Anddenex

When I think of this scripture a few things come to my mind. The first is when Christ said to Peter, paraphrased, "Before the cock crows thrice you will deny me thrice." The hour or time for this to come wasn't known but it did come quickly. In the moment, Peter could have easily seen what was happening, but it wasn't until the third crow that the prophesy did prick him.
This highlights that members of the Church who are not read (prepared for) the signs of Christ coming will come as a thief in the night. Also, Peter did not believe this would be the case, so when the cock was crowing his mental state dismissed the first and the second. For some, they will dismiss the signs because they do not believe these are the signs.
The second is that we are aware of a general assembly that will happen. We understand Adam will preside (if I'm remembering correctly) and Christ will come to his people at this assembly. These people will not be surprised as to the day and hour the Lord will come again. This brings back to my remembrance the words of Nephi when they were in a time of need and the Lord said, "Tomorrow I come into the world." (paraphrased)
If we believe in the signs, if we have studied the signs, we will be watching and we will be prepared. The Spirit, like with Nephi, will bare witness of the Lord's return to those who are listening. To those who are not, it will be similar to the Nephites at Christ's first coming to them. The Spirit spoke (or the Father here) and they comprehended it not. Or like Amulek, who said something to this nature the Lord did call but I did not listen.

When I think of this scripture a few things come to my mind. The first is when Christ said to Peter, paraphrased, "Before the cock crows thrice you will deny me thrice." The hour or time for this to come wasn't known but it did come quickly. In the moment, Peter could have easily seen what was happening, but it wasn't until the third crow that the prophesy did prick him.
This highlights that members of the Church who are not read (prepared for) the signs of Christ coming will come as a thief in the night. Also, Peter did not believe this would be the case, so when the cock was crowing his mental state dismissed the first and the second. For some, they will dismiss the signs because they do not believe these are the signs.
The second is that we are aware of a general assembly that will happen. We understand Adam will preside (if I'm remembering correctly) and Christ will come to his people at this assembly. These people will not be surprised as to the day and hour the Lord will come again. This brings back to my remembrance the words of Nephi when they were in a time of need and the Lord said, "Tomorrow I come into the world." (paraphrased)
If we believe in the signs, if we have studied the signs, we will be watching and we will be prepared. The Spirit, like with Nephi, will bare witness of the Lord's return to those who are listening. To those who are not, it will be similar to the Nephites at Christ's first coming to them. The Spirit spoke (or the Father here) and they comprehended it not. Or like Amulek, who said something to this nature the Lord did call but I did not listen.

When I think of this scripture a few things come to my mind. The first is when Christ said to Peter, paraphrased, "Before the cock crows thrice you will deny me thrice." The hour or time for this to come wasn't known but it did come quickly. In the moment, Peter could have easily seen what was happening, but it wasn't until the third crow that the prophesy did prick him.
This highlights that members of the Church who are not read (prepared for) the signs of Christ coming will come as a thief in the night. Also, Peter did not believe this would be the case, so when the cock was crowing his mental state dismissed the first and the second. For some, they will dismiss the signs because they do not believe these are the signs.
The second is that we are aware of a general assembly that will happen. We understand Adam will preside (if I'm remembering correctly) and Christ will come to his people at this assembly. These people will not be surprised as to the day and hour the Lord will come again. This brings back to my remembrance the words of Nephi when they were in a time of need and the Lord said, "Tomorrow I come into the world." (paraphrased)
If we believe in the signs, if we have studied the signs, we will be watching and we will be prepared. The Spirit, like with Nephi, will bare witness of the Lord's return to those who are listening. To those who are not, it will be similar to the Nephites at Christ's first coming to them. The Spirit spoke (or the Father here) and they comprehended it not. Or like Amulek, who said something to this nature the Lord did call but I did not listen.

That's not saying much. "My guy" presents a pretty low bar for comparison.

My guy can beat up your guy!  My buddy put this together, with 2nd week of December 2034 ad the clear and obvious time. 

