JohnsonJones

It's an interest, but many times you have already said what I may have been thinking so there's not much need to repeat it. The other problem is that some have taken it into a very political minded issue, and as (I think it is still occurring here) politics are currently not something discussed here in a great degree, discussing the pandemic, even in a scientific manner, or even related to what General Authorities have said about it, can have some take it in the wrong way or manner. Thus, talking about it without including the politics regarding it or appearing to do so (even if it is related to the Church itself) can be harder. Thus, I try to avoid posting things that some may take as overly political, even if it is not, and even if it is directly related to the Church and things that have come out regarding the Church in many instances. Overall, trying to avoid political issues, as well as some items are not things people wish to hear or even talk about (or even help) that are occurring in some local areas of the church. Persecution against the General Authorities and those who follow them probably has never been as great in the church as it is today. The Prophet, Elder Renlund, and Elder Oaks have all been the targets of this persecution, and unfortunately, those who have endorsed these General Authorities and their statements in some of the local areas are also thus persecuted. If politics is placed on that high of a pedestal to do that to General Authorities, what hope does anyone else have against that tide of opinion?

Abortion can be seen as terrible, and though it is occurring, I find that there are many other things that condemn us far worse and are far more widespread as far as our sins in the West are occurring. Even as a nation, the U.S. is involved in widespread disobedience on a massive scale. That said, though it can be seen as a sin, there are multitudes of sin in the US and Europe currently, some which have a much greater prevalence in the West, even in the US. Some of these are far worse in how they could be seen to condemn the West in it's behaviors as they are so widespread as to be commonplace. 1. The Law of Chastity. There is a HIGH percentage of divorce these days in the US. In the New Testament the Lord condemns intimacy outside the bonds of marriage and especially points out that unless one divorces due to their partner committing adultery (or immorality along those lines such as fornication or OTHER sins comparable...something that the LGBT crowd does not realize that verse is also probably referencing as the Lord was WELL aware of that when he referenced immorality) they may be causing themselves or their partner to commit adultery in the future. Divorce is rampant. Even worse is fornication, something that IS condemned in the Bible. It is estimated today that over 95% of All Americans and Europeans have intimate relations before marriage. This would include many (if not most) Christians in that percentage. If we use the Biblical context of symbolism regarding the Lord's People and Him in marriage, as well as the sacredness of marriage, we have a great problem in that people do not even respect marriage itself, much less the symbolism between the Lord and his people. In this, a great number of people are involved with these sins and most are not even ashamed of it, but instead openly mock those who would try to obey the Lord's commandments in the sacredness of marriage the acts that are held to be only done within it. Instead of holding these things sacred, we glorify the breaking of it in film and entertainment, and the west holds those who try to be obedient to it in disdain. It is truly where many say evil is good and good evil among society today. Adultery and Fornication are rampant in our nation breaking the 7th (6th in some teachings) commandment. 2. Idolatry and taking the Lord's name in vain. When we think of Idolatry most of the time we think of golden idols or an idol that is worshiped instead of the Lord. It can include many other things. Putting a King above the Lord in who you follow for example. Prophets in the Bible were tested of old in this way, such as when Daniel had to choose whether to obey the commandments of the Lord or that of the King and his advisors. Most of us today do not have the threat of Lions eating us or being tossed into a fire but many commit idolatry anyways. They worship politicians (for example, put the ideas of a President or King above that of the Lord) and conflux politics with religion. They worship sports and put sports above that of religion which in some cases can lead to questions of whether they are following yet another commandment (which I'll touch below). They worship Entertainers, actors, or other items putting their value above that which they put the items of the Lord. Very few actually put the Lord first in their lives and we will find their living rooms and bedrooms decorated with all the paraphernalia of that which they actually worship. Idolatry is rampant in the US and Europe, breaking the 1st and 2nd commandments. 