gaspah

that was a great post! I also have studied a large number of alternate religions (particularly buddhism and shinto), grew up being 'Christian', I loved a lot of things about a lot of religions. But, it was only when coming to the LDS church did I finally go, WOW this is the one! A year investigating, I'm sure that drove the missionaries crazy! Welcome!

wow I really like that.. i had no idea that you couldnt be bishop if you were divorced or unmarried. I think that is a fantastic way for it to be done. :)

hi emily, welcome! :)

hi there, welcome :) Oh, and I have a cat, her name is Yuffie. I wouldn't say she has a split personality per se, more so that she doesnt understand the difference between love and hate. I treat her very well, so she is overly friendly, even to new and strange people, which is a bit of a worry sometimes. Because, unbeknown to new visitors (which is quite frequently since joining the LDS church) her favorite thing is to jump up on peoples laps and stroke her head against you, then out of nowhere just start biting you, I mean it is playful, but she does it real hard. I suppose this is my fault because I lack the ability to discipline the cat, well really, its just that I don't mind her biting me, so I let her bite me. But, it does come as a shock to guests :D Ohe.. I love my cat. :) She's awesome!

you're telling me!! I've given up coke for nearly a month (with one slip up), and i haven't been able to sleep lately... I'm buzzing around all day and I can't believe I ever used it as a crutch. I've even found that now that I drink water instead, it seems to help me avoid fatty foods and I get even more of a health/energy boost. Its amazing how adhering to the Word of Wisdom gives you blessings you wouldn't even expect. Instead of getting like a Coke and chips i get, a water and some fruit. Also until most recently, I had real trouble getting out of bed, to the point where I would set my alarm clock an hour before I had to wake up, just so I could set my alarm again in the morning an hour later. Now that it (my alarm) is still set an hour earlier, I spend some time in the morning cleaning my house or other productive things before I go to work, so now I'm blessed with a clean house (being a single male it's something I've struggled with for most of my life, though struggle may be the wrong word as I had no intention on improving it hahaha). Thankyou

hi there

i was only stating obesity as a symptom, not as being against the WoW. Just like if I said having lung cancer is a health issue, would you assume having cancer is against the Word of Wisdom? I realise it is the act not the consequence that is against it, and I didn't state that I thought that obesity was against the Word of Wisdom, only that it was a major health issue. and as to adhering to the WoW by not eating meat frequently, I'm not a regular meat consumer, but I can't resist a barbecue gathering. I very rarely eat meat at home, sometimes I go weeks without any meat, though the norm for me is once or twice a week (this has been from long before I heard the WoW). Thanks for the encouragement also :) I should probably sleep now. oh, i probably should have said i had a piece of chicken, a rissole and a sausage, rather than pluralize it... i didn't eat a whole cow or anything (but i consider that a lot of meat in one sitting)

I don't understand why this part of the WoW is pushed aside, when it states it very clearly. Though... its the middle of summer now, and i just had a big feed of chicken, beef rissoles and snaggers (there were veges/salads too but, mostly they didnt get as much attention at the barbecue. I have no idea why this part of the WoW is blatantly disregarded whilst other parts are adhered to ever so strictly. Especially when weight is such a big health issue these days. Obesity, diabetes etc etc are just about on par with smoking when it comes to disease and death. So why ignore it, its not like there is any room for misinterpretation when reading the WoW. But, I just opened my fast to give me help with my talk in front of the ward tomorrow. My nerves are getting worse and worse... gah.

lol, yeah, I might have heard that one too!!

but isn't the bible the basis for the gospel?

AMAZING! I'm reading this article on jefflindsay.com and it's VERY POWERFUL, something I can really understand and sink my teeth into. Thanks again Palerider, I suspect I'll be reading a lot more from this website, it's truly amazing :) Mormon Prophets, Called of God but Fallible: Why the Church of Jesus Christ Is and Can Be True even though Church Leaders and Other Mormons Make Mistakes I LOL'd so hard

