bytor2112

Pretty strong accusation of one of the Lord's great Prophets. I wonder if President Monson would concur with your description of President Young as a racist? That would make the church...racist since it was led by a racist leader...called from God?
Just out of curiosity....which of our other past Prophets and Apostles would you classify as racist?

I think that the Evangelicals believe that the Anti-Christ will be one man and they take this passage pretty literally as far as the mark, 666, etc. Any thoughts on what the LDS believe in regard to this passage or perhaps some enlightenment from non-LDS?

Revelation Ch. 13
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

You know, a lot of Evangelicals believe that the Anti-Christ will rise from the European Union and will decieve everyone and bring about world peace and establish a one world government. They believe that the church will be "raptured" just before everything goes crazy during the tribulation period before Armageddon.

All faithful members are RICH- richly blessed and there rewards are Eternal and not temporal. I feel wealthier than Bill Gates because I have been so incredibly blessed to have accepted the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

My two cents.  How to better prepare youth for missions? It's simple, teach parents to be better parents. As a leader, act like one to the youth.
The Church is an appendage and should be an extension of the most important place of learning, the home. Except for those rare occasions in the Church (although it is becoming more common place) where a youth comes from an extremely troubled home, the Church should be simply reinforcing principles taught at home.
One thing that really irks me about today's society is that every "adult" in a leadership role wants to be "friends" with my kids. My kids don't need adult "friends", their peers are their friends. What my kids need are adults leaders, leaders who aren't afraid to tell my kids the unvarnished truth. Leaders who will reinforce what I teach at home at church. Leaders who are role-models and mentors but not friends. I don't want the leaders of my children, fist-bumping them and high-fiving them over correct answers in Church acting all buddy, buddy. I want leaders who when a child acts up in class has the guts to kick them out of the class. I want leaders who are calm, collected and who can give my child their "look" (and every good parent has a "look") that will make their blood run cold if they screw up. When they do something good, a simple "good job" will do.
If the Church as an organization takes the majority of the responsibility for preparing future missionaries, it will fail-miserably.  Where is one going to learn the important spiritual aspects about being a missionary? At home. Where is one going to learn the important independent aspects about being a missionary? At home.  Where is one going to learn the important inter-personal aspects about being a missionary? At home.
Those are the three main skill sets every missionary must have, the spiritual side (i.e. testimony of the Gospel and ability to explain it), the independent side (how to actually stand on ones own 2 feet), and the inter-personal side (interactions with companions and others).
And quite frankly, the most important aspect about those teachings at home come from the mother. The best way to strengthen the home, strengthen the wife, give her the knowledge, know-how and understanding of her role as a wife and then a mother.
Best practices for keeping them active and spiritually growing when they return???  Maybe it is just me, but quite frankly when they leave and when they return they are adults. They need to learn to act like it.  An adult who has just returned from a mission, shouldn't need "special activities" to help them be active and spiritually grow. The individual themselves is the only who who can keep themselves active and spiritually growing.  
 The Church already has a plethora of activities for young adults, CES Firesides, young single adult dances, etc. Each stake, I believe has a young single adult rep, who is responsible along with others, for coordinating and planning those types of activities. Each ward (if the young single adult population is large enough) should have a young single adult rep.
But anyways . . .that's my mini-rant about how today's parenting and society is completely screwed up and how society coddles fully formed adults, catering to their every whim in life, and how it is insidiously infecting the Church.

Perhaps the First Presidency should change gender to sex....
ALL HUMAN BEINGS—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

Speaking of personal apostasy. The missionary that baptized my youngest son, that brought the Gospel to my home and helped reactivate my family is one who now champions this issue and all things leftist politic. He doesnt resemble the excellent missionary that was so spiritual at all and now has long hair, flowing beard and is involved with such worthy organizations as Occupy and now ......is shacking up with Kate Kelly of Ordain Woman fame. After a quick view of her Facebook page, I wonder how anyone could ever have really been a disciple....
Talk about heart breaking....seeing this young man change so much that has meant so much in my life and my families. Total confusion..

