captmoroniRM

On a serious note, it is freaking cold world-wide. I mean, here in Hawaii, it almost dropped below 70!

As I mentioned in my above post, female temple workers do not hold the priesthood. They are acting under its direction and its authority, but they neither have the priesthood conferred upon them nor hold an office within it.

I can say for sure that women will never hold the priesthood. They never did. They may have been acting under the direction of the priesthood, but they never have had the priesthood conferred to them, or been ordained to one of its offices. I'd like to see your source saying that they have. As for the Church approving of Same sex marriages, that will also never happen. The Proclamation of the Family is explicitly clear on this. No matter how controversial this issue gets, the Brethren are clear: Marriage is between a man and a woman.

One of the creators of South Park is an apostate Mormon who delights in mocking the Church. Both creators have created films like Orgazmo which perverts the sacred calling of Missionaries for humor sake. Their portrayal of the Church on South Park is the same way. A Book of Mormon musical would be doing the same thing. It is a sacred book, and a powerful testament of Christ. By doing this, they will essentially be taking making fun of the testimony of Christ, and God will not be mocked. I am reminded of the passage in the Doctrine and Covenants. "I, the Lord, am not to be mocked in the last days. Behold, I am from above, and my power lieth beneath. I am over all, and in all, and through all, and search all things, and the day cometh that all things shall be subject unto me. Behold, I am Alpha and Omega, even Jesus Christ. Wherefore, let all men beware how they take my name in their lips...Wherefore, let [them] repent of their sins, and I, the Lord, will own them; otherwise they shall be cut off" Sure they might make money off of it. Sure it might be funny presentation, but they are further severing themselves from the Lord, and will reap the consequences of their actions.

Does it really matter what day Christ came into the world? Knowing the date does nothing to enhance our testimony that Christ is the Son of God and our Savior. I'd rather learn for a surety that He is my Savior and that through him I can be forgiven of my sins. April 6? Dec 5? April 10? Gee whiz information if you ask me.

Here we go with another version of the Secular Apocalypse. Now, Ice age. Before, Climate Change. Before that, Global Warming. Before that, the hole in the O-Zone. Before that, nuclear winter. Before that, over population....

Lectures on Faith wasn't included in my set (the one I got in 2004 before they changed it). If it was, it was well before my time.

Honestly, if you are wanting to learn about the Church and its teachings, you shouldn't let him stop you. If he's stopping you from going through with it, that is rather odd. While it is commendable that he wants to be there, it sounds like he wants to be there for his own benefit, when it should be about you seeking for truth. If you are sincerely interested in learning about the Church, do it. He is the "unnecessary" variable in the equation. In the end, he shouldn't influence your decision to join the Church. It should be a decision between you and your Heavenly Father. And if he really loves and supports you, he'll understand your desire to do it. If not, consider his reasoning why. In the absolute worst case scenario, you find truth that will forever change your life for the better and end up free to find someone will foster your thirst for truth and light rather than inhibit it. Ponder on the words of Matthew in the New Testament: 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Even if it become acceptable socially and politically, the Church's stance on it will be the same.

Tithing is not "buying favor with God." God himself challenged us saying "prove me now herewith...if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." He is saying, if you don't think I'll bless you for paying tithing, try me. If you pay your 10%, he'll bless you. He's promised it. That's also why paying more than 10% doesn't get you any more blessings than someone who pays what is required. As for taking the extra money and looking around the neighborhood for who needs help, that's what fast offerings are for. Plus, you get the added assurance that said money will be used to help someone instead of giving it to someone who might end up buying alcohol or something. Pam mentioned the perpetual education fund, which is a wonderful system set up to help those without means to attend school, do so, in a way which is managed by inspired church leaders.

You could, because nobody but you and Heavenly Father would know how much your 10% is, but it wouldn't really serve any purpose. You wouldn't get more blessings than someone paying their 10%. The Lord requires 10%. If you are meeting that requirement, you don't need to pay more. If you wanted to pay more than 10%, i'd suggest using the other boxes on the tithing slip. Make that extra money a fast offering, and perform a fast. Or donate to the other funds, like the Book of Mormon publication, or temple construction. Or take that extra money over your 10% you'd be willing to pay as tithing, and put it towards food storage or a temple trip or set it aside for a rainy day. All of these things would bless you in some way in addition to the blessings you'd receive by paying your tithing.

