DennisTate

Evil Spock is really hard to impress though................
the relatively somewhat more "good Spock"  who exists in other examples of applied Multiverse Theory is happier.......
has a higher level of Shalom.......
and tends to more so just enjoy the moments........
go with the flow........
and smell the roses........!

Thank you for sharing.  That was a great read. Interesting to get an insight into a Jewish point of view.

Interesting article
A journey into the Holy of Holies — in a Latter-day Saints temple
https://www.jweekly.com/2019/05/14/a-journey-into-the-holy-of-holies-in-a-latter-day-saints-temple/

Shalom,
Thank you kindly for asking this.  I know some things about LDS theology from my time spent here previously, as well as my own personal studies, but I certainly cannot (and, indeed, would not) claim to be any sort of expert.  However, I believe it would be quite difficult to reconcile any Kabbalistic teachings with what I know of LDS dogma.
The Chabadniks are their own special breed.  I spend a number of years studying among them during my time at yeshiva to become a rabbi, but I am not a part of that movement.  They are good people, and their pursuit of Torah is quite admirable, but some of their ideas I simply cannot abide.  They are also the most "missionary" of all Jewish religious groups, but they restrict their efforts to bring secular or humanistic Jews back into Judaism.

I can be that at times.  Mostly I suffer from a sort of droll loquaciousness.  Ask my children and they will confirm this.
They also ask me if I read the Bible to reminisce.  

I thought it may be of some interest if I start a thread to discuss each week's parsha.
 
😐
 
So...what is a parsha, you may be asking?  Jewish people have a deep and abiding love for the Torah, and, over time, the entirety of the Torah (the Five Books of Moses) have been divided into sections so as to render the readings in such a way that the entire Torah is read through in its entirety each year.  There are fifty-four parashiot (plural) that are read during the course of a year.  Each Torah portion (or parsha) is named.  The name usually is a word or words that are found in the first line of any given week's Torah portion.  The origins of public Torah readings can be found in the Book of Nehemiah.
I think it may be of interest to some to share the basic outline of the parsha for each week and then share a word or two (or more) about the reading from a rabbi's perspective.  I would be fascinated and much obliged to hear your thoughts from a non-Jewish point of view on any given parsha.
I should also mention that the parsha does not fall on the same week each year as it is based on the Hebrew calendar and not the Gregorian.
I will begin this week's parsha commentary in another post within this thread.  Please feel free to comment or ask any questions you may have!  As always, I pray that the Almighty, blessed be He, grant you His perfect shalom.  Be well, my friends.

Trouble sleeping, found this. Wife not sure if Husband should include mission on resume. (#4 on advice column)
Got me curious. Those of you who served missions, have you/would you?

Evil Spock isn't impressed.
 

The mainstream churches fear you.......
Latter day Saints for many reasons.... you tend to be highly motivated whereas a more lukewarm attitude prevails in most denominations.
For example if ChristianForums  .com did not classify you as non-Christians..... you could rapidly dominate every discussion there........
 
I have a suggestion for you...... Just call  yourselves "Christians" when you join the forum....... and you will be free to post anywhere there......
 
I stuck up for you Latter day Saints in several discussions and got Warnings each time that I did that.......... The blessings though have been awesome........  it is better to risk being kicked out of denominational Christianity than to be accepted as being in the middle of it......

The mainstream churches fear you.......
Latter day Saints for many reasons.... you tend to be highly motivated whereas a more lukewarm attitude prevails in most denominations.
For example if ChristianForums  .com did not classify you as non-Christians..... you could rapidly dominate every discussion there........
 
I have a suggestion for you...... Just call  yourselves "Christians" when you join the forum....... and you will be free to post anywhere there......
 
I stuck up for you Latter day Saints in several discussions and got Warnings each time that I did that.......... The blessings though have been awesome........  it is better to risk being kicked out of denominational Christianity than to be accepted as being in the middle of it......

I read in the bom profets who cried unto the Lord all day and all night, but how did they do it without being repetitive?

One problem I have always had with those that believe that the Trinity is a litmus test is that it goes directly against what I read in the Bible.  The Lord never said...unless you believe in the Trinity and come unto me, you shall be saved...ever.
The basic message is to believe in Christ, to believe he is God, and to believe he can and has saved you from sin.  Then, you need to follow him and his commandments.
It never says you have to have an intricate knowledge and understanding of who he is, his background, and relationship to everything else. 
You acknowledge him and that you are his follower and follow him.  That can be interpreted in many different ways, but in the end, you simply take on his name and follow his commandments and as per the Bible, you'd be a Christian.
Thus, this twisting of his words seems to be counter to the entire Christian scatology that many Christian denominations claim to follow.  Instead, it seems more like they are eschewing the Biblical statement to avoid judging (lest they be judged with the same judgment...especially at judgment day) and making their OWN call on who is or is not Christian.  A very scary position to take I would think.
I would say we may be the Church, and the only and true one (as we claim)...HOWEVER...I would say that any who accept Christ and consider themselves Christian and follow his commandments and teachings are Christian.  It does not matter the denomination and it does not matter how much more than that they know or do not know.  If they do their best to follow what they know of his teachings because they believe in him...they are Christian.
It seems sad that there are those out there that do NOT follow the Bible on this, even as they claim to believe in the Bible or to follow it as their authority.

https://broadview.org/its-time-christians-start-including-latter-day-saints/?fbclid=IwAR2A9PteT9jN5epVRhGee0NfRE_sFJVcszRXw2uNMFDjmpFrFfnHCixlH-A
The author claims to be a former president of the Canadian Council of Churches, and simply argues that "[The Mormons] should be welcomed to walk alongside the rest of us." The comments section certainly shows that not all agree with Rev. Christie. I guess it just shows that, while there are the counter-cult minsitries and individuals like Dr. Jeffress out there, there are also many who are more welcoming. The belief that Mormons aren't Christian is not universal.

