its_Chet

Thank you, foreverafter!

I can see it being easier to forgive the spouse than the enabler. You share your body and soul with your spouse. Everybody else is, at least to some degree, chopped liver. I forgive my wife for things all the time that, if she were someone else, I'd probably never be able to do so. But back to the matter at hand. How to forgive Mr. Enabler. I believe that a lot of hurt feelings in life are the result of misunderstandings. Not saying that's the case in this situation, of course. At any rate, I'd go up to him, and trying as hard as possible not be be confrontational, I'd ask him why he said something that turned out to not be true. I wouldn't accuse him, but I'd tell him that what he said wasn't true, and that I feel like I had been liked to, which duplicitly means that my intelligence has been insulted. I would explain how much pain resulted, and ask for his side of the story. I would not be afraid to say "I can't believe that" if I get an answer that sounds bogus, but I'd try not to be contentious about it. You may get lucky and get disclosure. If you don't, I'm afraid I'm out of ideas. I can carry a grudge from here to Kingdom Come. But I'll be watching for answers.

Hallelujah! I've been down this road with my wife, and she found it very difficult to compromise. The way I see it, quitting games cold turkey, for me, would be like her going off her meds (for depression, anxiety, anger issues) cold turkey. Well, maybe not exactly, but you get the idea. After being stuck in Phoenix area traffic for an hour, I used to love to take to the streets of Vice City, using a cheat code that gave my car the qualities of solid granite. I'd go barrelling down the streets and anything that got in my way went flying down the street or sailing up into the air. Now THAT's therapeutic! The games can be addictive. But since they don't cause the same damage as drugs or gambling, I personally believe that a realistic compromise should be reached and the addicted gamer should be allowed to wean themselves off, or at least to a satisfactory reduction. You may not be able to see a gamer in withdrawal, but it happens. And withdrawals for a gamer will make it harder for them to stay away. It was more difficult for me living in Arizona. I NEVER wanted to go outside because we lived in the suburbs and it was ridiculously hot so much of the time. I'm from the rural midwest. I like distance between me and the neighbors. I don't like traffic. I like changes of season. Now that we live back in what I consider the real world (the midwest), I'm much more inclined to spend time outside. We have a pool in the back yard and I keep that up. I mow the lawn. I take care of the trees. I don't know how to fix much of anything, but I either try or get help from a friend. I enjoy spending time outside, and the more time I spend outside, the less time I have to play games. That's the important part, whatever your situation. You have to find something that will replace the time you spend on the games. You have to find something to make yourself busy enough that you don't think so much about the games. This is when you need support to break the addiction, not criticism and derision. The addict needs encouragement and coaxing, not screeching and anger. It's easier to get an addict off the computer when the family is going outside to rake the leaves together, than it is when the chores are all done and nothing urgent is pressing, yet the spouse is in a rage because the addict is being "unfashionable". The hardest thing for me was when I would constantly get the impression that the reason my gaming was a problem was because my wife thought it was "unhip" or "dorky", or that she simply wanted to yell for me to jump and expected me to ask "How high?" It also didn't help when she got her mother involved. All that made me defensive. And I just dug in and fought back. Spending time with nature has filled that need for me, and feeling like the busybodies are off my back makes me a lot more cooperative. To anyone who considers themselves a "gaming widow", I beg you to offer your husband a more compelling reason to break the addiction than that you want to control him. Acknowledge that he's not viewing obscene material. Acknowledge his level of devotion to Church and family, whatever it is. Be respectful, and you may get him to admit it's an addiction. Until that happens, little good, if any, will come from getting on his case about it. And you can't just bring him to a place where he realizes he's addicted and then dump him there. You have to encourage him to find something else to do with that time, and if you're legitimately concerned that he doesn't spend enough time with you, put your money where your mouth is and offer to spend time with him doing whatever it is that needs to be done. Who knows? It may actually bring you closer together! Whatever you do, don't give him the impression that you're simply viewing him as an anger inducing, malfunctioning puppet, and don't get upset at him for not obeying any blunt commands to get off the computer. If you think you have problems now, just see what happens if you go down that road. Make him believe that you genuinely want his company doing something worthwhile, like going for a walk, or something pleasant. If you try to "ground" him, he may just act the part.

I can't claim to have the answers, but I've got hunches, and that's where my own answers usually start. I can't imagine how it could be possible that your ex-wife could have repented if she's trying to marry the guy she left you for. The mess she made obviously has not been cleaned up yet, and I can't understand how anyone could believe her repentance is complete until that happens. Granted, I suppose it's possible she might apologize to you, somehow convince you to let her go (not that anyone ought to expect such a thing from you), and then her repentance would be complete. If she could pull all that off, I could see it. If you steal something and your repentance is incomplete until you have returned it or provided compensation, how could you leave someone for another person, have your sealing revoked, and then be sealed to the one you left your first spouse for? She didn't just steal something from a store. She inflicted tremendous suffering on a child of God, and there's a price to be paid for that. This may be my own interpretation, but when I read in the book of Revelation about people who "loveth and maketh a lie", to me it's talking about people who convince someone that they love them and then break that person’s heart by making it as if it were all a lie. If my interpretation is incorrect, I'm sure my basic premise is valid. I'd take physical abuse over emotional abuse any day. Being betrayed straight through to the core of your being is pretty serious business. That's pain you don't walk away from very easily. BenRaines has a point though. You may want to consider the likelihood that you're dodging a bullet. You've been divorced for 10 years. How can you be confident that she has matured? How can you be confident that she respects the sanctity of marriage? She hasn't respected yours. She's betrayed you. I know it's not easy to let someone you love go, even after they hurt you. But you may want to consider the possibility (and this is only a possibility) that she is unknowingly attempting to set you free to find someone who will treat you the way she should have. Ultimately, this is a decision you'll have to make for yourself, whether you're willing to let her singlehandedly destroy a marriage that was approved by God, rob you of your wife (in the Celestial sense as well as the mortal sense), and replace you with some guy who didn't have the courtesy to find an unmarried woman to court instead. Regardless, you don't deserve what's been done to you. I don't understand how the Church could allow her to dissolve your Temple Sealing against your wishes, but promise yourself that if for some reason that's what happens, you will not, under any circumstances, lose your testimony. No matter what happens, remember what happened to Job. He lost his whole family, but after his trials were over, he ended up with more of everything that he lost than he had before the trials began. Like you, he didn't deserve the bad things that happened to him. But if we lived in a just world, the Savior would have been crowned with gold and jewels instead of thorns, and lifted up on a throne instead of a cross. If you continue righteously as you are and have been, you will end up better off than when you started. We can't always predict how that will play out, but the end result is certain. Just remember that no matter how much pain you have to go through, it's not God's fault, it's not His Gospel's fault (even if it is sometimes administered by imperfect people), and even if it were to cost you your life, you must never sever your ties to Him, but rather increase and strengthen them. The Savior will get you through this, one way or the other. Do what you think is right, and call on the Lord to help you the rest of the way. I know from personal experience in slightly similar circumstances that He can heal your heart, numb the pain, and give you the wisdom necessary to navigate through the storm safely.

