Midwest LDS

It's not a echo chamber (although I'm sure there is some restriction on who can give a speech). I remember when I attended, Senator Harry Reid was invited to speak. A lot of students attended and he was relatively well received.

I guess you won't be taking our AR-15's after all Mr. O'Rourke 😉. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/beto-orourke-drops-out-of-2020-race

Amen brother.

I had an amazing experience this evening brothers and sisters. My younger sister asked me to give her a blessing. While what I said was for her ears alone, I was covered in the Holy Ghost while I was speaking to her. I've given many blessings in my life, but this one was a very special one. I knew I was speaking for God. I've always taken my blessings seriously, and have tried to feel inspired and I believe that I said what God wanted me too. But this time, like only a handful of other times in my life, I literally felt the power of the Holy Ghost descend upon me, almost like a light blanket although that description is inadequate. The holy Melchesidek priesthood is real. God has restored it through Joseph Smith, and it's power comes from our Saviour Jesus Christ. I just wanted to share that with you all this evening.

Provo Utah or Tacloban Mission

This is definitely something I have struggled with over my life. There have been many times where my own self righteousness has condemned me far more than the person I was passing judgement on. But I'd like to think I've made some progress in my life towards being more compassionate and loving. I think the answer to your question comes from one of my personal experiences. I was a member of the local branch presidency, the First Councilor, when a member of our congregation was called in for a disciplinary council. This member was guilty of breaking the Law of Chastity, and had been working with the Branch President on regaining their full standing in the church. I remember distinctly, as if it was yesterday, the strong feelings of inadequacy I felt being in that position. I thought "what right do I have to judge you, when I am guilty of many sins in my own past?". But I also felt nothing but love and concern for this member, and was excited that they wanted to come back into the fold. Never at any time did I feel superior to them, or that they should be cast out for their weaknesses. They were trying to regain their hold on the iron rod, and it was my job to help them get there. We gave this member instructions on how to continue with the repentance process and sent them on their way. I share this experience, because it taught me how I should react to those who fall from the path God has set for us, including myself. We never condoned this person's sin, and if this member had not been repentant we would have had to have taken further steps, but never once did I feel superior to them, or feel as though I had the right to condemn them. I think that's how you stand for truth but refrain from enabling at the same time. Exactly as the Savior did with the woman caught in adultery. He loved her, and protected her from the self righteous, but also taught her truth and did not shrink from telling her to get her life back on track. It can be hard to do as a fallen human being, but as always Christ is our perfect example in all things.

I'm sure you are correct. Sometimes we forget the apostles, prophets, and disciples are human beings. Inspired and directed by God, but human beings nonetheless who added their own interpretations and experiences to the events they were recording.

You bring up some interesting points. First, I would say Luke was probably sharing the story of Moses the way he learned about it. Since Luke was a Greek convert, I'm sure his formerly Jewish fellow saints taught him about Moses, and this may be the version of events they taught at the time. Secondly, it's possible that they had access to records we don't today. I teach history, and it's incredibly depressing how many records have been destroyed throughout the millenia before we even had a chance to look at them. Luke may have been recording accounts he had of Moses's intention that we don't have access to today. I believe Josephus in his book Antiquities of the Jews reports Moses as being around 40 when he killed the overseer. He was a contempoary historian of Luke's, he lived from 37 to 100 AD, and he doesn't appear to be making things up out of whole cloth. He had access to some sort of historical records when he was writing his book. My personal opinion, so take that for what it's worth, is that he killed the overseer for beating the Jews and hurting them and tried to keep it from being known by other Egyptians. Despite being alone, at least that's how I read Exodus, other Jews knew of the event, someone saw what happened and at least whispered about it. Otherwise the one who told him off in Exodus 2:14 wouldn't have known about the murder. Moses seems to have been afraid his deed was widely known and this was part of what encouraged him to flee Egypt. If he had done this to lead the Jews into rebellion by showing they could trust him to protect them from the Egyptians, why would he be afraid if it was known? Now we could be missing scripture, I believe the Bible as far as it is translated correctly, and know that part of this story that clarifies what's going on might have been lost which could make Luke's account more correct. We just don't know. At the end of the day, as a Latter Day Saint, I have access to records other than those in the Bible that I believe in. We have the Pearl of Great Price which contains things we believe were lost from the Bible that were written by Moses, as well as an acocunt of him appearing as a ressurected being to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland temple. I realize these are only of value if you belive they are true, but since I do, it's clear to me that Moses was either morally correct in killing the overseer, or God forgave him for a sin done in ignorance before he learned more of the gospel (as he undoubtedly did at the feet of his father in law Jethro).

Gotta admit I was kind of hoping he'd lose, but at 152 seats it should be fairly simple for Prime Minister Trudeau to form a minority government. Still he came within a hairs breadth of becoming the first PM in Canadian history to lose his first re-election campaign. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50134640

I'm a firm believer in praising God for the good things in my life. If I were receiving oil money, I would feel like it was reblessin from him, as all good things come from God. He also tells us in the Doctrine and Covenants that he is displeased if we do not recognize his hand in all things. That does not neccessarily say anything about me individually though. God makes it rain on the just and the unjust alike, so while oil money is a blessing it doesn't mean I'm (generic) any better or more worthy than any of God's other children. Quite the contrary, God rewards the faithful with everything he has. That means even the poorest, most humble saint in Africa will one day receive everything, and no longer be poor. In fact I would argue, while worth being grateful for, that oil money is more of a trial. Do the saints who have received this blessing do anything good with that money? Do they pay extra fast offerings, look for brothers and sisters in need, and bless others? Or do the merely use the money to buy themselves more comforts? That is the ultimate question in my view.