JS Matthew 1:48 Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.
We know that if we are wise and understand the scriptures we can know the season in which Christ will return but not the specific day or hour. This verse seems to imply that even if we know the season we may still be surprised when it actually happens. It makes me wonder what the conditions will be like so as to make His coming unexpected.
I was watching a YouTube video yesterday where the guy was performing some pretty serious prophetic gymnastics to make this General Conference as a possible time of His coming. While I gave him a really low overall score I did award him some difficulty points. 😃
But it did make me wonder about two different possibilities for an unexpected Second Coming. The first is that some signs are fulfilled without us fully realizing it (which this guy was relying heavily upon). The second is that certain events happen so quickly that it just catches us off guard how quickly things transpire. This second theory would seem to support the idea of a hastening and the times being cut short. While I don't think things will happen so quickly as to make this General Conference a viable candidate it does make me wonder just how quickly it could take place. 

This is the type of question, at least to me, that doesn't change the fact that God said no, and then said yes ( @laronius beat me to it). This happened also in the Old Testament when the children of Israel asked for a King. The prophet and God said no, but after time God finally said give them what they want with further light and knowledge as to what would happen, and it happened.
The original version still answers the questions just fine.

I like his insight and it does bring some clarity but I don't completely agree with his conclusion. Saying that God said No, No, and then Yes might be oversimplifying it but that is in essence what He said, conditional though it may have been. And yes, God will eventually give us what we want, even contrary to His will if we persist long enough. Just recently I had felt to take a certain action that I kept finding excuses not to, when in one of my doubting prayers the Spirit in essence said "Then don't do it." Sensing the Lord growing weary with me I quickly humbled myself and acted on the original prompting. In both instances the Lord's "Yes" isn't signifying approval of the act (or in my case lack of action) but rather the Lord not willing to subvert agency by applying too much pressure. If we want to do things our way He won't stand in the way but will be waiting for us on the other end of those poor choices to encourage us back onto the right path.

I read Numbers 21 this morning and noted some similarities between Joseph Smith's multiple inquiries of the Lord on behalf of a friend and Balaam's several inquiries to the Lord on behalf of Balak. That incident might provide further context for interpreting/understanding what happened with Joseph and Martin. 

Also

My Spotify playlist for the day.

The glory of God is "Light and Truth". I take this verse to be both figurative and literal. Our bodies are wrapped in glory (light), even such that it has the ability to kill a mortal body unless that body is quickened -- light increased.

I believe there is a literal interpretation to the above.  I suspect the "light" being described is not (only) the light our mortal eyes see.  My imagination comes up with all of us connected by a network of light - like a (literally) glorified fiber optic network without need for the cables.  (My imagination likes to visualize things - and make things up out of whole cloth.)
Everywhere you see "truth", you could replace it with "knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come" and see if that sheds any (ahem) light for you.   D&C 88 and 93 have a lot of stuff that instinctively make sense, but which I have a hard time deciphering...  Go figure.

I think this is a great question. I think these type of questions allow us to ponder truth a little more as we seek further light and knowledge. I would take a different approach and simply say focus on these aspects within their sphere of truth. I really like this teaching in the Doctrine and Covenants where it teaches us the following, "All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence." (emphasis mine)
Let's review this independent truth, "the only true Church." This is a very important truth that shouldn't be replaced by the "most correct," which is pointing toward the Book of Mormon in reference to other scripture (Holy Bible). Within its independent sphere of truth it should never be compromised to "most correct." There is no other way back to the Father, except through Christ and his Church. If we were to solely focus on "most correct", then it could lead some to remove themselves from the Church because it may be the most correct but there are still other paths that are correct. This would result with some members making a choice to follow a forbidden path, letting go of the iron rod.
As truth is a sphere, independent, spheres of truth are also interwoven with each other. Remember, we believe the "restored" Church of Jesus Christ, and as President Nelson has made clear that restoration is still very much occurring. This is also taught in our Article of Faith #9. We believe that God will continue to reveal truth to his Church. This revelation may result from another church's teachings. This is why I find Mason theory from anti-Church individuals to be humorous. If the Lord preserved a "truth" for his restoration through another faith or culture, then the Lord has every right to bring that truth back into his Church -- without question. All truth is Christ's -- for he is the way, the truth, and the light.
As we properly focus on each of these two truths, "most correct," and the "only true Church" we will profitably grow quicker. If we focus on one more than the other we will lose that independent truth and eventually look beyond the mark.
It needs to be announced unapologetically and unequivocally that this is the only true Church. This is the straight and narrow path. There is no other way to the Father, and this is why we have work for the dead (as you know). We also need to keep aware that the Book of Mormon is the "most correct," because this allows the right and privilege of the apostles and prophets to make updates, corrections, or clarifications to scripture.
 

