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Mhilette Angel (Mee-let)

Pictures finally.

Oh, come to find out the story I mentioned is in the section heading of Section 61 of the Doctrine and Covenants Section 61 Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, on the bank of the Missouri River, McIlwaine’s Bend, August 12, 1831. HC 1: 202–205. On their return trip to Kirtland the Prophet and ten elders had traveled down the Missouri River in canoes. On the third day of the journey many dangers were experienced. Elder William W. Phelps, in daylight vision, saw the destroyer riding in power upon the face of the waters.

Well if you study the Succession Crisis you can see that it really wasn't clear right after Joseph Smith died. Most of the church followed James Strang rather than Brigham Young.

Well wasn't there also that story where I think it was Joseph Smith and some other people saw Satan riding on the water of the Mississippi?

Yes that will be in an interesting time when Satan is loosed at the end of the millenium.

Yes, I've added tolerence to my list of dirty words. It's sitting there alongside Democracy. I'm more than happy to say I'm a bigot against bad things. I find it odd that tolerance only goes so far. We are told to be tolerant of homosexuals. But why aren't they being tolerant of our current views? Shouldn't we be tolerant with murderers too? Or are we just supposed to be tolerant to the degree that certain people can do what they want and not get told it's bad? But a note on Pam's good tolerance. That should also be extended to sinners. Maybe a person(ourselves included) is taking a bit longer repenting and trying to be righteous than we would like. I can't and wont condone behaviour that I feel to be wrong. But I will love the sinner. It's possible to love a person but to hate, reject, and condemn certain things they are doing. Afterall I'm a sinner too. I would expect people to still love me even though I do not always to right things.

Just doing some research and I came across something interesting. 1 Nephi 7:6 6 And it came to pass that as we journeyed in the wilderness, behold Laman and Lemuel, and two of the daughters of Ishmael, and the two sons of Ishmael and their families, did rebel against us; yea, against me, Nephi, and Sam, and their father, Ishmael, and his wife, and his three other daughters. Nephi then speaks against them and they bind him. 1 Nephi 7:19 19 And it came to pass that they were angry with me again, and sought to lay hands upon me; but behold, one of the daughters of Ishmael, yea, and also her mother, and one of the sons of Ishmael, did plead with my brethren, insomuch that they did soften their hearts; and they did cease striving to take away my life. So in the first verse we see that it only talks about two of Ishmaels sons. And that they rebeled against the others. So what verse 19 says is that either: - One of Ishmael's sons stayed neutral in the rebellion. - One of the Sons of Ishmael changed his mind about rebelling after seeing what they did to Nephi. - It was one of Ishmael's sons' son. Since verse 6 says Ishmael's sons already had families. 2 Nephi 5:6 6 Wherefore, it came to pass that I, Nephi, did take my family, and also Zoram and his family, and Sam, mine elder brother and his family, and Jacob and Joseph, my younger brethren, and also my sisters, and all those who would go with me. And all those who would go with me were those who believed in the warnings and the revelations of God; wherefore, they did hearken unto my words. So we see here that Nephi actually had at least two sisters. So my questions. How many children did Ishmael actually have? We know he had five daughters but did he have two or three sons? Also who did Nephi's sisters marry? If he only had two sisters and Ishmael had three sons then only one could get married. Remember Ishmael's two sons were already married and had families by the time they left Jerusalem. Did Nephi's sisters marry Ishmael's grandchildren?

It is impossible for us to be 100% obedient. What matters is our intent. Are we trying our best to follow God's commandments.

