ztodd

If you think people will really get a "free pass", that they can go about sinning their whole lives, and then all they have to do in the spirit world is confess a belief in Christ and all is magically forgiven, you don't quite have the full picture. Repentance is and will be required for all of us. Remember also that repentance is quite a bit easier to do in this life with many things- you won't want to procrastinate it until the spirit world. We are judged by our works- no question. Not by our works alone, but the book of Revelation teaches very clearly that the books will be opened and we judged out of them, for all that we did in this life. The thing is- we are all on different planes of accountability. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. Different experience and knowledge. You don't know- you can't know- what someone else is going through- how hard it is for that person to keep certain commandments that you have been able to keep. No doubt it's hard for you to obey certain commandments- and when we fail to keep some commandments, that's when we so very grateful for the grace of Jesus Christ, for the gift of repentance! You will learn as you grow and progress that you are becoming a better person each time you make a right choice for the right reason. You are becoming something great. Doing the right things for the right reasons is key. That key can be the difference between being a sad, bitter commandment keeper, and a happy, joyful commandment keeper. :) Another key to that will be letting Christ fully come in to your life, to purify your soul, to change your heart and mind. Pray for it- and you'll be blessed with it. Consider the brother of the prodigal's son, who was told by his father that "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine."

If you said this to me if I were in a similar position, I would probably be hurt and offended.

We just had a lesson in church about how all the ordinances, up until the point of being sealed in the temple, are all individual ordinances- baptism, gift of the holy ghost, priesthood, initiatory and endowment in the temple. Yes, even though the initiatory and the endowment make some definite references to a current or future husband or wife, it is still an individual ordinance- it blesses the life of each individual, regardless of their current marital status. I found this to be pretty enlightening- it is another witness to how we each have individual responsibility; personal accountability; how we ultimately cannot rely on another (except for the Lord Jesus Christ). Ultimately, we even cannot rely on a husband or wife to "pull us through"- it must be up to each of us individually to turn to the Savior for hope and healing in all of our hurting, and in all of our sins and our trials. That said, looking forward for you, you'll have a chance to start over and find someone who will be the right one for you at this point in your life, and it is so important that you be "equally yoked" with that person. This means you must be on the same page with all your values, goals, life perspectives, etc. "Same page" might not mean 100.0%, but I believe it must be awfully close to that. In the things that are most important, I believe it must be 100%.

What's wrong with celebrating his birthday? We haven't been doing it but I don't see anything wrong with it. It doesn't mean we worship him. It doesn't mean his birth is anywhere near as important as Christ's birth. I guess since it is two days before Christmas, we should probably make it especially low-key if we did celebrate it, because we don't want to take anything away from Christmas. But that's all I can see that would be wrong with celebrating it. We would still celebrate our own or someone in our family's birthday if it's on Dec 23, so what's wrong with celebrating Brother Joseph's? To those against it, I'm curious if you are also uncomfortable with the hymn "Praise to the Man"? Not really wanting to debate or cause controversy- but I don't understand the need to hold back our admiration and respect for the prophet of the last dispensation.

You can overcome something like this- to do it, you must have the Spirit with you- every minute of every hour of every day. Re-covenant to do that. You must pray earnestly morning, mid-day and night. You must study the scriptures- not laying down where you can fall asleep, but in a hard, un-comfortable chair. Make yourself focus. Make it like you're cramming for an exam. Sing a hymn to yourself each day, do some praying in your heart throughout the day, do some preaching to yourself. Have a serious talk with your girlfriend- right away- tell her you are going to make some changes in your life, and you are determined to do it. Tell her that you cannot be alone together anymore- probably not at all until after you go on your missions. Tell her that one or both of you will probably feel a real loss at first- but tell her all these things you are going to do, and encourage her to do them also. If you're serious about it then do these things. Do them until you do not feel the lust controlling you anymore- then keep on doing these things. You will see some serious blessings come into your life if you can do these things. If you don't do them perfectly, don't fret too much but just keep on going, keep on trying, until you are doing them perfectly. Your testimony of the Savior will increase, and you will come to know more of his love and of his power in your life.

I doubt it was from the first presidency- I wouldn't doubt you might have a statement like that from your ward or your stake though. :)

Maybe this one? “The Spirit does not get our attention by shouting or shaking us with a heavy hand. Rather it whispers. It caresses so gently that if we are preoccupied we may not feel it at all. “Occasionally, it will press just firmly enough for us to pay heed. But most of the time, if we do not heed the gentle feeling, the Spirit will withdraw and wait until we come seeking and listening.”3 3. Boyd K. Packer, “The Quest for Spiritual Knowledge,” New Era, Jan. 2007, 4; emphasis added. Found it requoted, at https://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/08/opening-our-hearts-to-revelation?lang=eng

Wouldn't hurt to pray about this thing yourself and follow the Spirit. Ya never know when things will be taken differently than you intend.

hehe, that's kinda tricky. I don't know if it's undermining your husband's priesthood, or rude, or whatnot... do you feel like you're being un-rightly judged or anything like that? I think there wouldn't be anything wrong with you telling them that you'd prefer to leave it to your husband to make the call for a "closing prayer". Maybe ask them if there's some reason they feel like they need a prayer whenever you see them, hahaha... keep it light-hearted I say. Don't let it cause any bad feelings.

I'm surprised no one mentioned yet- or maybe i missed it- it has a lot to do with this - Malachi 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Think about how family-focused this church is, and why it is. Think about what heaven is and will be, and what role families will play in that.

not working for me either. i'm addicted too...