Well, he spoke as a man right? Patriarchs are men to be sure, but the blessings they pronounce are from God and the only ones ( I think) that are recorded in the church.

When the government fears the people, there is freedom. Where the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
Wish I'd said it first (well, not really: I'd be 250 years old).
Lehi

Speaking of personal apostasy. The missionary that baptized my youngest son, that brought the Gospel to my home and helped reactivate my family is one who now champions this issue and all things leftist politic. He doesnt resemble the excellent missionary that was so spiritual at all and now has long hair, flowing beard and is involved with such worthy organizations as Occupy and now ......is shacking up with Kate Kelly of Ordain Woman fame. After a quick view of her Facebook page, I wonder how anyone could ever have really been a disciple....
Talk about heart breaking....seeing this young man change so much that has meant so much in my life and my families. Total confusion..

Speaking of personal apostasy. The missionary that baptized my youngest son, that brought the Gospel to my home and helped reactivate my family is one who now champions this issue and all things leftist politic. He doesnt resemble the excellent missionary that was so spiritual at all and now has long hair, flowing beard and is involved with such worthy organizations as Occupy and now ......is shacking up with Kate Kelly of Ordain Woman fame. After a quick view of her Facebook page, I wonder how anyone could ever have really been a disciple....
Talk about heart breaking....seeing this young man change so much that has meant so much in my life and my families. Total confusion..

I think it all boils down to the Gift of the Holy Spirit and our desire to have it lead and guide us every moment of every day. Without it, it's easy to be deceived and sometimes things which should have the appearance of evil begin to appear good and desirable. 
Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
  For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

Stuck in traffic I got to stare at this on the back of a truck. It's stupidity on a scale that is almost poetic.

To state your opposition in a way that bolsters and emboldens the same thing you oppose...is just...well ...what can you say...Mexican?
 

If we follow the "it's just the way it is" philosophy, there wouldn't be any battles.
No one seems to know, but I'll ask again: where do we plant our flag, which line is it that we say, thus far and no further?
Lehi

I am a Mormon musician ....my audience today consists primarily of (2) long haired wiener dogs that seem to still enjoy my rendition of Spirit of Radio and Eruption....

