Shade

i need to remind myself every day...

that was quite silly. i'd sure hate to be in her shoes right now. i've done some pretty damn stupid things in my lifetime, too and i know how much spiritual pain mistakes cause. i hope she finds comfort.

wasn't he actually a captain in the nephite army? ooooh. i want one with laser sights. or a light saber... Johnathan: don't get yer skinny butt shot off. your family needs your skinny butt!

there aren't enough credit cards in the world for me. fortunately - i'm agreeing with CK - i don't need to pay. or rather, i'm currently busy working out my intervention with Big Brother...

what's spiritual? and what goes to the after-life? it is written that everything was created spiritually before it was created temporally. it's up to us what we do to get there, however. Chantee, i love your description (especially) of phase 3. i have often thought about my own life. sure, most of the pain was due to poor choices, but i believe that my Heavenly Father allowed me to make those choices and, for some time now, He has been using what i have learned in the process to help to change and maybe even save the lives of others in my recovery program, possibly sparing them at least some of the emotional and spiritual pain which i suffered. i have learned many lessons in humility, patience, faith, compassion, charity, honesty, love, willingness. i have learned - albeit the "hard way" - that i am no better nor worse than the next person. i have learned that my hardships and my suffering and my desperation have been some of the greatest gifts that my Heavenly Father could ever have bestowed upon me. i don't ALWAYS get it right, but in Sacrament last Sunday, i was reminded that i am a "work in progress". and just for today, that's probably more grace than i deserve. and the next life? or the next part of this life, rather? you know what, as i sit here tonight, i would be eternally grateful for whatever the Lord in His infinite mercy sees fit to bestow upon me. am i worthy of Godhood? not a chance. despite the little i have learned, i am all too often quick to anger, judgemental, selfish and self-centred, dishonest, arrogant, proud, obscene, lazy and obstinate. and yet, as rotten as i may be sometimes, when i am able to get out of my own head and recognise God's spirit in those around me, my eyes well up because the true beauty of this world lies in the smallest, simplest things. it doesn't matter what He has in store for me. what matters - what really matters - is my daughter's smile and shouts of joy when she sees me walk in my front door; watching my son place 1st in his track meeting last saturday; seeing some of my estranged family for the first time in years at Sacrament this Sunday; realising that my Saviour loves me no matter what; my little girl's swing that hangs from the apricot tree in my garden and the moments we spend together beneath it's leafy boughs; the hand-made pictures on my office wall; being able to wake up sober this morning; having a roof over my head, these days; not needing to beg for food, the way i sometimes did when i was on drugs; warm clothing and a soft pillow upon which to lay my weary head tonight... so, just for today, i'd be happy to make it into heaven in any form, shape or size, regardless of the frills and bonus tracks. if my Heavenly Father sees fit to forgive me and guide me and accept me, i'd gladly be his servant.

i thought the people of iraq wanted peace? i'm sure someone was arguing this point before? oh, right, it was Outshined, i just looked back a few ages. and i can't say i disagree. i'm sure the people wish for peace. i thought it was just saddam who was the warmonger? and not the entire nation? there is a thread running along on another post about the "evil muslims" and how they ALL want war. which is so totally not true. most of them are peace-loving people. most people, regardless of race, colour or creed would choose peace over war - GIVEN THE CHOICE... and while i must also agree with outshined, that poor ol bush has a nasty job to do and i would not want to be in his shoes... i do believe that i would like it very much less to be in the shoes of the people getting bombed in the middle east. as for your 9-11 incident? it was a truly sad and tragic day. but can i tell you a secret? more people are murdered in my country each year than died in that attack. WAY more. serveral times more. in 2001 (the most recent stats i can find right now with a quick google search) there were 598,419 violent crimes reported in south africa. obviously, that excludes those NOT reported. if you don't believe me about the murders and would like to dispute my claim go and google the facts for yourself. what i can tell you - it was in excess of 15,000 for the period 2005-2006, or in excess of 39 per 100,000 people for that period. but, in the same way that the 9-11 attack was perpetrated by - not an entire nation - a militant faction, the murders in my own country are perpetrated by INDIVIDUALS. is it a solution to start bombing entire suburbs where sightings of suspected murderers have been reported? surely you might agree with me that such a notion would be nothing short of criminally insane! as for the right to defend one's freedom, beliefs and ideals: i believe this is a basic human right. just don't be overly surprised if the "bad guys" feel the same way about it though...

