Laniston

I believe it is a simple matter of law and order, not so much physics. The laws of heaven dictate that for a marriage to be of efficacy after death it has to be done a certain way and with a certain authority. The way done is in the temple and the authority is with the priesthood and sealing power the officiator holds. The parties must agree to the terms and honour them. I don't know that there is some physical force required. Obedience to the law affords the promised rewards for that obedience. Failings and mistakes are dealt with via application of the Atonement through repentance.

If the forum changes to Third Hour will we then start seeing ThirdHourGator?

I can't think of a song like that for me, like a perfect song I think everyone would love, though a personal favourite is Time Turned Fragile by Motion City Soundtrack. I do have a favourite lyric, just one snippet from a song called Pamphleteer by the Weakerthans. "Like I don't know what I should do With my hands when I talk to you. And you don't know where you should look. So you look at my hands." Perfectly encapsulates the awkwardness I feel when talking to pretty much everyone.

I reserve my intolerant attitude for discussions about whether or not a dish with mayo as the primary ingredient or Jell-O for that matter can be considered a "salad".

I served a mission at age 25. I made it a matter f fasting and prayer to know if I should go. In fact I received a very strong answer to go, the memory of which was sometimes the only reason I was able to stick it out. My MTC companion was 24, a relief for me and for him that our ages were so similar. And yeah...being around such young (sometimes so obviously young...) people was frustrating but also it was inspiring to see how we could all experience miracles and God's support. Upon returning home I was 27 and went to start, yes start, my post secondary education. I happened to find a house full of guys my own age who were also in school or starting careers but most importantly active members. I went into the ysa ward actually wanting to avoid dating. On my mission I had the chance to attend a temple wedding and the seriousness of it all dispelled a lot of silly romantic notions I had about marriage. I really wanted to take my time. Of course..I was engaged 7 months later lol. It was very ironic since all my roommates wanted to date and find someone and were struggling. I was heckled a bit, but it was again a matter of fasting and prayer to choose to marry my wife. The point I am trying to make is that it is okay to be a missionary at 24, and give 2 years to God as a missionary. I found that I did not feel those 2 years were wasted or bad timing, nor did they prevent me at all from finding a good partner. Quite the opposite because I matured so much as far as my devotion to Christ and as a person in general.

For me I consider the experiences of the Nephites at the beginning of Mosiah as well as my own experience with conversion. After King Benjamin addresses the Nephites they tell him that they have all felt a conversion to Christ which manifests as a desire to do good continually instead of evil. To me this shows that they would stop asking questions about commandments like where the lines were. Or how far can they can go with a behaviour before it is considered a sin. They weren't looking for some minimum level of righteousness to achieve which would allow them to have their sin cake and eat it too. No, they wanted to be as good as possible because of a deep love and gratitude for Christ. Additionally we know that God doesn't want to command us in everything, because that would make us slothful servants. So we don't get commaments on every little thing. I think if you are trying to find lines of where sin is or not, maybe a better question is if you truly have faith in and love for Heavenly Father and the Saviour. That is what can convert a person and make you feel like following them for the purest reasons. Then, you don't NEED a commandment to say, not drink caffeine for example. You aren't concerned with if it is a sin or not to drink cola and more concerned with the admonition to treat your body like a temple. And not because you are afraid of punishment but because you love God and are trying to do your best. Me for example I am trying to drastically reduce the amount of sugary drinks and foods I consume. Nobody commanded me to do it, and there isn't anything in the word of wisdom which says I can't drink soda. However I do feel like I need to treat my body better, and it is nice to see the positive results.

I would be more concerned if the Church of Jesus Christ said nothing about moral and political matters which mattered to morality. I don't think a group of prophets who won't open their mouths to oppose spiritually dangerous legislation or world views would be legitimate. I am always happy when our leaders have the courage to speak up even when it is unpopular for them to do so.

Worldly morality is dizzying to me. One day we should all "love"(be permissive) everyone and respect them, but the next day we are filled with hatred towards someone who said or did something "offensive" and calling for their head on a block. We are all special snowflakes, beautiful and majestic and perfect just the way we are, but don't forget to realize that the universe is huge and we are therefore insignificant beings. Faith in God is ridiculous. Why believe in something you can't prove. God doesn't exist. Definitely can't prove it but I believe it anyway.( That's what reason looks like apparently) I've seen a person go through all this in a week. Literally contradicting themselves from day to day posting their opinions and sharing others they "agree" with.

