Carborendum

One of my missionaries had some fun with someone trying to fit him inside a box. He's currently in Arizona, awaiting his visa to Japan. His name tag shows Japanese lettering. But it has Roman letters for the name "Elder *****". Someone looked at the tag and the following occurred: 1: Is that Chinese? 2: No, it's Japanese. 3: So, are you Japanese? 4: No, I'm Korean. 5: (seeing his last name on tag) Is that a Korean name? 6: No, it's German. 7: So, do you have German ancestry? 8: No, I don't. He had just enough fun with it to get the guy thoroughly confused. Then he decided to help him out with the full explanation. He could have gone further and said: 8: No, I have Icelandic ancestry. 9: So, your father is Icelandic? 10: No, my mother is Icelandic. My father is Korean.

One of my best friends from college also chose the Nauvoo Temple for their sealing. I thought it was around the time you mentioned. He was sealed in 2011. Less than a year after you. You often say things that sound somewhat like him. So, I was wondering if that was you. But alas... no.

I can only compete in the D&D zone:

I was struggling whether to put this in the Roe v Wade thread or this thread. I decided to put it here because, I'm not as concerned about the Roe v. Wade decision or its overturning as I am about the ideology that is now making itself known to us. And it is much worse than we thought. This particular post is NOT intended to center on abortion. It is about this ideology. Hence, it has to do with TGAAC that I believe is shoving its religious beliefs in our faces all in the name of tolerance and refusing any Christian from "shoving our religion in their faces." The following link is a tweet from a Harvard Law Professor. https://twitter.com/Esqueer_/status/1540655708630302720 She says that because of the overturn, the people have every right to harass the justices at every turn. She then goes on to repeat the tired line that LGBTQ and contraception are at risk again. I'm surprised she didn't mention interracial marriage. If a Harvard Law Professor cannot tell the difference between banning abortion vs relinquishing federal authority of it to the states, then the entire legal system is going to be at risk. LET ME REPEAT: This particular post is NOT intended to center on abortion. It is about this ideology that is so blind that it takes "relinquishing authority" as being "authoritarian." Am I going off the rocker calling this a sign of TGAAC? Maybe. But here's a litmus test. If it is TGAAC, then it will manifest as being opposed to the Church of the Lamb. Bad: Abortion, LGBTQ+, NAMBLA, "Freedom From Religion", Destruction of the Constitution, Mob rule, Libertine. Good: Marriage, Family, God, the Constitution, Rule of Law, The Bill of Rights. The movement isn't 100% there yet. But from when I was a child to this day, the battle lines have been getting clearer, brighter, and broader. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, then I'm being prophetic. If they are altered, then the earth has earned a reprieve from Armageddon for a season.

Yes. No one considers that the ship sank because a captain wanted to follow a schedule more than following a safety protocol. I hadn't heard of the coal fire thing. But it looks like that was yet another safety protocol that was ignored. The public needs to understand that the engineering design takes into account proper usage of the designed item. For instance, a building isn't designed to handle a car ramming into it. A car isn't designed to take a building falling on it. And if a meteor makes it to ground level, kiss your modern conveniences good bye. We don't design for these things.

Concerning matters of 2nd Amendment debate, I like to use the portmanteau "Confuscate".

The sad part of this came from what is known as "scope creep" or "design creep". That is, as we proceed with design, additional items of scope are added or modified. This is inevitable because additional factors become evident as we get into the details of the design. In this case, one cardinal rule of space flight is "reduce weight". When they realized that the weight of paint on the large external fuel tank was a significant quantity, they decided to stop painting it. That is why it changed from white to that orange/brown color that we saw in later years. It is interesting that something as simple as paint contributed to the insulation debris that damaged the tiles which then caused the Columbia to rip apart. Yup, that is always a problem. I've known only one man who could have acted as project manager for such an endeavor that would have been able to work with this. But he would still have to depend on top notch leaders within each discipline. I've known of two people who could have been effective discipline leads on such projects. But the shuttle would have taken a dozen or so disciplines. Good luck with that. ... My engineering statistics/economics professor made a statement about that. He pointed out that the percentage from an engineering perspective makes the shuttle design an engineering success. But it is considered a failure because lives were lost. It is interesting to note that when designing aircraft, there are some aspects of the design which use a factor of safety less than 1.0. That's insane. But the industry has set standards for exactly which items can be set this low, and what other mitigating measures can be implemented to allow such a condition. One method of mitigation is to have regular inspections to check for wear/damage at the expected locations. Another is to train all pilots to go easy on the controls so that higher stresses are not introduced into the aircraft structure. I resemble that remark. I kind smell what you're cooking. But I see it the difference between expectation vs reality. It is kind of like saying that the Sean Connery - James Bond films were better than modern ones. Well, yes and no. From having nothing but airlplanes for comparison, the Apollo program was a marvel and a wonder. That first image of the rocket stages separating and seeing the earth beneath!!! Whew!!! That set the world's imagination blazing. Neil Armstrong's first words as he stepped out on the moon inspired the entire world! (don't go on about his word choice!) Basically, NASA took us from a 3 (technologically) to a 7. That really was a GIANT LEAP. No wonder the world was dreaming of space travel. But the shuttle was an 8. The things that caused the world to dream were the images and the dreams. But with the shuttle, there really weren't any different images. We got to see the bay doors open and the articulating arm work. That was all. It was an incremental increase while we were wading through mud technologically. It wasn't a wonder. We'd already seen the wonder. We were expecting another giant leap. But what we got was a small step. Basically, there is no denying the shuttle was a step forward in technology. It's just that the step was so small that it didn't inspire the wonder that the Apollo Program did.

