Martain

It's very sad but I'm not surprised that the movement above misunderstands the Law of Adoption as even Brigham Young didn't understand it either. In the Joseph Smith History (1:39) we have Moroni quoting the text of Malachi to Joseph but changing the words slightly to say, “And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.” (JS-H: 1:39) The law wasn't that you were sealed to some to a man in a father son relationship but that you, like Abraham, have planted within you and then seek out and obtain the promises made to 'The Fathers'. It wasn't a linkup to your own dead who after all are in need of you, rather it was a linkup to those Father's who were worthy and who are already saved. It is welding a direct link between you and them bypassing all of those generations between you to where you are adopted directly into the Family of God. I feel very inadequate to explain it to others having only come to an understanding of it myself but I know of someone who explains it very well and with great simplicity by use of the scriptures.

Dear Revan, I want to help you. I wish I knew better what words to offer you or what answers to extend that would make the difference. What I do know is that I have been where you are and know of what you speak. Yet even if I were to tell you my answers, would you accept them that they would aid you? What I can offer you is empathy and a sincere prayer on your behalf. Sincerely Martain

Agreed. To mind is the false saying, "The end justifies the means". If we were to accept this as true, then we should have voted for Satan who indicated that the ends (eternal life) justified the means (destroy agency). The mind staggers and the heart breaks as to what trauma has been perpetrated upon you or someone you love as to so polarize you to this view and I truly hope you do not really mean this. Where in your view do you then leave room for the Atonement coupled with repentance? In the ends to protect the children, where will you draw the line at what means are justified?

Thanks for the responses =). Actually, K9 is the filter I've been using for quite a while =) and I too recommend it. The problem I was having is that I wasn't able to get wild card white listing to work through K9. It's not robust enough. The problem with the family Open DNS settings is that they wouldn't be sufficient to what I'm seeking. You're also right that it likewise wouldn't work because Open DNS is a network and not device driven and I need this to be locked down where ever I go. The reason for a third party is because once the settings are in place, I want to turn over the key to a third party for safe keeping. The goal is to put all possible forms of temptation out of reach not only regarding anything regarding the law of Chastity but also anything regarding recreation/entertainment as well. The good news is that I finally found something that looks like it will do what I've been seeking. Kaspersky seems to have the white listing tool I seek as part of their internet protection tool and I'll know within the 30 day trial period whether or not it will make the cut.

The difficulty I think lies in our ignorance. While the Lord knows who has and who hasn't sincerely repented and been changed by the Atonement, we do not. I do agree with Vort that the scarlet M is no more Christian than the scarlet A is. As Christians, in a situation where the banned person is given the real reason for the ban, couldn't an alternative be created for those whose labeling is unfair or who have truly changed? If you can't see the details as to why they're on it, can't you indicate that they would need to provide it? Could you not have an appeals process where in essence you take it before the Lord and ask whether or not they have repented such that it is safe for your business to not ban them? I dunno... but surely if you're desire is pure to do what is right by the Lord, couldn't you receive personal revelation regarding how to be both merciful and just in such situations?

Hello! Anyone know of a good whitelist internet tool? I've been using a web filter tool for years now but I've come to the conclusion that it's not enough. I feel it's time to lock down the fort so to speak and found that white listing is the way to go. Rather than try to categorize and filter the whole internet, I'll simply choose in advance the few websites I need and approve of and only these few will be allowed entry. The problem I've found is finding a good one that uses wildcard filtering. Password protection is needed to and the solution needs to be device rather than network based. I want to be able to take my computer anywhere and know that regardless of what connection I'm linked to, as long as I'm on THIS laptop, I'm safe. Anyone have any suggestions? P.S. In my searching, for those who are interested, OpenDNS appears to be exactly what I'm looking for but on a network basis rather than device. If you're wanting to lock down your home to where only specific websites are accessible, this appears to be a really good solution!

