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@GaleG, There's a book called "Lehi in the Desert", which you can read online for free at that link, which gives a lot of cultural / historic / geographic background information, making it easier to understand the story at the start of the Book of Mormon. (The other 2/3 of that book cover similar things about the people in the book of Ether (later in the Book of Mormon).) Just mentioning in case you want to read. It's a very easy read, much like reading a novel.

I was looking for websites describing scenic byways, and came across an article called "Every State (and DC!), Described in Emojis". It seemed like it had the potential to be amusing, so I went to look... Here's Utah: Apparently we're never getting over this one.

The Holy Ghost (the Spirit) does not lead us into temptation. Temptation is something we experience because of agency, opposition, and our fallen nature, but the Spirit doesn't say, "Here, come on into this here brothel and see if you can take it." or other such things. The Spirit leads us to God and to good. Undoubtedly, Christ was tempted in all things - beyond our ability to withstand, I'm sure - but it wasn't the Spirit that led him into temptation.

Good, except when snow-removal takes me hours (and other people do things with the snow that ticks me off) and I reward myself with laziness afterwards. I'm averaging 2x per week than 3x, but I'll get there. I came home today from getting my car inspected and buying groceries and found they'd finally sent a plow, but all he appears to have done is barricade my driveway. It was higher than the clearance on my car, but what the plows pile up is too heavy for removal without a truck + plow, so I lined up as much as possible (I back in) and floored it. Made it through, thankfully, but spread a lot of that snow back into my driveway. I believe whoever clears our street has changed - last year, the guy never barricaded driveways. This year he's done it every time he had the chance. Also, the good neighbors who had an ATV with a plow and knew how to use it moved, and my other neighbor with an ATV and a plow can't figure out how to use it and just makes things worse. So, I tend to come back in frustrated and mopey. I miss New York, where we didn't have sidewalks.

? I've got my new plan and I'm sticking with it until it becomes habit, then I'll tweak. So, I'm not sure what there is to join.

You didn't ask about those, just about the apparent conflict between the two Matthew verses. And there's a difference between being tempted and the Spirit explicitly leading him somewhere for the express purpose of being tempted - the one rational, the other absurd.

Did some of that, too. Yuck.

The JST fixes this problem.

I don't believe I was ever a "literary student". Regardless, I was never required to read Dante, and never got around to it on my own.

Haven't read this thread. Just as Bruce R. McConkie knows nothing about the seven deadly sins, I know nothing1 about Dante (nor his presumed relation to these sins). 1Nothing that can't be heard / seen in popular culture. Dante's Inferno? Levels of hell, maybe? Abandon all hope..., maybe? (Could be those came from somewhere else. Not sure. Too lazy to go look it up.)

Of course it's not. Read the Book of Mormon - it explains many times over the best way to reach out to any and all, and nowhere does it give the example of attracting folks by finding fault with Church leaders (and no, this isn't "finding common ground" à la "the Great Spirit is God").

Apparently whatever government is supposed to clear roads is closed every time it snows. Go figure. Maybe they should send their snow plows off to get programmed by google or something.

I grew up in upstate NY where waking to 2 additional feet of snow overnight was not unusual. But I was young and had a brother to help clear - and there were no sidewalks, just the driveway. Now I'm just sick of it, even with a snow-blower. It's now up to 24".

Do the AG titles / intros say something different from the conclusion? Are they click-bait that reads like something designed to attract people who have some grudge against the Church or E. Oaks, or who want to feed on the latest Church controversy? Whether it was the author who designed the title/intro that way, or editors, that's still how it comes off. And yes, I read the article. Doesn't change my opinion of the title or the opening.

While I was plowing my driveway, cars drove by with people on skis being towed along behind them. I assume somewhere in Utah, someone is snowmobiling. I'd offer to trade, but I'm sure where you are is no better. (This much is actually pretty rare here.)

That's a 4' stick, the snow on that side is at 17" - and that's the shorter stuff...

Repent early and often.

Certainly, I'd say those fit together. I just don't think that "success" (depending, I suppose, on what exactly you mean by success) necessarily is a reward from God, nor that failure (again, depending) is necessarily a punishment from God. And I think failure can be a gift / reward from God. Meanwhile, I have long thought that these verses in Alma: ...teach us that the act itself is the reward: if ye do all these things then shall ye receive your reward see that you are merciful unto your brethren ye shall have mercy restored unto you deal justly ye shall have justice restored unto you judge righteously ye shall have a righteous judgment restored unto you do good continually ye shall have good rewarded unto you again

Poor kitty. And this just reminded me that I had a dream last night that included two cats that used to live with my parents, but their names were the names of two other cats that later lived with my parents. (In appearance, they were Toni and Junior (from my teenage years), but in name, they were Missy and Nogi (from my college+ years).) How strange.

