BJ64

Here is a link to an article the church has put out on suicide prevention. https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/reach-out-in-love-to-those-considering-suicide-elder-renlund?cid=email-IN_080518_English_CTA2 I think this is an interesting statement from Elder Renlund. The Latter-day Saint leader says the “old sectarian notion that suicide is a sin and that someone who commits suicide is banished to hell forever” is “totally false.” Its isteresting that something I was taught in the church all the while I was growing up and even until recent years is now “an old sectarian notion”.

A question might be who in Utah is happy and who are killing themselves. My sister in law lives in Utah and she feels she should share the gospel with her non member friends but is hesitant to do so because she says that they are happier than she is.

When you study church history you find that there is a lot that while perhaps isn’t hidden, it’s also not taught or talked about thus having the effect of being hidden from those who do not search it out for themselves. This is why I think it’s great that they are going to the effort of publishing the Joseph Smith papers. That which is published can no longer be hidden.

If you are interested in church history I would recommend reading Nauvoo a Place of Prace a People of Promice. It’s very well researched using period sources rather than later recollections. It’s been a few years since I read it but I’m sure it told about freemasonry in Nauvoo. Having studied church history extensively I’d say that only a small fraction of church history is ever taught. To understand church history you have to learn it on your own.

That is one of the main reasons that some “Christians” argue that Mormons are not Christians.

@wenglund I think you understand me when I say that the primary purpose of sex is procreation yet the primary use of sex is pleasure. We have a lot more opportunity in this life or the latter than the former. However there are those who would have us believe that any other purpose than procreation is evil, lustful, impure, unholy and so forth. I don’t believe that. I think it was understood from the beginning of time that the principal use of sex would be for the pleasure and bonding of married couples and I believe that won’t change for married exalted couples after this life. I think all the sex negative teaching that began in the dark ages with people such as Augustine have lead people to believe that sex is it evil, indulgent hedonistic thing that good people would not participate in let alone gods. However, done in the approved context, it is a sacred and holy and completely appropriate thing. How this relates to the topic is that as I said before I believe that the desire for sex will not end after this life.

Well it seems many people don’t even “have the time” for daily scripture study let alone the study of church doctrine, the study of the writings of prophets, the study of church history or the time to ponder pray and receive personal revelation.

It’s funny you should say that since it was just recently that I told my wife that if I was a woman I’d be a lesbian. I based that on the fact that if I was a woman I would not want to wear skirts, high heels, jewelry make up nor long hair or long fingernails. I’d be a very masculine woman. However that’s probably not a fair statement in regards to lesbians.

The LDS view is that only heterosexual couples sealed in the temple will be exalted. I believe the husband and wife relationship is a necessary part of the creation of worlds. Practicing homosexual people will still inherit a kingdom of glory but by not obeying the commandment of entering the new and everlasting covenant of marriage with a member of the opposite sex they will forfeit the possibility of exaltation. Of course God loves everyone but His love isn’t going to exalt those who have not been obedient to His commandments.

I’ll rephrase that. We didn’t go on their tours because we didn’t care to hear what they had to say. It’s amazing what minute things people here find to argue about.

Without commenting directly on what he said I’ll give my opinion on St Augustine. He lived in the dark ages when Jesus Christ’s Church was not upon the earth. Since there are only two churches, the church of Jesus Christ and the church of the devil, his teachings were from the latter.

I have no opinion on menstrstion in the eternities nor of the sexuality of non exalted individuals. To complicate things, what about the promise that those righteous people who do not have the opportunity to marry and have children in this life will have it in the next life? What about the fact that Christ was immortal/mortal. He had blood but could only die by choosing to do so? Presumably he had hormones as well as a wife and children.

While the primary purpose of sex is reproduction, the primary use of sex is pleasure. I would say that practically speaking pleasure between husband and wife is the primary purpose of sex. I think it was intended to be that way. There’s only a relatively short period of time where reproduction is desirable or possible. While my wife and I have used it to reproduce four times, we’ve used it for pleasure more than four thousand times. Those who think that sex is a necessary evil in order to reproduce are missing out on what I feel is primary usefulness of sex. I don’t think that will change for exalted couples. The primary purpose of sex being to produce posterity in this life and the next is why homosexual relations are against God’s plan for us. Someone has said that homosexual desires will be gone after this life. I asked many pages back how you would know this to be the case? It seems like a pretty complicated issue to me. To make a difinitive statement on this issue you would either have to be able to find it in scripture or be a prophet speaking while moved upon by the spirit. I haven’t been able to find either of these as of yet. The primary purpose of eating is to stay alive but I suspect most people eat because they enjoy food and crave it.

Yes I was there in 2002. Speaking of church historic sight tours things have changed a lot from say thirty years ago. Living not that far from Salt Lake I have been to the Beehive House many times. In the old days it was Relief Society volunteers who gave historical tours of the house and explained its construction, its use and modifications over time, what was done in the restoration, how the drapery fabric and carpets were reproduced and so forth. One lady who gave us a tour once had been involved in the restoration and told us about climbing around in the basement and attic. Now sister missionaries who know almost nothing about the house give the tour which is not much more than a missionary discussion. When we went to Nauvoo and saw the sights along the way we discovered that every church site has been turned into a missionary opportunity. While that may be beneficial for the church it anoyed is a bit because we were in a hurry and just wanted to see the sights without having to wait for the next tour group so that we could sit through long missionary discussion. Like I said it might be beneficial but if I was touring sights of another church and they were preaching to me I’d leave. In fact we did not tour the Comunity of Christ properties in Nauvoo because we didn’t want to hear their lectures. Mind you that this was during the temple open house so every church site along the route was packed with tourists on their way to see the temple. As a side note the first group of saints to leave Nauvoo took three months to cross Iowa. It took us six hours to cross it.

I think this scripture sort of says that we are the same in our thinking, desires and weaknesses after this life as now. Alms 34:34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

That’s s new sign. Thank you for posting it.

Does the sign out front mention Masonic Hall and do the missionaries make mention of it? It didn’t and they didn’t when I was there.

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However, if you read the book Nauvoo A Place of Peace a People of Promise you will discover that most of the history of that time is conspicuously absent from teachings about church history.

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From the Historic Nauvoo website. Perhaps things have changed but when I was there for the Nauvoo temple open house any mention of it being a Masonic Hall was conspicuously absent.

Our stake president is also a full time seminary teacher. He has taught that if the children are sealed to the parents and the parents live worthily that sealing will remain in effect and through some means all the children will be saved with them. I believe there is wording in the sealing ceremonies that could imply such a thing. The sealing of parents is dependent on their worthiness but the sealing of children is not if I’m remembering correctly. However I don’t want to quote those things here.

In Nauvoo there is a Masonic Hall that dates to the time of Joseph Smith. However if you visit it now you will find it called the Cultural Hall. It seems that someone wants to distance the church from freemasonry.

Pineapples on pizza? Yes definitely.

I thought I addressed that when I said that some sort of fluid will be coursing through our veins. Presumably that fluid would handle the functions that our blood handles. We know that resurrected beings can eat earthly food so the function of major body systems must be substantially the same.