In this day and age of atheism and unbelief, people of all faiths need to back each other up. I'm glad you were able to stick up for your beliefs with the help of your fellow student!

Overall, I don't have much to add to the debate on whether or not to watch R rated movies. Generally, if I find I have to justify doing something I'm usually about to do something wrong. Not every time, but maybe 98% of the time. So if I find myself justifying a film, I force myself to take a closer look at why, because it usually means I want to do something I shouldn't. I'm more concerned with this idea that there will only be a few of us attaining exaltation. I know the scripture says strait is the way and narrow is the path, and I do believe that if you are refering to the world at large this is true. But I wholeheartedly believe that there will be more, not less of us that are going to be exalted. Too many times we become obsessed with spirtual minutia, and act like somehow we will save ourselves by being perfect. Christ teaches us how much we rely on him all throughout the scriptures, although here is a specific example in D and C 68:9 "And he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I'm not trying to justify sin, quite the contrary it's also crystal clear that repentance is absolutely neccessary to receive exaltation, but since all of us fall short of the glory of God, and only those cleansed by the Blood of Christ will be brought into the presence of our Father, I don't understand why sometimes we try to limit, even in many cases limiting ourselves, who Christ can save. If even a man like President Nelson, a man who is 1000 times better at living closer to Christ than me, falls short of God what possible chance do I have? I don't believe that God would have told us that we are that we might have joy if he was only planning on exalting a handful of his Saints, and casting the rest of us out of his presence. I would argue that Christ's power is great enough to exalt a lot more of us than we sometimes give him credit for, and that while we should be careful and repentant in nature, we should also trust that he can exalt regular joes like me who fall on their face all the time. If he was limited in this regard, Christ's gospel would not be good news.

That's really cool. My wife would love to be a witness for our daughter when she's old enough. How neat!

I don't know, I thought it was kind of cute. I don't see anything to be concerned about, it's just a silly little video..

I have included my mission service on every resume or college application I've ever sent out. I do this for a few reasons. A. I believe it shows my level of committment by demonstrating that I volantarily left home for 2 years to do something difficult. B. It shows I'm used to interacting with people about potentially difficult to talk about subjects, which actually went a long way to getting me my current job. C. It let's my employers know a little bit more about me without them having to ask. If they are going to have a problem with me being a Latter-day Saint I'd rather they find out and not hire me, then have them give me grief later.

I have been to many over the course of my lifetime. My immediate family are the only Latter-day Saints in my extended family, and I've had the pleasure of attending a wide variety of different Christian worship services. Of the ones I've been to, I most enjoyed the services in the Russian Orthodox and Methodist churches. While my experiences have run the gamut of really good to really bad, I generally feel comfortable in other churches, and I frequently hear good lessons taught in them.

That was an excellent article. I love how he tears apart the use of the gish gallop technique, but at the same time talks about the importance of faith for things we do not have the answer for. I remember having to deal with drivel like the CES letter on a regular basis as a missionary. For me, it was always a question of "well what do you want me to do if I leave my faith?". I mean no insult, but not one of the learned pastors I met understood the scriptures as well as me, and I was just a young punk of a missionary. If you were to succeed at destroying my faith, then it would do nothing but lead me into a soul destroying atheism. If the truth does not exist in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after all of my powerful, soul filling spiritual experiences, then truth does not exist at all, and I certainly would not join whatever born again lite church the Antis want me too. I'm glad there are people like Brother Snell fighting the good fight online, and protecting vulnerable members from this trash. It saddens me to think of any member traveling that road of loneliness and anguish.

The problem with impeachment has always been that you need to get 2/3 of the Senate on board in order to actually remove the president. The Democrats do not have that. Even back when Andrew Johnson was impeached, one of the worst presidents our country ever had, the Radical Republicans, who controlled both the House and the Senate, couldn't get it done. Granted in that case President Johnson was only saved by one vote, but that was with all the cards stacked in the Republican's favor and they still couldn't pull it off. I agree with @MormonGator. I think this is going to backfire and could easily end up improving Trump's popularity. Whether or not that's enough to win him the election is another question, but it's not doing the Democrats any favors.

That's awesome! What a great way to commemorate your sealing.

Hey Trudeau is far too right of Trotsky for me to be a fan. And it's not my fault you hate ABBA so much, that sounds like a you problem you capitalist pig.

My grandmother, who for decades spent a huge chunk of the year living in PEI, would argue you should vote for the Tories because she is pretty conventional. I'm not a huge fan of Trudeau, so I would argue voting for the Tories as well. But I'm an American, as is my grandmother although some times she pretends otherwise, so feel free to take my reccomendation with a grain of salt☺.

I've only been once so far (it's not exactly close to the...Midwest...😃) but I will be going again, the landscape and animals are just too cool not to. I really loved all the geysers going off.

Definitly big enough for yours truly! But they really were neat to see. Mostly because I had only seen them in books and the occasional video/pic online.

The first time I ever saw wild buffalo was pretty neat. We were at Yellowstone for a family reunion and a herd of them cut off traffic as they slowly crossed the road. I never thought I would get that close to so many of them, I'd only ever read about buffalo herds before. Later we saw one up close outside the car (well as close as someone who is sane and understands you don't want to tick off a half ton wild animal will get). I really enjoyed that trip.

Perhaps in the aggregate that's true, but I'd like to think there are individuals who will take this as a growth opportunity. I know I've had opportunities to grow in this regard over the last year or so, and I'm not all that special. I bet there are many others, perhaps not the majority but many, who've also grown in compassion for the other side over their doctrinal struggles.