Maxgreen1

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Everything posted by Maxgreen1

  1. Thanks all! And I have two friends that served in Carlsbad. One is my best friend!
  2. Mission Call! I report to the MTC in 11 days. I'll be serving Northern Utah!
  3. MagneticField, your story is a very good one :) You will be able to experience the full benefit of the healing power of Christ. If you are willing to let all the bad things in your life go away, they will disappear. I too, am a convert. Even now, I am not perfect, but I try my hardest to be good, and I know that there is always a hope that I can become, and remain clean one day. And remember, if there is a particular thing that bothers you, or a question you have to ask, you can speak to the Church authorities, and they will guide you. Most important, however, is that you continue to read scripture, and build that personal relationship with God. That is the ultimate basis of your religious conversion.
  4. Either the book of Mormon is a work of God, or the work of the Devil. There is no middle ground. It is a work of God. It testifies of Christ. In the Book of Mormon, on average, one name or title of Christ appears once every 1.7 verses, and that is excluding symbolism. It serves as companion to the Bible, and a keystone of our religion. We receive it by faith and a very personal conversion, and through the power of the Holy Ghost. That comes to pass through the power of God. Once you feel it, it changes you, and in turn... But why lack faith because I didn't touch the plates? Can I not ask God if these words are true? Can I selectively disobey the ten commandments because nobody has shown me the tablets of stone? I submit to you that you receive these higher laws upon faith. And you will be blessed.
  5. I took a veeeeery long hiatus from forums and stuff, and I decided to return to this one. Good to be back!
  6. A local farmer family I know are pretty liberal, they put this on all their trucks. Democrats: All they do is make bumper stickers!
  7. Of the places in this universe where I've resided, Jupiter ain't far off xD
  8. I live in the desert. It is 71 and sunny. Christmas is 5.5 days from now. We don't expect snow. Some parts of Virginia however, are under a lot of snow. Roanoke is under 24 inches of snow, Richmond is under about 8
  9. This reminds me of that ChristmaHannuKwanzakah commercial a year or two ago.
  10. Thank you This was not a defense statement, but rather, a formal declaration. I understood your post. And I agree with you 100% Now, let us focus on LS May Heavenly Father bless you, and provide a way out of temptation. -Max
  11. Several years. I should establish my point. As mentioned earlier by someone, PA is not a sexual issue but an intimacy issue. As human beings, we have this natural urge to be physically and emotionally close to a member of the opposite sex. According to HF's plan, this closeness is to be achieved during marriage. PA damages the spirit, and allows these natural urges to be quenched artificially, through lust. Such lust is both a harmful sin, and a distraction from HF's plan On top of that, Pornography is HIGHLY addictive; The purpose of prayer, to create a greater intimacy with HF. The purpose of humility is to realize that you are part of a greater cause, and distraction by such a thing as PA just messes everything up. Repent. Lust is a sin, and it will weigh you down. Repentance is necessary to rid yourself of the burdens that pull you down into further sin. Studying allows us to learn more about ourselves. The standard works and the speeches of the general authorities put us back on track and allow us to realize that there is a path out of sin. Reading the standard works allows us to strengthen our testimony, to create bonds with HF, and allows us to feel the spirit in times where we are not usually able to. Serving your neighbor allows one to feel the spirit, and is a productive way to spend leisure time. You will only get further blessings through service! These blessings shall strengthen you! Professional interventions and emotional therapists, I agree, will help people out of PA, but we cannot bring ourselves out of such a thing successfully without some sort of guidance and blessing from HF. Sorry for the long post -Max
  12. I can share the experiences that allowed me to escape the vile grasps of PA. And provide advice. And testify unto you that no matter what happens, HF is all-powerful, and through that realization, through the atonement of Jesus Christ, we may be healed of our sins. It is not wise to sit around and expect oneself to free themselves of their addiction through wishful thinking. Only by being productive, hopeful, and humble may a person free themselves from the shackles of addiction. Therapy is only a means of achieving that. It is not the ONLY way, and it will only work if you allow it to. There MUST be something positive that you enjoy greater than such a disgraceful thing as viewing pornography. Find it, and do it. And I admire your honesty. -Max