On truth, Brigham Young is quoted as saying:
 
As a protestant, for many of my 14 years of membership, I focused more on being the "Only true and living church" and not the above.  I have found it useful to shift my perspective to the idea that the church is the "Most correct" of any church on Earth.  While all truth is "Mormonism", it emphatically DOES NOT follow that "Mormonism" is all truth.  I just watched a reaction video to the Mormon Stories video interviewing the Mississippi bishop who resigned from the pulpit.  He honestly spoke about how he viewed those outside the church as "not worth his time" and that only members were "celestial material".  To me, this is obviously a failure on his part for gross misunderstanding.  But perhaps we could focus a BIT more on the "most correct" and less on the "only true".
You obviously need both, but it seems some have the balance WAY off, even those in "leadership" positions.

I've been listening to this guy (Bryce Dunford) on Youtube for a few days.  I figured I'd share one episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDmQfVhoA3Q
It's a bit long, so I'll just point out one symbol he pointed out from both the Nauvoo Temple and the SLC Temple.
We know there are stars, moons, and suns on the temples. But the order is messed up from the Telestial, Terrestrial, Celestial sequence.   Stars are on top Suns are in the middle Moons are at the bottom He points out that this incongruity can be clarified by looking at the following verse:
He points out that the woman was a symbol for the Church.  Thus the temple (also a symbol of the Kingdom of God on Earth) is wrapped (clothed) with the sun in the middle, with stars near the top (crown) and the moon near the bottom (under her feet).
Very interesting.

So here are the questions?  "Continuation of the lives", what does it mean?
My understanding of this verse currently, is that it simply means that our lives will continue beyond of the grave as exalted beings. It does open the idea of a continuation of God's work and glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of the sons and daughters of God. Speculation of course.
When did Jesus Christ enter into his exaltation?  Before the pre-mortal existance?  After the atonement? 
He is already there. There was never a time where he was without the Father (so to speak). My thoughts entertain Christ's baptism. Some things just need to be done, but he was already there baptism didn't change his glory, his body.
Curiously, I don't think that Able entered into his exaltation yet.
I'm inline with other thoughts in this thread. Able probably was not the first to die of Adam and Eve's sons and daughters. It's humorous to me that I never really thought about the first person to die and being alone in the Spirit World. That had to have been a very interesting experience, seeing how often I have read and heard from others how they are looking forward to the family/friend embrace once they pass on from this earth life.
Able, at my current knowledge, would be no different than Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Nephi, Sam, Lehi, and any other righteous saint. I believe it is doctrine that all who were righteous (kept their first estate) would have been resurrected after Christ was resurrected. We know that Able was a righteous man, the Lord appears to make that known to Cain. There is no reason to think Able wasn't resurrected as with others, and that he is currently doing what others are doing also who died before Christ and his resurrection.
If Cain still walks the Earth, he would be the obvious source of secret combinations.  
That is an interesting thought regarding Cain. I don't have much to say with regards to Cain. I'm more inclined to believe the apostles experience as noted in the Miracle of Forgiveness. What an awful punishment, but for one to introduce murder and other things it doesn't seem to bad either.

