z_o_n_e

This is going to be a difficult thing to overcome. I enjoy my beer ;p Hey, I am learning something right now, right? One of the things I enjoy about beer, is it is the only time I really open up and talk to people. When I am sober, I just clam up and am very self conscious. Bleh, I love the scripture and find truth in it. If it is either the beer or LDS of course I will choose LDS, but it would be a lie to say I won't miss the beer.

Every few weeks, I will kick back and drink 12 beers. I just really enjoy it, relaxing and listening to some music. I don't do anything bad, I just drink at home and play around on the Internet. It is not like I'm addicted to the stuff either, but it is one of the few things I enjoy doing every now and then. In the words of wisdom it reads: "17 Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain."

Just an update: My car is broken down, so I haven't gone yet, but out of the blue a few members came to my house. It was nice to see LDS, they are having a few missionaries come down some time in the near future. It has been a while, and I am really rusty with the church. I'm not sure about becoming active right yet, I want to but I have social anxiety disorder and am a bit worried about going to the Church. My wife is not a member, and now has to work on Sundays so it would be just be my kids and I. For now, just talking about the gospel will be nice though, eventually I will get my car fixed and perhaps get something to assist me with my SAD. Anyway, thank you all for the information you provided. I think after all of your kind words, you deserved a bit of an update.

What is the best thing you ever got for free? My kids, okay they are expensive but they were technically free. WHat is the silliest thing you have heard today? My daughter and I were fishing off of my couch, with imaginary fishing rods. She caught two idonic angel fish, not sure what those are but according to her they are edible. We put them in the oven with fish sticks

Thanks Skippy.

When is the general conference?

It has been close to six years now, since I have last attended my ward. Since that time, I have drank alcohol, I have smoked cigarets, I have had illegal substances (marijuana, once), I have been prideful, and I have spoken against Christians. I've always been supportive of LDS, but I have said some bad things about Jesus, and ridiculed believers outside of tcojcolds. In the past month, I have felt an urge to reconnect to the Church, to get closer to God. To bring my two wonderful children to the faith. I have finished reading the Book of Mormon, and am in the process of reading the Doctrine and Covenants. I find myself a different person, that I have purpose in this life and that I feel very hopeful that it is true. I'm at a loss here though, should I go to the ward, what should I do? I don't think I am worthy of taking the sacrament, should I speak to the Bishop about these things? And most importantly, how should I approach the Bishop if I need to? Should it be before the sacrament, or after? How do you usually schedule a meeting with him? How should I meet up with my Bishop, is this something I should go to the church early to, to discuss these things, or what? I have only spoken to him once, and that was a while ago. --- Just to let you all know where I am coming from, I was a member with the church for only a short period. Prior to my baptism, I was a very skeptical of religion and God. I did not get far in the church, shortly after being baptised and given my Aaronic priesthood, I became inactive.

My guess, would be gathered from another post you have written. You feel that you have no control over where your relationship is going to take you, and you also have formed a strong connection to the daughter. Your imagination is playing with your fears, the decapitated girl screaming for help is the daughter, and you are trying to keep her in your life if the worst case scenario occurs and you and your girlfriend break up. I imagine you are really concerned about the well being of the daughter. Of course, this is me just trying to make sense of it with what little I know. It could be anything, but as others have said sometimes a dream is just a dream.

I know exactly how you feel, regarding the feeling after praying on Moroni's promise. I too felt the holy ghost, and I also left the church shortly after. I also would like the feeling back, but it seems that no matter how much I pray I just get little hints, here and there. Nothing in comparison to the original prayer but enough to keep me going to try to become closer to God. I remember before I left the church (Not really left, just never really returned :) ) I was told by a member that the hard part was upon me, to endure to the end. That Satan would use every trick in his book to pull me away. But, I did not pay attention to it.. after all I had just experienced the most extraordinary sensation in my life.. I felt there was nothing that could get in the way. I suppose it takes a lot of work, and I thought I would always get that strong confirmation I had received when praying on Moroni's promise. Did not happen, I'm not sure if it will ever happen again. So eventually, I let doubts seep in, and primal urges take precedence.. started smoking again, drinking, and so on. I became prideful, and felt that I was above the church.. I dunno if that feeling will return, but I look at my life outside of the church and I know that given in to temptation, and letting myself be prideful is not doing any good. It is enough to keep me at least trying to find a strong faith again. I think, after our initial confirmation we are expected to work diligently for God. Best of luck, promise63.

