mordorbund

I haven't made an in-depth study of the early Saints and seer stones. I do recall that in the D&C Joseph seeks for various answers in the Urim and Thummim until June 1829 (before the Church was organized and before the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood), after which there is no more mention of using this tool for revelation. I wonder if it was intended to be a stepping stone until Joseph was acquanted with the order of revelation.

I have a Greek Orthodox coworker who I chat up regularly. He's a regular in his church, so I can ask him questions and expect accurate answers. I went to Christmas Mass with him a few weeks back (Jan 6) and that has spurned more discussion. I've tried to talk to Indian coworkers about their Hindu beliefs, but most that I've talked to so far only follow it culturally. I'll keep looking, just cuz I enjoy the sport.

There's a series documentary on the talking donkey called "Shrek". Apparently they breed with dragons, which is why they're so rare.

Why does he keep his face out of the frame? Is he embarrased that his chest is so barren?

Anaheim California 00-02. I remember in the Missionary Training Center we were given a CultureGram - a document that describes the culture of the country you're going to. I got a good chuckle reading what demographers thought was important to know about American culture. I remember it said that we greeted each other with "hello" or "hi", although in the west "howdy" is popular. So I started greeting people with "howdy", and I still do to this day (I am still living in the west now). And of course I chuckle a little on the inside when I realize what I just said and why. I went tracting down Newport Beach, where I was told missionaries are "rock stars of the Jesus world."

I remember the first time I left BYU campus and saw a Cosmo magazine. I was suprised that a magazine about our mascot wasn't on campus. I actually wasn't bothered that the content was something of a bait and switch - until I made it back to the dorm. Then I was shocked and appalled!! Back to the article, I thought the school did a good job of rejecting "Bats" out-of-hand (since the board is so concerned with offending old ladies). The school can go ahead and call themselves the Chargers, as long as they know that a charger looks like this:

That's fascinating. Based on this and other readings of Traveler's quotes, is he favorable towards people sharing their own opinions in public settings (including Internet fora)? or is that also the act of a dense simpleton? Should opinions be kept in the privacy of one's home, reserved only for family and friends?

From the same source you just quoted: President Gordon B. Hinckley “I am offended by the sophistry that the only lot of the Latter-day Saint woman is to be barefoot and pregnant. It’s a clever phrase, but it’s false. Of course we believe in children. The Lord has told us to multiply and replenish the earth that we might have joy in our posterity, and there is no greater joy than the joy that comes of happy children in good families. But he did not designate the number, nor has the Church. That is a sacred matter left to the couple and the Lord. The official statement of the Church includes this language: ‘Husbands must be considerate of their wives, who have the greater responsibility not only of bearing children but of caring for them through childhood, and should help them conserve their health and strength. Married couples should exercise self-control in all of their relationships. They should seek inspiration from the Lord in meeting their marital challenges and rearing their children according to the teachings of the gospel’ ( General Handbook of Instructions [1983], p. 77)” ( Cornerstones of a Happy Home, 6).

If ever I'm shot, I'll probably jump through a table or out a window for the same reason.

Google ninjas strike again!!

I can't help but suspect that the book is just a honeypot intended to get me safely in a corner out of the way of more productive people.

2 weeks?! Did you go to Hawaii for your birthday?

The Sisters come with manuals now? My life feels so much easier already.

I'm confused. This verse makes it sound like God is unhappy with Santa and will bring his ruin. But this verse makes it sound like Santa-God will lead the lost elf-tribes from his workshop.

Bishop: Mordorbund Counselors: Mordorbund, Mordorbund EQP: Mordorbund HPGL: Mordorbund RS Pres: Mordorbund Primary Pres: Mordorbund YM Pres: Mordorbund YW Pres: Mordorbund Ward Reverence Child: Mordorbund I'm promise you I'm not overworking myself. If I were Bishop, these boards would be very empty. <SIGH> It's so lonely being Bishop.

What leads you to think this? Do you know more Muslim men than women? Or are there specifics tenets that you're thinking of?

