MrShorty

While I believe this particular comment was a troll, I'm old and experienced enough to avoid claiming that no one is really that stupid.

The Berenstein Bears was a staple of my childhood, and my kids' as well.  Honest look at family life, dealt with real issues.  Before congress got involved and made GI Joe devote a portion of each episode to some stupid messaging directed at how kids shouldn't bully but should brush teeth or whatever.

VID_20240408_133952.mp4    

Pictures

Just got home this morning from my own eclipse trip to central Tx (hill country). Clouds cleared at just the right moment to capture this shot with my telescope.
 
I arrived a few days early, and left a few days later, so I never had to fight any traffic.

So, my family is going to see the eclipse this coming Monday.  We're just a few hours away from the path of Totality.  We're planning on heading out right near @Ironhold's stomping grounds.
We have no idea what the popularity will be.  But if it is the nearest spot for me, you can bet that most of the eclipse chasers (out of 4 million people in Houston) will want to go to the same location. 
Texas is fortunate since the duration of the total eclipse will be longer with a decrease in latitude.  We'll get nearly four minutes of the total eclipse.
With the roads clogged, we may have difficulty returning.  I hope we don't run out of gas.  Or we'll be the only idiots driving out in the middle of nowhere looking at an event for just a few minutes only to returrn home with a memory.  We can't really take pictures... can we?
But memories will be what makes and breaks this family.

Travel there was not too bad.  Google rerouted us a couple of times to shorten our travel.  Instead of the predicted 2:30h trip, it was about 2:50. We stopped by the Target for a pit stop.  The bathrooms were fine. The parking lot was normal -- nowhere near full.  It was about what you'd expect on a Monday morning. We went to a city park just south of the freeway from there.  The parking lot was nearly full.  But we managed to park two cars.  Plenty of room to layout and get a table. I got several shots at different stages.  And I got the perfect video of the totality.  I'll post when I'm at an appropriate interface. The cloud cover was actually the perfect level for photography. I happened to switch to video just as the last crescent was showing.  Then the totality. The red dot was, indeed a solar flare or sunspot.  There was a professional eclipse chaser at the park about 40 ft from our table.  My 12 y.o. liked his scope setup and got curious. They traded contact info and now, this man ("Lloyd") is going to be a distance mentor for my son on the subject of astronomy. The trip home was horrendous.  We thought we'd miss rush hour.  But there were major accidents on every route home.  That delayed us long enough that we hit rush hour.  Then that slowed us down to get us home in 4 hours.  But that was soon enough to get my visiting BIL to the airport, just in the nick of time. My wife had told me that the few minutes of totality would be like nighttime.  Not really.  It was like late twilight. But it was dark enough that the park's automatic lamps turned on.
I often wonder why there is a difference between seeing photos or video vs actually being there in person.  The actual event as a memory frozen in time is no different to me.  But the overall experience is different.  When we were there we had to deal with the clouds on again - off again behavior.  We were afraid that the 3 to 4 minutes of totality would be denied us.  But there was a happy medium that was better than we expected just as the totality occurred.  That slight layer of clouds made it perfect.  Then there were the interactions we had because "an event" was happening.  We simply wouldn't interact that way if it was just a photo or video.

As I've begun, for the first time, to read the Journal of Discourses, I have come across tidbits that are helping me to erase any assumptions I may have had about eternity and progression. My ultimate answer? I just don't know but God is really, really merciful- I trust Him.

Before the Kingdoms of Glory were revealed to us... The same type of question was asked about the dividing line between Heaven and Hell.  The best in Hell and the worst in Heaven weren't that much apart yet there rewards were starkly different.
Now the Lord has revealed the Three Kingdoms of Glory showing that not all receive the same rewards...  We don't know much about the Kingdoms of Glory except that the Celestial Kingdom appears to have an internal difference of rewards between the Exalted and the rest.
Therefore to me the revelations of the Three Kingdoms of Glory is a giant clue bat that we should stop thinking that the Heaven/Hell model or the Kingdom's model is an all or nothing type deal in the Lord's plan.  But rather its more of a spectrum.  Sure there are lines drawn but the reward/punishment change is gradual as you move through it. 
 

Thank you for sharing. This is the first post I have ever read something that speaks to the issue plainly. I am in a similar situation, in which wearing in the garments day and night is medically impossible. I always agonize about going in for a new temple recommend for this reason alone. As I was praying and pondering, I felt the distinct impression that Heavenly Father knows my heart. I fell further at peace and will plan to use your recommended phrase, “No. I don't wear them 24-7 for medical reasons, but I do my best and wear them when I can." 
Thank you for having the courage to share your story and experiences with others. 

So assuming the glory we inherit is relative to our faithfulness, will there be no one whose faithfulness is greater than the moon and yet less than the sun? This is what I'm trying to get at. It seems like there would be people all along the spectrum of faithfulness and yet the imagery suggests there are some pretty significant gaps in that spectrum. Perhaps that thinking is wrong and I'm totally open to other interpretations. But if it's not wrong, what is the cause for those gaps in faithfulness?

