laronius

In the Lectures on Faith, Joseph Smith said if faith: "it is the assurance we have of the existence of unseen things." I think these unseen things can exist in both time and space. Heaven exists in space, in the present, though it remains unseen to most of us yet we have faith that it exists. What you are describing is things that exist in time or more specifically will exist (according to our perspective). Though it has not yet happened we believe it will.

It is not unusual for these types of prophecy to have dual fulfillments, temporal and spiritual. I really like that phrase "desolate heritages." It so perfectly describes the scattering of Israel in relation to apostatizing from the ways of their righteous fathers and then temporal scattering that followed. In the latter days, both the temporal and spiritual gatherings will and are taking place. Much of what you are describing relates to the spiritual gathering, of which covenants play a significant role.

And is it saying that it is God who exercised faith to frame the worlds or was it the faith in God as exercised by everything else that framed the worlds?

This made me think of this: Alma 7:12 ...he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. 13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things... There's a difference between knowledge we are taught and knowledge we acquire by experience. I don't know what exactly the Savior experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane but it was sufficient for Him to relate to everything we experience in life and that was important to Him.

It makes me wonder. The light of the gospel is not shelf stable. It must be continually fed otherwise it is lost. Is that an eternal principle or a result of the fallen existence we find ourselves in? If eternal, is faith required in the eternities to maintain exaltation?

This taps into the potential issue that arises from these doctrine. On the one hand the scriptures appear to teach that faith must at some point yield to knowledge to yield it's full fruit, such as: John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. But we also have Joseph Smith making statements such as it by faith that God essentially creates and governs the universe (not sure how omniscience plays into that). So perhaps the ignorance referred to is ignorance of the truth only and that there is an aspect of faith that must persist even with the acquisition of knowledge. That word "dormant" may also be something worth pondering on as well.

Does D&C 131:6 It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance. Teach us anything about Alma 32:21 And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

There is a category of Celestualized beings who are not exalted, with an absence of Celestial marriage being the distinguishing factor. I don't know how many will land there but men do seem to be more prone to desire not being married.

A significant component of what makes men men and women women comes from our physical makeup, a physical makeup that happens to be in a fallen state. It's hard to know how similar or dissimilar that makes us from how we are spiritually or how we'll be in the resurrection and what role that will play at judgement day. It's true that women, in general, seem to come by certain divine qualities more naturally than men but is that because women are simply more spiritually advanced in those areas or because God made it so to make His plan work?

Here's an initial list though I'm sure there is more: Alma 37:6 by small and simple things are great things brought to pass D&C 90:24 Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good... D&C 122:7 ...all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. Alma 34:31 ...if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you. Matt 17:20 If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

This screams America's Funniest Home Videos! If you want people to submit their home videos, make them all feel like they can win. At the time though it irritated me to see which videos they nominated.

I remember watching an episode of The Apprentice years ago (rarely watched it but I do remember this one). The challenge was to sell BBQ at a tailgate party, men vs women. The men went all out with the school's cheerleaders, mascot, food eating contest, etc. The women floundered getting any sort of plan together so all they did was sell, sell, sell. The women won. It's the results that matter most. I would add one modification to your comment though. The Lord loves efficiency and is very efficient Himself. It's the goal itself that often sidetracks us and our definition of success.

You know, I actually wondered about that. We are taught that the righteous dead will be resurrected at His coming. And when you consider that the Lord was instructing the saints in the early days of the Church, who clearly never lived to see the Second Coming, then that would be a very practical interpretation, at least for them. For those who are still alive at His coming there may be a similar yet spiritual application.

Welcome Ann. Sorry for the delayed response. Been kinda busy. But anyway, welcome. There's much we don't know at this point about the roles of both men and women in the divine society of the Gods. We can only surmise how it looks based on how things are here. And how things are here aren't always necessarily Celestial in nature, even within the Church. And I don't mean that as a negative, just that God continues to reveal His will truth upon truth and as yet we don't have the full picture. As such, I don't see anything wrong with longing for additional insight of the true roles of women in the divine plan so long as we don't grow discontent with what God has chosen to reveal up to this point. Trying to force God's hand puts us great danger of getting revelation from the wrong source, which I'm sure you are aware of. Moses 1:35 But only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you. I think this is a good scripture to keep in mind in your pondering. God deliberately withholds information from us about how things are beyond our tiny corner of the universe and our blip in time of eternity. I assume that is to keep us focused on the here and now. This requires faith in His plan for us and to some degree contentment with those truths He has chosen to reveal.

