explain to everyone that I had just returned and I don't remember doing that. But then, I was in the military at the time, and simply started going to church upon returning from a six month tour in Okinawa, Japan. I remember trying to read a lot in the scriptures and church related magazines and books. I also remember asking my branch president why it was that general conference had two hour breaks, as I felt it would just be simpler to have everything all at once with no breaks. I was viewed by some as fanatical when I returned and quite likely I was. I don't think I've burnt myself out since then but I don't do as much as I did then. My faith and testimony has evolved, mostly for the better, but some for worse. I felt active once I was doing what I understood to be what I should be doing and as I learned more of what I needed to do I started doing that too. I felt active within a month or so of attending church every Sunday. I do remember wanting to do everything the way the church teaches and immersed myself in the gospel as much as I could. I didn't feel crazy because of it, but that this was what was needed. I did feel that I was behind in things that I should have already done. I was 24 when I started my mission, mainly because I returned to the church when I was 22 and still had 2 more years on my military contract before I could go on a mission. I was keenly aware of remembering that the church taught that boys should serve missions at 19 and should get married soon after returning from their mission. So there I was at 24 having not done either.

A program that could edit my books and fix them up and could then ensure that everyone on the Internet that would be interested got an announcement that would not irritate them letting them know it was for sale.

I've always thought we should pay tithing on our gross income. I'm not so sure these days and have considered only paying on net. For now, I pay on my gross income because I consider all of it my increase even though the government takes taxes out before the money even reaches my bank. Because I pay on gross, I don't pay tithing on any tax refund I get (when I even get one) because I've already paid tithing on it.

Sometimes our choices are limited because of others choices. For example, I had not planned to move but because I was renting month to month the management decided they wanted me to move. I think this addresses what you put in number 2. So the option I wanted (to not move) has been taken away and is not among the realm of choices for me. So all possible choices for me do not include the one I want. I still have free will to choose where I move to. As for number 1, I think our understanding of the world around us changes as we experience life and the results of our choices. We do exercise free will based on our understanding of the choices even if such understanding is so small that we would be considered ignorant. A simple choice is to read the scriptures or not. The first time we choose to read the scriptures, do we really know what kind of impact it can have on our lives? When we make a decision to read the scriptures daily, do we really know how our lives may change? I believe few understand the impact reading the scriptures will have and we certainly don't have personal experience to help our decision making before the first time we read in the scriptures. Could any one accurately predict all the ways they have changed because of reading in the scriptures before reading for the first time? We have free will that we can use to make such a choice and many others even if we don't understand fully the possible outcomes of those choices.

A skipper that lets me sail with him and help in small ways on his boat.

I felt the Holy Ghost last night while reading in the scriptures. Like others have mentioned though, He is not always felt and yet still there. I am not always conscious of His presence and yet when He leaves I notice. When I am teaching in Sunday School and my class is particularly disruptive I know he has left because I can no longer teach the class and have to quiet them down and then try to teach again and as long as no one disrupts again I often feel that He has returned. I believe He is with me continuously even though I don't always feel his presence. He helps me in other ways by inspiring solutions to problems at work and guiding me as needed and I am sure that I miss His promptings at times or don't understand His message to me. And I just felt Him as I was typing this. These feelings help to build my testimony and faith even as other events seem to try my faith and make me believe that I lack faith because of how I react to trials in my life.

So far, I haven't completely given up and I hope that with giving my children more opportunities to exercise their agency it is not just because I gave up with those choices. I often look at many options including the extremes and I have thought that if I marry and have more children that maybe I could do better a second time around but I worry about if not then I'll have more children choosing to not go to church and not wanting anything to do with the gospel. I know authors can make a lot of money, but few do when they first start out. I am planning to make a living as an author and will make enough money. I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your daughter. That must have been very hard on you, I can't imagine losing one of my children. I haven't closed the door to the possibility of finding someone but haven't looked very hard, mostly because I have too many doubts and questions that linger - including how to make enough time to have a growing relationship.

