tesuji

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Everything posted by tesuji

  1. It's nice to meet you. I'm very sorry to hear about those terrible accidents. I admire you for carrying on and trusting God.
  2. For whoever was wanting to trip over an ancient Nephite sword as evidence, check out this article today. This sword tip is heavily corroded - and apparently from 1836. I'm thinking based on this, in a few thousand years it will be completely gone. No? The last Nephites died around 400 AD, so probably not any Nephite swords are going to be found lying on the ground. Alamo dig: Archaeologists unearth tip of Mexican sword | Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/08/12/alamo-dig-archaeologists-unearth-tip-mexican-sword.html
  3. True. But Nibley still knew more than I ever will
  4. The talks in general conference are pretty official statements, and they go through a vetting process, I'm pretty sure. I know all the talks are prepared beforehand. I would be very surprised to see this vision quoted in conference though
  5. Elder Scott gave some great talks about this. How to Obtain Revelation and Inspiration for Your Personal ... To Acquire Spiritual Guidance - Richard G. Scott Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer - Richard G. Scott You can find them here: https://www.lds.org/search?lang=eng&domains=general-conference&q=Richard+G.+Scott In my experience, when I'm trying to make an important decision, I study, learn and think about it until I decide what seems best. Then I pray about it, and ask if my decision is right. I'm not very good at getting answers, not like my wife is. I usually don't hear an answer. But I pray anyway; at least I tried. If I feel like I get a prompting about a direction then of course I follow the prompting If not, I proceed to do the thing that I prayed about, that I think is best.
  6. The article isn't trying to prove anything. It's addressing critics who think DNA disproved the Book of Mormon - by, as you've said, showing that DNA studies related to Book of Mormon people are inconclusive.
  7. People often bring up the DNA question in a thread like this. So here, read this: https://www.lds.org/topics/book-of-mormon-and-dna-studies
  8. As others have said, we don't know where it took place. I personally think most discussion of "Book of Mormon geography" is a waste of time, because of this. I don't think we know much of what was happening in the world 2000 years ago. We have sparse records and most everything else is buried. How can we even know how much we don't know? One of the most famous civilizations - the Greeks - for them we have an estimated only 5% of the records that they wrote. However, if it all took place in the jungles of Yucatan, then in that case I would't be surprised we haven't found much. Wood, etc will have rotten away. Iron and steel would be rusted away. Everything else could be covered with jungle. And maybe some of the stuff we've found is BoM stuff, who really knows. Swords, horse bones, etc - I think we do have some evidence for that kind of thing. Here's some speculation: http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/publications/archaeological-evidence-and-the-book-of-mormon http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/publications/horses-in-the-book-of-mormon http://en.fairmormon.org/Book_of_Mormon/Warfare/Weapons/Swords In the end, though, it's obvious to me that the Lord wants to try our faith, regarding the Book of Mormon. So we put our trust in him, we feel the witness of the Holy Spirit that it's true, and we learn form the teachings in the book. Full scholarly-type evidence will come later - it's not the most important thing for now.
  9. This actually has relevance to the current discussion. If you read the BoM carefully, you will note that there are several places where the author re-states or repeats himself - exactly like you would do it you were writing on metal plates, and could not easily hit Backspace and edit like we can on our computers. Critics like to focus on how we don't have the metal plates anymore. However, what we do have is the text itself. There are many internal evidences of authenticity. For example, listen to Nibley's Lectures on the Book or Mormon, or read his books such as Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites. None of this will convince determined skeptics, or prove to them anything. However, there is evidence on the "true" side of the scale.
  10. LOL. I fixed this seconds after I wrote it. If you all pay close attention, you'll see that I usually do about 5 edits to my posts before I get them correct.
  11. Yes. There are at least three different questions in the OP - 1) Did the Book of Mormon exist as and actual document written on metal plates, as Joseph Smith reported, 2) Did Joseph translated it accurately and 3) is the information in the book accurate? Yes, Yes, and As accurate as any such account would be.
  12. I think we already had a major discussion of this recently?... I believe it was an actual historical record written by the authors who claim they wrote it, then translated by Joseph Smith. How can you be a believing Mormon and not accept this?
  13. OK, I just read it. Wow, very interesting. Assuming this text is authentic, you still can't call this authoritative, as far as establishing doctrine. If it had been read out loud in general conference then I would believe it. Until then, I'm taking it with a huge grain of salt. So it doesn't help this discussion, in my opinion.
  14. Looks like it's here: http://mormon-chronicles.blogspot.com/2007/12/mosiah-hancock-vision-of-preexistence.html Somebody read this and let us know I will have time to read it later. Obviously something to take with a huge grain of salt, but I love reading this kind of thing and pondering on it. I approach these the same way I would the apocrypha:
  15. I don't understand why you're ignoring the second part of my post, about statements by prophets. I think you have to address that before making any statements about it.
  16. It seems to me what you hear from the church is that women tend to be more spiritual than men. In general. Saying they are "spiritually superior" doesn't ring quite right, although I think I've said it myself here.
  17. I would have thought maybe you are right. But did you see the rest of my post? Prophets have promoted the idea that women are spiritually superior.
  18. I'm very skeptical about this. Can you give the actual quote, and is it just the author or is it a GA? The book is, the following, correct? Life Everlasting: A Definitive Study of Life After Death by Duane S. Crowther
  19. I've wondered about this. I think it is conventional wisdom in the church that more women will make it to the Celestial Kingdom. I've wondered if this is just a Victorian notion that has persisted. But you have the quote from Elder Holland - how do you explain that? And you have quotes like this from prophets:
  20. I would put the Lord first and pray and have faith that it will work out. Sunday activities affecting grades is ridiculous to me, but it sounds like that's how it is, unless you try a different educational route. In my experience, having that Sunday day off mentally helps me do better in the remaining 6 days of the week
  21. The Book of Mormon addresses this toward the very beginning of the book, with the story of Nephi killing Laban. Here's a good description and discussion: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1996/02/i-have-a-question?lang=eng
  22. You didn't upset me. I appreciate your sincere query about my beliefs.