As I read the article, Promise Keepers specifically came to mind. I was also thinking about whether or not the LDS church has an unbalanced, feminine draw. Here's some of my anecdotal thoughts. I'm not too sure what the source of the feminizing of Christianity is (the article said it started in the 13th century, but I didn't catch a primary cause). I do see how the emphasis on a personal relationship with Christ can be emasculating. "Relationship" is not exactly a guy word. We network; we fellowship; we have a brotherhood. I don't even have a good relationship with my brothers (I have 6); I "get along fine with them". So I can see that as one aspect. Within the LDS church, I don't think we have as much of an issue with that. I do think the extra-canonical church (by this I mean the things that aren't officially associated with the church, but is targeted to an LDS audience, like Especially For Youth, or Time Out for Women) does have more of a slant in this direction. It also seems like the LDS church has more of an emphasis on God the Father than mainstream Christianity. Removing him removes the Divine example of fatherhood. Christ is an example of a father, but he is the adoptive father. I may be off on this, but I think the idea of fatherhood is naturally more masculine than adoption - primarily because I think nature requires me to eat adopted children. Add to this that the process of adoption that Christ went through is often described in feminine terms. The Atonement is something of a birthing process, and I am to feel gratitude for him based on an emotional appeal of all his suffering. I think for the LDS, we have the specific challenge that feeling the Spirit is usually described in feminine ways: it's a burning in the bosom; we see people crying when they feel the Spirit. In some ways this is balanced with some masculine descriptions (pure intelligence pouring in, still small voice (?)), but the masculine ones can be overshadowed by the feminine ones. On the other hand, we have a strong patriarchal familial association. We also have the Priesthood organization in the church. So men are taught by men regularly the masculine principles of duty, honor, and integrity. Our young men's program is tied in to scouting, which the article recommended as a way to bootstrap congregational manliness. Our young men also have various rites of passage and duties associated with levels in the Aaronic Priesthood (12, 14 and 16 years old). When it comes to actual attendance, I think most married men are there with their wives. Our Elders Quorum usually has 2 regularly active single men. So I guess we could do better non-familial masculinity, but that can be difficult in a religion who's ultimate blessing is to be a father in the eternities. I think we have more part-member families attending where the mother is a member than where the father is a member (can't think of any in my ward at the moment), but I chalk that up more to the maxim that if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

Wait, so Walmart doesn't cater to millionaires? [looks for the emoticon that huffs and takes my business elsewhere]

And just to clarify my earlier post, when I used the term "prophecy", I meant it as something more than "revelation". Every conference we are given words of encouragement, counsel and commandment. The Apostles and Prophet speak in their role of prophet in the Old Testament sense (a prophet is a person who speaks for God, and only sometimes does that include prophecy). When I talked about prophecy, I meant future predictions and such. Joseph prophecied of the Civil War; Heber prophecied that a certain person would receive specific items before the end of the day; Wilford prophecied that more would be revealed concerning the work for the dead. That's what I meant - future events that are spoken of with authority. PrisonChaplain, do you have the same meaning with prophecy, or is it the same as revelation (instead of a subset)?

Officially, prophecy is not dormant. We take it as an article of faith to "believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, the interpretation of tongues, and so forth." We have a strong top-down hierarchy for revelation based on a circle of stewardship. A person may prophesy about thus and such, but no one has to believe it until the same secret is revealed to someone in authority. As a result, when we look for instances of the gift of prophecy, we are left with those who have stewardship over us. If my father prophecied something concerning my children, it is something we would treasure in our family, but would probably not wind up in the Ensign for everyone to read. Most records that we have of prophesies then are from Church Leadership. Maybe others can comment better, but it does seem like there was a stronger outpouring of this particular gift early in the church. Brigham Young once said something to the effect of "any time I need a prophecy, I turn to Heber Kimball". I can think of various prophecies from Heber Kimball, Wilford Woodruff (both as an apostle and prophet), and other early apostles, but I'm hard pressed to think of some modern ones. There is a classic BYU story of a student who was speaking at the commencement ceremony. He was let in on the news that the campus would have to shut down due to lack of funding. The student in his address shared that the campus would not in fact be shut down because he saw in his dream the night previous that the campus would actually expand past its current bounds. Donations then poured in from the alumni to keep the school running. Since that time the campus has indeed expanded.

I may be talking complete nonsense here, but I'll say it anyway and it can be ignored if it's incorrect. God created man as a complete man - body, soul, and spirit. Remove any of these components and you're not really dealing with a man anymore. You'll just have a fraction or a portion of a man. This is the explanation I would expect from those that believe in a literal resurrection. Why didn't God create man without a body? That would not be man. In fact, he did create other orders of creations. He created angels (I'm assuming here that the popular belief is that angels don't have bodies). Why didn't God create lions as herbivores? Well, that wouldn't really be a Lion, would it? It might still be a perfectly valid creation, but Lion it would not be.

Correct me if I'm wrong Maureen, but I think the scripture often used in conjunction with your belief is Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Would you mind giving more of a description of it? When you say fiction (I didn't catch the historical part of it), I imagine Indiana Jones discovering to two pillars of Enoch, translating them, and then travelling to the Gulf of Mexico in search of the Lost City of Holiness. Along the way, he is chased by the Taliban who want the technological treasures of the outcast civilization.

Could you provide a verse that shows the Book of Mormon prophets taught baptism at the age of eight?

The birthday party may be over, but it looks like the after-party is still going strong.