theSQUIDSTER

Members
  • Posts

    295
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Everything posted by theSQUIDSTER

  1. In my understanding, God is the ultimate outside source. But, because of the frailties of mortality and the blindness of the natural man, each of us struggles to see and understand things He's trying to reveal to us. But, as the scriptures, our leaders and the peaceful feelings of the Spirit remind us, the struggle is worth it. For me, there are days when I feel very weighed down by my limitations.. feelings of being trapped in my own mind .. a prison of sorts... On those days it's pretty easy for me to feel like the struggle is pointless because it's so obvious to me that I'm failing... to understand, grow, etc.. Then there are other days when I feel myself seeing things a little more clearly... not with perfect clarity, but with enough clarity to realize that a patient and loving Teacher is whispering things to my heart and mind, and I am still moving forward at my own pace. At those moments the darker days look less dark. The struggle is worth it because I'm not alone in it.
  2. zil started it. I enabled.... after NG... ... Nevertheless... 3 or more fountain pen nerds in a forum NOT about or relating to fountain pens.... Priceless! .. We now return you to your regular scheduled program ..
  3. That seems pretty juicy for a Lamy. I only own one but have observed (and often heard) that they usually tend to be a tad stingy with ink flow.
  4. I love late night driving to and from vacation destinations. We almost never travel during regular daylight hours. I hate hate HATE traffic.. I'm OCD about late night driving. I can almost come to terms with not actually being alone on the road, but I like the illusion of at least FEELING like I have the road to myself. SoOOOooo... If you happen to be sharing the road with me at 3 a.m. and you choose to go slightly faster than me and I see your headlights gradually approaching me from behind for the last 20 minutes, please take the hint and pass me when you reach my tailgate... Especially if it's a straightaway and I've slowed to 5 mph below the speed limit and there's nobody in the oncoming lane for as far as we can see... Please take the hint. Please DON'T tailgate me for the next 20 minutes because you're feeling lonely or something... If you do, I'm liable to pull over and wait until I see only your tail lights in the distance before I resume driving again. These types of situations feel more like "aggressive driving" to me than if you'd blared your horn at me and excellerated angrily around me going 20 mph faster than me. Frankly, it feels kinda like stalking... Please... Just leave me the fetch alone! Ok? Thx.
  5. Not to derail the derailment of this thread, but.... Carb, back to the OP... My answer:. I don't know. For me, there's a lot of information I'd like to know.. But if I ever really consider taking it to the Lord in prayer.. I get the impression that, for me, the mystery question should look less like, "Was the scope of the fall of Adam just this planet/solar system/galaxy/universe ... and how does that square with carbon dated evidence and the current theories about the known universe...?" ...and something more like... "Is there anything I could do to better reach/understand/love my little brother who's alienated himself from the entire family and who refuses to even answer my Mom's phone calls?" I don't know how much of that's just my own feelings of guilt about not doing enough... Vs how much of it's the Spirit trying to tell me that maybe I'm not spending enough time pondering the "right" mysteries... LP said it better.. For me it's the "what lack I yet?" mysteries that I'm still trying to find the courage to ask with real intent...
  6. Concerning lusts of the flesh... These are more than just sexual desires.. These are what we refer to as "the natural man." The natural man came about as a consequence of the fall of Adam exercising his agency. https://www.lds.org/scriptures/gs/natural-man?lang=eng In my understanding this means that everything the flesh desires which is contrary to God's plan is abomination and can lead to spiritual death if/when acted upon... Not only homosexual desires/attraction, but heterosexual desires outside of covenants, desires for vengeance rather than to forgive, worldly desires for power/influence/recognition, lack of gratitude for God's blessings... Etc.. So many things, so diverse and abundant that we can hardly name them all...
  7. HDZs..... I hear those are really bad for you... Oooops! Wrong thread...
  8. I don't always vote. But when I do, I vote for organic politicians not GMOs... Errrr HMOs... Errrrr GOPs.... Errrrrr STDs.... errrrrrr TMOAs.... ... Too many ominous acronyms.... in these last days
  9. I'm kinda wondering if you put candles on your bibbidi bobbidi boo and blow them out, isn't that pretty much the same as mekka lekka hi mekka hiney ho.. Mekka lekka hi mekka chonnie ho...? (I.e. Is your wish granted?). .. Just asking for a friend who wants to know..
  10. I guess he decided if Shatner and Nimoy could do it so could he... Funny stuff.
  11. My current bucket list: 1. Make a bucket list. 2. Herp Austrailia. 3. Stop procrastinating and make a bucket list. 4. ...