Well, from what I have been taught and learned, any sin can lead to other sins and so what we consider small or not so severe sins can lead to others that are more severe and so on. Of course it is unlikely that a person is going to tell one lie and then decide to go out and murder someone. But in my opinion, lying can open the door to a person deciding to commit other sins and then others and so on. By telling lies, they will be less likely to listen to the Holy Ghost who could influence a person to not commit sin if they would but listen.

From what I've seen, there are more people willing to lie than those who would murder or commit adultery. Probably because most people who lie don't end up in jail or in big trouble like what would happen to a murderer. Also, once Satan gets us to commit any sin then it may be easier for him to get us to commit other sins. It could be that lies can start people on a path to other sins and so if God, by his words can get us to never lie, he keeps us from doing the other sins too then that could explain why he talks more about honesty and dishonesty than about adultery and murder. For a person to get away with murders and adultery longer they would need to be good at deception, so having practice with being dishonest would help them. Whereas a person who is always honest and has no practice with lies could be less inclined to do other sins because they would know they would get caught. Whereas those who practice the art of deception may think that they won't get caught or can get away with it because they can keep people from finding out who did it.

In my mission we taught families where the parents were not married. Those who would get married were baptized. Those that would not were not baptized.

I guess I should have explained myself better. I meant that if it becomes possible to track spirits that someone would decide to try to get to heaven that way and anyone trying would be stopped by God. I do believe that God has no problem with us learning all about the universe and how everything works and for us to observe things, its when we go to far and try and do something He feels we should not that He will step in and stop it, such as in the tower of babel. I agree this kind of knowledge is likely to be what we'll be using when Christ comes again. If a lot of this stuff has come up in the last 12 years that explains why I haven't heard of it. Up until recently, I tended to focus on a few things, and one of those was learning all I could about SQL Servers since I work with them and so I didn't keep up too much on other subjects and never really was very interested in sciences. Now that seems to be changing for me, perhaps a bit too late, but in the past few years I've been expanding my horizons to all sorts of things, especially the past year and have added a number of new hobbies and pass times to my once more limited set of activities.

Thanks! And don't worry about being slow to respond. I'm patient. Wouldn't it be interesting to be able to detect and/or track spirits or spirit matter. It could lead to being able to follow where a spirit goes after a person dies. Along with this thought came the following thought. Such a device could garner an action similar to when people were working on the tower of babel because there could be those who would think if you can track a spirit then you could find a way to go to heaven. Very interesting. Have you been able to see any of these boson's or the effects of them in a lab? Or has your hobby of studying quantum physics been limited to reading what others have learned on the subject? Some of what you say could explain how angels travel between earth and heaven. A travel method that would be very nice to have in my opinion, much more efficient than airplanes.

You're probably more a help to me than I can be to you. Now I know better the kind of comments I can expect to get, especially if I manage to change my career from database programmer to author as my income will drop dramatically. For me it's not about income, it's about having more time and flexibility in my schedule to be able to help my children more. I'm divorced and have custody of my four children. I've been single now for 3 or more years now - my memory doesn't work as well as it used to and I haven't really kept track of when I became divorced. I haven't dated since becoming divorced and often wonder if I could even find a lady who would be willing to marry me with all the difficulties my children have. I was more open to the idea of having more children if I married someone who wanted children but am realizing now that if I did then I'd be in my 60's before they were 18 and at this point I don't feel I've done very good raising the four I have. I would have thought things would be better than they are but they are not. I get lonely at times and sometimes feel that I'm just going to end up single for the rest of my life. I haven't really decided there is no one for me but have doubts that if there is I will ever manage to find her.

Hi GeorgiaRed, I went to a singles ward when I was younger and liked it. I'm single again but have children so that hasn't seemed a good option for me right now. I also attend a Spanish speaking ward. I hope to see your questions and help you with them. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here who like to help out.