I know how you feel for I have felt the same way. Up against the wall of sin and addiction I did all within my power to repent and when I was still bound by sin and when no feeling of forgiveness came I felt very discouraged and reasoned as you reasoned that if all I can do is still not enough, then what is the point of trying. "I've repented but don't know if the Lord forgives me. If he doesn't forgive me then what's the point of resisting sin further? If the Lord doesn't forgive me then what is the point of repenting?" You wonder if the Lord has forgiven you for your sins when you repent of them. Certainly if you repent He will forgive you so the question becomes; How do you know that you've repented properly and sufficiently before the Lord? Imagine you take your car into the dealership to be fixed. The dealer looks over the car and gives you a list of everything wrong with it. You look it over and choose a couple of items most pressing to resolve and pass over the rest either because you lack the funds to repair or the time to wait while repairs are completed. My first encounter with serious repentance was like the example above. I had a few key things I wanted to repent of, be freed from, and be forgiven of. When that didn't happen the way I wanted I gave up and it was years before I reached the point of trying again. Eventually I reached the point to where I said, “Heavenly Father, I don’t want to sin anymore. I’ve confessed and forsaken them. I’m so sorry. Please, forgive me.” “Father, I’m finally willing to go all the way. I understand now that it’s all or nothing. Whatever I have to forsake, whatever I have to do, whatever I have to change, however much it may hurt, however long it make take, I don’t care. I’ll do it. Please! Save me!” It was then and only then that I felt the power of the atonement flood my life. It was then that the chains of addiction were broken and I received a new heart. It was only when I offered my whole soul as an offering that my offering was sufficient. The master mechanic knows the danger of a partial fix when what all of us need is a complete overhawl. Large or small in our eyes, all issues unaddressed will result in a fatality. Therefore he waits until we are truly willing to come to him. In the real world the price is money of which many of us lack. In repentance the price is our whole heart, our whole soul as an offering. I do not know what you were repenting of. I do not know how sincere your repentance was but I do know that when we repent the Lord forgives us. There is a way back for you just as there was for me. I've been where you've been and traveled (travelling) the road you seek to take to return. A few years back I prayerfully wrote out my conversion story in the hopes that it would one day be of use to others. I invite and ask you to read the full account in hopes that the Lord will use what I've written to help you understand what he would have you do to be forgiven. My prayer is with you, Sincerely, Martain

For personal reasons and via personal study I would very much like to see GMO labeling. For the same reasons I advocate 100% truth in advertising and truthful labeling of all ingredients in a product, I likewise advocate GMO labeling. I prefer being given the Agency to choose for myself, and alow others the same privaledge, whether I eat such foods or not.

YES!!

I'm not yet certain I'm comfortable with the idea of playing it via skype (classified as video/electronic gaming? Uknown) but may do so due to no other option presenting itself. If I start this way, I may end up ceasing if I learn it does fall into the above category. Optimally, I'm looking for individuals locally.

Lol! Well at the moment I settled on a class that's a cross between a rogue and a alchemist which will fit the roll of a skill monkey (high diplomacy skills) where I will choose to put no points in the bluff skill and use intimidate only in valid scenarios (think Moroni commanding Zarahemna to depart with a oath of peace or be brought down to the dust). It would need a GM willing to play to the style desired. The first recourse would be attempting peaceful resolutions but there would invariably be scenarios where the NPC/Monster simply refuses and that's part of the game. The goal isn't to resolve every encounter peacefully but to have made the attempt and to learn via the Spirit what one would do then. When you offer mercy, does your near death foe accept or are they so hardhearted and bloodthirsty that they would rather die so long as they have even a chance of taking you with them? Do they flee and do you follow to smite them like Gidgidonihah versus the Gaddianton robbers? Do they throw down their weapons and plead for mercy? If so what do you do if they break their promise? I'll admit I'm having a hard time with the spells and sorcery and magic part of the game but have determined for now that there are simply items/abilities I won't use and which also was consideration in why I chose a non magic casting character to start with. Part of the play will be to learn such a system well enough that eventually I might be able to replace it with a version based upon true gifts from the Lord based on faith. I honestly don't know completely how it would work only that I truly feel it could if approached by players with similar intent. Such a group could for example start an adventure path with kingdom building central to play where the players act in central roles in the community government and have to defend against enemies that come and attack their people/lands or other threats that crop up in the land.

