stormwitch

Serving is good, going on with what you are doing is good,keeping the above mentioned commandments is good. If you have the feeling you are doing what you should do and that you way of life is acceptable to the Lord, that's great. But maybe this is a test of how willing you are to endure, how much you trust in doing what is good without getting a reward or affirmation immediately!

One year, when we didn't have a christmas devotional in our ward (usually on 24th, so I guess it was a Sunday that year) we went to the one in our local protestant church. Before we left, we somehow managed to get the gifts under the tree without our kids finding out. When we came out of the church a jeep with a "Santa" inside just passed us, and the kids got so excited. And when we came home and they saw the gifts under the tree, they were really convinced, that Santa had just been in our home before passing uns there at the church. The following year we asked a friend to put a big box in front of our door, knock and leave. Again, this was very convincing... All our kids are adults now, but we love to talk about those times. And they still are partly convinced: If you don't believe in Santa, he might bring no gifts!!!!! So better don't take any risks!

Maybe he should have knocked hard and forget about this "hohoho" stuff... that's what we did for the kids in our neighborhood, and they (1 tru 6) were absolutely convinced as the parents told us later...

Yeeeees! Alway pickings on the poor little German girl who hardly understands what is going on!!! Let's do this thread all over in German and I guess I get along with your jokes! But Merry Christmas nevertheless.

But why then not including the "should be" scenario? the question in teh beginning was: priesthood blessing for weight reduction yes or no...

Hm... then I got quite some things wrong here... why then compare a group of people working hard on losing weight and a group only praying and relying on blessings? Well, probably my English is not good enough to get the meaning here. sorry.

Well, maybe it is different in different countries, but here we are told, that we cannot pray for anything being not willing to do our part. And I always thought that scriptures and general authorities supported this opinion. If you are praying for losing weight and you do nothing to get this result, then we are back to "O Lord, won't you give me a Mercedes Benz..." or please give me white teeth or whatever... I would have called that common sense... but obviously it is not as common as I thought

And and if we have this third group that prays, receives a priesthood blessing and adheres to a rigorous plan of correct diet and exercise over the course of 120 days, it wold be interesting to find out, how many of group two and tree stick to that plan? This is not the way how prayers or blessings work! Work as if everything depends on you and pray as if everything depends on the Lord. Asking for a blessing without the intention to do something yourself is stupid, and I don't think anybody was considering this! Sorry!

And thank you, Relentless, for sharing these stories and your feelings with us!

We also read from 1 to 20... and I like especially these last two verses... "But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart." Maybe this is what we are asked to do, too: Ponder the things that happened, why they happened and what the consequences were. "And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the tings that they had heard and seen."... If we really understand Christmas, then we will glorify and praise God as well. I wish you all a wonderful and blessed Christmas!

Well, I think, chances that name AND birthday AND name of parents (or other information) matches and the person is still not the same as in church records are very slim. If somebody is only convinced that he is not a member, you can either invite him or let him be, but if somebody is really upset about this... I would present to him the documents and advise him to ask his name being removed from the church records so nobody will ever "disturb" him again, unless he changes his mind.

***You took the words right out of my mouth*** I was always told that we are supposed to accept whatever our Prophets say during General Conference or in other situations, when they speak AS A PROPHET, is to be considered word of God. But on the other hand, whatever they write in books is just their personal opinion. In this case I would consider this statement as one of the man Harold B. Lee, and no more. There are many things that seem to be strange or unfair, any kind of disadvantage, little children dying we do not really understand. We do not really understand why these things exist nor do we understand the reason behind it or the the purpose of it. Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." Assuming what He meant by giving some of His children a less perfect body makes absolutely no sense, as we cannot imagine what God's thoughts are like. All we know is that He loves all His children and that we are supposed to love them unreservedly, too.

Amen! Matth: 7:7-10 When we ask, it shall be given to us... How can we do less? If somebody asks for a blessing, he or she should not be turned down. At least NOT, if this wish/the reason is reasonable (no white teeth, no car, no millions, no love of a person, who is NOT in love with the person asking). Whether it is in accordance with what God thinks to be right for us -- who can judge what that person and God have agreed on? And regarding losing weight: maybe the person has not found the right diet so far, or maybe he/she has one habit he/she is not aware of, that keeps him/her from losing weight, or maybe this person has to learn, that it is not necessary to lose weight.... many reasons to give a blessing and wait what Heavenly Father's point of view is! Oh, by the way: sometimes people just don't find the right words when they ask for something. Do you know what is in their heart? If a priesthood bearer is guided by the spirit he will find the words that answer to the true need this person has, no matter how the question was phrased.

