Vort

So what you're saying is that Kiss was not the name of the band but a description of their music?

In my humble, non-LDS, opinion the Bible is best understood as mostly literal, mostly historical. There are a few occasions where allegory, poetry, and hyperbole are clearly employed. However, I'm a firm believer in the KISS principle of biblical interpretation:  Keep It Simple Silly.  The more a teaching/understanding needs explaining the less certain it is.

Sometimes, when I am in a class or listening to a talk, and feeling somewhat disengaged, I start to think how I would teach the same lesson. For example, how would I illustrate the point that the teacher is trying to make, what scriptures and examples would I use? Or perhaps more time could have been spent taking the lesson in this direction rather than that direction. Or what are some alternative conclusions that can be drawn from the same lesson material? That's usually enough to get me thinking more closely on what is being taught or talked and how its being taught. 

Today's "I'm doing some Deep Thinking" is tomorrow's "Wow, I really had no idea of what I was talking about, did I?" And every time you come back to the principles you learned about in Primary and realize you understand it in a way you never did before, you really have managed to dig one shovelful deeper. So don't worry if you think others in your institute class aren't where you are at. They probably aren't. Many of them have not yet dug as deeply as you have; some have already dug much deeper. One of the small but important miracles we witness every week is how fifty people at fifty different levels of spiritual development and understanding manage to sit in the same class, yet each of them gains from the lesson.

Today's "I'm doing some Deep Thinking" is tomorrow's "Wow, I really had no idea of what I was talking about, did I?" And every time you come back to the principles you learned about in Primary and realize you understand it in a way you never did before, you really have managed to dig one shovelful deeper. So don't worry if you think others in your institute class aren't where you are at. They probably aren't. Many of them have not yet dug as deeply as you have; some have already dug much deeper. One of the small but important miracles we witness every week is how fifty people at fifty different levels of spiritual development and understanding manage to sit in the same class, yet each of them gains from the lesson.

Actually, I'm not sure I believe this any more. The Book of Mormon does not specifically say this; it only mentions that the Lamanites became far more numerous than the Nephites. Since "Lamanite" was a term applied to anyone who wasn't a Nephite, or at least to anyone who fought against the Nephites, it would likely have been applied to any hostile indigenous peoples. I would suppose that Laman and Lemuel and their descendants "went native" and were, in effect, adopted into the larger existing population. This seems to me a far more likely explanation than that the Lamanites had higher fertility and/or survival rates.

I've only ever heard the "either regressing or progressing" in relation to mortals.  Though everything hinges on what one believes those words mean.
Read the full post I linked to.  I believe Elder McConkie, Elder Maxwell, and Joseph Smith (or whoever wrote Lectures on Faith).  Either God is omniscient (by definition, there is nothing more for him to learn or discover) or we are all taking a HUGE risk that whatever God doesn't already know isn't going to sink Him and us with Him.  But if God knows all (and I'm confident He does), the only "progression" left is to multiply / replicate (create worlds and help those who are willing to reach perfection*).  Lots of people can't seem to stand this idea.  They seem to think omniscience is not so omni and repetition sounds extremely boring.  I think their logic is flawed and their thinking short-sighted.  I recommend they read Nibley's Approaching Zion.
* Or, for those in lower kingdoms, to serve in their spheres repeatedly, forever.  (Don't like the sound of that? Aim higher.)
I am perfectly willing to be wrong.  I am not willing to disregard the prophets nor ignore the soundness of their logic (which fits perfectly with all that has been revealed to mankind), nor ignore the flaws in other interpretations (which don't fit perfectly into all that has been revealed to mankind).

Free advice, worth the sum you paid for it:
You cannot "forget" her past. It is a part of her.
What if your fiancee had made a foolish decision in the past that cost her her arm? She could repent of her foolishness, grow up, and get past such things...but she would still lack the arm. Repentence from sin does not remove all the life effects of the transgression, only the moral stain.
When/if your finacee fully repents of her fornication -- and that is not something you will ever be in a position to judge; for example, she may have already done so -- then God will no longer hold her responsible for that fornication. She is/will be perfectly clean in the blood of Christ, as if she had never sinned. But her virginity per se will not magically be restored. Her experiences in sex with her boyfriend or boyfriends won't suddenly vanish from the chemical structure and neuronal interactions of her brain. In her body, her mind, and her personality, she will bear the imprints of the actions she took and the decisions she made.
Just as we all do for everything we have ever done, good or bad. In this, she is no different from you or me or the rest of the world. Surely you do not want to be rejected because of that scar on your forehead that you got when you were twelve and fell off your bike onto the iron grate, EVEN THOUGH your mother had explicitly told you not to ride your bike there.
If you really can't get past that she has had sex with another man -- and remember, that will never, ever, ever change, and will always and forever be the case -- then do yourself and her a favor and break off your engagement. She deserves a man who won't continually condemn her for past foolish decisions, and honestly, you deserve a woman with whom you feel comfortable. If she's not that woman, and if you lack the spiritual strength and emotional maturity to let this issue go and take joy in being married to her, don't let pride push you into a relationship that may be doomed from the start. Get out now, before any lasting damage is done to either of you.
On the other hand, if you can find the strength and maturity to have a Christlike outlook on this, then she just may be the person who can help you to find eternal life and with whom you can share untold blessings, in this life and the next.
But as long as you feel the way you presently do, by all means, do both of you a favor and GET OUT of the engagement.

