CommanderSouth

Can you elaborate on that please? Thanks!

I'm sorry I should have been a bit more specific, I have a knack for being vague... I am speaking of the Gods who created heaven and earth. Basically the genesis story with a lot of bonus "s"es thrown in :) "In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods: and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it." (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 349.) That is the sort of thing I am wondering about. Are these the Gods that would come from the regression of God's (an offshoot of the God as man business) or are these different?

It seems like a pretty big thing to do doctrinally, but I Haven't heard too much about who the Gods spoken of in Abraham actually are. Does the church have doctrine on this? Thoughts? Thanks!

I was thinking about this on my drive into work and I have been trying to work them out. I was initially worried it came from 2 different speeches and may have been contradictory, but was somewhat relieved to see both came from the King Follet Discourse. That helps inasmuch as it would imply it made sense to Joseph, but it still doesn't help that it doesn't make sense to me. It seems if you go the route of God's God it starts infinite regression as far as I can tell, but how does that make sense in the idea of God basically being eternal... Thanks for the insight...

I have heard both ways on marriage basically being a commandment. I have heard if we have the chance and don't take it then we don't get another shot (I remember hearing a story from President Kimball talking about a young couple having a civil marriage rather than a temple marriage and they died in a car crash, and that they were done, no second chances). I have also heard that if we follow the commandments and marriage doesn't present itself then we will have no blessing withheld from us. All that being said, I prefer to leave it in the hands of God, maybe President Kimball was right, or maybe he wasn't "a prophet being a prophet" at that time. Either way, I would think it is best to err on the side of temple marriage if at all possible.

His last wife was a latter day saint, which makes me wonder. Assuming he was not (which is correct as far as I can tell), why would a LDS woman marry a non member, when they believe their own exaltation is on the line. Of course, this may have something to do with why they divorced, but I don't want to sling mud, I just find this curious. Thoughts?

True, but I thought that was because you wouldn't see other people playing for whole weeks? *rimshot*

I thank you, I always hated it when Dad used the "rat droppings" argument against me, at least I have some type of retort if I ever wanted to reply...

And I agree, which is why I am looking for insight. Violence is a tricky thing. If I threw out things that simulate killing I lose the two main genres I play with my friends, FPS and RTS. But no one ever stops kids from pointing at each other and saying "bang" (not usually anyway), so this really isn't anything more than a step up from that. I don't worry too much about it because it hasn't made me want to kill anyone so. But usually there is at least some cursing in pretty much all games, which is making me wonder where to draw the line on that.

Mark 7:14-16 Though I may be taking this out of context...

Ok, so I am in the process of evaluating my life (the one process that never ends :). I am really feeling I should trade in GTAIV. That's an easy enough choice to make, but how far do you walk down that road. How much is too much? If I wanted to get rid of every single game, movie, or song I have with any swearing, swaths of highly enjoyable content would be gone. Now should I be enjoying something like that, I do not know. Part of me says no, but part of me goes to the words of Christ to try to justify it, that being, it isn't what goes in that defiles, but what comes out. That being said, I know I need to further change, as I caught my foot on the dog's cage this morning and caught myself saying "mother", mind you I didn't finish, but nonetheless it bothered me, and right before I was sitting down to watch General Conference no less. It's funny, violence and language don't seem to bother me unless they are uneedfully gratuitous, but I try always to either skip movies with sex scenes in them, or in the case of stuff in shows like 24, just fast forward. So on the topic of movies and such, how much leaven spoils that batch? And if the only "guideline" we have is to avoid R rated films, how "PG-13" is ok? Thanks for the insight...

Sounds Ironic... :)

I think a Journal is an integral part. Personal Revelation as I recognize it comes most frequently when writing down other things I have received. I probably start needing to be more diligent with that.

This is something I am working hard on (though not hard enough it sometimes seems). I just finished the BoM, D&C, and PoGP this week. Obviously I plan on going back through them again very soon. I have been listening to many talks, and praying daily (I do feel as if I "pray without ceasing" inasmuch as I almost constantly am in a prayerful mood, but I guess there would be occasionaly ceasing...), and reading the scriptures. I am sure the whole thing isn't a magical shot in the arm and you never have to worry again type of experience, but I long for more sturdy faith. I always second guess my decision to join the church based on my parents. I feel my parents are far more spiritual than I an neither seem to feel anything when I talk about the church, and other than sympathy when we watch things like The Work and the Glory, Mom doesn't come away any closer. I just am pulling to try to grow my faith so I am not always on the edge of doubt. Well I am off to bed, I appreciate any comments of insite... Thanks!

