The Folk Prophet

He can? Who on earth is Robert Millet and who cares? If only that was the actual implication and meaning of, "Mormons aren't Christian."

I want a Surface Pro 3 for Father's Day. Just sayin'.

This is not entirely accurate. The church has one of the seer stones, as I understand it, in their archives. The Urim and Thummin was taken back.

I'm just opening my big yap and yapping on about whatever comes into my head.

I'd go with: Maybe/no/yes/yes/huh?/yes But simple yes/no answers don't tell the complete story. In short, there is a distinct effort being made to gather people into "the fold", so to speak, and sharing common beliefs is a part of that. The only sidelining or abandoning of core LDS doctrinal oddities that is occurring is by the wolves-in-sheeps-clothing who are more concerned with pride and how the world views them than they are about bringing people to our understanding of the truth. This, of course, is a natural occurrence in a church that has physically grown and grown in a world that has meanwhile spiritually decayed and decayed. But it has no real bearing on the literal teachings and beliefs of "the church". It only, imo, reflects upon the fact that the church has more dissenters inside of it. Oh...and it also reflects, obviously, on the internet-world we now live in where every schmoe with a phone now has a world-wide voice.

My concern and comments with Emma are unrelated to my view of her potential salvation, which is, indeed, between her and God. What concerns me in apologizing for her is those times where I have heard (directly) people use her as an example and an excuse for being less than stalwart.

Do you not understand that these two things are contradicting each other? I'm not telling you you're doing anything wrong...except this!

Actually, that opens up an entirely different discussion, which I think I may well start a new thread on... But I digress.... The primary way that the Lord intervenes in anything in our our lives is by granting us his Spirit. He comforts us. He teaches us. He guides us. And this applies to children as well. Yes, we have to step back a bit and view things from an eternal perspective. And that can be difficult to do. But there is a level of trust that has to be applied, that all things are for our good if we turn to the Lord. And children can understand trust...perhaps better than adults.

What does what Mitt Romney did have to do with anything?

The Lord allowing things to happen to us that are painful or sorrowful is not the same thing as the Lord not intervening.

D&C 103:20-21 20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— 21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

Being perfect, including being perfectly forgiving, is a lifelong process. Keep at it. Keep obeying the commandments. Keep repenting. Keep praying. Keep reading/studying scriptures. You'll get there eventually. At the end of it all, what God is really asking us to do in this life is to try. And then, as Traveler has said, He has provided for us the Atonement so that when we fail we can succeed anyway, as long as we keep trying.

Yes. No. Never. Ever. Not even the now disavowed teachings said this. Why is it okay that we ordain those of the tribe of Ephraim to the priesthood now but not in the days of Moses. This is a different issue altogether, of course, and lumping it in is unhelpful. We can discuss Adam/God if you want, but let's not just throw everything and the kitchen sink into the mix just to try and overwhelm the issue. One thing at a time please. All men have, reasonably, believed and spoken false ideas at some point. All men were once children. All men grow and learn line upon line. However, that is different than a prophet of God preaching false doctrine from the pulpit. I'm not saying it has never happened, of course. But I think it's pretty dangerous ground to stand on our millennial know-it-all soapboxes and authoritatively proclaim we know better than a prophet did. A disavowed theory is different than proclaimed revelation. There is no canonized proclaimed revelation that the disavowed theories were false. There is a proclamation that they are disavowed as doctrine -- as in we don't know so don't teach, preach, or otherwise expound on these things. But that is very different than a "Brigham was wrong" conclusion. What is safe ground is what has been proclaimed. We don't know. We disavow the theories given behind why as doctrinal. We reject racism. Reading more into the capability, understanding, and revelatory prowess of the early church prophets beyond this is not useful.

Like has been said...how much more official can you get than, "in our scriptures"? "The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so He will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty." We can quibble about what "astray" means, of course. But whatever it means...we know that -- per canonized scripture -- we cannot be led there by the prophet. Is one of them saying something in error really the definition of being led astray?

We were told it is new instruction from the First Presidency. Sacrament First. So I expect you'll be seeing a change Pam. Unless we were told inaccurately or I misunderstood. Our ward building has many wards in it, so they were swapping Sacrament first/last between the wards to cram us in tighter (so we started on the half hour, etc). In Aug we'll be moving to a half hour later to accommodate the wards that had Sacrament last changing to Sacrament first. When the announcement was made, it was accompanied by "per the First Presidency" or something along those lines. That's my understanding.

Hmm. Was that our intent? I'm not convinced that the Catholic sacraments do any good toward their salvation. Maybe I'll go find a Catholic forum and tell them that. Yeah. That's wisdom in me. brb....

Wait. So anything that someone believes differently than you about any given issue is judgmental? O........kay.

A. It doesn't take away agency at all. No "necessarily" about it. B. Prove it.

Which part of this policy is taking away agency?

Talking church stuff and mentioning church stuff isn't exactly the same thing. I'd never not mention stuff, like I was afraid. Ask me what I did last Saturday and the answer will be that I went to the temple, no matter who you are. That's different than discussing religion though. I'm disinclined to discuss religion with people who are bitter and angry about it, and if they're disinclined to be preached to, then what good can come of it? If kids are around all it does is allow them to hear the bitter, angry things being said. I wear my religion on my sleeve. That's different than shoving it in people's faces though.

It wouldn't surprise me if, when speaking to such a person, they might likely claim they have been pushed out.

Hopefully they trend to God.

I have absolutely no fear of divorce whatsoever. None. I have as much faith in my wife as I do anything in life. I'm more worried about getting hit by lightning...which I don't worry about at all. Call me dim all you want stringsofcoins, but if you marry the right sort of girl then these issues are non-issues. The state's way of dealing with marriage and divorce has no bearing on my life whatsoever -- expect when it comes to paying joint taxes I guess. And, no, it's not "just wait until you find the one". It's about proactively finding the right one, through the right means, the right places, the right faith, prayer and humility, and the right attitude. And that, frankly, is about the only useful answer (short of moving) that anyone could possibly give you. What sort of other answer do you want? Rise up in revolt? Don't get married and just live in sin? I'll tell you this much. Calling us all "horrible" and other nasty things isn't likely to get you anywhere. Sadly, based on the attitude you seem to be displaying, it seems highly unlikely that you will adjust your attitude and approach about marriage. In which case, you already have your plan in place. So move to another country and stop berating us for trying to help you.

Yep. That's me. Mister dim.

There's been things every now and again on lds.net through the years that have made me mildly uncomfortable. Another was the moderately recent article on Lindsey Stirling and avoiding the appearance of evil.