scottyg

When I was investigating the Church, my stake president visited us and as he was leaving asked if he could bless our home.  

There is a reason that President Kimball oversaw lyrical modifications that changed one of my favorite Primary hymns from "...teach me all that I must KNOW to live with him someday" to "...teach me all that I must DO to live with him someday."

"The ordinance of the sacrament is a holy and repeated invitation to repent sincerely and to be renewed spiritually. The act of partaking of the sacrament, in and of itself, does not remit sins. But as we prepare conscientiously and participate in this holy ordinance with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, then the promise is that we may always have the Spirit of the Lord to be with us. And by the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost as our constant companion, we can always retain a remission of our sins."
David A. Bednar  "Always Retain a Remission of Your Sins"  April 2016

FWIW, modern fertility treatment creates children "after the manner of the flesh" without the need for sexual intercourse.
It's always been strange to me that people feel the need to work out the details of these things though.
Can we not simply accept the literal truth of Jesus being God and Mary's physical son without profaning them? Seems a reasonable idea to me. Accordingly, I won't comment further on the matter.

As a side comment, I note that the words used to describe the creation of Adam have about as much meaning and clarity as the words used to describe the creation of Jesus. 

I also heard some Silicon Valley Bank employees sold off their bank shares before the bank crash and gave money bonuses to employees.  So frustrating to see this kind of fraud that people get away with in this life.  
There is no getting away with being a cheat and fraud in the next life.

Again, my MIL's words are becoming ever more prophetic.
https://vtdigger.org/2023/03/13/vermont-religious-school-that-refused-to-play-team-with-trans-player-banned-from-sporting-events/
A Christian K-12 school is now expelled from competing in the league with other high schools because the girls' volleyball team decided to forfeit a match against a school with a trans (biological male) athlete.  They figured they'd just finish the year in whatever place they wound up if they didn't play against that particular team.  Instead, they were completely expelled from further competition.
Instead of lawsuits like the liberals do, the conservative tactic has usually been a Biblical one: Turn the other cheek (in the gentler sense, not the defiant sense).  I'd suggest a different approach.
Private schools like Christian schools ought to make their own leagues.  They would form alliances with other schools with similar values.  Everyone is happy.  It would take some time for trans students to make their way in to tear that down as well.
The inevitable result, however, of separate leagues is that we're furthering the divide between right & left.  The national divorce is the final destination.  But none of us know what that would look like.  We have the Roman Empire as a model.  But the rights enshrined in the Constitution indicate that there is more at stake here than just different borders and different politicians.

Having spent a full decade hearing from critics that "you mormons teach and believe that God had sex with Mary", I've learned to just stick with the word-for-word scriptural account, and refuse to speculate further.  There's just no point in doing so.
When it comes to talking about what I believe and why, it's far more enjoyable to raise an eyebrow at how much interest my underwear seems to generate.
Mary might have been a bit more concerned about the whole process than she voiced, but she chose to just humbly accept what she was being told, and went with it.  I think there's wisdom there.  I get why Catholics revere her.

I do not believe this. 

Here's a double standard I see sometimes:
1. Kapernick is a good guy doing his best, and his detractors are foolish, biased, wrong, and possibly racist for disagreeing.
2. Gina Carano's single Tweet means she's an ignorant racist twit and it was right of Disney to fire her, and people who disagree are hate-filled bigots.
 
 

I think the Lord was comforting you at that time consistent with your agency. You decided later on to bring another child into your family.  

Some media outlets are saying that these are "protestors".
They aren't.
They're anarcho-communists who believe that they are modern-day "anti-fascists" despite they themselves being the ones who use fascistic methods to get their way. Often, these people are actually from upper-class backgrounds, and I'm hearing reports that among those arrested in the assault on the facility here are an employee with the Southern Poverty Law Center and a professor from Canada. 
A number of people have fallen for their propaganda, but everyone else who understands what's going on know that these people are domestic terrorists. 