  13. By the way these guys are not LDS. Just watch their other videos. :) Enjoy!
  14. I care. Lostsheep, I feel your pain. It's not easy. Oh, wretched man that I am, I've been having a rough week with my addiction as well, and only to realize that all my suffering is due to my arrogance. Sometimes we are hardheaded and sin anyway. Sometimes we battle and battle, and just give in. When we do that, we weaken ourselves further. I was quick to underestimate this addiction, I haven't touched it for months! Just this week I let my guard down and I start all over again. Oh wretched man that I am! My heart suffers such anguish, and remains so stubborn as to ignore its own pain. I've conquered this before. Pray! Be humble! Repent! Study! Read! Serve your neighbor! The more you do these things, the stronger the spirit will be with you! We must realize that we have power. We have Christ! We have agency! We all have the opportunity to develop a testimony! We mustn't allow sin to pull us down. We must realize that Christ offers us a way out of these sins, if we offer ourselves unto him. Please keep me posted. -Max
  15. I consulted the bishop about this one. His explanation was that the 5th commandment, ''Honoring thine parents,'' means bringing honor unto their name; That by making sound and just decisions, and by honoring any sound and just decisions your parents make, you please the lord. Remember that the most important part of the 5th commandment is pleasing and honoring your father in heaven, your spiritual parent. The latter statement is most helpful for me as I have an insane father. I cannot go at ends to please him, as doing so would force me to commit heresy. I honor and please my father in heaven, at a higher priority than pleasing my father on earth.
  16. The perfect time to mention agency. Yes we have commandments, and we have the agency to follow them. Agency gives us two options: Choose the right, or die.... *Die spiritually
  17. Well service is really free labor. You could always be paid for it; You just choose not to. That is what makes it service. For example, there is always a service opportunity by serving spaghetti at the local American Legion spaghetti dinners. That is the type of labor people usually pay for, but choose to serve instead. I believe that service is a great opportunity to occupy free time, and an even greater opportunity to care for your neighbor, and I do agree with Nancy when I state that service is not a commodity to be squandered at short request, and little appreciation. People should feel thankful to serve, thankful to be served, and should try their best to do as much as they can. -Max
  18. A brother in my church served a mission in China with his wife. They have missionaries there :) And I am new to Christianity as well. I converted in January 2009. I've loved it ever since :) LDS is the only faith that really made sense to me, And really the only faith where I meet super-positive people, in deed and word "Ye shall know them by their fruits" And welcome -Max
  19. Well, just about anything is voluntary in the church. By calling the tithe voluntary, I mean the bishopric don't knock down your door to get it. Even though it is a commandment, you are in charge of paying your tithe and paying it honestly. I've had too many non-Mormons come up to me and tell me: "Those are the Mormons. They are forced to pay %10 of their earnings to be members, or they get kicked out." I should have explained further than just one sentence on this matter. -Max
  20. I used to say it once In a while. Not so much anymore since people take it the wrong way and say "Don't call me hun!"
  21. http://www.lds.org/pa/pdf/PrinciplesGospel_Mil.pdf Page 64 "we do not use the symbol of His death as the symbol of our faith." It says it a lot better than I do :) -Max
  22. Haha, I don't think it 'enhances' my worship. I'm just a little paranoid sometimes. I agree, sacrament bread and water are symbols by which we remember our covenants at baptism, to remember Christ. I've long since gotten over this silly little ritual of mine. And you are right, I realized that the content of my mind is more important than the content of my stomach. Whether in sacrament meeting, or out. And I always knew it wasn't important it was paranoia! -Max
  23. I was reading my LDS handbook for Latter-Day Saints in the Military. Latter day saints do not wear the cross because it symbolizes the death of Christ. We believe that Christ Lives. However some Latter-Day Saints do wear a cross. They are chaplains for the US Military, and are marked as such by a cross. Just thought that would be a useful tidbit of information. I read the last few pages and decided not to go ahead and post the link to the handbook, but it is available on request. And yes, we must always keep in mind that contention and belligerence are not of the spirit of Christ. I find it honorable that the issue has already been neutralized :) -Max
  24. If they are Christmas gifts or such, I wear them. For some odd reason I don't think of Christ when I look at a cross. I know that rappers wear giant platinum crosses in order to signal to promiscuous women that they are rich. (I seriously want to vomit at any thought of that) Commonly, a few people I know that flaunt their crosses are either uber-promiscuous, or have a harmless "party" every now and then where they get flat-out drunk and engage in unthinkable acts. And I know that there are really good Christian people out there that wear a crucifix to let people know that they are Christian. And personally strive to be good, and obey the laws of Christ. And I wear mine, 'just cuz', and I even tuck it in. My logic goes, if I wanted people to know that I'm Christian, and I want to show them that I have the light of Christ with me, I will let it be shown by my actions, and by my words, not by a piece of metal that hangs off my neck.