askandanswer

When it comes to seeking and finding divine truth, honest, humble, faith filled, sincere prayer, coupled with diligent, humble, faith filled scripture study will get you more in the way of spiritual understanding than participation in online discussions. (And I've always disagreed with the implied suggestion that you have a second rate mind :) )

Try reading the scriptures in the dark, and then see what happens when you turn the light on. Does it not increase your ability to see gospel truths?

These verses do not seem to be overly symbolic to me. They seem to be saying that truth shines and that this truth is the light of Christ, and that it is this light which shines from the sun and the moon and the stars, and which (verse 11) also gives us knowledge. 7 Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made. 8 As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made; 9 As also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they were made; 10 And the earth also, and the power thereof, even the earth upon which you stand. 11 And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings; 12 Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fillthe immensity of space— 13 The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the powerof God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things. Verse 11 really seems to suggest to me that there is one kind of light with two characteristics, or properties, one of which is to shine, and the other of which is to quicken our understanding. Parley P Pratt seems to have come to the same conclusion, when he stated, (with thanks and acknowledgement to James 12) that It is, in its less refined particles, the physical light which reflects from the sun, moon, and stars, and other substances; and by reflection on the eye, makes visible the truths of the outward world. It is, also, in its higher degrees, the intellectual light of our inward and spiritual organs, by which we reason, discern, judge, compare, comprehend and remember the subjects within our reach. This makes me wonder whether there is any connection between the dual wave/particle nature of light, and the dual impure/pure, or refined/coarse matter nature of light. I also think that it might not be a coincidence that so much truth and knowledge, and yes, a lot of lies and filth, is conveyed rapidly around the world by means of light, travelling along fiber optic cables. This is a successful man-made attempt at conveying truth through light. Perhaps this can be regarded as a very early and primitive prototype of what God does, or if that is to much to say, perhaps we could say that the conveying of truth through the means of light at least has some similarities to what God does. This idea fits well with another idea that I like to ponder about, and that is, that as the second coming gradually gets closer, and as we gradually prepare, and are gradually prepared for, our eternal life, that many of the things of this earth, will gradually come to resemble what will come after the life and place in which we will live after this life.

Thank you Slamjet and Vort and Saul

I'm not sure what this spiritual realm you are referring to is. Moroni, and most, probably all angels, are physical beings and I suspect they live in a place that is full of physical beings. This makes me think that Moroni, and others who have made the same trip, travelled from one physical realm to another, or, perhaps more accurately, from their part of this physical realm, to our part of the same realm.

Nice to see you back again Eowyn, after the recent advancement of your father, even though you don't seem to have much to say :)

How much energy does it take to rearrange the electrons, proton and neurons that make up 6 waterpots of water into wine? Could the principles that made possible this miracle, when applied on a larger scale, produce the amount of energy needed to create and control a wormhole?

Abraham 3:3, 4, 9 and 16 suggest, but do not definitively state, that God dwells in the physical universe as we know it. This idea is supported by the fact that God will eventually end up dwelling with us, on a celestialised Earth, although admittedly, I supposed its possible that this celestialised earth could be transferred to somewhere out of this physical universe. I suspect that a well built space ship could hie to Kolob, thereby bringing the occupants thereof closer to God, but with God being the ultimate source of all truth and knowledge, I doubt that He will ever give us the knowledge needed to build one and the second coming will probably occur well before we could figure out for ourselves how to build such a ship.

Do the events referred to in Joseph Smith - History verse 42 describe an angel travelling through a wormhole? 43 After this communication, I saw the light in the room begin to gather immediately around the person of him who had been speaking to me, and it continued to do so until the room was again left dark, except just around him; when, instantly I saw, as it were, a conduit open right up into heaven, and he ascended till he entirely disappeared, and the room was left as it had been before this heavenly light had made its appearance.

Whatever you want to do, subject to the rules of whatever kingdom you end up in.

I think a computer chip is a much better analogy than radio technology, and I think there is reason to speculate that it might be more of a description than an analogy. The world will ultimately become a giant seer stone in its celestialised state, D&C refers to the world in its celestialised condition as a sea of glass and fire. Silicon, from which glass is made, and fire, in the form of electricity, are the two main ingredients of a computer chip.

Can anyone suggest what the relationship might be between the stuff that emanates, on the one hand, from my light bulb, and the sun, and a fire, and, on the other hand, the stuff referred to in Doctrine and Covenants 88: 7-13? Are they different forms of the same thing? Are they completely different things that happen to use the same word - light- to describe them? Is the word we use for the stuff coming from my light bulb simply an analogy for the light referred to in the scriptures? Or is there some other answer? We have a guy in our stake with a Ph.D in physics, with a special interest in light, and he is not aware of any LDS or scientific studies that have considered this question, but the scriptures seem to suggest that there is a connection between these two types of light.

This might be part of the answer, but in any General Conference session, only about half the speakers will be apostles, leaving plenty of room for other apostles to pray.

I was just wondering why we never see prophets or apostles praying in General Conference, or Area Conferences. Any thoughts anyone? We see them pray at temple dedications and other temple related events, and in their General Conference addresses we sometimes hear them make reference to their prayers, but we very rarely actually see it.

But if we bless the lunch, and the same food is still on the table for dinner, do we need to bless it again? What's the situation when it comes to blessing left-overs which have previously been blessed? I know someone who changed the "standard wording" when giving a blessing on the food. Instead of asking Heavenly Father to bless the food, he would say "I bless this food". When I asked him about this he explained that as a holder of the Priesthood, he could bless the food, and therefore didn't need to ask Heavenly Father to do it, and suggested that it might be wrong to ask Heavenly Father to do something he said we could do ourselves.

