estradling75

I think it is safe to say no it was not...Because a sarcastic comment would not have been followed through on...

Moved to jokes

Not necessarily... But Melchizedek Priesthood holders are under the Stake President for major transgressions while everyone else is under the Bishop.

As you read that link... Notice that the General Authorities are struggling and disagreeing on the subject. Church doctrine is establish by unity... If such high level church leaders have different opinions on evolution then it is pretty safe to say lay members are safe to do so. This is not to say you might not run into very opinionated members on the subject, but that is all they are

Joseph Smith by his own words translated the Book of Mormon by the Gift and Power of God. Which is another way of saying revelation from God. Given the Joseph Smith was reasonably inexperienced and there was alot of work to do God prepared some help in the form of the Urim and Thummin. The Urim and Thummin were originally attached to the breastplate so that the user could where the breastplate and have them in the proper place while freeing up the hands. The plates (including the two thirds that Joseph Smith was told not to translate) were returned to god where they await the day that the Lord decides we are ready for the rest.

Yes it is common... We expect lots of other records to come forth... Even of the Book of Mormon plates we only have about a third of it.

As has been mentioned Chat has been shut down. Currently the links that once took a person the chat area are now being redirected to the forums... Thus they look the same because they are the same

Or maybe we are getting all interested in some ancient graffiti

circusboy01 sounds like you are running face first into a sense of entitlement... which unfortunately is really common on the internet. Many people think that being on various internet forums is like being is some kind of public area. It is not. Forums are not free. Someone foots the bill, and that someone gets to call the shots of what is allowed. So instead of seeing the internet forums as some public space people would be better off as seeing it someones home or place of business. When people begin to see it this way, then they begin to understand way they aren't allowed to do the internet version of cussing out the owner, trashing the place, and otherwise harass the people who are there. Did you really expect for them to pay for you to bad mouth them?

We don't know the exact nature of the Sealing between Parents and children. We do know its importance. Read Malachi Chapter 4 Malachi 4 When you get to verse 6 note that if the hearts of the Children are not turned to the Fathers and vice versa the earth will be smitten with a curse when Christ comes again. Then read Joseph Smith History Joseph Smith?History 1 Verses 36 to 39. In this the Angel Moroni recites various scriptures some with alterations. This includes the Malachi 4:6... In this the earth would be utterly wasted if it is not done. The church has come out a said this important turning of the Hearts of the Children to the Fathers is family history work. Which in turn is genealogy and temple work. For some reason it is very necessary to have all these family links in place. Or at least enough of them to be able to say the hearts have turned.

Attractive spouse is in the eye of the beholder... If you were to take a large group of happy long time married folk and judged them by the Hollywood standard of attractive I would wager that many of them fail. Yet I would continue to wager that if you asked the husbands if they found their wife attractive many, if not most, of them would say yes. Perhaps it might be better phased as an emotional need to be attracted to your spouse. Whatever form that attraction might take.

The Lord has said so... Beyond that is guess work

The thread was really old... the subject has been repeated many times since then... and the new post is responding to a person that is no longer here... Thread Closed

Semodex you are running into the the very common combining of two different terms that we Mormons do. We in most cases equate Salvation with Exaltation. They are not the same, but it is a common combination that we do... We even have GAs that say "Salvation without Exaltation might as well be Damnation." This makes perfect sense according to how Mormons in general understand the various terms... But appears quite oxymoronic to anyone that doesn't use the terms the way we do. The Temple is about gaining Exaltation not Salvation, this is in spite of our habits of combining the two concepts.

I've been paying tithing for almost 30 years now. I've been to a lot of tithing settlements with a lot of different bishops over the years and I have never been asked to prove that I am a full tithe payer... Only to declare it to the bishop (who is standing in for the Lord) Over the years I have heard people say that you pay tithing with faith not with money. I've also seen people struggle to pay tithing, people who then worry about having to pay all the tithing they missed while struggling with it (which can add up fast) If the church was just about the money then you would expect them to want the missing money. But the Church does not ask for it. The Church is interested in developing faith and repentance. Their actions show this. If a person goes to the bishop and expresses the desire to repent and begin paying tithing the bishop isn't going figure out how much is owed. He is going to wipe the slate clean and say start now and go forward.

