Midwest LDS

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be voting Pilate into office anywhere. He was far from an effective governor, definitely guilty of graft, murder, etc. When I say grey, it's that despite all that, even he knew Christ was innocent. Even this corrupt and filthy politician knew Christ was important even if he did not know why, because despite all of his moral failings, he tried to free Christ twice, while the Pharisees who knew the scriptures like the back of their hand were baying for his blood. I've always been impressed that a wicked man like Pilate could somehow be better than the Pharisees, because at least he tried to free Christ, especially when he could have just said kill him and done nothing. That's all the credit I'll give him because, as I mentioned, eventually he proved himself a moral coward and gave into the mob, but the fact that a little spark of goodness, even though it was quickly snuffed out, could exist in Pilate and not the Pharisees, makes me less judgemental of him than them.

This statement summarizes what I feel about Pilate. He knew something was up. He felt Christ was innocent of wrongdoing, and his wife warned him that she had a dream that he needed to let him go. He was not a particularly righteous man by any means, most Roman governors were steeped in bribery and political backstabbing, and I'm sure Pilate was no different. What seperates him from others, in my mind, is that even despite the rather grimy nature of his soul, he had enough of a spark of the Light of Christ in him to attempt to free the Lord. He had no particular reason to stand up for him, far easier to just let him be condemned and have done with the matter, but he did try to free him, which makes him far better than the leaders of the Jews. However, I don't absolve him completely. He had every chance to free a man he knew was innocent. He was a Roman governor. He had access to military power far beyond anything the defeated Jews could bring against him, and yet he took the coward's way, and tried to dodge responsibility for his actions. We know the Atonement had to happen, and if he tried to spare Christ, the Lord would still be slain in accordance to the words of the prophets, but by refusing to stand up for what knowledge he had, he failed and so took upon him some of the guilt. Pilate is very much a grey figure in the story of Christ that's for sure.

That's fair I suppose, and to a certain extent honesty has to be appreciated. But it just rubs me wrong. Maybe it's just me thinking to hard, but if I ask myself whether those women would have applied if he had said everything the same, but dropped the millionaire part of it, I think the answer is no. And if you are basing a marriage decision primarily on that, not whether he is financially stable, that's an important consideration, but is he rich enough to let me live like a princess and fulfil all my worldly desires, I feel like the marriage isn't going to last. I may be wrong, and as I said in an earlier post I wish them the best, but this kind of fake, worldly acclaim just seems like a recipe for another broken home.

Maybe maybe not. It just seems very reality tv to me, like the Bachelor Utah edition. I could be being cynical, and I wish them luck, but personally I have my doubts.

Ah yes basing your future marriage entirely on the properties of your bank account. No doubt this man and his wife to be will enjoy many long days of bliss until they inevitably divorce 2-3 months later. Cheers!

I have two uncles who are police officers (one's retired the other's a Sheriff's deputy). You guys do not receive the thanks and support you deserve. I've always been beyond grateful for men and women like you who protect me and risk yourselves daily to prevent society from descending into chaos. At a minimum your healthcare should be taken care of.

I don't know why there is pushback on this. We gave pensions to Union veterans (rightfully so) from 1865 till the last one died in 1956 and there were a lot more of them. We can afford to support first responders and survivors with medical treatment, even if some of them live a really long time.

It's concerning, but at least for the moment it's not quite at the level of acceptance needed. First they need to get a minimum of 270 electoral votes worth of states to sign on before it takes effect. While they are currently at 189 I think it's going to be difficult for them to get enough states to sign on to actually get the compact to take effect. Second I feel like this is the kind of law that won't survive a constitutional challenge. They are trying to get around having to actually go through the process of getting an amendment ratified, and I just don't think the Supreme Court, even some of the liberal justices, would stand for that. I suppose we will see how it plays out, but I'm not panicking just yet. We should keep an eye on their progress though.

The simple answer to this question is yes. As Christians, and I would say especially as Latter-day Saints, we believe that there are times where God will not give us a clear answer because he wants us to learn something from the experience. In the Doctrine and Covenants, one of our additional books of scripture, chapter 58 verses 26-27 the Lord says "26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. 27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;" God doesn't want us to have to be commanded in all things, he wants us actively engaged in a good cause. In addition to this commandment, we have numerous examples from scripture that show us this aspect of the Lord's way of teaching us. In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Ether is commanded to build a boat. The Lord shows him how to make a boat, but when asked how they will light the boat he gives this answer in Ether 2:23 "And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?" The Lord's intention in this section is to get the brother of Jared thinking about how to solve the problem presented. As Latter-day Saint Christians, we believe that part of the reason God sent us to Earth was to learn and grow from making decisions.

Sorry edited to fix. The first time an apostle from another country dedicated a temple in his own country and in his own tongue.

I thought this was really cool. It marks the first time an apostle from outside the United States has dedicated a temple in his home country. Always wonderful to see the Lord's Church progressing! https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900073576/church-news-elder-ulisses-soares-dedication-of-fortaleza-brazil-temple-marks-historic-firsts.html

Dup

I like it, it makes a ton of sense to me. After all, why not encourage our children to make massive, gigantic mistakes that may permanently damage their testimony, lead to unwed pregnancies and spread STD's, and create severe and crippling addictions to drugs and alcohol? After all, we all know God winks at sin and that the commandments are just hide bound rules that we put in place to make life miserable. This is sarcasm just to be clear. There have been articles I have disagreed with before on Third Hour, but this is the first I've seen openly advocating violating the commandments of God. It's like saying you never know if staying sober is healthy unless you spend 2 weeks getting wasted first. Having just finished the article, the author steers around and says it wouldn't work. But it almost sounds as if they are disappointed about it. It was really weird to structure the article that way.

