TruthSeekerToo

(((hugs))) You have done the right thing! Please keep youself and your family safe. I pray the day will be soon that your children will be returned to you. You're doing great by praying and studying the scriptures. Remember that the atonement covers this pain, too. Give it to Him. I have also been taught in my life that God has a different plan for me than I do. I always end up liking His plan better! Follow the Spirit as best you can. You are a success.

The official statement from the First Presidency is the only thing binding. This is what they have said. “For your guidance in this matter, please be advised that we have uniformly replied that the simplest statement we know of is that statement of the Lord himself that the members of the Church should pay one-tenth of all their INTEREST annually, which is understood to mean income. NO ONE IS JUSTIFIED IN MAKING ANY OTHER STATEMENT THAN THIS. We feel that every member of the Church should be ENTITLED TO MAKE HIS OWN DECISION as to what he thinks he owes the Lord, and to make payment accordingly.” (End of quote from the March 19, 1970 letter.) No one is allowed to give any other definition. :) I go with what the Spirit leads me to do. And I am sorry for your loss, too. (((hugs)))

If you mean I'm looking at Satan being bound wrong by thinking of it being so literal, I am open to that possibility. It is obviously different in that it will be loosed, but think of other things that have been sealed from the world in a very real way and will some day be loosed (scriptures). Very interesting thought about the loosing Satan being during the second ressurection. I will have to ponder that! And I totally love long winded. It gets my thoughts flowing! --------- I am still really interested in the possiblility that during the Millennium there will not be opposition in ALL things. That is not to say there won't be opposites or choices. I really think those are different things. I have found several scriptures and quotes that indicate that during the Millennium the Earth will be as the garden of Eden having been renewed and received her paradisiacal glory. Another scripture in D&C (that I can't find again) seems to idicate that the curse of Adam will be lifted. I really am trying to find it again. But in addition to this Brigham Young seems to indicate that we will still grow food, labor and wear clothes. LOL Maybe some were thinking we'd go without clothing like our first fahter and mother. I hope to have time later to post some of these quotes and scriptures because I think they would be nice to explore.

Looks like Brigham Young taught that all manner of religions will still exist during the 1000 years. Quote from Journal of Discourses 12:274 "Now when Zion is built up and reigns, the question may arise with some, will all be Latter-day Saints? No. Will there be this variety of classes and faiths that we now behold? I do not know whether there will be as many, or whether there will be more... In the millennium men will have the privilege of being Presbyterians, Methodists or Infidels, but they will not have the privilege of treating the name and character of Deity as they have done heretofore. No, but every knee shall bow and every tongue confess to the glory of God the Father that Jesus is the Christ."

I am unaware of any official church doctrine about how families are chosen. There hasn't been any revelation regarding when the spirit unites with the body or anything like that. However, we do often hear that we chose our families and different aspects of our lives. I've had 2 miscarriages and so I've done some searching to see if there was any official stance. I couldn't find one.

So, do most of you believe there will be sorrow during the Millennium even though the scriptures say there won't be? D&C 101:29 And there shall be no sorrow because there is no death. Godless-You bring up an interesting point. I, too, was taught that there would be those who don't embrace the fullness of the Gospel during that time (which is more than we have now). Does anyone know where that teaching came from? Is it just based on the fact we will still have free agency? It appears that Satan's binding will not just be from our lack of falling into temptation. At least, to me. This is because the word "sealed" is used. Rev. 20 1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

That is a beautiful quote from JS! It seems to me that there is, and always has been, choice. The choices have all been there free for the taking. And always will be. Nothing will ever take that away. But, by definition, opposition seems to be more active. An actual force against something. So when Satan and his minions chose to take a different path they created an opposition. And they have been doing it ever since. Yeah, so I can see it both ways. Even without The Opposition, as soon as someone makes a choice against God they create opposition. Or are in opposition. I am reminded of something in Church History. After the dedication of the Kirtland Temple there was a period of about 2 weeks where none was tempted. It was glorious for all. They supposed that the Millennium had started and Satan was bound. Of course, it wasn't, and it wasn't long at all until the seeds of apostacy began to grow. It is really neat to think that when we are unified with God and the Saints that we can actually bind Satan. And that we can achieve it on a smaller scale in our own lives.

So true. I asked my DH what he thought and he said "there will always be north and south." I have always thought of opposition in terms of good vs. evil, sorrow vs. joy. For fun I thought I'd look up the definition. Here is what I found on dictionary.com: opposition noun 1. the action of opposing something that you disapprove or disagree with; "he encountered a general feeling of resistance from many citizens"; "despite opposition from the newspapers he went ahead" [syn: resistance] 2. the relation between opposed entities 3. the act of hostile groups opposing each other; "the government was not ready for a confrontation with the unions"; "the invaders encountered stiff opposition" [syn: confrontation] 4. a contestant that you are matched against 5. a body of people united in opposing something 6. a direction opposite to another 7. an armed adversary (especially a member of an opposing military force); "a soldier must be prepared to kill his enemies" [syn: enemy] 8. the major political party opposed to the party in office and prepared to replace it if elected; "Her Majesty's loyal opposition" WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.