oh, and for you, Krimson. * And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them in terms of honor. * And lower unto them the wing of submission and humility through mercy, and say : "My Lord ! Bestow on them Your Mercy as they did bring me up when I was small." * Your Lord knows best what is in your inner-selves. If you are righteous, then, verily, he is Ever Most Forgiving to those who turn unto Him again and again in obedience, and in repentance. * And follow not ( i.e., say not, or do not witness not, etc.) that of which you have no knowledge ( e.g. to say, "I have heard ..", or, "I have seen ..", while in fact he has not heard or seen). Verily ! hearing, and the sight, and the heart, of each one of you will be questioned ( by Allah.) * And walk not on the earth with conceit and arrogance. Verily, you can neither rend nor penetrate the earth, nor can you attain the stature like the mountains in height. * All the bad aspect of these ( the above mentioned things) are hateful to your Lord. * This is (part) of the al-hikmah ( wisdom, good manners, and high character, etc.) which your Lord inspired to you. And set not up with Allah any other god lest you should be thrown into Hell, blameworthy and rejected ( from His Mercy.) * (Translation from the Quran 17:33-39) …since you asked...

firstly… UK is 'apparently' a democratic country. 30% is a minority. what do the other 70% say? and are you judging them by the standards of the 30%? speaking as a recovering addict, and a newly "re-activated" LDS member… i used to smoke, drink, drug, fornicate, etc, etc. i don't really need to go into details here right now. point is: does that make the LDS religion evil, because it's followers are "ALL" junkie whoremongers? does that make YOU an evil person, because we are both LDS? you ARE AWARE, right?… that there are segments in the Islam faith who do not follow the same generally accepted beliefs as the majority. Shia or Shi'ite Muslims believe differently to the Sunni Muslims. there is a divide. but you must know this, surrounded by so many of the evil buggers as you are. in a similar way, there are "fundamentalist Mormons". and the world JUDGES the LDS faith by their standards. why do so many people assume that all "Mormons" have serveral wives? well… quite simply cos they're too ignorant and stupid to bother to find out the facts and truth for themselves. tell me something... i would be very interested to know, what do the Muslim people in your community know/believe about The Church of jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? what have you taught them about the true Gospel of Christ?

um, that comes from the 13th article of faith, which - last time i checked - can be found in the standard works after the "Joseph Smith History" section, just before the "Index". whether there's any point to the 13 articles of faith - written, incidentally by none other than the Prophet J.S. - is open to debate, i guess. you may feel free to disagree. we also have publications, such as the Ensign, which i already mentioned along with a myriad of books written by Presidents, teachers and leaders which do not form part of the standard works, and in which millions of members find invaluable insight… granted, these are (probably?) all written by LDS members. the reference to Mohammed, which I mentioned, came from one of our own leaders

i am not as familiar with exact content of the US constitution as i am with my own, but - like my country's constitution - it is man-made and fallible. the laws change all the time. south africa (probably) has the most liberal constitution in the world, right now. read together with what the scriptures teach, our constitution is horrifically flawed. how does the law of the US compare to what your scriptures teach you? as for Zimbabwe... EVERYONE knew about Zimbabwe when it was still called Rhodesia and was under the oppressive heel of the racist, fascist white "British" ruling party. now, nobody even remembers where the country is, let alone the attrocities taking place there. Mugabe, the dictator currently running the show over there, has pillaged and plundered all the good stuff already, leaving nothing for places like UK or US to concern themselves over. funny how, just 3 decades after losing control over the nation, UK is no longer prepared to do anything to help them. google it: Z-I-M-B-A-B-W-E skip past all the "pretty tourist destination" sites. ...but anyway... that's totally off the topic. apologies!!

how does adoption fit into this picture? how important is it for families of the church to ensure that children already born to earthly temples (bodies) are cared for and brought into Christ's fold? viz: can we not do even more good by going out and adopting those 3 or 4 or 5 or 10 extra kids and bringing them into Christ's church? would LDS families not be an ideal place for homeless/parentless children? many children who end up going through the govt system of fostering are raised with no sense of spirituality, morallity or belonging. just a thought, cos i'm adopted...

i remember reading an exerpt in an Ensign a few years ago, in which the Prphet said that Mohammed was a righteous, good and spiritual man. i have had a bit of exposure to the Islamic faith and beliefs at work and in the world and, while different in some ways to what i believe, everything i have encountered could be called "virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy". do we nor believe that we should be seeking after these things?