This is true. Sometimes we only receive blessings if we ask for them. And such things can over time have great impacts, and change the course of our lives. God knows what would happen either way, but we get to choose. Perhaps something occurred in the space of a few years that changed the course of our family, and altered the impression that I originally had. What that would be I do not know, but I do know that God cannot lie. So if my impression was real, He would have a valid explanation as to why things turned out different...and I look forward to hearing His answer one day.

As I was reading D&C 3 this week (specifically verse 2) I was reminded of a past experience. About 7 years ago, my wife and I had our 3rd child. After the child was born, I received a strong spiritual impression that my family was complete - that 3 children were what was being sent to me by the Lord, and that our family as presently constituted would be my family for my duration on the earth. The impression was very specific, comforting, and clear - it was not my own thoughts. I was a bit taken aback by this as my wife and I hadn't ruled out having more children. We took each potential pregnancy one at a time, and had talked about possibly having up to 5 kids. Later, after talking with her about this she also said she felt like we were done having children, and that our family was complete. We were both happy with the impression and life was great.
Fast forward 5 years, and we ended up having a 4th child. We never felt like we needed another one, and we weren't trying to have one, but we also weren't preventing it per se. Now, I love my youngest, and we're very happy to now have 4 kids, but I have always pondered that impression I received. Does anyone have any thoughts as to why the Lord would send me a clear spiritual impression about my long-term family if He knew that our situation would be changing in a few years? Why not just let us continue our lives, and give us the impression to have another kid when the time was right if our family needed one? Neither of us were against having another child, and if that impression came, we would have done it wholeheartedly.
Yes, God's ways are not our ways, but He also doesn't say one thing and then do another. I have thought about if for a couple of years now and it still befuddles me; God is omniscient, so why would I receive an impression from Him that was contradictory to, or inconsistent with what would ultimately happen?

It didn't occur to me until I saw this video...
A long time ago, I frequented a prepping forum.  On the forum there was a guy who claimed to be a "recovering Mormon."   He kept spouting off things that were completely twisted or downright false doctrines from half-phrases in scriptures.  He said he was in the Church for 35 years.
After listening to multiple things he said, I had to conclude one of three things:
He was mentally challenged. He was completely lazy in his studies and his attentiveness in classes. He was flat out lying. After listening to this woman, I am leaning towards the same assessment for both of these people.  All three conditions apply.
How on earth do they get things THIS wrong?  Like they commented:  There are plenty of doctrines that are really weird that are actually true.  Why not go after those things?

This experience reminds me of some of the many times when it seems to appear as if God has changed His mind
See 2nd Kings 20: 1 - 6 
1 In those days was aHezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt bdie, and not live.
2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying,
3 I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will aheal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord.
6 And I will add unto thy adays fifteen years;
Doctrine and Covenants 56:4
4 Wherefore I, the Lord, command and arevoke, as it seemeth me good; and all this to be answered upon the heads of the brebellious, saith the Lord.
And all the many instances that turn up when you do a search of the Old Testament using the words Lord repent such as (one of many examples)
Exodus 32:14
14 aAnd the Lord brepented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
I'm not saying that any of these particular conditions apply to what happened to @scottyg, althought they might. I'm just putting them forth as examples of when it seems as if the Lord appears to have changed His mind. It seems as if some of these appearance of change have come about as a result of something that somebody did, ie, the Lord seems to be reacting to the faith and pleas of His children. 

This is a thought that occurred to me while reading the quote from Nibley in Zil’s post. Its not a view I’m committed to, its just a thought that occurred and I haven’t thought it through in any detail yet.
It may be that the validity of this method of testing might be influenced by the fact that the test is taking place in a very artificial environment where there are a number of conditions present that will not be present in the longer term environment in which we will all one day dwell. How many of our decisions in this life are driven by the need to satisfy physical desires which will not be present in the same way in the next life? Ideally, a good test mirrors as closely as possible the future operating environment, and to the extent that it does not, the validity of the testing process comes into question.

