[What's the last book you read?]

Last book I read was Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov. I liked it more than I thought I would.

[What's your calling in your ward?]

Thanks for posting, Traveler. It was fun to read about your time in nursery. I'm coming up on two years as the Nursery Leader in my ward.

[LDS culture problem]

I'm not sure if anyone has added this wonderful quote to the discussion since i haven't read the entire thread, but i wanted to make sure it was included.

"The Lord loves you; that is why He has given you commandments and the words of prophets to guide you on your journey through life. Some of the most important guidelines for your life are found in the pamphlet For the Strength of Youth. The physical appearance of this little paper booklet would qualify it for the scriptural description “Out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33). The pamphlet itself has little material value, perhaps just a few cents. But the doctrine and principles it presents are an invaluable treasure. You young men who are already 18 or older, if you don’t have this booklet anymore, make sure to get one, keep it, and use it. This little booklet is a gem for any age group. It contains standards which are sacred symbols representing our membership in the Church." --Dieter F. Uchtdorf, April 2006 General Conference (bold added by me)

[What's the last book you read?]

On 7/19/2017 at 8:27 AM, Carborendum said:

Just finished the first two books of the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson.  He really has a way of narrating action sequences.

Many people praise him for his world-building.  But I frankly don't like this world he created.  But, yes, his skill at it is pretty impressive.

I'm sorry you didn't like it. I recently finished the second one, and liked it tons. This my favorite Sanderson series so far.

Let's see. Last LDS non-fiction i read was Let God Love You by Wendy Ulrich. I wasn't super impressed, but it had some good ideas.

[Clean YA Romances?]

Have you tried any Kasie West yet? So far i'm liking her better than Rallison.

I'm assuming you are just looking for contemporary stuff here. If you're interested in historical, let me know. I've got a whole list of great historical authors.

Thought of some more: Rachael Anderson is an author you could try and Jenni James for fairy tale retellings. And i just finished one by Staci Stallings called Dreams by Starlight that i thought was really good.

[bad break up.]

Maybe this will help: Breaking up without going to pieces. 

[The Unwritten Order of Things]

Thank you, Vort. That was really interesting. I had never read this before or even heard of it.

[Ensign: Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders]

Enjoyed reading this article. My favorite paragraph:

"The Lord commanded us to be perfect, but He also said that if we draw close to Him, He will show us our weakness. There appears to be a conflict between these two concepts unless you understand that perfection (completeness, wholeness) is an eternal condition that comes through the Savior's Atonement 'on conditions of repentance.' We don't make ourselves perfect; Jesus Christ does. We just do our best and keep repenting when we fall short, relying on His grace to make weak things strong."

[Agency]

Totally blown away by this topic which i very recent became aware of from reading chapter 2 "Acting in Doctrine and Moral Agency" in Act in Doctrine by David A. Bednar. Very great reading on the topic. Here's one of his videos discussing some of these ideas: 

 

[Ensign: Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders]

I'm looking forward to reading this one. I'm still trying to finish the February issue.

[Good books about the temple]

Have you ever watched a little documentary put out by the church called Between Heaven and Earth? The tagline is "religious scholars of various faiths describe ancient and modern temples." It's definitely worth a watch or a re-watch. I found it on the Mormon Channel on my Roku but can't seem to find a link for it online except as a video series on youtube.

 

[Good books about the temple]

On 1/24/2017 at 4:44 PM, beefche said:

I think both. For example, I know that the temple is full of symbols. I'm curious on what symbols were used in ancient temples and what was understood for them to mean. I know that the oxen used for the current baptismal temple fonts represent the 12 tribes which has a lot of doctrinal meaning. So, I think both from a historical and doctrinal level.

I don't mind if the book is from a GA or not, but I don't want preachy-of-another-faith type of book. 

 

A good book on symbolism is The Lost Language of Symbolism by Alonzo L. Gaskill. It's very general and pretty comprehensive. Though not temple specific, there's definitely a lot of applicability. And i recall plenty of commentary on old testament symbolic differences as compared to more modern. It's a great one for learning more about gospel symbolism.

[for I perceive that a virtue is gone out of me.]

It means "power" or "strength." There is some commentary on this meaning of the word virtue in the guide to the scriptures under "virtue" and in the New Testament institute student manual in the corresponding Mark verse (Mark 5:30).

[What's the last book you read?]

Just finished The Lord’s Way by Dallin H. Oaks. That should probably be required reading for LDS members. It takes different topics (such as learning, criticism, litigation and contention), comparing and contrasting the Lord’s way versus the world’s way. It is very enlightening and relevant to our day.

 

[Audiobooks]

I finished listening to Don Quixote. I don't think i would have been able to read that and am glad i didn't even try. I didn't particularly care for it. It's very different from the musical as far as the whole point of the story goes.

[Audiobooks]

I just finished listening to Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling. I tried reading it at first and was about ready to give up. Even though I still wound up not liking it too well, switching to audio really helped. It got me wondering what other books or authors are easier to get through in audio. What are some of your favorite audio books or authors to listen to? I have found Charles Dickens and Louis L’Amour to be authors that are “listenable.

[What's the last book you read?]

Looking forward to finishing the Alcatraz books. I'm only on the 2nd.

[Need a quick answer to a dumb question]

Thank you for sharing your story, Colirio. I found that extremely fascinating.

[Trusting]

What would you consider a good LDS answer to this inquiry:

How does one go about trusting in Heavenly Father within the whole context of being purified in the furnace of affliction and all that? He kind of wants us to go through hard and sometimes really bad things (or what mortals consider bad anyway), so how do you trust someone who essentially wants you to hurt?

[Why Pray?]

What would you consider a good LDS answer to the following question:

Why should i pray when God already knows everything about me--my thoughts, actions and desires. He knows what i need better than i do. So why should i pray?

[Developing Compassion]

I am reminded of Elder Renlund's talk from last October: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/through-gods-eyes?lang=eng

It's definitely hard to see people through Heavenly Father's eyes sometimes. The scriptures do tell us to pray for charity--the pure love of Christ. It's something i know i need to pray for more.

[The Lord's Time]

Love this, Carborendum! Thanks for sharing. 

[To lead the best, most meaningful life, one must belong to the one, fundamentally true religion.]

My thoughts on that one were more along the lines of the individual—that it’s a very individual thing. We’ve all been sent here to Earth with an individual mission or purpose to fulfill. And I think people, in general, tend to do the best they can with the circumstances, opportunities and knowledge they have. It’s above my paygrade to decide that someone has lived their own individual absolute most meaningful life possible, with or without the restored gospel. That’s between them and God.

[The Way of Kings]

I’m only about 1/3 of the way through, but it’s very interesting so far. I love how the world building is interwoven into the story. You just get a little piece of the puzzle at a time. It’s both frustrating and intriguing. That seems fairly typical of Sanderson’s style (not that I’ve read a whole lot of his stuff, but it seems to be).

On 10/15/2010 at 11:18 PM, mikbone said:

The main character is loaded with Christ imagery, honor, sacrifice, duty, power, etc.

I am assuming that you mean Kaladin as the main character. It switches perspective so much, but there does seem to be more about him so far. I can see that, though. There are some cool similarities.

I'm really liking Dalinar so far. He seems to have a few similarities with Joseph Smith.

[Getting at the Truth by Robert Millet]

The kindle version has gone on sale again as of today, August 25, 2016. In case you didn't get it last time and are interested, grab it while you can. Just use the link above, same price.