mikbone

Our Patriarch fasts before every blessing he Gives. If I ever had to deal with this situation, I'd show up loaded for bear.

Matthew 17:15-21 Is kinda scarry.

Yeah, I tried to differentiate the two. Thats the issue though. Dedicating a house is in the handbook. Cleansing a hotel room is off the reservation, so to speak. Do you ask God to cleanse the room as in a prayer, or do you invoke the priesthood and command a blessing. Casting out spirits is not in the handbook. Ive never had the need or seen an exorcisism. But one of my MTC teachers claims that he performed such. His recommendation was to command the evil spirit to leave the body AND NEVER RETURN. He told us that this bit of knowledge might have saved him from a very hectic and long night.

I agree with your friend. It is a bit touchy about dedicating a hotel room. The manual states we don't have to have a home paid off to to give a dedicatory prayer, but it should be cleared with the owner... But in the early church the Elders routinely cursed homes, so I think it is fine to disinfect / cleanse a hotel. Good idea.

So Im giving a talk on Sunday, 3rd son leaves for Cambodia in 2 weeks. We were asked to talk on priesthood blessings. Just wanting to get some feedback on a few concepts. 1) Does it seem like we are slipping on our duty to give blessings? In Monson's April 2007 talk "The Priesthood - a sacred gift", he mentions that while in the Navy one week before deployment one of his bunk-mates asked for a priesthood blessing and young Thomas Monson was inspired to pull out his missionary handbook to find the section on blessings (because he had never given, received, or witnessed a blessing on the sick...) He gave a blessing but obviously did not have olive oil or a assistant elder... In President Nelsons recent talk, "Ministering with the power and authority of God", He relates how he went to a Sacrament meeting and saw an Elder give his child a name and offered a beautiful prayer... 2) The feminist movement purple pants etc... Do women in the church want the priesthood? The priesthood only allows one to provide service. D&C 121:37 And Joseph Smith had no problems with the Relief Society giving blessings, Has anyone participated in a blessing or witnessed a blessing with a sister involved? This following quote is from Joseph F. Smith. I remember from reading a book Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card), Ender received a blessing from his Mother who was or had been LDS. Women cannot invoke the authority of the priesthood, but they certainly can have faith and worthiness...

D&C 121:28 A time to come in the which nothing shall be withheld, whether there be one God or many gods, they shall be manifest. We are not upset about it at all. It will eventually be manifest. Apparently as of yet it has not been manifest. Final Word.

CHINA

And a major city yet to be determined in Russia. “Our plans were to announce six new temples at conference time,” said President Nelson. “The Lord told me on the eve of conference: ‘Announce a temple in India.’ … That was the Lord's doing.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event Our scientists surmise that there have been at least 5 Mass Extinction Events. The Earth has been replenished many times... It was after the most recent humanoid extinction event that Adam and Eve were Born.

In the living room. Child # 8 of 11 we named after the destroying angel of Mormondom. He is a 9 year old innocent and nobel child and my soul loves him. We call him P-rock and he brings me diet mt. dews to my hearts content. We are fixin to watch BYU vs McNeese St.

And please see https://www.lds.org/ensign/1994/10/our-strengths-can-become-our-downfall?lang=eng Dallin H. Oaks talk addressed at BYU on June 7, 1992 Some news outlets and even the snarky title to this topic seem to insinuate the desire to do away with the weaker families in the Church. I interpret President Oaks words as a desire to strengthen the Church from within the family... Does it take a village to raise a child? It is a wonderful African proverb & Hillary Rodham Clinton certainly preached it... But I prefer Nephi 2 Nephi 2:26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. 27 Wherefore, we speak concerning the law that our children may know the deadness of the law; and they, by knowing the deadness of the law, may look forward unto that life which is in Christ, and know for what end the law was given. And after the law is fulfilled in Christ, that they need not harden their hearts against him when the law ought to be done away.

