laronius

If only you could have been there to let Jesus know his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane would only last maybe a few hours. He was clearly worried for nothing.
You are right though, this suffering only lasts as long it takes for a person to humble themselves and truly repent of their sins. God does not make us suffer any longer than is necessary to do his work in us. 
But what we are seeing here is the process of justification, being forgiven. Simply being forgiven does not make a person worthy of the Celestial Kingdom. Everyone will eventually be released from hell, however long the process, but most will remain eternally damned. I personally do not find a lot of comfort in that thought.

Yes, that is what it boils down to. That recognition of our actual parent/child relationship is one of the first truths Satan attacked in the great apostasy. When you lose that truth so much of the gospel becomes unraveled, including our identity and our eternal potential. We also see in this truth the motivation behind our Heavenly Father's actions, His love for us His children.

I think this is a great point. Clearly the younger son improperly used the wealth he received. But one feasible reason for the response of the older brother is a belief that responsible use of wealth dictated the value of one's soul. This too is an improper application of wealth.

To your true statement I would also add a caveat (sort of). Because we are judged according to our understanding of His word the Lord is at times willing to look past sub-optimal observance of His laws, such that what is deemed mercifully "acceptable" at one point in our progression may be unacceptable later on. But you are completely correct in that it is observance of the law according to God's understanding that is the one true way and the point we need to ultimately arrive at. And there is no playing stupid in God's kingdom.

You are a parent. Why do you do it?

You are a parent. Why do you do it?

You are a parent. Why do you do it?

Yes she is correct in recognizing the disturbing trend now days of conforming the gospel to support whatever people want to believe. It is a devious misdirection of the adversary.
But this misdirection can exist in varying degrees and it started with the death of the original apostles. Their deaths lead to a famine of revelation through authorized servants, revelation that kept gospel understanding inline with Christ's true teachings. As a result it required a restoration of priesthood authority and divine revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith. All churches without those things are teaching, to one degree or another, an altered form of the gospel. Doreen Virtue is simply calling out some of the more obvious ones. I hope she continues her search and doesn't stop, thinking that her personal interpretation is sufficient.

He clearly had not reached the age of accountability but it makes me wonder: if we sin but do a poor job of it is God more likely to grant mercy? 🤔😄

My wife just reminded me of this anecdote:
When our youngest was maybe four, we knew that he had almost learned what it meant to refrain from telling people what their Christmas presents were when he told one of his brothers, "You're getting sewing machine underwear for Christmas!", thus preserving the secret that the brother was actually getting race car underwear.

Hebrews chapter 4 is an interesting scripture that connects the Sabbath as a day of rest with the rest of G-d in the resurrection.  I have mediated on this subject, and I am convinced that the manner in which we maintain our Sabbath day covenant worship is a type and shadow of our resurrection in eternity.  What this means is that the Sabbath day is a time in this life in which we exercise and practice what we intend to do for eternity. 
If you want your primary purpose of eternity to attend Auto Club Speedways – than such is a most appropriate activity to be included in you Sabbath Covenant.   It is my understanding that we have agency whereby we may exercise our faith in that which we desire most – especially for what we desire as expressed in our Sabbath Covenant.
 
The Traveler

Your desire to observe the Sabbath Day is commendable. But ultimately how you observe it is between you and the Lord. 
Having said that I think you already recognize that attending the event isn't the optimal way of observing the Sabbath. But if you do decide to go I would highly recommend finding ways to honor the Sabbath to whatever degree you can.

Your desire to observe the Sabbath Day is commendable. But ultimately how you observe it is between you and the Lord. 
Having said that I think you already recognize that attending the event isn't the optimal way of observing the Sabbath. But if you do decide to go I would highly recommend finding ways to honor the Sabbath to whatever degree you can.

Your desire to observe the Sabbath Day is commendable. But ultimately how you observe it is between you and the Lord. 
Having said that I think you already recognize that attending the event isn't the optimal way of observing the Sabbath. But if you do decide to go I would highly recommend finding ways to honor the Sabbath to whatever degree you can.

Your desire to observe the Sabbath Day is commendable. But ultimately how you observe it is between you and the Lord. 
Having said that I think you already recognize that attending the event isn't the optimal way of observing the Sabbath. But if you do decide to go I would highly recommend finding ways to honor the Sabbath to whatever degree you can.

The words "sufficient for your needs" comes to mind. Of course that leaves a lot of room for interpretation. But that's the real test I think, how we choose to interpret it. And my guess is that for a person who truly seeks to consecrate themselves their interpretation will change over time.