I agree with RachelleDrew. You should go with the mace. The air horn sounds like a good idea too. Witnesses make all the difference sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I think you have a constitutional right to bare arms, but if you're not really comfortable with a gun, it would be more of a liability to you than an assett. If you have one ready and need to use it, but don't have the nerve to pull the trigger, you'd end up getting the gun taken away and used on you instead. Or if you do have the nerve but are a lousy shot, same thing. I'd go with the mace if I were you. In your situation it sounds best. By the way, I'm impressed with how much wisdom you've shown so far. Stay sharp! Your best weapon is your brain, and it sounds like you're packin'!

Interesting. I find myself asking questions now, and that hasn't happened in years. I never heard of a third seer stone. I thought Joseph used the Urim and Thummim to translate the Book of Mormon, at least until he became well enough acaquainted with reformed Egyption to translate without them (which I don't necessarily know that he did, only that he might possibly have). I also never heard that the Jaredites were giants, or that Joseph would have had any difficulty using the Urim and Thummim. In fact, I seem to remember reading somewhere that Joseph openly marvelled about the Urim and Thummim to his associates, stating that he could see just about anything with them. I've even heard different descriptions of their appearance. I read in one place that they were the color of chocolate, and in another that they were semi transparent, like crystal (which reminds me of Mahonri Moriancumer's 16 stones). I've heard different stories about the papyri. I heard that they ended up in a museum in Chicago and were burned up in the great fire of 1871. I also heard that they're in an underground vault somewhere near Salt Lake City. I'm not sure what to believe. I wish I could find some sources that clearly explain these things, especially how the translating process went. So many questions I find myself asking now. Anyone and everyone, please share your thoughts. Of course none of this will really impact my testimony, but it's still interesting.

As a convert, this has been my experience with my mother. She was never openly hostile to the Church after I joined, but for long afterward she was openly critical and dismissive of some of our more peculiar doctrines. About a year ago she asked me what the deal was with land in north western Missouri. She asked without any attitude, positive or negative, and I answered the same way, just matter of factly, short and sweet. Things are much better now than they were at first. She still may never accept the Gospel, but at least there's a lot more peace now.

I believe that it is up to God to decide if polygamy is okay or not. At present, He has said it is not to be practiced. In ancient times, Abraham and many other men of God practiced it. I don't find it that hard to imagine God commanding Joseph Smith to practice it and to tell other trustworthy people they had been called to practice it. As far as I know, only men who were known by God to be the best husbands and fathers were chosen to practice polygamy in this dispensation. I forget what the statistic is, but I think it was something like 10% of the Church population was called on to practice polygamy. Granted, there were some scoundrels like John C. Bennett that perverted this doctrine to suit their own ends, but they were normally excommunicated for it. I know Heavenly Father well enough to know that He normally has several reasons for everything He does, and frequently, even if we know some of them, we don't know them all. In the case of polygamy, I've often heard it speculated that Heavenly Father commanded us to practice it in order to rapidly swell the Church's numbers, given that at the time the Church was in danger from intense persecution and there is strength in numbers. I've also heard it said that it was to allow women who would otherwise be unable to find a suitable husband the opportunity to obey one of the laws and ordinances of the Gospel, though I've also heard that the population in the Church during some of the time in which polygamy was practiced was pretty even, if not actually larger in the number of men. This may sound mean, but I think one of the reasons Father commanded the practice of polygamy was to weed out weak members of the Church, especially among the General Authorities. Some members who apostatized during those days claimed that it was the doctrine of plural marriage that set them off. On the other hand, stalwarts like Brigham Young obeyed the commandment to practice it, despite having intense desires not to do so. Even now, the residual stigma the Church experiences serves to weed out investigators who aren't able to obtain a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Really, this is one of those cases where we can only speculate as to Why God commanded the Church to practice it. I find that a lot of my own personal revelations are rooted in speculation, though. In the end, I would cheerfully defer to any General Authority on this matter. I have ideas why it was practiced, and I leave it at that. I have heard that it will be practiced again in the Millennium. Societal conventions will no longer be the hindrance to this legitimate Gospel doctrine that they currently are, and at any time God wills that we practice plural marriage in the Millennium, we will then be free to do so without persecution. As to whether God has one wife or many, no one knows. There is room for speculation because it is not impossible. Societal conventions may paint a picture of this being impossible, but God transcends societal conventions. It is possible that God has plural wives, but it is simply unknown. I believe the important thing is to have a strong enough testimony that it is not challenged by the fact that many Prophets in multiple dispensations had plural wives, and that they instructed chosen men of God to do likewise. If our testimonies are strong enough, this will not be a "deal breaker" when it comes to accepting the Gospel of Jesus Christ and obeying the laws and ordinances of the Gospel as revealed therein.

I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, or make any judgmental assumptions about you, but I get the impression that you kind of view the Church more like a country club than what it truly is: The Church of Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ is the Kingdom of God on earth. It was organized before the earth was popluated by mankind and was first established here in the Garden of Eden. It has been given to mankind, taken away because of apostasy, and given to mankind again many times. Each time it's here on earth it's called a "dispensation". There have been at least seven that I know of, and we are in the final one now. This is why the Church of Jesus Christ is known in this dispensation as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to identify it as the old Church in the last dispensation. The purpose of the Church is to teach mankind what we need to know and do in order to return to live with Heavenly Father in the Celestial Kingdom for eternity. If we do not do all that He expects us to do, we will not spend our eternity there, and I believe that would of necessity mean that eventually we would have an eternity of regret and "what if" to look forward to (my definition of hell). As you can see, membership in the Church means far more than membership in any other organization. The results of my attempts (or failures, if I don't repent) to obey the laws and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is revealed to us only by Propehts within the true Church of Jesus Christ, will last for the rest of eternity. I can join a country club in order to schmooze with people who can give me things I want, but joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is an incredibly more significant proposition. I'm in this Church because I know it's the best way to honor my Heavenly Father and my Savior, and it's my only ticket to an eternity void of regret and sorrow. I don't want to make the ultimate failure, the one that cannot be undone, because of a test I can never re-take. This is very serious. I don't mean to scare you away from the Church, but it would be a disservice to you if I didn't make it clear that joining the true Church of Jesus Christ isn't like joining some other religious organization which does not have authority from God to speak or act in His name, or the power to save souls. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints transcends other churches in importance the same way a Ferrari transcends a pair of roller skates, if you'll pardon the analogy. It would be in your own best interest to join the Church, but you should do it because you love your Father in Heaven and your Savior Jesus Christ, and you want the opportunity to spend the rest of eternity trying to repay Them for what They have done for you, and because you are willing to obey all the laws and ordiances of the Gospel They place before you, even if they don't compliment any preconceived ideas you could possibly have about what is "orthodox". The true Gospel of Jesus Christ requires that we adapt to it, rather than adapting to us. And if it did try to adapt to one person, it would be unfair to everyone else, never mind that a "gospel" that is subject to some "authority" other than God cannot be the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You will not find the true Gospel of Jesus Christ anywhere other than in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