3. In conjunction with the second item above, many do not keep the Sabbath day holy. Instead of actual rest they spend themselves on sports, outings, and even work. Worse, they force others to break the Sabbath by supporting businesses being open on the sabbath and forcing those employees to work, even if those employees wish to remain home and rest on the Sabbath instead. In many areas it is as if there is no Sabbath day at all, every place is open. As a Christian nation the Sabbath used to be held in holiness and Business that were unessential were closed. Now, people might go to church but then a great majority will go and support businesses that are open on the Sabbath and having others work, even if they are not specifically at work themselves. Going to a restaurant after Church or going clothes shopping for fun, doing things that cannot even be somewhat attributed to a necessary need are being acted upon. Not keeping the Sabbath Day Holy breaking the 4th (3rd in some Teachings) commandment. 4. You watch movies today and listen to film. You constantly hear cursing, but one of the worst is how often you hear them take the Lord's name in vain. A few years ago (actually, now that I think about it, it was actually in the 90s so I suppose it's been decades now) I was watching a Disney film. You would think films made by Disney would be relatively safe. In it, I suddenly heard them take the Lord's name in vain. I was surprised. This is so commonplace today it is even seen as appropriate for films we show our children. Even worse, we have those who go full speed at breaking it, claiming they are the Lord's servants and then acting in the opposite way he would have them do. In all ways, though they say they are his servants, they use him to promote themselves instead and get gain at the cost of others. Using the Lord's name in vain is rampant in our society today, breaking the 3rd (in some teachings, the 2nd) commandment 5. Not as rampant as those above it, but there are many who are cursing their parents and doing all sorts of disservice and disrespect to their forbears. They do not care about their parents and in many instances openly mock them and their elders. Their is a great (even if it is far lesser than those above) spread of those who disrespect and dishonor their parents breaking the 5th (in some teachings the 4th) commandment. These items above are not even the Higher Laws that were taught by the Lord. These are the very basic commandments given by Moses and yet there is widespread breaking of them without much consideration of what is being done. We haven't even touched the Greater commandments the Lord gave, but just these basic commandments show great trouble in our Nation and Europe. When we consider the basic ideas that the Lord gave in the New Testament we will find very few are actually adhering to the Lord. 1. Love the Lord with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. In conjunction with the commandments above, if they cannot even follow the basic ideas of having one God and not taking his name in vain or keeping his day holy, they have a far way to go in keeping the higher ideal the Lord taught here. 2. Love they Neighbor as thyself. A prime example some will not agree with, but I see it as one. If you could save your neighbor from death...would you? How about if all it took was to not force them to see you (I suppose some could say wear a mask and social distance as Elder Renlund and President Nelson have taught for over a year, but I don't think their words hold as much substance among some as they do me) if they did not want you to come around them or to be forced into meetings or other areas. This would hold especially true for very old folk today in the pandemic. Not all are like this, and they are welcome to be visited if that is what they wish (in my book) but there are those that wished to isolate until the pandemic was over who had health problems or were old and very susceptible to the virus. Instead of listening to their elders (so I suppose this could relay into the items above as well of honoring one's mother and father) children may have decided to go and visit anyways or try to force them to go to activities. Others openly mocked these people instead of loving them and hoping that they would stay safe. I see an awful many christians who have exhibited no sympathy or love for their neighbors who are trying to stay safe in whatever way they can over the past year. If the actions of the many of whom we thought were the most devout christians are any indication, they are not acting very christian like recently. However, it can be seen much further in how many act. I think one of the things President Nelson (the prophet of our church) has taught and tried to emphasize is that we should love our fellow man and our neighbors. I see the things he has tried to bring up ignored on a daily basis (and we don't even have to take things the twelve have tried to say during this pandemic, we are talking about basic things such as helping them feel welcome to the church or recognizing that they are also children of our Father and his great love for them as well. That we should not mock them or treat them unkindly...etc...etc...etc). In that light, very few can be seen as actually following the Lord these days, even those who profess they do. Of course, many would say those sins I listed at first, breaking the basic commandments are of GREATER concern and are widespread enough to condemn this nation. When we include the ideas of the New Testament, very few in this nation seem to actually be following the Lord. I may be among those who are also in great unrighteousness, though I try I am not going to exclude myself and say I am better than my fellows, but I do recognize that we, as a nation and a world are in a bad spot in even attempting to follow the Lord right now.