Me and mine do it. The 2 weeks after President Monson died we listened to every onfrence talk he gave for the first 15 years of his calling as Apostle. We then refreshed ourselves with Presitent Nelson’s talks Paine, Thomas The American Crisis The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Ask not what the church can do for you. Ask what can you can do for Jesus

https://www.mormonlight.org/2018/09/17/if-you-thought-last-general-conference-was-exciting-buckle-up/ #buckle-up /giddy with excitement

https://www.ldschurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2018-08-28/president-oaks-talks-church-history-lgbt-issues-mental-illness-at-los-angeles-devotional-47877 “We have spent many hours talking about how we can simplify our Church programs to perform their essential function for a wide variety of family circumstances ...,” said President Oaks. “Now, I am pleased to tell you that some help is on the way and more is under discussion.” Dallin H. Oaks August 24, 2018 Santa Monica, CA Devotional

https://www.lds.org/church/news/get-a-sneak-peek-at-the-new-church-curriculum-for-2019?lang=eng Rather than just focusing on lessons to be taught in church, the new curriculum shifts the emphasis to studying as individuals and families at home. “Programs of the Church are home centered and Church sponsored,” said Mike Magelby, director of curriculum for the Church, during the Education Week presentation. “Your study starts at home. You will get the doctrine and learn things from the home manual.” One of the main ideas for the new curriculum came from section 1.4 of Handbook 2: Administering the Church, which reads: “God has revealed a pattern of spiritual progress for individuals and families through ordinances, teaching, programs, and activities that are home centered and Church supported.” Rather than focusing on just the teaching in the weekly Church-meeting block, much of the learning is to be done at home so that church learning becomes a support—rather than the primary source—to teaching and learning in the gospel.

I love and totally support President Nelson. And I know that he is God's Anointed. As a fellow surgeon, I can see his perspective and appreciate what he is doing (triage, cutting away necrotic tissue, healing the sick...) Sometimes policy and tradition totally get in the way and create a unintended catastrophe. The Church is not the Gospel. Jesus Christ is the core of the Gospel. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/sacrament-meeting-and-the-sacrament?lang=eng We should aim for more devout worship in our homes. If my male children decide not to go on a mission, I don't blame the Church.

Not sure if the 5% that you are describing comes from the above or not, but here goes anyway. Some atheist ridicule theist concepts of faith, yet scientists concede that we can only study and attempt to explain 4% of the known universe. The remainder of the universe is composed of ‘dark matter’ 23% and ‘dark energy’ 73%, both of which are working hypothesis. Physicists have faith in dark matter because it best explains gravitational lensing and galaxy rotation. Dark energy explains why the universe is expanding and accelerating. We have absolutely no hard evidence that either dark matter or dark energy exist. Essentially, 96% of the known universe is a scientific conundrum. We hardly know anything about the Earth. Is the core Iron/nickel? Probably, but we don't know. What lives at the bottom of the Ocean? Who knows... Our deepest drill into the crust almost made it 6 miles. Some estimate that we have only cataloged 14% of the Earth's species. So lets assume that there are a hundred quintillion planets in the known universe (our best guess at this point, 1 with 18 zeros). And lets assume that we understand about 1% of the Earth (probably a huge over estimation). That our Earth is one of 1x 10^18 planets. And since the Earth is composed of Heavy Elements... then the percentage that we know is ... .01 x 1/1,000,000,000,000,000,000 x .03 We're dumb.

It wouldn't matter. Some places in the world they use bananas. And because of the crazy fad on gluten free everything (only those with Celiac disease must avoid gluten), some wards are placing rice chex into the sacrament trays. D&C 27:2

Abraham 3: 18 Howbeit that he made the greater star; as, also, if there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal. Hawking Radiation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking_radiation Kardashev scale is a method of measuring a civilization's level of technological advancement, based on the amount of energy a civilization is able to use. It was proposed by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev in 1964. The scale has three designated categories: A Type I civilization—also called a planetary civilization—can use and store all of the energy which reaches its planet from its parent star. A Type II civilization—also called a stellar civilization—can harness the total energy of its planet's parent star (the most popular hypothetical concept being the Dyson sphere—a device which would encompass the entire star and transfer its energy to the planet(s)). A Type III civilization—also called a galactic civilization—can control energy on the scale of its entire host galaxy. We are not even a Type I civilization. Lowly Earthlings rank only 0.73 on the scale The original scale has been added upon Type IV can control the energy of a Universe Type V can control the energy of multiple Universes Type VI can manipulate matter and energy, likely reside outside of time and space, and and create Universes God is a Type VI entity. Many scientists have proposed that our Universe is possibly only a simulation. I like the idea. We have no idea what is going on out there...