It's been said before, but I agree that there's plenty of blame to go around. The people who signed up for ARMs and balloon payment loans, the thieving scoundrels like Madoff, the corrupt politicians like Barney Frank, the reckless practices of Fannie and Freddie, etc. I would also add that I have a hard time sympathizing with real estate speculators who've gotten burned when I only own one house and it's where I'm trying to raise my family. To a point, I haven't got anything against people looking to enrich themselves off of real estate, but they ought to bare in mind that when they drive up prices (as they did in Maricopa County, Arizona), it makes it harder for would be homeowners to find a place to live. Thanks to what's going on in the world around me, I've had a paycut, an increase in my health insurance premiums, face rising energy costs and general inflation, and may actually get dragged down the drain even though I didn't pull the plug. I used to be able to afford my mortgage, but times are getting difficult. My "thanks" to those whose greed has put us all in this situation. But really, I think the blame ultimately lies with those who have defied the will of God and have made a habit of mocking and insulting Him. I blame the people who refuse to observe the Sabbath. I blame the people who have abortions for convenience. I blame the people who violate the law of chastity and the word of wisdom. I blame the people who let their idea of right and wrong be inspired by one or another political party (especially one that celebrates perversity, obscenity, and militant secularism, among many other very bad ideas), instead of by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In short, we are living in Sodom and Gomorrah, and the burning sulphur is already starting to fall from the sky. Thanks a lot to those people who couldn't be satisfied with their unholy practices and beliefs being kept to themselves, and instead insisted on having them broadcast on the street corners and in the town square. Thanks a lot to those who get all worked up about CO2 emissions but couldn't care less about "Bruno" playing at their local theatre. The wicked are destroying this country. They are pulling down the wrath of a just God. And unfortunately, the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. Time for us all to get our food storage. We may need it sooner than we may have thought.

My mother in law was given this exact same advice. And then she told me I should do it. It's like I can actually hear Joseph Smith and Brigham Young's palms smacking their forheads in frustration.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. I don't know if anything I'm about to say will be any help to you, but I don't know what else to say so here goes nothing. Seeing an angel had a profound experience on the sons of Mosiah and Alma the younger, but on the other hand, it didn't have much of an effect on Laman and Lemuel, at least not a lasting one. Also, while I can't remember where, I remember having read in the scriptures where Prophets told the people that even if an angel came and told them the truth face to face, they still would not believe it. The basic gist of that teaching is that we are able to learn the Church and the Gospel are true by living the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. It's kind of like an investment. We don't get any returns before we pony up the capital, metaphorically speaking. In other words, after the trials comes the blessings. There have been times when I was so in tune with the Spirit that my prayers would be answered while I was still praying. There have been times when I have received personal revelation out of the blue, without even really thinking about the matter at the moment. I can remember, as a new member, as I was laboring in the factory one day, the Spirit telling me "you know, the Church is true." To which I thought to myself, "Well, yeah, of course it is. Why would I not think so?" It wasn't until later that I realized that this was not me thinking, but it was the Holy Spirit coming to me to validate the decision I'd made to join the Church, to make sure that my leap of faith was met by personal revelation, so I could KNOW the Church is true. When I got baptized, I merely suspected the Church was true. I don't mean to brag about receiving personal revelations and such. If that were my intention, I could go on and on. But what I have learned is that in order to qualify for personal revelations, I first have to focus on the more mundane aspects of the Gospel. I have to try to soften my temper. I have to increase my patience. I have to get better at fleeing from contention rather than getting bogged down in confrontations and retaliating to perceived injustices. I also have to make a real and sincere effort to have family scriptures and family prayer every day. As a new member, I used to pray every night that Heavenly Father would allow the unsealed portion of the Book of Mormon to be translated. I never realized how ungrateful I must have appeared to ask for that when I had just found out that the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price were all scripture. Having only known the Bible to be scripture, the floodgates suddenly opened and I was deluged with amazing, new knowledge, and yet I kept asking for the sealed portion to be translated. Never mind that there people who'd lived their whole lives content with what we have. But most importantly, I came to understand that we, as a world and as a Church, are held back right now by our shortcomings. It deeply saddened me when I learned how often the average home teacher fulfills his duty in the Church. My Father in Law once told me that he believed that if we could be relied on by Heavenly Father to do all the things we already know we're supposed to be doing, maybe then we might get to read the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon, and perhaps, when we do, we'll find that it contains more laws and ordinances for us to observe, more responsibilities. How can we ask for that when we can't even manage what we already have? We're not ready, I've learned. We as a Church, mind you, collectively speaking. So those are the things I focus on, and lo and behold, when I'm taking care of business, that's when I get the personal revelations. I've learned that the powers of God are to be used more wisely than to satisfy my curiosity. I make no assumptions about you or your specific circumstances. I'm only explaining how I came to find peace with the transition from new member deluged by new scriptures and learning to a seasoned member with a testimony. I used to feel like a forumla one race car that went in for a pit stop, got put on jacks and had the wheels taken off, and then left there like that. It wouldn't surprise me if you could relate to that. I don't know what to tell someone to help them progress beyond that point. All I know is that I managed it, and hopefully I've explained how. My advice is to focus on the plain and simple things of the Gospel. The "boring" things. My most amazing and mind blowing personal revelations have come after I have made the every day, mundane aspects of the Gospel my priority. And through personal revelation, I have come to KNOW (not believe, but KNOW) that Jesus is the Messiah, God is our Father, how the Holy Spirit functions as His messenger, and that the teachings of the Prophets are true. I wish you luck in strengthening your testimony. Remember, it's like a muscle. If you want it to grow, you have to use it. Rely on it when the hard times come. When your back is to the wall and the chips are down, remember that the Savior is there for you and that He loves you. He will not forsake you if you seek after Him. You are not alone.

