garryw

My advice is to do nothing. There is no need to get married at 23. Or date. You still have plenty of time. I was married at 23 and if I could go back and do it all again I would have enjoyed bachelorhood for another decade or two. I got married the second time at 36. Trust, there is no shortage of single sisters. Quite the opposite. They will be blowing up your phone.

My interpretation is that your spouse is your family. On earth you spend a lot of time with your spouse after marriage, and very little with your extended family. That's my experience at least. I think this reality will be reflected in the next life. I can't imagine an afterlife with a mother in law hanging around.

Wow, I've been attending EQ for almost 20 years and have never had a PPI. I was injured a couple years ago and the EQ pres dropped by my house, but that's as close as it gets. Maybe this stuff has come up in leadership training because last month my EQ president announced he was going to do them, but it's been radio silence since.

Glad I am not a marriage counselor. I definitely see a pattern of "the grass is greener on the other side" thinking with those who initiate divorce. That's often not the case. Not to beat a dead horse, but immediately after divorce my ex got pregnant and moved into her parent's basement. Who knows, maybe she loves her new life, but it doesn't sound fulfilling to me considering she is almost 40 with nowhere to go in life.

Considering how quickly early church leaders amassed wives, they may have thought the one with the most wives wins.

David did not lose salvation so the question cannot be answered because it's based on a false premise.

My step daughter is a tyrant. I'd rather be in Gitmo bunking with a terrorist.

I don't really see college as a valid solution unless that involves moving out of the house. As you can see, I'm really not concerned about my kids shunning me. More concerned that they wont grow up and get out. I'd rather be shunned than have adult kids living with me. Consider it a blessing your kids have lives of their own.

With all the news stories about unemployed adult children living with their parents in their 20's and 30's I'd say loss of contact is the lesser of the 2 evils. I'm quite terrified my stepdaughter will never move out, I've started saving to get her an apartment when she finishes high school.

I don't think efficient is the correct term. Fusion is the most common form of matter to energy conversion in the universe. But the most efficient form of conversion is definitely matter-antimatter annihilation. Second to that is quasar accretion. I think fusion could land in the top 10 but it's not number one by a long shot.

Yes, we area all hopelessly damned according to the law of God. The BoM says we are all unprofitable servants. This goes for prophets too. Nobody can earn salvation or exaltation. That's the whole reason the 1st principal of the gospel is faith in Christ. The second repentance. There is no principal called saving yourself through being a holy prophet. Also, you are not qualified to be a son of perdition anyway. Those are people in open rebellion against Christ after really knowing him.

Being omniscient, God knew that Hitler would be (jointly with others) responsible for mass genocide and world war. So did Hitler know that? More likely he knew he would arrive during the last dispensation and have plenty of opportunities to choose good or evil. I don't think he knew he would choose evil.

On earth it's considered inappropriate to volunteer for a priesthood calling, generally speaking. On the other hand it is appropriate to apply for a full time mission calling. So I think in the pre-existence some things we were foreordained to do by "divine" calling, and some we "signed up" for. Think of your own kids. Some activities they initiate and some thier parents put them into.

That was a fun read. I didn't see anything about the 1/3 being male in there.

That is a pretty simple fact. But, we also know that people do have families and children here without marriage. For exmaple, I knew some people in South America that lived together and had kids but skipped marriage simply because they couldn't afford the $60 license. Not to mention some kind of social event. In that case some people (not me) donated the $60 to them and they got married (and baptised). But on a practical level, the marriage itself did not change their lives at all.

I dont think levels is the right word. It's more like funcitons.

Think of the entire city of Enoch being taken up into heaven. Did they accomplish that success without the marriage covenant? Or did they have to practice eternal marriage to get there? If so then why? To answer that question, one has to determine first if the people of Enoch had access to the marriage covenant. Determining if Moses had it wont really lead to anything I can think of, but it would establish a consistant method of revelation.

But did Moses himself enter into Celestial marriage? I think so. He is given twice as an example in section 132. So although it was not available in general, it was there in the dispensation.

Well that's interesting. It is a logical reason for marriage besides children, although the two are linked.

I would differentiate between limited access to the covenants in general, and the existence of a dispensation void of the new and everlasting covenant (including marriage). In other words my position is that all dispensations had the new and everlasting covenant although it was not always recieved.

Well, I think I found the answer to number 5 in the section 132 summary So basically every dispensation. I'm kind of assuming Moses knew and lived every doctrine in section 132 (He is in there twice) but had to withold it from the public. Enoch and Adam surely practiced and taught eternal marriage. For question 1 I'll have to assume that godhood and exaltation are not exactly the same thing, because prior to birth Jesus was a de facto god, but without a physical body or a wife (kind of like th eholy ghost). And this line from the Bible dictionary kind of answeres question 2 because the Abrahamic covenant is covered sufficiently in the Bible and BoM. Regarding question 3 I have managed to convince myself that I'm 100% sure Jesus was married, but that's my opinion rather than doctrine. Question 4 I'm not fully satisfied yet.

Coincicendentally, when I was sealed less than 2 years ago to my wife, the sealer first asked me to explain the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood, the Abrahamic covenant, and he quizzed my wife (we were already legally married) on the fall and plan of redemption. So if the marriage covenant is the Abrahamic covenant with Ademic redemption covenant, then the Priesthood covenent must be mixed in there too. Too bad the ordinance text is not published for reference.

Well as I mentioned in the original post, these questiones are not intended for the class. The lds.org webiste specifically states we should not discuss question 3.

I dont have any major or minor issues. I would just like to learn something new once in a while. That would be fun.

Well, since you asnwered number 2 with a question, I'll provide an answer to who cares? I do. What difference does it make? Repetition is part of the process the scriptures use to convery a message. For example: How many times does the BoM state if ye will keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land? I would guess at least 20 times. Yet how many times does the BoM state marriage is necessary or mandatory? Zero. How many times is marriage presented as a commandment? Zero. Same with the Bible. This comes across as odd to me that a mandatory and necessary ordiance (per JFS lesson 15) ordiancce is not mentioned.