NateHowe

I see a few classifications of what may be called "ghosts." 1. Valiant spirits sent with messages from God. These are pretty clear on their purposes, and they don't generally appear to mortal man without an important reason. 2. The devil and his spirit followers. They have appeared in the scriptures, and it seems they have the ability to be seen at times. 3. Illusions.

Only you can decide whether it is too soon, but as far as being too young, you've both passed the legal age of consent, and you can make your own decision together. If you are 100% sure that you should get married to each other, I see little reason to wait. My wife and I have very much enjoyed our college/work/marriage/parenthood journey together, even though the money is tight. If you don't know that this is the right person for you, then it is definitely too soon.

Welcome. My biggest tip as a K-8 music teacher is CHANGE FOCUS FREQUENTLY. The kids you will be teaching, especially junior primary, have very short attention spans. It's better to work on a song for 5 minutes, go on to something else, then review for 2 minutes than to practice the same song for 15 minutes.

Unless it's a long-term cataclysmic event, I doubt many of us will say, "OOH! The power's out! Time to grind some wheat!"

A lot of it depends on your use model. If you plan to do small amounts, perhaps for a loaf or two of bread per week and a bit of cracked wheat cereal, then a hand-cranked grinder might be your most economical option. But if you are doing much more than that, an electric one is probably more practical. If you hesitate to get another electric grinder because of possible power outages, you might consider that you will not likely be baking bread with the power out, anyway. It's pretty hard to bake when utilities are out. There are other things to do with the wheat besides making bread in an emergency situation.

Pandora is great for almost any genre of music EXCEPT LDS music. I use it frequently, but they really haven't looked into the LDS inspirational genre at all.

Welcome to the boards. I hope you will find good conversation and helpful advice here.

Don't fret about that list to start. The suggested items are a good guideline, but the Church emphasizes that you should store items that your family will eat. If a catastrophe occurs, will you and your family immediately like and know how to cook a 50-pound bag of unmilled wheat? Maybe, but doubtful. Here's a better approach: Every week, many grocery stores advertise "loss leader" items. This means they promote and sell a few items below their cost in order to get you into the store. They figure they will make up for that loss with the other items you buy while you're there. My wife and I look in the weekly ads (or look at the specials when we stop in at the store), and if the "loss leader" items are foods we actually use, we buy a large number of them - some to eat now and some to store. This obviously applies to canned goods, but also to fresh foods. For example, we buy strawberries at their cheapest point of the Summer, and then we make jam and freeze some whole berries for use during the winter. The list you have is probably useful to give you an idea of quantities on categories of foods - you need so many pounds of grain per person per year, etc. However, when the list says you need 10 cans of peas, you shouldn't buy peas unless your family likes them. Maybe build up your green bean supply a bit more to compensate. Choosing foods your family eats will also help you with rotation. Canned foods don't last forever, and if you aren't eating consistently from your food storage, you are wasting money when things go bad. Additionally, consider the brands your family enjoys. For example, we eat oatmeal at our house, but the Family Canning oatmeal which you can get from the Church does not taste as good to us as Quaker Oats. We could buy a case of Family Canning oats for storage, but we wouldn't go through it before it expired. It's worth the money for our family to buy the name-brand product because we will use it faster.

As for the Hail Mary (Ave Maria, if you are old-school or a musician), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not recognize Mary or any other Saint as an intercessor between us and the Lord. Jesus Christ atoned for our sins, and we pray to the Father in His name. Thus, we would not have need for a prayer to Mary. That is not to say that we do not acknowledge or honor her role as the physical Mother of Christ; we simply do not agree with the Catholic view of her redemptive role.

We worship no God but our Father, the God of our Universe. Is that to say there are no other universes? No. But the problem with broadening the perspective of religion that inconceivably is that it naturally boggles the human mind. Are we to say that God is alone in Eternity? That He is a lone, all-powerful being without authentic relationship to any similar being? No. Family is an eternal concept, and our earthly families are microcosms of His life. But as I claim no earthly father but my own, so we have no God but our literal Eternal Father. He is the God of our universe, and we need not preoccupy ourselves with any other potential beings, because they do not deal with us here. We do not worship them, and we do not need to know about them, except to say that family life is God's life. We are monotheistic in that we worship only the true and living God. We simply have with that worship additional understanding about the nature of God.

You might also check out Doctrine and Covenants 84 for some extra clarification and the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood - pretty important to know if you are currently a Teacher.

