NeedleinA

A little thought from FAIR Mormon to share: "Kolob" is the name given to the star closest to the throne of God in Abraham. It is introduced in an effort to teach Abraham that there is a hierarchy in all things. There are many stars, and one star is "closest" to God. In a similar way, there are many intelligences, or moral agents, some greater than others. The greatest of these is God. Thus, "Kolob" is introduced in a rather peripheral way in an effort to teach about the supremacy of God"

Yes, very good point!!

It's all good...yep...it's all good

Okay, since your Dad got #2, I'll guess on #1 - dedicated font: Gordon B. Hinckley?

Sounds good TFP, thanks!

I don't think you are being confrontational at all, and I appreciate your input. On a side note: Sweet avatar! My boys and I are total Star Wars nerds. They have been playing this song on repeat for a couple days now: Bad Lip Reading Star Wars "Explain further": The confusion can arise by solely reading those versus (3&4) alone. Had there been an accompanying versus (perhaps 2 or 5) referring to " Fact: God and Jesus, both being physical beings, are not the same physical being." it would have made a smoother transition for him, (perhaps?).

"I left wondering if all of us belonged to the same church" BINGO! BINGO! I left thinking, "boy, this is probably where the apostate splinter groups come from".

1. He is a teenager (apparently going on age 30). 2. He is a thinker and at it's surface, even I can see where his confusion can come from. 3. He is always open for a little debate. On a side note, years ago while teaching Gospel Doctrine, we looked at Moses 1:6, and when it was done I asked the entire class, can you tell me who is speaking? About half the class (120 people) got the answer wrong. A quarter sat in silence (or scared to answer). Only a quarter of the them actually knew who was talking. Even some of the ones who got it right, only guessed right. 6 And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior, for he is full of grace andtruth; but there is no God beside me, and all things are present with me, for I know them all.

I'll just say... I for one love reading all the different ideas/thoughts. As always, thank you to everyone for taking the time to share with others. Yes! People like me actually do read your posts, and all of it.

This was my wife's answer to him. My kid acted like that wasn't going to fly, that is when Ol' Papa opened the flood gates of too much information.

3 The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son— 4 And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth. So just the other night my 13 yr old son out of blue asks, "What is going on with Mosiah 15: 3-4, I thought we didn't do the trinity thing?" First impressions... "Wow, he asked a church question!", then "Wow, he is reading his scriptures without us asking!" then "How does he even know the word trinity?". So old wise dad starts off into this long winded blab about it that was perhaps not watered down enough for him. Looking for your help in teenage talk. How would you explain these two versus to a teenager in about 3-5 sentences max (attention span ends after 5 sentences)?? Thanks in advance!

Ah, tourist, able to make just about anything unsafe! Did you happen to talk to anyone about the missionaries having to weed out the wild marijuana at Adam-Ondi-Ahman?

Suppose that "Pete" didn't actually write the letter for a moment. I bet the local police sure got a laugh at the letter they submitted under "Pete's" name. What is Pete going to do about it anyways

Some information from lds.org Q&A: https://www.lds.org/new-era/1971/03/qa-questions-and-answers?lang=eng "What is the war involving Gog and Magog? Answer/President Bruce R. McConkie (his "perspective, not as pronouncements of Church doctrine.") Gog and Magog are the prophetic names given in the scriptures to that combination of nations which will fight against the purposes of the Lord on two separate and future occasions: 1. At the time of and incident to the second coming of the Lord and the ushering in of the millennial era; and 2. At the end of the Millennium, plus a little season, when the final overthrow of evil and the destruction of the wicked shall take place. The Lord has not revealed who the nations are, but his prophets have described, in general terms, what they will do in the great battles that shall hereafter be fought. Because we are living in the last days, immediately preceding the second coming of the Lord, our chief interest in Gog and Magog centers in the pre-millennial war." more information on the link I provided

First, good luck with everything! Second, it is okay in life to insist/require/demand "me time". We serve and give of ourselves so much that it is easy to forget we need our time. On my calendar at work I have blocked out times during my week that read "NeedleinA's time, no appointments". The office staff know to simply leave me alone during those times. I got told some great business advice years ago, "If you let customers, they will drain all your time and resources, learn to set limits". Same goes with family and others around us! Also, there are always going to be people who question things about you. When I was single, it was "When are you going to get married?" When I was married, it was "When are you going to have kids?" When I had kids (4 boys), it is now "When are you going to try for a girl?" It never ends!