I dare not judge him as I don't know whether all this was meant literary or as a means to make people think. But anyways, there are more options... like soup kitchens, welfare and other institutions operated by churches and welfare institutions. And before stealing comes always asking for things... begging, even if this is not popular either. Stealing might appear less evil than robbery or prostitution, but it is still wrong.

Santa lives...! The day after tomorrow I will have to go over to our neighbors and be Santa for their kids (I'm female, yes, but a pillow, false beard and a deep voice will do it, at least for the smaller ones!). So will anybody tell me, I am not alive? As mentioned before: St. Nikolaus, Bishop of Myra was probably a real person and has a beautiful story, which should be common knowledge. Please, tell your childen about Santa, let him be real for a while. Childhood is ful of wonder, magic and fairy tale, and that makes it that wonderful! Don't you sometimes wish to be a child again? I'd love to be able to believe in tooth fairies, Santa, Easter bunny again, now and then. It's a counter weight to distrust, violence and everything bad that we encounter daily. In Germany we have a very famous puppet theater, "Die Augsburger Puppenkiste", and all kids of my generation excitedly watched these stories on TV. There is a saying: "As soon as you see the strings while watching the Augsburger Puppenkiste, your childhood is over!" Let childhood last as long as possible! Believing in fairytales and magic and dreams can help. Let Santa be alive, and at the same time let Jesus be even more alive. Kids will find out one day that Jesus is real, and Santa not, because they will recognize the "fruit"... Oh and by the way: Not Yet Christmas 2009 In September often weather Gives us times of warmth and sun. It was hot and so cold water Became part of my day’s plan. I gathered towels and all I needed And headed for the nearest pool. But if I swim, I need some picknic, You might call this a childhood rule. I stopped right at the next discounter Inside I stood, could only stare: Gingerbread and chocolate Santas Were standing almost everywhere. I wanted to enjoy my day off, Bought fruits and bread and other stuff. But suddenly I started sneezing, My breast got tight, I had to cough. When I came home, all of a sudden, My nose and lungs were free again. Nevertheless I took a bath then. That was the end of my great plan. A few weeks later I went shopping. I strolled through bookstores leisurely Looking at storybooks for children When illness caught a hold on me. I coughed and sneezed, my throat was rough, And tears were running from my eyes. I couldn’t recognize the pictures Of Santa Claus and snow and ice. Back in the car the symptoms vanished; Went to the doctor straightaway. I would accept swine flu quarantine but wouldn’t stand this one more day! It’s not the flu, the doctor told me, But quarantine is requisite. If I would leave home for a minute, I’d bargain for another fit. No matter how intense I pleaded, In this point he was very clear: The remedy against my illness Is house arrest until New Year! You wonder why? This is the cause: I’m allergic to Santa Claus!

Some time ago I read in a book that the Hebrew word that is used for "love your enemy" is different from the one for feelings as in loving your parents, spouse, etc.) and describes an action...like do something loving to them. (Anybody who is in that subject, please correct me if I'm wrong.) I don't believe that we need to love these people from the deepest bottom of our heart. We should act friendly and really apply the golden rule. And if we are eager to help some friends in need, we should be even more eager to help our enemies. If we do so, we might be able to help them change their heart even if they did things to us on purpose and neither regret them nor seek our forgiveness. And even if they don't change, we can say for ourselves: We have done our best, and nobody can blame us. Taking revenge or holding grudges... "tit for tat"... all those things will keep the Spirit away from us. Summary: forgiving means not that you have to have feelings for a person that hurt you, it only means that you have to be "nice"!