I could not disagree with this more. This is what I was saying in my footnote. Sure, success looks to a mortal like a reward, and failure looks to a human like a punishment, but I am not convinced, on an individual level, that this is true - on a societal level, yes (Nephite promise), but not on an individual level. Consider this: Most people would not rejoice and be exceeding glad when they are reviled, persecuted, and falsely spoken evil against. Just think of the nightmare a powerful person could cause in the life of a humble soul simply by false accusation - the humble soul could lose their employment and savings, their home, could be sent to prison (or an arena full of hungry lions) - all because a powerful-enough person wanted it badly enough. Most going through such experiences might wonder what they had done to deserve such punishment, or why God hated them. Yet God says they should rejoice and be exceeding glad.

Pfff. 5 steps my eye! I once left steaks marinating on the counter - pushed to the middle, a counter she could barely get her front paws up onto - and went into the other room for a few minutes. When I returned, no more steaks! The little demon! I suppose her brother could have helped her (he was tall enough to put his paws on my shoulders), but he was the most obedient dog on the planet - lived to please his humans, no leash needed - he was celestial material from day one.

In computer programming, there's a concept called "coupling" which describes the relationship between separate components or modules of an application. Coupling can be "tight" - meaning that the separate modules are coded such that they depend on each other and if one changes, all those which reference it must also be changed; or coupling can be "loose" - meaning that they're designed such that they can be changed independently and still function together. I believe that among mortals, the coupling between behavior and consequence (reward/punishment) is tight - and that this is a good thing, because we're so flawed. Go to work and do your job? Get paid. Tight coupling. Fail to go to work and do your job? Get fired. Tight coupling. Our laws generally tightly couple the crime to the punishment - even if we think them unfair, they are still generally tightly coupled. I believe that to our flawed mortal minds, God's rewards and punishments are both misunderstood1 and appear to be loosely coupled. I think this is due to lack of understanding on our part, and I believe the rewards and punishments are probably tightly coupled from God's perspective. I also believe God's rewards and punishments are often less immediate than we mortals like. Nonetheless, when we look for them, we can see God's abundant blessings in our lives, and I have personally experienced their ebb and flow in consequence of my own behavior. (Thus, I think the "consequence" vs "reward/punishment" debate is only in semantics or perspective, and both perspectives can be useful in seeking understanding.) 1Meaning there are things we perceive as rewards or punishments which are either not rewards or punishments, or are the opposite of what we think - we perceive a punishment as a reward and vice versa. One may choose to call God's rewards and punishments "consequences" (and I believe they either always are or often are - I'm not certain which), but I don't believe that negates them coming from God - even if only because He's the one who defined the law and its consequence. Finally, I see many instances of reward and punishment in scripture, and many promises of reward and punishment: obey the Word of Wisdom and you will receive health and strength (obvious consequence) and revelation and other spiritual blessings (not quite so obvious a consequence); obey and prosper (the promise liberally repeated throughout scripture, but especially in the Old Testament and Book of Mormon); ripen in iniquity and be destroyed (ditto) - that these last two appear to be group-oriented rather than individual-oriented doesn't alter the reward/punishment nature of them.

Did you name it "Spot"? I had a dog named "cat" (in Russian - Koshka, long O, stress on the first syllable). Lab-border collie-something whippet-like mix. She was way too smart. Here's what she looked like when we brought her home: (This thread needed an animal photo.)

Reactions keep bringing me back to this, and so I thought I'd share some additional thoughts on these verses: I have come to believe that these verses describe what I will call Godly faith. Our faith is (supposed to be) in Jesus Christ - we are to act trusting that what he says is true and right, that our obedience will bring about the results he promises. But I believe God's faith is inherent in himself and requires omniscience - some say that omniscience would nullify any need for (even capacity for) faith - that once you know, you don't have or need faith (and they quote Alma). But I believe what the Lectures on Faith teach - that the faith of an omniscient being is represented by the bold bits above - to carry out all you have said, to act fully expecting (even knowing) that the intent of your action will be accomplished: When I reach out my hand to pick up something, I'm acting in faith. I've done it a zillion1 times before. I know it will work (though really, I assume it will work again). Sometimes I wonder why we (or just I) don't dare to exercise this principle of power far more, and for far greater things - I sense there is unspeakable power there, waiting to be used - sure, lacking omniscience causes doubt, but there are things I know that I don't dare... Anywho, just some light thinking on faith and power and omniscience... 1Heh heh, zillion.