A seeming reason for the sleepiness was that the Bridegroom tarried. I interpret that to mean it took longer than expected for Him to appear. One of the signs of the times is that people will say the Lord delayeth His coming. I go back and forth on my interpretation of that, between them using it as an excuse to not prepare, thinking there's plenty of time left and wondering why it's taking so long for Him to appear, feeling despair because of the delay. I guess it could be both. Sis Johnson in GC referred to His coming "at the unexpected midnight hour" implying I believe that it took longer than expected. So if that is the case then sleeping could reference a time when the sense of urgency has passed and the saints fall back into their normal routines of living, either faithfully living the gospel day in and day out or starting to slide in their gospel living.

D&C 45:56 And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins. 57 For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived AI is likely to play a significant role in attempts at deceiving the saints in the last days. Easy intelligence can make for an intellectually and spiritually lazy people, prime for deception. That doesn't mean it can't be used for good but convenience is often the enemy of the spiritual work Pres Nelson continually reminds us is essential for the coming days.

https://youtu.be/LzaMTT5ItZM?si=AnjS6u6qSPTDdZiG https://youtu.be/LzaMTT5ItZM?si=AnjS6u6qSPTDdZiG Elder Holland and praying always

I hadn't thought about that. Might be something there I did find this: D&C 35:21 For they will hear my voice, and shall see me, and shall not be asleep, and shall abide the day of my coming; for they shall be purified, even as I am pure. But this is definitely negative. Not something the wise virgins would be guilty of in my thinking.

In the parable of the ten virgins it says that: 5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept What would you say the sleeping symbolizes? It sounds negative but it apparently applies to the whole church membership, not just the foolish virgins.

The way everybody is aging we could see a lot of changes in the first presidency over the next ten years. Of course, there's no guarantee of anything but just based on the visible effects of aging there could be a rather rapid succession of succession at the earthly helm of the Church going forward. Not that it matters, just interesting.

I have heard through the grapevine of at least one stake here in AZ with one hour meetings but it's also an area with historical logistical problems (too many members moving there to keep up with buildings) so I guess that's not very good proof of anything.

As part of the creation story in Abraham we read in 4:18 And the Gods watched those things which they had ordered until they obeyed. Until they obeyed? That's gotta mean something. D&C 93:30 All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence. I find the wording here particularly interesting. The inability for a thing to act for itself = no existence, not just death or lifelessness, but no existence. But if are going to argue that all matter has agency then I don't think we can say God or Satan "causes" anything. Commands and matter obeys? Yes. But not truly causes, at least not directly. Though I don't know that I am on board with the idea that matter obeys Satan, at least not without God's permission or God's omniscience that allows Him to strategically place disobedient matter only where it serves His purposes. Of course, we would need to better understand what exactly the fall did to matter as well. Is fallen matter a thing? If so, how so. I personally don't see any need to place blame on Satan beyond his ability to entice more intelligent beings. Would he do more if he could? Sure. But even evil spirits entering into swine required the Savior's permission

3 Nephi 19:24 And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus prayed unto the Father, he came unto his disciples, and behold, they did still continue, without ceasing, to pray unto him; and they did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray, and they were filled with desire. Learning to allow God, through the Spirit, direct us in our prayers is the ultimate form of prayer. That's not to say expressing our own thoughts and feelings is unproductive but if our goal is to unify our will with God's, we can't hope for anything more than to have it given unto us what to pray for.

I think many blessings on food are about 80% culturally influenced and 20% doctrinally influenced. It's a good way to teach kids the importance of "giving thanks" in all things which is how I view it's main purpose rather than actually asking for something. Though I do believe that God can and will in fact reorganize the molecules in certain situations for our benefit but those instances are few indeed, especially when living in a first world country. But I will say that I have been known to say "bless this food that it won't hurt me too bad" when eating something not exactly healthy. I don't expect the Lord to make it healthy and I know I really shouldn't be expressing gratitude for something that I know may in fact be harmful to me but I feel compelled to acknowledge the Lord nonetheless. So I hope the Lord is okay with my half cheeky, half serious blessing on my junk food.

There may be instances where a heartfelt recital of the Lord's prayer may help us draw closer to God. But in general prayer needs to be far more personal, using our own words, expressing our own thoughts and feelings about the specifics of our lives.