See? Not only can we get spiritual edification from conference, but vocabulary lessons as well!!! I'm convinced that every once in a while a fake work is thrown in just to see who is paying attention.

You are right. I thought people would think I was crazy if I said that!

HAHAHA! Actually, breastfed poo doesn't stink! My last kid didn't start stinkin' until he was 1!!! They pretty much get stinkier from there on out.

That is a really great chart!

I would love to learn more about the law of opposition. And I know you all have ideas about it. It might seem like a pretty straight forward thing, but there are some interesting aspects to it, IMHO. I have always believed that we *have* to have opposition in all things and that it is an eternal law. Probably most of us do. Then, I was reading about the Millennial Reign and something caught my attention. I already knew it, but never really thought about it before. D&C 101:28 And in that day Satan shall not have power to tempt any man. And if you continue reading we find out that there won't be any sorrow, no death, people will be twinkled, etc. This sounds so awesome! So Satan will be bound and it sounds like there will not be opposition for 1000 years. Children will be born and raised during this time. What a joyful time to raise a family!!! So, is opposition actually different than evil, temptation, sorrow, etc? What does opposition mean to you? 2 Nephi 2:11,15 say that there needs to be opposition in all things. I really couldn't find reference to it anywhere else. But I only used lds.org word search.

I really wasn't offended. Maybe a little more hurt than I like to admit. LOL This really is just my way of figuring things out. Obviously I am praying hard to understand things. I just want to know God. I appreciate all the insight offered by everyone. It really has been very helpful. Of course, now I feel like a total threadjacker. Nephi was a great visionary man. So was Joseph Smith. But, I know that they were not perfect. I am okay with that. They were justified and sanctified by the Lord. I feel it is only my responsibility to learn what *I* am supposed to learn from the past.

I'm pretty sure my sisters dress had absolutley no sleeves. It stopped just above her *ahem* chest. I don't remember if she had a little jacket thingy to cover over or not??? I don't know about rules, but it seems like cap sleeves or more would be fine. I'm sure you would avoid backless gowns anyway. Remember you can always add a bit of fabric to a plunging neckline or little jacket to a sleeveless gown.

Sorry my questions were so offensive. I thought this would be a safe place to ask them. It helps me to get feedback (and it helped a LOT in this case). I am not offended that you all think low of me. I know where my heart was in asking and I know who I answer to. I do worry about others who will now suffer in silence for fear of being labeled an apostate. And that is why I asked my questions here and not at church. I am well aware of how I would be viewed by some.

YAY! Congrats! My best advice......Don't take advice from anyone! LOL Actually, you will need to follow your heart and listen to the Spirit. Every child is so different and unique that I had to use different methods with each one. I do agree with stockpiling sleep! Don't be afraid to ask for help! Babies smell soooooo good! Inhale frequently. Oh, and babies actually need very little. Don't fall for the consumerism of baby. Enjoy! I am now a believer of how fast the time goes.

I never did know why. I wouldn't wanna "march" down the isle to it, either! I just remembered another wedding I went to in a chapel. It was really interesting to see two cultures collide. The non-member side all started clapping and stuff at the end and the Mormon's didn't know what to do!

I think you've gotten great advice. I would just add that you can start looking for jobs and applying, sending out resume's and all that. I would never move without a job lined up.......unless specifically told to.

My sister got married in a chapel by a bishop. She is not active and married a non member. She has a child from a previous relationship (not that that should make a difference). Come to think of it she got married once in the chapel with just the bishop, my mom and two witnesses (snagged from another room, they forgot to bring their own). Then they had the wedding a few months later with the whole walk down the isle, decorations (tasteful) and approved music. I don't think you are allowed to do "here comes the bride" fanfare music. it was beautiful and the bishop did a splendid job of it. Basically, each bishop is different. But, there is no rule against having a wedding in the chapel. It would be important to me to have it in a chapel so it is something I would (gently) push for. Congrats and best wishes!!!

The law of mercy is through the atonement and saves us from the demands of justice. It is wonderful that through faith unto repentance we can be claimed by mercy. The atonement pays the full price demanded. Alma 42 does explain it very well. Justice will claim his own, those who are not penitent. Those who do not accept the atonement. I am not second guessing God. I am questioning mortal man. I am trying to understand God as we have been commanded. I don't believe everything carnal man says about Him. We are all looking at everything with a mortal view. We are told to study things out, ask the Lord if they are true and receive witness of the Spirit. Yes, there are two deaths. However, it also appears in the scriptures that there are some who will escape physical death. Yes? There are people who are translated or who will be "twinkled." They are changed without tasting death. D&C 101:31 And when he dies he shall not sleep, that is to say in the earth, but shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and shall be caught up, and his rest shall be glorious. I very much believe in different laws for different kingdoms as outlined in D&C 88. They are all true and valid for the kingdom they are assigned. So, I am beginning to feel that Nephi was given the law (D&C 98) and had a choice to exact justice or mercy. He was justified in whichever he chose assuming he gave the proper warning as outlined in D&C 98:28. But, I stand by my feelings that this is a lower or lesser law. The higher law is given by Christ and is to forgive an unlimited number of times.

