Old Tex

At one time I read a statement and I can't remember where, but it stuck with me. It was a prediction that at the proper time the Church would "come out of obscurity". If someone knows where that can be found, please let me know. I think that process has started. The Church is being noticed more. It's message is getting out. Some are accepting it and some are rejecting it, even becoming hostile. That's OK. It was predicted. I hope Mitt Romney goes on to become President, but even if he don't make it all the way he is making people aware of what a "Mormon" is.

Very cleaver adaptations...my congratulations 1. Jack Kennedy 2. Winston Churchill 3. Inscription on Statue of Liberty....can't recall name of the author.

Some have speculated on this, but it is not Church doctrine. Church doctrine is found in the Standard Works.

For a LDS member, the easiest way to help those in need and remain annonymous is to contribute to the Fast Offering fund at the ward level, or to work at the Bishop's Storehouse. Every dollar contributed, and every hour donated, goes directly to helping those who need it most, and that includes non LDS members as well as LDS members. I was the one who wrote the checks in our ward for 12 years and can tell you that a lot of people receive help through that program.

let me clarify....i should have said that this what what we were told in EQ by the EQ president Yes, it is perfectly appropriate for the Bishop to send word to the Priesthood if more funds are needed in the Fast Offering Category. Sometimes our Fast Offering fund would be adequate to cover what the Bishop needed for assistence for some members, and sometimes the fund balance would "dip" if the Bishop had to provide extra assistence. The Priesthood would be asked to increase their contribution to the Fast Offering Fund to get the fund level back up. Independant of that, the annual Budget comes through the Stake, and the Bishop allots it to the Ward leaders to fund their programs. There are also additional Budget funds allotted through the ward to the YM, YW, and Primary based on their attendence as listed on the quarterly report to SLC. Many years ago the ward members not only paid for the ward budget to run the ward, the stake budget to run the stake, a building fund to pay for new buildings, and any expenses for building maintenence. Today the tithing fund takes care of most of that. The Church has asked that any member who has spent personal funds for running a ward organization turn in a receipt to the ward clerk so it can be reimbursed, thereby giving an accurate account of how much money is actually needed to operate a stake and the wards within it.

The "other" category is sort of a "catch-all" category the ward clerk uses as a "pass-through" account where money comes in for something like temporary Scouting funds, where members pay their girl's camping fees into, etc, and where other "short term" funds are held. The ward finances are audited every six months and one thing they want to see is no funds in the "Other Category". You keep it empty as much as you can.

Hi, I'm new here. Was just wondering if we can order the manual online? Earp? Is that "the" Earp of my past?

I'm not sure how I reacted when the one third was cast out of heaven. The scriptures indicate that I was part of those who "sang for joy". Certainly there was to be sadness to think that one third of Heavenly Father's children lost their chance at salvation. Still there was joy in knowing that we had chosen our Father's plan and had chosen Christ as the redeemer who would provide the Atonement for us. I wonder if some of us might have a reason to regret much, when the veil is taken from our memory and we realize how anxious we were to get here and all the things we thought that we would do, and then to compare it with what we have actually done.

Have you had an interview with your Bishop yet? All things flow from there. The application process is on-line now and is quite long, with the medical reports and all. Your Bishop will help you get your application process started. You can get an idea of what it will involve at: https://apps.lds.org/recentry/start.lds And by the way, congratulations and I know that you will do well. I have met newly called missionaries receiving their endowments in the Houston Temple who were going on the the Missionary Training Center the next day, so from that I assume the endowment is done shortly before going to the MTC. Your situation may be different.

I was a Ward Clerk for about 12 years. One of my responsibilities was to order all the study material for all the Ward organizations for the coming year. The distribution center sends to each ward an order list for the coming year in August and asks that it be filled out and ordered by September 1st to insure that you will receive everything in Novenber. The cost of everything is automatically deducted from the ward budget by the Distribution Center. If the Bishop and/or Ward Clerk is on top of things, a certain amount of funds is alloted for this at the first of the year when the budget for the year is set up. I would always receive all material for all organizations in November and distribute it to the leaders, and they would put it in their hall cabinets until the first of the coming year. I don't know why some wards ask for reimbursement from the members if the budget has been allotted correctly. These manuals were $2.00 each and the wards should receive adequate budget from the stake to pay for them. If a person wants more that one, he or she should pay for it themselves. I understand that the Joseph Smith manual is good for two years. I don't know if it cost $2.00 for it since I'm no longer the Ward Clerk and did not order our Ward's materials for next year this time.

My wife and daughter, and grand daughters worked yesterday preparing lots of food for today. All of our kids, grandkids, and great grand kids showed up for present opening time and the big meal and just sitting around joking and enjoying being members of the family. Now everyone is gone and I'm full and trying to work some of it off by typing on the computer.

"Studmuffin"?.............Oh Boy.