BackStory: I used to be a very addicted video gamer until the gospel took root in my heart and I wanted freedom. After much pondering and prayer I was finally given some very direct personal revelation regarding the matter and as of such I do not play video/electronic games and was freed/ransomed from my addiction by the power of the atonement. This being said, the Lord has not taken from my heart the root desire or enjoyment of such games which has frustrated me because I can't find any game out there that fills this desire righteously. I invariably end up purchasing a board game that looks decent only to become opposed to it with in a short period of time due to various game mechanics which run contrary to what I know is true. I want to roleplay righteouss not wickedness/worldliness. The more I look the more it seems clear that there are not games out there such as I seek where the game is based upon true principals. There are no Terrestrial/Celestial RPG games out there because creation of such would require someone with a firm understanding of Terrestrial/Celestial laws to create it in the first place. I wonder if the reason the Lord has left such in my heart is because perhaps one day I'll simply have to create the game I seek. Until then I've been searching and currently settled on Pathfinders as a possible Role Playing Game that might be turned to fill and fit the desire I seek. Yet although I've done extensive reading/preparation for play, I've only played once because the group I originally started with had players whose mentality was an abhorrant 'kill everything!' and who after I indicated I wouldn't be playing with the group any more and pointed out their actions to the GM (game master) had the moral alignments of their characters adjusted to neutral evil and chaotic evil to reflect their in game actions. I believe that done right, this game can be used to put myself in a position where the Lord can teach me truth's and where the game can act as a launching stone propelling me forward in truth and righteousness. Now I simply have to find a group of like minded people, coordinate a time, and find someone willing to GM according to such desires.

So I'm wondering, are there any individuals here in Salt Lake City that would be interested in an attempt to play Pathfinder or Pathfinder Society organized play with the intent to role play righteousness? Sort of an "in the game but not of the game" mentality where placed in fictional scenarios we don't run into in real life we can choose to do the right thing even if doing so means the death of our character or imprisonment etc? Where rather slaying enemies for loot/reward we instead try to reason with them and "raise the banner of peace" first? Where we implement the laws in the Book of Morman regarding righteous warfare? Example: Evil dragon (as in pillage/slaughter villages of people) swooped down on us with the intent to kill us. My question was whether attempt to speak and resolve peacefully in hopes of guiding towards redemption or simply smite and was taught by the Spirit which was the right. I want to put myself into more scenarios like this where the ethics of the situation are not something I clearly understand (due to scenario being foreign) so that the Spirit can teach me the way to go. Where I can choose to do the right thing regardless of the in game consequences for doing so. This way, should the equivalent of such experiences ever arise in reality, I've already likened the scriptures to myself in this manner and I'll already know what to do rather than trying to do so when actually faced with such choices (sort of how we make decision ahead of time to only marry in the temple rather than leaving decision to the very end). So basically I'm looking for some others who would be interested in this type of playing style where the goal isn't to obtain loot and level up but to play with integrity to what we know is right and wrong. Anyone interested?

I agree, this is the thought that came to my mind when I started reading what you've written although the book I'm familiar with is "The Five Love Languages" I feel for you and pray that the Lord will grant you the light and knowledge you are seeking. Depending on things, while I may be off on this, how are his testostrone levels?

Yeah! That was awesome Quin! =) I really enjoyed reading what you wrote. Your literary voice style was great!

I remember once reading of an account where captives in a concentration camp during WWII were able to survive on meager rations by adding in leaves from a wild alfalfa plant that was growing within reach. They had to ration the leaves so the plant did not die but by doing so their family lived where as many others died due to lack of food. Then there was a story regarding chinese peasants or was it railroad workers who subsisted on primarly rice alone (real rice and not the very tasty nutrient void white rice we often use) for food and yet still had the strength to labor? Also I recall a facebook post linking a page that showed what various people and familys across the world ate in a single year. It seemed like so little! It seemed so plain! Yet they looked so fit and healthy! Recently I read an article on Chia and how "Chia means “strength” in the Aztec language as messengers could run all day with just a small handful of chia seeds (or so they say!)" which is an amazing claim if true. Accounts like these and others I've read lead me to feel that the human body requires relatively very little food wise to sustain good health provided it is the right food (nutrient rich and not greatly processed). That being said, food tastes so good! It's designed that way and I'm grateful for all the flavor and savor and abundance we are blessed with in this nation! I want to eat and I'mnot trying to figure out where the minimum I can function on is but where the line is so as to ensure I'm not over doing it or being a glutton. Q: Does anyone have a guideline other than caloric intake they use for determining how much food to eat and when to stop outside of naturally stopping when full? Q: Have any of the brethren ever written a book regarding/expouding the subject in question?