While our beliefs entail a much broader spectrum of salvation (three kingdoms of glory with perhaps many levels of glory within them) as compared to the heaven and hell belief of most Christians, I still find it interesting that there is still such a significant chasm between the kingdoms of glory, at least as the imagery implies: sun vs moon vs stars. Their difference in glory is vast. This would seem to imply that no one is going to just barely miss one kingdom. If you are only worthy of a lesser kingdom then you are still quite a ways off from being worthy of the greater kingdom. 
If that conclusion is accurate (and I'm equally interested in what you think if you feel it's not) then there must be a rather significant distinction in worthiness for there not being necessary a middle ground of worthiness, something in between the sun and moon and stars. For example, we know those in the Terrestrial Kingdom are labeled as not valiant in the testimony of Jesus whereas those in the Celestial Kingdom are. Will there not be anyone who is only sorta valiant, more than those in the Terrestrial but not up to snuff compared to the Celestial?
It's not something I had considered in the past but it does strike me that there must be a good answer out there somewhere, maybe in one of your noggins. Hopefully.
I guess what my question boils down to is if you believe there really is such a significant gap, what makes it so? Or if you think the top of one kingdom is close to the bottom of the next kingdom, why the imagery implying otherwise?

Greetings!
 
Investigator here..

I've noticed a slow and steady decline across my favorite 3 LDS-themed message boards (and half-dozen Facebook groups) starting before COVID.   One of them is now pretty much totally dead.  Thirdhour has certainly slowed a bit, but is still kicking.  The trick is to look for all new messages here: 
https://thirdhour.org/forums/discover/
 

In fast and testimony meeting today (had stake conference last week) a sister got up and related that her parents are missionaries back in Kirtland, OH. She said that during the meeting between the churches to discuss the sale of the temple a guy in attendance from the Community of Christ was seriously opposed to the sale and really wanted to raise an objection to it. But he said the Spirit restrained him so he could not object and a voice spoke to him saying "This isn't your temple or their temple. It's my temple." 
Assuming that's a true account of events, it would seem that the Lord is yet mindful of these descendants of early Church members and that He cares about how they feel about these things. There may yet be a reconciliation in the future. Perhaps in Independence.

I'm not sure that's the end all of the temple recommend question though. When I'm asked if I keep the Word of Wisdom and say yes it's in light of no coffee, tea, alcohol, or tobacco usage. But..... I often consider whether my eating and drinking choices are in alignment with the Word of Wisdom and make adjustments. I don't think if I confessed that I sometimes have drunk too much Dr. Pepper that any church leader would say, "Well...then we can't issue you your temple recommend, garumph, harumph." But that doesn't mean it's all hunky-dory for me to be pounding 300oz of the stuff in a day.

Indeed. 

I have some issues with the whole idea.  If I am doing a transaction with some one, the ideal of Capitalism and Christianity would be that we both got good value in the exchange.  AKA it was a Win Win.

This mindset tells me I can't do an exchange with someone if they might Win and they might do something with that win that I do not like.  That sounds like a very dark side of Capitalism and not very Christian at all.

Don't get me wrong, working with someone that shares your values makes the Wins even better but that can be very isolationist if that is all whom you will engage with.
In this case I have no issues whatsoever.  In the Book of Mormon, Nephi talks about there being 2 Churches only.  Church of God and the Church of the Devil.  Now clearly we think our Church as the Church of God...  But I can't say the Church of Christ is the church of the devil...  I have to classify it as also a Church of God.  One with lesser light and truth, sure, but still in the group.  And with that mindset why wouldn't we engage in a transaction that benefits both?  Seems very Christ-like to me

It's an interesting dilemma, but one I had to abandon decades ago.  It used to bug me that this or that gas station got their oil from this or that nation that occasionally spoke about their duty to kill Americans, or clothing produced in nations that make use of child or slave labor.  The mortal, secular rules that govern the earth at this time just make it impossible to participate in civilization without doing occasional business with your enemies. 
Our church has historical tidbits about making food (and beer) from our own farms only, but I haven't heard anything like that in like a century.
 

Everyone knows the Jack Chick Tract images of Joseph are the most accurate.

 

I think this is rather more similar to buying a gallon of milk from a store that also sells cigarettes and booze. Engaging in a financial transaction could certainly be considered "supporting" someone or something, but that's a problematic stance to take for an organization that does not want to be isolationist.

As an outsider, I'm not sure I can really say what they believe or don't believe. I observe that, up through Pres. W. B. Smith in the 1990's, they wrote their "revelations" in the D&C as if it was the voice of God speaking. Sections added by Pres. McMurray and Pres. Veazey are more circumspect and less obvious about being in the voice of God. I don't know what that might mean for the tangent we are on, but I make the observation.

Perhaps I would have better said that they don't believe in modern revelation in the sense preached throughout the Restoration—that is, that God reveals Himself to His prophets. They certainly believe in revelation such as inspiration and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which puts them in the same class as most of the rest of modern Christianity.
You may still disagree with this, and maybe you're right, but right or wrong, that would be a better reflection of what I intended to communicate.

Daniel Peterson has a few personal anecdotes to share about the CoC.  It's a pretty interesting read.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson/2024/03/a-few-more-thoughts-on-the-kirtland-temple-deal.html