I used to be fascinated by NDEs and took some trouble to look them up, research them, etc. No more. Some years back, I decided that (1) the stories were completely unverifiable, (2) many of the storytellers did not strike me as credible, and (3) in a few years, I'm going to find out first-hand what's going on.
#3 was the big one. I could see no compelling reason to invest myself in investigations of stories that were basically unknowable and would be proved or disproved within minutes after I die. What the heck is the point to worrying about NDEs? Live the gospel, serve God and your fellow man, and soon enough you'll find out by first-hand experience what happens after you die.

Not true.  First: Our best physical theories are an attempt to explain our universe in the sense of what we can observe.  It is religion and metaphysics (and sometimes science fiction with an emphasis on fiction) that tries to explain things that we cannot observe.  But one must ask - why is anyone trying to explain what we cannot observe?  Even the Heisenberg uncertainty principle of quantum particles (see @Vort references) does not eliminate observation but rather defines observation as a property of probability limits that are mathematically fixed and calculable within quantum definitions (not infinite but finite even though some specific calculations use limits as we approach certain variables approaching infinity).   Also the symmetry of quantum particles predicts the absence of a multiverse and can be explained more simply with the addition of a single additional dimension (as per Occam's Razor).  
 
The Traveler

To my way of thinking, it is spiritual compromise of horrific proportions.  We should not seek after worldly treatment, but in all things we are to give G-d the praise and the glory.  We have a prayer that we say called the Amidah.  At the beginning, we petition HaShem to "open our lips so that our mouths may proclaim His glory."  If and when American Jews turn back to their Creator, only then will their voices be heard.  Too many mistake the covenants and promises that G-d has given to us for the perceived entitlement of preferential treatment by manmade voices and institutions.

I remember that when I began to seriously read the scriptures I found God to be really manipulative, among other things. I was turned off by words and phrases like "vengeance," "justice," "wrath," and "persuasion." In the context of all of these words, persuasion seemed especially dark and formidable. If God was going to try to speak to me and have some sort of hidden agenda, then I didn't want to hear His argument at all! But that's just it: Heavenly Father doesn't have any hidden agenda. To believe this, it's important that we understand the differences between persuasion and manipulation and how they work in the context of a loving Heavenly Father. Understanding Persuasion and Manipulation My initial misunderstanding stemmed from having a poor idea regarding the nature of God, and of what persuasion is (unfortunately my K-12 English Persuasive writing lessons didn't help me here 🤦🏼‍♀️). Assuming you've had a similar misunderstanding, let's get on the same page and define what persuasion and manipulation actually are, and sprinkle it with...
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I am a Gentile.... but I do build a Sukkot in the forested area near my home and I try to be under it at least for a little while daily during the Festival of Sukkot / Tabernacles.  
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4784/jewish/What-Is-Sukkot.htm
What Is Sukkot?
A Guide to The Jewish Holiday of Sukkot, The Feast of Tabernacles, and the Meanings Behind it

I think you might have that reversed...  Canaanites borrowing the imagery of the Heavenly Mother to create Asherah.. I think there are alot of pagan mythology that are distorted and twisted 'truths.' 
Having said that I think one of the reason we do not know more about subjects such as Heavenly Mother, is that the Path is through Christ. (not anyone else, including Heavenly Mother).  Sadly the moment some people learn of her, they throw Christ under the bus and focus on her.
 
 

Most of us in the Church know that we have a Heavenly Mother. After that, things get a little murky. There’s a lot of myths concerning her, and one of those is that there are just not a lot of direct references to her as an individual. Actually, that’s not true. But if you’re just looking at things on a surface level, it’s easy to get the wrong idea since a lot of these references, such as 1 Nephi 11, are hidden under layers of cultural nuances that we just aren’t familiar with as modern readers. Appreciating How Ancient Israel Helps Us Understand Heavenly Mother If you want to pick up on some of the references to Heavenly Mother in the scriptures, then we’re going to have to go back in time a little bit. Well a lot actually, all the way back to ancient Israel. The first thing you should know about the ancient Israelites is that they were actually a lot more polytheistic than we’re probably comfortable...
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I am not a fan or believer in the accuracy of near death experiences - even though I have had such an experience.  Simply put, a near death experience is not the same as experiencing death or a spiritual vision given as revelation as explained by John.  The Kingdom of G-d is a kingdom of order and absolute principles that are seriously lacking from most NDEs.  Just because something appears as truth or seems to logically fit a paradigm does not mean it is not counterfeit.  At a minimum the divine things of G-d must and will adhere to the simple principle testified to Pharaoh by Joseph.
 
The Traveler

I have believed this for years.

You should read about Brigham Youngs dear death experience, if you haven't already. You can find it in Brent L Tops book: What's on the other side 

My interest is in the reasons Jesus did what he did with Lazarus, rather than why the corrupt Jews back in the day may have wished to kill Lazarus. 
In other words, there is a wealth of  authoritative things for me to learn that are pertinent to the gospel that I find little or no motivation delving into the non-authoritative  and impertinent things, even if somewhat interesting and popular.
Besides, there is a bit of a merchandising feel to the NDE movement that I am suspicious of given this weeks lesson on clearing the temple.
Thanks, -Wade Englund-