Aw, thank you freckleface! Unfortunately, as it always is with History of any kind, the best gems are usually scattered across a wide range of books. For example, the well known story about Joseph Smith rising from the floor in chains in the Richmond jail to rebuke the guards who had been boasting about how inhumanely they'd treated some of the Saints was documented in the autobiography of Parley P. Pratt (one of my favorite Apostles from Joseph Smith's days). Some things I've gleaned from reading various works by Bruce R. McConkie, and I'm talking about several lengthy books that don't have an index or even a table of contents. One book I can recommend, though it's been a while since I read it and I can't remember much of it anymore, is "The Fate of the Persecutors of Joseph Smith". As I remember, the book wasn't so much about Joseph Smith as it was about what happened to the people who persecuted him, especially the ones that stormed the Carthage Jail. There's a story about one of them who developed a strange skin disease that ate away half of his face right down to the bone, and yet he lived for some time in that condition. I also remember reading a story (also from this book, if I remember correctly) about a boy who was at Haun's Mill when it was attacked. He tried to run into the blacksmith's shop, but every time he got within arm's length of the doorway, his arms shot up and grabbed the doorjamb, ON THEIR OWN. He tried repeatedly to get inside, and this kept happening, and eventually he gave up and ran up the hill and into the forest, which is where most of those who survived went. And as we all know, everyone who was inside the blacksmith's shop was killed, including a couple of children both around the age of 10. I read a book called "The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph smith", which I thought was pretty good. Here's a gem from that one: Joseph Smith once had a dream, during the Nauvoo days, in which he was on his old farm back in Kirtland. He saw that it was run down from neglect, and as he entered the barn he saw that it was falling apart. As he took inventory of all the needed repairs, some angry, threatening, and scary men came into the barn. They told him that the farm was no longer his and he had no hope of ever getting it back, and if he tried they would kill him. In fact, they were acting like they were going to kill him at any rate, just for showing up. Next, more men came into the barn, also threatening Joseph, but then they started to quarrel amongst themselves as to who would get to keep the farm, and ended up killing each other over it while Joseph calmly walked out of the barn and away from the farm. I've heard that "The History of the Prophet Joseph Smith, by his Mother" by Lucy Mack Smith, is a great read, but I haven't gotten that one yet. I used to have a book (until I loaned it out) that focused on the relationship between Joseph and Emma, which was written by one of their descendants (most of which are out of the Church, and embarrassed about their genealogy). The author is a convert and she dedicated a lot of time and effort to exploring Joseph and Emma's relationship. That book contained some insights into Joseph Smith I'd never seen before. While it's a bit of a downer, I can strongly recommend "I Witnessed the Carthage Massacre" by Willard Richards. It gives the most detailed story of what happened in the Carthage Jail (beginning well before the shooting began) that I have ever seen. In some parts, it covers the events second by second. It’s almost like Willard Richards slows down time so you can fully understand everything that Joseph Smith went through. And it gives you a look at Joseph under considerable pressure - you won't be disappointed. Some of the most fascinating things I've ever heard about Joseph Smith have come from my institute teacher, when I was in college in Salt Lake City. I saw incredibly moving videos that don't appear to be available for mass consumption (I've never seen them at Deseret Book or in a ward library). But the stories my teacher told were amazing. He told one story, which I believe occurred during Zion's Camp, where Joseph Smith took Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball away from the camp and in private, showed them a vision. The three of them lay down on their backs and looked up into the sky, and Joseph raised his hands up before him and spread them apart, like the way you would part a curtain to look through it. When he did this, he parted the veil and Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball were able to see Heavenly Father, the Savior, and numerous angels looking down at them. Then Joseph closed the veil again and told them that he had been instructed to show them that. My institute teacher had LOTS of stories like that, not just about Joseph Smith, but plenty of stories that amazed and dazzled me. There was a companion book for my institute class on the Doctrine and Covenants, a moderately detailed book on Church History, called "Church History in the Fullness of Times". You can pick that up any distribution center or Deseret Book, I believe. It's not the most detailed book you'll find, but it's a good book if you're looking for a single book that contains the most information on Church History. I wish I could remember every other book I've read about Joseph Smith, but I'm terrible about remembering where I've heard something. All I can say is that everything I've ever read about Joseph Smith has led me to believe that he is one of the greatest men to have ever lived, that he was an extraordinarily benevolent man, despite the controversy that surrounds him, and that the things he taught are true, and that most of what we know about the Gospel of Jesus Christ we owe to him for revealing it to us. In short, he is indeed a Prophet of God and an Apostle of Jesus Christ. But you knew that. Books that I intend to read but haven't yet include "The Joseph Smith Papers" and "The History of the Church (all volumes). Basically, I just always try to keep my eyes open for anything about Joseph Smith that looks trustworthy. I try to stay with books you can get from Deseret Book, but I suppose other good books can be found on him as well. I occasionally go to a website that I believe is administered by the Community of Christ. Far West History, or something like that. I have found a surprising wealth of historical information there, and though it doesn’t appear to be officially endorsed by the Church, I have a good feeling about what I’ve read there. I have never seen anything there that sounded like it was intended to lead us over to the Reorganized church. If nothing else, Community of Christ sure does take our mutual Church History pretty seriously. From one fan of Joseph Smith to another, God bless you!

Your wife was not justified in hitting you, no matter how much of a jerk you may or may not have been for however long. My wife has betrayed my trust, in pretty much the same way you did to your wife, about 11 times in our marriage, but in most cases I got sad, not angry. It has only been the last couple times that I have gotten angry about it, and even then it mostly after she got defensive about it. The proper attitude in that situation for the one who has been betrayed should be a sense of loss and sorrow, not a need for vengeance, at least not with the person you married. When I went to the Bishop to tell him I found out my wife was emailing an old boyfriend and showed him the content of those emails, he came down on her pretty hard, so I don't know that the Bishop is taking your wife's side so much as perhaps it's just the way the Church handles this kind of thing. Hopefully your Bishop isn't a "new man" who thinks that unless you're automatically taking the woman's side, you're not being fair to her. Too many people in our society (even in the Church, sometimes) like to play favorites based on things like gender, race, etc. There's a good chance that your Bishop isn't doing that. I've been in a situation similar to yours, and what worked for me was to be humble and remorseful for my own mistakes, and trust the Bishop to handle what my wife had done. And I cannot express how my Father in heaven helped me through that. I should have been turned into a complete basket case, by rights. But He pumped my soul full of confidence, peace, and patience, and he numbed almost all the pain, leaving only enough for me to know I was still alive. He healed me, even while the damage was still being inflicted. He got me through an absolute nightmare. I owe him credit for that and it would be a grave injustice for me to neglect to mention my gratitude.

God bless you. How I wish someone could have said something like that to my wife when she was a child! I cannot describe the emotional damage I've suffered and the scars that will accompany me to my deathbed. It really sucks to know that the candy store was repeatedly and enthusiastically looted before you showed up to PAY for yours, and to feel like the shelves are bare as a result. I bought the cow, only to learn that the milk was gone, stolen by thieves who came before me. And now there is little or none left for me, though I paid for it. If the Church isn't already making this point (discretely, of course) with the youth, I strongly hope it will start.

