CommanderSouth

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Posts posted by CommanderSouth

  1. And Anatess, I want to believe that. The wall I am running into seems to be the fact that, because I want the lds church to be true, and because I try to stick in the faith promoting areas of stuff a good portion of the time, I feel like I am running from God, and because I don't want to go to church wi my parents because of this worry I am running, and NOT willing to follow the spirit.

  2. I am sitting in my parents church right now and I feel the feelin I have been unable to shake in the last 3 years of my membership. That I am uncomfortable here and I have the feeling that they will say something and I will know the church isn't true

    I know this is a lack of testimony I think. And I know I am only very recently getting back into doing the things I should be doing so I figure I will need to wait, but I worry because even when I was baptized I remember these feelings, I would love for them to just stop and my belief be strong enough to exist outside the church walls and my home and work and be able to sit in the midst of many who don't believe and not have worry in me.

    At thoughts?

  3. Anddenex, I have always found the word choice "remission" interesting in relation to sin. It paints sin as a cancer, that we can drive into remission by the grace of God received by obedience to the gospel. I certainly don't want to wander out so far I am back in sin, but yeah I do need to stay on the log as it were...

  4. We do things because we think they will make us happy. Bottom line.

    Parents and older people tell you, "Hey, we love you, so we give you this wisdom: Do all these things that seem restrictive or boring or that cut into your partying. In return, you'll be happy. If you don't do these things, you will be unhappy." Then friends and others tell you, "What are you waiting for? Come join us! We're having a ball!"

    So whom do you believe?

    One thing you can do is just to party it up until you find out for yourself that it's empty and soul-shattering, and you're desperately seeking something real like a man in the desert dying of thirst searches for an oasis. Even muddy water would be a blessing.

    Many others have taken that same road. Their testimony is, in general, that they rue their short-sightedness and deeply wish they had taken the advice of their loved ones, that straying from the true path has taken a terrible toll in their lives.

    Ultimately, you should do what makes you happy. But as a child of God, you will find that what makes you happy is what builds both you and those you love. Satisfying your own carnal nature won't make you happy. Maybe in some short-term sense, but never in the long run.

    And while I don't have any desire to "party it up" as it were, I don't want to be sitting in regret at a life squandered playing board games instead of going to church either, so even inactivity in that sense is robbing myself of potential joy for "joy".

    I just think back to that PSP I bought, I loved it for a while and then it gathered dust before being sold. Now it seems that's my membership, except I can't completely rid myself of testimony (not that I should, nor do I think I really want to) and don't want the shame of leaving after going on and on about the church. I think I just have to hunker down and do it, but it isn't fun sometimes, at least not yet...

  5. I am trying to reactivate, but I don't want to. I would much rather leave the church and just go back to church with my parents, or my friends, or just somewhere else in general. I also know that I would be denoucncing something I have fought for so vocally and would look like a fool, and also denoucing some of my favorite scriptures (D&C, BoM have fare more favs for me than the bible). I feel like if I start going back so much stuff is going to required of me between all the activities, home teaching, FHE, and the like that I won't be able to have a personal life.

    Am I just being stupid, and need to suck it up and stop being lazy, or is there actually any other advice that can be given to one in this situation?

    It would be nice to have some other advice but in my mind I am thinking I am stupid for even asking it...

    Oh well, if anyone feels the need to hit me over the head, go right "ahead"

    </Lame Pun>

  6. And I cite common sense that instruments are an aid to the use of sound in worship services. Round and round we go, where we stop? Nobody knows!

    If that is an argument in response to "Why no instruments?" then it is begging the question. It is assuming an instrument is an addition/candy bar, it does not establish such.

    I'm working on getting a response to that one.

  7. That's the problem I see with the argument. How does one decide what to apply it to and what not to apply it to? A prime example is what I've quoted below:

    Well, I argue that the use of instruments is an aid to the use of sound waves in worship services of which one can find plenty of evidence in the Bible. What is the criteria they use to distinguish between addition and aid? Let's give it a whirl and see if it holds up.

    Normally speaking they derive sole authority from the bible. Reading with the hermeneutic of "Direct Command, Apostolic Example, Necessary Inference" is how they determine everything. The lack of command or example, and no need to infer the use of musical intruments leads them to reject it as adding to. They would site common sense as reason for pitch pipe or chorister or something like that. To add music would be something there is no evidence of in the first century church, and ergo. We shouldn't do that.

    I found this on one of the many sites coC have covering this topic, it works well enough I think.

    A mother sends her son to the market to buy a loaf of bread. He brings the bread home in a bag. The bag is merely an aid. Should he purchase a candy bar as well, he has disregarded the instruction of his mother by an addition.

    And that is usually how the discussion goes (I have had this one often with not much luck on my side, and am usually left wanting in my own arguments) with my coC coworkers :)

  8. Much like everyone I suppose, they don't agree with theosis, though they do reject all creeds. I will say we all probably use agreeable statements of the "church fathers" and ignore the contrarian ones. Not necessarily I should say, but I think most do it to some extent.

    I agree that thanks to revelation this is a moot point, but it is an interesting one to try to argue biblically...

  9. Yes. I am speaking of the use of musical instruments in worship (singing). The churches of Christ don't use them as they say the lack of use of them in the New Testament is evidence the early church didn't do this ergo we shouldn't. I am wondering from a biblical perspective is there any solid argument for instrumentation in worship when dealing with people who look through the lens of looking for either direct command, apostolic example or necessary inference.

  10. I went to a church of Christ meeting with my friend from work this evening. The topic was my perennial favorite in relation to his church, the use of instruments.

    In my heart I don't have issue, in practice I don't have issue, but in terms of being able to refute his arguments, I simply can't do so well...

    The idea that the early church didn't use intruments in SPITE of their use in Greco Roman worship, Davidic temple worship, and appearantly in revelation is striking.

    The condemnation of usage of instrumentation in worship by early church leaders such as Eusebius, Calvin, Aquinas, and Justin Martyr is interesting.

    A lack of this them seeming to use instruments and a lack of example in the new testament leads one to be curious.

    I wish this was something I didn't just have to fall back on the whole testimony of the restoration thing, but maybe that is the point.

    Any ideas?

    I don't want to whine but I would just like to be able to argue on that without breaking into the restoration...

  11. Wingnut, I appreciate those, and I espcially appreciate that you didn't link me to a normal google search on depression with LDS at the end :)

    LP, I don't know, I also don't know if he knows.

    I also suggested to start listening to Joel Osteen, I know I have mentioned him in another topic lately, but I think if we can get his message of our worth to, and ability through Christ, then we will be so much better off.

    But if it came up to be chemical then I would assume he would need to see a doc and get some meds. I hope this is just a "down in the dumps" type of spell for him.

  12. Is it just me or does anyone else have a harder time focusing(mentally, not with my eyes) when reading on a device? I don't know if it's all just mental or if there is something to it but when I read on my iPad I am less engaged it seems, which is a shame because I love the integrated sync in the gospel library app, that app is amazing.

    Anyone else notice this or know any way to combat it?

    Just curious...