I love how Hockey Heroes "Check" Melting Ice Caps - ZAMBONIS TO THE RESCUE!

Just got settled in from work and running. The more I talk to people the more I realize how shielded I have been. I am 24, and I grew up in a devout Pentecostal home, we've been to a plethora of meetings of all branches, Assemblies of God, Church of God, Church of God of Prophecy, from the normal sunday service to the "Signs and Wonders Campmeeting" of the mid 1990s with Rodney Browne. I've watched Copeland, Hinn, Duplantis, Crouch, Roberts and all the like growing up. It wasn't until about I was 20ish I started talking to the Churches of Christ at work, what an experience, it was like someone through water in my face. They don't believe in instrumental worship, the gifts of the spirit, basically NOTHING like we did. Of course this threw me into the whole "Joseph Smith" mode of thinking, then ended up with me in the LDS church. So if I am not as well traveled as most, I do apologize. I know that a lot of baptists teach eternal security, but seeing as we didn't really go to many baptist meetings, I am not well versed in their doctrine, or others who profess such things.

Correct me if I am wrong, but don't the baptists teach if someone "backslides" they weren't saved to begin with? Also, even though the baptists believe in eternal security, do they preach you can sin and still make it to heaven? I would assume they preach against sin just like anyone else.

Correct, it seemed to me though the implication was something like a cross between salvation by grace and eternal security. Saved by confession, can't loose it no matter what you do. That simply isn't a message I have ever heard preached from any pulpit, even those who teach salvation by grace.

I was listening to Elder Mcconkie's talk on salvation by grace, and I have to say. I came from a pentecostal household, and have been to many different churches and listen to a littany of televangelists, and I know not ONE who preaches you can be saved and live in sin. While I wouldn't say that means there are none, I just don't think it is that prevalent. I am not saying there aren't those who take God's grace lightly, I am simply saying that isn't the majority view from what I have seen. Just kinda wanted to vent on that, thanks for listening...

Also, I should say upfront, I know all my experiences, and may not elaborate enough to make them make sense to you all. So if I fall into that, let me know and I can expound. I want to make sense, and I do to myself, but I need to make sure I do to others as well :)

My understanding is that Most take the God was a savior stance, or the "I don't know" stance. I have not met a saint that proclaims that God sinned. The massive irony of this whole topic, is that God having sinned was the logic train I was mulling about when I had the most intense encounter with what I believe to be the spirit in my whole life. A major part of my testimony no less, but I have refined my thought process since then to simply acknowledge the possible mortality of God at some previous point. Or, If still the spirit was what I felt (and God has never been mortal), it was nothing more than an answer, not necessarily related to my thoughts, as the result of that encounter, was a belief in all of it, the church was true, and I didn't care about Infinite Regression, or none of it. A feeling I have yet to feel so intensely since.

That, and no one expects the Spanish Inquisition. Sorry to go from fervent to flippant like that, but I don't have opportunities for wit like that often...

I don't know but for some reason I was thinking of this when I started this thread, and I feel it appropriate now as well, the chorus to a song that really fits: Where could I go oh where could I go Seeking a refuge for my soul Needing a friend to save me in the end Where could I go but to the Lord

One of the articles they posted basically posited that we HAVE to have believed God sinned. If someone really thought that, I could understand them thinking that person lost. I used to think that way myself. Though I may let more slide on sarcasm than I should. They titled an article something to the effect of "Did Mahonri Moriancumer discover America?" which I found to be a tad sensationalist. Which I am sure was their goal, it did get me on their site. I just don't want to be so cynical that I think everything that disagrees with the church is "anti" (I am NOT saying I feel you are saying this), but then again, wolves in sheep's clothing I suppose is sometimes true...

My first reaction is that along the lines of, Is MRM really Anti? I wasn't trying to break any rules, but other than a slight sarcastic streak that I have seen even in the pretty genuine places, I didn't see them as Anti. From what I can see they are any other evangelical group who is out there to try to "win the lost" just so happens we are lost. Coming from a pentecostal home I can see why someone who thinks we have to believe God sinned would post something such as that. And I am, and will continue to pray about such things, but when there isn't all that much in the standard works, where could I go but to others?