That's certainly a reasonable consideration. And it if applicable, that would be a wise choice. But the "story" that was told was that she HAD TO leave the state BECAUSE OF ABORTION RESTRICTIONS in Ohio. As far as anyone can tell, that simply wasn't true.

OK, https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2022/07/13/columbus-man-charged-rape-10-year-old-led-abortion-in-indiana/10046625002/ So, what was national news, come hoax, has now been verified. The question still remains why she had to go out of state when it was perfectly legal for her to get an abortion in her home state of Ohio, due to her circumstances.

See? Say "Pwadway."

I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone, but... The supposed 10 yo girl in Ohio having to "flee" to Indiana for an abortion appears to be a hoax. Ohio's Attorney General said his office would have some wind of such a case through requests for DNA kits, rape kits, investigations, search for suspects, etc. But he has NONE of that. Additionally, Ohio law allows for abortion in such cases. So, there wouldn't have been a need to go to another state at all.

This is interesting to consider. The Greek word "Charagma" (the mark) can mean: A stamp, or imprinted mark (sounds like a "brand" to me -- as in slaves). Something carved or a graven work. I wonder if this dual meaning is intentional. It seems interesting to me that man creates idolatrous gods to mold them into whatever they want, so they can do whatever they want. But in the end it turns out that the reward is according to the Lord's plan, not ours. When I read these opposing uses of the word "seal", I see two very different pictures. We procrastinate the day of our repentance. We are branded as a slave to the devil. We inherit all that Satan has. OR We humble ourselves before the Lord, we repent, and continue in "good works". We are sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. We inherit all that the Father hath. Why, oh, why are we so quick to choose the former rather than the latter? I remember a quote from Joseph (help me with the reference if someone can) saying something like "The devil only has such power over us as we allow him." And I do believe this also covers possession. Although, I'm not too certain on the details. I can conceive of a person who is considered your "basically good guy" that even does a lot of "good works" as perceived by man, but continues to procrastinate repentance. In fact, he figures, he's doing enough good works that he just doesn't bother with repentance. Cain sacrificed to the Lord, but it was counted unto him for naught because he never humbled himself before the Lord. He never repented. Repentance is the first fruits of faith in the Lord. Without repentance, nothing else even matters. I am being moved to believe that in the past, the "Mark" may have very well been figurative. But I see history and realize there is a pattern. We begin with cycles of wondering from the Lord, and we take on figurative marks. The society degenerates slowly with each successive generation. Eventually, they take upon themselves a real/literal mark. I find it interesting that the Lord said He would set the mark on them. But the fulfilment was that they set it upon themselves. In the US, we have always seen changes in fashion and culture that indicate a desire to separate one group of people from another group of people. It is as if we create and adopt "cultural uniforms". In many ways, we do this because we want to "identify" with a certain group. It is our way of saying "We're this category of person, so treat us accordingly." But for some reason, people don't really like it when we treat them like that category that they have chosen. It is entirely possible that a similar cultural tendency will drive John's "mark". Thus it could be a literal seal or brand (or tattoo???). And it seems that they will tend to set it on themselves. But that seems less important than the reason the mark even exists. Rebellion Pride Procrastinate/ignore repentance Be true to man (or ourselves) rather than true to the Lord. Mockery from the great and spacious building against those who want to hold fast to the iron rod and partake of the fruit.