Richard, let me respond just to this one part. By my count, the word "Kolob" is found a total of eight times in all of scripture, and those eight times are in five verses, all in the book of Abraham and all but one in the third chapter of Abraham. It's instructive to look at them. I have included verses 1-18 in chapter 3 for context. (I wish I had the indent functionality.)
And I, Abraham, had the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord my God had given unto me, in Ur of the Chaldees; and I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which were near unto it;
So the context here is that Abraham is talking about the stars (luminous celestial bodies) that he is able to see by means of the Urim and Thummim. It is in this context that he mentions "Kolob".
Abraham 3:3 And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.
So "the great one" (or large star) is called "Kolob". Why? Because it is "near unto" God. Perhaps "Kolob" mean "near to God", or perhaps it's just an honorary title reserved for stars near to God, like "great one" or something.
Three things to note: First, Kolob is a star, not a planet (in the way we would use those terms today); second, Kolob is "near unto" God, but not necessarily the nearest unto God; and third, Kolob is the celestial body that "governs" all those (stars and/or planets) that "belong to the same order as" the one Abraham was then standing on -- presumably the earth. So all planets and stars that belong to the same order as the earth are ultimately "governed" through this large star Kolob.
(Remember that "planet" is ultimately just a Greek word meaning "wanderer". Planets and stars are both tiny lights in the sky, but stars are fixed while planets move around. There is no other notable distinction between stars and planets, except perhaps that planets tend to be much brighter than stars. This is not normally how we think of things today, but this has been the view of the vast majority of humanity throughout history. Worth keeping in mind when we read Abraham's words.)
How does Kolob "govern" anything? We don't know. That's a mechanical question, and God generally doesn't give us mechanical answers. He seems concerned only about our spiritual state and progress; as far as I can remember, God never spends any time telling us how things in his creation work, only that they do, and perhaps some of the laws governing their operation.
Abraham 3:4 And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord’s time, according to the reckoning of Kolob.
So Kolob's time reckoning is one revolution per thousand years of our time. Why are we (through Abraham) told this? No idea. Perhaps it's figurative, but it sounds pretty literal. If nothing else, it gives a slightly different take on scriptural verses such as Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8, both of which use the "thousand years is as a day in heaven" idea. In any case, Kolob's time is measured the same as "the Lord's time".
And the Lord said unto me: The planet which is the lesser light, lesser than that which is to rule the day, even the night, is above or greater than that upon which thou standest in point of reckoning, for it moveth in order more slow; this is in order because it standeth above the earth upon which thou standest, therefore the reckoning of its time is not so many as to its number of days, and of months, and of years.
An interesting side-note here. The moon is apparently of a higher order, time-reckoning-wise, than the earth. This appears to have nothing at all to do with gravitational time dilation or anything like that. In my view, it's just an arcane, interesting, and possibly useless bit of trivia.
Now, read the following verses (Abraham 3:6-18) all together.
And the Lord said unto me: Now, Abraham, these two facts exist, behold thine eyes see it; it is given unto thee to know the times of reckoning, and the set time, yea, the set time of the earth upon which thou standest, and the set time of the greater light which is set to rule the day, and the set time of the lesser light which is set to rule the night. Now the set time of the lesser light is a longer time as to its reckoning than the reckoning of the time of the earth upon which thou standest. And where these two facts exist, there shall be another fact above them, that is, there shall be another planet whose reckoning of time shall be longer still;
Abraham 3:9 And thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob, which Kolob is after the reckoning of the Lord’s time; which Kolob is set nigh unto the throne of God, to govern all those planets which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.
And it is given unto thee to know the set time of all the stars that are set to give light, until thou come near unto the throne of God.
Thus I, Abraham, talked with the Lord, face to face, as one man talketh with another; and he told me of the works which his hands had made; and he said unto me: My son, my son (and his hand was stretched out), behold I will show you all these. And he put his hand upon mine eyes, and I saw those things which his hands had made, which were many; and they multiplied before mine eyes, and I could not see the end thereof. And he said unto me: This is Shinehah, which is the sun. And he said unto me: Kokob, which is star. And he said unto me: Olea, which is the moon. And he said unto me: Kokaubeam, which signifies stars, or all the great lights, which were in the firmament of heaven.
And it was in the night time when the Lord spake these words unto me: I will multiply thee, and thy seed after thee, like unto these; and if thou canst count the number of sands, so shall be the number of thy seeds. And the Lord said unto me: Abraham, I show these things unto thee before ye go into Egypt, that ye may declare all these words.
Abraham 3:16 If two things exist, and there be one above the other, there shall be greater things above them; therefore Kolob is the greatest of all the Kokaubeam that thou hast seen, because it is nearest unto me.
Now, if there be two things, one above the other, and the moon be above the earth, then it may be that a planet or a star may exist above it; and there is nothing that the Lord thy God shall take in his heart to do but what he will do it. Howbeit that he made the greater star; as, also, if there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal.
(One parenthetical observation: Kolob is the greatest of all the stars that Abraham was shown. But it appears that Abraham was shown only the stars that pertain somehow to this world. So it is wrong to conclude that Kolob is the nearest star to God of all stars. That is unwarranted.)
I am guessing that these verses above strike at the heart of what Abraham is teaching. Abraham ultimately teaches the Lord's words about "intelligences", which are the core basis of human souls. In teaching about them, he uses almost the exact same idea as presented here: The intelligences of man, like celestial bodies, exist in discrete intervals, grouped into levels. Some, like the earth, are in a lower level. Some, like the moon, are in a somewhat higher level. Some, like Kolob, are exalted near unto God himself, and have great insight. But all are precious and all have a known place.
To see this, note the end of verse 18, and then compare the above with verses 19-26. In verse 24, Jesus is even (implicitly) compared with Kolob as one on the "level" of God himself. Some have suggested that the term "Kolob" itself is simply a reference to Jesus Christ, and that the whole Abrahamic cosmos is to be taken as a parable of Christ rather than literally. I personally don't go quite that far, but I think it's an idea worth keeping in mind.
Abraham 5:13 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.
This is the last reference to Kolob, and Abraham is simply using his understanding of Kolob to illustrate what happened in the garden of Eden. God said that Adam "would surely die" if he ate the forbidden fruit, "in the day" that he ate it. (Abraham renders that phrase "in the time" rather than "in the day".) Well, if one God-day is a thousand years, then Adam might live a whole lot more than one earth-day and still fulfill the requirement of the curse.
You may or may not want to consider the particular interpretations I have provided. But in any case, notice how vastly different this is from the typical anti-Mormon vulgarity of "the Mormon God lives on Planet Kolob." Anti-Mormons seek to make this doctrine sensational and (above all) weird, and portray it as lying at the very heart of "Mormonism". In fact, it is neither sensational nor weird, and far from being some sort of central doctrine, it is presented almost as an aside in an effort (IMO) to explain to use the worth of the human soul by comparing the hierarchy of intelligences to that of the heavenly order..