Ensign General Conference Report Teachings of the Prophets of the Church: <Name of the Prophet> Selections from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, edited by Daniel L. Ludlow, Deseret Books Almost any manual of CES

Well, if you compare the church to a house to be built, then in 1820 the contract between the parties was made. In the years to follow the plans were given and explained (the architect was sitting in heaven) the translation of the BoM was the base plate, then there were the priesthoods and revelations as stones and framework of the building. April 6, 1830 finally the roof was put on top of the building. In the years to follow all works inside the building were done, like organizing the quorums, relief society, temple work etc. and today we still add a painting here or some fresh flowers there.... By the way: Imho in God's intention there always has been this church, so he could refer to it any time, whether it was in the state of planning or being built up or existing on earth. (It's really difficult to express some thoughts in a foreign language, I hope you understand, what I mean!)

Well, they might be "gone" in a month, but then the next teacher will have the same problem. OK, it is not YOUR problem any more, but it is still a problem and it would be good to do something about it. If there is a chance to visit these kids during the week, one by one and talk to them eiter at home or in an icecream parlor, that could be a good idea. Getting parents involved, is definitely the rigth way, getting them into class or bringing the kids them. But don't just threaten (or better: don't threaten at all), just do it! It might be embarassing to the kids, but the parents should really know, what their little darlings are doing! Your dad would be a good decision to, being in the bishopric he should be a person of authority to these kids. I have taught kid of this age too, it is a hard job, especially if you have these boy gangs... but patience, love and time is it. Unfortunately you don't have much time anymore. I liked this advice above, making them teaching part of the lesson, I did that with older ones and it worked out great. Oh, and one thing: my husband was teaching a group of boys once (I can't remember if there were any girls in that group) and he started using rather drastic examples... like opening a tape recorder with a screw driver and closing it with a hammer to explain the Word of Wisdom -- they ended up destroying the recorder with that hammer, but he got their attention! Or he explained the influence of the Holy Ghost with a babyphone (a brother with a deep voice at the other piece nextdoor).

Well, not only searchin is part of the plan, free/moral agency is a big part in it. And people choose not to teach and know the truth ( as I posted earlier). If we knew everything to be true, without any doubt, we would not believe any more. And living in a state of believing and not knowing is part of our mortal existence. If we knew these things to be true, than we were kind of forced to keep the commandments, because otherwise we were in very open rebellion towards God. And this is coming very close to the system Satan proposed. I guess, everybody now and then wishes that everybody knew. But isn't it great, that even though people might not know everything, there is a fair God who gives us all the chance to return to Him? This is far more important than anything else to me! We might take totally different ways, and some of us might qualify only after death, but all of us have the option to qualify! Oh by the way, remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16... upon the rich man's question of sending Lazarus to his family he is told. "they have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. ... If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." I'm afraid, that will always be true.

I love one of the last scenes in "The Last Battle" by C. S. Lewis. I think, everybody knows Aslan, the lion, wo represents in many ways Jesus Christ in this 7-book-long fable. Tash is a false God, and Emeth has served him all his life. In this scene Narnia (the world) has come to an end, and the survivors meet in a new country. Emeth describes meeting Aslan: "... the Glorious one bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reason of my great desiere for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him, for I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath's sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn.... But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yes I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek." It makes me a bit afraid to make assumptions of who will belong to which group. We might be surprised at the outcome. Jesus told us not to judge. The only important thingf or us is to qualify to be in the Church of the Firstborn. When we do this (being LDS or of any other confession) by being the best person we can and by keeping all commandments we know of, we have done our part. The rest is in the Hand of God and happens due to the atonement of Christ. We by ourselves will go nowhere!

Amen! I believe that we really choose the kingdom ourselves, and that we could not abide in any other kingdom for long if at all. Being an inhabitant of the terrestial kingdom would enable us to be in the presence of Jesus, but we would not be able to stand the presence of Heavenly Father. Going to a lower kingdom would be possible for us, but we would miss the light and the closeness to God, we enjoy in the celestial kingdom, and we would yearn to return there. BUT: I have no idea what eternity really is and whether there is a way to grow during eternity. If there is, it will be very hard, much harder, than growing here on earth. But as far as I know, nothing has been revealed about any option like this. God might have designed it, but he might as well have not. Better to take no risks and do what is necessary here on earth to obtain the celestial kingdom and not to hope for a back entrance.