I wanted to add some thoughts about wealth.  In my mind, money is a means of exchange and is not true wealth.  My father, who was very wealthy and also a goodly man (like Lehi) believed he could teach anyone the secret of wealth in one session of about a minute.   According to him there are only two secret principles of wealth. 
The first secret is to learn to love and enjoy work, especially the difficult, mundane, undignified and unpopular work that no one else wants to do.  According to him it is not enough to know how to work hard – the secret is to learn the joy of accomplishment in doing difficult things well and enjoy the fruit of just doing what others avoid.  I bring this up because there seems to be an attitude of disliking difficult work and that if someone has wealth – they can bribe others with their money into doing the work that they hate or strongly dislike.  I was taught that one should never think of someone else doing anything because you do not want to.   This little secret will always make one valued and even indispensable.  People that willingly work should have the greatest respect. 
The second secret is not so difficult – always spend less than you earn and always make investing a priority.
There is one other thought.  I learned this long ago when I returned home after being in the army for two years and serving on a mission for two years.  I was having difficulty with dating and my course work in college.  Honestly, I felt the college ladies were poorly focused and the course work too structured, unchallenging and not real world applicable (too many professors focused on themselves and not on teaching).   I decided to quit school without dropping my classes and walk away from civilization into the desert wilderness of southern Utah living off the land for 40 days and nights (partly inspired by Moses and Jesus in the wilderness).
What I learned is that we are rich with privilege just being here on earth.  I was spiritually guided and physically provided with everything I needed when I needed it.  Sometimes it seemed my provisions were the bare minimum of my needs, same spiritually – but always what was necessary.  When I needed water – there was drinkable water (not all water is drinkable).  When I needed food there was always something to eat (often just insects and grubs.)  When I needed spiritual guidance I was given impressions that answered.  Always much to be thankful for.
The scripture is absolutely true – “Have faith and be believing and ALL things will work out for your good!”
 
The Traveler

The words "sufficient for your needs" comes to mind. Of course that leaves a lot of room for interpretation. But that's the real test I think, how we choose to interpret it. And my guess is that for a person who truly seeks to consecrate themselves their interpretation will change over time.

The words "sufficient for your needs" comes to mind. Of course that leaves a lot of room for interpretation. But that's the real test I think, how we choose to interpret it. And my guess is that for a person who truly seeks to consecrate themselves their interpretation will change over time.

The words "sufficient for your needs" comes to mind. Of course that leaves a lot of room for interpretation. But that's the real test I think, how we choose to interpret it. And my guess is that for a person who truly seeks to consecrate themselves their interpretation will change over time.

That's a good catch and makes perfect sense in light of the fact that as John the Revelator pointed out "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." 

That's a good catch and makes perfect sense in light of the fact that as John the Revelator pointed out "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." 

My apologies if I was unclear above. I believe proxy work will be done for these individuals once they are at a certain point in their growth because the work of the dead must be done by proxy (at least according to what has been revealed at this moment). I wasn't trying to insinuate they would be able to do such with mortals by proxy. But once they were taught and had come of age so to speak work would be done for them. This is speculative. It seems to make sense to me (a possibility) in light of what I have read from prophets words.
I agree with this statement, which is why I feel it has to do with the growth of their spirits and resurrected body. Even the Lord was baptized although he was clean. The condition still bound him to follow to remain perfect. The Savior could not have said, "I don't this," and still remain perfect. All would have been lost.
I'm looking forward to further truth, but who knows I may be beyond the veil before anything else is revealed.

Also, keep in mind that children age 8 and older, who have died, do have their temple work done by proxy. That would be baptism, if not baptized before death, Priesthood Ordination for males, Iniatory, and Endowment. Of course, they would have been too young to be married, so Sealing to a spouse would not be done.
I’m hesitant to share all details, but I had a very spiritual experience about a young cousin who died at the age of 13 around 1970/71. Her immediate family are not active members. She was a baptized member, but no one thought to have her temple work done. Those of you who have done a lot of Family History know that the veil can be thin at times, and spiritual insight is often gained. A number of years after her death, I happened to be in a spiritual environment, in the right mindset, and my mind was enlightened to the fact that my cousin needed her temple work done. I immediately called my grandmother to see if she knew if the temple work had been done. She didn’t know. So, I had to do some research. It hadn’t been done. This was all before Family Search. Now, it is so easy to go online and look to see if ordinances need to be done.
I don’t understand everything pertaining to the importance of the temple ordinances, but I know they need to be done even for those youth who have died after baptism, but before other life milestones have occurred. After my 19 year old daughter died in a car accident, we had her temple work done as soon as the one year waiting period was over.

That's a good catch and makes perfect sense in light of the fact that as John the Revelator pointed out "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."