Midwest LDS

Makes sense, I hadn't considered that. Although considering how good computer graphics look these days, I bet they could do it. Also it doesn't have to be 25th century they could just do post Voyager/DS9/TNG or something. In addition, while I have no problem with some darker storylines, in fact that's one reason I like DS9 so much, we meed some more optimism in Trek again. Is everything really so horrible in the future? But that's just my two cents.

I don't know, I just cant figure out why we keep going backwards in time in the Trek Universe. I want Star Trek to go forward in time again. Show us the Federation in the 25th century. I'm tired of going back to TOS times and before, it's just overdone and I already know the the broad strokes of what's going to happen. There may be some hope for the new Picard show coming out, but we will see.

Agreed, I would much rather see violent offenders getting the harsh sentences.

I thought it was a fairly effective speech as well. I read the transcript (I don't like the constant commentary when I'm trying to focus on what's actually being said). I was impressed at some of the unifying moments as well, although it was a fairly standard SOTU as far as congratulating himself on the economy (all presidents do this) and presenting policy goals that I just don't see him achieiving unless he has some sort of deal he feels he can strike with Democrats on the border wall. As an aside, I absolutely approve of Trump pulling out of the IRBM treaty with Russia. They have been breaking that treaty for years and it's time for us to develop our nuclear arsenal without having one hand tied behind our back. I'm in favor of the treaty as long as both sides are abiding by it's precepts but, since the Russians are breaking it, it needed to go. I also appreciated his support for ending long prison sentances for non violent offenders. While I oppose decriminalizing drugs, I also oppose harsh sentances for casual drug users or stupid teenagers. Save the harsh sentances for the major suppliers.

Correct me if I'm wrong @Just_A_Guy but I believe he means Joseph F. Smith, Joseph Fielding Smith, and Bruce R. McConkie.

As has been mentioned I believe the line of authority is from the most recent ordination, but you can always request both. The worst they can say is no. As a tangent I remember an area in my mission where one of the members on the roster was listed as a Seventy. Elders were told first he was not a General Authority (even then most of us youngin's had no idea there were individual Seventies Quorums way back in the day) and second that he had gone inactive before they discontinued the individual Seventies Quorums and so had never been switched to being a High Priest. He didn't like missionaries, wanted no contact, but refused to have his name removed. Anyways tangent done and good luck with your search @classylady!

You know, I've had a similiar problem. For years I fasted just because I was told to, I had no testimony of it. In fact for a long time (over 2 years more or less) I did not fast at all. I still paid my fast offerings, I had a testimony of helping the poor, but unlike other areas of my spirituality, I just had not received any kind of witness that fasting was worthwhile. It seemed like I was being asked to be miserable for a day once a month. But I started applying myself to gaining a testimony of fasting; after all if every other part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true fasting must be too, and I worked at it and I'm finally getting there. For me there are two reasons that have helped me see why fasting is important, in addition to the ones mentioned by @Jane_Doe. First obedience to God. By obeying his commandment to fast, I receive additional blessings. Second, submitting my body to my spirit helps me set aside the natural man, and focus more on godly things, which in turn strengthens my prayers.

I loved that part in the book. My dad read The Lord of the Rings to me when I was younger, and I always felt comforted by Tom Bombadil. The fact that the ring had no power over him, and that he had power over evil things always helped me believe (the first time the book was read to me of course, before I knew the ending☺) that Frodo would be successful, and that good would triumph no matter how bad things looked. I remember feeling relief when he forced Old Man Willow to release the hobbits, and later when Frodo calls for him in the barrow wight tomb and he hears him and comes to save them again. I especially love the scene you mentioned, where he uses his power to cast out the barrow wight. It just had a very, I don't know, gospel feel to it. I'm definitely reading it to my daughter when she's old enough.

