JohnsonJones

I didn't know that John Wayne based his persona off of Wyatt Earp. That's interesting to hear. The kids knew they weren't supposed to get into the cookies without permission. They could get them if we said they could, but they could not just go and grab them. It always amused me to see the amount of cookies drop throughout the week until there would be 3-4 left. No one would touch them when they got to that amount, but before that it seemed the cookies would just magically disappear. At least when the kids were pretty young. It didn't happen so much once they got older.

Well, for those who want a more honest economic forcast... With Waffle houses being the weather severity forcasting... For real world exchanges of money beyond what governments manipulate it to be is... The Big Mac Index... It currently indicates that inflation in Western Europe and the US may have been somewhat worse than is stated in the news and other locations from what I can tell of it.

So, when my children were little they really liked cookies. I knew if I put the cookie jar on the table, invariably someone would eat them (or the claims that this invisible being that no one knew was eating them was true). I already knew the outcome. Did that rob my children of their free will. Did it mean that by putting it there they were FORCED to do what I knew some of them would do? I would say that KNOWING how something will happen is different than someone ACTING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. It is possible to know the outcome and still allow someone to have free will.

I had to look it up because I remembered this differently than how you wrote it...but I wanted to make sure. Note...the Netherlands do not own Greenland and it's not part of their nation or sphere of rulership. Denmark owns Greenland. Greenland is part of the Realm of Denmark. Denmark's response was that Greenland was not for sale, but Greenland was for Greenlanders and was not Danish Then the Greenlanders also came in and said Greenland was not for sale. So...technically he DID and they responded in kind. Greenland's government's response was "We have a good cooperation with USA. Of course, Greenland is not for sale."

I am not privy to the exact numbers of what is driving membership up or down in the Church today. I do see a lot of University students and what drives them. I've actually thought a lot about this recently. Right before I came back this summer from my research trip I had a discussion with a graduate student out there who was helping us. This grad student was supposedly an atheist. I asked them about their history and they came from what they considered a strong Christian family and a strong Christian faith, but had turned against it. It was not due to ignorance on their part from what I can tell. They were very well versed in the Bible, and at times knew more than I did. It was hard to try to make a point for Christianity based only on scriptural discussions. It boiled down to the idea that those who SAY they are Christian today are not very Christian at all. If you look at the New Testament, it has some conservative items, but it is also an EXTREMELY liberal piece of instructions. It teaches that seeking riches is the opposite of seeking the kingdom of the Lord and thus, those who do so and are rich will have a hard time of it. It teaches some of the basic ideas of what people today term as socialism and even communism (enforceable by Death if we believe the actions of Peter). We learn that we should LOVE our enemies, that when persecuted we should turn the other cheek and go the extra mile to help others. There is a LOT of very liberal thought in the New Testament. The young people today see this. Then they see many of those who proclaim Christianity saying that the poor deserve what they get, that they should not assist the poor more than we already do, that we need to attack those who do not like Christianity, that we hate sharing and having equality among rich and poor (so even perhaps to the point of being nor rich or poor) and insist on having the rich get richer and those who are not rich dream of getting richer, and so on and so forth. They soon come to the conclusion that if the New Testament is true, than there is no church that seems to represent it today (I disagree with them, but some students seem to be set on this stuff). In that light, it is VERY MUCH a political thing in my opinion. It's not that young people are not familiar with Christianity (though there are those that absolutely do not know or understand Christianity, they normally are not the young atheists that have problems with it though), but that they are MORE familiar with it than perhaps any other generation prior to this have been. This Church, the one I am a member of, has exhibited these very features (of how the early Christians had religious socialism/communism...so did our Church early on). When I bring it up and HOW it was actually done, I get a LOT of pushback at times. I'm a solid member of the church. I have a testimony. Many young people haven't had the time to build a strong testimony yet. Their testimonies can still falter easily in some cases. I see some in the church who do have strong testimonies...however...young people who don't, and see this...may have the same type of problems other young Christians have with members in their religions who say they are Christian. However, as I said, I don't have numbers for our church. The MOST successful argument I've had thus far (and not that successful at that, but it normally has them agreeing to disagree with me) is that I ask them about a computer. Do they think that a computer could just pop into being. That it could just appear out of nowhere with no one having built it? That it could just appear and work perfectly? Then I ask about this world with it's complex biology and intricate systems. Even the body of an animal...say a monkey...is probably more complex than that computer. This world is full of MILLIONS of these complexities all working together in an even MORE complex system. If a computer can't just pop up by itself without having been built by man...how could this World be built up out of nothing? It is so much more complex...so if a computer couldn't pop up on it's own, being that much more simple...how likely is it that something FAR more complex could do so? This normally doesn't win me any discussions or arguments though, just gets them to agree to have our own beliefs in things. Once they start down the path where they are critical of Christians and keep pushing in that direction, it seems they get more and more extreme on that path where they see Christian Churches as not doing good. Ironically it almost always centers around how the Christian Churches are hypocritical or being bad rather than the gospel itself. When it comes to the gospel many will say they like the things it teaches, they just don't believe it can be true when we talk about the afterlife or deity. I think politics ARE playing a huge part in the younger generation being a little disillusioned about Churches in general. They are not stupid (maybe a tad unwise though). Many are brilliant. I think the Christian congregations may be clinging a little too closely to political affiliation and belief foremost rather than actually READING and studying the gospel and the churches history (and that doesn't just mean LDS history, I'm talking about Christian history going back to the first century and their practices and actions) and putting God first. They put political teachings as religious teachings rather than actually understanding or at least acting as Jesus has taught us to act and I think that has turned off a LOT of the younger generation. I don't think we'd be all in favor of Liberal Talking points if we put the teachings of Jesus first, but I think there would be some Conservative ideologies that we wouldn't be pushing so strongly for either. Case in point...how does Donald Trump actually represent Christianity? Why is HE the current Champion of many Christians? If he is what Christians are wanting to represent them...then what exactly are Christians voting for? I may not be a Ron DeSantis fan, but from what I've seen thus far he is FAR more MORAL than Trump...and some of the other candidates may be as well...but Trump thus far is leading the pack by a LARGE margin. What does that say about the Republican party for which a LOT (but not all) of Christians are affiliated politically? This is a prime example of what I mean when I say young people see our actions and know what the scriptures say and get turned away from the churches because of it.

