Carborendum

It may surprise some people to know this, but ai went through a phase where I behaved like this. It was a selfish phase. I could have gone out of my way (bend a bit like @scottyg was saying). But my mentality was:The more I can get others to do for me the easier it is for me. It had nothing to do with what was right or what was more practical or any spirit of cooperation or personal responsibility. It was wholely about what I could get out of it for as little effort on my part as possible. Pretty selfish, right? Yup. I was. I got out of that phase because enough people around me told me that this behavior was unacceptable. And enough people refused to help me to the point that I realized I was on my own. So I did things because no one else would do it for me. I'd read enough stories of people picking themselves up by their bootstraps and succeeding. If it hadn't been for both sides of that equation, I don't think I would have gotten out of that mindset. Why would I? What would have been my motivation. If I could get by without doing anything I would have. It was only after I got out of that phase that I truly began to understand that "vision" (think "Paper Dream") that I'd had for so long. And more importantly how I was to achieve it.

And power outages. I thought I'd drop a line to let know we survived. Texans don't know how to drive in cold conditions. So there was a 13 car pile up last Friday at a bridge I was planning on using to get to work. But I couldn't get out of the subdivision for all the traffic being re-routed. I later heard of a 100 car pile up in Dallas because of bridges. We woke up around 5:00 am Monday morning to a home without power. (Someone later told me that it was out at 4:30.) I immediately checked the news form my phone since our router had no power. I found that the Texas commission on electricity decided to do rolling blackouts for periods of 15 to 45 minutes. It may go as long as one hour, but don't worry, you'll have power again soon. The reason is that this was a record storm. Texans don't have the equipment and supplies to weather such temperatures. So we depend on technology. Heaters were taken off of pump mode to emergency heat, which uses a lot more power. That's a very bad thing if we're in the middle of a blackout. The hours stretched on but we still had no power. I noticed that cell, text, and data were gone. Text would work after multiple attempts. It really was a disaster condition. Luckily my wife is a forward thinker. The had me cutting up our wood pile all weekend long. She had bought a sterno stove to cook our food. We shut off the well after filling up our bathtubs with water. And she had plenty of bottled water for potable use. So we got past the worst night, although later this week will be almost as bad. we were amazed at how much of the house was warmed by the wood stove. Our kids played a marathon game of Risk. Quite the change from the constant electronics in front of their faces. They even took a break to play with their baby sister by going out to build a snowman (she loves Frozen). Work was cancelled yesterday and today. We'll see about the rest of the week. We had power restored in the middle of the night after 20 hours. I surveyed the damage. Our one casualty so far was the well house. While most of the outdoor piping appears to be intact, there were a couple of valves that were closed that shouldn't have been. So about a 1' section of pipe broke off between those valves. Luckily there is a bypass that appears to be intact. However the two regular valves are damaged. I don't know if they will spray all over once I turn it back on. And since the valves are frozen solid, I can't figure everything out until Friday. I'll probably be spending all day Saturday doing repairs. We also have two storage tanks in the shed. With the 9 degree overnight low and no power, they were frozen solid. But nothing appears to be broken. We have yet to see how much damage there is in the refrigerator and freezer. Elsewhere, the ward building and the stake center were both used as shelters for people who didn't properly prepare or were otherwise debilitated by the storm. Our ward was being taken care of by the ministering infrastructure.

Does not, sectarian Christianity state that being saved in the Kingdom of God is to "live in his house, and be blessed with all that he has, but be his servant and not the master of the house"?

As long as you plant them after the final frost, you should have enough months of growth for a nice melon around July or August.

I still haven't seen any more than the seven original sprouts. I guess that's all I'm getting. I just started 15 more seeds. Hopefully I'll get at least two more sprouts. As of yet, I can't plant outside yet. The early spring turned into the statistical dip. We have a cold front that was supposed to only last one week. It is now forecast to last about 2-1/2 weeks. So, it looks like we'll have spring begin right about on schedule after all.

You've heard of "dark matter"? The Spirit is "Light Matter".

