Giuseppe

Highest - New and Everlasting Covenant (Eternal Marriage and all...) Middle - Women unmarried Lowest - Men unmarried Source: none :)))

Thank you for your courage and support. You are right, you will know them by their fruits.

One option is to go to www.mormontestimonies.org and leave your story of conversion or a story about your specific conversion to a gospel principle. Invite your friends and ward members to do the same! This can be done almost in any language, so if you have friends who write in another language tell them about this opportunity.

Zeke, there are things that really don't matter. I personally don't know and don't care too much about certain details, but probably animals were able to eat plants without killing them. However, I am not sure about microbes and germs. I can just think that they were also able to be in people's bodies without killing them because they were not deadly anyway.

The Garden of Eden is where our first parents lived. Because Adam and Eve transgressed this command and partook of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were cast out from the presence of the Lord. In other words, they experienced spiritual death. They also became mortal—subject to physical death. This spiritual and physical death is called the Fall. The Fall is an integral part of Heavenly Father's plan of salvation and it has a twofold direction—downward yet forward. In addition to introducing physical and spiritual death, it gave us the opportunity to be born on the earth and to learn and progress. Through our righteous exercise of agency and our sincere repentance when we sin, we can come unto Christ and, through His Atonement, prepare to receive the gift of eternal life. The prophet Lehi taught: "If Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end."

I have been a member of the Church for more than 20 years. I was baptized in Italy but then I moved to Brazil and now to the US. (I loved Brazil by the way, even with all its problems it is a great country especially for missionary work). I work now for the More Good Foundation and I just completed all the requirement for a PhD in Marriage, Family and Human Development at Brigham Young University. To read my testimonies of the gospel you can go to: Giuseppe Martinengo: how I found the Mormon Church - MormonTestimonies - Mormonism - the LDS Church, Beliefs & Religion and Giuseppe Martinengo: before I met the missionaries of the Mormon Church - MormonTestimonies - Mormonism - the LDS Church, Beliefs & Religion and Giuseppe Martinengo: a testimony about the Mormon Temple - MormonTestimonies - Mormonism - the LDS Church, Beliefs & Religion

Good for you... or bad for you... to do family history is a great experience, but I suppose that if your family has been in the Church for a long time there is not much left to do. In my case, being a convert I had to do all the work and it was great./smile.gif

The Bible contains a lot of truths but not all of them. However, official Mormon Doctrine doesn't teach that Jesus was married or that he even had more than one wife. I suppose we don't need to know these details for now, so that I would focus on the most important things not on these details. The fact that Mormons practiced polygamy in the past is true but we don't need to say that Jesus practiced it to be justified. it was a commandment from the Lord and now it is not allowed anymore. End of the story.

You know that you have repented "completely" when you don't do the same mistake again and you don't even have the desire to do it again. However, it is not always easy to get rid of something and I suppose that we are all in process of repenting of several things. Certain things we get rid of faster and other require more time. Our entire life should be a repenting process. Does it make sense?

I would suggest another site also: www.mormon.org or www.mormonwiki.com

Yes, this is more "newbie friendly" as far as discussion goes.

My comment was for many others also, especially Mr. Bond. Unfortunately there are lots of evangelicals who work harder than Dr. Shades...However, Dr. Shades could create his own agnostic forum. NEWS FLASH: Dr. Shades self-identifies as an AGNOSTIC, which probably means he has no affiliation with an organized religion. B)

I have not seen or read the Da Vinci Code to be honest but I am worried when certain topics are discussed without the Spirit or enough reverence. This is what the anti-mormon like: to use and misuse a principle or historical happening, take it out of context, change it a little bit and use against the Church. Perhaps this is the reason because certain topics need to be avoided or discussed carefully. But I know, I started the thread....it is all my fault!

It is a site from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I suppose their online version should be ok, but we may want to compare with the official version by the Mormon Church.

The truth is that soon or later you will now it and I hope it will not be too late. For now why you and your friends don't do something more positive instead of attacking? Why you don' t say good things about your religion instead of attacking other people's religion? Show me the goodness of your religion by posting information about your religion and convert me unless your religion, if you have one, is so poor that you don't have anything interesting to say about it You should learn that attacking someone else religion doesn't really convert. And in fact, based on your attitude I am already thinking that this is what your religion teaches you: attacking others instead of making the world a better place. Or perhaps you religion is good but you don't understand it. Have a nice day.

I think it make sense what you say even if it is not official doctrine of the Church. Perhaps it is not important for us to know all of these details.

We are just starting now. As usual there are people who don't have anything better to do than trying to destroy. Anti-Mormons are not welcome on LDS Forums. We are there to promote faith or answer serious questions, not to promote anti-mormonism.

You can find new forums at LDS Forums sponsored by the More Good Foundation. We need your help to move it forward.