  12. Why not make up something that emulates something in the real universe? Why not make up some law or some physical laws of your own for your own universe but make it plausible because it resembles how things appear in our universe or behave in our universe? For example, I thought of something I would call the"unseen fabric of the universe." This unseen fabric exists everywhere where solid physical objects aren't. You can travel/teleport anywhere that the fabric exists or isn't torn. The fabric is torn when "physical" objects pass through it. The fabric, after it's been torn, repairs itself in about 2 to 5 minutes. The fabric in its purest most unblemished form exists in places of oxygen or the closest to pure oxygen would make the tightest weave of the fabric, if that makes sense.. Things such as water, smoke, any other flying or floating things, or impurities in the air, would tear the fabric ever-so-slightly or in the case of an ocean or a large weather system, greatly. So, based on these assumptions, your teleportation abilities are greatly limited in certain circumstances. For example, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to teleport into a massive battle, or a large herd of animals. The tears in the fabric would be great and so the places you could still teleport to would be very limited. The safest possible method of traveling the fabric of the universe is to travel around or next to known, relatively-static, physical objects like the ground, trees, large boulders, buildings, things like that. For example, you could teleport yourself onto the roof of a building by following the fabric on the ground then up the wall then onto the roof The nature of traveling the fabric is that you travel by touch.. not by sight. You "feel" or sense what you were traveling over and around. You can travel as quickly as you can perceive/touch/feel the physical objects. You aren't limited by walking or running speeds. The difficulty lies in detecting what are physical objects versus tears in the fabric. I haven't decided whether, while traveling the fabric, you'd be invisible or visible. It might be interesting if you were still visible and certainly still physical. So, if you were still physical, for example not in some other dimension, but still actually physically present, for safety sake that would also limit your ability of how fast you might travel. Being still physical you could crash into objects if you weren't careful to slow down before reaching them. So, as you can see, I'm sort of making these things up as I go. So, if you feel like using any, all or some variation of the ideas that's your choice. I've had fun conceptualizing them.
  13. Ach Du Lieber Eiserner Schmetterling, Batman! (Try and say THAT without sounding like you're coughing up a hairball...)
  14. I don't think even Joyce "understood" Finnegan's Wake... Stream-of-consciousness writings are like interpreting dreams... different people find different things. Who's to say who's right? Also, perhaps not everything we write or dream has a "meaning" in any strict sense... it just sort of IS.... pure raw/random thought...
  15. Looked at the link. Seems rather like a convoluted argument to me. I don't see how choosing to follow the prophet surrenders our agency. It seems also rather disingenuous that they claim the prophet never leading the church astray is some kind of heresy. It sounds like it's a sophisticated argument which is basically saying the brethren can't be trusted because they're human therefore they ARE leading us astray. As I said earlier, the brethren don't answer to us. They answer to the Lord. If there's corrections to be made, I trust the Lord has the ability to make these corrections. In that sense the brethren will not be allowed to lead us astray... whatever "astray" means. The Lord is mentoring his servants... trying to mentor ALL of us who trust Him. If you can't wrap your head around something that is church doctrine or policy, take it to the Lord. He can whisper peace to your heart as well as open your mind. If you are not at peace in your heart with something the brethren are doing or not doing, trying to convince others that the brethren are wrong is really just saying, "I don't trust the Lord to correct this in His own time..." ... IF correction is even needed. More than likely, the correction needed is with the individual.. even if the brethren are making mistakes. If this is the Lord's work then does He not have power to DO HIS WORK without our grassroots activism and rallying people to our opinions as though this were a democracy rather than a kingdom...? We don't vote for our leaders. Our leaders are called of the Lord. We choose whether or not to sustain them. If we don't sustain them it's to OUR condemnation, not theirs. Again... they don't answer to us but to the Lord.
  16. How does church doctrine and policy strip people of their agency? Is the church trying to force people one way or another? I don't believe it is. I don't believe the Lord is. The Lord wants us all on the same page.. but that's up to each of us. He still will call those to lead us who He will call. They will make decisions and be accountable to Him. The Prophet and the apostles bear an especially heavy burden in this. They don't answer to us... they answer to the Lord. I believe this with all my heart. If I became convinced this was just a church of men then I can't imagine that I'd be able to continue to be a member. But I've experienced too much. I know enough to know that this church is the Lord's church and that this is His work and His priesthood. It's not found anywhere else. If people want a church created in their own image they're welcome to start their own. If they have a testimony that this is the true church then they need to take their doubts and questions to the Lord and reason with Him. The Lord calls imperfect men and women to lead us. I'm not saying that to justify any mistakes that individuals make. I do believe that the Lord works with all of us in our imperfections... especially our leaders.