I just spent a few hours reading through various subjects on this site. But it did not please me, it felt like I was being led to agree with an opinion rather than given evidence for me to evaluate subjectively. particularly in this article Archaeology and the Bible - FAIRMormon I found that most criticism was walked around, and only addressed narrow specific parts of criticism. Whereas, the quarry of the retort to the criticism involved asking the reader questions, the writers thought processes involved in refuting such claims, but nothing solid. Reading those articles on fairmormon, almost had me questioning faith unlike when I was presented with factual information, devoid of opinion. However, this was easily overcome with the realization the website had no connection to Prophets, either current or from the past. I just found it upsetting to think that a portion at least of the LDS faith need to reject factual historical information in order to still have faith that the Book of Mormon is indeed scripture and that the Prophet Joseph Smith Jnr was able to translate it through the power given to him of God. I shall have a read, thankyou :)

i came across a few things when investigating.. from wikipedia. I find wiki to be 'reasonably' unbiased. source = Book of Mormon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia main article = Historicity of the Book of Mormon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

not me. i wrote pages.. and had a reply almost instantly...

just another quick question, if anyone knows it. Which Prophet was it that defined "hot drinks" to be coffee/tea? Just would like to look it up further, if anyone has any links to some more information? that'd be great thanks

Hello! :D

thanks and thanks for reading it, after having a number of people read it now, i'm slightly more confident of actually saying out loud in 2 days in front of the rest of my ward at weekly sacrament meeting.

:) Oh it wasnt a ward activity as such, rather an invite from a member, i think. not too sure. To be perfectly honest, I didn't feel quite right when I included that either, but I included it because it was in my chain of thought. I must say that i agree that i disagree with what i wrote. :lol: also, am i supposed to be spelling Prophet with a capital 'P' ? Well, it certainly sounds like an issue that will be officially addressed in the near future.

I dunno, pit a dictionary against a hungry bear.. i'm pretty sure the bear will win...

Well of course not, if you just use repentance as an excuse to sin, then you are making a mockery of the whole reason for repentance. But, I'm sure if you genuinely repent for doing that, you will surely be forgiven for that transgression also. Much like taking the weekly sacrament when you have no intention of keeping yourself holy, I'm sure God takes offence. /off topic Anyway, the Holy Ghost is a companion to help you through all of your life's problem, not limited to anything. As long as your environment/spirit is somewhere it can dwell, surely it will help with any studies you have to undertake.

Hi Sandra, I'm new here also, but that doesn't mean i cant welcome you! :lol: welcome!

Hard

Oh ok, now i understand what you mean. Yes, the first discussion (on WoW) I had with the missionaries that came to see me, I felt the spirit as we read the passages and all I could think of was my addiction to Coke as the rest (alcohol,tobacco,coffee) were pretty irrelevant to me at that point in my life. All I could feel was a great need to quit it. I was also thinking further about it the other day and how Coke was only invented some time after Joseph Smiths revelation. Also, that there is heating involved in the process to create coke, brewing the ingredients in sort of a similar way to coffee, this coupled with its stimulant and addictive nature, I saw it to be in no way different to other 'hot drinks'. I saw it in this light as Ice Coffee falls under this classification also. I just believe that revelations are relevant to the time in which they came to pass, as to be understood by people at that time. But, as new things are introduced/invented into our culture, interpretation of the old law needs to be adapted to meet the needs of the people of here and now. Either through further revelation through the current prophet or discussion amongst members. Just as 'hot drinks' was later defined to be coffee and tea, perhaps further interpretation is needed. But, I do understand where you're coming from, as if everything addictive was banned completely there wouldn't be and 'treats' left. Although D&C 89 doesn't mention about being allowed to eat treats anyway only naturally occuring foods. Though, I'm pretty sure I couldn't handle that extreme of a lifestyle.

I'm not sure I completely understood what you were trying to say. Could you explain what you mean a little further, I'm not sure its come over the way you intended it. I'll comment on what I think you mean. I'm not sure if I can overcome it, its only been a short amount of time since I quit drinking Coke (under a month). I have tried time and time again to quit drinking it over the last 3 or so years that I've realised it was a problem (i had the same habits for a long time before that, but never saw it for what it was). For me it is the biggest weakness I have, I have no desire to drink alcohol, nor coffee etc, but put Coke in front of me, I normally cant help myself. The few times it has been offered to me in that short time, once i caved and drank it, the other time it made me feel uncomfortable and my mind was fixed on it sitting in the ice bucket. The burger was macdonalds and therefore indestructible to the most corrosive of chemicals.

yeah, i'm sure there'll be many more, but i think i may restrict myself to some of the lighter topics, after scrolling through a few threads, some of the topics are pretty hardcore. so i think i'm going to have to lurk for a while to get a feel for the place. thanks :)