Oh I get it that's why I mentioned in the first part of my answer that this particular pastor set off my slime meter. I don't really know him beyond the interview you posted, but the additional information confirms what I was thinking that he is a modern day Nehor, setting himself up to get gain. I was just trying to be objective, mainly because I can see attacks like this being leveled at our church (although much less successfully since our leaders don't spend tithing money on personal mansions☺). I'm always hesitant to use the "you're not really a church you're a business" attack though. It may be true, but so many people have accused us of the same thing that I'm hesitant to throw it at someone else.

I'm of two minds concerning this guy. He represents a lot of the reasons I don't like many Evangelical preachers (it's a personal failing of mine, but it's there. They were the ones always condeming me to Hell, or telling their congregants that's where I was going when I was younger). I don't like people using the Lord's name to get gain. I have no problem with wealth, as a free market capitalist I believe wealth can be a very postive good, but when it's taken from people, by promising salvation if they will just send in that check, it really rubs me the wrong way to then see these preachers' driving around in limo's, eating at five star restaurants, and living a life of ease off the toil of others. That being said, I don't necessarily have a problem with him having several planes. If he is truly using them the way his congregation wants him to, to do his job, it doesn't seem any different to me than our own leadership using private jets. Use whatever tool works the best even if it's an expensive one. And, while this guy sets off my slime meter (especially since he won't answer a simple question about something he admits saying without going in circles) I can't really blame him for not answering perfectly. How would I do, if someone had a camera in my face and was demanding answers about something I said, that I may even regret saying now or was worded poorly? No one cares what I say since I am an insignificant person, but if they did I might have a hard time in this situation as well. Interesting video.

Now Now MG, there is no judgement here. We all know you are a strong member of the Green Party and have a tattoo of Jill Stein across your back.

Nah you were just praising God the only way you could at the time😉

A little meme just for using such a great reference😉

I get where your coming from. I avidly study military history. Which means every time I watch a movie with a battle scene, and the two armies just run screaming at each other, no tactics, no formations, no attempt at ruses or deception, (Braveheart comes to mind) it does the same thing to me. It's one reason why I like the movie Gettysburg. While it doesn't have accurate artillery strikes (in the 1860's there were far more cannon balls used than explosive shells by artillery, but that would have been hard to film in the early 90's) they actually do a pretty good job of showing the things I mentioned because most of the extras were legitimate American Civil War re-enactors and knew what they were doing. As an aside, I don't practice martial arts although I think they are awesome, but I can't stop myself from laughing when the hero is attacked by 1 bad guy at a time while surrounded.

The Quest, a martial arts movie with Jean Claude Van Damme. It's currently rocking a 13% on Rotten Tomatoes, but I've watched it multiple times and I think it's a really fun movie. It's not perfect by any means, but I like it a lot.

I have to admit, this is an interesting question. On the surface it doesn't seem fair. The scriptures are clear that those who die before the age of accountability are exalted. Since God also knows the end from the beginning, wouldn't it be more just to end the lives of his children like Judas, who by living a full life lose their exaltation? I don't claim to know the answer, although my gut tells me it has something to do with agency, and my guess is we will never 100% understand until we have passed through the veil. But, I am sure that once we reach the other side, both the justice and mercy of God will make perfect sense in a way we cannot fully comprehend in mortality.

When I was a kid I loved the Pokemon tv show ( it helped that I loved the game too). They recently brought it back to Netflix, and I tried watching it again and I'm definitely left wondering what the heck I was thinking. Every episode ends with a rather silly moral ( you know like friends can achoeve anything together sort of moral) and an extremely cringeworthy poke-rap.

Yeah a good polish dog is scrumptious (big sausage fan too) but I get it, sauerkraut and kimchi are definitely not for everyone. And to get the topic back on track, I miss Carb too his posts were always so interesting.

I have to admit I like Kimchi. My new stepfather (recently married my mom) served his mission in South Korea and I tried Kimchi for the first time when he served us a Korean dish. Delicious! But then I like Sauerkraut and while certainly somewhat different, there are definitely some similarities too.

I agree with what you said. Too often it's easy, especially when you (generic) are in a hurtful situation like infertility, to hold grudges against people who unintentionally hurt you (generic). I like the example you shared, because just like that sister who was sharing her joy with you accidentally stung you, I had an uncle who did the same to me for similiar reasons. Like you, it was on me to forgive swiftly, as he did not mean anything hurtful by it, and I think there is a great deal to be said for being easy on our brothers and sisters, if for no other reason than that the Lord commanded it "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again". But while trying to change how the world acts is pretty much impossible, I can work on me. Since I know this caused me (and especially my wife) pain, the only people I'm going to bring this up with are family and close friends with whom I already have a close relationship. Since I'm aware of the issue, I can avoid causing pain. But overall, I think we are of a similiar mind.