I'm sorry for your temporary loss. Hopefully it won't be too long before the grief that he is gone begins to be diluted with gratitude for his life. 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortalmust put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Yes Mordorbund, when I came across that quote from the King Follet discourse that said that matter is eternal, then that answered my original question about how the three initial statements could be reconciled - it seems that no reconciliation is needed because they are all true.

And of course, these psychological or biological quirks in the way the brain operates may well be design features that God has built into the brain to enable us to gain a spiritual confirmation of His existence. Perhaps these "quirks" are the means, or the channel through which we obtain and grow our faith.

I realise that the following is quite a diversion from the OP but I'm going to say it anyway, and if it proves to be sufficiently interesting, perhaps someone could make it into a new post. The idea that as Man now is God once was and as God now is man may become suggests the possibility that there are many ex-men out there who are now gods of some sort, and that some of them, or maybe all of them, pre-date our God. If that is the case, no doubt they would also have their own kingdoms and their kingdoms might be territories into which our God's kingdom(s?) could not rightfully expand.

The following quote from the King Follette discourse seems to suggest that matter is eternal. If that is the case, no reconciliation is needed, as all three statements could be considered as true. That conclusion would then raise questions about the accuracy of the big bang theory. Any response from adherents to the big bang theory? https://www.lds.org/ensign/1971/04/the-king-follett-sermon?lang=eng Element had an existence from the time He had. The pure principles of element are principles which can never be destroyed; they may be organized and re-organized, but not destroyed. They had no beginning and can have no end.

From a religious perspective, it seems to me that the scriptures contain numerous tests and experiments that we are invited and even urged to follow to prove the existence of God - James 1:5, Alma 32, Moroni 10:3-5 etc. If a person fails to gain satisfactory responses from these experiments, it may be that the fault is not with the experiment, but with the experimenter, perhaps either by failing to carry out the experiment with the right frame of mind, or by not understanding/recognising/accepting the results of the experiment. An important part of any experiment is make sure that the instruments used to capture data are able to perform the required functions, and are properly calibrated, suitable for the the experiment and fully functional. For experiments involving proving the existence of God, the required instruments are an informed faith, humility, a heart and mind that are open to receiving divine data, and a degree of repentance. When these instruments are in place and properly calibrated, many people should, and indeed do, come to know for themselves the divine reality of God's existence. The experiments having been successfully tried and replicated by millions of people in all countries and continents, over a period of centuries, I think the onus lies on agnostics and atheists to explain why this is insufficient reason to believe in the existence of God.

Why all this debate about whether or not evolution is real? Surely the favourite activity of God the Evolutionist is to bring beings from a lower to a higher state? Isnt that what eternal progression is all about? When we look at the whole history/evolution of our consciousness, we clearly see, and are taught, that we started as an intelligence, which, probably through making the right choices, was then joined to a spirit, which then became a mortal, and which will then become an immortal, and then, hopefully, a god. This sounds like a form of evolution to me. I think it is more than just adaptation, it is changing from one type to another, from a butterfly to a moth to a dragon. There is room to speculate that entering into eternal marriage may mark the beginning of part of the evolutionary process when two beings become one, and I think it would be quite wrong to think that the transition from man to god is simply an adaptation and not a type of evolution.

Three ideas: 1. Our spirits are made of matter (D&C 131:7) 2. Our spirits are gnolaum – that is, without beginning or end (Abraham 3:18) 3. Matter had a beginning, only coming into existence sometime after the Big Bang Can these statements be reconciled with each other ? If so, how? If not, which one is not true or needs to be reinterpreted/reconstructured?

from Bruce R McKonkie devotional entitled seven deadly heresies, given at BYU in 1980 http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=658 Heresy five: There are those who say that there is progression from one kingdom to another in the eternal worlds or that lower kingdoms eventually progress to where higher kingdoms once were. This belief lulls men into a state of carnal security. It causes them to say, "God is so merciful; surely he will save us all eventually; if we do not gain the celestial kingdom now, eventually we will; so why worry?" It lets people live a life of sin here and now with the hope that they will be saved eventually. The true doctrine is that all men will be resurrected, but they will come forth in the resurrection with different kinds of bodies—some celestial, others terrestrial, others telestial, and some with bodies incapable of standing any degree of glory. The body we receive in the resurrection determines the glory we receive in the kingdoms that are prepared. Of those in the telestial world it is written: "And they shall be servants of the Most High; but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end" (D&C 76:112). Of those who had the opportunity to enter into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage in this life and who did not do it, the revelation says: Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven; which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory. For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever. [D&C 132:16–17] They neither progress from one kingdom to another, nor does a lower kingdom ever get where a higher kingdom once was. Whatever eternal progression there is, it is within a sphere.

In the post-mortal life we will know and remember things from our pre-mortal life that we currently do not. I believe that one of those things that we do not adequately remember from our pre-mortal life is joy and excitement about God's plan of salvation and our happiness at the opportunities it provides to learn and progress. In the post mortal life, when we remember these things, and then remember that, like your friends, some of us rejected this plan, I believe that knowing that we rejected something that we previously knew provided us with the greatest opportunity for the greatest possible happiness, will generate a mental/emotional that could be described as hell.