I thought the Trump "Tax Cuts" were stupid, and as it has shown they raised our debt and enormous amount. I think the "stimulus" is also rather foolish and much of what is being done will also raise the debt. I don't have a problem helping out those who have lost their jobs due to shut downs with the pandemic. I think that could be useful to keep money flowing and to help them in a bad situation. By all means, give those who have lost their jobs that money currently, but that is not going to equal over a Trillion dollars. If they are in need because of the shut downs, I agree that giving them money to pay rent and buy food is the right thing to do. I do not think it is economical to give EVERYONE money, especially as most of the shut downs are STILL shut down, thus those companies that will really need the boost won't be able to get it anyways. If you want to stimulate the economy, you have to have the economy open first.

This is a tougher question to answer...not because it's hard to answer, but it's walking on egg shells. There's a fine line that's being tread today between validating the Priests and Pastors in other religions who claim to be using the Priesthood and utilizing it's power (and thus, if they are, validating their religions and churches) and the emerging teachings that many are thinking is being taught regarding everyone being able to use the priesthood. There is ALSO the danger which is where it appears there is a push to redefine what the definition of the Priesthood is today within the church and how, if accepted as such, ties directly into the direct problem I just stated above. Following down that path ultimately will mean that every Christian church that claims to have and use the priesthood has claim to be the REAL church and the REAL religion, because they have just as much authority and right to use it in the same ways as others without any other external conference of power or authority. Hence, the difficulty I have directly answering the question easily. That said, the question you ask can be seen as too broad a question to directly answer in light of the above. The Priesthood itself is seen as the Power of the Lord, however the authority of the Priesthood is related to offices and keys of which the ordinances of the Gospel are given. A simple answer are that ALL miracles that come from God are the manifestation of the Priesthood in our lives regardless of whom it comes through. However, there are certain blessings and ordinances that come solely through those upon whom the power and authority has been conferred upon and upon whom the keys have been ordained to.

Ah, that stinks. It's happened all over Texas with many people. Some say it's a worse problem than the blackouts. I hope that you got the only problem and the plumbing works after this. Plumbers probably have it made for a few years after all the burst pipes the past few days. Hope that this is the worst of it and everything is going back to normal. Hopefully things will look up from here on out.

An alert that has come through. There is a Boil order (boil your water) that's come out for the following areas of Texas. Boil order noticies issued for central Texas Towns.

It is in the Lord's hands to judge on whether someone has had that opportunity to receive the gospel in this life or not and then rejected it. There are many variables and we do not understand all of them. It is correct though in our current teachings, if someone truly had the opportunity to accept the gospel in this life and rejected it, then they have limited their options in the next, as you say. How that is judged is not really known to us. For example, if you have someone such as my mother whom I gave a Book of Mormon to and talked about the church with from the time I was baptized, did she actually reject the gospel? She never spoke ill about it, but she never seemed to tell me that she actually got a strong witness and knew it was true. Without that witness of the Holy Ghost, as a reasonable person, did she actually have the opportunity to know it was the true church or not? My hopes are that she has the opportunity to fully accept the gospel and the ordinances thereof for the greatest rewards she can obtain...but the judgements are the Lords and not mine to make. Now, if the DO reject the gospel in this life, they will have opportunities to accept the gospel and ordinances in the next life, but their rewards are limited (as you say). They will not be able to receive the highest degree of glory or rewards, but may be given lesser rewards. As the Bible says, (KJV version) in John 14.

