askandanswer

As I type this, I'm looking at my computer screen, which I think might be made of some sort of glass, and just over to the right is my bedroom window, which I often look through. My thoughts are that I'm so glad that the law has been updated, and that glass looking is no longer an offence. This law must have caused a great deal of difficulty for the glaziers of the time. Perhaps they all worked wearing blindfolds?

Carb, I'm having difficulty visualising the relationship you have described. Could you please explain it diagrammatically in the same way as Neuro has so kindly done?

I can do better than that - Joseph Smith is related to me

My fear is that I did not learn enough on my mission. I had a great mission, I loved it, and for sure it has had a lasting and powerful effect on my life. And for sure, I gained many many and greater understandings of things than what I had before my mission. However, due mostly to my slothfulness, but many other factors, such as time, competing priorities, a broader range of responsibilities now than what i had as a missionary, and perhaps the generally lower level of daily spiritual life that many of us live in after the spiritual highs of mission life, many of the understandings that I gained on my mission have not had as much or as long lasting an impact as they should have. The impact of lessons fade without repeated application, and my application has not always been as good as it should have been.

I‘m finding the whole idea of racism to be a difficult concept to think about. Here are some semi-random thoughts that have occurred to me after reading through bits and pieces of this thread. I’m not committing myself to any position here, I’m just thinking out loud and wondering about a few things. Now that Iv'e written and copied this into the forum, I realise its my longest post ever. Please read with patience. If I invite a Tongan friend for dinner and serve him Japanese food, am I being: a) Hospitable, because I am sharing a meal with a friend? b) Insensitive because I am ignoring his cultural preference for Tongan food? c) Colour blind, because I am acting as if his race is not relevant and acting as if he is just the same as me? If I serve him Tongan food, am I being racist, because I am making assumptions about his food preferences based on his ethnicity? Was God demonstrating a form of racism when He promised blessings to a certain group of people based solely on their blood lines? Or when He gave His Law to the Jewish people and no others and placed them in a pre-eminent position in relation to their neighbouring cultures and commanded them not to mix with others? We are all children of the same God, but note the differences in how God treated Ishmael and Isaac. (Genesis 17: 16 – 22) Does the whole concept of American exceptionalism contain elements of some form of racism, whereby some Americans, white, black, brown or yellow or whatever, seem to believe that they are exceptional simply because they are American? It is sometimes suggested in scripture and prophetic teaching that God gives truth to people in proportion to their ability to handle it and live according to it. This may be true. If it is, it immediately follows that there may be a qualitative difference between those individuals and nations and cultures that have more truth and those that have less. And if such qualitative differences exist, then this may provide a reason for differential treatment. Why was the gospel restored in America and not in Iceland or Japan or Russia? Probably the political structures and religious environment of America at that time had something to do with it, but possibly so also did the character and nature of the inhabitants of America at that time – some of them were ready for the truth and capable of living it. Joseph Smith, when explaining why so many of the people of England accepted the gospel when the first LDS missionaries arrived, declared that the blood of Joseph (or as it Ephraim?) runs rich in England. Does this imply some sort of difference between people of England and people not of England, or those of the tribe of Ephraim and those not of that tribe? It certainly seems that the extremely limited record we have of the Patriarchal blessings given by Joseph to his 12 sons in Genesis 49 suggests some significant differences between them, and these differences may have been carried down to today. Ephraim seems to have been given a leading role. Does this suggest some sort of positive discrimination in favour of Ephraim? Does it suggest that the those of the tribe of Ephraim are in some way different from those of other tribes? How much truth is there in the idea, that people who have characteristic A, are more likely to also have characteristics B, C and D and E, and that it is therefore a safe and reasonable generalization, although far from a definite and unchangeable truth, that when meeting a person with characteristic A, to keep in mind that they are also likely to have characteristics B, C D and E, and are therefore likely to behave in a certain way and should therefore be responded to accordingly? How low does the statistical correlation have to be between these characteristics have to be before we can ignore or discard such generalizations and how high does it have to be before we can accept such generalizations as a reasonable working principle, although still not an absolute truths? If it’s absolutely certain that 90% of people with purple skin behave in a selfish and greedy manner, would it be ok to treat them as selfish and greedy, and if so, would that be racist? It it was only highly likely, rather than absolutely certain, that 90% of purple skinned people were greedy and selfish should we be idealistic and treat them in the same way as non-purple skinned people or should we be practical and treat them as likely to be greedy and selfish? What if the correlation was 80% rather than 90%? Are there real and substantial differences between individuals, groups, races, countries and cultures? If there are, to what extent might or could or should these differences lead to different types of behaviours or different types of treatment, if at all? What sort of differences, if any, justify differences in treatment? At what point, if any, would or should it be appropriate to label any such differences in treatment as racism. Just as in this life, there will be enormous variation in the degree of obedience, valiance and commitment to the gospel that we all show, and consequently enormous variation in the exact nature of the final reward we will receive/be allocated to, so it is likely that in the pre-existence, that there was an equally great variation in the degree of commitment and obedience that we showed to God’s plan rather than Satan’s, and that this variation in commitment may have influenced where and when we have ended up in this, our second estate. Perhaps those who were less valiant than others in supporting God’s plan in the pre-existence, have ended up in times and places in this life where they are less likely to have unrestricted access to the fullness of the gospel in this life. This idea is supported by the occasional teaching that the seed of Ephraim were particularly valiant in the preexistence. If there is any truth in this idea, and there might not be, then it supports the idea that there are qualitative differences between people and cultures and that gets back to the question of whether qualitative or substantial differences between people justifies or requires or explains differences in treatment between different groups of people. After thinking this through my own views are that: There seems to be some reason to assume that people are not all the same and that real and substantial differences exist between different groups of people and between people of different cultures. This is not saying that some groups are better than others – that is a value judgment that I am not equipped to make – just that they are different from each other. The idea that all people are the same and should therefore all be treated the same is beginning to seem a little speculative and somewhat doubtful. Certainly we are all sons and daughters of God, but my sons and daughters are most definitely not the same as each other and I do not treat them the same although I love them all equally and try to do my best for each of them. There may be occasions and circumstances when, as a result of these differences, it may be helpful or prudent or sensible to keep these differences in mind when there is interaction between differing peoples or cultures. Exactly how you interact, and exactly how and how much these differences between culture and peoples should be taken into account, and how much it should influence our interactions is an individual matter, in which one should be guided by one’s experience and common sense. If it has been my experience that many people who possess a certain attribute, whether it be skin colour, height, eye colour, ethnicity or whatever, are also likely to possess certain other attributes, then it seems to be common sense to at least anticipate that when I meet a person with that certain attribute, to expect them to also have those certain other attributes that commonly seem to go with that first attribute. However, I should always keep in mind that this is a convenient, lazy, generalized way of thinking, and that I should be prepared to adjust my views at any time in the light of lived experience. Most importantly of all, most of this doesn’t matter if we remain focused on living the two great commandments to love God and love our neighbor. Just a few things to think about …………..