So here are the questions?  "Continuation of the lives", what does it mean?
My understanding of this verse currently, is that it simply means that our lives will continue beyond of the grave as exalted beings. It does open the idea of a continuation of God's work and glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of the sons and daughters of God. Speculation of course.
When did Jesus Christ enter into his exaltation?  Before the pre-mortal existance?  After the atonement? 
He is already there. There was never a time where he was without the Father (so to speak). My thoughts entertain Christ's baptism. Some things just need to be done, but he was already there baptism didn't change his glory, his body.
Curiously, I don't think that Able entered into his exaltation yet.
I'm inline with other thoughts in this thread. Able probably was not the first to die of Adam and Eve's sons and daughters. It's humorous to me that I never really thought about the first person to die and being alone in the Spirit World. That had to have been a very interesting experience, seeing how often I have read and heard from others how they are looking forward to the family/friend embrace once they pass on from this earth life.
Able, at my current knowledge, would be no different than Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Nephi, Sam, Lehi, and any other righteous saint. I believe it is doctrine that all who were righteous (kept their first estate) would have been resurrected after Christ was resurrected. We know that Able was a righteous man, the Lord appears to make that known to Cain. There is no reason to think Able wasn't resurrected as with others, and that he is currently doing what others are doing also who died before Christ and his resurrection.
If Cain still walks the Earth, he would be the obvious source of secret combinations.  
That is an interesting thought regarding Cain. I don't have much to say with regards to Cain. I'm more inclined to believe the apostles experience as noted in the Miracle of Forgiveness. What an awful punishment, but for one to introduce murder and other things it doesn't seem to bad either.

One small part of my faith is the law of Entropy.
The law of Entropy is the natural tendency of things to lose order. Left to its own devices, life will always become less structured. Sand castles get washed away. Weeds overtake gardens. Ancient ruins crumble. Cars begin to rust. People gradually age. With enough time, even mountains erode and their precise edges become rounded. The inevitable trend is that things become less organized.
The Universe has so much order in it as do many things on this Earth.  How did this get organized amid the chaos?  My answer is the God of the Universe.
The main reason I believe is the continual witness of the Holy Ghost in my life and my work with the LORD God.  He is always there for me to help and lift me up.  Daily prayer and scripture study keep me in touch with Him.

The only real way to know about the things of God are spiritually, by prayer.  Only the faith of the 1847 Pioneers got them across the Plains to Utah.  That faith was hard earned through Prayer.
The invitation of Moroni:
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not btrue; and if ye shall ask with a csincere heart, with dreal intent, having efaith in Christ, he will fmanifest the gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may aknow the btruth of all things.

Greetings and welcome @Looking for help :  I am a retired scientist and engineer from the field of industrial automation, robotics and artificial intelligence.  I am dyslectic and have difficulty understanding anything to be real that is not logical and the result of logic.  As a scientist, I do not find any logic to support believe in anything being random – only that random is an arrogant excuse for not understanding the cause – this includes quantum physics.
Our universe is hostile to life as we know it here on earth and as, yet we have not found any possibility for intelligent life (as we know it) to exist anywhere else – let alone evolve.   There is a second law of thermodynamics that asserts that complex orders – especially evolving from singularity is a scientific impossibility.  I would submit that the only possibility to the simplistic uniform order of our complex universe is the result of intelligent cause.   That the complexity of the simplistic order of our solar system resulting in life on earth is as much evidence of intelligence as finding a working clock in the middle of a barren desert.
Even if we suppose that there is no G-d and that intelligent life is the evolutionary result of some random chance – science dictates two important principles.  Anything that can or does happen can be engineered to happen.  In other words, anything that can happen by some chance can be intelligently duplicated and caused to happen.  The second principle is that if intelligent life can evolve – that intelligent life can evolve to eventually intelligently duplicate anything that has happened.  This means that even if there is no G-d one must accept that if evolution is possible - it is inevitable that intelligence would evolve the capabilities of G-d.  Thus, by the principle of Occam’s razor G-d must exist because science and evolution demands it as a possibility.
As a covenant member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – I have come to the conclusion (as an explanation of why) that only in the LDS teaching do we find sufficient explanation for why in life.  That there was a pre-existence (first estate) where each individual human life on planet earth was planned and that there is an estate beyond death where all things are reconciled.  Otherwise, there is no reason to believe in intelligence, justice, liberty or freedom unless there is a pre-existence and an existence after death.  There is no reason to believe in any purpose, logic, science, coincidence, hope or reason for concern for global warming, politics, education, love or knowledge unliess intelligence is trancendent. 
There is no logic to birth as a beginning of intelligence or death as an end of intelligence.
 
