Islander

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Everything posted by Islander

  1. Some trees have the irresistible desire to parade as the tallest trees in the forest. To accomplish such ends, they feel the ONLY way is to cut down the other trees around them.
  2. I agree. A speed reading contest is a different story, I guess.
  3. The first time I read t I did it in 4 days. I had to go to work and stuff but I otherwise read every waking hour.
  4. You are NOT in love, you can't possibly be since you went out on 1 date with this guy that you barely know. You are seriously infatuated with him and you have allowed your fantasies to run wild after just a few days. There lies your problem. Your attachment and relationship needs are driving you insane at present. It makes you quite vulnerable and even when he told you he is not interested you keep fantasizing about the "relationship" which doe snot exist. You should consider talking to a pro about these issues. You could find yourself in a sea of trouble if you don't.
  5. The thread seems to be moving from the absurd to the bizarre quite quickly.
  6. Not sure. 15-25 yr old (tech savvy) are not the target demographics for those programs. I am not sure. But we'll see.
  7. Can you imagine? "Thus saith the Lord, thou shall not stain thine hands with the fruit of the sneakers, or the fruit of the twix or any fruit of any cocoa fruit or the candy thereof from hence forth..." News brief: Widespread panic and upheaval in the church, a breakaway faction in Idaho declares they will continue to eat chocolate no matter what...hehehehe, too much fun.
  8. Or people will figure out that beyond our faith and the well documented idiosyncrasies, we are just regular people and the novelty will wear off. Hollywood (I mean the networks) is not interested in "normal" people. They salivate at the prospect of scandal, aberration, abnormal or otherwise deviant stuff, with a sprinkle of sex for seasoning. I think that if it does not have "shock value" it may not last on the networks. I think in 5 years or so we'll (LDS writers/producers) have built in enough experience and cinematographic expertise to produce broad appeal/mass market movies and series. We have to move beyond LDS/Utah centered themes and into LA or Texas experience of LDS families/people.
  9. It is obvious that the name "tea" is used too broadly and more or less in a generic form. Now, tea extract contain stimulants, not necessary caffeine, among many other substances perhaps not yet identified as harmful. By the same token, in places like Colombia, Bolivia and Peru "coca tea" is used by many to treat just about any/all physical ailments. It s not uncommon to have a little bush in the back yard in the rural areas or suburban regions. I seriously doubt we could, sincerely, be so legalistic (it is not specifically detailed in the WoW) as to ignore the obvious narcotic effect of the infusion, even when it is neither tea or coffee. However, other "infusions" as we call it in the islands, do not contain any kind or variety of tea. Camomile, mint, lemon flowers, among others. They are used to treat a variety of stomach conditions or just taken cold on ice in the summer. We should study the principle, read the words of the prophets and apostles on the matter gain personal revelation on the issue to govern our lives accordingly. Otherwise we run the risk of having to develop and rabbinical canon just like the Mishnah and the Talmud with painful details about what we can eat and drink and how much.
  10. There is no hole in the Church. The hole is in his (Delhi's) own soul. He is the one in a spiritual rot, he is the one in crisis. Thus my assertion that we should seek the advise of the prophets and the Savior if face with the same issues. Why seek swap meet style advice when the prophets have spoken on the matter? I fail to see the point.
  11. Faith the Lord will lead us to seek repentance for it is thru faith that we receive a witness of the Spirit that indeed Christ has Atone for our sin and tht by faith in Him and the grace that He freely offers us we can be forgiven. So, once we ahve received this witness we seek to repent and forsake our sins and follow in His footsteps. We can not claim we have truly repented and go back "like a dog to its vomit" as the scripture says. We may be sorry, sick or ashamed of returning to our sin but it is not true repentance. President Joseph F. Smith stated: “True repentance is not only sorrow for sins and humble penitence and contrition before God, but it involves the necessity of turning away from them, a discontinuance of all evil practices and deeds, a thorough reformation of life, a vital change from evil to good, from vice to virtue, from darkness to light. Not only so, but to make restitution so far as is possible for all the wrongs that we have done, to pay our debts and restore to God and man their rights, that which is due them from us. This is true repentance and the exercise of the will and all the powers of body and mind is demanded to complete this glorious work of repentance.” Remember the Savior said to the adulterous woman "...Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. John 8:11
  12. The Lord gives us commandments and they are the recipe for happiness. Difficult as they may be, He will not give us commandments that can not keep. It is with practice and diligence that the impossible becomes difficult and the difficult becomes achievable and thus we move on teh road to perfection one short step at a time. Keep an eye on the whisperings of the enemy that points to your weakness and inadequacies. Rather, trust in the words of the Lord and follow the admonition of His prophets: "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." 1 Ne 3:7
  13. It can certainly happen. I would suggest that a more in depth assessment of the situation is required. When we struggle with a issue, it is a clear sign that one: we do not clearly understand the issue before us, and two: we have not developed the tools/skills required to overcome it. Sometimes we have to seek the opinion of "specialists" (Bishops, mental health pros and others) and treat the condition as a serious illness; go wherever, talk to everyone, do and spend whatever it takes to get better. Remember, at the end is our resolve, our faith and hope that falters, not the hand of the Lord. I hope it helps.