Listen to Hugh B. Brown's talk Profile of a Prophet. It's available for free from Speeches Website

Two answers: First, if you are asking for a start date for the existence of God, the answer is no. Similarly, as an eternal intelligence, you have no start date. You were born into this world with a physical body, but you existed eternally before that.Second, if you are asking about the date when God the Father received a physical body, it would not be a date measured by the revolution of this planet, because He was not born here. No, Joseph Smith received through revelation the date of Jesus' birth as April 6th. Hasn't he done these things already? An essay: His revelations as recorded in Scripture constitute spiritual expository writing unparalleled in secular literature. A debate: When the Pharisees were trying to disprove his divinity, he always had the ideal answer, even if they did not comprehend it. A marathon: We know that Jesus can travel in the twinkling of an eye - much faster than the speed of light. A song: The new song which He revealed in the Doctrine and Covenants is lyrically brilliant, and I am confident that those who are called upon to sing it will find the music to be equally stunning when that time comes.

For those who may waver on this point, I can think of a few reasons to attend the ward you are assigned: Community. Generally, your ward is organized to contain people who live within in a similar geographic area. They have more in common with you than just their religion.Stewardship. The Bishop and other leaders of your ward are given stewardship over your family's spiritual well-being. By attending a ward outside your own, you circumvent this divinely inspired arrangement. These leaders are accountable for how they care for you, and you should sustain them in their roles.Influence. You have been placed in a ward to influence others as well as to be influenced for good. Whether you like your ward or not, there is work for you to do there. In my experience, the "strong" wards I have attended have afforded fewer spiritually building experiences. If you are in a ward you don't enjoy, perhaps it is because you have a job to do there.Strength. "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." A ward is designed to be large enough to accommodate the needs of the membership, but small enough to provide community and individual attention. If your ward is small, it needs your strength to help it grow. If it is large, it may need your strength to help it split.Obedience. If we do what the Lord commands through the leaders of His Church (even local leaders), we will be blessed. But if we give that gift grudgingly, it may profit us nothing. Attending the correct ward is a small token of obedience, but if the Lord asked some great thing, would we not do it?

Elder Oaks has something to say on the subject: LDS.org - New Era Article - The Special Language of Prayer

The official LDS edition of the Scriptures on CD-ROM is six bucks. Product Details ( The Scriptures: CD-ROM Edition 1.1. ) If you can't afford it, switch to store brand cereal for a couple of weeks.

Welcome to the site. I must say that in my full-time missionary experiences, many of the Muslims I encountered treated me in a more Christian manner than many of the Christians.

In the same way, God has previous data to suggest that the elements will obey His voice. Faith does not necessarily contain an inherent element of doubt.

I do not believe in keeping old things, including formal prayer language, simply because they are old. Language is the foundation of our thoughts, and the more precise our language is, the more precise our thoughts are. The formal second person form expresses our relationship with and our respect for God in a more accurate way. Is archaic language generally holier? No. But this part of older English has no adequate modern adaptation or substitute.

I'm going to bump this, because I think it was quite an interesting conversation I'd like to start again.

I find that the formal language of prayer, when practiced until natural, enhances the communication. It helps us to think more specifically about what we are trying to say to the Father. Here are some simple guidelines: 1. As the subject of the phrase or sentence, we address God as Thou. Generally, the verb of such a sentence has a "t" or "st" added to the end. "Thou art holy." "We pray that Thou wilt bless us." "Thou makest a way for us to escape temptation." "Thou lovest Thy children." "Thou hast prepared a place for us in Heaven." In each example, God is the one doing or being something.2. As the object of a phrase or sentence, we address God as Thee. We don't change the verb with a formal ending. "We thank Thee." "We praise Thee." "May we represent Thee more effectively." "We offer Thee our hearts." In each example, God is the one being thanked, praised, represented, etc. He is not performing the action.3. When God possesses something, we use the pronoun Thy. "Help us to understand Thy will." "We are thankful for the Atonement of Thy Son." "Please help us to share Thy truth." In each example, God possesses something - His will, His Son, and His truth.4. Any or all of these forms can be combined in the same sentence. "We thank Thee for Thy Son." "Please give us Thy power, that we may testify that Thou art with us." "Wilt Thou bless Thy children with a greater knowledge of Thee?" 5. A pet peeve as a final sidenote. Many Latter-day Saints end their prayers by saying, "In the name of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, Amen." There is nothing particularly wrong with that, although it can become a vain repetition. The problem comes when these people give talks or lessons. Addressing the congregation, they use their usual ending, including the phrase "Thy Son." Christ is not the son of the congregation - He is the Son of God. We can only use the phrase "Thy Son" in reference to Christ when we are talking to the Father.

We pray to the Father, and the reasons have been well explained in this thread. I would just add that it's nice to be able to go straight to the top with matters we find important.

I am a bit put off by how much memory ff3 takes. Even IE is better. I do prefer Firefox 3 Portable over Opera Portable.

Actually, the Book of Mormon says in the penultimate verse that we may become "clean without spot." Obviously, Spot will not be there in heaven.

If the relationship is serious, the guy should pay in order to get accustomed to it in preparation for married life. Just kidding.