JimJohnson

Members
  • Posts

    20
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by JimJohnson

  1. ---God does not reveal himself except to those who really, really want him to. It isn't how often you ask that matters. It is how badly you want an answer and whether or not God believes you. An alcoholic might want to quit drinking. He might ask God to help him. But until his desire becomes stronger than his desire for a drink, it is impossible for him to do it. Many want a revelation. But God knows how badly they want one. He also knows whether or not a person wants it badly enough to make the changes in himself that are needed. If he knows a person is not going to repent because his desire is not as strong as his desire to sin, he will withhold the revelation for his own good. I'm sure you have heard all this before, and it may offend you, but sometimes the truth hurts.
  2. Since the spring of 1965, about two years after I was baptized, I have been certain that the Church is true in the sense that 1) it is the ONLY church that has the priesthood and authority of God, 2) it is the ONLY church that has a real prophet as its mortal head, 3) and it is the ONLY church that enjoys continuing revelation. When I realized this, it was the result of an epiphany. And there has been no doubt in my mind since then on matters of religion. Several times, however, and more so now than in the past, I have felt there were problems in the Church that I do not like, particularly the watering down of doctrine in the minds of the rank and file. I do not see it as a leadership problem. I see it as a following problem and the natural result of the declining educational level of the average member. Doctrine and the scriptures from which they come are not delicious unless a person reads well enough to enjoy heavy material. And the average person today does not read as well as in times past because of the failures of our public education system and the rising up of the Video Culture. If we do not know what is right, we cannot do what is right. And we are moving in the wrong direction as a Church membership. Our leaders tell us to study the scriptures daily and attend the temple often, but we are not following their counsel except for a few. Until that changes more and more saints will fall away because they do not understand and love the gospel as they would if they were to repent of their ignorance and negligence.
  3. How important for our salvation is mastery of gospel doctrines and the scriptures? Has the emphasis on this changed in the Church since I joined in 1963?
  4. Sometimes I believe that the reason Jesus told us to love our enemies is so that we learn to see the good in others and thus change both them and us in the process. I am convinced that those that we disagree with will make us much smarter than those that we always find agreement with - Mostly I think we like our friends because they make us think we are smart. Strange - that we think our friends are smart and our opponents are stupid? ---- In the 13th Chapter of First Corinthians we learn that "charity" is more important than any other observance of our faith, and that without it we will not obtain salvation or eternal life even if we excel in everything else. I think that your observation that "we learn to see the good in others" lies at the very core of charity. I know that I will never be a charitable person until I habitually think well of others. For me it is a much greater challenge than any of the virtues needed to qualify for a temple recommend. And I agree that we learn most from those who disagree with us if they can do it in a loving way. It is strange that we think our friends are smart and opponents stupid, but we need to remember that eternal truth does not change and only God has a perfect understanding of it. It is not to be confused with personal opinion. Some opinions really are stupid depending on how well they harmonize with eternal truth. For instance, my father was a medical doctor, highly educated, highly intelligent and an atheist. Well, how smart can a guy be who thinks the universe created itself along with everything in it? There never was an atheist who actually witnessed anything creating itself. There is no scientific or any other kind of evidence for such a thing. Those who believe it just have to take it on faith the same as a religious person might. Without a much better definition of "smart" it is hard draw any conclusions about the relative inteligence of our friends and opponents. But we should remember that "smart" notwithstanding and friends and opponents aside, there actually is a truth and some opinions have more truth than others.
  5. Give your patriarchal blessing a chance! I got mine when I was 23 years old. I am nearly 68 today. Throughout that time I have been disappointed with my blessing, but over the years I have been less and less disappointed with it. It seemed so generic to me when I received it. It could have been just a couple of pages ripped out of the Doctrine and Covenants and handed to me. But over the years it has gradually become more and more a part of my life. It is permanent. It has been with me for so long. And while it has not changed, I have. And my life has changed too. As my life and I have changed, the blessing has become more and more specific to me. Until today I can see a lot more in it that is specific to me and my life than I was able to see when I received it. And I am growing to like it more and more. Give your blessing a chance. Read it over and over through the years. The day or year will come when you can see its value better than you can now. And it will be a much greater source of joy to you then.
