LeKook

I think we've reached "straining at a gnat, swallowing a camel" status here. Albeit a bubbly, sweet, caffeine-laced camel. LOL!!! Seriously though, how far do we go with this sort of stuff? I think the dividing line is where we notice the Holy Spirit is no longer present or influencing our actions. That's just my opinion, yes. I'm a perfectionist by nature, and I tend to get caught up in the letter of the law to the point where the "do this/don't do that" quantifiers become stumbling blocks. I'll obsessively go over lists of potential situations or choices to the point where the good I could be doing isn't getting done at all because I've put so much effort into worrying about a swig of cola or some other incidental thing. Just my thoughts. Your mileage may vary. -Lynn

I've seen so many people in my church drink soda, Coke, and even coffee (not hot!), that I don't even worry about this issue anymore. When I first got baptized it was a huge issue for me, I would fret endlessly about it. Everyone seems to interpret this differently. The guy who interviewed me before baptism even told me that it was okay to drink caffeinated sodas, just not hot drinks... gaaah!!! Every Mormon I ask gives me a different answer. I give up, LOL!!!! Even the couple who introduced me to the Book of Mormon drink hot drinks (teas, mostly herbal). And the guy was a mission president for 3 years!

Agreed... I remember most of my dreams because I taught myself how, along with how to become lucid during dreaming. It's actually pretty easy, just takes some effort and repetition.

Vort, thank you for the much-needed laugh today!!!

Well if God commands polygamy, I guess that means I can go out and get a couple more husbands...

Oh, and this relates to the topic at hand... the person who interviewed me before baptism told me that caffeinated sodas were fine. Just no coffee or tea. I'd been taught to avoid caffeinated drinks in Gospel Principles class.

LOL!!!! I just realized what the term "zombie thread" means... okay I'm kinda slow...!!!

I haven't received one yet but most of the folks I know who have didn't realize how accurate theirs is until several years down the road, when they could look back and see how what was given actually applied to their lives. So you may not see it right now, or know how it applies to you, but you will understand it in the future. :)

Gee, thanks for opening up a new mental can of worms for me!!!

I had almost the exact same dream back in the early 1990s. When I learned that over 10,000 died in Bangladesh on the news the following day, I was pretty stunned. Why anyone has predictive dreams I'll never understand, especially when you tell folks they just think you're crazy!

I've had dreams of future events that have come true, but I just record them for my own records and don't share them. When the plane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, I had dreamed about the Friday before it happened, shared the dream with a friend because it was such a strange thing to dream about that I couldn't make sense of it until after the event actually happened. Been like this since I was just barely old enough to walk, had an NDE and to me this stuff is pretty normal and nothing exceptional. When these dreams happen often they lack enough context to make them preventive.

Hi Norah, I'm a former JW (10 years). Not sure what you mean when you say "ask or accept prayer". The reason they do the praying, instead of asking the householder to do it, is because they want to be sure the correct deity is being addressed (namely, Jehovah, through Jesus Christ). They want to be clear on whom is being prayed to and through whom the prayer is made. :)

Is it just me or is this just an issue of defining what each of us means by "worship"? For example, if I say I worship Heavenly Father, Christ, the Holy Ghost, or Joseph Smith, I mean: I worship (honor, give homage to, revere, obey, give my life to) Heavenly Father; I worship (honor, revere, obey, give my life to, emulate) Christ; I worship (honor, obey) the Holy Ghost; I worship (honor, respect, emulate) Joseph Smith In other words maybe there's an apples and oranges thing going on here, LOL!!!

I just saw it, posted a reply, but you know, asking people to find out what we really believe is (to them) like asking them to walk across the country on stilts. They just won't take the time when mocking is easier.

I think people get angry in discussions because someone hits on a topic or aspect of belief that makes them feel ashamed. Ashamed that maybe they don't know what they really believe, or how to defend their belief, or something along those lines. Ashamed of their awareness of their vulnerability, in other words. It's easier to get angry with someone in a discussion than to be vulnerable to the other person and say, "Gee, I really don't know much about that [topic, doctrine, scripture, whatever]." Vulnerability would keep the discussion progressing, but we humans don't like vulnerability much.

I don't quite know what to say about your comments, Kayne... but with all those things that you see as being not quite right in your ward, have you done anything to try to improve the situation? I'm a night person (and a chronic insomniac), I usually don't get to sleep before 3am if that. But somehow I can still handle getting up at 7:00am to get ready for 3 hours of meetings on a Sunday morning. LOL but I guess since I used to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses this should be pretty easy - we had 5 hours of meetings every week and many door to door hours on top of that. Attending meetings at my ward is like a cake-walk. :)

Let's see, can anyone here tell me the difference between the three things you mention here and Tarot cards? *insert Jeopardy music here* LOL!!! I'm off to read my tea leaves now. Maybe tomorrow I'll try reading the entrails of a chicken?

Unfortunately there's "a headache" and cluster headaches... look it up on Wikipedia. Anyway, I know I will end up with intense headache for several days to a week or more. I just deal with it as best I can.

I'll have the entire set completed by, oh, 2039 or so. LOL!!!!

They still don't like each other, and I'm okay with that. I have my hands full just trying to keep myself in line to endure to the end! :)

I joined the church on Sept. 4 of this year -- felt like an outsider. Since the last time I posted here (what, a month or more ago?), I have been to all the RS meetings, participated in service projects with other sisters, and joined the choir. Yeah, it was tough for me, I'm a bit of a loner. But people are getting to know me and vice versa, and it's all good. :)

My landlord actually bought me the entire "History of the Church" set. I've been reading it for about a week and am still on the Introduction in Volume 1, LOL!!!

YES... I read Tarot cards for years, up until early 2011. They are used to provide guidance. If a Christian needs guidance, the Holy Spirit provides the best guidance you can get. Any other guidance system is subject to tampering with spiritual forces it's best not to tamper with.

LOL!!!! I sat next to kids today eating Cheerios and cookies. I'm prone to getting cluster headaches, and fasting will trigger several days of them (which I know will happen, so I just deal with it), so I know how it's difficult for some people for medical reasons. But those cookies smelled great.

I think the answer to your question is yes, but my question is, opportunity to do what, exactly? :) After being given the same opportunity as everyone else, the results should be up to the person taking the opportunity. Why? Because it's an attempt at fairness, although there's never a guarantee that life will be fair for everyone across the board. But there's no harm in trying, right? Not quite clear on the gist of this question...