Simply put, Mormons teach the Gospel as Christ and 1st century Christianity. The different gospel is what men without proper authority did with the teachings of Christ after they killed off all the apostles and distorted it. They shattered it into thousands of denominations who teach portions of the truth, mixed with the philosophies of men. Christ called upon Joseph Smith to restore the truth and priesthood authority to the world.....enter the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

iPhones are pretty famous, but I'd wait until next year where supposedly Verizon will get an iPhone. The windows phones are pretty snazzy. Two friends of mine on T-mobile just got them. Their only beef is to use the music player on it you have to make a zune account and it is picky about the file formats so more than likely you'd have to convert any iTunes media you may have to a different format in order to play it from your phone. iphones are limited on which carrier to use currently. I've heard it runs smoother in certain ways, but the new one has had some old issues (short battery life) and some new ones (the supposed "death grip"). It has a lot of cool apps and can do a lot of cool things. droid is the way to go, if you don't mind Google.

Yes on all counts. Sometimes, the only benefit out of our prayers is just a better day. Sometimes it comes as a still small voice. Sometimes it comes when we are reading the scriptures. He can answer via visions, but those are a lot less common. Sometimes the answers to prayers are a worsening of our day or trials or obstacles for us to overcome. I like the part in the movie Evan Almighty where God appears to Evan's wife as a waiter at the restaurant and through their conversation asks her which is better, if someone prays for patience, does God simply give them patience, or opportunities to become patient. I have had my prayers answered in numerous ways. 99% of the time, regardless of the form of the answer, there is always something in the answer that knows it stemmed from a prayer. Often times, if I'm specific in what I prayer for, the answers are very specific, in that it happens exactly the way I prayed it would.

Yeah, its WINDY up in the burg. Its probably the only place I've really ever experienced a dust storm (and I've lived in the desert). It's small, but there's always something happening on campus and friends to do crazy stuff with.

Tron Legacy wasn't that bad. I loved the first one and think they improved on a lot with the 2nd one. Is i hte greatest sequel ever made, nor will it win many oscars. But its a good clean and fun movie.

Aspen Village apts are quite nice. A stone's throw from the temple, and the wards there are good. I lived there for almost a year and loved it.

Yes. My brother and my dad once took the sacrament to a guy in the hospital who couldn't eat any wheat. They found this out too late and the only thing they had that the guy could eat was a butterscotch candy. My brother said it was the weirdest thing reading the sacrament prayer and asking Heavenly Father to bless and sanctify the butterscotch.

The same can be done with someone who watches MSNBC or CNN all the time. It also depends on who is providing the factual innacuracies for the argument. There are expert scientists who support climate change. The "facts" in our day are extremely relative. There are other experts who deny it. You watch Fox, you get the ones who are more anti-climate change. You watch MSNBC you get more pro-climate change spin. The problem with the media today is everyone sees to be tyring to hold a monopoly on who is right. It is a large problem with society today in general.

First, I never trust studies like these because a person can prove anything with a study if they wanted to, because a person can ask certain questions to solicit certain responses, and find the one they want. Second of all, the study declared 3 organizations and their expert opinions as "true information," and the data was based off of that. Pick the "expert opinions" from different sources, and you'll find the "misinformation" values would change. (and its not surprising considering the 3 main expert organizations they picked would have fox news being the most "misinformed" as the Congressional Budget Office, the Department of Commerce, and the National Academy of Sciences would probably hold a lot of "expert" opinions contrary to theirs). Third, like bytebear said, misinformation was across the board. Fox news was led more misinformation that other networks in some areas. Others held more than fox news on different issues. The problem of misinformation isn't limited to just fox news but the media in general. Each media outlet has their own "truth" that they spin the news too. MSNBC and CNN tend to bias things to the Left. Fox News has a definite conservative bias. I personally think if you consider any once source of media as "good information" you will always be misinformed. We are commanded to seek knowledge from the best books and find truth wherever it lies.

Reminds me of this blog post from way back. Earth Mission Log: The Christmas Season - Log 2 of 3

Are we scum of the earth? I don't think so. I have heard from reliable source that we are the salt of the earth.

Orson Scott Card's Homecoming series is essentially the Book of Mormon in a sci-fi setting. A man named Nafai and his family are commanded to flee this holy city before it is destroyed, only to be sent back with his brothers to obtain the "Index of the Oversoul." It got a lot of mixed criticism because he is taking the stories of the BoM and science-fictionalizing them to make money. I like them because he makes them his own story and can really explore what Nephi and his family could have been thinking/feeling in the events found in the BoM.

Saw it last friday. The Lantern scene is amazing in 3d.

Probably the most profound thing I've ever heard in regards to understanding the atonement, is that it really doesn't matter if you fully understand "why" or "how" the atonement works or had to happen, but that you understand that it "does" work, that we can be forgiven of our sins.