Favourite Holy Day? Sunday of course. And the best thing is, it comes every week, not just once a year.

I’m looking forward to endless amounts of rocky road ice-cream served with a perfectly balanced fruit salad. But heaven can wait – I’m working on making my home a heaven on earth now by including rocky road ice cream in my weekly shopping.

where's the icing?

It seems to me as if the process of emulating cartridges has some similarities to taking a photo of a picture you already own and have hanging on your wall, and then putting the photo of the picture in a frame and hanging it in another wall in your home. I can't see too much wrong with doing that.

For Gator

I sometimes reflect on the fact that if Elder Maxwell was still alive, he would become the next prophet. I wander what sort of difference that would have made in how the church operates?

Mirkwood, if you're accumulating some unwanted or unsightly clutter in your front yard, I believe that for a limited time only, Annatess's kids may be able to assist.

Gator, you need to keep in mind that Carb is only a one-wife man (as far as I know). They see things a little differently from many-wives men.

I buy two weeks of food storage every two weeks. Then for the next two weeks I eat what i store. Then I go out and do the same two weeks later. So I'm regularly buying my food storage, and rotating it, as we have been taught, but for some reason it just doesnt seem to accumulate.

Thank you spam, I really appreciate this.

Just curious Pam, how long do you think this stash of stuff would last you?

PC I don't read all your posts, but in the many that I do read, you always seem to speak well of whatever it is you are speaking about.

What are the correlations between marriage, divorce and bacon consumption? I'm guessing that excessive bacon consumption, if there is such a thing, could lead to a premature end to an earthly marriage as a result of the consumer suffering from obesity or heart attack.

Its just me being slightly silly.

I thought it had already arrived...... in a large white envelope from church offices last Friday?

a slight improvement keyword: up If you are making efforts, striving towards perfection, the Lord will hold out His hand to help you down up the path. If you are failing, He's holding out his hand to help you down up the path. If you are running the other direction, He's calling to you to stop and turn around to take His hand to help you down up the path. But He is always trying to help us down up the road to righteousness Only one dude is trying to take us down the path and that’s not the dude we want to follow.

In addition to Jacob 5, here's another verse that has a vague reference to plant based food production. Some scriptorian or theologian might interpret it to mean that God is not in favour of GMOs (Pearl of Great Price | Abraham 4:12) And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth grass from its own seed, and the herb to bring forth herb from its own seed, yielding seed after his kind; and the earth to bring forth the tree from its own seed, yielding fruit, whose seed could only bring forth the same in itself, after his kind; and the Gods saw that they were obeyed. My own view is that probably the good GMOs are good for you and the bad ones are not (How profound is that!). And how to tell the good ones from the bad ones? By their fruits ye shall know them.

Here is my favourite, non-serious scriptural description of lawyers: (New Testament | 1 Timothy 6:5) 5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.