@Dravin I'm curious as to what has lead you to conclude that a calorie is a calorie as I haven't reached that point yet. This is one of the topics that has various opinions with some stating they are the same and some stating they are not. I don't know which is the truth but I read an article which indicates that they are different citing: 1. The energy cost to metabolize fat, carbs and protein is different 2. Calorie restriction slows metabolism 3. Protein reduces appetite 4. Fiber reduces calorie absorption 5. Timing of eating affects calorie processing If such is true then the question of how much food isn't simply a question of X number of calories because it will not only be a question of how many calories but where the calorie is coming from and what else is coming with it. Your response was very prompt. Thanks! I'm thinking that your "All carlories are the same" is different from the way others use that statement. Do you agree with the above referenced article? Disagree? I also loved this very true yet terribly vague answer =). @Bytor If I'm currently quite sedentary and only hitting the gym once a week for an hour of running/cycling would you change your estimate? At one point I had a friend with whom I ran daily which I'd glady resume with her if the option presented itself. Why do you feel that 40/30/30 and 1800 is a good guideline? Is this from personal experience? How did you arrive at these figures? @Dahlia - Aww! No worries =). I'm confident my concerns are not obsessive. Rather I have received some personal revelation that is leading me this route and part of gaining further light and knowledge from the Lord entails putting in effort to finding that information out yourself via means already presented. Based on your comment regarding meat consumption =), a product you might like that I love is SunWarrior.

So recently I've been getting into better shape and health for various reasons and I've had great success! I've gone from being a size 36 waist to 32 (YAY!) and want to continue in improving my health. A large reason for my current focus on health is due to learning how often I eat for pleasure, comfort and when stressed to the point of overeating. Knowing that my appatites and passions need to be within the limits the Lord has set, my problem is that I lack light and knowledge as to how much I truly need to eat and seeing as eating food is pleasurable, at what point does eating cross over the line into gluttony. At 5'5" and 152lbs I don't feel particularly overweight (although I'd like to be able to see my ab muscles again without flexing like I could in highschool) but having been shown this weakness I'm now seeking to find out where the line is as I feel this weakness is coming between me and the Lord and I can't have such continue. The problem is that I don't want the doctrines of men mingled with scripture/truth but just the truth and I feel it's like searching for a needle in a haystack even with a google search engine. How much food/calories do we really need each day to be healthy? Seeing as want exceeds needs, at what point does it become gluttony? Since not all calories are the same, how do I determine how much to eat? How do I classify different calorie types? Normally your body tells you when you've had enough. My body doesn't do that properly. Why not and what do I do about it? Right now I'm looking on LDS.ORG and searching through inspired counsel with limited results. Is there anyone here who has already reached the point I'm arriving at and obtained with the Lord's aid the knowledge I seek? Anyone who feels confident that their knowledge is truth and not the precepts and doctrines of men mingled with truth? If so I'd like your help in obtaining knowledge which I can then apply in my life after confirming it with the Lord. I feel such an approach is bound to be more successful and efficient than trying to filter the google database via prayer. What? Someone that wants to hear all your opinions & views regarding health and eating? Surely there'll be some takers interested in such a request here right?