With respect, Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, and I have that directly from the Holy Spirit. I'm sure he made some mistakes because he was only human. That does not shake my faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which I would only have disjointed fragments of were it not for the ministry of Joseph Smith. I always thought it was common knowledge that Joseph Smith fired out the door in the Carthage Jail at the mob that attacked him and the others. But I've heard this mentioned before as if it were somehow incriminating on Joseph's part (not saying you're doing that now, or that you aren't either). My response to that has always been, “Let's see what you do when you're trapped in a room on the second floor of a building that is surrounded by several hundred bloodthirsty savages, all of them armed, and some of them having just kicked in the door to your room after having shot your brother, your lifelong best friend, in the face and chest, after they've shot another of your friends to pieces, and are about to kill another of your friends. Let's see whether or not you find it appropriate to pick up a pistol and try to defend yourself and your remaining associates.” As far as I'm concerned, Joseph Smith saved the lives of John Taylor and Willard Richards. And even if he didn't, I'm sure it's not easy to remain calm when you're being attacked by a mob of that size and you're trapped and surrounded. Anyone would be justified for fighting for his life in that situation. Further, if what Joseph did was so bad, I wonder why God would have caused so much freakish suffering amongst those who killed him, like the one mobber (can't remember his name), who developed a bizarre skin disease that resulted in a neat vertical line down the middle of his face, with the skin on one side of it decaying and falling off down to the dry bone, including the eye, while the other side remained intact. And that's just the one that I can remember reading about. Joseph was absolutely right to fire that pistol. My wife is a descendant of Cyrus Wheelock, the man who smuggled it in to Joseph, and for that one reason alone, I tell my children they should be honored to call him an ancestor. My testimony is in my Father in Heaven, my Savior, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit who reveals them and all other truth to me. I revere all Prophets, of all dispensations, for the contributions to the Gospel that they have made and their efforts to make it known. This is why I so greatly respect Joseph Smith, because so much of the Gospel would be lost were it not for all the sacrifices he made, all the courage and faith he demonstrated, and for the way he persevered and endured to the end, no matter how persecuted he was, or by whom. Likewise, I admire Peter. I admire Stephen. I admire Moses. I admire Moroni. I admire countless other Prophets. I do not worship them, but they taught the truths He commanded them to, and I would not truly know Him otherwise. You said that when you heard these bad things about the Church that it broke your heart (maybe not your exact words, but I'm sure I get the picture). That's not how the Holy Spirit works. You weren't shown these things. It sounds like, based on what you've said, that you sought them out. The Prophets have encouraged us to avoid reading anti-Mormon materials not because they're true, but because when we read the lies of an embittered apostate, unless we know the full background to their allegations, we may be tempted to believe them, or to question the truth. I have found that every accusation I've ever heard made against the Church or any of its Prophets is false. I dug for the truth, and the Prophets were ultimately vindicated. Too many people will abandon their faith and leave the Church instead of looking deeper into the story. I don't intend to sound mean, rather only to defend what I hold sacred, and to dispel what I believe to be false impugnment. I understand that you're relying primarily on documents such as the History of the Church to make your claims. I have no doubt that the History of the Church is an accurate record. I am also not personally troubled if you find it disturbing. It is a very common thing in this world for two people to see the same event and perceive it differently. We all view reality through a prism. It seems to me that the negative experiences you've had with individuals in your Ward have contributed to the makeup of your particular prism, and that as a result, when you read things like the History of the Church, you perceive fault in places where someone like myself would not see it, even though we might both read the exact same words. The way I see it, those negative experiences have colored your prism, and it's been reinforced by inaccurate perceptions of what you've read in the History of the Church. If you want to find fault, you will, even when you're looking in the same place others have when they did not find fault. Joseph Smith has been accused of a lot of things over the years. I chalk it all up to lies, misunderstandings, distortions, and overall, a sustained effort by satan to lead us away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which Joseph Smith played a tremendously important part in bringing to light. The Holy Spirit has not shown Joseph to be a bad person. The Holy Spirit is not present when you get negative feelings like the kind you described upon viewing Joseph Smith as a bad person, fallen Prophet, what have you. Those negative feelings come from unclean spirits, the same ones who tempt you to think ill of the Lord's anointed. The same ones who cajoled the mobbers into murdering two innocent men of God on June 27, 1844. Panic, despair, fear, anger, sorrow - those are evidence of the promptings or proximity of unclean spirits. The Holy Spirit will bring you peace, joy, love, confidence, and courage when He confirms the truth to you, and your own words make the opposite to be the case in regards to your current view of the Church of Jesus Christ. Even when He rebukes me for my sins, the Holy Spirit is still gentle, and merciful, never mean or harsh. I don't mean to condemn you or accuse you. I have my own faults, and am not prepared to have them placed under the spotlight. But I, like Joseph Smith, am able to be human, with faults and imperfections, and still hold the Priesthood after the order of the Son of God. I very strongly encourage you to give Joseph, Brigham, and anyone else you see in a bad light the benefit of the doubt. I encourage you to assume that maybe you don't know the whole story, or clearly understand why some things that were done took place. I encourage you to assume the context to the story may be greater and deeper than it appears, and maybe what seems beyond justification is, in fact, justifiable. Remember Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah. Remember Nephi and Laban. It may be easy to condemn Abraham and Nephi, but in both cases, they only did (or almost did) what they were commanded to do by God. I defy anyone to sincerely watch the next General Conference and then tell me that those General Authorities are not men of God. I defy anyone to tell me that they do not hold the Priesthood after the order of the Son of God, which they can trace back to the Savior Himself, through Joseph Smith, among others. The Church is true, the evidence is easy to find for anyone who knows how to look. The Holy Spirit bares record of this, and anyone who is able to discern His "voice" will attest. A man can lie or be deceived or speculate. A book can contain inaccuracies, misrepresentations, or lies. But the Holy Spirit cannot lie. I believe you know what I'm saying, and I'll leave it at that, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I don't mean to be rude, but I have to take exception with the idea of "learning" that Joseph Smith was some kind of bad person. I'm taking into consideration the pain that's been inflicted on you by people who are supposed to be helping you rather than harming you spiritually, as well as your emotional state after failing the math test, but I just can't help but take it personally when I hear anyone talking poorly about someone I respect as much as Joseph Smith. I feel obliged to clear a few things up. I never met Joseph Smith, but my joining the Church was chiefly the result of having heard a friend's father bare his testimony of Joseph Smith to me. I was overwhelmed with a sense of awe and wonder, and was strongly convinced that Joseph Smith was everything a faithful Latter Day Saint knows him to be. Additionally, he may have had his own quirks and faults, but, apart from the mistake he made with the first 116 pages of the Book of Mormon, I am unaware of any mistake he made that Heavenly Father felt was severe enough to disqualify him as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, or the President of the Church and first Prophet of this, the last dispensation. Joseph Smith may have found himself in a legal predicament with the Kirtland Safety Society, but my understanding of the matter is that he did not get himself and the Kirtland Safety Society into the mess in which it ended up through any malfeasance on his part, and once he realized the mess the KSS was in, he was stuck between a rock and hard place and there was no easy way out. I believe he did the best anyone in that position could have done. After the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, there was a period of about two or three weeks in which none of the Kirtland Saints were subject to temptation of any external kind. They all noticed it. Joseph Smith warned them it wasn’t permanent, and that if they were not prepared, when temptation resumed, there would be much iniquity and even apostasy. As to be expected, Joseph was proven right. The apostasy in Kirtland followed not long after, and Apostles of Jesus Christ left the Church, some of them becoming violent mobbers. Even in those days, if you wanted to, you could easily find someone happy to tell you what a rotten person Joseph Smith was, especially if you were someone like the "men" who tried to kill him and Sidney Rigdon in 1832. There has always been someone happy to lie about Joseph Smith and get us to see him the way satan wants us to see him. The reason why is because it would kill our testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ if we can't trust the word of a Prophet, especially one who opens a new dispensation and is required to dispel ancient heresies (and from that perspective, appears to be a heretic himself). Some revere Joseph Smith, some detest him. So what are you going to do? Who do you trust? As a tie-breaking vote, may I suggest the Holy Spirit? Don't take my word for it, or any other mortal's, unless you want to use it as a hypothesis to present in prayer to Heavenly Father, sincerely and meekly seeking the Holy Spirit's refutation or confirmation of it. And in order to do that, you'll want to make sure you've done all you can to be worthy of the Holy Spirit's presence (as we all). When one has a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are shielded from the kind of doubts that you're having. When we disregard the lies of vindictive apostates, and instead listen to the words of the Apostles, we make ourselves able to feel Heavenly Father's undying love for us. You are not happy, and it is plain. This is because your testimony is shrinking and failing. Thomas B. Marsh went through the same thing, and he eventually returned to the Church because he knew it was the only way he could shake the feelings you're having (that, and that the Church was true). You need to care for your testimony, as you would a plant or animal, or as a bodybuilder would care for and exercise his body. You must feed your testimony, and you must exercise it. You must cease feeding your soul poison, like the kind that is so enthusiastically offered by apostates. Those lies, as you have already admitted, bring you sadness and despair. They sicken your soul, much as drinking anti-freeze would sicken your body. Though your soul can't be made to stop existing, it can still be harmed. You have to stop harming it. One way to stop harming it is to avoid confrontations and contention, so it would be my advice to try to find some way of avoiding anyone in your ward that you feel brings out anger, frustration, resentment, or any other negative emotion in you, at the very least if they do so to the extent that you feel driven to say or do something un-Christlike. You need to purge your soul of all of that which you can. Always remember that you’re really there for the Savior, because of what He did for you, as opposed to being there for yourself or anyone else. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you also need to stop reading anti-Mormon material. The Holy Spirit will confirm truth to you, but if you read anti-Mormon material, it will probably offend the Holy Spirit enough to leave you with only the sorrow and despair you mentioned. That's a red flag that the Holy Spirit is absent. What you want to do is get Him to come back. He most likely won't as long as the anti-Mormon stuff is around, or occupying a spot in your mind. If you own any, I suggest throwing it in the garbage, unless you don’t want to offend the garbage. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is logical and makes perfect sense, but only when all things, or at least enough, are understood. It is incumbent upon us mortal children of God to do the best we can with whatever understanding we have, and the rest we have to take on faith. That's the way it was meant to be. I would reject any "wisdom" that challenges what has been revealed to me by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has revealed to me that Joseph Smith DID see the Father and Son, that angels DID minister to him and teach him many things to prepare him to open this dispensation, and that the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Bible are the word of God, as also are the Prophetic words of the Apostles. Granted, they are not always acting in that capacity. They are men, and they are entitled to have their own opinions and philosophies, same as the rest of us. There may come a day when every thought that crosses our minds fits within a clearly defined Gospel frame, but in this day, who we vote for, what car we drive, when we change the filter in our air conditioners, etc. are all choices we are given the freedom to make for ourselves. This is why good people will sometimes say and do things that we may find disagreeable, but not everything one person finds disagreeable about another person is a sin. That is a matter for God to decide. Brigham Young had a relatively short temper, but he was also a Prophet. He was not perfect. Nobody who ever walked this earth as a mortal was, except for the Savior. Emma Smith was the widow of a murdered husband. They both loved Joseph, though it is well known that Emma was not fond of the idea of plural marriage, and this, as well as other possible personal issues of hers caused tension between her and Joseph. Hyrum Smith tried to smooth this out on occasion. Brigham Young did not have Hyrum's patience, and was more inclined to speak harshly when Emma left the Church and started/joined a splinter sect with Joseph Smith III as its authority. She was called "an elect lady" by the Lord well before that time, and anyhow, if you were to meet and speak to Joseph Smith today, it wouldn't surprise me if he told you that he never stopped loving her and that she had repented and will be with him in the Celestial Kingdom. It's certainly possible, at least. Brigham Young did other things that showed he was only human. I've heard that if you look at an altar in the tabernacle in St. George, you'll see a dent that was made when Brigham Young slammed his cane on it in anger over something the Saints there weren't doing right. Additionally other General Authorities in this dispensation likewise have had their own faults. J. Golden Kimball is a classic example of this. He had a problem with coffee (before it was viewed as being as rigidly taboo as it is now) and language, and he struggled with it, notwithstanding the fact that he was a very kind and gracious man. The Lord called him to be a seventy. The Lord called Brigham Young to be a Prophet. Lorenzo Snow once said, and in a complimentary way to Joseph Smith, that knowing that Joseph Smith was a Prophet gave him hope, because he knew Joseph Smith well enough to know he had flaws. He saw that you don't have to be perfect to be a Prophet, and if you don't have to be perfect to be a Prophet, you probably don't have to be perfect to make it to the Celestial Kingdom either. Again, this wasn't meant as a dig at Joseph Smith by Lorenzo Snow. Everyone's got a flaw. Some are easier to see than others. We can't let this cause us to question the Lord's anointed. It is incumbent upon us to trust the Prophets of all ages. If one of them ever attempted to lead us astray, they would pay a heavy price for it. The Lord doesn't expect His Prophets to be perfect. He only expects them to teach perfect doctrine, and, like the rest of us, do their best to practice it. Bottom line, don't let the behavior of misbehaving Saints or the lies of vindictive apostates distract you from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And if anything in your life brings you contention, or in any other way makes you feel distanced from Heavenly Father, get away from it. Feed your soul only light and truth, and stay away from the lies, distortion, misrepresentations, contentions, and abuse of others. Close yourself off to the servants of satan and make sure all doors are open to the Savior. Pray before each meal and before sleeping. Read scriptures each day. I might hold off on going to the Temple until you can repair your testimony, but that's about it. Sorry if this sounds preachy.

