Carborendum

I think you missed the entire point of the post. It isn't about COVID. It is about government having a "valid" reason to put a tracking device in your body with personal data that they can keep track of. Exactly the point I was making. Their overt claim doesn't have to be true. It just has to be "plausible" enough to sell to the general public. And once that's done, then they can do whatever the heck they want.

There was some talk about someone saying that Martin "only" saw the plates and the angel with his "spiritual eyes." Then they went on to explain that "spiritual eyes" were basically an imagined vision. This is a lie. As far as I know, some people may have used such language (and we do as well, sometimes). But it was by no means universal. When Latter-day Saints refer to "spiritual eyes" we mean that the power of God would not allow a mortal to see divine things and live. To be able to behold His glory, we need to undergo a transfiguration (like what happened to the apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration with the Savior). When we are transfigured, our bodies are different -- strengthened -- to be able to withstand the glory of God. But the experience is no less real. If anything, it is MORE real. A perfect example is Nephi's vision and the account of Moses in the Pearl of Great price. This manner of language has been an LDS belief ever since the beginning.

Apparently, the Christian's worst nightmare is coming true. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/last-pandemic-science-military-60-minutes-2021-04-11/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7d&linkId=115939030 I do not believe a "chip" is the mark of the beast. I believe that there is a societal system that is the mark of the beast. And this chip is only a small (no pun intended) part of it. It is simply a tool to help implement the mark of the beast.

Jaimie, I'm not criticizing you directly. But I have to offer a rebuttal for others who are reading this thread. That was a twisted account of what actually happened. I've never heard of this before. Could you provide a reference? I know that after the failed attempt at calling upon Heaven, Martin admitted that he was the reason the Lord was silent, and went away to "humble himself". I don't know if that included fasting or not. But probably so. I've never heard any accounts about Oliver or David having fasted prior to the visitation. Provide a source. Really? https://www.livestrong.com/article/546782-can-lack-of-food-make-you-hallucinate/ Not a credible claim. I wouldn't find this believable if you said it about the followers of Jim Jones. But we're talking about three people who were highly educated, level-headed men who were leaders in their communities prior to meeting with Joseph. They all harbored doubts because they were wary of believing outlandish stories. They were not foolish children who could easily be tricked into anything. And he simply "talked them into" believing they saw something that wasn't there? That is not just persuasion and trickery. That is a master hypnotist at work. How many more abilities will they claim Joseph had and still be mortal. With all the claims of his critics, he almost seems like a Superman or something. Someone as good as The Mentalist only exists in fantasy land. If someone really were that good, he would HAVE to have help from above. Indeed. Jamie, I know you've behaved very well on this site for as long as I've known you. So, I'm not going to hold this against you personally. But the claims made by these "critics" twist the truth and then proceed to outright lie. I find it interesting that these men claim Joseph was a master trickster who deluded & deceived these men to believe what he said. But then the very words of their (the critics) very own arguments are outright deceptions. Do they believe that these witnesses were fools? Or do they believe that their own audience is full of fools? Depends on what the "unusual" state actually was. I know of someone who is morose and serious almost all the time. He always makes bad judgments because he looks at things from the most pessimistic perspective. But every once in a while he is in a cheery mood. And he brings forth some pearls of wisdom -- what some may call a "zen gem." Actually, that is exactly what you just did. As the link I posted above indicates, fasting for a day or so does not cause hallucinations. So, even if not "equating", you are at least drawing a parallel where there is none. It was along the lines of saying "Lions are mammals, and you're a mammal, so I should be really wary being around you." If anything, it tends to calm the "noise" of life and allow our minds to focus properly. Yes, he was. It isn't so simple as a blot of mustard that would cause something so serious as hallucinations. Hallucinations are A BIG DEAL. Your friend who saw pink elephants was not just "kinda drunk". You have to be WAYYY over the deep end to get to that stage (as you say "blind drunk"). If he did that with only a few small drinks, then he has other health issues he may want to get checked out.

Excuse me? Browning invented the 1911. He sold the patent to Colt.