Funniest thing I've read all day.

No doubt this president will nominate another piece of detritus like Sotomayor and Kagan.

I think the video is a hoax. I will admit to finding breastfeeding in public....unusual, but would never approach someone and insult them. I think most would just ignore....especially if there was a man with her.
 
That said, the ...militant breast feeders are out there and I think look for confrontation. My wife is a High School Principal and there are some militant mom's that have come to parent meetings and breastfed....not infants, mind you....but small kids.3-5 years old. Bleck.........

I think the video is a hoax. I will admit to finding breastfeeding in public....unusual, but would never approach someone and insult them. I think most would just ignore....especially if there was a man with her.
 
That said, the ...militant breast feeders are out there and I think look for confrontation. My wife is a High School Principal and there are some militant mom's that have come to parent meetings and breastfed....not infants, mind you....but small kids.3-5 years old. Bleck.........

I think the video is a hoax. I will admit to finding breastfeeding in public....unusual, but would never approach someone and insult them. I think most would just ignore....especially if there was a man with her.
 
That said, the ...militant breast feeders are out there and I think look for confrontation. My wife is a High School Principal and there are some militant mom's that have come to parent meetings and breastfed....not infants, mind you....but small kids.3-5 years old. Bleck.........

I think the video is a hoax. I will admit to finding breastfeeding in public....unusual, but would never approach someone and insult them. I think most would just ignore....especially if there was a man with her.
 
That said, the ...militant breast feeders are out there and I think look for confrontation. My wife is a High School Principal and there are some militant mom's that have come to parent meetings and breastfed....not infants, mind you....but small kids.3-5 years old. Bleck.........

I am often shocked by the memes I see posted on Facebook.....by fellow saints. Memes that use foul language including the F-bomb?? Also often see posts like OMG or what the F (not the word) etc.
 
What do you think causes people to post what they likely wouldn't say (I guess)? I can't imagine how someone see's it, read's it and thinks...'' I'll post it without it causing them to think...- highly inappropriate? 
 
I somehow think this is akin to the ability to not be shocked or think much of our culture as vulgar or debasing. Desensitization.

Or a woman that has been an abject failure at everything she has been involved with and that is under investigation by the FBI. Though, it does seem to be a pattern by the democrat voters to overlook things like associations with known terrorists etc like our current dear leader.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=38168303&nid=148&title=veteran-police-officer-gunman-killed-in-holladay-shooting&fm=home_page&s_cid=topstory
 
 
Doug and I were area partners in our rookie years. He was a good partner, cop and man.

RIP Brother we have it from here.

EOW 1-17-16