I first heard "the Queen Mother of all dirty words" when I was 10, in a Catholic school, from a couple of my classmates. I asked them what that word meant, and they told the teacher that I had used it and pretended to be completely innocent of everything. The teacher believed them, and expressed doubt that I had never heard the word before. She told me to ask my parents about it when I got home and I had no idea why she was so adamant about me not repeating it again in the meantime. Boy was she angry! That evening, my Dad "fessed up". I got the whole talk. All I could think of at the end was that it was one of the grossest things I'd ever heard of, and I assured myself that I'd never do something so.... eeeeeewwww!!! And then I turned 12. And things became very different. Well before all of that, back when I was, say 8 or 9, there had been some discussion among my aunts about a friend of my Mom's who had been living with a man and they were not married. One of my aunts told me that what they were doing was wrong, and a sin. In my mind, this was exclusively limited to the concept of a man and a woman living in the same house and not being married. I wondered if it had something to do with the mortgage or chores. I had no idea about the carnal aspect of it. I think this was some of the most important advice I've ever been given. She didn't say why it was wrong for them to live together. But I eventually came to understand that there was such a thing as a law of chastity. When kids at school scorned such an idea and claimed that any and all unchaste behavior was in fact, not sinful, I had my doubts. If it weren't for my aunt, I might have believed those kids at school. I think that the key thing was that she told me that a sin was sinful without telling me what that sin was. I was too young for "the talk", but I wasn't too young to be told that it's a sin for an unmarried man and woman to live together, even if they're doing it on "Three's Company".