My understanding is that the Governor and government are now officially saying that it wasn't due to lack of energy from Wind/Solar but the Natural Gas lines freezing up. That's probably a LARGE reason why people are stating it was for other reasons than the wind/solar problems that have been noted by some. Texas relies on Natural Gas for Power, wasn't ready for the extreme cold Texas relies on natural gas for power, it wasn't ready for the extreme cold Sorry, it's behind a paywall, but here's a portion of it Natural gas supply is critically low in Texas, are rolling gas outages next Regardless, however one looks at it, the primary cause of this (whether one blames the renewable resources, or Natural Gas) is that Texas simply wasn't prepared for a cold snap. They had a warning that such could happen in 2010 but apparently no one took it seriously. There's a WARNING going out to some regions of Texas that you need to take a look at your next electricity bill. Due to the Natural Gas difficulties, the price has risen exponentially. Some cities and counties restrict how much the price of energy can rise in a month and people in those areas should be reasonably protected to a degree against massive cost increases. However, a few areas are giving out warning that the price may rise over 9,000% so people need to make sure that they keep an eye on what the costs are running for their electricity that they do get...when they get it. If it DOES rise that much though, I expect there will be a lawsuit and legal action to stop it from costing people so much, but something to keep an eye on after this entire crisis is over. AS pointed out, other states and even Canada (which relies much more heavily on Wind/Solar than Texas or any other state in the US) has not had these problems. Kansas did not have these problems. Oklahoma did not have these problems. Most of it seems to stem (at this point), NOT on whether it is fossil fuels or renewables or even Natural Gas, but whether they were prepared to handle the temperatures that hit Texas. HOWEVER...this is like a one in every ten year event. The reason Texas went independent for it's energy is because the cost to secure against the cold for something that only happens once in ten years was seen as unfeasible. That's still a good question. This WAS a hard snap of cold, but it might not occur again until ten years more have passed. Last time was 2010. Prior to that I think was 2003 or 2004. There has been a cost in lives though which is more significant than last time this happened, so it may change the dynamic and how it is viewed.

He downplayed the relationship between smoking tobacco and cancer. He died of lung cancer if we believe what he was diagnosed with. It seems clear that in some ways he was his greatest enemy regarding his own health. However, his life brings one of those great questions. If one of your great pleasures in life is smoking a cigar, is it better to enjoy 70 years of life, or live miserably for 100? Obviously, as we are members of the Church this is something we do not really bring into our questions as we do not smoke (but what I'd do for a cup of coffee if allowed, but have no touched the stuff for decades...which should actually tell me how addicted I was to it). I listened to Paul Harvey as well...loved "the rest of the story" portions he did. I even bought the book once upon a time. I don't know where it these days. Fabulous book, fabulous to listen to on the Radio. I didn't agree with many of Limbaugh's opinions or ideas, but I DID listen to his show regularly. I have a decent length commute to work and his show seemed to be timed (it could have been a rerun considering the hour I normally was driving) to be on during my drive. I may not have agreed with many of his views but he was a VERY entertaining speaker. He was fun to listen to. My opinion was that sometimes he expressed things he didn't actually believe himself, but more to cause people to think about the issue and to create enough of a stir to keep him in the media (free advertising, not the only individual to do that type of stuff). I also think he was a strong believer in the Constitution and very loyal to his idea of patriotism to the ideals of the United States. He actually wrote several children's history books and I think he had a heartfelt love of the US. I didn't agree with his form of politics or his ideas, but I think he was a very strong patriot in his own way throughout his life, and that patriotism changed some aspects of conservatism and activism during his lifetime. Whether conservative, Liberal, or Independent I think most would agree he had an impact on Americans and their views of life, politics, and radio talkshows.

Well, as a deacon that is not unexpected...youth makes it's mistakes. There was no way for you to know that the True Ward was outside of Utah and was the one I eventually became a member of... Less humorously...I don't believe we ever went to a higher competition than the Stake night where everyone did their roadshow. As we never won, I have no idea if the winners went to a higher regional or even went to a national contest between them. I think that could have been costly to send the youth there, but it probably would have been a very memorable trip. I never knew that we were considered second class by some in Utah, but ironically there have been similar feelings from those outside of Utah towards those in Utah. We had some that considered Utah the promised land, but we also had many that considered all those in Utah to be lax in testimony and such. As I was a convert and new member, I had no real opinion at the time except that I thought the missionaries (many who just happened to be from Utah) were some of the most righteous people I knew. I think that many of our leadership back in my early years in the Church were originally from Utah but had moved out of Utah for work or other reasons. One reason they gave me (and in a way it made sense, a lot more converts back in those days than there are now in the wards I was in) is that those from Utah understood how the Church worked and thus were better able to navigate the administrative ways than those of us who were new and had very little experience with the actual administrative side of the Church.