Anglo-Canada.........that is funny. (Because Canada is a predominantly English speaking country)-_-

A Wrinkle in Time - Madelaine L'Engle The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (and its 2 following trilogies) - Stephen R. Donaldson The Alliance - Orson Scott Card Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series. Yep it's a younger audience at first but the series has gone on so long it's worth reading at any age. King Rat - had to read it in high school. Depressing book about pows in ww2. Thought provoking though.Nobody mentioned Watership Down yet? I need to read that.

Bishop is an Aaronic Priesthood office like Deacon, Teacher, and Priest. A Priest is also a Teacher and a Deacon. An Elder is also a Priest. Thus, once a Bishop..

My wife and I have been watching Iron Man films. 1 on Sunday, 2 yesterday. 3 today I imagine. It's a bit jarring to watch them this way since Rhody goes from Terrance Howard to Don Cheadle in a day. Also... should I watch the Avengers before Iron Man 3? I don't know. Before these I think Pan is the last movie. It ...was....pretty bad.

Certainly we have been taught "Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." Nephi wanted to see the vision his father had, and sought faithfully the Lord for that purpose. I don't see why anyone couldn't ask for that same vision, but I believe that before we ask for something like that it would be important to know why we are asking. Because we have 2 accounts of Lehi's vision and the very clear interpretation of it, in my eyes a prayerful study of the Book of Mormon would be enough to more or less understand the Tree of Life vision. So why ask for it? Personally I think it would be really cool to see. Like a movie adaptation of a book is cool because a lot of us enjoy visuals over visualization sometimes. I have thought a few times about asking for this vision myself, but I usually hesitate because I think that I am only asking for curiosity's sake or my own entertainment so to speak. If we remember from the Book of Mormon, Nephi had previously been following Lehi based on the comforting assurance from the Spirit that Lehi was indeed a prophet, and their course towards the promised land away from Jerusalem (love that irony) was correct. In asking for the vision Lehi had Nephi also had his own visions, going far beyond the scope of Lehi's original dream which forever made Nephi a witness to the reality of the Christ. This doesn't mean I would have the same kind of experience as Nephi, but having even just Lehi's vision would mean being responsible for having that vision.

If a shark and a gorilla ever managed to high five one another you know there would be an explosion. My avatar states the obvious.

The words say belief in prophets and revelation but the actions say the real belief is in the philosophies of men.

"Kinda" really bothers me. It's the new "like" for this generation except it's a qualifier and it diminishes everything that comes after it. Using it properly is fine, but used excessively or in the wrong situation is very annoying to me. 2 examples: a: (from an interview with a game designer for some game) "It's a kinda super kinda attack." b: (from when I first picked up on how out of hand "kinda" is getting) "Joseph Smith kinda saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and they kinda called him to be a prophet." EDIT: I should point out that I found myself using "kinda" much more frequently than I should. This prompted me to try and get a handle on using kinda, and now I notice it much more.

Also don't forget that part of our test here on Earth is to be enticed by righteousness and wickedness. While we know wickedness leads ultimately to misery, there needs to be an enticing quality to it. There is real enjoyment to sin, and a temporary kind of satisfaction or pleasure, so that it is actually attractive enough for people to choose it. If sin were obviously awful it would be an unfair test. Always, whatever enjoyment or "happiness" that comes from sin is a counterfeit to the true and lasting happiness only possible through righteousness.

In the law of moses there was to be a year of Jubilee every 49 years and all slaves were to be freed among other things.