My wife sometimes goes to Arizona to visit with her Mother during the summer. One time she was gone for three months. When she left, we are at the beginning of an upward turn in our marriage, after a pretty miserable low. So although we were on the way up, there remained much to be desired. When she left, I was mostly indifferent about seeing her go, and honestly, a little excited about having the place to myself. I enjoyed it a lot at first. After about a month, I began to miss her. After two months, I was suffering from depression. Toward the end of the three months, I was approaching insanity. During that time, we had begun to fall in love with each other again. And then, in the middle of it all we had one of the biggest fights we've ever had. I caught her emailing and calling an old boyfriend (who was also from Arizona) and she got mad when I insisted that she come back home early. She actually told me at one point that she wanted a divorce. I don't know how He did it, but Heavenly Father helped me through that. The realization of what had been going on for months came to me when things were starting to really get better between us. Then I found out what had been happening and felt deceived and betrayed. I felt that I had been conned by the greatest ever. I was angry, but I didn't hate her. I was shocked at the anger she demonstrated toward me, yet I managed to shrug it off somehow. I should have been worried out of my mind that my wife from Arizona was living there again, with all our kids, and wanted a divorce. I'd rather die than move back to Arizona, and it looked like it was either that or lose my kids, not to mention my wife. Make no mistake, I suffered, but somehow I endured it, instead of ending up in a padded room, which is what naturally should have happened. Heavenly Father helped me. He strengthened me. He anesthetized me. He gave me courage. He helped me keep from saying things I'd regret. When I was in the depths of a hellish nightmare, He kept me calm and my peace was not taken from me as long as I drew close to Him. Generally speaking, when people are having marital problems, my advice is to spend some time apart. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all. I've learned this to be very true for myself. More specifically though, I'd suggest that the closer a person draws to Heavenly Father, the more power to deal with truly horrible things that person will find. When I envision the martyrdom of Stephen from the New Testament in my mind, I always perceive him gazing up to the sky, in a trance, virtually oblivious to the rocks pelting his face. In a way, I feel like I can honestly say I've experienced something similar. Heavenly Father helped me through something similarly horrible and painful. And, like my perception of Stephen, I was given such an overwhelming feeling of calm and peace that it was almost like my suffering never happened. The power of God to heal, strengthen, and give peace is so very, very real. I know it's been said so many times, but I never really understood that until I experienced it. It was nothing short of a miracle.

I've heard the idea that Kolob = Christ once before. I don't particularly believe that, but thought I'd share that with you. What I believe is that the Savior uses symbolism quite extensively to teach us, and therefore two distinct objects are frequently compared in the Gospel.

I remember when congress was set to vote on the bailout, all I could think about was the part in Terminator 3 where the General is hesitating as he decides whether or not to enable Skynet. Just as in the movie series Skynet caused the end of civilization as we know it, I sensed that the bailout would in a somewhat similar way initate a sequence of events that would be the undoing of this country. That was before I found out it was going to cost $3 trillion. All I knew was that the country was in a bad financial situation and our government proposed to remedy it by spending unimaginable amounts of money. The way I see it, that's like trying to keep the Titanic from sinking by shoving chunks of iceberg in the holes in the hull, except for the fact that I can trust the ice. I am no financial expert, and I don't read the news all day long, but that's not the point. It wasn't what I knew that told me the bailout was a bad idea. It was what I sensed. Something told me it was a sign of the times, that I should heed an unspoken warning. I have since felt an intensified drive to get my food storage in order. Some people I have talked to are optimistic about the situation, saying that they think we may be on the road to recovery. I cannot refute that, and I certainly haven't got the economic knowledge necessary to debate it, beyond the most fundamental principles of basic personal economics. But one thing I do know is that there are things in motion now that could possibly mean the end of civilization as we know it. If our economy continues to go south, this could be the end. I find it worthy to note that in these times of gowing peril, we have "comedians" pulling stunts in public for the purpose of shocking, offending, and pushing the boundaries of societal conventions farther in the direction of Satan and sin. This is a time for mass repentance, and instead we are seeing the exact opposite. Babylon is growing stronger. Sodom and Gomorrah are stretching their tentacles into every community, and even in the most conservative of communities, we are hearing the deceived calling for normalization of that which is abominable. Not merely tolerance, but normalization. Now is the time to prepare every needful thing. Now is the time to prepare our lamps and gather oil for them, because the Bridegroom is coming, and He is considerably closer today than He was just a couple of years ago. The judgements of God are beginning to weigh more heavily upon us. I'm not even 40 years old, but I feel I can say that I was born on another world, in another time, when I look around at the world today. I think it's too late to save this world. I think the day of burning is irrevocably approaching. I don't expect I'll be demonstrating in the streets. We may be beyond that point now, or soon will be. Our government has already labeled people like me as suspected terrorists, just because of our political beleifs, status as a veteran, etc. It is a shameless propaganda stunt, and I doubt the media is going to hold the government accountable for it. Rather, I believe the media is complicit. Rather than demonstrating in the streets, I think I'll be building my year's supply of food and water, and standing in holy places, being not moved.