Hi NikiB, I was not inactive as long as you were, only for about 2 or 3 years and I've been back now for 24 years. I still remember things about when I returned and one of the things that stands out is I remember being surprised at how much I had forgotten and then being surprised at how fast aspects of the gospel I had been taught came back to me and fit into place. The first calling I remember getting after returning was membership clerk and I enjoyed it. When you talk to the bishop you should ask for a calling. It will help you feel more apart of the ward and give you the opportunity to serve.

I served a mission in the Dominican Republic from 1991 to 1993. I never measured my success by how many people I baptized. I felt success by teaching people every day and baptizing them was a part of that but it wasn't everything. I've heard of missionaries who don't baptize anyone. As far as I know missionaries don't have quota's. As a missionary I always set goals as to how many people per month I would teach and how many would get baptized. But that was set individually by each pair of missionaries. We didn't have a specific target group to teach. We were given an area which we were expected to stay in and we could teach anyone in that area. When members pay tithing they put the money in an envelop and hand it to the bishop or one of his counselors. Most of the time no one sees me hand the envelop to one of them. So really, the only people who know if I pay tithing or not are those three, the financial clerk, and anyone who asks or sees me hand an envelop in. I do not feel pressure from the congregation to pay tithing. I always liked it when people would come and talk to me and there were many in the Dominican Republic who wanted to practice there English with me. There were many people who helped me learn Spanish better by giving me pointers on pronunciation and grammar and I helped many by showing them how to pronounce words better in English. Realize, if you talk to the missionaries, they will want to visit you and teach you. Don't let that deter you, you will learn a lot and most likely, they will help you with your English too. It does seem strange that the church would have no windows. Ask those missionaries about it. Que tenga un buen dia,

Hi ozl89, Welcome to lds.net! As bytebear said, you should request missionaries come and visit you. Before I went on my mission I read the Book of Mormon and prayed to ask God if it was true. I don't remember getting an immediate answer but I do remember having good feelings that confirmed to me it was true. At that point, I knew the translator of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, had to have been called by God and that the church he restored was also true and from there my testimony grew. Do you have a Book of Mormon? If not the missionaries can give you one.

I dated my children's mom for a few months, went back to the states, and married her a few weeks after she was allowed to come to the US. I did not have sex before I got married. You should tell the guy no and he should respect you and not push you any more.

I seldom remember my dreams. A friend and coworker recently told me to stop focusing on my weaknesses, or in his words my limited experience with sailing and that I would find more skippers willing to take me on as crew for the experience I do have if I didn't emphasize how little I know about sailing. In many ways, not focusing on our weaknesses can help. Have a fabulous day focusing on your strength's.

I've read your various threads today and find them interesting. I'm wondering, do you actually use this knowledge for your work? If yes, how? I'm sure my knowledge of such things is very limited and what little I did learn was long ago and so I may have forgotten a lot. But, wasn't there a time when scientists thought that the atom was the smallest thing in the universe and used to build all others? How does the atom relate to these Higgs Boson's and fermion's?

I served a mission in the Dominican Republic from 1991 to 1993. A lot has changed since then but a lot is the same. One thing you should do, if you haven't already, is decide to obey all the mission rules; even the ones you don't agree with or that seem to impede missionary work. I believe the more you obey the rules the more you will be blessed. I saw many missionaries in my mission who did not stay with their companion all the time. There were missionaries that did not agree with the rule that elders should not teach a lady alone - one of my companions thought this prevented him from teaching people ready to hear the gospel. Be in your home and in bed at the time the mission president says you should be. Follow the schedule you are given. You have been busy and saved a lot of money. Be prepared to spend it all on your mission but at the same time allow others to receive the blessings of being able to help you pay for your mission if they choose to. Before I went on my mission I had enough money to fund the entire mission myself but did not because then my parents and family would not have been able to help and get blessings. At least that is how I viewed it. Allow the people who you are called to serve, to serve you when they choose to even when you may feel you don't need their help - they need the blessings that come from serving missionaries. Accept their help whenever you can.