  14. Our record in the ME is quite spotty. We neglected the region for so long that we have very little intelligence and insight (from Israel most of it and everybody knows how that works) and every time we try to "help" we end up with a foot in our mouth. We HAVE to tread VERY carefully here, slow is fast, little is more. We should do something but I hope that the people who should know, are able to advise the Pres on how, what and when... Let's keep the mess at a minimum...most likely than not we have to go and clean up afterward.
  15. Saying things like: "the Church is good" is not a testimony. Unless you are 5, if you have studied the scriptures in due course, you should know that ALL prophets make mistakes, that ALL prophets err as men, that now and again they have acted guided by fear, bias, anger, zeal or frustration and the Lord chastised them and made the error known unto us so that we may learn from their mistakes. What is to be disappointed about? All history is "difficult" and and life is like the sea --quiet and pleasant now, a raging storm the next...The doctrine is perfect but men are not. We wage a spiritual warfare with an enemy that is as real as day light, cunning and ancient as the earth itself, that knows every step we have ever taken, aware of our anxiety, our fears, our desires and insecurities, our very thoughts. The battlefield is our mind and he does not rest, no breaks, no respite or time out. Our ONLY defense is to fill our mind and soul with the word of the Lord. To constantly act, think and do as Lord would have us do. To trust in HIM for all that we do and need and to make HIM the center of our lives. Only SIN can cut our connection with God. Only SIN can make our lives turbulent, unstable, unclean and spiritually uninhabitable that the Holy Ghost may withdrawn and our heart becomes seared and unable to feel the lifeline of the Spirit. We can try and justify, rationalize, explain or intellectualize it but there is no other reason for US to feel disconnected, distant and voided, for GOD does not move. WE, for whatever reasons, find ourselves away from HIM. It is hard, bitter medicine but it is the truth. "There are also rules of spiritual health, simple rules that cannot be ignored, for if they are we will reap sorrow by and by. All of us experience some temporary physical sickness. All of us now and again may be spiritually ill as well. Too many of us, however, are chronically spiritually sick. We don’t need to stay that way. We can learn to avoid spiritual infections and maintain good spiritual health. Even though we have a serious physical ailment, we can be spiritually healthy. If you suffer from worry, from grief or shame, from jealousy, disappointment, or envy, I have something to tell you. Somewhere near your home there is a vacant corner lot. Although adjoining yards may be well tended, a vacant corner lot somehow is always full of weeds. There is a footpath across it, a bicycle trail, and ordinarily it is a collecting place for junk. First someone threw a few lawn clippings there. They would not hurt anything. Someone added a few sticks and limbs from a nearby yard. Then came a few papers and a plastic bag, and finally some tin cans and old bottles were included. And there it was—a junkyard. The neighbors did not intend it to be that. But little contributions from here and there made it so. This corner lot is like, so very much like, the minds of many of us. We leave our minds vacant and empty and open to trespass by anyone. Whatever is dumped there we keep. We would not consciously permit anyone to dump junk into our minds, not old cans and bottles. But after lawn clippings and papers, the other things just don’t seem all that much worse. Our minds can become veritable junk heaps with dirty, cast-off ideas that accumulate there little by little." New Era » 1979 » August by Elder Boyd K. Packer My point was, for those who missed it, he (Delhi) is "no-body," an apostate offering snake oil for serious spiritual illness. If ANYONE has a spiritual crisis they NEED to follow the counsel of the prophets, bury themselves in the scriptures and seek the LORD with every ounce of energy in their body and every inch of their soul. When our spiritual life and our very salvation is in danger we should go to the Master Healer not the witch doctor.
