NeedleinA

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  1. Thanks
    NeedleinA reacted to Traveler in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    I think your ideas are important and if you are open to discussion - as you appear to be - then I think you questions are excellent questions.
     
    The Traveler
  2. Like
    NeedleinA got a reaction from Anddenex in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    I realize we have agency, the ability to make choices/preferences like: hamburger vs. hotdog. Cat vs. dog. Blue vs. Red. Follow good vs. evil. 
    That aside for the moment:
    Q. Is becoming like our Father in Heaven required to enter into the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom?
    Q. Does obtaining 'perfection', like our Father in Heaven, someday require a form of making his will our will?
    Q. Does obtaining 'perfection' at some point thus require us to align our perspective to his as well?
    Q. In order to master/become/obtain (?) perfection, it seems that some requirements, laws, guidelines must be followed at all times otherwise perfection would become corrupted and thus imperfect.
    REAL QUESTION:
    Q: Wouldn't diversity of thought at some point (in the eternities) become counter productive as it would be competing against those thoughts that stemmed from perfection?
    How do you offer a better thought than one that is already a perfect thought? Didn't Satan offer up a diverse thought to that of our Father in Heaven's already perfect plan?
  3. Like
    NeedleinA reacted to Just_A_Guy in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    I think the answer to all your questions is “yes”; with a caveat that perspective is largely a function of life experience and I think God, by virtue of His Atonement, already understands all experiences and therefore all perspectives perfectly.  
    But for what it’s worth, I think Dr. Glenn is speaking from a communitarian/social standpoint; not a theological one.  
  4. Like
    NeedleinA got a reaction from LDSGator in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    I realize we have agency, the ability to make choices/preferences like: hamburger vs. hotdog. Cat vs. dog. Blue vs. Red. Follow good vs. evil. 
    That aside for the moment:
    Q. Is becoming like our Father in Heaven required to enter into the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom?
    Q. Does obtaining 'perfection', like our Father in Heaven, someday require a form of making his will our will?
    Q. Does obtaining 'perfection' at some point thus require us to align our perspective to his as well?
    Q. In order to master/become/obtain (?) perfection, it seems that some requirements, laws, guidelines must be followed at all times otherwise perfection would become corrupted and thus imperfect.
    REAL QUESTION:
    Q: Wouldn't diversity of thought at some point (in the eternities) become counter productive as it would be competing against those thoughts that stemmed from perfection?
    How do you offer a better thought than one that is already a perfect thought? Didn't Satan offer up a diverse thought to that of our Father in Heaven's already perfect plan?
  5. Haha
    NeedleinA got a reaction from LDSGator in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    *like Kamino Clone Troopers? 😉
  6. Like
    NeedleinA got a reaction from Vort in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    I realize we have agency, the ability to make choices/preferences like: hamburger vs. hotdog. Cat vs. dog. Blue vs. Red. Follow good vs. evil. 
    That aside for the moment:
    Q. Is becoming like our Father in Heaven required to enter into the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom?
    Q. Does obtaining 'perfection', like our Father in Heaven, someday require a form of making his will our will?
    Q. Does obtaining 'perfection' at some point thus require us to align our perspective to his as well?
    Q. In order to master/become/obtain (?) perfection, it seems that some requirements, laws, guidelines must be followed at all times otherwise perfection would become corrupted and thus imperfect.
    REAL QUESTION:
    Q: Wouldn't diversity of thought at some point (in the eternities) become counter productive as it would be competing against those thoughts that stemmed from perfection?
    How do you offer a better thought than one that is already a perfect thought? Didn't Satan offer up a diverse thought to that of our Father in Heaven's already perfect plan?
  7. Like
    NeedleinA reacted to Traveler in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    It would seem to me the there are several points though which this topic can be viewed - I like @Vort's point of view.  To be honest I think @NeedleinA view is not as incorrect as it is extreme.
    The goal of the Saints that covenant with G-d is to be "one" - both with each other and G-d (including his Son Jesus Christ).  I have some ideas but I am not sure my ideas are as accurate as what is necessary for a Saint of G-d.  But I do believe that the great principle of the Pre-existence was Agency.  Without question - with agency comes diversity.  It was Lucifer that went to war in heaven over diversity and being against diversity (Agency) was more harmful to him than benefit for thinking and believing so.
    It has been a bit difficult for me but I have become more acceptable of how someone uses their agency with two caveats.  First; that they own their decisions as theirs and not attempt to blame anyone else - especially G-d or Satan.  Often I will make of joke of this and say something like, "I can resist anything but temptation".   Second that they do not attempt to make their choice the only valid or acceptable choice for others - especially those in a similar circumstance.
    I admit that the second caveat is the most difficult for me.  I believe that because I am primarily connected to logic rather than emotions that anyone else employing logic should come to the same conclusion.  However, I have a brother that tells me that the only thing that I am emotional about is logic and that others have a broader perspective.  
    We have always had singles in the church.  It does seem to me that there are more single ladies than men but then these times are a changing.  
    It is also my opinion that we make too big of a deal over marriage in that if we cannot get along in a marriage relationship - it is okay to be single.  I personally do not what to get into discussions over all the excuses that are employed to be single.  I did not marry until I was 26 and had to employ many excuses myself.  My favorite excuse was that my eternal partner was killed in the war in heaven.  I did not think of myself as lonely when I was single - however now that I am married to a wonderful lady and have 5 children (9 counting their spouses) and 20 grand children - I have come to understand a connection to ancestors as well as decedents that has completely reset my previous logic of being alone and not lonely.
    There is a misery index that can go to zero through the everlasting covenant of eternal marriage.  Any deliberate effort to avoid any sacred covenant will (if not in the here and now) eventually tick up the misery index.
     