Ratio of mustard seed to a lepton (it is on the order of Avagadro's number). Ratio of a mountain to a speck of dust (it is on the order of Avagadro's number).

I do the counting of persons attending in person. The other clerk checks the Zoom attendees and we add them up. So, if all those attending also attend the Zoom meeting from their phones...

I had learned that a mustard seed was so many hundredths of a gram. So, to make a hundredth of a gram. Then figuring Avagadro's number for protons. And an electron is about 1/1000th of a proton mass...

I've been experimenting with various rates of food consumption -- to see if lack of food is causing the problem. For the most part, it seems that I have decreased the frequency and duration of episodes during this time of moderate eating. So, today I ate quite a bit. I might say I overate. And I'm also having some breathing problems. But it is much more brief. I can catch my breath. It isn't like it was when fasting. When I was fasting, I could inhale deeply, but still felt like I was not filling my lungs. I even got light headed because I got so much oxygen. But I still felt like I needed to breathe more deeply. And I'd almost get into panic mode before it would subside. Strange. I've also hypothesized that it isn't "eating" in general that is the issue. It may be that I'm missing an important nutrient during my fasting. And overeating doesn't necessarily guarantee that I'm going to get that nutrient. Still gotta isolate what is causing this.

No, I meant mountain. When dealing with proportionalities, it is a circle of one item proportional to another which is then proportional to another... You can go about the problem either way. It's almost like a circle of fifths in music.

The Come Follow Me reading for the week is rather short. So, it was easier to slow down and really take it in. I was struck by D&C 38:4 I remembered how the so called charismatic Christians us the phrase "plead the blood of Christ" to describe their acceptance / utilization of the Atonement of Christ to cleanse their sins. We tend to use a different phraseology "apply the blood of the Atonement". I tend to believe these roughly translate to the same thing. But the fact that all of these include the central point of the "blood of Christ" said something to me today. I am reminded of just how many cultures talk of blood oaths in some way, shape, or form. But for some reason, we've lost the meaning of blood debts in our culture (John Wick notwithstanding ). I wonder how much of our desensitization to the meaning of blood is because we see fake blood so often in movies/TV. How can we think blood means anything when it's always fake? We also keep hearing about deaths all the time on the news. It either seems very distant or very politicized or both. We keep telling ourselves, "it doesn't concern us." We feel the seriousness of the death, but there's nothing we can do. We're not related to them. We have no sense of sympathy or empathy. Maybe it isn't "we". Maybe it is just me. But there has to be a way to make a distant and unrelated death become more real to us. Christ's Blood was spilt and we owe him a blood debt. But in our daily lives, do we feel it? How about when we partake of the Sacrament? At least then? I try to focus on the Savior. And I feel an impression of the Spirit tell me that he suffered for me. He was bruised for our iniquities... with his stripes we are healed... He is my Savior. Yet, when I compare that thought to what I believe I'd feel if I learned my wife went through that... the feelings, the reality, the impression... the seriousness of Christ's suffering simply aren't at the same level as that of my wife. Then I consider the Book of Mormon. I'm told that it mentions the Savior and/or the Atonement about 3 times per page (on average). I've never done an analysis to count that. But I do recognize that it is quite frequent. I wonder if we're supposed to always read the BoM. I believe that by reading it so often, it tends to put the thoughts of the Savior in the front of our minds so often that it is like we're really getting to know Him personally. The Atonement becomes a reality, not something we merely read about or give speeches about. it is real. It is immediate. It is part of our lives. It is part of US. Is it any wonder that the Book of Mormon was written "... to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations" ? As I read it again and again, it is impossible for me to forget the Savior and His sacrifice for me.

It was really a question of how Nephi framed the "problem at hand". In Nephi's mind The challenge before him was Laban, himself. It was not his men. The challenge before the Israelites fleeing Egypt was "the Egyptians", which may or may not have included Pharaoh. It is not really a matter of it being right or wrong. It was a question of perception. Whether that was the reality or whatever literary parallels you wish to draw, the wording here simply reflects Nephi's perspective for each of the two situations at the time that he wrote it.

