askandanswer

In the first five years of this century, there were a lot of talks by General Authorities about the need to get out of debt and to live within our means. Then came the global financial crisis. Now there are a lot of talks from General Authorities about freedom of religion and the need for peoples and governments to show tolerance, respect and acceptance. It makes me wonder what is going to happen next and how best to prepare for it.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, Journal of Discourses, Volume 20 Gratifying Political and General Material Condition of the Saints—Employment for the Poor—Enemies Foiled—Plural Marriage. Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, July 7, 1878. "I believe the Lord is watching over this people, and that he is controlling and shaping events and circumstances, and managing everything connected with the affairs of this nation, and our affairs as part of the nation, with a view to accomplish his great designs and purposes. And whenever it shall be wisdom in his sight that we should have our political condition changed and our Territory become a State, it will be effected. And it will come, too, as easily as other changes that have been wrought out and that at one time seemed exceedingly improbable. So that it is not necessary that we should become excited or impatient or indulge in too much anxiety concerning such things, but leave them in the hands of Him who has up to the present time controlled all things for the good of his people and for the bringing to pass of his own purposes." This quote suggests that God intervenes not only in the life of individuals, but also of whole societies and nations. The bolded part of the last sentence provides us with an understanding as to why he intervenes – for the good of his people and for the bringing to pass of his own purposes. If an action or event that looks like it might be an intervention from God fails to meet either of these criteria, then it is probably not an intervention from God.

Jeremiah 5:19 19 ¶And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. ................One of many possible reasons

Hello Sumiko When trying to get a better understanding of what a particular passage of scripture means, I often find it helpful to look at how that passage has been used or referred to in talks by church authorities. The best way to do this is to look at http://scriptures.byu.edu and just click on the + boxes on the extreme left side of the site until you come to the verse you are looking for. Unfortunately, in the case of 2 Nephi 5:23 there is almost nothing, but there is a quote from a former President of the church, Spence W Kimball in which case he refers to 2 Nephi 5:21 - 24. If you look this quote up and read it, bear in mind that it was made more than 70 years ago at a time when President Kimball was the newest apostle.

Its the fairly frequent opportunities to participate in discussions of this nature that make the Gospel Doctrine Sunday School class the favourite part of my Sunday church meetings. In my experience, the only difficulty in having good doctrinal discussions amongst church members during Sunday meetings is not a lack of willingness or any discomfort, but a regrettable lack of well informed viewpoints and a sometimes disappointingly shallow understanding of doctrine. Fortunately, in my ward, we also have many members with a great depth of gospel knowledge from whom I often learn.

I believe there may be some participants in this forum who have had to seriously contemplate choosing between their spouse and their church membership. I hope some of you might be inclined to share any helpful experiences and insights you may have had with Sumiko, perhaps via direct personal message. Sumiko, you will know if someone from this site has sent you a direct personal message by checking the icon of an envelope near the top right corner of the screen, just under where it says lds.net, and slightly to the right of where it says View New Content. I think if there is a message waiting for you there the envelope will have a red flag which you just need to click on to view. You say that at present, you cannot imagine leaving your spouse and breaking their heart after a total of six years. You say this from the perspective of someone who has not participated in church services for nine years. Perspectives can change. If you gather up the faith, courage and strength to again begin participating in church services, it may well be that what you cannot now imagine may well become imaginable from the perspective of someone who has begun the return journey to full church activity. One of the most marvellous things about the gospel of Jesus Christ is its capacity to bring about change in people. I really hope that someone you can find an active LDS friend who can assist you with your decisions and your journey, things are much easier when done with a supportive friend. Contacting the missionaries and beginning to meet with them in your home would be a great place to start..

LDS doctrine could change virtually tomorrow if the President Monson received a new revelation today overturning current doctrine. Its not very likely, but it has, and can happen. As for the difference between commandments and doctrine, I like to think that commandments are instructions from God telling us what to do and what not to do whereas I see doctrine as knowledge/information/teachings. The fact that God has a body of flesh and bone, as tangible as man is doctrine and not a commandment. Thou shalt not kill is a commandment, and in the strict sense, not doctrine. However, many might see things differently and say that the commandments are part of our doctrine.

