rayhale

Most missionaries go on their missions thinking that just being on their mission will ‘fix’ their sins, or make them lose what addictions they have, like smoking, drinking. They don’t do a real repentance, don’t talk to their Bishop, and do what they need to do to resolve their sins. Now back to the original post statement; would you want to see your child come home dead instead of sinning? I think that we need to be careful if you say this since there are sins that are addictive, and are hard to break free from. If you say something like this, then it will give them, little to no hope for forgiveness if they succumb to the sin. They might even make the sin even worse by committing one of the worst sins you can. Suicide. It’s sad, but I know a few missionaries that have done just that.

I don’t know whether or not polygamy is going to come back, but Joseph Smith said that the reason to bring back polygamy was to have all the things of the Old Church to be in the New Church, that means polygamy, and I might want to state, sacrifice. Sacrifice was the most important part of the Mosaic Law, it was a forshadowing of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It has been stated that sacrifice will come back before the Second Coming. By sacrifice I of course mean the sacrifice of animals. What other Mosaic Laws will come back? Here is a link to the 613 commandments of the Mosaic Law: Print Version - The 613 Commandments_

I don’t know if anyone else has said this, but I think this is a great place to discuss the scriptures, everything that has been ‘said’ is there for you to read and to study from, you can add links to the scriptures that you are using, like this: Luke 1 I’ve said this in a previous post, but I love the fact that in this form of commutacating, no one can interupt you. You can say what you want and as long as you want. I think this idea of discussing the scriptures is so good that, I feel that there should be a separate thread for every book in the scriptures, from Genesis to Moroni, to the Pearl of Great Price. What do you guys think?

I think that what some people don’t realize is that Satan doesn’t just tell you to bad things, he’ll sometimes, tell you to do good things, if it will serve his purpose. For example, he told Cain to make an offering to God, knowing that God wouldn’t accept the gift, making Cain follow Satan even more, and it lead Cain to make the Ultimate sin. I see several religions out there that are playing at peoples hearts, by saying things like, “you love the Lord, don’t you? Don’t you want to please Him? Then go out and kill, yourself, or (what seems to be the case now) kill as many people out there that you can.

I feel that we all need to study all the standards works, not just the Book of Mormon. The Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, made a challenge for everyone in the church, to read the Book of Mormon, in a year, I would like to give a similar challenge: Read ALL the standard works. At least once in your life, more if you can. On the churches web site, you can download all the standard works, and put them onto your mp3 player, I’m a delivery driver, and I was able to listen to all the standard works in three to four months, in my car. Here is the web address: Audio I think all of our lives would be enriched, if we read from the Book of Mormon, and the rest of the standard Works (including the Old Testament) every day of our lives.

I really like this format of discussing gospel related material, here is a list that I’ve come up with of some of the thinks that I like: (Not necessarily in order) 1. You can ‘talk’ as long as you want, without ANY interruptions. 2. You can take as long as you need to look up references, and post what you know. 3 You can take your time in a word processor, like Microsoft’s ‘Word’ and spell-check it. 4. You have all what’s said in the post right in front of you, so if you are gone for a while, you can just reread what others have said, to refresh your memory, and read any new posts that have come in since you were gone. 5. Since threads are there for, what I’ve seen, years, you don’t just have 1-2 hours, like church, or a scripture study class, so you can keep a certain topic going, and going and going. Now I’m not one of those people that will just say the good, or bad, things about something, so here’s my list of the bad: (Not necessarily in order) 1. You don’t know whom you’re talking to. 2. You don’t know how much the person your talking to knows, he/she, may say that he/she is a scholar, or a priest, or a bishop, but they might just be lying to you. 3. This is more long term, but it’s still a concern; you don’t know how long this site, or the technology will last, it might end tomorrow, next week, or ten, twenty years, from now. If anyone would like to add to my lists, or explain why you think I’m wrong with certain points, please post.

Please don’t misunderstand me when I ask- the Twelve Apostles, the Prophet, the Counselors, and their wives, don’t have jobs, are they paid clergy? If not, how do they support themselves? I heard somewhere, that the live the Law of Consecration, meaning that all the books that any of them publish, and make money off of, they put in a joint bank account that they all live off of. Again I’ll ask how can you reconcile this? How is this not Priestcraft? (I’m not saying it is but I still would like to ask that). If anyone knows the answer, please respond.

I forgot one: argument - Definitions from Dictionary.com

At dictionary.com you can find the modern deffinitions to these words. Just go the adderesses that I’ve copied down for you: For disputing go to: disputing - Definitions from Dictionary.com Preaching: preaching - Definitions from Dictionary.com Reasoning: reasoning - Definitions from Dictionary.com

There has been several posts that have wondered why people write G_d like that, and the explations are true yet not fully complete, for in the Jewish religion they believe that God’s name was so sacred that no one was to speak it, except the High Priest one time in the Holy of Holies in a year. This is why the church changed the name of the Priesthood from “Holy Priesthood, and the Order of the Son of God”, to the Melchizedek Priesthood. The reason is of course verbal, they didn’t want to repeat the name of God over and over, but if you look at any Jewish book and it mentions G_d they write it just like that. I just feel that in today’s world the name of God gets thrown around so much that it would be nice and have a little respect.

