Average Joe

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  1. Like
    Average Joe got a reaction from Hemisphere in Emergency Preparedness for Economic Crisises   
    Several weeks ago I was called as our Stakes Emergency Preparedness Specialist and in the discussion about what was expected of me I asked what the stake leadership felt our greatest challenge was. I then heard the usual litany of disasters - last summers great flood in S.C., winter ice storms, tornado season was coming up, etc...etc...
     
    After listening politely I asked if they were ready for an economic crisis. While acknowledging the possibility the conversation soon shifted back to chainsaws and mud outs.
     
    That was early in December. Now that the New Year has arrived there has been an almost daily drop in oil prices and drop in the stock markets.
     
    Tomorrow I'll meet with the stake leadership to discuss emergency preparedness  and I'll ask again if they're preparing for an economic crisis or just natural disasters.
     
    I hope for a more substantive discussion of the economic issue...we'll see.
     
    I just wondered if any other Stakes/Wards have been discussing getting our financial houses in order?   
  2. Like
    Average Joe got a reaction from Sunday21 in Hullo Mormons   
    Hi  :)
     
    James 1:5-7 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."
  3. Like
    Average Joe got a reaction from Daybreak79 in Emergency Preparedness for Economic Crisises   
    go into debt or go into food storage? the former seems to happen a lot more than the latter  
  4. Like
    Average Joe reacted to Backroads in Laman and Lemuel   
  5. Like
    Average Joe reacted to Palerider in College Football Championship Game   
    Roll Tide !!!
  6. Like
    Average Joe got a reaction from Backroads in how much time would you cut off from a lesson?   
    lol, depends on how boring the teacher is
  7. Like
    Average Joe got a reaction from NeedleinA in Stop coming to Utah?   
    Elder Bruce R. McConkie :
     
    "The place of gathering for the Mexican Saints is in Mexico; the place of gathering for the Guatemalan Saints is in Guatemala; the place of gathering for the Brazilian Saints is in Brazil; and so it goes throughout the length and breadth of the whole earth. . . . every nation is the gathering place for its own people." 
     
    (quoted in Church News, 03/06/93...Elder McConkie died April 19, 1985)
  8. Like
    Average Joe got a reaction from Blackmarch in Syria   
    The Russians, Cubans and Iranians are there to prop up Assad
     
    The U.S. and this administrations Al Qaeda affiliated "free Syrian army" are trying to topple Assad.
     
    The U.S. helped "birth" Isis just as it helped "birth" Al Qaeda.
     
    The Iraqis aren't helping fight ISIS if there's another direction their army can run to. The Kurds are trying to fight ISIS but we give weapons and supplies to Iraq and the leaders there have no intention of strengthening the Kurds, so when the Iraqi army flees from ISIS, ISIS gets the weapons and supplies instead.
     
    Our "fight" against ISIS has been negligible.
  9. Like
    Average Joe reacted to Doriette in Hello everybody from France!!!   
    My real name is Doria!
    I am from Dijon the mustard land, and i have 35 years old. I am member of the LDS church since 17 years! 
    I'm here to make friends who have the same values as me. People who are not serious abstain. I would like to get to know you. I love manga and draw, sing, travel, listen to music of any kind, walk, go to church and of course the gospel. I'm very religious and I do not want to see my values downward.I'm not a woman who loves fashion, and even if I make up from time to time, I do not like superficiality. I am natural, I say what I think.
    If you are looking for more than friendship, know that for me the friendship takes time and that love is not created on the internet but live and in person, but mostly it is time consuming. Friends of the world let me wait ...
  10. Like
    Average Joe reacted to Milluw in Autotuned kittens   
    This might just be the cutest thing i have ever seen.
     
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vanP07y1Xgw
     
    *Explodes*
  11. Like
    Average Joe reacted to RMGuy in I Got Volunteered, Now I Need Desperate Help   
    Eminem and you'll never DJ again :)
  12. Like
    Average Joe got a reaction from Blackmarch in Song of Solomon. How do you apply it in today's life?   
    Great lines for breaking the ice on Christian Mingle  
  13. Like
    Average Joe reacted to hagoth in Aloha and Aloha   
    Hi
     
    I've been with the forum for several months and wanted to say thanks for an enjoyable time.
     