I am not sure how broad a brush you are using with PHX area but just to be clear... Its in Mesa not Phoenix

http://lds.org/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-41-the-postmortal-spirit-world?lang=eng The link above has the Mormon understanding of what happens after death... In a nutshell yes those who have died are still here... While some people might be more sensitive to them, we are not to seek them out or try to gain knowledge or insights from them.

Work for the dead shows in part how God can be a god of Law/Justice and Mercy.... God has made a Law that one must be born again of the Water and Spirit (ie baptised) in order to enter into the Highest Degree of Heaven. It is a physical ordinance requiring a physical body and proper authority. Without this by the Law of God the way is blocked, the door is shut. It doesn't take much to realize that this Law/Decree of God cuts of a lot of people whose only fault is that they didn't know or that it simply wasn't possible... Even in our day there are places where it is not allowed (like China and some Islamic countries) Work for the dead allows for this to be dealt with. The goal of the Church is to do work for everyone in the human family (yes it is a big job and we will need things to be revealed on ones we don't have records for) Each individual will have someone living stand in for them as a proxy. This allows the way to open and Law to be fulfilled for everyone. Opening of the way however compels no one to go through. That will always be the individuals choice. So people that didn't have a chance while alive will get as fair of a chance as anyone who is a member of the church in this life. Thus Justice, Mercy, and Fairness are available to all

Welcome Caitlyn.... We love answering questions around here. Here is something that will help everyone when you are ready. Start a new thread and do one question per thread... This is the internet and we tend to go off on tangents really easily... Plus some people might not feel like answering some questions while answering others.. So if you give us a list of questions in a single thread it has a greater chance of descending into a chaotic mess that doesn't really help anyone.

I moved the thread to the Christian Beliefs section

I hear myself just fine... And I understand myself quite clearly too... Do you understand how you are coming across? If you are here to learn about what we believe and why we believe what we do and/or to share your belief in a respectful manner then you are welcome. Such exchanges are part of why the site is here. This is not how you are coming across, you are coming across as insulting and closed minded. This behavior is not what the site is about and will get you kicked out if it continues. Now let me put my money where my mouth is... and see if I understand you. You believe the Bible to be the Word of God. You believe the Bible to be the ONLY Word of God. Because of these two principles, the bible, in your position, must remain remain intact otherwise we lose the Word, and you don't believe God would allow that. This is what I understand your position to be. Please feel free to correct me if you feel I misunderstood your position. Please note that I did so without implying that you don't believe the Word or that your relationship with Christ is suspect. Now using the same pattern I will try to present our position again so that you can hopefully begin to see where the real differences are, versus were you have so far shown that you think they are. We believe the Bible to be the Word of God. We DO NOT believe the Bible to be the ONLY Word of God. Because of this we don't have to worry about the Word of God being lost. Therefore we can acknowledge that man can mess with the written form of the word. When they do this they receive the curses found in Revelations and God renews his Word so that it is not lost in spite of that. The method of renewal is repeatedly shown in the Bible. God calls Prophets and Apostles. This is our position. You don't have to agree with it, but please stop insulting us by misrepresenting our beliefs and our faith in Christ.

In your 19 or so posts so far... You have clearly have taken certain scriptures to support your repeated claims that the Bible is infallible no matter the translation... Yet if I were to quote the end of Revelation about the curses that wait those add to or take away from his word. And then point out quite reasonably that if God intended the bible to be infallible. That he wouldn't allow even one thing to be changed, then these verses make no sense whatsoever. If man can't add to or take away from the bible then the threat is empty. Why would God make an empty threat? Undoubtedly you will come back and point out the errors in my interpretation/understanding/translation of these verses. But by so doing you are forced to take the position that translations/interpretations/understanding of the bible can be wrong because you are claiming that mine are, and that to truly understand the Word of God it must be translated correctly which you will claim that I have not. Which lines you up in agreement with the first part of our 8th Article of Faith. The very Article you have been challenging us on.

Please note the differece... The Word of God as found in the bible and elsewhere is quite popular around here... Your particular take and interpretation of the Word is what is not popular

If you want to know when the stress really kicks in.... Well then I have one word for you.... Kids

My family and I have lived in the same house for about 14 years now... We have been active through ward boundary changes, leadership changes, and other shakeups. In that time I would estimate we've had about 15 Home Teaching visits. I think currently its been almost a year since the last visit. I hear the Bishop, High Priest Group Leader, and Elder's President talk about getting out and doing it several times a month every month so I know they are trying... But in the end though they can't make them go out and do it.