Sure? What exactly is doctrinal and taught??? What is knowledge? I believe this goes far beyond simple words phrased to theorems or doctrines. The deeper understanding of any doctrin is endless. Even if you think you have understood something in it's fullness, there might be some understanding beyond. Unless things are revealed to us in the scriptures, we can only guess what conditions are in the celestial kingdom. As educated guesses might be... they remain what they are: guesses. And maybe God is having a good laugh at this discussion! But aren't we a bit off-topic???

You might say that almost anything about Christmas -- starting from the date: Birthday of Mithros, winter solstice -- is as heathen as can be. And probably the old church chose this day exactly for this reason, just like they picked the locations of heathen shrines and holy places for their churches or converting old Gods and Goddesses to Saints. Adaption instead of confrontation, and also more control... BUT: anything that becomes a SYMBOL reminds you of the truth behind it. And therefore Christmas, Weihnachten, Jul, ... reminds us of that holy night, when a baby was born -- the Savior of the world. The green of a fir tree might be a symbol of hope, as any green in the death of winter might be. Gifts we give to each other might be a symbol for the great gift Jesus gave us: salvation and eternal life. It might as well be a symbol for the commandment, that we should love each other as he loves us. You can go on and on like this. In D&C we read, that it doesn't matter what we eat or drink for sacrament -- it might be a carrot and lemonade ;-) -- and this definitely applies to Christ's birth as well. It doesn't matter HOW or WHEN we celebrate it. Most important is the meaning that it has for us. It is good to have traditions around christmas in your family -- if they bring you closer to HIM. Searching for Christmas Recently while being busy And preparing for the feast I recognized all of a sudden That all my Christmas joy had ceased. Incredible, what just had happened! I almost dropped my shopping list And stared upon the heap of items, Wishing to yell at it, "Dismissed!" Another time of wild consuming While children starve in foreign lands? And gifts and endless celebrations -- And somewhere else a life just ends? Cleaning, cooking, decorations, Pretending happiness perforce? Why immerse in all this trouble For this stupid Christmas cause? Looking again for gift and presents, Never pleasing everyone. And forgetting anybody is the worst that could be done. Fir tree, mistletoe, and candles, Heathen things of olden time. Does anyone at all remember: We celebrate our Lord sublime! I would have left this shopping temple And all these shopping lists behind. Howe'er the family was waiting, Still having Christmas on their minds. And so I pushed the heavy trolley And lined up for the checkout there, Stacking my stuff like everybody Piece by piece on the conveyor. I misplaced one of these boxes, And it tumbled off the belt. When I bent down to reclaim it Some hands this box already held. The small daughter of a woman Waiting behind me in the line, Blushed as I said, "Thankyou, darling!" But she let a broad smile shine. My gloomy mood that moment vanished The day was beautiful again. I recognized the real Christmas Lay in this sweet smile I had seen.

A person can go no more than 3 to 4 days without water, then he/she will di of thirst. If there is sufficient water, a person can survive 30-200 days without food (200 is an absolute extreme) Have a look at Matth. 4:2-3: "And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterwards an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." As far as I remember do we believe that Jesus had a human body. So if he was HUNGRY after 40 days of fasting, he MUST have had water to drink! And I believe that applies to any fasting mentioned in the scriptures or anywhere else that lasted for a longer time. Regular fasting is supposed to last for two meals (or 24 hours), and as the brethren have advised us, no spiritual fasting should last longer. Those people who cannot fast due to medical reasons (I am one of those) still have many options in my view. While the rest of my family fasts, I try to reduce my food to the necessary basics... no candy, no chocolate, plain bread, water instead of juices, just what I really need to get along. I need not feast while others fast. And somebody who gets severe headache/migraine might consider drinking some water to avoid complications. And if you have a look at D&C 59:5-14... The Lord says, "I give you a commandment, saying thus..." All kind of rules follow ... and then the conclusion: "Verily, THIS IS FASTING and prayer...". Same in Isaiah 58 3--14. Fasting is so much more than just refraining from food. Sometimes it is necessary to look for the spirit of the law.. and not the letter. By the way: I do like the kind of fasting some other churches do: between Ash Wednesday and Easter complete abstinence of something you otherwise like to do or eat: TV, candy, meat. But this could only be an addition to the regular monthly fasting, not a substitute.