The Traveler

Alma 32:27 ...even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe...
It sounds like this is where you are at. I underlined "until" because there is no set timetable for how long this phase lasts. Just know it is a recognized step in the process of developing strong faith. So don't fret over not having the faith you wish you had, you are already on the path that will get you there. Just keep desiring.
I'm going to be really frank here. This mindset is pointless. It's a rabbit hole to nihilism. What if nothing was real? Then what's the point? Even Satan's warped plan for us had more merit than this line of thinking. At least he'd force us to believe something.
Concerning the spiritual experiences you've had:
Alma 32:34-35 ...ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand. O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible...
The joy and peace you've experienced was real because it was light. This is a subject you might want to study because light defines our very existence and purpose on earth.
At the end of the day though believing is a choice. You can either choose to believe or choose not to. Perhaps you just need to make that choice and allow God the chance to prove you right.

OK, back from Church and kitty is bird-watching. I think you've got some great replies, and I think you'll need to help us out with where you want this discussion to go.  I'm basically going to throw various thoughts in the ring and you'll have to figure out which to pursue, if any...
As has already been noted, we can't convince you or prove anything to you, but that doesn't mean you can't become convinced or have the reality of God proven to you - this is the job of the Holy Ghost.  The more experience you can gain with the Holy Ghost, and you'll have to work at it, the more knowledge you will gain from him.
These verses come to mind:
This makes it clear, to me at least, that people receive varying witnesses of the truth and receive them in varying ways (some interpret v13 as "seeing Christ in person" or some such, but that's not what it says - it says they're given knowledge through the Holy Ghost), and others, for reasons we don't know, don't receive this same witness (per v14).  Whether that lasts a lifetime or whether eventually they receive a witness like that described in v13, I don't know, and I suppose varies by person.  But you shouldn't feel singled out, less, or any other negative thing - it appears to be one of your trials in life (other people will have their own struggles and doubts).
To me, verse 14 is the Lord telling you, "I know your trial, but be faithful and you will also have eternal life."
You have already learned part of this lesson:
...in that you've said:
I think some time spent pondering the above might help.  There are a lot of people out there who will disagree with your observations.  They'll say these things that you say make life better and easier actually make them miserable or are too hard or restrictive or no fun, or whatever.
Consider that the above doesn't happen without the dedication and sacrifice - at least, it won't last long without the dedication and sacrifice.  So you might ponder how much of the Church's teachings you're living - covenant-keeping: studying the word of God, paying tithes and offerings, attending meetings and the temple, ministering, serving in callings, prayer, etc.  If you're doing all those things, do you think you would have the same experience not doing those things and just being a "good husband and father and an honest person"?  Or do you think all those things the LDS are taught to do are required to find the testimony you express above?
I personally do not believe that in the absence of God, any human would organize anything like a faith that requires such sacrifice in time, effort, and personal change.  Rather, they'd devise religions that give them power and pleasure - religions that justify or even glorify what we call sin.  There's no shortage of evidence for this from both history and the modern world.  I think it takes a God to come up with the idea that whosoever would be greatest should be your servant.  Mankind, left to their own devices comes up with fertility cults instead.
(More thoughts will come in more replies.)

Alma 32 offers a way to sort through the “what ifs” and conclude for yourself what is real since all experience is ultimately processed “in your head”.

I'll DM you if/when it becomes public; for now, it's probably a little too sensitive to go into detail about.   

I don't know why it never occurred to me to reference older dictionaries. That's why I come here and ask those that are quicker on the uptake. 😃
I think those definitions make perfect sense in the context of the verse.