My dad is a thrifty man (not in a cheap way, he just likes to save money). I lived with him for a while after my parents got divorced. There was a sale on something called veal patties. Think those microwaveable chicken patties but made with veal. He bought enough for us to have it for dinner every night for two weeks straight. Even today, many years later, the thought of eating another one of those cheap patties turns my stomach. It's not that they tasted awful, although even then I wished they were chicken patties. But night after night of eating those patties has left me with an existential dread of them, from which, like you with your pot pies, I probably will never totally recover from.

I believe so. From these two verses it seems like the man Paul is refering to received a vision of the third heaven. Especially with his comment about not knowing if he was in the body or not, as that sounds consistent with other mighty visions in the scriptures (Moses, Enoch, some of Joseph Smith's visions.) Also, while no one knows for sure, some scholars believe 2nd Corinthians was written in the late 50's AD, which would be about 25-30 years after Christ's Resurrection so Christ would already have ascended to heaven. Therefore he had completed his Atonement, and opened the doors of heaven for us by this point. It says that many were resurrected following Christ's Resurrection in the scriptures (3rd Nephi 23:9 and Matthew 27:52-53) so according to my understanding that means they would have beem judged and I assume have received their inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom, so they must have ascended to heaven. This paragraph is just some speculation on my part, but it makes sense to me.

That's been my experience as well. I am not on keto, but I can honestly say it's going without liquid that makes fasting difficult for me, not going without food. The longest I have fasted is 36 hours but I only did it that long once.

That's great to hear! You are more than welcome☺

I appreciate the fact that you take your covenants with God so seriously, and I am sure God is well pleased with your desire to honor him. First off, remember that your relationship with God is what matters. Don't concern yourself with how closely Tom, Dick, and Harry are following the commandments, just worry about you (and your family of course). The church is a hospital for sinners, and all of us are trying to overcome our weaknesses and sins through Christ's grace. As far as the temple covenants are concerned, I can't talk about the specifics (I and everyone else who has been to the temple have made a covenant with God not to) but I feel inspired to share a scripture with you. Doctrine and Covenants 1:30 "30 And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually" You said you made a covenant to devote all your time, talents, and gifts to pursue a deepening relationship with Christ. This is Christ's church. Anything dedicated to his church is dedicated to him, as he created and continues to run this organization. So the question you have to ask yourself is do you truly believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the restored Church of Christ? If the answer is yes, you should have no problems making the covenants in the temple as they will not conflict with your personal covenants. If your answer is no, work on gaining that testimony before going to make your covenants. Best of luck in your spiritual journey brother.

For me it was all about the negative outweighing the positive the pushed me to action. I'll use my desire to get in shape as an example. I like eating as much as I want, and sitting around vegetating. For me it took a lot to outweigh what I considered a positive in my life, and so I kept doing that until I was 335 pounds. What motivated me to start changing were two negatives that finally convinced me that my growing size was bad. I remember I took a 10 minute walk to class one day in grad school, and I was out of breath and sweating for an hour. That had never happened to me before and it scared me. Second, I remember being on a plane, and having to really suck in my gut to get the seatbelt to fit around my lap. I was terrified I would have to ask the stewardess for a seat belt extender. Both of these negatives finally convinced me to start exercising. Now fear is not a great longterm motivater but it got me started. After exercising for a while (3-6 months) I started noticing other postives that kept me moving. I used to get constant (nightly) heartburn and never went anywhere without a big thing of TUMS. It disappeared. I had a whole bunch of aches and pains that never fully went away. All of a sudden those were gone. For me, I felt that motivated me to keep pushing forward and (most importantly) motivated me to start again every time I failed (which has happened a lot☺). I'm not sure if this is helpful, but for me that's what motivated me to make exercise a habit.

I actually agree. I remember seeing episode 3 way back in 2005 (I was home from my mission for a week due to my stepdad's passing) and I remember liking it a lot. I still wouldn't put it above 5 or 6 (epsecially for the reasons you mention @unixknight) but it's a good, solid Star Wars flick and I still watch it occasionally. I enjoyed the confrontation between Palapatine and Mace Windu and I still remember saying to myself, even though I knew what was coming, "Don't listen to him Anakin". I was definitely engaged in what was going on.