I've read two stories along that vein. 1) The story specifically said she was going to abort the baby because of an experience she had just had with a man who seemed to support women's rights. But... so, she said she was going to abort her son once she found out it was a boy. However, various news outlets were unable to verify it and found sufficient inconsistencies which led them to believe it was a hoax. 2) Another story where a lesbian couple wanted a girl. Their fertility clinic said they could sexually screen out the embryos to guarantee a girl. They sued the clinic. The "mother" said that she never planned to abort. But she touted how "violated" she felt with having a male inside her body. That takes a special kind of warped to feel that way about a baby she agreed to have inside her. I need to clarify something. The quote was Buttigieg saying out loud -- probably meant "right". The author of the article used the spelling "rite".

Yeah, that was the sort of thing I was noticing. I had said the same thing to my Sunday School instructor. He had asked, "Why do we use that phrase 'wicked and adulterous generation' seeking for a sign?" People were quick to say how figurative it was, etc. I agreed with the figurative meanings of the phrase. But we were really dancing around the real meaning. I said, "I think we're ignoring the elephant in the room. I don't know of any behavior by otherwise God-fearing people that more commonly and more easily chases the Spirit away than a breach of the law of chastity." It suddenly got really quiet in the room. Did I say something amiss?

I understand that is the common thread. But after reading more on historical websites, there is much more about the historical worship of Moloch than what we read in the Bible.

I've been reading a lot about Moloch lately to see what was the reality. I can't really make much sense of it. They can't really determine who worshipped him or not or if it was a "god" or a king or god/king like Pharaoh. I'm still reading. Maybe it will clear itself up after more reading.

I found this kind of amusing, even thought provoking. From Dailywire: I don't know if the author of the article intentionally did this, subconsciously did this, or completely unintentionally did this, or perhaps she didn't even know the difference? But, uhmmm... yeah.

You might want to read the article I linked to. You're close. But there are some details...

https://www.history.com/news/how-the-challenger-disaster-changed-nasa The engineers submitted their warnings about the ambient temperature. Management was more concerned about public image, and ignored them. Seven people died, so did America's dream of exploration. I'm not aware that they made any change any change to the design. Later, when the Columbia blew up, we found that heat can kill jist as well as cold. This disaster was also preventable. But it was a result of the engineers not focusing on the right thing. But they told the President that it was not preventable due to other reasons. Bush finally declared that after the ISS was complete, we would retire the space shuttle program.

I just tried posting the files. But pdf is not supported. (I converted .epub to .pdf). Each volume is less than 1MB as an .epub. But it over 5MB as a pdf.

You don't need to spend the buck. It's in the public domain. https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=decline+and+fall+of+the+roman+empire&submit_search=Go!

a miI've been noticing a trend recently that is too strong to ignore. The current raving (potentially criminal and treasonous) acts from the left, with the pleas to kill The SCOTUS justices, is leading me to see the historical pattern that the Roman Empire had. One method of secession that will not spark a war is if there is a federal crisis that means NO ONE will get the kids. Kill the kids, and destroy all assets. Then all of a sudden, a divorce is moot. We may have a Western Empire/Byzantine pattern. I've just begun reading about the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. It is very long and very complicated. So, there might not be a complete parallel. But I sure am seeing a LOT of commonalities thus far. "Secession" as such, may not be required to provide the same results. Interesting reading.

That isn't really how it works. The reasons behind the three degrees are not some sort of performance/rewards program. It is much deeper than that. Think about it for a while.

Yes, that's what I said.

I'm having trouble defining the Church of the Devil It seems pretty clear that you're either on one side or the other. We further read about the MANY churches. The fact that there are "many" in 2 Ne, but only two in 1 Ne, I interpret this to mean that 2 Ne is now using a more common definition of "church" that we're used to. So, how does that relate to the definition in 1 Ne? It has been common to believe that there is only "TCOJCOLDS" and "everyone else". But I think this idea is flawed. I can't seem to find the quote. But there was a quote (I believe it was George Q. Canon?) who said that we are not alone in our fight. There is too much work for any one people to do. So, we don't consider other churches to be adversaries, but allies. One way to weigh align all these ideas is that 1 Ne talking about "two churches only" was referring to the end times when the battle lines would be clearly drawn. It could also mean that the battle lines are not drawn between Terrestrial and Celestial. Perhaps, it is even drawn at O.D. and Telestial. I don't know. It's a theory. But what are we to think about these three ideas?