"standards of holiness" is not a phrase we're familiar with or ever say. So you may not understand what it's really like. And if you're of the of the "once saved, always saved" crowd, then you really won't understand it. We have the saying "member in good standing". This would preclude the child molester (as an example) from being a temple worker.

Here's the view of one fairly fruitful branch of my most mature tree. And the chicken coop is in plain view. I believe we still have 7 of them. The branches show that I've got some good spacing on the nectarines. I hope that means they will be nice and big. This photo is a perfect example of why it is difficult to take good photos in the open sun. You can't see the screen well enough. I was going for a bit higher, where my thumb and the nectarine were both centered on the shot. My thumb knuckle is about 1" wide at the widest. So, this largest nectarine is about 1.4". I've got to look up a good method of keeping the birds off of the fruit without resorting to netting. That can get expensive. It is also difficult to put on and take off. But if I don't find some method, I could lose all my fruit. Dang communist birds.

So, this is the tree that I thought died. And it mostly did. There was a little bit of green higher up that died. But the green now only extends about 2 ft above grade. So, in another month or so I'll be trimming most of the tree off. My wife says that the extensive root structure is more important than the extensive branches. So, it is better to keep the tree than to buy another one and plant it here.

So, you can see two melon plants next to each other. The one is directly to the left of my shoe. The other is slightly forward of the first. They were both seeded around the end of December (30th/31st). First sprout: Jan 15. I don't know exactly what date these sprouted. I planted them around the last of February (clear of Snowmageddon). I took this photo around the end of March. My shoe is exactly 12" long out-to-out. I've let a lot of clover remain to fix the nitrogen content of the soil. I'll be bringing swamp water from the back of my property to help the fruiting after the flowers have been fertilized. I've also planted two other plants in the backyard on the End of March. I've got some sprouts that came up in just this week that I hope to plant on the first of May. Then some more on the first of June. I'll also try the first of July. But I don't anticipate they will do well. But it's an experiment, so...

Important note: "And we say unto you, Receive the Holy Ghost". This father I spoke of said,"We give you the Gift of..." I mentioned it to the bishop afterward. But he never did anything about it. Oh well...

Excellent Point. I had one baptism where the father was only recently reactivated. His prior Church experience did not properly train him in the process, and he did it wrong. And he did the ordinance wrong. He did not properly say the prayers (both of them).

Welcome Opening Song Opening Prayer Talk of baptism Baptism While changing into dry clothes, the rest of the attendees will have testimonies, sing hymns, watch a spiritual video. Basically filler time. Talk on Holy Ghost/Confirmation Confirmation Welcome from a member of the bishopric Closing song Closing prayer. *************** I've noticed a different trend recently. Some confirmations are done like they did when I was a child. i.e. They do it on the following Sunday. I don't know if this is universal or if the confirmation during the same meeting as baptism is more universal. But I've seen it both ways.

Regarding testimony, the primary function of a parent is to provide opportunities for your children to feel and recognize the Spirit. Then (as Moses did on the mount) they will know the difference between the glory of God vs the weakness of Satan. The pitfall of "introducing" anti stuff too early is that the methodology tends to be one of mortal logic and temporal evidence. If they learn to depend on that too early, how can they ever learn to depend on the Lord? Man's logic is fine for temporal matters. But the things of God are learned through the Spirit. And that is about being in tune enough to feel and recognize its promptings. Have they learned that yet? If not, they aren't ready for apologetics. Certainly as general principles, it's fine to explain that basic gospel truth to them. And it is healthy to teach them about the law of witnesses. We need to hear the same message from other apostles to validate the word. Then we need to pray on our own to confirm that what we just heard was true. That way we know that it isn't just rhe fallible man speaking. It is the words of a prophet. This of course goes back to teaching them to feel and recognize the spirit.

do the math. 10 to the 23rd power vs mass of a mountain. What can you do? Not much. less than a particle of dust.

First time, I've heard such discussion about the Constitution in GC. (cf Pres Oaks)

Ahem. Pres Oaks delivers.

Happy Easter, @SilentOne.

never been on that page. But most Church websites have the language option. I try going back and forth to keep up my foreign languages.