That's a worthy thought. I know that since I have such a short attention span

On a tangent from this... There is a joke I heard in an old movie (which I've repeated on more than one occasion) that I've found is lost on too large a percentage of the population. So, I have to be selective on the audience to whom I repeat it. Too often, I hear the response:

Really cool. If you have Google Ear th, here is the kmz file: Blue Ponds.kmz

I've actually learned that the "burning in the bosom" is downstream of the real feeling of the Spirit. It is not really dependable to the uninitiated because that same feeling (or at least a very similar one) can be simulated through other causes such as excitement, desire, etc.) The way you can recognize the difference is by experience. For instance I hope you remember my bread analogy. First step: Truly learn to listen to our conscience. We know what that feels like. We know that confidence, that peace, that strength that comes from doing what is right when it is clearly right or wrong (good and evil). This takes experience to really understand that feeling. But that's the way life is. Second step: Remember that our conscience only deals with good/evil sort of things. The Spirit will extend that feeling to areas where it may not be a matter of good and evil. Should I take this job or not? It may require gathering proper information, weighing options, considering pros/cons, etc. IOW, we need to "study it out in our minds" first. Then ask God if it is right. As we do these things, we will LEARN what the Spirit feels like over the course of much experience. But we cannot gain that experience if we never spend time listening to our conscience first, and then exercise the study and prayer over many questions in our lives. It is after all this that we can learn to distinguish between the warm, peaceful, enduring, and empowering burning in the bosom due to the Spirit vs. the wild, almost chaotic, short term, and sometimes enervating burning in the bosom due to human emotion.

Don't beat around the bush, Vort. Just tell us how you really feel.

Thanks everyone. I've put all your advice together to create a plan of attack. My daughter is a writer -- of the truest sort. She has her "characters" talk to her in their own voice and their own grammar/vocabulary. So, I'm going to advise her to create a character who is of average intelligence or above, who learned to figure out all sorts of really cool things, but he never received much of an education (formal or self-taught) in the standard academic subjects. As such he knows an awful lot of stuff about almost anything just by looking at the idea nd figuring things out on his own. But he never learned much of a vocabulary. Ask him how he would say what you're about to say. Then repeat the words without prefacing it with ,"Mickey over there says that what I mean is..."

I disagree. The two terms are virtually synonymous. While there is a very minor difference in how these words are defined in the dictionary, I know of no one (other than you) who would even raise an eyebrow at using "perpendicular" to describe the orientation of a ray to the point on the circle. And I'm pretty persnickety about geometric terms. We say "it is perpendicular at the point of intersection." But for shorthand, we can say that "a ray is always perpendicular to the circle." IOW, perpendicular is the property of the assembly of items. Whereas, orthogonal describes each individual item having the property in relation to the other. Basically, we're talking about the same thing, but applied to the whole vs the individual parts. But I've never heard anyone shy away from using either word for either case.

I second what NT said. The primary factor that is often weighed is if that child has graduated from high school or seminary by their 18th birthday. This allows for some 18 year olds to stay with the YM/YW programs for just a couple more months. But if the individual chooses, they can be separated. They can even go to the YSA ward.

There's a bit more to it for us. The family is inactive -- but has not formally resigned. The child of record has been active, but can't be baptized due to parental permission issues. The keep coming, but don't feel they can be baptized because they still "live under their roof." So, what happens to this record now that they've turned 18? Does it magically disappear? Does it just hang in limbo forever if she never gets baptized? And we thought the Catholics had it wrong!?!?

Yes. But who wrote down this quote? From what occasion/context were these words spoken? I can't find this document in the JSP.

I'm looking for what happens when a child of record has never been baptized and then turns 18. I can't find anything addressing this in the Handbook. Any past experiences?

I'd brought up this issue before. But now I'm finding that my daughter has the same problem but worse. She's finding that her companions and fellow missionaries find her vocabulary incomprehensible. They accuse her of inflating her vocabulary. They don't seem to understand that this is just how she speaks. She's struggling to speak in a way that others understand. But she feels like she's being condescending when she does that. So, it's a catch-22. Any ideas?

Yes, we're losing our rising generation. Why wouldn't we? We aren't protecting them from the rising evils in the world. In past generations, it was enough to simply "go with the flow". The society was "righteous enough" to allow a mostly hands off approach to parenting. Today, the world is so full of the powers of the adversary, we need to take a MUCH more active role in parenting. FHE is not just "a nice thing to do." It is an imperative. But too many parents don't take it so seriously. Those children with parents who do not watch and warn will have a much harder time keeping their children in the faith than past generations have. And I disagree that most of the children are doing so out of propriety or courtesy. While certainly some are doing so, I believe most are simply playing on their phones at the time.