You assume correctly! I've read that entire thing and I'm running into vocab terms I don't understand and that's saying nothing about finding all the commands and functions I'll need let alone how to use them. Add to that a possible need of using something called 'COM Standard Library' and 'MS Excel functions' databases and I'm so over my head. I can create a mean Excel formula but these things look like a black hole of time consumption to try to learn and figure it all out on my own. Anyone here who knows this stuff and with or without compensation would be willing to help? MOD: While the rules state that it's not ok to solicit the sale of a product, there's nothing wrong with saying I need some help and offering to compensate if what I'm asking for would take a couple of hours of dedicated scripting. Right? If not, I'll change my text.

So I've taken upon myself a genealogical project of rather large scope and I could very much use some help with the creation of some autohotkey scripts. I'm trying to figure how to write one myself but having a hard time of it. Is there anyone here who is experienced with AutoHotKey and can help me put together a script or two? It would be very much appreciated. A web document explaining the project and what I'm trying to do can be found here. Please please please please somebody?! I so could use the help.

Did you raise your hand that you would sustain and uphold my bishop in his calling? Is there any pressing reason why you would want to not heed his counsel? If you've taken the matter to the Lord, have you received any counsel one way or another that is counter to the counsel of your bishop? Even should you be released from your callings as temple ordinance workers, there's nothing preventing you from continuing to serve in the temple as a patron. It simply changes the role you are serving in and means that if something is coming up, you're in a position to accept or move forward free of other commitments. I agree with Skippy.

Understood and I appreciate your response and perhaps I did just that. Perhaps I was speaking beyond my authority. Yet I feel my warning is indeed valid enough based on my own experiences that after praying over my submission I felt good enough about it to where I chose to submit it rather than delete it. My understanding is that lucid dreaming weakens the bonds between the spirit body and the physical body. Death does this much more thoroughly and I wouldn't categorize death as a sin. We came here and fought a very terrible war to obtain these bodies and I feel any practice wherein we intentionally try to function outside of such bounds is quite unwise. I know the Lord speaks through dreams and visions and lucid dreaming falls in those categories. There is nothing wrong if it is the Lord initiating the Lucid dream or vision but the danger comes in when we initiated it outside of his boundaries. Does God use lucid dreams? Yes. Should we actively seek out the capacity to create our own? This is where I say leave such alone and let God speak thus if he chooses to. You're right that you're not mocking in the least. Thanks for that. @Loudmouth, Your request does hold some danger. Let me first say that I do not astral project or even desire to try such a thing. Yet the devil can do false miracles and this one is not outside of his capacity. The devil and his angles surely know what you're wearing at night and could easily create a dream portraying your likeness at a given spot and then feed it to the receptive and susceptible individual who believes they are departing from their body and traveling. Had such an individual come forth telling you then the color of your shirt, by your own declaration you would have completely turned your opinions on a dime. Even if they do tell you, that in of itself isn't sufficient to determine whether they projected themselves or not. To me the better question would be, regardless as to if and how correction information is or isn't obtained, is the driving force behind it the Lord or the devil. If it is the devil, then D&C 50:31-34 seems applicable as to how we should and should not treat the subject. Sincerely, Martain