I'm glad I am not the only one, I only see the clown laughing with bozo style hair. I wasn't sure if it was photoshopped or just my imagination lol.

Hi Elder Spencer, I'm fairly new to the Church so I don't have much advice for you, I just want to express my thanks to those of you that go out there to spread the gospel. I don't want to sound cheesy, but the elders that spread the gospel to me had a significant impact on my life. They were great guys, and I miss having them around. I wish I had some advice to offer, but I don't know what hardships missionaries go though.. I just want you to know, that you really do make a difference in people's lives and it is appreciated. Best of luck, and keep safe.

It looks fake to me, as though it were all acted out. Sorry, I just am not buying it.

Sure, but it seems a lot also believe the end justify the means. A lot of exmormons are now atheists, and have given up on God entirely. Because, to be quite honest when you take their same tactics and apply it to any religion it has the same exact effect. It is sad, that these same people that devote most of their time pushing people away from Jesus think they spreading the good word. Some of them even do it with knowledge that they are pushing some Mormons away from Christ. I once asked one such person on a forum a few years ago a question, that question being something along the terms of "Would you rather see me return to atheism, or remain Christian", to which his answer was along the lines of that I hadn't accepted the real Jesus so it did not matter. Some of these people seem to only want to spread around hatred, and be free to ridicule others.. they claim they are anti mormonism and not anti mormon, but they way they speak shows they are lying. They like to go to areas where it is mostly Mormon, to mock and ridicule Mormons.. such as general conference. If they were trying to save their own kind, then they should be able to do so without ridicule or misrepresenting facts.

That is pretty wild, I wonder how she functions day to day without snapping the things off. The nails look a bit tangled, so it must take a lot of effort to do even the simplest of things, plus having your hands positioned in strange manner all day must lead to arthritis Whatever the reason, she must take great pride in them. That has got to be one major sacrifice to life and a huge inconvenience.

I was just trying to justify my ignorance with that statement, nothing else was meant to be implied.

While we were all still in Pre-mortal existence, were we given the choice of being born in our current mortal existence? Did we have the choice of staying with God, rather than departing? It has been a few years, since I have studied this and have become incredibly rusted on such matters while being inactive. Any references to scripture would be really appreciated. Thanks :)

Hello Yubee, it is nice to see other newer participants to the forum

Well, I just finished the Book of Mormon for the first time. I really loved the book of Moroni, it explained a lot of what I had experienced in the Ward. It also touched on faith, which helped a lot. I remain hopeful, and plan to keep with it. My problem area is doubt, but that comes from my own pride and unease of just letting go and letting the spirit guide me. But, here I do have faith that I can over come this obstacle, with a little practice. I still remember the first time the missionaries had me read Moroni 10:4, and I did pray as according to the verse. The sensation of love and peace was overwhelming. That memory, along with wanting to be a better person brought me back to investigating the scripture further. It would be great to go back to the Ward on Sunday, but I don't think I am quite ready yet. I want a real testimony before I go back. Otherwise, I feel out of place when talking to other members. That, and I don't have any nice clothes :) I want to thank you all for your support, it helped a lot. As did browsing the forums, and reading a bit here and there. I've got further to go yet, but I feel much closer to having a testimony than I have for years. So, now do you think would be a good time to read the Doctrine and Covenants? I've been wondering if perhaps I should skip ahead to the POGP.