You got a good point there- sometimes hometeachers can be very persistent. I've heard that occasionally you find a hometeacher who's even a little too pushy- although in all the wards I've been in, they have been incredibly respectful of people's wishes to be left alone. But maybe it's different in your area. Of course God should be your ultimate source of truth in the matter. Best wishes!

What if you start to feel differently and start to think there's a possibility the church is actually what it claims to be? I've known that to happen sometimes... Plus, wouldn't the people of the church be part of the "fruit" that you should consider?

They actually are suggesting to the 4 that will be chosen to not try to have kids there or anything since they won't have good enough medical equipment or expertise there... and it sounds like for some reason they plan to leave the choosing of the final 4 up to the world to vote on, out of those that are qualified- and they all have to be from a different country. There are too many things wrong with the whole thing- if they're really serious about it, it's rather scary and stupid I think that so much will be wasted on this. About the gravity thing- the bigger problem will be that they would be in mostly zero G for the 7 months traveling there, so even the 0.38 G on Mars would come as a shock to them after that. Their bones and muscles would definitely be wasted away by the end of their lives... but who knows- they might actually live longer. There's definitely no way they would ever be able to get back to Earth.

Interesting- which version is this "original" from? I'd like to try to verify it myself.

Welcome Irenaeus! Were you able to meet with the missionaries and other church members to ask them your questions?

Raffles, or calling into a radio station, could possibly lead to an addiction, so I think ya gotta be careful with that. One of the things about addiction is that it can be hard to see or admit when you're starting to develop an addiction. I think another thing wrong with those, is that you're hoping to get a prize without really doing anything worthwhile to society to earn it. I think in general that it's ok to graciously receive gifts offered to us, but to not go seek after too many freebies.

Just watched Care Bears the movie II. Call me a wuss if you want, but the messages of these care bear movies still get to me- they're what the world needs the most right now.

I remember that although I had wanted and searched for it, I didn't really get as much of a testimony as I wanted of the prophet Joseph Smith, until after being at the Missionary Training Center for a few weeks. A big moment came for me when I was part of the large missionary choir singing one of the hymns about the prophet when I started to just feel a light growing brighter inside me, swelling up in me a feeling of love for God and His prophet. My testimony of Joseph as the prophet of the restoration ever since then has grown- it is now one of the most cherished parts of my testimony of the Gospel. I feel that if you seek for it and have a serious and solemn desire within you to take action, then Heavenly Father will surely bless you with that witness.

Howdy- I read through all the thread- ok if I join in? Regarding the purpose of law- whether it is, or should be, only to protect us from harming each other, or whether it's to represent a broader collective morality- I've wondered this for some time. How did the founding fathers intend it to be? I believe that the law of the land under a democratic / republic government reflects a collective societal morality, and that it influences what people in that society think is moral. I've also wondered if there actually are any moral principles that, if not followed, would not cause harm to others. That almost seems to be the definition of morality to me- not doing harm to others. But I suppose the definition of morality should not stop there, but should also include doing good unto others. But that addition would only be necessary if you believe that failure to do good is not necessarily the same as doing harm... Anyhow, this question of re-defining marriage seems to be an example where there may be differences of opinion on whether it would cause harm to others or not. There was an interview done with Elder Oaks and Elder Wickman in Dec 2012 that got me thinking about this purpose of the law, here - Interview With Elder Dallin H. Oaks and Elder Lance B. Wickman: Same-Gender Attraction :

I don't think this is necessarily true... the Lord expects us to not spend too much time praying, but to also be up and doing. I'm not necessarily saying that Nuns pray too much- it's probably fine to pray and seek guidance 24 or more times per day- we should probably all do that- not formally pray 24 times, but to pray in our hearts that many times would be good. I guess it's hard to make a generalization as to who would receive more guidance from the Holy Ghost- it all depends on the humility, sincerity, and righteousness of the individuals. Ooo, that was kind a jab wasn't it? :) As far as where we end up in eternity, I won't even try to make any prediction about that for other people. I'll just say this- I believe we will be judged by our faith and works according to our own level of knowledge and accountability, and eventually everyone will have the opportunity to accept or reject the fullness of Jesus Christ's gospel and all the necessary ordinances.

I don't think Heavenly Father necessarily places people in the time and place where they can do the most good. I think more often He places them when and where they can best learn the lessons they need to learn. Just my opinion. added: but I don't think the reasons are the same for everyone for when and where they are sent to earth.

Hi Traveler, hi Anatess, hi everybody! I haven't been on here for a while... is the forum still a great and useful place doing good things? :) I sometimes forget that there is an added light that we have as members of the Church. I know that it is a real light- that it's not just something we say we have; it's something very real that we really do have, that does set up apart from others. Folks who have not received that Gift don't know what it is that they're missing. And sometimes we who have received it do not appreciate what it is that we have... and sometimes don't recognize it. Of course I include myself in that. I'm sorry if that sounds arrogant - I certainly don't mean it to be that way. Of course all people can still feel the power of the Holy Ghost and be led by God if they are humble.

A friend of mine on facebook just said "Elder Zwick who is a member of the Quorum of the Seventy was at General Authority Institute week said that before conference they were processing 450 missionary applications per week. This last week they processed 3000". I worked close with this guy at church, so I trust him that that's what he really heard from Elder Zwick. :)

I usually just dismiss all such claims as they are probably false if they don't cite their source. The news articles I looked up only said that the # went up, but the church would not give specifics.