  16. Democracy in the Middle East is like weeds. It pops up now and again, resilient, unwelcomed, disrupts the "harmony" of the landscape and it is just plain annoying to those in power. For those in power democracy is such a fearful and disruptive force that must be contained. Democracy means secular rule/government, modernity, plurality of thought and expression. Nothing could be more foreign and dangerous to them. They call it "Occidentosis" or the "sickness from the West." The theocrats will not get converted to democracy and go quietly into the night. They will do whatever it takes to remain in power. A mock election (the real power is the Council of Experts and the Ayatollahs) is just a soap opera. Wait until they get to the real weekend action entertainment and start kidnapping and killing members of the opposition.
  17. That has been always the case (faith, belief, understanding by proxy). Some, in any congregation, are getting by weighted down with worry, anxiety, stress, unrepentant transgression, spiritual weakness and those sorts of personal struggles. You notice that the same 20-30 people bear their testimony on Fast Sunday month after month. I have been in my ward 7 years and there are people that have never stood in front of the congregation. In the HP groups or the EQ's there are the same people that always step up to fill the gap when HT needs to be done, less active to visit or emergencies arise. For many, faith, testimony, spiritual life and belief hangs by a thread. It is the same priesthood and spirit available to ALL. Revelation is available to all, the voice of the Lord is also available to all but it is not invoked and that is our failure. We are the ones that fail to qualify to receive such blessings. For years, in my line of work I admonished my clients: "What you think you already know will become the greatest stumbling block to learning new things that will allow you to get to the bottom of the issues you currently face. New knowledge is always blocked by the assertion of old knowledge" And yes, there are many who claim that there is no new revelation. I suggest that is just a statement of convenience.
  18. I guess, pretending, abandonment, apathy, aloofness, coldness, distance and ultimately lying about one's testimony, devotion and faithfulness is not a sin in the eyes of some. I guess it does not register that sin in the eyes of God does not have a scale.
  19. where is the laugh button when you need it? :lol:
  20. Did you get to go into the "furnace of affliction" on the east part of the mission (El Centro/Calexico/Brawley)? Try 125 degrees in the shade July thru September for size. There are 12,000 members out there in the desert, by the way.
  21. The conversation on the subject is getting a bit mundane on account of those that have not gone to the Temple or do not understand the covenant. There are some that will make covenants with the Lord and keep them and some that will not. That is the bottom line. God will be the arbiter and judge, and the ONE to hold accountable ALL for their actions.
  22. That is the most arrogant and brainless statement I have ever heard!! "I can't ask God...???" Let's just put an end to this. You WILL NOT ASK because you DO NOT WANT TO ASK. If that is so then let's not waste our time!! I worship a Living God. Him who never sleeps is never absent and is Omniscient. There is no question too hard, too complex, or too difficult for Him. I know that Jesus is the Christ, my Savior and Redeemer through personal revelation by the hand of God thru His Holy Spirit. I have read the scriptures, pondered, traveled and been a witness to things that most will never see. And after countless years of prayers, I have received a witness that the Word of the Lord is not silent, that he appoints prophets and reveals thru them His will. And from time to time, according to our faith and needs, He reveals line upon line, more of His wisdom and mind so we may gain a more perfect understanding and knowledge about His plan and will regarding His children. We offer you, in the Book of Mormon, another witness that Jesus is the Christ, that not just in Jerusalem but also in distant lands His name was spoken of and salvation expected by His Atonement. I know, unequivocally, that this record is true as the Lord has testified to me so. You can, from today and until we meet again in His kingdom, deny this truth but you can not change it. We offer you this witness of Christ and challenge you to read it, pour upon the lines of this text in honesty and humility. After you had done that, the Lord challenges YOU to pray to Him, the Father, in the name of Christ about this work. and HE, THE LORD WILL ANSWER YOU. Today you will decide if you will do so or not. Whatever your choice, you will be accountable to God for it to your blessing or your own condemnation.
  23. No, you do not know the "story" and if the Book of Mormon is "story" then the bible is also a story for which you have no pertinent information, references or independent verification either. But you have taken it at face value. The fact is that you have lied, manipulated the facts, ignored relevant information and continued a mute, circular reasoning argument that leads nowhere. You already made up your mind. We should just thank you and suggest you go on your merry way. I am sure you have other more important things to do with your life.
  24. I think you stepped out on a limb here. We do not tolerate pornography in the Church as other may not consider it a marital transgression but we do. An unrepentant spouse addicted to pornography will be excommunicated for it is the same as adultery. So, for all practical purposes, the example is accurate. But beyond that, you may not understand fully how meaningful the Temple covenant should be for us.