When it comes to the routine cleaning of the chapel by members, its sometimes the case here that the chapel will be opened and/or closed by the wife/mother as the husband/father may be busy with something else at the time they have agreed to clean.

Congratulations on making the best decision of your life so far hopefully it is a decision that you and your posterity for generations will all benefit from and be thankful for. Just a suggestion for you: don't get too attached to the idea of "settling in." Instead, keep your focus on more learning, growth, movement and progression.

So I guess the idea that the LDS church has living prophets is interesting to me. Would the LDS church ever recognized someone like Baha'u'llah as a prophet? This question sounds a little like the question to which Doctrine and Covenants 49 is the answer. Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet to Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, and Leman Copley, at Kirtland, Ohio, May 7, 1831. Leman Copley had embraced the gospel but still held to some of the teachings of the Shakers (United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing), to which he had formerly belonged. Some of the beliefs of the Shakers were that Christ’s Second Coming had already occurred and that He had appeared in the form of a woman, Ann Lee. They did not consider baptism by water essential. They rejected marriage and believed in a life of total celibacy. Some Shakers also forbade the eating of meat. In prefacing this revelation, Joseph Smith’s history states, “In order to have [a] more perfect understanding on the subject, I inquired of the Lord, and received the following.” The revelation refutes some of the basic concepts of the Shaker group. The aforementioned brethren took a copy of the revelation to the Shaker community (near Cleveland, Ohio) and read it to them in its entirety, but it was rejected. See also Section 43: 1 - 5 1 O hearken, ye elders of my church, and give ear to the words which I shall speak unto you. 2 For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye have received a commandment for a law unto my church, through him whom I have appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations from my hand. 3 And this ye shall know assuredly—that there is none other appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations until he be taken, if he abide in me. 4 But verily, verily, I say unto you, that none else shall be appointed unto this gift except it be through him; for if it be taken from him he shall not have power except to appoint another in his stead. 5 And this shall be a law unto you, that ye receive not the teachings of any that shall come before you as revelations or commandments; On the other hand, Doctrine and Covenants 28, which deals with alternative and false sources of "revelation" seems to limit the Prophet's exclusive right to receive revelation only for the church, which perhaps opens the door to the possibility of others receiving revelation not for the church. Section 28Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet to Oliver Cowdery, at Fayette, New York, September 1830. Hiram Page, a member of the Church, had a certain stone and professed to be receiving revelations by its aid concerning the upbuilding of Zion and the order of the Church. Several members had been deceived by these claims, and even Oliver Cowdery was wrongly influenced thereby. Just prior to an appointed conference, the Prophet inquired earnestly of the Lord concerning the matter, and this revelation followed.1–7, Joseph Smith holds the keys of the mysteries, and only he receives revelations for the Church; 8–10, Oliver Cowdery is to preach to the Lamanites; 11–16, Satan deceived Hiram Page and gave him false revelations. 1 Behold, I say unto thee, Oliver, that it shall be givenunto thee that thou shalt be heard by the church in allthings whatsoever thou shalt teach them by the Comforter,concerning the revelations and commandments which Ihave given. 2 But, behold, verily, verily, I say unto thee, no one shallbe appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., for he receiveth them even as Moses.

It certainly sounds as if your prayers are being answered. It can take humility, faith and courage to set aside our old beliefs and open ourselves up to new ideas and understanding that may be contrary to our previous understandings. I pray that you will have the faith, humility and courage that is needed. I also hope that this will become a faith building experience for you as you look back on this experience and remember it as a time when you prayed to God and He answered.

As long as any future husband/partner is attracted more to you than he is to anyone else, his attraction to others shouldn't be too much of a problem.

It looks like there might be a little misunderstanding between us here. I was thinking more along the lines that God probably has other sheep not of this earth to whom He is a God, and if that is the case then His Godliness would not depend on our existence. I think on the question of whether or not God needs spirit children in order to be God our thinking might not be too far apart.

Hi Ophelia, it's been a a little over a week now and I'm just wondering how things ended up?