Interesting points everyone. It's also important to understand the context of Russian casualties and failures in World War 1 to understand the October Revolution. While there had been some successes on the Eastern Front, especially against Austria, in general the Russian army went from one disaster to another, and millions of Russian soldiers were slain due to the incompetence of Russian generals and the Tsar. On top of the complaints you pointed out @JohnsonJones, the situation was intolerable and the regular Russian citizen justifiably called out for change. Unfortunately, as @unixknight points out, their desire for change was subverted by Marxists who claimed they wanted to help the common man when in reality they just wanted power and saw an opportunity to seize it.

It would be an interesting question. I'm curious too, but it would probably be difficult to do research and generate statistics on a question like that due to it's political nature as you point out.

Gotcha, that I could not speak to personally. I think it's comparable, but still harder due to my reasons above..

That's an interesting question. It may be more difficult just because of widespread worldy acceptance of the sin. Even the world for example, as far as it's values have fallen, still believes in being faithful to a partner. Someone tempted to cheat on their spouse still has societal disaproval strengthening his or her resolve. But the world trumpets homosexuality as a positive good. I imagine it's more difficult to follw a commandment when your desires are strong and 90% of the people around you are telling you your desires are good. Just my thoughts on it though.

For me, it's about praying to receive the strength neccessary to obey and follow the Law of Chastity. While God does sometimes remove or suppress homosexual desires, we see that in some who are able to marry the opposite gender, for many God does not remove those desires, and so they must remain celibate in order to remain pure. That's a really hard thing to ask anyone to do, but that's where I believe prayer can be most effective, as it can be for any sin, by following God's promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13 "13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear" Some sins are harder to deal with than others, but consistently teaching that God can and will help you live the Law of Chastity, no matter how strong the temptation, is the most effective way to help protect our brothers and sisters.

Thanks! And you're right, it's a bunch of little steps with weight loss that leads to success.

I'm down my first 10 pounds. Still have 79 to go, but not a bad first 2 weeks.

As long as you begin and end each fast with a sincere prayer, I think you can easily serve both purposes.

Also from the teachings of Harold B Lee, a rather interesting story saying more or less the same thing. "I remember a man, a big, heavyset, rough-looking fellow, dressed in a working garb, came into my office, and after a few pleasantries and a little introduction, he said to me as though to startle me, “I’m a literal descendant of Aaron.” Well, I said, “I have always been curious to see a literal descendant of Aaron.” And when he saw that I wasn’t too much impressed, he said, “And I have come to claim my right to be the Presiding Bishop of the Church.” “Well, now,” I said, “that is very well, but there is just one little matter that you have overlooked.” And he wanted to know what that was. And then I read to him from the revelations [that] a literal descendant of Aaron may serve without counselors, if called by the President of the Church and ordained to that office (see D&C 68:20; 107:76). “Now you just go back home and wait until the President of the Church sends for you, and then if he ever does send for you, you won’t have to have counselors to be the Presiding Bishop of the Church.” Well, he had lost that vital thing, which, if we understand, would keep us from being led astray. He failed to understand that only through that one man who is His mouthpiece on earth will the Lord reveal instructions for His church."

Here we go, this is a quote from Joseph Fielding Smith's Doctrines of Salvation "The person spoken of in the revelations as having the right by lineage to the bishopric is the one who is the firstborn. By virtue of his birth he is entitled to hold “the keys or authority of the same.” This has reference only to the one who presides over the Aaronic Priesthood. It has no reference whatever to bishops of wards. Further, such a one must be designated by the First Presidency of the Church and receive his anointing and ordination under their hands. The revelation comes from the Presidency, not from the patriarch, to establish a claim to the right to preside in this office. In the absence of knowledge concerning such a descendant, any high priest, chosen by the Presidency, may hold the office of Presiding Bishop and serve with counselors."