Same methods of murder that existed then still exist today. They are still used today as well. Then, with guns and other items we have created even MORE ways to kill or murder someone. I'm not sure if I would say that someone who killed another person with a club (baseball bat, hammer, big stick) was necessarily more guilty of murder than someone who shot and killed someone with a gun or blew them up with explosives (the explosives may actually be even more gory than with the club). Under the law I think both would be charged with murder of some sort, though other charges that also are filed may be related to HOW they killed them.

From the non-biased report, it appears that the water controlled by the environmentalist would have gone into natural waterways (which makes a lot of sense). That would have given water to fight the fires IF aircraft (helicopters) were able to pick it up. However, one of the causes of the fire spreading so rapidly were excessively high winds, which also prevented the aircraft from flying. Thus, it sounds like it would have been a pointless thing to do anyways...making whatever Manual said irrelevant to the situation where the fire spread so quickly and couldn't be put out. His words may have been said, but they are being used against him in an irrelevant manner...at least that's what it appears from what I've read in the thread thus far.

I think he actually wants worship in the way that we Worship him formally. In our formal (as opposed to informal, which is more dealing with organization, instruction, and studying in such things as Sunday School) worship everything is normally centered around an ordinance. These ordinances are necessary for us or others to attain the goal of exaltation. The other purpose of worship is so that we may gather together (as taught to do in the scriptures). This helps us strengthen each other in our faith. In this, the entire point of worship is to help us either by giving us the tools we need to get to exaltation through covenants/ordinances or to help each other in our journey in this life to the next in staying strong and true to the faith. In this you could say the Sabbath is made for man...worship is made for man so that we can return to live with our Father.

It's found in the Bible. You can also read the Bible and find the account. With the Spirit and Revelation it is possible that more could be revealed or has been revealed.

Maybe...I don't know. Others have said similar things with the Moon turning to blood and a red coloration over it at times as well as the Sun being darkened.

It may also be that there were a few variations of the scripture and how it was translated between his time and ours... We do believe that the Bible is word of God as long as it is translated correctly. There are places where it probably has not been translated correctly, or this has been inferred and impressed upon me as long as I've been a member (starting with the Missionaries decades ago...which is why they brought up the Book of Mormon as being so important as it had not had the chance to be messed up with like the Bible had been).