I was not in Utah long ago, but outside of Utah we also had Roadshows and Gold and Green Balls. The oddity of the Saints were that we would also celebrate Pioneer Day (no one else did, of course), normally with a Ward picnic. They'd normally have a ward football game prior to food being served, and then the bruises and wounds of the game would be tended and laughed at.

I hope things look better soon. I hear the weather is expected to stay harsh until at least Friday.

@Carborendum Not sure where you are in the State, but if you are in one of the bad areas, stay safe. I didn't get the news as quick as others probably, but I am now starting to hear horror stories of what is going on in Austin and some of the harder hit cities. The weather this morning is not helping anything according to some. It's unclear of the actual cause and I've heard several stories. One is that part of this is due to the renewable energy push that's been going on and that some of the Wind Turbines they have put up are now frozen and cannot create energy, while at the same time some of the solar energy had the panels covered with snow. However, that only accounts for 4% of the energy deficit right now (but 4% is 4%). The bigger thing is the conjecture I've heard about Austin. I'm not sure if some of those I heard briefly from have power yet in Austin at their houses. Many have been bused to shelters, but I also heard of one horror story of one shelter where people couldn't get in and were freezing to death outside of it (not sure if that was a literal or figurative statement by the individual though). The conjecture says that they could put power through, but the electrical company will not in Austin. They were going on over two days (and some predicting no power for some parts of Austin today as well) without power. The reason is due to problems with Natural Gas currently. Natural gas accounts most of the lost the energy but when the cold hit a combination of people using more Natural gas and the actual gas lines freezing caused a loss of 40% of the electricity. This caused them to try to pipe in other electricity but the wholesale cost jumped up to the maximum rate of almost $9-$10K a (kilowatt?). Austin put in a regulation that they cannot charge people over 18x price increase, and as the price was at 11 cents, that means the maximum they could charge was around $2. With the rise in prices, the electric company decided that to stay in business it was better to simply not turn on the electricity than to lose that much money. As I said, that's conjecture, but I've also heard that price jumps are happening on an enormous scale all over Texas. Even worse are the burst pipes I'm hearing about. It must be really bad in North Texas right now. I'm hearing that water is becoming a problem now and that there are some without food (it has struck me now about how our Church leadership has at least told us to have 72 hour kits at a minimum, and if we can up to 3 months of supplies if we are lacking otherwise). It's hard to figure out all that's going on but it is dawning on me that this is far more massive than most natural disasters recently, this is a pretty big disaster from what I'm hearing now. I hope you all are safe and stay safe. We'll pray for you.

If you have a homeless shelter or a place that prepares meals for the homeless, perhaps helping out there (within safety of course) could help restore a love of charity. If you have a food bank which offers food, volunteering or helping out there could also help with charity.

Things take time. For the record, I am still planning on getting the vaccine. Supposedly around 20% of the people my age in the area have already been vaccinated. I think part of the problem people my age are having is everything is supposed to be online for sign ups and it is terribly confusing. That's not why I'm posting in the thread though. There is an update to some of the worries that people have noted here, and there is a risk. It has been shown that there were cases of death when the vaccine was administered and it appears to have caused some of those deaths. This is the link to a copy of the research (I think this is from a site that allows free downloads, I have access via the university system to sites with research that are not open to non-payers so sometimes finding a source which has it for free can be difficult, but I think this is a site at least allows limited free access occasionally). Reports of Anaphylaxis After Receipt of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines in the US—December 14, 2020-January 18, 2021 It seems that the vaccine shot can lead to anaphylaxis shock in some individuals, after around 17.5 million shots being administered that there were around 66 cases of this. There also seems to be a trend between those who have had anaphylaxis previously (it looks to be around 16 individuals who previously suffered from it suffered from it again with the shot). Women are slightly more subject to this then men. The numbers seem to pan out that you have a .00005% chance of having this occur from the results thus far, which seems to me to be a safe range which is why I am still planning on taking the vaccine. However, it is noted that prior concerns about the vaccine having some negative affects on people could occur, and I thought I'd post the paper that supports those who feel this way. That said, I still feel the results indicate that my chances are better getting the vaccine than not...but that's my personal stance right now.