This is only peripherally related to Vort's comment. In our stake, and several other Australian stakes that I've been in during conference broadcasts, there is always some confusion in the congregation in the last few bars of each hymn. No matter who the chorister is, conference choristers seem to have this habit of dramatically slowing down the singing in the last few bars of the last verse of the hymn and it "gets" Australian congregations every time. Some slow down to follow the conductor and some continue singing at the original pace and as a result, the final notes of the hymn seem to just fade away.

I think that, subject to the laws of the land, any organisation has the right to set its own rules and decide who it will admit as members and whom it will disallow. I was disappointed recently when the blue foot club kicked me out when they found out that my feet are actually green. I think this is an example of blatant discrimination against people with green feet and shows a complete lack of acceptance, respect and love for green footed people. Maybe this rule is based on outdated stereotypes of green footed people, but they are the rules, and the rules of the blue foot club clearly state that only people with blue feet can be members. It may be that at some future time, the rules of the club will be changed to allow green footed people to be members, but that's not what the rules say at the moment. Until that time, I'll do my best to continue to follow those aspects of the club that I enjoyed and found to be appealing even though I no longer belong to it. And I'll do my best to to accept that my right to live as I want is just as valid as the clubs' right to do what it wants and not become angry or bitter about the club.

I don't think God's"godness" depends on our existence. We are no doubt a product of his "godness" which status He would have achieved in its fulness prior to being able to create us.

I posted this in the forum about Adam - first man on earth a few minutes ago. Its something else to ponder about when thinking about how and when gods began. http://lds.net/forums/topic/56756-adam-first-man-on-earth/page-11#entry822184 I think that evolution must have something to contribute in response to the question of where did life come from, and how did we come to be as we are, because I can't think of any other satisfactory answer to the question of where did the first god come from. That first god must have come from somewhere and evolution seems to be the only answer around at present. To say that our God is a result of His god ad infinitum really doesn't get us very far.

It sounds like he has taken my advice and gone to a place where he can rest and recuperate! Nice if you had the same opportunity. Why would the courts consider taking the kids away? They generally like to have a reason. In this country, the courts would be unlikely to grant custody of the children to a parent who had been admitted to hospital only a few days ago with suicidal tendencies. And what is your strategy for making it through until Friday? Try to do a lot of research in preparation for the meeting with the lawyer about your situation, your options and possible outcomes, what you are prepared to agree to and what you won't agree with, and bring a list of questions. In any country, the legal system can be confusing, and its even worse when you are not in your native country.

I like to think that intelligences existed independently of God, possibly even way before He became God and that it was He who organised them to the point where they were able to progress. Those that progressed well, God did whatever He did to enable them to become people, and those that did not progress as well, He still rewarded with a body, but not a human body. I don't think an intelligence chose to become an animal, but that becoming an animal was a consequence of its choices.

I think that part of the difference between humanity and animals might be attributable to the differences in the natures of the intelligences that God had to work with. But I think the greater difference would be more attributable to what God did with those intelligences, and what He added to them.

I think that rather than frame this discussion in terms of good and evil, it's more helpful to talk in terms of progression and regression. All and only that which contributes to, or enables our progression is good, while all and only that which a) does not contribute to our progression, or b) contributes to our regression, is evil. If this is the case, then evil commenced the moment progression and regression became possible.

Well, perhaps not plants, but I think there is an arguement that can be made for animals. In the same way that God has prepared a multiplicity of rewards for differing levels of performance in this life, catering well for those who fail to make the top grade, I think that He prepared a multiplicity of different rewards for those intelligences who failed to make the top grade as intelligences, with the top reward being for an intelligence to be joined to a human spirit and the lesser rewards being some sort of animal spirit. I think it has been taught that animals have intelligence, so that intelligence must have come from somewhere. it also seems to be consistent with the economy of God that He would have done something useful with those intelligences that failed to make the grade.

Elder Oaks made a reference to texting during the presentation of the sacrament in his Saturday morning session talk. Young people, if that teaching seems too general, here is a specific example. If the emblems of the sacramentare being passed and you are texting or whispering or playing video games or doing anything else to deny yourself essential spiritual food, you are severing your spiritual roots and moving yourself toward stony ground. You are making yourself vulnerable to withering away when you encounter tribulation like isolation, intimidation, or ridicule. And that applies to adults also.