I don't think I will ever understand the trinity, or the Mormon definition of God as in Jesus is the Father, yet not the Father. It just throws me for a complete loop. As far as I understood it though, I always thought Non Mormon Christians believed the Father and the Son were not mixed in a God Blob. I remember reading the Bible a long long time ago, and there was some scripture of us being reborn into heavenly bodies.. just as Jesus was. I dunno, I'm just confused on the whole matter I'll stick to worshiping the Father as my God and hope I get some revelation down the road.. perhaps I will come across it in scripture.

I've thought that it was the Father, which is God, Jesus the son, which we seek salvation through, and the Holy Ghost that confirms it. I worship the Father (through Jesus), praise Jesus, and am thankful for when I am graced by the Holy Ghost. I'm not sure how that works in Mormon theology. I've been given mixed answers when I did attend the ward, and many people did believe in the trinity and worshipped all three parts of the God head as one God. I've never really understood the trinity myself. Not saying it is wrong, just couldn't wrap my head around it. The way I see it, is the Godhead is three separate personages united in purpose. Not three separate personages united in one being. With all of that said, I was only in the church for a few months before I became inactive. I would like to see some confirmation on this myself. (please)

Bigfoot is not likely to inspire the same reaction one would get upon stumbling upon evidence for Big Foot, I suppose it is possible but it just doesn't make sense. Perhaps in some circles ;p It is hard to describe the feeling I get, it is not like the feeling you would get when you learn something new and exciting. What I feel is an unconditional love, an inner peace, it is so strong that it makes my skin tingle and I feel an embrace of warmth around me. Never before had I felt that sensation. Not saying, others can not experience it. But, I just don't think uncovering the mysteries of the universe would inspire such a feeling of forgiveness, or unconditional love. I don't think Big Foot would either. It is a feeling specific to being forgiving for things you have done in your life, it is a feeling of acceptance by one greater than you. This would entail something that is sacred, and offers forgiveness. Which would be more specifically something I would expect of Jesus.

I came across a pretty interesting video on youtube that may help you out a bit.. It shows that this may not be a funeral text. Take a look, perhaps it will help ease any problems you may be having: It is a video by TheBackyardProfessor, he seems to know his stuff. I can't really speak on the matter in much depth myself, but perhaps if you shoot him a message he can further discuss it with you. Hope it helps. Edit: There is more than one video, I did not see a playlist for it but there should be four parts. Here is a link of a basic search that should get you to them all. Non-LDS Egyptologist AGREES with Joseph Smith! - YouTube

Thanks Skalenfehi and James. I've re-read Alma 32, it has been a long while since I last read it. I'm also reading the rest of the Book of Mormon, since 2006 I've read a few chapters here and there. I've made it a point to read a chapter a day now, and am finished with the better part of Helaman. I've been approaching trying to gain faith through a little work, although not through the ward at this time. Just simple things, such as reading the BoM, praying, and a lot of self reflection. The thing that brought me down in 2006/2007 was ironically Christians on a site called Christian forums.. anyone that has posted on that site, should know what I am talking about.. severely anti mormon. I sort of threw myself in the midst of it, trying to defend the church and my faith and ended up losing it in the process. I think for now, I will stay away from the propaganda out there regarding the church. And stick with sites such as this one and LDS.org. I appreciate your responses, thank you.

Hey all, I'm wondering how you came across faith. Right now, in my journey I have hope. But I have as of yet gained trust in the scripture, in God, or in Jesus. I'm just looking for some testimonies, perhaps something I can cling to myself to grow my own faith. Just a little intro I suppose, for those of you trying to figure out how best to answer the question. I was baptized in 2006, I fell away from the church shortly after. With that said, I have always held a special place in my heart for Mormons since that time. I just haven't learned how to trust the church. I'm currently inactive, but still very interested in become active again. How did you all gain trust, were there any special situations that lead you to such trust? I really would like to hear your stories, I also hope one day I can have one for myself. I somehow have felt a really close connection to LDS, and despite my lack of faith I find myself closer to gaining faith through the church. For now, I suppose being an inactive Mormon that reads scriptures and searches for truth is good enough. As I said earlier, I just like to see other people's stories.. They provide me with a bit of courage and hope. Thanks