Vort

Lehi was a great prophet. At the Lord's word, he left his substantial riches and lived out the rest of his life with his family in the wilderness, dwelling in tents. Prosperity, indeed.

Yes, but for how long? Do you think if Kamala Harris had survived an open assassination attempt, that the media would have moved past it after two or three weeks? It's not just Trump. The media doesn't even try to hide its contempt for Republicans and conservatives any more.

Thank you. I plan to be rare, like my steaks. If I find the courage and good sense, I will be absent.

Anyone care to bet on how much media attention this doesn't get?

Incidentally, this is not meant as a cynical observation. I struggle mightily not to succumb to cynicism, and sometimes fail. But in this case, I'm not being cynical, just realistic. It's a jaded view, I suppose, but not cynical.

Which is the point, the answer to your question. Politicians didn't declare war because they are politicians. For most of them, that means their primary goal is to get re-elected. War declarations tend to lose you votes.

"Finland" = "fen land". I learned something new and valuable today.

How is its metrical quality and structure so well known if it's a completely oral tradition first written down only the 19th century? Has any attempt beem made to capture various poetic versions?

I remember some really cheap animation that combined minimalist, practically still-frame, animation with a filmed mouth superimposed on the character's face. It was one of the most bizarre and frankly disturbing things I have ever seen on television.

The temple drama is a representation of reality that surely touches on many essential truths, but at the same time is going to be a somewhat figurative representation, to some extent, of whatv actually went on. Therefore, it's hard to pin down a given meaning to a lot of elements of that drama. Nevertheless, I would suggest that the fact that Eve, even after the Fall, was still in the garden when she identified Satan as the erstwhile Lucifer, but Adam was outside the garden when he was required to sacrifice, makes a lot of difference. I'm sure the"veil of forgetfulness" is not monolithic, but has many degrees or levels.

Satan may indeed be very smart in the carnal sense, but as Elder Bruce R. McConkie made clear, he lacks the least spark of intelligence.

God's policy has always been and will always be that knowledge is given to any who sincerely ask for it and who have prepared themselves to receive that knowledge and live by it.

A natural inference is that the Fall had already been carefully explained and planned out, not only in the present case for our Earth but for worlds before. Satan's stroke of genius, as he supposed, was that he would throw a wrench into the works by introducing the Fall out of sequence. Ha! Gotcha, Father! Now you're playing by MY rules! Unfortunately for the serpent, Father had foreseen and planned for this eventuality. As depicted in Genesis and in the temple, Satan reminds me strongly of many Hollywood actors, who present a smooth and attractive façade to mask their unending malevolence and hatred. God forbid that we who call ourselves Saints be deceived by such.

A war declaration is an act of Congress.

Yep. Narcissistic, but definitely not sociopathic.