    I will be withdrawing for quite a bit now to focus on a few projects. Best wishes to all. :)
  14. Like
    Average Joe reacted to Blackmarch in Just a question about the Nephite Temple   
    The nephites did get a set of urim and thummim from the jaredites.... Its not impossible that they got some of the stones?natives still have stories how they came here in 8 turtle boats.
  15. Like
    Average Joe reacted to hagoth in Just a question about the Nephite Temple   
    Understood. Here's a short primer, if interested.
    http://www.candlestickstudio.com/files/Nephites.pdf
  16. Like
    Average Joe reacted to hagoth in Just a question about the Nephite Temple   
    Of course.
     
    Around 98 AD, the Roman historian Tacitus wrote a short account about northwestern Europe called "Germania."
     
    In chapter 40 of that work, in the same breath as mentioning Lombards and Angles, Tacitus says,
     
    "In an island of the Ocean stands a sacred grove, and in the grove a consecrated cart, draped with cloth, which none but the priest may touch. The priest perceives the presence of the goddess in this holy of holies and attends her, in deepest reverence, as her cart is drawn by heifers (milk cows). Then follow days of rejoicing and merry-making in every place that she designs to visit and be entertained. No one goes to war, no one takes up arms; every object of iron is locked away; then, and only then, are peace and quiet known and loved, until the priest again restores the goddess to her temple..."
     
    (Compare the OT account of a cart, drawn by cows (1 Sam 6) https://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/1-sam/6.7,10-11?lang=eng#6 , or even oxen, on which the ark sat. Like the chariot in northwestern Europe, the ark could not be touched by anyone but the priests.  https://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/2-sam/6.3,6?lang=eng#2. Likewise, the conveyance of the cart before battle in northwestern Europe was akin to the conveyance of the ark in ancient Israel before going to battle.)
     
    Tacitus calls this female god Nerthus. Some modern linguists and anthropologists equate her to the male god Njord, who is associated with the sea, seafaring, wind, fishing, wealth, and farming. They have no explanation for the gender shift. Tacitus may have been wrong in assuming the god was female.
     
    According to at least one medieval account, Njord was the the son of a seafaring immigrant who arrived on the coast of northern Europe. Medieval accounts place Njord and his seafaring father (from whom European dynasties claim to descend) in the 1st century BC, making them contemporary with Hagoth's voyagers.
  17. Like
    Average Joe got a reaction from Just_A_Guy in Just a question about the Nephite Temple   
    lol, most of us call mis-remembering "old age" but in your case we'll go with "youthful good intentions gone awry"
  18. Like
    Average Joe reacted to Traveler in Just a question about the Nephite Temple   
    Anciently the term was not Ark but "ark of the covenant".  Ark in essence an ark is the means by which something is carried or contained.  The point here is that the ark of the covenant is the place for sacred artifacts created directly for sacred covenants one makes with G-d at the temple.  The items placed in the ark of the covenant are placed there by command and according to covenant.
     
    It is my personal belief that the cherubim of the ancient ark of the covenant are symbolic references to the Messiah and Satan contending for the souls of man at the judgment seat of the Father.  The covenant being the way talked about in Genesis which is the way to the tree of life - and the cherubim (plural of cherub) that keep the way.   Most believe that the placing of cherubim is reference to singular something rather than plural or two but the term cherubim is without question a plural reverence that oversees the path or way to eternal life.
  19. Like
    Average Joe reacted to Vort in Just a question about the Nephite Temple   
    Been thinking about this just a bit. A few things occurred to me.
     
    Nephi was clearly a metalsmith, skilled at refining ores (including high-temperature ores such as iron) and also able to work gold and, presumably, silver and brass. But to my mind, it is not reasonable to suppose that Nephi alone, or even with the help of family members, reproduced the entire metallic inventory of the temple. The laver alone would have taken years to mine, refine, and create. Finding enough gold and silver for the implements would have been a huge task. Nephi probably carried some gold with him from Jerusalem, but as probably did not carry enough to make all the temple tools. The gold looks like it was primarily used for the records, not temple implements.
     
