cjcampbell

Unfortunately, this program and Gospelink are both very buggy. Better to use Gospelink online. GospeLink.com

All I know is that the Israelites were carried into captivity by the Ammonites, but their luggage was carried into captivity by the Samsonites.

I have read it, several times. It is a favorite. He criticizes 'members' who emphasize the ALL, but those members appear to be every general authority. Is it really so difficult for members to recognize the hopelessness that this doctrine engenders?

The very definition of sin is doing less than we can do, even according to our abilities. So I still don't get it. No one does everything they can do even according to their abilities. If that is the standard, we are all still damned.

President Benson does not leave any room here for simply giving things the old college try. You must do these things or you will not receive the grace of redemption, no ifs ands or buts. Further, many other leaders of the Church have repeated this theme. The problem is, no one does "ALL" that they can do. Not Ezra Taft Benson, or Joseph Smith, or Gordon B. Hinckley have done ALL that they COULD have done. This is not to exercise judgment upon these men, but to point out that no one who has ever lived did ALL that they could have done. Yet, we hear this scripture interpreted in this way in Conference. We hear it in Sunday School. We hear it in talks by mission presidents, by stake presidents, by bishops, by general authorities, and by members of the Church. If you do not do ALL that you can do, you are damned. This seems a cruel joke -- to offer salvation from our sins and eternal life only to snatch it away because no one has done ALL that they could have done. Arguably, even Jesus Christ did not live up to this standard. He was God, yet he did not permanently establish his church, end oppression, end poverty, famine, and disease, etc. He succored only a tiny number of people while he was on the earth. Now, it seems to me that Nephi did not mean this scripture to be taken this way. It seems to me that he meant that no matter what we do, even if we did everything that it was possible for us to do in this life, that we would not earn salvation by our works. We must do good works, yes, but we are all unprofitable servants. Left to our own, even if we lived our lives doing exactly as the Savior would have done in every circumstance, still we are evil and unable to return to God without the grace of the atonement. I think that reflection on this scripture will show that this other interpretation -- that we must do ALL that we can do in order to merit grace -- is a false doctrine that denies the atonement of Jesus Christ. Oddly, knowing this, I personally would still desire to serve God and obey the commandments, but it is cold comfort knowing that virtually every modern-day leader of the Church seems to believe that I will be damned anyway, as will us all. It is enough to make one despondent. So, will we hear it again this conference? I feel comfortless, right now. Do the leaders of the Church really mean to say that we are all damned?

AFAIK they are only available at the MTC. You get one. If you lose it, you lose it. However, the catalog number is 02370 12000. A search on that catalog number at Church Distribution turns up nothing. We left one of ours in the Philippines, but we are not willing to part with the other one.