I read the first book and started the second, but the books had far too much stuff I really don't want to read about in them (sexuality and such). But, with all the talk on this thread I did do a wikipedia look up of the series and a little research on line. The initial novel DOES have inspiration from Christianity. However, it is more of an atheists take on Christianity. The entire idea of what Paul (and in reality Leto II) becomes is an idea implanted by the Bene Gesserit to other people so that they can basically colonize and take over those people's lives at it's most basic level (spirituality). For them, it is merely a genetically created individual that is close to perfection (As they perceive it) that they can control. The book tries to put a scientific slant on such a Messiah type figure rather than see it as a truly heavenly plan. For the actual plan of Leto II, it seems that it was due to a Machine War that happened previously. The A.I. rose up and with machines fought mankind almost to extinction. Those who could see the future saw that this was an ongoing threat and mankind would eventually be destroyed in some manner. The ONLY way to stop this was to ensure that man spread out so vastly and so greatly that he could never be completely eradicated. Part of this was making it so that not all the remnants of mankind would be able to be found, but it was also because man would have to spread out among the stars to escape the tyranny of Leto II. What we find out eventually is that this is actually the plan of two A.I.'s that were around since the beginning of the Machine wars. They had it to preserve humanity in some crazy plan as posted above, and thus mankind is saved by the machines...ironically (though, this last paragraph may or may not have been in the original idea. Apparently this idea of the A.I's behind it all was only mentioned in the Book written by Frank Herberts Son...Brian Herbert). Also @mikbone and @NeuroTypical Who happens to be the brother of Mads Mikkelsen who apparently was also in Star Wars from a Movie called Rogue One or something like that.

WOW...it looks like you are quite the good artist!

It was a Glen Larson vehicle if I recall correctly, and the second season sort of tied into another one of his series...Battlestar Galactica...though by the barest threads. Glen Larson was also a member of the Church if I recall correctly and in Battlestar Galactica he initially had two characters get sealed (Apollo and Serena?) with them singing "I am a Child of God" at some point. That scene was deleted out though, I think but many other items derived from the Church's ideas at the time made it into the series. He also made Magnum P.I. as well as a few other series originating with him. Edit: At the time I think I enjoyed watching Rockford Files, C.H.I.P.S. and Dukes of Hazzard...or something similar around that time period. I was much younger so probably didn't take care to be as careful with what I watched. Then again, TV shows were a lot cleaner than they are today and studios took care to ensure certain things didn't get on TV. On the otherhand, the rating system was newly out and even if a movie was PG it could still have some very scandalous stuff in it so you had to be careful what you saw in the cinema. It would normally be edited for TV if you caught it that way, though we still avoided R-rated Movies. There were MANY movies that were even rated PG that I didn't allow my children to see or watch.

WOW...that is a miracle to me. That sounds wild that the fire burned right up to it, but not the church itself.

I have no idea who those guys are. I have not seen the Barbie movie. I had a daughter who went to see it with my granddaughter (her daughter). Supposedly they loved it. I don't really know anything else about the movie. I heard the word Barbie and lost all interest. I know my little girls played with Barbies when they were little. That's about the extent of my knowledge. I thought it was just a movie about the toys (Similar to other movies based on toys and such). From some of the comments it sounds like it was something more??

I have been gone for several weeks. I come back to the U.S. and see a lot of news stories coming out about the tragedy in Maui. I believe we have quite a number of Saints in Hawaii, but I have heard no news about the Saints in Maui and the fires there. Did we have a ward building or chapel there that was burned, or are the wards doing anything with the Members in the Aftermath. Is there any information or new on the Church and Church members in Maui currently?

First off, before addressing your statement...the OP video is frightening. That is a horrible threat they sing...and pointing out other items later in the video just makes the threat even worse. I see it already occurring with your young people at Universities. ON the above statement...why can't it be both. Just as David was a type and a Shadow, but also a real person...why couldn't it also be signifying both?

A thought occurred to me as I read this thread. Some have said that to be separated from their spouse because they only made it to the Telestial Kingdom would torment them for eternity. They would no longer be punished with torment, but emotionally, if they can remember, it could be an endless punishment. It is something they COULD have been, but didn't. Is that torment with no end...or simply the torment ends, but the punishment (not being able to be what one could have been) as an endless punishment of one's own devising?

Is it possible to have things shipped to you where signature is required for delivery?

I believe I am a mandatory reporter (And I believe many states have this specific thing, where teachers and others are considered mandatory reporters). Luckily I normally don't deal with a lot of kids so it has never come up (yet). Even when I served in Ward Leadership I didn't have a case like this turn up (thankfully...that may have caused a conflict in some ways). If you see signs of abuse which could include things such as a lot of unexplained bruising occurring, especially if it is on a regular basis. Broken limbs occurring on a regular basis. A Child comes up to you and says they are being abused. things to that nature. A mandatory reporter cannot just think a child is making it up...the statement must be followed up on. Now, luckily I normally deal with College age students, but we still have to take an online thing explaining such stuff to us. Others also tend to be mandatory reporters if these things get brought up to them.