Pikamee.
A so-called "virtual idol" who does motion capture and provides voice work for a cartoon avatar and does live streams. 
The actress who plays Pikamee spent much of her childhood being bullied for being mixed-race. Becoming a virtual idol, let alone becoming a successful virtual idol, was a massive vindication for her. 
Then Pikamee announces that she's going to live-stream herself playing the Harry Potter video game, IIRC as part of a charity effort. 
Cue a literal horde of ostensible "LGBT supporters" swarming her chat and cyber-bullying her to such an extreme degree that she suffers a nervous breakdown and shuts down the stream.
Now it's been confirmed that Pikamee is "graduating", a euphemistic way of saying that she's quitting her job as a virtual idol. 
Much of the internet is angry that this person who survived so much has now yet again had their life altered by bullying. 
Cue large swaths of the LGBT movement *just not understanding* that what they did was wrong and trying to paint themselves as the victims when people - including individuals who are themselves LGBT - call out the larger movement for what took place. 

Never forget that this baby STOLE the third’s youthright!!!!

Or maybe it was "you're done" without the "for now" because they were to feel complete and content and treat their 3 that way.  If the Lord also told them "for now" things wouldn't feel the same, which might influence their relationships and appreciation for their current state.
With that feeling, they didn't need to wonder or worry if they'd have another baby.  They could be content.  The spacing was good and perhaps necessary for their children.
If they wanted or expected another child for a couple of years there likely would have been stress and heartache until the baby finally arrived. Many parents and many who long to be parents have felt that hardship.  It's nice they didn't have to go through that.
After a season of being a family of 5, it became time to advance to another stage of life and you were blessed with another. Congrats!

@Carborendum's recent post on The Veil reminded me of some studying and pondering I did years ago when I read the Old Testament very carefully. It was a great opportunity for me, and very fruitful. I learned a lot by careful reading and pondering.
One of the surprising (to me) things I learned was about Moses' ark of the covenant, a box that the children of Israel carried around with them (but only the priests; no one else was allowed contact) in the wilderness, and that contained sacred things such as the rubble of the stone tablets upon which were written by the finger of God the original law brought by Moses to Israel, manna, and a flowering branch.
I had known these things, more or less, but until I read the account carefully, I did not realize what the ark of the covenant actually was. And what it was was not merely an acacia-wood holy box. It was the throne of God, a place where God himself would sit between the cherubim upon the mercy seat and rule over Israel.
That symbolism was staring me in the face when I was reading, and I was shocked that I had never before realized it. I asked around, and it seemed that no one else realized it, either. But it's right there, not even hidden or anything, undisguised, as plain as the nose on my face. How could we fail to see what is openly described to us?
I wonder how many other things in our lives are like the ark of the covenant, plain as day for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, but mysterious and arcane to everyone else.

Many times, the Lord gives us instruction without explaining the details as to why His recommendations or commandments should be followed. At times we may not understand this information or His intentions. He is not required to immediately correct our incorrect assumptions. But he does know what we are thinking. He can use our misconceptions and failures for our growth and benefit. And this can be an extremely powerful learning experience. 

One of the greatest things that we can learn in life, is to trust and obey our Father.

Hi Third Hour Members
My name is Alec, I was baptised in 2021 and it was the single best day of my life. I have recently returned to my home ward after spending several years traveling interstate for work and recently due to health have had to cease working entirely for now. I am in a pretty tough spot to be honest, but have found considerable support and love from the Church which I am so happy and blessed to be a part of. I have spent some time reading through posts and I'm looking forward to being able to contribute now I've signed up. I value you all as members and hope to make some friends on third hour.
Alec.

“No longer certain that one ever does win a war, I am. For in fighting the battles, the bloodshed, already lost we have.”
Yoda