I think the real prolem with everyone claiming to have the "right truth" is associated with membership. Many churches want lots of peope to join them. So claiming to have the "right truth" is a good way to hook people into the church. It's sort of both. The Mormon church recognizes that there is truth everywhere. Other religions have truth. But also the church claims to have the most truth. But the church also teaches that each person will be judged according to the knowledge they have. So that fits with what I said too. For example we believe that a person who dies who never had a chance to hear the gospel will have the chance to after this life in the Spirit world. The Spirit world is sort of a waiting place where everyone who dies waits for the ressurection of all people before the final judgement. A Catholic who didn't have the Gospel(what we call the fullness of the Gospel) will be judged acorrding to the amount of the gospel they have. So if you have a Mormon who has the fullness of the Gospel but ignores it and sins just for fun. But you have a Catholic who lives the best they can and tries to obey the commandments. The Catholic will most likely recieve a better reward than the Mormon. So what really counts is what you do with what God has given you. If God has given you more then more is expected of you.Also we should always be looking for chances to learn more and find more ways to become better people. To me personally that means that if you can be a better person as a Bhuddist than you can as a Mormon then you should be Bhuddist. Well it's not just as simple as reading and praying. Here's the verses at the end of the Book of Mormon that tell us about it: Moroni 10:3-5(Emphasis added) 3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. So there is more than just reaing and praying. It involves: Reading Pondering(aka studying and thinking about it) Pray and ask if it is true. You will need to have the proper attitude when praying: Have a sincere heart - This means you really believe in what you are doing. Have real intent - This means you are really trying to find an answer. You not just trying to disprove it. Like if you said, "There I prayed about it, it's not true." Have faith in Christ if you do those things then God will give you an answer by the power of the Holy Ghost. So it's not a simple process. It will take a while to study and pray. It's not just one prayer. It has to be something that you would pray for the rest of your life if that is what it would take to get an answer. I'm sure others can offer more insight.

I thought the battle was around Hill Cumorah not on it.

Welcome. If you are looking for truth I promise you that you will find it in a lot of places. No religion has a cornered market on truth. They all have some. I don't think you will find any religion that has 100% truth. I believe that God has given his word in a variety of ways to a variety of people in a way that is best for those people. If God gave us the 100% truth our tiny mortal brains would explode. He gives us simplified versions of truth so that we can understand. Doctrine and Covenants 98:12 12 For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith. Also see the parable of the Talents. The master didn't give all three of his servants the same amount. But the two servants who took the different amounts they had and multiplied them both recieved the rewards. The servant who buried his talent lost everything. He need to take what truth God gives us and improve ourselves with it. It doesn't matter if you have everything. So I suggest that you find whatever religion/path helps you come closer to God and use that one to improve your relationship with God. If down the road you find another religion that helps you better take that one. There is no shame in changing religions. We should rejoice when someone finds a better path that helps them to come closer to God. Yes I do sometimes doubt. It's a good thing for me. It keeps me asking questions. And that helps me to learn more and educate myself better. And while studying the truth you can feel the Holy Spirit. Studying the gospel and wroking to apply it in my life helps me come closer to God. Yes I believe He does. I know He has guided me in certain decisions in my life. Especially in choosing my wife. That was something I KNOW that God had a hand in. Nothing could cause me to doubt that experience. As a missionary in the Philippines my companion and I fasted that we could find people to teach. Later that day we were walking in a part of the town we had never been before. Frrom a distance we heard a woman shouting, "Hey, Elders." Missionaries are commonly refered to as 'Elders' by church members. We thought it was weird. We approached her and asked her why she called us elders. She said she hadn't. Any way we talked and the teaching of three people resulted from that contact. As I mentioned above. When I was still a missionary I was at the branch meeting house. We were waiting for church to start and standing around outside. I was talking to a young child and I looked up and saw a woman by the door of the building. I had never seem here before. However as soon as I saw her I heard the words in my mind as clear as anyone talking to me, "She's the one." Now I wasn't looking for a wife at that time. I approached her and asked who she was. She was actually from a city a little but away and was in the leadership that included our area. We talked for a bit and then church started. I saw her occasionally during the rest of my mission. But I didn't flirt with her or anything(flirting/courting/dating are not allowed for missionaries). But just before I left for home a member approached me and gave me the girl's phone number. I called her a few months after getting home. Add three years and we got married. At the time I wasn't sure what, "She's the one," meant. It seemed impossible at the time that she was the woman I was going to marry. No problem. It was fun. I hope my post was helpful.

There is a very similar situation in the Philippines. Most members can speak English. In my mission they could speak Tagalog the National Languagae and Ilokano the local dialect. I never noticed anyone really encouraging them to use Tagalog but it was often used with teaching materials and things like that. Hymns were sung in English though.

He turned into Michael221?

True. Even the government cannot cover up the truth that is contained in the Book of Zelph!