  6. As I wroter earlier, some and perhaps most people resent someone who has a larger vocabulary than their own. They feel that when a person uses a "big word" they are putting them down even when it isn't so. Nobody likes be put down. For myself, I like associating with both humble and arrogant people because I like anyone who doesn't mistreat me. I judge others on how well they treat me. Period. With that said, I have always found others are more comfortable around me if they are about as smart as I am or maybe even a little smarter. It means I do not have to contend with this feeling so many have that I am trying to put them down. But I have another reason for preferring the company of those like my wife who are more intelligent than I am. I like to learn from others. I like them to understand the various concepts that I like to share. But more than that, I like to be introduced to new ideas and concepts that I obtain in greater abundance from those as smart or smarter than I am. For an example, I love to discuss politics and religion. Some people will not discuss these things. There are many men who will discuss only booze, women, cars and football. This is not very stimulation.
  7. In my opinion there is far less anti-Catholic sentiment in the LDS Church than there was fifty years ago when I became a Latter-day Saint. But I grew up with a Baptist background and found they were far more anti-Catholic than the Mormons ever were. I do not know if that is still true of Baptists today because I do not attend Church with them. I know that over the years my own affection for Catholics has grown because they have done a much better job than other faiths at holding the line on matters of abortion, birth control, gay sex, and other immorality. I am distressed to see how our culture is moving in the direction of "God love all of us so anything goes." I hate it when the church caves in on basic principles because it seems to me that we will all become a bunch of devils if we forget what is right and wrong. My wife is one of the most devout LDS women I have ever met, but she grew up Catholic in Central America. I cannot imagine she would be as good a Mormon had she not grown up Catholic.
  8. It is Christlike to forgive, and he requires of us to forgive all men. If we do not forgive, our sin is greater than the sin of the person who offends us. But if a man cheats on his wife, or beats her up, while she is required to forgive him, she is not required to reconcile with him. If she has divorced him for molesting the chidlren, she must forgive him. But forgiveness does not mean she has to place her children at risk by inviting him back under her roof. Keeping this in mind, God love all his children, every one including the Sons of Perdition. But that does not mean he has to invite them back into his house. Justice has demands. That was the reason for the Savior's sacrifice in Gethsemene and on the cross. But to accept his sacrifice, a brother or sister must repent. If they do not repent, they are rejecting his sacrifice and they lose their eternal life. They go to the spirit prison rather than paradise in the spirit world. Why? Because even God cannot break his word. Mercy cannot rob justice. That is what he has taught us in the scriptures. If we want forgiveness, we must repent. If we want mercy, we must repent. If we want to obtain salvation or eternal life, we must repent. Those are laws that God will not and cannot break according to his own word. Does he love us. Yes. He love all of us unconditionally, every one. But he is bound by his word and by his laws. So he will deliver us over to be punished, often by our own hand, if we refuse to repent. His infinite love for us cannot change this. I believe in the infinite and unconditional love that Jesus has for all of us, for all mankind. But I know that his mercy does not rob justice. It cannot.
  9. I was Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist before converting to the Mormon faith fifty years ago. Most of the Protestants I knew were rather secular by Mormon standards. They all believed, but they didn't believe the same thing. And they did not even know what their Church officially teaches for doctrine. For instance, I believed that Jesus was resurrected in the flesh, but I thought other men were resurrected in some "spiritual" way. It was not until I because a Latter-day Saint that I realized that the resurrection of the body was for all men.
  10. [quote name=InstilledPhear;731879 I know for an absolute fact that God is here for us' date=' that He loves us, and that He wants nothing more than for his children to return and be with Him again. That in itself remains the greatest choice we could ever make, and if we choose to distance ourselves from Him, He'll still be poking around on the sidelines with his arms outstretched, watching and waiting and Loving. It saddens me that you can't feel His love for you. It's definitely there. You must be a mind reader to be so certain that we cannot feel His love. I too know for an absolute fact that He loves us. I also know for a fact that if we refuse to repent of our sins there will be consequences. He did not suffer and die for use to atone for our sins only to have us blow it off by refusing to follow him and keep his commandments.
  11. It seems to me that the truth matters more than what "many menbers" think about speculations. And I do not worry about those who might fall away. If they enjoy the companionship of the Holy Ghost, they will recognize speculation for what it is. If they don't, their goose is cooked anyway.
  12. I just started playing GW2 and intend to play with another high priest in the stake who is already playing it. I think he is on Yak's Bend. I'm still just getting my feet wet. Is it hard to change servers or make characters on other servers?
  13. The passages with which I am most familiar on David and whether or not he is or ever can be exalted are in the New Testament, not the Old Testament. Perhaps I missed the Old Testament references you speak of.