I have an Lds friend who engaged heavily in lucid dreaming. His fantasy of choice was star wars and I listened as he shared how every night he would go to sleep and spend the night having elaborate adventures as a Jedi. He indicated how with him traveled a "very hot female alien" who acted as his partner in their quest to defeat the Sith. Overtime he says their relationship changed and he began actively breaking the law of chastity in his lucid dreams with this female partner which over time escalated to being enticed to more than one partner at the same time. His dreams were in essence a modern day rated R action/romance/sci-fi movie blockbuster every night for a long time. He shared how this of course began to manifest over time more and more into the waking world via pornography and masturbation and was threatening to escalate above that when in mercy the Lord gave him a wake up call. He didn't share how the Lord made it known to him but he shared how the Lord revealed to him that these "characters" and "personages" within his dreams were not "figments of his own imagination" but evil spirits who had taken over his dreams and inserted themselves within them. Have you ever encountered of beheld the visage of an evil spirit in their wrath at being denied what they desire or being frustrated in their efforts? Have you ever seen the bitterness of hell? I hope you never do but Moses did and my friend has and so have I. I remember how solemn my friends face was as he told me that he had never experienced anything as terrifying as he did the wrath of this evil spirit when she discovered that he was no longer deceived by her and was now beginning the path to repentance and freedom from her whiles. Whenever you actively or intentionally put yourself into a dream world where God does not exist or that functions on anything less than truth as described above, you put yourself in a position where you open up your dream to being manipulated by evil spirits who being consummate actors will role play the others roles within your dream as they then seek to guide you down to the slippery slopes unto hell. Not only that but intentional lucid dreaming weakens the bonds between the body and the spirit by intentionally striving to create a situation where the body is a sleep while the spirit or mind is awake. Let me suffice it to say that the soul rending pain and horror that has come upon me in such states of awareness is not something I would wish upon anyone let alone desire to graphically describe. All seemed fine with my friend so long as he was ignorant of who he was actually interacting with on a nightly basis. I can say the same as well and attest that once I knew the truth, subtlety was out of the picture and the gloves came off to where I then proceeded to be subject to demonic assaults such as would cause you to blanch if I had power to relate it. While the Lord has and does send dreams and visions to his children, Satan is always quick to create his own counterfeit spiritual gift and lucid dreaming is his. Those who pursue the course to play with lucid dreaming are playing with fire beyond their understanding. Now there are those who in reading this will not believe or who may even respond lightly to my story, that of my friend, or my warning but fools mock and they do it at their own risk. I invite you to ask God in faith, in the name of his Only Begotten, our Savior Jesus Christ to show unto you as he has unto me and my friend the true nature of the beings you are cavorting with in your lucid dreams with the real intent that if such is so you sincerely want to know so as to cease being deceived. Sincerely, Frankly, Brother M.

Suppose I welcome you into a family gathering where my parents and siblings are all present. Suppose I bring you forward and introduce you to my dad by indicating, "this is our father"? Would not such an introduction differ quite a bit from me introducing him as "this is my dad"? The use of the word my when referring to the Lord then feels similar to me. It means I recognize his role over me and accept it. The Lord is my God because I wouldn't want anyone else to be in that position and will not give such honor to another. Such is not to say He is not the God of all but simply an intimate reference to his relationship to me and my acceptance of it. Or so I feel to say when I thought of how I would want to respond. Martain~

While the devil will seek to promote guilt where none is due or where repentance has forgiven sin, guilt itself is not of the devil any more than the physical pain of hitting your finger with a hammer would be. I feel to say that where ever I find an individual asking whether confession is necessary I find an individual who has not studied in depth the atonement and repentance process. I say this not only having seen many others in such a state but because I too was once in such a state. Do you know how crushing it is to be bound by addictive sin, do all you know of to repent, and yet still remain unforgiven and captive? I do and the pain was so great that it completely smothered all hope within me of freedom. Without hope my faith died as well and 6 years passed in spiritual darkness before I was brought to the point of trying again. It wasn't until I read a book called How Great Shall Be Your Joy by Steven A. Cramer that I finally learned where and why I had failed before. Once I finally realized what I had been missing I lept for joy and in applying what I had learned this time found the forgiveness and healing I had sought for so many years. The atonement is real and the Lord truly does forgive and heal yet such forgiveness and healing are conditional upon meeting his requirements. I needlessly spent 6 years in spiritual darkness that would not have been had I simply done it right. I don't want others to go through such and so I invite you to truly study the atonement and repentance process to make sure you are fully armed with the knowledge of how to repent. I invite you to read all of The Miracle of Forgiveness by President Spencer W. Kimball with specific reference to chapters 13 and 14 dealing on confession and restitution. Other good books dealing with understanding and applying the atonement and repentance process are How Great Shall Be Your Joy by Steven A Cramer and The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox which I haven't read but is highly recommended by my brother. Is not the way to fight through this battle of the mind dependent upon being armed with the correct weapon called knowledge? If you are failing to succeed, doesn't it seem likely that to some degree or another, you are armed instead with the sword of ignorance? If so, open the books above and arm yourself with that weapon that will lead you to success! Having read two of the three books referenced above, I am confident enough in their content that I attest and promise that if you humbly read them you will for certain find the answers to your questions. Sincerely, Brother M.