hagoth

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Everything posted by hagoth

  1. Compare 2 Nephi 3 (Lehi's parting blessing to his own son Joseph). There, Lehi referred to promises to the earlier Joseph (the one from Egypt), and further promised that a remnant of the Nephite Joseph would be spared. As to the supposed irony of Moroni warning the Nephites of what was to come, it is worth nothing that immediately after Moroni's burial, thousands of Lehi's descendants exited Nephite society in a diaspora that included Hagoth's ships. https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/63.3-7?lang=eng#2 (As to an inkling of where some of those departing Nephites went, Lehi promised a few additional things of note to his son Joseph that might be gleaned from a careful reading of the last few verses.)
  2. We currently have well over two hundred members subscribed to our ward's facebook page. It gets considerable traffic every week, and is used for community things like requesting subs for nursery and primary teachers, getting volunteers to feed missionaries and go on splits with missionaries, announcements for scouting, giveaways of free tickets, furniture, toys, books, and clothing, questions about who to contact in the ward, general announcements to the youth when someone has babysitting or yardwork they want to hire someone to do, reminders of whose turn it is to clean the church the coming weekend, etc. etc. It's a pretty useful and heavily used community bulletin board. I have *never* seen our ward Facebook page used for gospel discussions in the three years I've been in this ward.
  3. Does anyone here have intermediate or expert level experience reading Latin? Thanks in advance!
  4. Welcome, and congratulations!
  5. I actually have an uncle Guido.
  6. Our ward moved to this schedule this month, and we love it. Sacrament meetings are noticeably more reverent and quiet now.
  7. Yikes. Mirkwood, where did you get this info that long ago?
  8. As I said earlier, it comes back to the likelihood of pride rising in the speaker and/or the hearer with the use of such words. Perhaps you've seen something in this thread that I haven't that would align with such phrases, or perhaps this has already been answered. (I haven't read every post in this thread, so I don't know what you mean when you refer to "the context of this discussion.") What was said in such a context that resembles either "flapping at the mouth" or "pernicious falsehood"?
  9. I appreciate the input. We have since noticed that it's rated PG-13 ("for thematic material including violence and peril"). Based on that, and based on what we know of him, we'll let him mature a bit more before he sees it.
  10. D&C 97 Therefore, verily, thus saith the Lord, let Zion rejoice, for this is Zion—the pure in heart... D&C 101 They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion... Perhaps not every and any, but what Finrock is saying is reasonably well grounded.
  11. Not an issue. I don't follow sports either. (I think that means someone is soon going to revoke my mancard.)
  12. Welcome to the forum! A little farm sounds like a lot of fun and hard work. We look forward to your questions, and to your contributions to the forum! :)
  13. Welcome to the forum! I'm sorry you have to deal with depression and other issues. I would encourage you not to make too much about people missing your baptism anniversary. I don't even remember my children's baptismal dates, and it was only a handful of years ago (and my daughter was even a teenage convert). They're not offended, because they know hey are loved. If you're measuring someone's love by whether they remember a date or not (which is certainly a very important day), I'd suggest focusing the effort instead on trying to be of service to those around you. Try praying for charity for those around you. As to being imperfect, that's all the more reason to stay with the church. It's a great testing ground for us to peel away the imperfections. I look forward to your contributions to the forum. Regards, Hagoth
  14. We are considering bringing our kids to see this, but have concerns that it may be too much for our youngest. My wife and I will probably go see it first before making a decision whether to bring them. Out of curiosity, what do those of you who have seen it think? Would you take your 10-year old to see it? Why or why not?
  15. It actually is out of context. If you take a moment and read the verse in question, it is quite clear that Paul was giving that statement to the church of his day based on his own opinion, and not through revelation. The surrounding verses confirm that even further. With that context, it makes it odd to combine such a statement with a list of inspired directives. And how can we reach agreement if insults are acceptable? If we can't respectfully and patiently abide temporary disagreement, how can we expect the other side to even hear us out and see the merits of what we're saying? And if someone with a differing viewpoint is being insulting, prideful, and/or overbearing, there's a reduced chance we will ever hear them out either. Pride will get even further in the way.
  16. I would assert there's quite a difference between a single GA using profanity at the pulpit generations ago, and using that single example to justify rude language directed AT someone in public discourse. As Paul counseled: "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." As to contending for the faith, as you choose to put it, a few verses after the one you've paraphrased, it even says the following, "Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation,..." I certainly don't see how being course or insulting in religious discourse can help us within the church arrive at unity. As mentioned recently in this thread, insults tend to spark pride both in the speaker, and in the hearer, which leads both sides to entrench and defend their own egos and prior opinions. I think we can and should do better. And I basically agree with char713 that unity is only important in the essentials. Or, as one Christian put it centuries ago, "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and, in all things, charity."