Well...that's a tricky question. Religiously some indicate that the twelve tribes and their beliefs were scattered and many of the religious traditions that others have today probably can be found rooted in the scattered tribes. Others will say that all belief came originally from the Lord and his gospel, and thus finding elements of that gospel among others should not be unexpected. More scholastically speaking, it is not unusual for different cultures to arrive at similar ideas or conclusions. It is not unusual for pagan cultures to have pantheons of various deities they worship, with different spheres of influence ascribed to such pantheons.

Oh, I won't. I just find it could be interesting to see others insights to the same material as I am reading. It probably also makes better material to read than news stories during the upcoming student hours I'll have (Where almost no students come to see me until either mid-terms or the end of the semester occurs).

I didn't even know there were these podcasts. That sounds fascinating. Perhaps using them as a way to enhance your own scripture study could be useful. I am intrigued by this now. I don't do podcasts though. IF they have some sort of youtube channel that could be interesting.

I'm glad you bring this up. Some other things to note. What the Church promotes as fasting is NOT NECESSARILY Biblically correct or even the fashion in which they fasted in the past. It may be, but it may also not be. It certainly does not fit in some of the ways that fasting is done today by others who fast. There are many different definitions of fasting and how it is done. The Church promotes what we many call dry fasting, or abstaining from food or drink. Most fasts that are religious do not have a prohibition on water. They do have a prohibition on food in many of them. You have Christians that have fasted for weeks (which is IMPOSSIBLE to do with a dry fast such as the Church promotes...you would die if you tried to do so). Some Catholic Saints have emulated the 40 day fast (once again, impossible to do with the Church's version of fasting...which shows that the Church's version has not been strictly religious in this fashion in which it is required to dry fast to fast for at least several hundred years). Other non-Christian religions have it where you DO abstain from food AND drink, but only during daylight hours (and once night sets, you can feast and drink all you want). This is technically fasting for the day, but is also considering the night as not part of the day. Other ways of fasting may not even including abstaining from food or drink, but abstaining from something in particular (for example, going on an alcohol fast...etc). The big thing of fasting and religion is that it shows sacrifice in the pursuit of something greater. Whether that sacrifice is of food or drink or something that you value, you are placing your faith above that of superficial or temporary needs. That said, there are those who should not do dry fasts and I am against people trying to enforce those who should not fast to do such fasting. This incurs what I may call...the CURSES of fasting (though it could be more precise to say of improper fasting). For example...I knew a family that would force their children over the age of 8 to fast. It made 2 of them violently ill on Fast Sundays. To no one's surprise, those kids checked out of the gospel as soon as they could. Torturing your children is not a good way to engender them to the gospel. ON the other hand I've known a family that didn't have any thought towards fasting. Their family never fasted. Their oldest fell away from the Church before they had even graduated High School. There is a proper place and time to fast. Those who are able should, and those who should not should understand WHY we fast and what the reasons for it is. There are ways to fast without having to do a dry fast if one is unable to fast in that manner. It is sacrificing a temporary need or desire by putting the things of the Lord first. Food and Drink are some of the most basic desires (and needs) that we have. IF we are healthy enough to do so, but abstaining from these WITH A PURPOSE, and focusing on what the Lord desires us to do we can gain many blessings. We can grow closer to the Lord and his spirit. We can gain many other blessings. As we fast, it is an excellent time to examine our own lives and see if there is anything special we may be in need of. Having that as something we can approach the Lord with as we fast can help us learn various things on it (whether it is really necessary for us, whether we really need it, why we need it, are there other ways for us to accomplish it, is there anything we may learn from the experience...etc). I find that both the fasting by putting the Lord first and foremost, but putting him above our desires, as well as fasting with a purpose, enhances the fast more than simply fasting out of obedience (though there can also be blessings from that). Of course, this is if you can do it in a healthy manner and are able to do so. I think that those who cannot fully participate in a dry fast can still receive many blessings. Some may be different than those who do a full dry fast, but the core ideas and the faith necessary to fast as they can will still bring the blessings that others receive because it is the faith and the spirit the makes the fast...not the physical qualities of simply doing it.