Thanks for your post, Elphaba. I agree that LDS teaching is dynamic, where others are static. And reading some of his other topics is equally thought provoking, such topics that deal with gods, angels, and resurrected humans, in what I would call an eternal Celestial society. A question.... What's a nice atheist like you doing in a place like this?

Hat, I presume now that you are getting your "act" together, that the Temple is on your schedule in the future. Be sure to tell your Bishop that you would like to attend a Temple preparation class, If there is none, at least get the books and learn for yourself. It is important that you have some idea as to the basics. And remember that the Lord gave us symbols to learn by. Baptism is symbolic of death and resurrection and for the remission of sins, The Sacrament is a symbol to remind us to remember Christ, and the endowment is basically an interactive teaching session where many symbols are used as teaching aids. And don't try to remember a lot of what happened after your first time through. It takes a few times to begin to get your bearings and really start to grasp things.

I'll do what I can in the way of answering your questions, AnthonyB. Can you explain a little more of what you mean by the "faith-facts-feeling" train? Perhaps I'm familiar with it by some other name.

We understand. I have kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids, so I've been around the block a few times. I was 18 one time too. I was smarter that the "old folks" too. I got married and it lasted two years. But that's me. You are different. That's what all 18 year olds say. I thought that I was different too. Listen to your girl friend's parents and save you all some misery.

And many young people cannot see at the beginning that they are not just marrying each other, they are also marrying each others' families. M. Amen. And the only way to change that is to outlive them.

I think the answer to you question goes to "motovation", Andy. What is your friend's motovation for asking the questions he is asking? Does he really want answers, or is he just baiting you in an effort to weaken your testimony? You really have to determine that first. His trying to start a "debate" with you does not sound to me much like someone who is interested in an answer. I too had a boat load of questions when I first started to look into the teachings of the Church. And it's true that for every answer one gets, it usually raises two more questions. When you decide if you friend is serious or not will determine how you respond to him. I would be interested in hearing how things develop for you, as, I'm sure, others here will too.

And that's the point, son. An 18 year old cannot be as mature as a 21 or 22 years old. At 18 you are physically unable to make as good a decision as you will be at 21. You cannot see it now, but you will then. It's a matter of brain development. The grey matter needs to settle a little more. Take it from someone who has been married for 52 years, I know what I'm talking about. Listen to her parents and to your parents. They are giving you the best advice you can get. When you get to the point of realizing that, it shows that your grey matter has settled a little more.

Seems to me that one like this can self-proclaim all he wants, and his actions will out-shout his proclaimations every time.

Being raised Baptist, I have heard my share of sermons about hell. Two things (among the many) that I found different in the Baptist and the LDS is, (1) after attending LDS services for several weeks, I realized that I saw no collection plate being passed, and (2) all talks were positive, and were about a loving Heavenly Father who was anxious for you to return to Him. No talks about hell. No one trying to "scare" people in "Heaven". To me, both of these things are belittling in nature and designed to apply pressure to a person. That's not to say that LDS do not have a good understanding of the negative side of life and the consequences of choosing to reject the Atonement of Christ, but they don't seek to use it as "leverage" with anyone. It is one thing to make someone aware of both sides of the issue, but there is no need to "threaten" one with it, and that's what some seem to do, or used to do when I was more aware of what was going on in the non LDS religious world. Maybe it's no longer that way in most churches now. But many is the time that "Christians" have said to LDS, "You Mormons are going to hell". I just wish that type of "Christian" would leave us alone and let us go to hell peacefully.

Then you should have been taken to some of the meetings I was taken to when I was young. There were some screaming, sweating, fire breathing "bible-thumpers" in those tent meeting revivals in the 1930s that would (pardon the pun) scare the hell out of you if you were a seven year old kid. I heard that the tent smelled like sulfer the rest of the night.

When you get to Kansas I would suggest that before the goats and horses that you put in the time to dig a nice deep storm shelter with strong doors. I was glad we had one when I was a kid in Okahoma. More than once we scrambled for it when tornados swirlled by.

Several years ago my wife and I found ourselves raising two of our grandchildren. When each one turned eight, I baptised them and we had a talk about tithing. I told them now that they were accountable before the Lord that they had additional commandments to obey, one of then being tithing. I gave each of them $5.00 a week as their "salary" for doing specific things during the week. Soon my grandson said that he no longer wanted to pay his tithe of fifty cents a week. I told him that was fine with me and he should do it because he wanted to. I also told him that the $5.00 was a "tithing allowence", but if he wanted to choose to receive a "non-tithing allowence", we could do that. He asked how much a non-tithing allowence was. I told him $3.00. He said OK if he didn't have to pay tithe on it. It didn't take him but one week to figure out that he kept $4.50 by paying tithe and only $3.00 by not paying it. By the second week he came to me and said, "Grandad, I think I would like to start paying tithe again".

After reading this I said to myself, "That sounds like a piece out of the Salt Lake Tribune", and I scrolled back up to the top to see what paper it was from. Sure enough, it was the Salt Lake Tribune, one of the most liberal, anti-mormon newspapers I've ever read from.