If you're going to Independence, there are other places worth seeing in that vicinity. Liberty Jail, Far West, Richmond, Haun's Mill, and Adam-ondi-Ahman, among others. You can also see Hiram Page's grave, and there's a plaque in the Gallatin town square commemorating the election riot that took place there. Richmond is your biggest "one stop" site to visit, with the most to see packed into the smallest area. In the town square there is a statue of Alexander Doniphan. Directly South of there is a Salvation Army store with a plaque at the corner of the parking lot commemorating the inprisonment of Joseph Smith and the others, after being arrested at Far West, and the incident in which he commanded the guards to be quiet. The Richmond jail (where the incident occurred) once stoood where the parking lot is. Some distance to the east and west of the town square are two separate cemeteries, where you'll find the graves of many of the Whitmers, including David, as well as Oliver Cowdery's grave, which also serves as a monument to the three witnesses. And if you're up for a brief moment of disgust, William McClellan's grave is also to be found there. Haun's Mill isn't much to see. Soil erosion has obviously changed the landscape, so it's hard to get a fair idea of what the place looked like in 1838. The Community of Christ has done a lot of excavations at the site without finding much of anything (the mass grave remains undiscovered), but when I was there last year, I saw no signs of the excavations, which I believe had been done a couple years prior. There are no buildings remaining. In fact, the only thing that identifies the site in any way is a plaque that the Community of Christ put up at the site, which some hoodlums have used for target practice with their BB guns. If you're going to Haun's Mill, it is very important that you remember either not to go when it's been raining, or take a couple of 4x4's when you go, because the roads are in about the worst shape one could imagine. They're dirt roads with little gravel if any, and easily become quagmires. You can easily get stuck. Liberty Jail, owned by the Church, is a much more moving experience in comparison to most of the other sites in the area. Tours are given, which start in a sort of museum room, which contains many pictures and artifacts from the 1830s and around that time. The old Liberty Jail exists just where it did in Joseph's day, though it is now enclosed within a building the Church built around it, and a significant portion of the old Liberty Jail has been cut away to allow you to see exactly how it was designed, and what kind of conditions Joseph and the others lived in during their stay there. You can see how the jail was very well designed to prevent prisoners from escaping. It was considered state of the art in maximum security in those days. There are wax models in the dungeon area, in a realistic environment, which helps you gain an appreciation for what it must have been like for the real prisoners. I felt the Spirit fairly strongly there. There's not much to see at Far West, but The Church has made the most of it. There are restrooms (which you may very well be thankful for in the middle of a full day of driving around). There is a monument in the center of the temple site, commemorating Far West as the place where so many Saints gathered and made their last stand in Missouri, as well as the Temple that was never built. The corner stones for that Temple are still there, encased in glass boxes with plaques identifying their signficance, as each one was dedicated especially to one quorum of the Priesthood or another. Though there isn't a lot to see there, I did feel the Spirit there. Independence is primarily a Community of Christ site. It's their headquarters and most of the religiously oriented real estate in the area is theirs. Their Temple is open to the public, and it contains a small museum with interesting artifacts from Church History. You may be surprised to find that the paintings of Joseph and Emma which we commonly think of as the most accurate are actually replicas of originals which they have. They have other items and documents that would be of interest to any LDS Church History buff. It's worth seeing, for that reason. We have a visitor's center at one corner of the intersection of the Community of Christ Temple, the Temple Lot, and the Community of Christ auditorium (where Harry S. Truman once spoke). I didn't have enough time to see our visitor's center when I was there. The Temple Lot is owned by a third party, known as the Church of Christ Temple Lot. They have a visitor's center/chappel located at the corner of the Temple Lot, and there are small corner stones marking out where it is believed that the Temple Site is. While the corner stones indicate a fairly large Temple, I'm doubtful that the Independence Temple is going to be as small as that. Knowing that the original corners stones were not all there when Church of Christ Temple Lot acquired the land, and that what was still there has been replaced with the small markers that they have there now, and that the Church doesn't own that land yet, I felt the Spirit a bit, but not as strongly as I did when visiting sites that the Church does own. Save Adam-ondi-Ahman for last. Go in late May if you can, because that's when the Black Locust trees are blooming, and it's a sight to see. But anyway you can, go to Adam-ondi-Ahman. That's all I'm going to say other than that I and other people I've heard talk about it felt the Spirit stronger there than any other Church History site. Needless to say, don't forget your camera. I would strongly recommend researching the sites on the internet or in books, so that you are as familiar with them as you can be before you get to them, which will enhance your appreciation for them. The Community of Christ has a fantastic website that covers a great deal of our mutual Church History, and it's definitely worth a look, for anyone with any interest in Church History whatsoever. The wealth of history there is incredible. By the way, most of the Church History sites in Missouri fit somewhat neatly into a circuitous pattern, which makes seeing them all a bit easier. And getting a look at them using satellite view can be helpful. You can even get street view for Independence, which will make recognizing the Temple Lot easier.

From what I have read, Joseph Smith explicitly stated that the scrolls were written in Abraham's own hand. I believe that the hypocephalus, therefore, was drawn by Abraham as well, though that's just an assumption based on having read that the text was in Abraham's handwriting. I completely agree about the historical POV though. I think a lot of people make the mistake of neglecting the historical POV and treat the scriptures like directions printed out from mapquest. I haven't got a clue what the hypocephalus means beyond the descriptions provided, and even then I can't really wrap my head around it (though the Kolob Theorem provides for me an application for some of the descriptions that makes sense). I don't think Brother Hilton is able to read that facsimile either. If it wasn't given to Joseph Smith to interpret the whole thing, or at least share the interpretation of it, than I doubt anyone with less Priesthood authority is going to be given the interpretation, at least of the parts where no interpretation is given. I think what Brother Hilton has done is provide a theoretical application for the parts where a description is given, and it is one that I believe works. I don't recall noticing any flaws, though there were a few portions of his theorem for which I couldn't see any logic. I wouldn't go so far as to call them flaws, only that they didn't make sense to me at this point in my life, and I have no idea if they ever will. I agree that one could go wrong with something like this, if they bought into it so heavily that they were unwilling to listen if a General Authority said that it was incorrect. With things like this, I believe Heavenly Father doesn't usually reveal much about it. I think He prefers to leave it on a shelf, and if we're interested, fine, if not, that's fine too. I can picture in my mind the earth being moved out of this solar system and moved through space to another point in the galaxy, probably at the core, but it's not as important to me as learning how to forgive faster and get angry slower. Hopefully we can all remember our priorities and not get swept away in Gospel hobbying. The Kolob Theorem makes sense to me, but if a General Authority ever says it's false or even inaccurate, I'm going with what the General Authority says. In the meantime, if I can gain a greater understanding of the cosmos and my place in it, and if I find symbolism that reinforces the Gospel, and it all gels into one truth, I feel comfortable with accepting it. If I were not so disposed, I doubt I would have taken the discussions and joined the Church. I apologize if I sound preachy. Just sharing within the context of a sitmulating discussion and exchange of ideas. Thank you for your ideas and opinions.

When Joseph Smith obtained the plates, he did not bring them home right away. After getting them out of the ground, he hid them in the hollow of a log, and went back to get them later. I can't remember for sure why he did this, but I suppose he either thought he might have been followed (the locals wanted the gold and were willing to suspend disbelief long enough to get it if possible). When he came back later to get the plates out of the log, he was attacked by multiple men. Joseph suffered a dislocated thumb as a result of one of the attackers. Once getting the plates back to Joseph Smith Sr.'s house it was repeatedly moved. Joseph was prompted to do so by the Spirit, in part because the locals had resorted to witchcraft to discover the hiding place of the plates. They were kept in a chest, in a hollow in the hearth, under a floor panel in the barn, and after a witch discovered that location and the mob came for them, the plates were hidden under a pile of hay in the loft right above the floor panel where they had been hidden only hours prior. They didn't go into a lot of detail showing this part of Church History in the movie, and in general the movies have breezed quickly through things I'd love to see given much more attention, but as far as I can tell from the first two (haven't seen the third one yet), the movies are historically accurate, apart from the fictional parts created for the books by Brother Lund.

I have used a similar program in the past. It can capture screenshots at intervals and picture quality levels you determine. It's got a keylogger. It keeps track of websites visited. You can set it up to email reports to you at work or someplace else. I don't know how it functions on a local area network since I've only got a single computer hooked up to the internet at home, but nobody in my family is able to use our computer to be naughty without me finding out about it, and I have absolutely no problem with that. I see absolutely nothing wrong with using something like this if I suspect my kids or spouse is up to something. Doing this with the exe's knowledge to me seems potentially ineffective. If she's that lax, what's to stop her from spilling the beans to the kids? I wish you best, UnixKnight.