  17. How does being polite and showing mutual respect in discourse somehow equate to being phony? You're saying it isn't being authentic? Or am I hearing you incorrectly?
  18. I could be mistaken, but perhaps a constructive start would be to avoid phrases like "flapping at the mouth" and "pernicious falsehood" from our discourse. :) (As I recall, the instruction from the brethren for online discourse is the encouragement for us to learn to disagree without being disagreeable.)
  19. Respectfully, that passage is somewhat taken out of context. It, and the passages it is referencing, is in the context of marriage. Isn't respectful dialogue a viable way to overcome disagreement?
  20. Hi Traveler, For the record, I don't believe I have ever laughed at anything said on the Daily Show. And as I have said elsewhere, I disagree with many things said on that show. But I certainly get your intended point: caution is needed. Like you, I've studied German and American propaganda, psychology, and how learning works. I still have a lot to learn. Jon mocks some sacred things. I take objection to that. But I value his ongoing insight in how much of the fourth estate is frequently failing in its duties. If much of the press is beholden to special interests, or is marching in lockstep to direction from politicians, or specifically the Executive branch, or has simply become lazy, what then? What becomes of a nation where much the press is actually not free, but is a leashed dog, only doing the bidding of its master(s), or has fallen asleep on duty? How can an uninformed (or misinformed) citizenry govern itself? Or, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, "An informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will." http://www.politheo.com/thomasjefferson.html Your reference to Nazis is noted (have we arrived at Godwin's law so soon?), however using humor to illustrate a point is not necessarily evil or a trick. It might more accurately be called a skill. It is a teaching tool. We occasionally even see humor used masterfully from the pulpit in General Conference. I don't have much skill at it, but I appreciate it when I see it done well. (As to bias, I just completed a long thread elsewhere on that very same topic.) And there's a considerable difference between appreciating insightful humor and outright laughing. Thoughts?
  21. I knew a man from the Middle East who, by his own account, converted to Christianity after extensive fasting and prayer, when he received a vision. Afterwards, he left his business and possessions behind, and came to America. Some time afterwards, he came in contact with the message of the Restoration and was baptized.
  22. I agree with the first statement. I disagree with the second. I consider John Oliver a journalist, and a very thorough one at that. But it's rare when I take time to listen to him nowadays. He insists he's a comedian rather than a journalist, but I think he doth protest too much. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/13/john-oliver-jorge-ramos-journalist-last-week-tonight_n_7275990.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/26/john-oliver-journalism_n_5888184.html I also consider Jon Stewart a journalist, and a very thorough one. It's also rare when I take time to listen to him nowadays. He also insists that he's a comedian rather than a journalist. But he is also very effective at both. (I highly recommend reading this brief insight to gain a small glimpse of what I mean) http://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2015/04/jon-stewart-journalist/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/jon-stewart-journalism-real-news-leaving-daily-show_n_6658320.html During Jon's appearance on CNN's Crossfire over a decade ago, he held the newscasters there to account: “You are doing theater, when you should be doing debate....It’s not honest. What you do is partisan hackery.” Which speaks to Anatess' OP. As a caveat, both John and Jon swear on their shows. So avoid their content if you're convinced clean language is more important than what they have to offer. To sum up, in response to pkstpaul above, I am convinced there still is such thing as a journalist, and I think Jon's pending departure is unfortunate.
  23. My only real interaction with Evangelicals has been in high school, at work, and online. During high school, there was a megachurch in town (one of the largest and wealthiest megachurches in that region of America) where many of the students attended, including several of the most outspoken kids on my cross country team. They were repeatedly about as rude towards me and my beliefs as you could imagine, so I didn't find their form of "outreach" endearing in the least. (That was back in the days of the Ed Decker media productions with which the youth and adults had been indoctrinated to fear and hate us.) At work nearby, I once had an Evangelical boss. I don't recall how he learned I was LDS, but he asked me a question once during lunch about a somewhat common LDS practice. When I answered his question, he expressed outright disgust. Shortly afterwards, I was out of a job. I would say about half of the Evangelicals I have encountered online have treated me and my beliefs with a fair amount of respect. Most of the rest have been on the rude side of the spectrum. You are a credit to your faith. Thanks for being part of this community!