BATMan_OIF

The sea of blood prophecy in Revelations 16:3 reads "And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood." I am curious to know if anyone feels confident about this sign being fulfilled. What do you think?

Volgadon and Rameumptom, This is the very first forum that I have ever joined and this was the very first post I have ever submitted. Your post replies have been enlightening and I love opportunities to learn. It's all about the pursuit of truth and I have much more to research now on this topic, thank you both very much. For years now I have believed in the accuracy of the first five books of the OT, based on what I had been taught, and I didn't questioned it. I take upon me the approach that I will study and ponder and pray to understand truth (I guess I didn't do enough of that on this topic) in all its forms and I chose long ago to freely accept and embrace the truth even if I do not completely understand it - much like a child I guess. I don't regret this approach and have found that over time I learn more in this way. I think this forum / site is a great place to be. I am growing to love it and I haven't been here very long. Again thank you for your time and effort in responding and expanding my knowledge.

Just to be clear, I speak of the Torah (Hebrew) or the Pentatuch (Greek) or more specifically the same text given on mount Sinai. The Torah was originally dictated from God to Moses, letter for letter. From there, the Midrash (Devarim Rabba 9:4) tells us: "Before his death, Moses wrote 13 Torah Scrolls. Twelve of these were distributed to each of the 12 Tribes. The 13th was placed in the Ark of the Covenant (with the Tablets). If anyone would come and attempt to rewrite or falsify the Torah, the one in the Ark would 'testify' against him." (Likewise, if he had access to the scroll in the Ark and tried to falsify it, the distributed copies would 'testify' against him.) How were the new scrolls verified? An authentic "proof text" was always kept in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, against which all other scrolls would be checked. Following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Sages would periodically perform global checks to weed out any scribal errors. To eliminate any chance of human error, the Talmud enumerates more than 20 factors mandatory for a Torah scroll to be considered "kosher." This is the Torah's built-in security system. Should any one of these factors be lacking, it does not possess the sanctity of a Torah scroll, and is not to be used for a public Torah reading. The meticulous process of hand-copying a scroll takes about 2,000 hours (a full-time job for one year). Throughout the centuries, Jewish scribes have adhered to the following guidelines: - A Torah Scroll is disqualified if even a single letter is added. - A Torah Scroll is disqualified if even a single letter is deleted. - The scribe must be a learned, pious Jew, who has undergone special training and certification. - All materials (parchment, ink, quill) must conform to strict specifications, and be prepared specifically for the purpose of writing a Torah Scroll. - The scribe may not write even one letter into a Torah Scroll by heart. Rather, he must have a second, kosher scroll opened before him at all times. - The scribe must pronounce every word out loud before copying it from the correct text. - Every letter must have sufficient white space surrounding it. If one letter touched another in any spot, it invalidates the entire scroll. - If a single letter was so marred that it cannot be read at all, or resembles another letter (whether the defect is in the writing, or is due to a hole, tear or smudge), this invalidates the entire scroll. Each letter must be sufficiently legible so that even an ordinary schoolchild could distinguish it from other, similar letters. - The scribe must put precise space between words, so that one word will not look like two words, or two words look like one word. - The scribe must not alter the design of the sections, and must conform to particular line-lengths and paragraph configurations. - A Torah Scroll in which any mistake has been found, cannot be used, and must be fixed within 30 days, or buried.

Due to the well known practices of the Jewish scribes in ancient times we know the accuracy of the Pentatuch to be irrifutable (as can be validated by comparing many of the ancient and modern scrolls). Because of this we know there was no mistake made when the Lord clearly identified himself in Genesis 17:1 to Abram and that it was he, in Genesis 17:5, who intentionally changed the name of Abram to Abraham. In the Jewish language every character has an identifiable value, so even a small change like a letter or two is quite significant in the Jewish culture. I believe that the Lord is purposeful in all he does and I want to better understand why the changing of a name is significant.

I had heard that the changing of the name in the ancient Jewish (and most modern) faith as significant importance. I have also heard that many Jews do not completely understand the relevance of such a change. I guess I am in the same boat... It has been many years since I have been through the temple, perhaps I need to go again to gain a deeper understanding.

I was in Sunday school today and the instructor posed a question that I had never considered before. When I got home I tried to find the answer online without any progress. I was hoping someone might have some insight (and of course scripture and/or a quote or talk from a general authority to provide me with more to ponder and study). Here it goes: Abram's name was changed to Abraham... why? I understand that his name wasn't changed until after he traveled into Egypt and that after his name was changed he was given many blessings, buy why change it at all? I mean why not just give Abram the blessings instead of changing his name to Abraham and then giving him blessings... what is the significance of the Lord changing his name?

Thank you for your response. I had been pondering the question for a couple of hours before I posted this. Over the past day I have pondered a little more and have research several resoruces. I have tried to focus on authoritative resources to answer this question, like the scriptures, conference talks, General Authorities, etc. and I wanted to share what I found. I would like to start with a great scripture in D&C. D&C 121:32 According to that which was ordained (purpose of the earth) in the midst of the Council (of Heaven) of the Eternal God of all other gods before this world was, that should be reserved unto the finishing and the end thereof, when every man shall enter into his eternal presence and into his immortal rest. Specifically what I gleaned from this scripture is relative to the relationship of our Father in Heaven to all of the other Gods in Heaven. The part of the scripture that states "the Eternal God of all other gods" indicates that our Father in Heaven is in a position greater than that of all other Gods in Heaven (this truth is reiterated in Abraham 3). In answering the, question from the original post "If God was the creator of all...then WHO created God?", it seems that the supernal nature of our Father in Heaven with the Council in Heaven is that he is the supreme God in Heaven. Understanding the principle of, the creator is supreme over the created leads me to believe that the position of God the Father as the supreme God over all other Gods in heaven means that he could not have been created by anyone less than himself. There are also several scriptures making clear the eternal nature of the Father, that he is "without beginning of days or end of years". Therefore the answer is that God the Father has always existed, he is truly eternal. Additionally the Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “I am dwelling on the immortality of the spirit of man. Is it logical to say that the intelligence of spirits is immortal, and yet that it has a beginning? The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end. That is good logic” ( History of the Church, 6:311). Speaking about the eternal nature of our spirit, President Brigham Young stated: “Mankind are organized of element designed to endure to all eternity; it never had a beginning and never can have an end. There never was a time when this matter, of which you and I are composed, was not in existence, and there never can be a time when it will pass out of existence; it cannot be annihilated. Relative to our eternal nature, the children are the same as the Parents from whom we sprang. As far as I know there are no scripture that teaches contrary to this principal. God the Father, Eloheim, The Supreme being has always existed, he is truly our very Eternal Father in Heaven.

I have some ex-co-worker friends in Germany who sent me an email today and asked a question I was hoping for some help on. They asked: If God was the creator of all...then WHO created God??? The early scriptures do not attempt to demonstrate God’s existence or to argue on the sophistries of atheism, so it seems that the errors of doubt crept in at some later time. This is never the less where my former co-workers are coming from in this question. I not quite sure how to answer and have found little on LDS.org and even less in the scriptures.... help?