    The Traveler
  8. Like
    NeedleinA reacted to LDSGator in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    A1: we don’t have a need for diverse perspectives, I guess, but we’ll have them because people are diverse
    A2: If he didn’t want diverse perspectives, he would have made us all clones incapable of independent thought. 
    A3: lockstep conformity becomes a litmus test and a source of pride.  What? This guy doesn’t vomit out what I do in appearances and thought? He must be a heathen. Why can’t he look/think like me? 
     
    A4: I don’t know, but I can’t help but think that He (God) gives us multiple chances for salvation. I refuse to believe that a Jewish person in the holocaust dies and goes to Hell just because they weren’t presented with a chance in this life to be introduced to the BOM 
  9. Thanks
    NeedleinA reacted to Vort in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    I see where you're coming from. But "singleness" is not a state one must actively avoid or repent of. In the sense that the optimal state, the state required of us to progress to our eventual exaltation, is one of marriage of a man to a woman, then anything other than that state is suboptimal. In this sense, your statement is true. But I would hesitate at making too much of a comparison between being unmarried and having homosexual proclivities. I think the comparison brings more confusion than clarity.
    Again, this is a matter of definition of terms. We are surely in agreement that diversity for diversity's sake is useless if not harmful.
    But God is vastly powerful and able. He can very literally do any meaningful thing. We are vastly impotent and handicapped. We cannot see the end from the beginning; indeed, we do well to see the next step. Next to God, we know almost nothing. We are as helpless as a newborn babe in his mother's arms.
    Yet God has given gifts and inspiration to us. Not all share the same gifts. If all are ears, where is the seeing? If all feet, where the hearing? If all vision, where the movement? In this sense—that God's gifts are innumerable, and that each of us has his own, perhaps unique, gifts—I would say yes, diversity is a very good thing indeed. I would in fact say that diversity is crucial to our progress and to the establishment of God's kingdom.
    Both are true simultaneously. If we must go by opinion on some matter, let us seek diligently to know God's "opinion" on that matter, and follow it. But I think it is usually not so straightforward and clear-cut as that. It makes sense for men and women to counsel together. This is the basis of the Church's operation by quorums, and in fact the basis of how the family operates, or should operate. We should be complementary to each other, as the woman complements the man and vice versa. I believe that in many cases, this is how the mind of God is revealed to us.
    See the above thoughts on diversity. I think it should be a great help, but when people focus on "diversity" as if it by its very nature is some virtue, then I think such attitudes prove a great hindrance to our progression.
    I do not believe the world is trying to convince us of this. The world scoffs at any idea of an "iron rod", except for whatever is popular today.
    Rather, and more insidiously, I think that too many who claim to be Saints are trying to convince us of this lie. Many of them actually believe the lie. It has always been thus, though I do believe the current rising generation has bought into such lies to a greater degree than many past generations. Maybe just different lies. I'm not sure.
  10. Okay
    NeedleinA reacted to CV75 in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    Yes, the Lord loves diversity (as in variety; thus He created all things in and upon the Earth) -- and each child is different, and His Atonement can be applied in innumerable ways to any of their circumstances. Each child brings something to the table in the Church of the Firstborn. Making and keeping the eternal covenants is the only thing we are to do the same. So, RE: Q1 I think that yes, there is more than one way to do good and bring the Gospel to others in a fallen world. Q2: this is a false dichotomy. Q3: A help: God himself possesses diversity of thought (Hebrews 1:1, Alma 24:27, Moroni 10:8, ). Q4: Yes, but this is not the same as Q1, 2 or 3.
  11. Like
    NeedleinA reacted to estradling75 in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    Need might be a strong word.
    In this fallen world we are going to have diverse perspectives... because everyone has there own and we have to deal with it.
    The command to love and minster can some times be easier, and is generally more effective, when we understand the perspectives of those we are trying to reach.
  12. Like
    NeedleinA got a reaction from Vort in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    Yes, for checkbox, virtue signaling or PR purposes... absolutely on the same page. 
  13. Like
    NeedleinA got a reaction from Vort in Does the Lord want/need diverse perspectives?   
    Very true. 
    Sorry, the only parallel was the PR parallel of finding someone and presenting them in the light of "hey look at me, I'm X and still faithful and full of purpose". 
    Other than that, singleness has nothing to do with a state that one must actively avoid. 👍
  14. Like
    NeedleinA reacted to Just_A_Guy in BYU athletes can’t endorse these products   
    1). It’s a repeated point of embarrassment as player after player fails to live up to the Honor Code in very public ways;
    2).  It sets up a caste system within the University where athletes get tuition and dining perks and often skate through with sub-par academic performance and minimal Honor Code compliance—and (in my experience) the athletes know it, which makes them even more insufferable;
    3). It’s a point of leverage for leftist institutions to being pressure to bear against the University and the Church for taking unpopular stances;
    4).  I’ve seen conflicting statements about whether BYU athletics, taken as a whole, are even financially self-sustaining; which leads me to suspect that even if it isn’t an outright money-loser—it’s no great financial boon, either.
  15. Like
    NeedleinA reacted to Manners Matter in Your Ward... back to normal after Covid?   
    Pretty much normal but off the top of my head - 
    cameras are still around, no paper bulletins, no missionaries for in-person meals
  16. Love
    NeedleinA reacted to NeuroTypical in Happy Independence day weekend!   
    Mirkwood was actually in this one. 
     