I read a web article that said that people between 20-25 feel they are in limbo, they are not adolescents any more, but they feel they are not adults yet. I think that this feeling is increased in the LDS faith even more when we are being judged unfairly by how old, or more correctly, how young we get married. I also see that there is tremendous pressure to get married fast, I keep hearing about people that get married after knowing each other for only a few weeks, which would scare most anyone (myself included). In the ‘outside world’ I here people being boyfriend-girlfriend for two-three, or more YEARS and still consider it a short amount of time.

Satan STILL doesn’t fully understand God’s plan. He can never understand it. He gave that right to understand when he decided to fall from grace. I feel I should point out that we say ‘fall’, suggesting that it was involuntary, yet he knew what he was doing, he knew it as soon as he uttered those words of Treason of the Highest degree.

Here is the web address of D & C Section 89: Doctrine and Covenants 89 read it. Please keep in mind that the Word of Wisdom is not just a dietary set of things that are good for you. If it was then exercise would be there, but it’s not! Guess what else is not there, taking vitamins, I could list more, but I think you get my point. There is no doubt that there are differences in the Old Testament set of “Words of Wisdom” known as the Moses Code of law, read the first 4-5 books of the Bible. Most of it talks about it. In that code pigs were considered “unclean” with many other meats, but my point is that in the New Testament, after Christ fulfilled the Moses Code, then it was okay for the Apostles to eat a pig. Am I missing something? Are pigs suddenly now clean? Scientists say that if you’re not careful then pork is unsafe to eat. All I’m saying is that the Word of Wisdom and the Moses Code was mostly about obedience then it was about eating only safe foods. I read in another post that the whole eating meat only in winter as stated in verses 12-13 was that there was little to no refrigeration technology back then, so it would make sense to wait until a cold time of the year to eat it. Now that refrigeration technology is at the point that we don’t need to wait. We can just put meat in the refrigerator, or even the freezer. As most of the posts have stated, be moderate in all things”, or more precisely, as I would say, be moderate in all GOOD things, and sparingly in the “junk foods” (like once in a blue moon). Today, more than any other generation, we have food at every corner. There’s McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, etc… all this food, mostly bad food, that is fast and easy to make. It’s hard to point fingers since those places wouldn’t be open if people wouldn’t go there. My final point is to be careful of what you eat, and talk to a doctor!!! You need to talk to a doctor before you do anything, since you might do more harm than good, to your body. P.S. Since there are a lot of “not’s” in social drinks and foods, like coffee, alcohol, and even tea, then you should let the person that asks “would you like a drink?” then you can say “No” but then say what you CAN drink, like lemonade or anything else. I would also suggest that you do the same even for LDS families, since, even among us, there is differences of opinion of what is, and what is not a part of WoW. So keep that in mind.

Here’s a link to find Doctrinal New Testament Commentary GospeLink.com - The Ultimate LDS Study Library it’s a paid subscription but you can read it and many, many more lds books. Once you subscribe you need to go to http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=206228 to find the web page where the quote is.

There’s a few things that I forgot to mention in my previous post. Look at used bookstores to find deep discounts on books, make sure, if it is a set of books that you are looking for, that you have all the books in the set or if not then see if you can purchase them individually from other sources. I can’t believe that I forgot the fact you can also go to the internet, there are several discount sites like www.amazon.com; www.e-bay.com; or any number of other sites that sell used books, just be sure you keep aware of shipping and handing charges that can drive good pricing to really a expensive price.

I don’t think that love and forgiveness is the same thing. You should love everyone but at the same time you can’t let anyone ‘walk all over you’ if someone stole from you, you need to report it to the police and not just keep it hidden so that person won’t go to jail. That person has made a choice and that choice has concrescences that should be punished. That does not mean that you do not love them, it just means that you love other people enough to not let this person use their free agency to take away other peoples free agency.

If you are just starting your scripture study then you need to prioritize what you use the most. If you do not you could spend hundreds or even thousands on reference books that you will use only a few times. Check your local library, which alone could save you hundreds of dollars. Also, see if you can find any local Priests, Preachers, or Bishops that would give you old copies of books that you can use. I said this in a post above but I will say it here. Save money and buy a computer with internet connection. Go to the web addresses that I have listed in the previous post. There are software and web sites with information that could save you not only hundreds but thousands of dollars. Not only will you save money but you will also save a massive amount of space. Instead of taking up the space of several bookshelves, you can have the same information on your lap (i.e. laptop computer).

This may be a little off topic but lets read Articles of Faith 1: 11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. I think this is interesting since that we believe in living the commandments of God as we choose and let other people worship Him as they choose. This is a serious and demanding question since we need to ask the question of what is ‘just’ a sin and what is both a sin and what is, or should be illegal. For example, homosexuality is a sin but should it be against the law as well? Now of course we should treat everyone with respect. I have heard of people beating up and even killing people for being homosexual. That is just wrong. I would put anyone that would kill anyone else in jail. Laws, both God’s and man’s are for our own good, and safety. If something is illegal then we should go though the proper channels of authority so people that are not involved are not hurt.