I remember years ago having a little aha moment from a lecture/lesson. Back in the day, cultures spent their evenings and nights looking up at the sky, thinking about/studying them. Now days, at night, we tend to turn on our TVs/computers and barely give the night sky a second glance unless we are camping or an eclipse forces us to look up. Like PFMD said, "everyone" was familiar with the stars, in contrast we tend to be familiar with our screens.

Hooray, more trivia! I had a "Friend" help out on this one, so... this time I won't answer and give others a chance first. Not 100% sure on #1, but think I've nailed number #2. I know early on there were several "members" re-baptized...

Vort, did you just write your response from scratch or do you have a master database of responses on tap? That was great by the way - thanks! It would take my little brain a week to even come up with part of your response.

After a couple of days of the forum being down, I started getting bored. So... regrettably I went and read a couple of other "LDS" forums, something I had not done before. No, I didn't go to any apparent anti-forums, but rather ones that gave off the initial feel of being in line with the church. What gave off the appearance of mainstream LDS teaching quickly turned out not to be. Yikes! The spirit quickly left after half the posters started: 1. Giving advice that members should be praying to Heavenly Mother 2. Read some books by excommunicated members 3. Priesthood authority had left the General Authorities a year ago. That is about the time I said adios to that and have been waiting for LDS.net to reopen. So... Thank you to LDS.net and the many members here that share church approved doctrine. Funny enough, I'll be speaking in Sacrament fairly soon on "Blessings from Sustaining Church Leaders".

Many people need this explained/spelled out to them, especially men. Many men (including my former self) do not understand the direct connection between helping around the house and the mood that it puts their wives in or out of. You both might be caught in a cycle: You are not in the mood for sex because he doesn't help around the house AND he is not in the mood to help around the house because you are not in the mood for sex. Here is a (LDS) book that I would recommend to EVERY couple, new or old. "Strengthening Marriage through Sexual Fulfillment" by Laura Brotherson. Wonderful book, designed to be read and discussed as a couple! There is a great section in it, "How Husbands Can Help Prepare (their wives) for the Warm-up Phase (for intimacy)". Very first line says: "Women may not have the time, energy or interest to even allow themselves to enter the Warm-up phase without their husband's willing and loving assistance with household responsibilities. Wow, first sentence! Boyd K Packer: "There is no task, however menial, connected with the care of babies, the nurturing of children, or with the maintenance of the home that is not a husband's equal obligation".

BIngo!! I was sitting there thinking the exact same thing but Eowyn beat me to the punch.

Noticing that several entire threads are completely gone now. In addition half of some threads are gone again too. Any chance these will be restored or was there content editing done on the site too? Thanks!

We have a few members at church that have zero issues voicing their opinions when they disagree with "off" statements. I admire them for not just sitting there. Over the years, I would like to think that when I hear something at church that is inappropriate that I too say something. I don't want to sit silent and let others think I agree with them. I've been in about a dozen wards during my life. Each ward was sure to have members who ranged from "wow, why are they not translated yet?" down to the "yikes, what a fruitloop" (not very Christlike, I know). Not everyone makes accurate/appropriate statements in church. Speak up when you hear wishwash is my thought. Picture for a moment sitting in another denomination and them discussing "Mormons are evil" instead. I would hope some of our non-lds friends would step up and call "bull".

I read a quote on here about house cleaning and young children a couple months ago(?) that I believe came from Eowyn(?). "Trying to keep your house clean with little kids at home is like trying to brush your teeth while eating Oreos, it doesn't work" (something like that) So much more to life than keeping my house looking like the temple with 4 kids. After reading that quote, I take life a lot easier and don't beat myself up so much. Thanks!

Second idea I looked over the topics/lessons of the entire year in advance. I took one thought provoking question from each lesson. I then compiled an anonymous survey of about 30 questions. I spent the very first Sunday doing the survey with the entire class, NO lesson, just the survey. Then each week I would share the results of the survey question that pertained to that week's lesson. Example if the lesson was on following the Prophet: Question: If the prophet asked us to all move to Utah today (we don't live in Utah currently) what would you do? a. Pick up and leave immediately b. Pray about it first, wait for your own personal revelation and go only if you received your own answer. c. Wait it out in town and let others go. I would read the anonymous results back to class that would tie into the lesson. It almost always generated deep discussions and the class could go on auto pilot often. I personally learned a lot about my fellow members by studying the survey, not all of it was heart warming either :)