  14. If you go back and read the book again, you may discover that it was Cain that resembled Sasquatch rather than Satan. And it may not be doctrine, but is it false? If so, how do you know? I have always been far more interested in what the truth is than what official doctrine is. And the writings of James E. Talmage, Joseph Fielding Smith and Bruce R. McConkie contain a lot of truth compared with other sources beyond the standard works. Saturday, February 16th I commemorate the 50th anniversary of my baptism. In all that time I have heard prophets and apostles say little if anything that contradicts the teachings of Bruce R McConkie in General Conference. And so what if they did? They would just be repeating their own personal opinions as McConkie did. But what is true? Much that is true is not "official Church doctrine." Joseph Smith's King Follett Discourse is not "official Church doctrine" either. But it is more truth concisely stated than I have ever read anywhere including the standard works.
  15. I grew up Baptist before converting to the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by Joseph Smith and Thomas Monson. I loved the cross and still do. But from an LDS perspective it does seem rather morbid. I mean, if the method of execution had been a guillotine instead of a cross, would we all have been wearing little gold guillotines around our necks?
  16. In our hymnal are several hymns that make the same kind of reference to the cross one normally associates with traditional Christian churches.
  17. Some time ago Elder Nelson of the Twelve published an article in the Ensign on this very topic. He said that God's love is NOT unconditional. He then spoke at some length from various scriptural passages that illustrate our need to follow him and avoid becoming his enemy if we want his love. There are places in scripture that teach God hates sin and curses his enemies. Many of the prophets have spoken of God's enemies as "child of the devil" "children of the devil" and so forth. Examples can be found in all of scripture, but are especially common in the Book of Mormon. Anyone who reads Matthew 23 in which the Savior uses the strongest language possible to denounce the Pharisees will immediately see that our false notion that "God loves everybody" needs further clarification. I am sure that God does love everyone. We are all his children. But that includes Adolph Hitler, Judas, Cain, Jeffrey Dahmer, Karl Marx, and Anton LaVey of the Church of Satan. And just as loving parents in mortality love their children even when they give them a spanking, I'm sure that God loves his children even when he thrusts them down to hell. Does he love the Sons of Perdition? They are his children so I imagine he does, not because they deserve it, but because he is a perfectly loving Father. But in the case of Outer Darkness, I doubt if a loving Heavenly Father could be mete out a more painful and terrible punshment than the sinner's worst enemy. I believe that Heavenly Father loves all his children, every one. But there must be more to it than that. From scripture we may be certain that mercy cannot rob justice, and not everyone qualifies for God's mercy under the Atonement. But perhaps there is something loving about meting out justice even when that justice is terrible. Perhaps God is loving all his chidlren because he is so willing to temper justice with mercy when his child repents. The Atonment was a loving sacrifice for all of us, not just those who choose to accept the Atonement by choosing the right.
  18. There were surely a few who thought he was irritating. The Pharisees did. <grin>
  19. I grew up during those decades when the Stanford-Binet was all the rage. My score is 160 but I have known several friends with a much highter score than mine. My parents, siblings and children also had very high scores and score remarkably high on the verbal portions of the two main college entrance exams. We love a good bull session when we get together but.... That is the primary advantage to a high IQ in my opinion. I have not been particularly successful in my life, speaking of worldly success. My other family members have been a mixed bag as well, no world class scientists, musicians, etc. Mostly a high IQ just makes it hard to get along with others, so it is often more a handicap than an advantage. My vocabularly seems very large to many others. Yet it is the only one I have. If I use a word they are unfamiliar with, they think I am putting them down. In reality I am not even aware that the word I used was a "big word." But doing it even once can permanently prejudice another. It is not as big a problem at Church, but still a problem. Faithful saints are more patient, slower to be offended, more loving, less likely to judge others, and place a higher value on faithfulness in others. Of course this does not describe all of them, but the group average is much higher than most other places. As a result, my "obnoxious" personality is not as big a problem as it is many other places such as school or work. College professors seem especially intimidated if they do not feel like the smartest person in the room. If I could take a pill that would knock 20 percent off my IQ, I would do so immediately. IQ doesn't make you happy any more than money does. In my case it has never been an asset in my work, and in most fields the ability to get along well with coworkers is far more important than IQ. Unless a person is a research scientist, PhD economist or in some other occupation demanding extraordinary IQ, he would actually get along better in life without it. Finally, there seems to be a higher than usual frequency of mental illness among those who have very high IQs. There are many personal qualities that are better indicators of future worldly success than how high ones IQ is. Just my opinion, obviously.
  20. Hi Everyone, I am Jim Johnson and on my next birthday I will be 68 years old. I'll tell you more about myself later when I am sure there are no vampires here. <chuckle> You can never tell when someone is going to rat you out to the ATF or the FBI, guilty or not.