I may have said this in a previous thread but I will restate it here since this seems to be a more relevant thread. Religion is based on subjective evidence, I am not arguing that, but science does the same thing when they do not have answers that they do not want to have. For example, the ‘theory of evolution’ is stated as FACT since the only other feasible option is creation. Creation, in the minds of scientists, could not be true no matter how much evidence there is since that to believe in creation is to believe in God, and most scientists cannot accept that. It is interesting to note the parallels in science and religion. Theory is the same as or at least similar to faith. Both have no proof that they are true, people will often state theory of something, or faith in something, as truth. For an example the theory of evolution, or faith of the creation. People on both sides will discount the ‘proof’ of the other side since it will disprove their side and make him/her question his/her entire belief system. Most people are not ready for that kind of knowledge.

Go to ASPERGER'S DISORDER HOMEPAGE or just Google it on the web. I have Aspergers and that is a catchall disease. This means that if the doctors do not know what you have they slap that label on you. I would talk to both your doctor and your bishop about it. See if you can have one-on-one lessons with the missionaries in your area, or to go with them with investigators. Be sure not to ask questions that will just get a yes or a no, or just the ‘seminary’ answers. Get real answers, ask about even the small and simple questions that you should know from primary. I know how bad I felt when my missionary companion was giving the then 4th discussion, about the Plan of Salvation, and I was on the verge of shock about it since I, at least as far as I can remember, was never told in as much detail about it.

Go to Our History - W. Wallace Smith and see a prophet RETIRING!? How can a prophet retire? Not only that but also one question for a member of the Committee of Christ. How do you still think you have the authority of God? The reason that people thought that Joseph Smith III was the next prophet was that they believed that the role of prophet should go from father to son. But who is the prophet now? Stephen M. Veazey, he is not related to Joseph Smith in any way other then we all are related. That alone should disqualify your church alone. But there is more, as soon as a prophet of the Reorganized Church was not a descendent of Joseph Smith, they changed their name and started trying to fit into being a normal Christian church. These are a few questions that a member of the Reorganized Church member should think about. P.S. what we do in the temple is sacred!!!!!!! I would never look at ANY book, DVD or, listen to any thing else that would talk about any other churches sacred rites or practices. That is just wrong. I can’t locate the reference, but Joseph Smith once said that it is good to stick up for your own religion but it is better to stick up for someone else’s religion. He would fight for the Catholics, Methodists, and anyone else that the wicked would trample on. (Again, this is NOT the original quote but a summery)

Check with your Bishop because, I might be wrong, but I’ve heard that if you are not making any money and/or if paying tithing would take all your money away then you would not need to pay tithing.

Remember that all faiths will look bad, or weird, from a different point of view. You could say that our church 'compels' young men to go on missions, get married, have a lot of kids, and so on. Like most everyone here has said, find out from the source and not from someone that is angry at the faith. There are a lot of people that don't think it is wrong to say lies about what they think is the 'Church of the Devil' so beware of where you get your information.

I believe that there are several study aids that are amazing. The first are the Institute manuals, and although it is not a study aid, I would recommend reading the scriptures with the audio version, playing them as you read. That has helped me a lot. Several web sites and software have helped me. Here are some of them: http://www.ldsgospeldoctrine.net/http://www.ldsgospeldoctrine.net/ This site lets people put in their own insights on the scriptures. religion online This site lets you see hundreds of articles and books on most every subject you can think of in Christianity. Logos Bible Software - Bible Study has never been easier! This site lets you buy the most comprehensive Bible software available. I have it and it is amazing! One thing that is great is that the “library” is always being added to and you can buy new e-books that can be downloaded to your computer and intergraded to the software. Internet Sacred Text Archive Home This site has the most sacred texts of all religions that I have ever found on a single site yet! The great thing about this site is it is free. The next thing is that it has e-books on the Bible, Book of Mormon, D&C, Pearl of Great Price, The Koran, and books on Buddism and Hinduism, and many other Faiths. GospeLink.com - The Ultimate LDS Study Library LDS Library - Home These two sites you will need to pay for to use. The information on them are awesome. They have pretty much the same content so beware of double paying for the same thing. Main Page - FAIRMormon This page is useful but not necessarily for scripture study. It is based on Wikipedia. It explains several teachings of the church and lets people edit how they want. Bible Software for believing Bible study: SwordSearcher This site brings you, what I think is the best Bible study program that I have ever seen. It just has the Bible, but it has 25 commentaries and 17 Bible dictionaries and helps. I cannot tell you just how helpful this program has been to me!

What is the differince between an Intellignce and a Spirit? I keep hearing that there was no start, that we have, and will, live forever, but then I hear that God is our Father of our Spirits and that he somehow formed us out of Intelligence. So again, what is the differince