Here's a summary of all that has been already said: The quote that Mordor provided has some insight into what happened, and what is allowed. As Jane said, casting out devils is a matter of faith in Christ, not necessarily the Priesthood alone. I have wondered, what is the difference between having the gift of healing per the gifts of the Spirit, vs the power to heal through the Priesthood. There may be a difference in form. But what is the difference in function/power? I'm not sure there is any. At some point (I'm sorry I don't have the reference) the Brethren decided that the fact that many people asked the question you did also opened the door to people thinking that women held the priesthood. While (as Vort said) women can hold the priesthood through their husbands, I believe it is more vicarious than by investiture or extension. So, they were discouraged from using the same forms (arm in the square and laying on of hands). Obviously there are some exceptions to this. But there is a reason why it is restricted. So, in the end, no there was nothing wrong with what she did. But the impression you got from it was exactly why it has been discouraged in later generations.

You're confirming my own argument. Entropy is the 2nd law of thermodynamics. It is the tendency for all things to devolve into a lower state of energy. Wherever you're going with this longer explanation, it doesn't address that fundamental definition. I'm well aware of the scene. But there is a difference between an object and a person. An object has a definition. A person can have traits and a description. But a "definition" is something that we don't really attribute to sentient beings. I'm saying that there is a difference between the way fictional things work and the way real world things work. the way magical things work and the way scientific things work. the way living things work and the way objects work. So, you're examples can prove your point, if the underlying functionalities had some common referent that would be relevant. But they don't. As such the analogies are basically tautology.

Yes and no. Originally, there was the notion of the Constitution hanging by a thread and that somehow the "Elders of Israel" would be the instruments of preserving it. There was no formal name for this prophecy. Later, this notion of the four colored horses came to light. It was a page or two long in the versions I read. This was formally dubbed "The White Horse Prophecy". Since that document contained the phrase "and the Constitution shall hang by a thread" the two prophecies were conflated. Many believed that this was the prophecy that others alluded to when they spoke of the Constitution and the Elders saving it. But this was not the case. While the White Horse Prophecy was repudiated, the original concept of the hanging by a thread etc was in the memories of many GAs who remembered Joseph speaking these words. The problem was that no one could remember any minutes being taken during that meeting. They all had the same overall concept of what Joseph had said. But each had a slightly different recollection of the exact wording. This was my understanding. That is why I was wondering about NTs post. I couldn't find the original document that was referenced in his link. I'd like to see it and find out who wrote it.

I don't know how much clearer things can be. I've read the references you've provided and I see no evidence of any reference to telestials or terrestials being referred to as "angels". I've asked you for such a reference and you keep repeating yourself. So, until you've provided new references, you're going to keep getting the same answer. It may behoove you to read the actual context of a passage before coming to conclusions about it.

Yes, see Mordor's post below. I was paying really close attention -- as much as possible without distracting myself from seeing in front of me. And there really were no other cars near us. I think I'd notice. If we believe in a dark matter car or a phase change from matter to energy, or the existence of Pym particles, that could certainly be possible. Sometimes I wish that were a thing. Then I take a look at the mirror and think better of it. What? You mean I'm not the only one who watches that? I've never heard of that before. But I'm checking it out now.

I was driving home on the expressway -- two lanes in my direction. I saw a car approaching from behind. As he got closer I saw him changing lanes because apparently 75 mph is not fast enough for him He went out from my field of vision in my rearview mirror and into my blind spot. I kept a lookout from the corner of my eye to watch for him passing me. But he didn't. He just stayed in my blind spot. I found that really annoying. I think it's dangerous. I tried slowing a bit to let him pass me. But he was still in my blind spot. I kept an eye out for movement in my rear view, side view, and beside me. I couldn't see him. Then I saw another car come from behind and do the same thing. But instead of staying there in my blind spot, he came up and passed me. So, what just happened to the first car? I asked my wife to look around and verify that there were no cars around us. She assured me that there weren't. There were no off-ramps we passed. The car just freaking disappeared! (cue Twilight Zone music).