  17. Funny, how when you try to follow these things to their source, what you wind up with is still something that looks a lot like faith. You choose what you believe, what you put your faith in. For all those who ridicule faith and say, "you believe in fairy-tales that can't be proved..." NOTHING can technically be "proved." Everything is based upon assumptions: if this, then this logically follows.. or, if this is true, then this can be "proven" ... but there always seems to be an "if this is true" at the root of every theorem. Everything is filtered through our imperfect and improvable perceptions. In the end, we have to choose what we believe, who and what we trust enough to believe, and even what we believe we "know" based upon what we've experienced. I believe this is all be design. Our Father wants us to have to exercise faith and our agency. It's one of the main reasons for mortality and the veil ... Faith and agency are crucial to our growth. I can't "prove" this to anyone else but I do know it to be true. It's where I put my trust. It's what I choose to hold on to. It's my testimony.
  18. Sunday, I think you're doing exactly what you should. The teaching curriculum introduced for our youth a couple years ago is now being used for ALL teachers and we're currently in the process of moving all teaching in that direction... where, ideally, everyone in class participates. That's the goal anyway so keep doing what you're doing! Sounds like you're doing a really great job to me. :) https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-06-003-teaching-the-gospel-in-the-saviors-way?lang=eng
  19. Consider this: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/9.14?lang=eng#13 If we have a perfect knowledge of all we've done, I think you'll be able to remember all that you've learned in the temple. For me, I believe this means that when we're in a resurrected body, we will no longer be subject to the limitations of this life. Everything will be available to us... good and bad... Perfect recall of ALL we did, experienced, etc. So if you approach the judgement seat with anything unresolved, you're not going to be able to claim that you can't remember it. So keep repenting now! :) You'll be glad you did. But don't worry so much about weather you'll remember what to say and do. Worry more about KEEPING your covenants and return to the temple often so that the Spirit of Elijah can edify, strengthen and teach you so that you can BECOME the type of person who can face the Savior and feel great joy in his presence, rather than shame for not doing what you could have done.
  20. So... I'm wondering if EricE is still around or if he's abandoned this thread and forum... EricE, I don't think it matters what any of us say about God or morality because it seems to me like you've already made your choice of what you want to believe and what you don't want to. That saddens me, but it is your choice... God-given, I might add... though you would probably claim otherwise. You are free to choose what you believe, what you think is moral and what is immoral.. as are the rest of us. So we really have nowhere to go but to agree to disagree on many or most of the fundamentals of where morality even comes from. As for so-called "evidence" of things true or not true ... well... you still have to choose what constitutes enough evidence and what is insufficient. As do we all. So what's the difference? In the end you make choices on what you believe and what you don't. As do we all. Do you feel like you need to justify those choices with any of us? If not then why are you asking? What are you hoping to accomplish? If you need affirmation on what you've chosen to believe, wouldn't you get better results on an atheist forum or in a discussion amongst secular humanists or a similar group? Or would that be too easy? Is it the challenge of who you can sway to your viewpoint? If so, why is that important? Why should we choose to believe what you say? Are you looking for atheist "converts" ? If so, why? Does atheism make the world a better place? If I may make one observation on your searching for truth... I believe there are many truths which can be discovered through scientific means and methods as well as through empirical reasoning and such.. But if you ever really WANT to know if God really exists... you will never find Him through these means... not in any meaningful way. The only way you will find Him, or find Him AGAIN... if you want to, is by searching with real intent and with the intent of exercising faith. You will most probably not be able to find Him if you go in with an agenda of your own. He has spoken to us through prophets and given us the means to experiment upon His words through them. If you've grown up LDS then you probably have not completely forgotten these things you learned or even knew at one time. They can be lost however. God won't force Himself upon you. If you choose to walk away from Him or choose to no longer believe... If exercising faith in Him just seems like trying to believe in Santa Claus, then maybe you feel like you've outgrown Him... like He was just a delusion and a crutch. If that's your conclusions, if that's what you CHOOSE to believe, even He won't stop you. That's free agency. You're allowed to go that route if you so choose. Is it immoral for Him to allow you to do that?
  21. I've run out of time and need to leave for Sacrament meeting. But I think these answers sufficiently point the direction to what I believe the Lord blesses us with when we pray in faith. We get so much more for just trying a little bit more, exercising a little bit more faith in prayer than if we don't.
  22. Yes.. Which is probably disappointing for her that she failed to grab the spot light..