there's an old saying that goes, "the only ones who profit from a war are the ones who are selling the guns." so, this was supposed to be about Moroni? lemmesee, now. don't remember much about his story - been inactive for some time now - but i would hazard a wild guess that he would be fighting for liberty, equality, righteousness, defending the opressed, upholding morality and eradicating evil. so what's the war about anyway? i'm in south africa. the media tells/sells several different stories. guess this depends on the political stance of the media owners. some agree with ajax. some agree with outshined. some don't agree with any of you guys. some say that if there was no oil-territory to be fought over, there would be no war, anyway. so the current regime is fighting for liberation from the oppressors? strange that i don't see any US military liberating the poor buggers who are busy dying in Zimbabwe. ok, maybe not so strange... they have no oil. or am i completely off the mark? what are wars "traditionally" fought over anyway? territory, money and riches, power, control, liberation, fear? perhaps all of the above? the black and coloured peoples of my own nation suffered terribly under the fist of apaartheid for decades. the most any other nation ever did was to impose sanctions. during the period of sanctions against south africa, our economy and our currency was at its strongest ever. 1 Rand (our currency), at the height of the apaartheid era, was selling for £2 or US$3. i do not believe a general such as Moroni would have allowed a nation to be persecuted because of the colour of their skin. it would be interesting to hear why the US regime has not seen fit to liberate all of the other oppressed of the world... i guess this, too, begs the question, "what would Moroni do?" realistically speaking, i believe that general Moroni would first look to your own nation and begin with a little house-cleaning. clean up such issues and problems such as lawlessness, prostitution, homelessness and poverty, hunger, education, abortion, the flaws in american constitution, corruption, pornography, drug and alcohol abuse, child abuse, etc... "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14 how do we heal the world? start with a little house-cleaning!

i think the movie "Forest Gump" used one of the best quotes of all time: 'my mama always used to say, "stupid is as stupid does." ' yesterday, i failed to really emphasize the point i was trying to make: why do i choose not to drink or use drugs? cos they're freaking evil and i've had to learn the hard way what the "wisdom" part of this covenant really means to me...

um. thanks.

whoa! that's rocking! hmmm... both on and off the topic, i came across some "anti" sites yesterday, while following some arbitrary links and i just gotta say... i prescribe to scientific logic as well as generous helping of the more traditional sorts of logic. i write pretty delicious english when i choose to do so. i'm also an avid literary fan. i cannot honestly guess how much i've read over the last 27 years of my life. the possiblity that an uneducated peasant coulda made up any of this stuff is beyond unbelievable. such a proposition is preposterous and is the kind of stuff you might only find in episodes of the twilight zone... just a thought. use it. don't use it. w/e

WOW! (no, not WoW... I mean WOW!!!) this is quite an interestig topic, indeed. i've had what i might call more than a limited experience in this field. what you could call a 17 year field trip, i guess... i am currently (and have been) inactive since ±1991. been meaning to get back to church for some time now, but it is only now, 13 months and 6 days abstinent from crack cocaine, that i am finally clear-headed enough to be seriously considering this option. i'm still smoking cigarettes and drinking caffeine in the form of liters of coffee and coca-cola each day, and they're currently right at the top of my list of priorities to set straight in the immediate future. how did it all start? doesn't really matter anymore. but by the age of 14 or 15 (while still active in the church) i was (i now perceive) already a confirmed alcoholic. i remember, as a small child, reading a kiddies' book on church doctrine, easy to read and illustrated. in it, drugs like alcohol, caffeine and cigarettes were illustrated by showing people crawling on their hands and knees, with exagerated huge bottles of booze, or packets of cigarettes tied to their backs. i clearly remember the imagery as being one depicting enslavement to these chemicals. ok, so caffeine and nicotine are not crack cocaine. neither is alcohol. yet, statistically, nicotine or alcohol on their own, are each individually responsible for more deaths and broken families than all the other illegal (as well as prescription) narcotics put together. don't believe me? how many people die each day worldwide from lung cancer or smoking-related illnesses? how many deaths on the roads daily, due to drunken drivers? addiction is typically described as obssessive, impulsive and compulsive behaviour. about having a life that is out of control. AA, NA and other similar fellowships' 1st step reads "We admitted that we powerless over alcohol [our addiction][cocaine][etc...], that our lives had ebcome unmanageable. ask any smoker if cigarettes have made their life unmanageable? "NO! ok, well not yet... um... i guess i am scared of cancer may be a typical response for some. others may say "NO! it's not a problem, i can stop anytime..." (YEAH, RIGHT!! i used to say that about crack...) so is their life unmanageable? well, try taking those cigarettes away from them and see how well they cope... or better yet, steal an emphysema patient's oxygen tanks... haha ok, maybe the last one is a little cruel, but you're getting the idea, right? ok, so where does that leave something as innocuous as caffeine? well, same as for the "average" smoker... try taking away the caffeine for a day or even a couple of hours. NO MORE MISTER NICE GUY! i also cannot believe that i hav managed to get through this entire piece of writing without using any profanity. perhaps it's simply the fear of being banned from the site, after the first time i've ever actually written anything. hehe. yes, i have a foul mouth. but, just for today, it's better than crack cocaine... so WOW! WoW? hmmm... it's not bleeding rocket science!