     
  17. Like
    NeedleinA got a reaction from Manners Matter in Fauci's Two Americas   
    I literally would trust the advice of my dog's Veterinarian over anything Fauci has to say any longer about Covid or all the super-duper scary variants.
    His reputation as a serious unbiased non-political health expert swirled down the toilet long ago. 
    I heard a comment, that I'm sure I'll butcher...
    "If you have to watch the news in order to see panic, destruction, pandemic and death BUT when you look out your own front door, talk with people you know and see and nothing the news says is reflected in real life... something is up with your news source".
    Fauci has turned into the boy who cries wolf and then says he never did.
     
  18. Haha
    NeedleinA got a reaction from Vort in Happy Independence day weekend!   
  19. Like
    NeedleinA reacted to mordorbund in Happy Independence day weekend!   
    I have to thank Justice Scalia for explaining why this particular structure ensures the freedoms promised in the Bill of Rights.
     
  20. Like
    NeedleinA reacted to Vort in BYU athletes can’t endorse these products   
    Good for BYU for doing what they very obviously should have done.
  21. Love
    NeedleinA got a reaction from Suzie in Happy Independence day weekend!   
    I'll add my part!

  22. Like
    NeedleinA got a reaction from NeuroTypical in Happy Independence day weekend!   
    I'll add my part!

  23. Like
    NeedleinA reacted to Jedi_Nephite in Critical Race Theory - Someone (liberal) please explain   
    Here’s what this guy had to say about CRT:
     
  24. Love
    NeedleinA reacted to NeuroTypical in Happy Independence day weekend!   
    (I'm roughly paraphrasing Oaks' April GC talk here, so sue me.)   The US Constitution is the oldest written constitution still in force today. It contains the doctrine of moral agency. Meaning, folks should have the maximum freedom to act according to their individual choices. And also meaning that it is wrong for citizens to have no voice in the selection of our rulers or the making of our laws. It provided a framework that would allow it to grow and evolve. Amendments that abolished slavery, and gave women the right to vote, couldn't be included in the original, they had to come later.   Five cool principles found in the US Constitution: - The source of government power is the people. Quite a revolutionary idea when it was signed - most folks figured sovereign power came from the 'divine right of kings' or military power. - Division of delegated power between the nation and it's states. Basically, all government powers rest in the hands of the states or the people, except for the powers specifically granted the national government. - Separation of powers. Not a new idea, but a very good one. Courts, the legislature, and the executive - they don't answer to each other - they only have stewardship over their own functions. Human nature seems to dictate that we want more and more power, consolodated in fewer and fewer places. Checks and balances helps us keep that from happening. - Specific vital guarantees of individual rights, and specific limits on govt authority. Useful against the always-renewing slew of idealistic worldchangers and problemfixers. Sorry friend, it doesn't matter how good your solution is, if it interferes with this or that right enshrined in the bill of rights, then you don't get to have it. - Coolest principle: We are to be governed by law, and not by individuals. We pledge allegiance to a symbol, not a person. Our oaths are sworn to protect and preserve the constitution, not this or that party or office holder. Everyone gets equal protection, and equal treatment, under the law. Imperfect, agenda-driven, biased, error-prone, fallible, sinful, fallen humans will always pick ways to rule each other. I'm glad the US picked the Constitution. Happy Independence Day weekend y'all!  
  25. Like
    NeedleinA reacted to Carborendum in Satan's little ironies   
    You say you disagree, then you show that you actually agree.  You have a funny way of expressing yourself.  A perfect study of self-contradiction.