Personally, I'm hoping for a 2 hour church block. And General Conference quarterly. We are a worldwide church and we have the infrastructure (Internet, Satellite TV, etc) that would allow prophets to talk to us on a weekly basis. I have 11 children and my profession (Bone Doc that takes community call on weekends) requires me to miss probably 2 out of the 4-5 monthly Sunday services. My wife solo takes care of all the children while I am performing surgery and as you can imagine, it can become a bit overwhelming if one - or a couple of my well behaved children are having an off day or are sick... We need the Sacrament and EQ / RS for ministering, coordination, discussing the needs of the members, etc. But I don't see Sunday School as a necessity. Most of the leadership of the ward doesn't even participate with Sunday School. The Bishop and his councilors are performing interviews or solving problems. Many of the members that will accept a calling are teaching the youth or primary. And there are lots of people wandering the halls, catching up on whatever. And unfortunately many times in Sunday School we have to deal with teachers or participants elaborating upon their favorite esoteric doctrines... Or even worse puffed up with pride trying to prove their greater intelligence or experience. You know what I'm talking about. When I do make it to church (30 minute drive), I always ask each of the children to tell me 2-3 things that they learned from their classes. And more times than not, I have to tell my children that such and such teaching is actually incorrect... Or they can't think of a thing that they have learned. No joke. We already homeschool our children for obvious reasons (we live in California, so don't get me started on the required material and liberal agenda forced upon the students). Many times when we all get together after church we watch old conference talks so we can have an uplifting message. I can't tell you the times I have been to church and have gone 10-30 minutes without hearing the name Jesus Christ. At least we sing and have prayers. I would love to have a home Sunday School class that is directed by the first presidency. And I would prefer if there was a 1 hour block on BYU TV or the internet where an apostle could actually teach the material & reinforce the family study. We love General Conference. It is an enormous shot in the arm every April and October. We all sit down and watch all the talks with attention, and my wife requires the children to take notes during the talks. All of my children learn so much and I never have to explain that the doctrine is incorrect. We cook, spend time together, and learn from God's anointed. General Conference is my favorite holiday after Christmas.

For some real enlightenment you might try reading some of the apostles words. Maxwell is one of my favorites. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1975/04/the-man-of-christ?lang=eng

Thanks! Always looking for some good reading material. I didnt know about this. David Buerger The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship Dby David John Buerger

Paine, Thomas The American Crisis The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Although God told Adam that he would work and eat in sorrow all the days of his life, sorrow was not the only feeling or emotion that Adam experienced. Adam received joy and satisfaction as He began to provide for his family. Yes, the fruit in the garden was free, easily accessible, and sweet, but there was no sense of accomplishment. Prior to the fall, Adam had no way to really appreciate the paradisiacal glory of the Garden of Eden, it was all he knew. Sure, when Adam ate his first crude loaf of bread, he realized that it was a poor substitute for Godly sustenance. But, hunger is the best seasoning. Work causes sorrow just as much as exercise causes pain, or humility leads to weakness.

This is a level of evidence list that I use to evaluate doctrine. Level I: Scripture (the Standard Works), and Modern-Day Revelation as recorded in the Ensign from the most recent General Conference talks. Level II: Official Proclamations, Statements, and Doctrinal Expositions from the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, prior General Conference talks, and the Church Hymnal Level III: Church Manuals written and published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Level IV: Commentary by General Authorities not published by the Church, e.g. Mormon Doctrine Level V: Commentary by non-general authority members in good standing Level VI: Research and commentary by scholars / non-LDS members Level VII: Online discussion groups like LDSBlogs.org - Mormon Archipelago: Gateway to the Bloggernacle Level VIII: Research or commentary by apostate or disillusioned members But to each his own. We can pick and choose to believe what doctrine tickles our fancy. I personally hold Joseph Smith Jr. in very high regard. And although many of his words did not make it into our standard works, I give them particular weight. - David A Bednar "That We May Always Have His Spirit to Be with Us" April 2006 conference address

My impressions? Well, when we commit to baptism we covenant to keep the commandments We don't keep the commandments... I don't think the sacrament renews the covenants. The sacrament gives us an excellent opportunity to renew our covenants. Before the meridian of time. Man was required to offer sacrifice in order to obtain similar results. I'm sure many believers offered burnt offerings without ever thinking about the promised messiah.