SpiritDragon

Yeah, what is a left-enant as well? Americans have solved this one :) lew-tenant makes so much more sense.

I have no love for the stuff, so I simply avoid using the word altogether because I am not sure. As a child I picked up on calling it sure-bert, but when I learned to read I noticed that the packaging always spelled it wrong, you'd think a company selling sherbert would know how to spell it. After continuing to see the incorrect spelling of sherbet pop up, and hearing others pronounce it so wrong sounding, I just decided to avoid the word.

Then why does resurrection matter?

I happened to succeed with my goal for 2014. I wanted to hex-bar deadlift 2 1/2 times my bodyweight which I did on Dec 11th lifting 400 lbs at a body-weight of 160 lbs. My intent sharing this being to hopefully showcase that it (fitness goals) can be done and possibly inspire others, I'm aware it may come off as bragging - I am pleased with myself though. Hopefully 2015 is a great year for the rest of you as well :)

Thanks, It's good to know my thoughts are a worthwhile contribution and not a senseless spilling of my guts. I completely agree that the idea of basing the core of one's faith outside of a spiritual witness is dangerous, especially to the latter-day-saint since it is a key difference over many other belief systems that we can actually get answers from God, or rather that a spiritual witness is ultimately the foundation by which faith is established and not great lawyer-ing of doctrinal points and well selected scriptures.

A very fascinating discussion indeed. For me my faith is constantly shaken due to issues that I've shelved time and again. My testimony of the Book of Mormon is based on an answer to my prayer of faith where I felt a great peace come over me that I believe to be a witness of the spirit. If I am stubborn in my contention that this feeling was from God than I have my answer and there can be no higher appeal to be made. This is great except that I have have felt the same feeling on numerous other occasions that seemingly led me astray (not into sin, but the answers that came didn't turn out the way I interpreted the feeling to indicate). This leads to a conundrum that is at least two-fold. On the one hand I can't trust the feeling that I perceive to be the spirit guiding me to be constant and true, on the other hand I can trust the feeling... but not my interpretation of its meaning. Either way the result is the same. If I can be wrong about interpreting it now or in the past, how do I trust that my witness of the Book of Mormon or anything else is true. How do I trust spiritual witnesses in the future? So if I take the spiritual witness off the table for what I can rely on to build my testimony and faith, I feel left with reconciling my faith doctrinally by digging into the scriptures. This works to a point as I feel confident that the scriptures make a very compelling case for "mormonism" as it were, but obviously proof is elusive - hence the faith thing. I've fought with this for over a decade, but I have never felt as sure about the gospel truth as I did when I received my testimony of the Book of Mormon which seems forever tainted by the possibility that I set myself up to have a feeling that I convinced myself was an answer when neither are true. The other struggle is that I have never enjoyed attending church services, so part of me would love to prove the church wrong so I could stop going, while on the other hand I would be devastated if the organization I have dedicated so much of my life to - paying tithing, going on a mission, home teaching monthly, etc. is a fraud. Are unresolved cyclical doubts the same as shaken faith syndrome?

The sad thing is that so many people are willingly fighting to give up freedom, because they think that somehow by suppressing moral teachings they are increasing freedom to live a life of sin without judgment.

While many of us will agree with your mom, you might also like some of the why behind that agreement. To be clear I also agree with your mom. Hanging out is usually a group activity, as soon as you are hanging out one on one you have for all intents and purposes paired off. The adult supervision doesn't negate this either per se, as it could still be considered by many to be a date even with a chaperone. There is safety in numbers.

How about a refrigerator that keeps inventory and lets you know when to replenish it while simultaneously tracking mold spores and disposing of expired produce so that those lurking left-overs don't cause you to lose your most recent meal. Maybe it will even generate recipes based on its contents that conform to individual preferences and restrictions.

ethereal in nature

In the sky

street, in case

Terf died while

other-worldly characteristics on

to be seen

clothes were torn

Lusting after and being attracted to are related but not the same. One could be attracted to another because of poise, cooking, financial stability and so forth, while physical attraction is also possible. Physical attraction and lust also differ. As a married man I can notice that women all around me are beautiful, but not connect that to untoward desires or imagining myself with them. For me this is the difference. There is nothing wrong with noticing that another human being is blessed with attractive features, it is when you take that acknowledgement and start coveting or imagining a sexual/romantic relationship that it becomes lustful.

I think this definition fits what I am seeing going on. Those family members who have a "non-believing" spouse are to remain with them until they are converted, but those who are together in the new ways are to go to an undisclosed place to live the law of consecration and prove themselves before relocating yet again even more secretively, presumably never to be heard from again.

- that dastardly troll!

I appreciate your insight traveler. I'll have to try harder at that. Those family members that have joined themselves to this new movement haven't tended to answer my phone calls or return them, but that does not mean I can't try more.

Thanks, I have had several heart-felt conversations with him and he is holding out strong so far, but he is continually bombarded with feelings of guilt and other controlling and manipulative tactics. He has had emails get deleted if they speak out against this new foolishness and he gets the 5th degree for having conversations with me.

I'm sorry for your loss.

They're gone too.

Thanks for the input so far guys. If I were to be operating on the premise that a cult is a bad thing, and it is controlling; How would you suggest one could tell before it is too late. Furthermore does anyone have any ideas to help return loved ones to the gospel from a religious sect that I deem to be cult-like in a bad sense? This particular breed of religious sect seems to disregard scripture that doesn't suit their flavour of doctrine as it were, and relies heavily on supposed theophany experiences. It is kind of hard to explain a different view point when they will always go back to saying that God directly told them otherwise. One large concern is that they are working hard on my dad to join their cause and he is hours away from the support of the rest of the family, and married to one of the most hardcore recent converts. If this wasn't bad enough, they are planning to move to an undisclosed location in the mountains isolated from the rest of us and not allowed to tell us where they live, because we aren't "enlightened" enough to know. The worst part is children are involved who really have no say in this insanity. I suppose at the end of the day whether or not it is labeled a cult is irrelevant, but I don't like it. I would be much happier to accept half the family joining some other normal seeming religion than a mysterious pseudo-fundamentalist group.

...and I choose - What in the world could that be? My cookie.