It is not just that they save money on cars by driving less expensive cars. Consider a guy who sells mobile homes for a living. Perhaps he owns a mobile home park somewhere. He has a lot where people come and look at the mobile homes he sells. Now, if these people come and see a brand new BMW 750is parked in front of the office, what are they going to think? How much will they pay for a mobile home? If they come and see a beat-up old pickup truck in front of the office, what will they think? What kind of a deal would they think they are getting on a mobile home? Do you think you are getting a better deal from the guy who drives a BMW or the one who drives a pick-up truck? What about a contractor? He owns his own construction company. What kind of car should he drive? Do you think he will get better deals from his subcontractors if he drives a BMW or if he drives a used Suburban? How aggressive will his employees be in asking for wage increases or advances? How do his clothes affect the way his subs, employees, and customers deal with him? So you see, sometimes the old cars and inexpensive clothes are a costume -- a uniform that has a definite effect on your bottom line. Maybe at home he has a nice car which he drives to church, but when he is on the job he would not be caught dead looking too prosperous. This goes for many lines of business. People who operate a laundry or a convenience store (two of the fastest ways to build wealth that I know of) are expected to look and act a certain way. No one shops at a convenience store that looks like it would be at home on Rodeo Drive -- unless it is a convenience store for the very rich. Now, you expect your attorney to look prosperous. No one wants a loser attorney. So he has to dress the part from the very beginning. This is a big handicap that some professional people have to overcome to achieve success -- they often start out living beyond their means simply in order to attract business. There are several reasons lottery winners seldom keep their money for very long. One is they simply did not earn it, so they have no concept of its real value. This is true of inherited wealth as well. In fact, it may be doing your children a terrible disservice to leave them a lot of money. Another reason lottery winners don't keep their money is that they are stupid. They were stupid enough to buy a lottery ticket in the first place. They were also greedy and dishonest enough to try to get something for nothing. Their personalities do not change just because they won. They remain stupid, greedy, and dishonest -- the perfect target for every con man and salesman in the country. But the main reason they do not keep their money for very long is they are poorly equipped and educated in the tools of maintaining wealth. This is true of all the newly rich. When I was growing up, I knew one man who had been a multimillionaire seven different times. And between each time he was bankrupt. He knew how to make money. He did not know how to manage or keep it. I believe that everyone would benefit enormously from taking some basic accounting classes in college. This is not just because I am a retired CPA and like that stuff. I don't, really. It is because I think that a knowledge of accounting is a fundamental life skill, like the things you learn in health class. The thing is, in order to acquire a fortune you have to be able to take some risk. You really stick your neck out when you start a business, for example. That requires an entirely different sort of personality than managing and keeping a fortune. You have to become more risk-averse. People do this somewhat naturally as they age, but you have to be prepared to start learning some new tricks fast if you become wealthy at a young age. An aging businessman with retirement looming at him has a little different perspective on his wealth (and life in general) than a kid fresh out of college. Of course, Col. Sanders took his first Social Security check and bought a pressure cooker. He opened a restaurant and called it Kentucky Fried Chicken. So I guess it is never really too late. And I cannot help it -- I keep thinking about various ideas.

You are baptized on her behalf, by proxy, in the temple -- and you also act as her proxy for all other saving ordinances in the temple. After that, it is up to her to accept or reject what you have done on her behalf.

Okay, you have a budget. You have saved a year's worth of income. Now what? Do you know that you probably know several millionaires? There are probably some in your ward -- but you would never know it to look at the clothes they wear, the car they drive, or the house they live in. They might live right next door to you and you would never guess that they do not have a house payment, or a car payment, or worry about losing their job, or worries about inflation or taxes. In fact, most of their income might come not from their job, but from their investments -- what is called 'unearned' income (which is pretty funny, really -- you have to work hard to get 'unearned' income). In fact, if they have a fancy car, fancy clothes, go out a lot, and have a high lifestyle, you can just about guarantee that your neighbors are not millionaires. They are probably spending more than they should. Okay, some principles: 1) Married couples have an easier time accumulating wealth than single people. There are several reasons for this, but in the main you will find that people who are wealthy have been married to one person their whole life. I remember the advice an old flight instructor used to give his students who were going on to the airlines. "Do not buy a house for more than one woman." I realize that there are circumstances where divorce is the only answer, but remember that you cannot avoid the consequences of divorce even if it is not your fault. One of the chief consequences of divorce is poverty. 2) Higher rates of return mean higher risk. There are no exceptions. That is how the financial market works. If someone is telling you that an investment will bring a high rate of return at little risk, they are wrong. There is no such thing. Consider investing in commodities, for example. Investments there can bring a very high rate of return. You are also betting that you know more about commodities than R.J. Reynolds or General Mills. Right. You are not going to beat those guys at their own game. You would be better off playing the slots at Las Vegas -- at least it would be more entertaining while you gave your money away. The same goes for people who ask you to 'invest' in their business ventures. The reason they want your money is because the bank won't give them any. High risk. The bank probably could afford to lose it more than you can, too, and it is too risky for them. Definitely too risky for you. If someone is offering you the opportunity of a lifetime, you can be sure that lots of other people who are more experienced and smarter than you have already turned it down. Think about it. The very wealthy have access to all kinds of information that you do not. They are first on everybody's mailing list, too. If they didn't want it, if they thought it was too risky for their portfolio, if they thought the return was not high enough -- why on earth would you think it is a good idea for you? 3) It is easier to reduce expenses than increase your salary. The reason for this is that you have to earn $2 for every 1$ in spending power. Half of whatever you earn is taken away in taxes and 'benefits' that someone sold to your boss. Those 'benefits' rarely benefit you; certainly they do not do much to reduce your expenses. Furthermore, buying on credit roughly doubles the cost of anything you buy. Buy a $20,000 car on credit and you will have to earn $80,000 to pay it off. Was that car really worth $75,000 more than a $5,000 used car you could have paid cash for? 4) Unearned income -- income from investments -- is safer and easier to maintain than earned income. You could be fired and lose your salary. You could get sick and lose your salary. But you will keep getting your unearned income even if you are fired or disabled. Plus, unearned income is usually taxed less than earned income. Remember, you do not have to pay Social Security on unearned income. For most people, Social Security, not Federal Income Tax, is the by far the biggest tax they pay. Yet guess which one they pay the most attention to? Try to reach a point where unearned income is at least equal to your earned income. This should take about 20 years of saving. 5) Don't micromanage your savings and investments. The stock market goes up and down. Big whoop. Sometimes it even crashes. It always comes back. Maybe it takes a few years, but it always comes back. Selling your stocks because you think they are about to go down usually costs you more in capital gains taxes than you would lose in a major crash. Selling your stocks after they have gone down in value is just stupid. The only time to do that is if the company is really going to go out of business. And then it is too late. So stay diversified and ignore whatever the stock market is doing. If your stock has gone up and you don't want it any more, consider giving it to the Church to pay your tithing. You don't have to pay taxes on the capital gain and you get to deduct the full market value! The Church will sell it immediately, of course, but that is not your concern. The Church does not have to pay taxes on it. And you are paying your tithing with unearned income, instead of earned income, so it actually costs you less effort. 6) Do not ever, ever, EVER relax your vigilance against unnecessary expenses. Personally, if I had, say, $100,000 to invest, it would be put in relatively safe mutual fund. Then I would forget about it.