King Lear was not written by William Shakespeare, but by another man of the same name.

It depends on the order in which you ate them, and whether you bit the heads off.

I walked into a doughnut shop the other day and the owner was reading this huge book. He said he was studying the relationship between Buddhism and Christianity and where Jesus had been for 18 years before he began his ministry. We talked about the Bible and Josephus for a while before I ordered some blueberry doughnuts and headed out. It made me wonder, where was He between his visit to the Temple at age 12 and his ministry around age 30? Personally, I think he was probably living in Nazareth learning his father's trade, but there's no way to know for certain.
Where do you all think He was?
 

I would just like to take the opportunity to thank everyone on this forum for their help and patience.  This past year has been one of the most spiritual and difficult years of my life but joining the Church is one of the best decisions I have ever made.   The Gospel has brought me a lot of happiness, I love my ward family and calling and in turn its made me a better wife and mother too.
I am now looking forward next year to my Patriarchal blessing and receiving my endowments.    
Im going back to work in January so I'm going to be on the Internet less but I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a happy and blessed new year xx

It depends on the order in which you ate them, and whether you bit the heads off.

King Lear was not written by William Shakespeare, but by another man of the same name.

It depends on the order in which you ate them, and whether you bit the heads off.

It depends on the order in which you ate them, and whether you bit the heads off.

It depends on the order in which you ate them, and whether you bit the heads off.

It depends on the order in which you ate them, and whether you bit the heads off.

There are 10 types of people in the world.  Those who count in binary and those who don't!

Welcome to the forum and nice to meet you, @c2ciles.
What is so great about this forum is that it's just the right size; you really get to know people.

Or at least that's the oldest document we have for these ideas. And as you say, it predates the Roman Catholic Church by several centuries. But there were many such documents floating around that purported to be written by this or that apostle and that promulgated all sorts of strange doctrines. The Protevangelion of James put forth the perpetual virginity of Mary (as well as the idea that Joseph was an older widower). These particular ideas were adopted into Roman Catholicism, which was the point I intended to make. Other doctrines put forth in other letters and documents, such as the premortal existence of the human soul, were condemned and destroyed, and did not become a part of Roman Catholicism. Thus, we have no enduring legends related to premortal existence. Catholicism's acceptance of some doctrines and condemnation of others filtered what has come down to us.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is singing at Donald Trump's presidential inauguration. To the surprise of absolutely no one, the snowflaky hypocrites of the Mormon Social Justice League are whining about it. Make no mistake, had the Tabernacle Choir been asked to sing at Obama's inauguration, the overwhelming majority of these crybabies would have been bubbling over with how wonderfully "progressive" such a move was.
Moral: Those who whine about the Tabernacle Choir singing at Trump's inauguration are a humiliation to themselves and all who know them, and deserve to be studiously ignored.

The invention of the shovel was groundbreaking, but the invention of the broom swept the world.

Fairly sure there were plenty he could have gotten; Ted Nugent is still a big name, and I'm sure would have been highly honored to do his Star Spangled Banner guitar solo at the inauguration.
OTOH, I personally wouldn't mind seeing the whole thing done with just the Marine Band and one soloist for the anthem.

I'm so glad that we can join with other Christians who believe in Christ as we celebrate Christmas. I heard a member of the Church quip that she hopes to not hear anything about Joseph Smith this month to allow us to focus on the love of Jesus Christ we share with so many of our neighbors. But she doesn't understand. The restored Gospel made Jesus Christ accessible to mankind again. It is the only reason I have a Christmas worth celebrating. The Atonement in Our Lives The pinnacle of Christ's ministry was His atonement. To understand how the restored Gospel helps us find Christ, we must understand what the atonement is and how we connect to it. The atonement of Christ allows humankind to live happy, fulfilling, and productive lives here and into eternity. Old Testament prophets, Christ Himself, and His apostles, all taught that the atonement should work for us three different ways.  Unconditional forgiveness from Adam’s sin. This allows us to be “agents unto ourselves.” Forgiveness for our personal sins....
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