askandanswer

That was specifically for you Zil

Yesterday, in church, I had what I think is a good idea on how to prepare talks. I’m putting it up here on lds.net partly in the hope that it might be of interest to someone else and also in the hope of getting some feedback and comments that might make it even better. I was going to present this in an attached Word document, but then I remembered that some people access this site through their phones and I wasn’t sure if everyone can access a Word document through their phone so I’ve set it out as two lists. The first list could be headed Objectives, and the second list could be called Tools. The objectives list is a list of the objectives or outcomes that the person giving a talk might want to achieve. The tools list is list of the tools or techniques that the person giving the talk might want to use to accomplish their objectives. The basic idea is, when you are assigned to give a talk, look at the objectives list and decide what you want to accomplish with your talk, and then look at the tools list and decide what tools you want to use to accomplish your objective. This process can be applied to each of the various parts of the talk – the introduction, each of the main points, and the conclusion. I suspect that this is what most of us do subconsciously, but I thought it might be helpful to make it more explicit. Prison Chaplain, as one who frequently prepares and delivers sermons, II am particularly hopeful that you might feel inclined to provide some feedback. Objectives Motivate Teach Inspire Call to repent Change/influence attitudes, beliefs or actions Comfort Counsel Rebuke Call to repent Reinforce an idea or point (for conclusion of talk) Build interest and attract the attention of the congregation (for introduction of talk) Tools Personal anecdotes and experiences Scriptures Talks from conference or other sources Expressing opinions, personal viewpoints and conclusions Giving explanations Asking rhetorical questions Giving challenges and invitations to act Reading from Bible Dictionary or Encyclopaedia of Mormonism Tell a joke or funny story Share/express feelings

I would have thought the music you were listening to earlier, particularly the Allegretto sounded more Vortesque than the the Hillbilly Little Joe. Or maybe this. I'm pretty confident that this is what a veritable vortex of vortical vortices sounds like

I thought the music still sounded happy

I'm not sure what you mean by too many desserts. Can there be such a thing? The very idea of too many desserts is something that I'd like to seriously test out to see if it is really possible.

Lol, Just_A_Guy is asking Momongator to tell the truth! How charmingly naive and unrealistically optimistic of him.

Same verse, different emphasis (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 89:10 - 11) 10 And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man— 11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving. Without this qualification, the WOW would be contradictory because in verse 8 it describes tobacco as a herb and says it is not good for man, whereas in verse 11, without the qualification of 'wholesome" in verse 10 it would say that we can use every herb, of which tobacco is one.

Now who here would like to do the updating? (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 67:5 - 9) Your eyes have been upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and his language you have known, and his imperfections you have known; and you have sought in your hearts knowledge that you might express beyond his language; this you also know. 6 Now, seek ye out of the Book of Commandments, even the least that is among them, and appoint him that is the most wise among you; 7 Or, if there be any among you that shall make one like unto it, then ye are justified in saying that ye do not know that they are true; 8 But if ye cannot make one like unto it, ye are under condemnation if ye do not bear record that they are true. 9 For ye know that there is no unrighteousness in them, and that which is righteous cometh down from above, from the Father of lights.

Morman?

WIth respect Mirkwood, this is a really dumb goal. Why would anyone ever be nice to Gator? New year's resolutions should be realistic

If there was to be an update to the WOW, it might be to clarify whether or not its ok to use medically prescribed marijuana. I suspect there are a variety of opinions and practices amongst members on this question based on differing interpretations of the WOW and some clarification might be helpful.

I think this is what fiction food tastes like (Old Testament | Isaiah 29:8) 8 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite:

This is just a reminder that the current edition of the Doctrine and Covenants no longer contains the Lectures on Faith, which were included, and probably considered to be scripture, up until the 1921 edition. De-canonized might not be the right term given that the Lectures on Faith (Doctrine and Covenants | Preface Testimony of 12:6) "were not given or presented as revelations to the whole Church." but its certainly the case that what was once accepted as LDS scripture by the LDS church is no longer accepted by the LDS church as scripture. I'm too lazy and tired right now to think through what the implications might be for this discussion but I just thought it was worth pointing out.

Five sets of reasons that might explain everything that God does: PC. I think the above 5 possibilities might embrace all the possible reasons why God does what He does although I admit its not a straightforward task to link a specific event to one of these reasons. If you think more reasons are needed, or if you think any of the above reasons are not needed, I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts.

I think the some of the stories in the Old Testament are allegory. Others are just all gory

Mountains are not funny - they're hill areas

Sounds like a free ticket to the celestial kingdom to me - a very loving thing to do.

From a source that you might feel has a bit more credibility than the Old Testament (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 63:33) 33 I have sworn in my wrath, and decreed wars upon the face of the earth, and the wicked shall slay the wicked, and fear shall come upon every man;

I think we view killing and death differently from how God views it. From our point of view, death appears to be the end of life, and that is considered to be a tragedy and therefore wrong and bad. From God’s point of view, perhaps death is considered simply a transition point, from one phase of existence to another, nothing more than a necessary stepping stone on the path of eternal progression, moving from a inglorious mortal state to a glorious immortal state. If that is what death is, and that is what we preach and believe, then perhaps we have an incorrect, unhelpful view of the awfulness of death. Perhaps from our point of view, death is a bad and awful thing, but perhaps from God’s greater vantage point, it is not. I also have faith that God loves all of His children and always acts on their best behalf, so if He orders the death of a nation, then it ways that I can’t be sure of, but can speculate about, the deaths of those of that nation is in their best interest.

We can become gods but not God. That position is already occupied, and the current Occupant is doing a pretty good job in spite of the difficult and stubborn material He has to work with.

I notice a sort of synergy between these two goals.

I've made a whole bunch of resolutions. Now I just need to find someone to keep them for me. I'm tempted to keep them locked up in a drawer where no one will ever see them.

Another Vort! Sounds like yet another good reason to go gator hunting before this calamitous transformation actually takes place.

I think instead of making a set of New Year's resolutions, it might be better to make a set of one month resolutions every month some of which might be the same as the previous month, and some of which might be new, for the new month.

That's quite impressive. Well done Pam! Sounds like you should be able to achieve these goals well before the end of 2017