Jim, I feel really bad for all the terrible comments being leveled at you. Your personal beliefs are valid and understandable. I will stand up and say that I believe the Priesthood Ban was wrong. I have found no revelation to support it. I believe God let us make that choice all on our own. There are other LDS who believe the same thing. Sounds like a couple others who responded here believe that. There are some great histories out there. I came across some people making a documentary about the history of blacks and the priesthood. It appears that about 7 black men were ordained before Joseph Smith died. The most famous being Elijah Able, whose been mentioned. It appears his son and grandson received permission to be ordained to the priesthood during the ban.

Thanks for the response Dravin. One problem is, I cannot accept any of the supposedly commanded killings-so for me they do not excuse this one. I was not refering to material greed. I was refering to the self-serving motive of prospering in the land of promise and all the blessings it entails. Why trifle over a few trinkets when you will be enheriting an entire nation? And, yes, I do think it is greedy to try to "buy" blessings. I believe fear played a roll in his choice, too. He seems more fearful than faithful in his mussings. We actually do have stories of men asking God to change his mind about things. Abraham, for example, asked God to spare the people if he could find 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 people who were righteous. So, yup, you can ask God to change his mind without being struck by lightning. So you don't think that killing would have any reprecussions to his mental or spiritual self just because it was justified??? Soldiers would tell you different. It is the act of killing, not the commandment breaking that I was refering to. Actually, D&C says that THIS law was given to Nephi. That means, to me, that it was this exact law and Nephi therefore had a choice to extend mercy. I guess I have a hard time understanding what was so important about the record containing the law of moses if 3 major commandments were broken/transgressed/justified/whatever to possess them. Then, God is our only guide and we need no records. Each of us can follow the Spirit as it guides us. Maybe that is the ultimate message of this story. We are responsible to follow the Spirit as it directs us and not rely on scriptures, prophets, etc to guide us. Even when the Spirit directs us contrary to the commandments. Or another possibility: It seems that there are different laws for different kingdoms. Law of Justice. Law of Mercy. I believe the Law of Mercy to be the higher/celestial law. That would be the law of unlimited forgiveness outlined by Jesus. This story seems to be about the Law of Justice or lower law. Where you only have to forgive to a point and then are justified in taking action. I guess I prefer the Law of Mercy in all its glory.

This and other commanded killings have been on my mind lately, too. Here are some of my thoughts and questions. When one pauses long enough to think about it, Nephi had to strip Laban of all his clothes before killing him. If he had beheaded Laban first the clothes would have been drenched in blood. So, it seems reasonable that Laban was drunk enough to not be a problem the rest of the night. When reading the excuse given for the murder it sounds greed driven to me. "...they shall prosper in the land...." I don't see anything about him praying for a second witness. It reads like he used his own reasoning. The sad fact is the entire nation DID dwindle in unbelief! We will never know if it would have been sooner or later without the plates. God could have revealed all the information in the plates to Nephi through revelation. This was not the only choice. I don't see the logic in testing someone by having them break such a serious commandment. Killing effects you spiritually-and not by making you stronger. I also have to wonder if he was commanded to pretend to be Laban (lie/bear false witness). An then, of course, the plates are stolen. So we have actually 3 broken commandments in this story. I do apreciate the reference brought up by Pam! D&C 98 gives specifics for how we are to treat our enemies. But here is the problem. Nephi didn't go through all the prescribed actions. Read verses 28-31 very carefully. This is the course to be taken after forgiving 3 times. 28 And now, verily I say unto you, if that enemy shall escape my vengeance, that he be not brought into judgment before me, then ye shall see to it that ye warn him in my name, that he come no more upon you, neither upon your family, even your children’s children unto the third and fourth generation. 29 And then, if he shall come upon you or your children, or your children’s children unto the third and fourth generation, I have delivered thine aenemy into thine hands; 30 And then if thou wilt spare him, thou shalt be rewarded for thy righteousness; and also thy children and thy children’s children unto the third and fourth generation. 31 Nevertheless, thine enemy is in thine hands; and if thou rewardest him according to his works thou art justified; if he has sought thy life, and thy life is endangered by him, thine enemy is in thine hands and thou art justified. So, where was the warning? Laban did not rise up against Nephi a fourth time. And it looks like sparing the enemy is even greater. Plus, concerning D&C, would this not be the old law that Christ did away with? Now are we not supposed to forgive even seventy times seven, which is to say always? Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. <blush>