I always liked meeting with Pentecostal people on my mission. Dealing with other Christians it could (strangely) be a real struggle to get them to at least read the Book of Mormon and pray to God asking if the book was true. The concept of having a conversation with God rather than a rote prayer or asking anything more specific than simply "show us your will" (but not about anything in particular) seemed alien to some. Pentecostal Christians however were taught that spiritual guidance was a necessary part of their faith and they were to seek for it always. Meeting style aside, one on one it was usually not a foreign concept to ask someone to pray specifically about anything. The struggle would more be in how the answer should manifest. This seems like a difference in Doctrine. The idea of asking Heavenly Father specific questions in prayer. Some people I met absolutely would not pray in any other way than humongous generalities for themselves. They would be happy to pray for someone who was sick (and many churches collect names before a service in order to pray for them by name - a wonderful thing). We would try to coach them and say "actually say these words, "Is the Book of Mormon true" and what would come out is "Please just show us your will". Then you have to ask why and you'd get "I just don't ask questions like that." "About specific things?" "No, never." This happened a lot. The most honest person I met on my mission was the guy who said he wouldn't pray about the Book of Mormon because he was sure he'd get an answer that it was true and that didn't fit his lifestyle.

The necessity of faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end is the same for all people in any age regardless of what level of information is available to them. Thus God, in His infinite mercy and kindness, has provided a way for all human beings to come to a knowledge of truth regarding Him without needing a level of intellectualism available only to some. Intellect is great, and learning is a blessing. God knows all things and intends for us, His children, to become like Him. We will be ever learning and ever coming to truth upon truth if we follow Him, but to know that He is must be possible for anyone in any age who has strong desire, faith in Christ, and real intent. It has to be possible for all to know God and the folly of intellectualism seems to be declaring that only the truly learned, as to the things of the world, have any hope of knowing for a truth if God is real or not and if His restored church is true or not. I very much enjoy learning from academics what they've discovered about this or that archeological find or event in church history but I don't need that learning when it comes to if God lives, or if the LDS church is true, or if Joseph Smith is a prophet, or if the Book of Mormon is true.

This is from a general conference talk, and published in a church-approved curriculum manual for university students. It is not just opinion. Whether Elder Talmage is speaking the truth or not isn't my concern. I know that what is said in General Conference is said under the inspiration of the spirit. There are, however, different ways as the hearer a statement from an Apostle can be taken and I wonder if I might be interpreting here differently than his intention. Sadly Elder Talmage isn't around to answer my question.

My wife and I have been studying the Old Testament and use the institute manual alongside for clarity. Every other day we study something else, but the past 2 days we've done an enrichment section regarding the Assyrians conquering the nation of Israel and the 10 tribes becoming lost. In this section there is a quote from Elder James E. Talmage of something he said in 1916 which is puzzling me. Here it is: Then in October conference Elder Talmage spoke again of the lost tribes and made this remarkable prediction: “The ten tribes shall come; they are not lost unto the Lord; they shall be brought forth as hath been predicted; and I say unto you there are those now living—aye, some here present—who shall live to read the records of the Lost Tribes of Israel, which shall be made one with the record of the Jews, or the Holy Bible, and the record of the Nephites, or the Book of Mormon, even as the Lord hath predicted” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1916, p. 76; emphasis added). Now, anyone born in 1916 is around 99 years old today. This would suggest that the event Elder Talmage is prophecying ought to be happening quite soon would it not? Age spans being what they are for someone to have been at that conference and be alive today to read the records of the lost tribes it would have to be very soon. Or have I somehow missed this event altogether and it already happened?

I feel like just because they aren't bound in leather with gold-trimmed pages doesn't mean all the conference talks and home teaching messages and visiting teaching messages and such aren't canonized scripture. What they aren't part of is the Standard Works, if that's what you're referring to.

Courageous and Fireproof are two great non-denominational Christian films. Facing the Giants is perhaps geared more towards youth but I like that one too. High School Football drama, same people as the prior two movies. The Cure is an "oldy but goody" Sherlock and/or (really AND) Elementary are both great. Sherlock is the better but Elementary has Lucy Liu. The Mysteries of Laura is a good procedural crime drama that my wife and I really enjoy. Community might be a good choice. Mr. Holland's Opus Gravity was awesome. If you can watch HGTV there's a great show going on right now called "Home Free" that is very heartwarming. A group of contestants compete for a dream home by renovating houses for a deserving family. The loser each week then happens to be the deserving family, which they are unaware of the entire time.

Isn't it great how Monopoly brings out the worst in people?