There is a great website where we can share our testimonies and conversion stories with our non-member friends: www.mormontestimonies.org. Check it out!

James E. Talmage said: "The terms faith and belief are sometimes regarded as synonyms; nevertheless each of them has a specific meaning in our language, although in earlier usage there was little distinction between them, and therefore the words are used interchangeably in many scriptural passages. Belief, in one of its accepted senses, may consist in a merely intellectual assent, while faith implies such confidence and conviction as will impel to action. Dictionary authority justifies us in drawing a distinction between the two, according to present usage in English; and this authority defines belief as a mental assent to the truth or actuality of anything, excluding, however, the moral element of responsibility through such assent, which responsibility is included by faith. Belief is in a sense passive, an agreement or acceptance only; faith is active and positive, embracing such reliance and confidence as will lead to works. Faith in Christ comprises belief in Him, combined with trust in Him. One cannot have faith without belief; yet he may believe and still lack faith. Faith is vivified, vitalized, living belief. (AF:87-88"). The Articles of Faith collect some of the main principles of the Mormon Faith. It is good to remember that they are not simply "Articles of Belief" because they need to compel us to action.

This is a very interesting topic. It doesn't really matter to know it for our salvation, and perhaps it is even better to avoid discussing it too much, but many people are intrigued by this idea. i don't know where the following come from, but it make a lot of sense: “In fact, there's considerable evidence that Jesus was married -- to Mary Magdalene at least, and possibly Mary and Martha (the sisters of Lazarus) as well: a. No adult Jewish male could reach age 30 and be single, without attracting a great deal of negative attention. Many things were used by Jesus' detractors, many accusations were made against him, but this was NOT one of them. a. First, the idea that it "would have been commented upon" in the Bible if he had been married, makes sense from OUR perspective, but not the historical one: in fact, it's exactly backwards: It would have been so extremely unusual for him to have remained UNmarried at that age that it would have been commented upon -- and it never was. c. At the time, marriage was virtually a REQUIREMENT to be acknowledged as "Rabbi" (and he *was* acknowledged as such, even by such sticklers for rules as the Sanhedrin) . d. In that era and culture, no respectable man would have been "followed around" by women as he was, and served by women, as he was -- UNLESS he were married to them. In that era, and in that culture, It would have been absolutely SCANDALOUS for (for example) Mary Magdalene, and the sisters Mary and Martha, to have the kind of close personal relationship which they evidenced, even from the scriptures, unless they were married to him. e. The wedding at Cana was almost certainly his own marriage. Jesus' mother Mary's behavior as reported in scripture is very strange for anyone other than someone responsible as a hostess -- or an extremely inappropriate busy-body.”…. Skipping all the quotes… “g. There is such evidence that Biblical scholars now recognize that Mary Magdalene was MUCH more than just a "friend" of Jesus -- She behaved every bit as an Apostle, and perhaps wife. She *anointed* the Christos ("Christ" means "Anointed One"). It was a feature of both religious and political life throughout the Middle East for a male leader to be both a King and a Priest. It was traditional for the Priest-King to be anointed by the High Priestess in preparation for his ritual sacrifice. (see John 12:3-8.) Mary acted as "apostle to the apostles" -- the one specifically chosen to be the first to bear witness of the Resurrection -- at a time and in a culture in which it was not even LEGAL for women to be witnesses (the term "testimony" comes from "testes"). Jesus' choice of Mary as the first and primary witness of the Resurrection could not have been "coincidence".” Any comment?

I love to do my family history and you are right, for every thing there is a time and a season. I have being doing family history at chunks, sudden period of intense work followed by times when i do basically nothing. So, I believe that family history is an endeavor that will probably last for all our lives and even beyond.

These are my favorites: www.ldschurchtemples.com and www.mormonchurchtemples.com

The priesthood is the power and authority of God. God created the heavens and the earth by His priesthood power. By this power the universe is kept in perfect order. Through this power He accomplishes His work and glory, which is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 1:39). Our Heavenly Father shares His priesthood power in a limited way with worthy male members of the Mormon Church. The priesthood enables them to act in the name of Jesus Christ to help bring about the salvation of the human family. Through it, they can be authorized to preach the gospel, administer the ordinances of salvation, and govern God’s kingdom on earth. Men are ordained to the priesthood through the laying on of hands by worthy priesthood holders. As the Apostle Paul taught, "And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." (Hebrews 5:4) Priesthood holders are divided into bodies called quorums. Through the quorums of the priesthood, men and boys strengthen each other and organize themselves to be of service in the neighborhoods and communities in which they live. Women and girls, though not receiving the priesthood, have equally important roles and responsibilities in carrying out the purposes of our loving Heavenly Father here on earth. They are entitled to all of the blessings of the priesthood.

LDS webmasters, if you really want to make a difference on the Internet, come to learn more about www.moregoodfoundation.org We need your help!