    It also seems unlikely that Nephi would have kept the showbread as was done anciently. Given that they (apparently) did not have the Levitical Priesthood operating among them -- at least, I know of no mention in the entire Book of Mormon that they had any such thing, nor any Levites to exercise it -- the ordinances such as that of the showbread might not have been kept, or even necessary. Indeed, fulfilling such temple rites would have employed many priests in full-time labor on a rotating basis. I don't believe the Nephites, living a Robinson Crusoe-type life, would have had the luxury of providing such round-the-clock labor.
     
    I am not sure what Nephi meant in his description of the temple, but I am of a mind that, whatever it was, it was a miniature version of the Jerusalem temple, both in size and in scope.
  20. Like
    Average Joe reacted to hagoth in Just a question about the Nephite Temple   
    As some here may know, I am of the opinion (for many reasons), that a number of Nephites migrated to ancient northern Europe.
     
    And it just so happens that there is an ancient account that traces to that region, a few generations after Hagoth, which tells of a steadying of the ark taboo strikingly parallel to that of the Old Testament.
     
    Take it for what you will.
  21. Like
    Average Joe got a reaction from Just_A_Guy in Just a question about the Nephite Temple   
    No need for an Ark, no sacred objects stored is an OK answer.
     
    A thought, Israel always rebuilt in Jerusalem. It was their "sacred city" so to speak. The Nephites didn't have "a" sacred city, they had a promised land. As I noted in another reply: "1 Nephi chapter 12 is all about the vision of Nephi's seed in the promised land and that they would basically be smitten and driven until they were finally destroyed. So, armed with this foresight, he may well have had reason to create an Ark to carry sacred objects." Just food for thought.
  22. Like
    Average Joe reacted to pam in Mormon Mythology   
    I think it's time to close this thread.  
  23. Like
    Average Joe reacted to Jane_Doe in Are the "basics" enough?   
    Yes and no.
     
    If someone truly masters the basics (prayer, scripture reading, service, the Atonement, etc), then the complex stuff comes naturally.  
  24. Like
    Average Joe reacted to Traveler in Mormon Mythology   
    Last year at the October conference Elder Lynn Robbins gave a most interesting talk that I think applies directly to this topic;  It is titled "Which way do you face?"  In essence we either stand facing the world as an example of G-d an things divine or we stand and face G-d as an example of the world. 
     
    We can either see the strength in the Kingdom of G-d or we can see its weaknesses.   There may be a season to see weakness but if we do not ever see the strengths or if our season of seeing weakness overflows the bounds of such season - we will end up either not planting the seeds of faith and righteousness or not harvesting the fruits of faith and righteousness when the time for such is right.
  25. Like
    Average Joe reacted to james12 in Mormon Mythology   
    Actually I think the stoning has fallen on LiterateParakeet for agreeing with you and then trying to support why she feels the way she does.   

    I'm not sure I agree with the exact format of Avg Joe's post, but I do feel that it is good to see human frailty and how apostles and prophets overcame it. Such a lesson is extremely valuable. Why? Because there are a number of members in this church that place apostles and prophets on such a high pedestal that what they have accomplished appears unobtainable to we who fight through common difficulties and challenges. For example, have apostles ever faced depression? How did they overcome it? Have they ever dealt with anger? What did they do? Knowing such details could give people hope and direction. Now there is another problem. I feel part of the reason why such personal issues are almost never discussed may be because some members, if they see how human our apostles and prophets are, may reject them as called of God. They have gotten it into their head that a prophet or apostle must be close to perfect. But such a notion is false. It seems best to disabuse people of it as soon as possible. Yes these are good, sincere, humble, men but they are not perfect.
    I think there is a need for more open dialogue on this issue Avg Joe has brought up. With less finger pointing and accusing and more understanding.