Just to add a little more to what Selek said, it is not just that we want to perform all the saving ordinances for those who died. If that were all we needed then all we would have to do is look up baptismal or death records. But we believe that salvation consists of making actual families eternal. So we are sealed to each other as spouses, our children are sealed to us, we are sealed to our parents, so that the chain continues unbroken to the very beginning. It is literally true that no one can be saved by himself -- it would be like having a family of one individual. So, everyone is given the opportunity to take their place in the family circle. There may be (sadly) some empty chairs there, but it will not be because we did not do our part. Remember, too, that once we enter the celestial kingdom we are much different than we are now. Perfected, we no longer have those faults that annoy each other here in mortality. It is our job to see to the perfecting of the saints throughout all eternity, to teach, persuade, and perform their ordinances for them. Once they join with us in our work our job becomes much easier -- many hands make light work. The conflicts that we had in mortality disappear. As members of the Church here on earth, we are the vanguard, the pioneers, preparing the way for literally billions of others to return to the presence of their Father in Heaven. Many of us are the first of our families to join the Church. Our ancestors have waited with great excitement, some of them for thousands of years, for this day. They are counting on us not to fall down in our duty. What a rare opportunity we have! Out of all the billions of people who have lived on the earth, only a very few actually get to receive the gospel in mortality and pave the way for the rest of their families. I suspect that more than a few of them are quite envious and are anxious to get started in work on their side.

What would really be nice is if they released a Mac version of it.

The biggest influence I can remember from before I could read was my parents reading to me out of picture books. For FHE we had a big set of scripture stories filled with beautiful pictures. My mother read; my father sat by. I can remember this from when I was three years old, so it must have made a big impression. Later, when I was older but before I turned 8, I remember reading this book to non-member babysitters or having them read it to me. It was missionary work but I did not understand that at the time. Children love to be read to from picture books. Helps in their intellectual and emotional development, too. We also read from Kipling's Jungle Book, and many other classics. All of these stories were amply illustrated and fun to listen to. They had many messages about morality, honesty, hard work, and many other virtues that have carried me through life. Kids are easily addicted to having you read to them. They want to be the ones to sit closest to you.

I like it. Very nice.

Being prepared means being prepared spiritually and emotionally as well. You are not prepared if you have hoarded a bunch of food and plan on defending it with your rifle! We are not preparing for the type of social breakdown where survivalists head up into the hills to fight the Russkies or the heathen Chinese. Seriously, we are preparing for the coming of our Lord and for the many trials that will precede that coming. We will need food. We will need water. We will need to be financially secure. We will need a thorough understanding of the gospel. We will need friends and neighbors who understand what the Church is doing and how we are prepared to help them. We will need to be able to give spiritual and emotional support. There will be times when we will be the only shoulder that people will have to cry on -- the rock in the storm.

