bytebear

I also lived in New England, so I can relate to a lot of this. They were so particular about pronunciations. I remember being told that no matter how the locals said it, the correct pronunciation for Nevada was Ne-VAH-da. I did find it funny that a friend would get annoyed at the lazy L in Utah. I can't even give it phonetically, but it was like you say your L with your tongue barely touching the roof of your mouth. Oh, and Grandma lived near a crick and had a rut cellar. I also remember having an argument with a roommate (surfer dude in SoCal) and the whole argument consisted of us both just saying dude in various intonations.

Skewed compared to what? To traditional Christianity? Yes, I will give you that. To western culture? yes. To Biblical patterns and practice, No. To the Book of Mormon? No (see above).

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. It is a day to recharge and refocus. If that means cleaning toilets, then by all means, scrub away. If it means watching football with friends and family, then enjoy it. But, if you are a slave to Sundays, then you are doing it wrong.

The answer is in The Book of Mormon, Jacob 2: Read chapter 30 very carefully. If God commands it, we do it, if he doesn't we don't.

I think that may be true of more recent converts. The church is growing so fast, that the internet is the fastest way to learn everything there is to know. But, coming from the background of a life long member, there is not one issue brought up on these or other forums that hadn't been rehashed over and over in my youth.

I thought the Joseph being a fertile branch running over the wall, was a prophecy of Lehi traveling to America.

Communism - Where you always have a job, but never get a promotion.

Whatever your position in the eternities, you WILL be the one who chooses it. do not think you will be stuck in an eternity that you don't want. it just doesn't work that way.

The Bible Dictionary has modern scripture that clarifies some things. Of course, the JWs will not accept that. Bible Dictionary: Jehovah

The iron rod!

I hate when people say Illinois with an S at the end.

back to the original query. The short answer is no. What if a husband and wife are sealed, but the husband dies shortly after. Then she remarries, has a full and complete life with husband number 2 complete with kids and grandkids. Should she be forced to be with her first husband because he was sealed to her, abandoning a lifetime with another man? I think not.

Unrelated to your wardrobe discussion, but... My dad grew up in Springville and was eventually laid to rest there. We would go to that museum a lot when I was a kid. So, this story brings back a lot of memories for me.

Don't feel bad. LA can't keep a team either.

My uncle went on a mission there some 30 years ago. Have you stopped by a local church on Sunday. It's a good way to meet a few Saints in your area.

The translation device used by Smith were called the U&T by Oliver Cowdry, after he made the connection to them in the OT and the term stuck. The Nephites called them "Interpreters". Here is a footnote from the JS-History. Because of Cowdry's unclear descriptions, we don't know how much if at all Smith used the seer stones to translate the Book of Mormon. The descriptions of usage come after the Book of Mormon and Abraham translations, so Smith may have only used his seer stones on the BoA. There is nothing in the Standard Works about seer stones except to describe the interpreters. The stones ft into glasses and were attached to a breastplate. This whole contraction was generally referred to as the U&T, but again, only by Cowdry. I believe the JSH below was even altered later to include the term U&T after an understanding of what the device really was. Word Search: seer stone

I am assuming you have a restraining order. You need one if you don't already have one. I would recommend telling his girlfriend to get one too. He needs to go to jail if he even attempts to do anything.

Emma Smith denied polygamy ever with Smith, and said it was Young who started it up, but I think she may have believed in the affair (but I think she was mistaken). As to other testimonies, several church leaders after the move to Utah attempted to bolster the idea of polygamy by gathering testimonies of Smith's involvement in the practice. The Community of Christ (RLDS) historically have denied Smith's involvement completely, so it was a battle in the late 1800s as to who was right which is where I believe many of those testimonies come from. So I can see how the Alger story got made to be part of the "wives" list, but I don't believe them.

The church does not have the U&T (or rather the interpreters given to Smith with the Golden Plates). They were returned with the plates. I would do a couple things. Research the difference between greater and lesser prophets. For example, who were the great prophets between Adam and Enoch. What great things did prophets reveal between Noah and Abraham. The point is, for the most part, prophets who don't open up dispensations simply reiterate the teachings of that dispensation. They also have a very important role, and that is that they hold all the keys of the priesthood. This is far more important than revealing things that we already know (or that we don't need to know). Second, research the difference between a seer and a translator. Smith's gift was special and necessary to his time. We were very lucky to get additional translations and interpretations from him beyond the Book of Mormon, but God has not seen fit to send another translator in this dispensation.

I look at polygamy the same way a Jew would look at animal sacrifice. It was practiced at one time and there was a spiritual purpose for it at the time, and there are some very small groups who still practice it, but it really has very little bearing on today's mainstream members.

we are so misunderstood.

I think the rumors about improper relations with underage girls is far overblown. The two major issues come up with Fanny Alger and Hellen Mar Kimball. In the case of Alger, the supposed relationship occurred in 1833, when she lived with the Smith's and got pregnant. The problem I have is that Joseph never even mentioned plural marriage until 1838, and now she is lumped in with all of his other sealings, despite no evidence that she was. Also, the child who everyone assumed was his has now been proven through DNA to not be his, so a nasty rumor of infidelity that turned out to be false is lumped into polygamy. I don't buy it. In the case of the second example of Hellen Kimball, she was 14, and sealed to Smith, but only at the request of her father Heber C. Kimball. She never lived with Joseph and the apparent sealing was a way to link the Kimball's with the prophet in what historians call a dynastic connection. There is no evidence that she ever had any kind of marital relationship with the prophet. As for Brigham Young, he married a lot of women, many of whom he never had children with, and was more to support husbandless women. It seems to me a pretty extreme position to take just to have relations with young women. It certainly was never in practice as it is now in the breakaway sects we hear about in the news.

Well, the press is starting to turn on him, finally. I really would love to see him on Jeopardy. or at least see the results of the pre-screening test. I truly believe Obama is a great speaker, but has very little knowledge or book smarts, and skated through the system undetected. I keep thinking of the story of the Emperor Has No Clothes, and I really think this is a prime example .

Colonel Mustard Horde. How sweet. :)

Ugh, I hate trolls. On another website, there is a tag team husband and wife who avoid the "no personal attacks" by simply attacking the specific ideology of a poster in a passive aggressive snide way, and then complain that they are being attacked in vile, vicious ways when they are called to task. I believe the classification is the "Artistic Troll". Unfortunately, 90% of the participants are of the same ideology, so they get a lot of "We're with you trollie and mrs. trollie."