I think Zelph is a really interesting figure. It's also interesting that the government keeps the exact location of the mound, where Zelph was found, a secret.

Here's something interesting I found. An article titled "History of Joseph Smith, "in the Mormon newspaper Millennial Star, published in England, had the following to say about the ancient City of Manti (as in the Book of Mormon): The camp passed through Huntsville, in Randolph County [Missouri], which has been appointed as one of the Stakes of Zion, and is the ancient site of the City of Manti.... [sept. 1838] (The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, "History of Joseph Smith," Vol. 16, page 296, May 13, 1854) Also a study of Zelph might prove insightful into Book of Mormon Geography.

What's the worst that is going to happen? After all you said all we need to do is believe. So the worst than can happen is Christ will tell us we didn't need to do all that extra stuff. We'll still make it into heaven, according to you.

Yeah. Isn't it awesome Satan will be saved too!

Well I've had great fun sinning! Good thing antsyl showed up and showed me the error of following Christ. I guess it took a real believer in Christ to show me the error of my ways. I don't really have to follow Christ. I just have to believe in Him. Life is SO much easier now!

So if a person really believes in Christ then they will do certain thing because they are the natural result of a true belief? Or were you specifically refering to Gatorman?

I never said that it wasn't done. Christ fulfilled His part. Now it is up to me. That is the test. The test isn't to see if Christ will save me. The test is to see if I will do what I need to in order to accept Christ's gift. Christ offers the gift of salvation to all who are willing to take it. My test is to take it or take what the world offers. You said: So I'm going to believe what you told me. I want to make a public announcement that I believe the Christ is the Son of God, that He died for my sins and is now at the right hand of God. So now no matter what I do I will be saved. I hope so, because now I'm going to go commit adultery. I might murder someone on the way home from work too. Come to think of it, I'm going to join a Satanist church. Thank you for telling me the truth and relieving me of the burden of doing my best to follow God's commandments. It was getting really annoying. I wonder how many major sins I can commit before the day is out. Good thing I'm saved.

For me Christ is the only way that I can have a chance at returning to my Heavenly Father. The only way of passing the test we are living in right now. Christ is everything to me. Without Him I am less than nothing. It's interesting you brought up all that other stuff. But since you are the original poster I'll assume it's ok to go off topic about it. Now I'm not trying to convice you to believe these things. I'm just explaining why I believe them. For me no amount of good works can get me into heaven. I could be the nicest guy around give money to everyone. help out all sorts of people and it wouldn't get me one inch closer to heaven. I can only get into Heaven through the grace of Christ. So me doing good works = not getting to Heaven. But me having Christ's grace = me getting into heaven. But it doesn't stop there. I still have to find a way to get Christ's grace I think that if I loved sinning, hated God, worshippped Satan, and did stuff like that Christ probably wouldn't give me His grace. After all a person like that could not live in God's presence. So Christ probably wouldn't give me His grace. But if I do good things and obeyed the commandments and tried my best then Christ would probably give me His grace. So my good works do not get me into Heaven, but they do give me the Grace of Christ so that I can get into Heaven. I also believe that by following the proper path I will be able to become just like my Father is. God is my literal Father. I have yet to see where the offspring of one species was a completely different species than it's parent. Yes there are different stages of growth but the offspring EVERY being/creature has the potenmtial to become just like what the parent is. I also believe what the Bible says about the subject. Pslams 82:6 6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. It would be interesting to hear the other things you have problems with. But I won't hold it against you if you don't want to share. And preparedness is a great topic for discussion. No one says you have to read everything on the forum just to be here. *whisper*I usually only look at the LDS Gospel Discussion forum.*whisper* Don't leave we love you!

Couldn't you be seale dto each parent but not together as a family? Since they weren't married and married others then they probably couldn't be sealed to each other. But your parents don't have to be seal to each other for a child to be sealed to at least one of them, do they? We are talking about sealing to parents who are already dead aren't we?

Hmm, Interesting. I've never knelt but we do have group hugs. Especially when it's the first time of one of our family. There are a lot of cousins so it happens every couple years. I do remember as a missionary in the MTC they told us not to take our patriarchal blessings to read in the celestial room.