Any or all of the above. Most clan societies accept as members people who are simply interested in the clan. Since the clan is not a legal entity, anyone can declare themselves to be a member of that clan.

I am not sure what you mean by officially joining a Scottish clan. Swearing fealty to the clan chief? Probably would not do for a modern American. :) Seriously, Scottish clans are not legally constituted entities, so there is no legal definition of just what a clan is. If you have Scottish ancestors you are already a member of one or more clans. The term is used pretty loosely. Many clans were made up of people who were not even related, but who simply adopted the same last name to show medieval fealty. During some periods of history the clan was as much a political party as it was a family structure. If you go to Scottish shops and things you will find that they cater to a certain type of person who really likes to play dress-up. I can go into one of these places and see dozens of different Campbell clan tartans, for example, along with all kinds of heraldic symbols, shields, 'official' flowers, etc. There will be a 'hunting' tartan, for example, or tartans for obscure branches of the family. Most of it is hogwash. The official Campbell tartan is that worn by the current 13th Duke of Argyll. Here is the policy as stated by his father, the 12th Duke, and since reaffirmed by the current Duke: As you can see, the real clan chiefs have little tolerance for some of the silliness being marketed as 'authentic' Scottish. There are any number of clan registries, of course, but these ignore one simple fact: It is the clan chief who decides who is a member and who is not. A genuine member of a Scottish clan swears fealty to the clan chief. In general, most chiefs accept anyone with the same surname or anyone who shows allegiance to the chief by wearing his tartan. The chief reserves the right to kick you out of the clan, of course. Although there is nothing specific about joining a clan on your mother's side, it is generally accepted that if you wear the tartan of that clan you are a member of it. So, choose your clan and wear your tartan proudly. There are no registration requirements at all. And behave yourself so that the chief does not have to personally kick you out of his clan. :) While clans are not legally constituted entities (even in Scotland) there are clan societies which are legally constituted entities. You can be a member of a clan without belonging to a clan society. The titular head of clan societies is the clan chief, but he rarely interferes with the running of the society. Clan societies may publish a newsletter or even a magazine, encourage historical research, help clan members understand their cultural heritage, and plan various events and get-togethers. The Campbell Clan Society of North America is headquartered in Arizona, for example, and there are Campbell Clan Societies in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and other countries. Belonging to a clan society usually entails a membership fee (to pay for the magazine, if nothing else). You can pretty much guarantee that members of the Campbell Clan Society will wear only the tartans approved by the Duke of Argyll. The current Duke of Argyll, by the way, is the youngest living Duke in British peerage. He is only 39, having become Duke at the age of 33 when the 12th Duke died unexpectedly during an operation. He is married to Eleanor Cadbury, a descendent of the Cadbury chocolate dynasty. Good choice, eh? :) They are a very pretty couple and well liked.

Hahaha! Where did you get that? I had forgotten about that picture! It was taken in Baguio at the butterfly sanctuary in Camp John Hay. John Hay was an old recreational base for the US Air Force back in the days when I was stationed at Clark Field. Things sure have changed there since then!

Camp Hohobas is near our home, up on the mountain above us. Across the Hood Canal from us is Twanoh State Park and the Church-owned Zion's Camp is on the mountain above that. Zion's Camp currently has three senior couples serving there. We hang out with them a fair amount.

Hi all. Coming over from the Fellowship form of MADB. I am a lifelong member of the Church living in Belfair, Washington. My wife and I returned last November from serving a mission in the Philippines, where we were the office couple in the Philippines Laoag Mission. We are retired (every day is Saturday) and spend a great deal of time traveling. I was a CPA and we used to form real estate investment partnerships and manage them. We sold the last of our properties a few years ago. Currently I am the Cubmaster in our ward; Jane is the YW recognition specialist. So we have a certain amount of free time that we are not quite used to. I am a photographer and can be persuaded to photograph weddings and do portraits. I also teach flying lessons. I consider both activities to be better than watching daytime TV! We also raise oysters commercially, although this year has been bad because of a bacterial infestation on the Hood Canal.