rayhale

Check with your electric company, I don’t know about yours, but mine lets people to average out people’s electric bills so instead of paying $50 one month and $700 the next, you will pay the average which is $375.

The Traveler makes an excellent point, there are SO many things that we use everyday that in one way or other impacts the lives of animals, like glue, gelatin, cassettes, oil, oil-based products, like plastic, and many, many more things. There are people more strict than vegetarians, called vegans, that won’t eat, or wear, anything made from animals, but unless you’re a scientist, and know EVERYTHING that is made from some animal then your just saying it, and not finding out all what you believe in, not harming any life form, which to me, is impossible.

How do I reconcile these three scriptures? http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/89/10-17#10: http://scriptures.lds.org/1_tim/4/1-5 http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/49/18-19#18 I hear all sorts of things about the Word of Wisdom, one is that no one can eat/drink any form of caffeine, some people will read D&C 89:17 and will get the idea that they should not eat other grain except wheat, or read verses 15-16 in the same chapter as saying that being vegetarian is ok in times when food is plentiful. However the Prophets throughout time have stated that we are commanded to not drink coffee, tea or anything with alcohol in it. We are also commanded not to use any form of tobacco. So should we be vegetarians? I don’t know, no prophet has ever said so. D&C 49:18-19 has been used to say that abstaining from meat is NOT of God, but outside of coffee, tea, alcohol, and tobacco, and although it doesn’t state it, the misuse of prescription, and over-the-counter, drugs, and the use of any form of illegal drugs, these are considered against the Word of Wisdom. Being a vegetarian is not going against the Word of Wisdom, nor is eating meat, nor is eating any other grain than wheat, or to drink caffeine (well not yet anyway).

I need to say this as clearly as possible so there is no misunderstanding. The Book of Mormon is the Keystone of the LDS Church, and to the Gospel, without it, people won’t have a true understanding of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Now having said that, I feel that the Church over-states the need to read the Book of Mormon, while saying almost nothing about reading the other scriptures. “The first five books of the Old Testament lay the foundation on which the rest of scripture stands. Its great themes, epochal events and towering figures set down vectors on which the biblical story is played out. The very shape of the rest of the Old Testament would collapse were the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament) to be removed. The structure of the New Testament thought would be barely intelligible without it.” Quoted from a review of ‘Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch'. I would also add that the Book of Mormon would be barely intelligible without it as well. I agree with President Benson that all scripture are not of equal value, but that should mean that we should totally ignore the other scriptures ether. I over-heard a member say that someone told him to read the Book of Mormon, so he stopped reading the Old Testament and started reading the Book of Mormon, I had to bite my tongue to not say, ’don’t do that, you can read both at the same time.’ ‘An indispensable foundation’ by George A. Horton Jr. in the Ensign March 2002, is a great LDS article that shows the connections of the Old Testament to the New Testament, to the Book of Mormon, and even to the Doctrine and Covenants.

The problem of mass transportation in America, is that we Americans LOVE our cars. Cars = independence, and freedom. Also there is multi tiered things that need to be in place, like: 1. PEOPLE NEED TO USE IT! This is by far the most important thing that needs to happen, since if people don’t use mass transportation, then the government CAN’T justify spending millions, or billions, to set one up in your area. 2. Major companies in the area NEED to get together so that they can have work shifts come on, and off, at the most effective times. This mainly concerns the non 9 to 5 shifts. 3. I know I said this already, but I can’t say this more clearly, PEOPLE NEED TO USE PUBLIC TRANPORTATION! Think of this, a bus can hold around 50 to 100 people, most commuters are single-person drivers, this means that ONE bus can replace up to 100 cars, a commuter train can replace even more.

I’ve heard this too, I don’t know if it is true, but it brings the question that if extremely handicapped people were so valiant in the Pre-existence that they were spared being tested on earth, then what about all the prophets throughout time, especially Adam/Michael the Archangel? They were EXTREAMLY valiant in the Pre-existence but were NOT spared being tested here on earth. On a side note, I saw an obituary of a ‘special needs’ person that said that he went to a ‘special needs’ ward, it said, all the leaders, and teachers, of this ‘special’ ward, are experts on ‘special needs’ people. I can't help to think that this helps teaching them better, since otherwise they get stuck with being taught like children, which, the ones that are adults, are not, and they don’t learn the same way. I wonder if this is a Church-wide thing, or a local one, that the Church has approved?

Yes, for example, I’ve heard that newspapers are written at a 5th grade level. I live in Idaho, near a nuclear processing place, and at the local museum it has a cartoon of nuclear technology that even a child can understand. But as I said, these new books shouldn’t outright replace the old books, but be like ‘cliff-notes’, where they put these college level teachings and put them in an 8th,or even lower, level.

On occasion the Ensign will have articles from the past, besides standardizing spelling they are exactly the same. With the new Joseph Smith Papers volumes they are exactly the same, even the crossing out of words, the editors just added some background, and what happened afterward, with other sources that are available. I’m not saying to discard these old books, but if these new books can make what the old books said better understood, then I’m all for it.

On my mission there was the regular ‘Missionary set’ and a few more approved books, so Marvelous Work and a Wonder may still be okay to read on a mission, but as a few people have said, Marvelous Work and a Wonder and other books in the Missionary set are old and use old language, so I don’t see any problem using new books that ‘cull’ the old books for great information, and put it in a language that we can understand better.

Well I guess I mean that evolution has evolved from one celled life to humans, that is if you believe in evolution in a straight line of evolution of one-celled life, when people have taught different animals to speak like parrots or apes, or have trained different animals to do different things, like a dog, or any other animal, to sit, roll over, or any other trick, this means that these animals have, at least a simple, and base, understanding of what we say to them, yet humans can think for themselves, there’s the whole ‘I think therefore I am’ kind of thing, like I said about when animals are taught to speak, they speak of simple, base emotions, like the need to eat, sleep, or fear, yet when humans are taught to speak, we can think of so much more, so why not evolution can go this far, why not evolution go the next step or so more into a species that doesn’t die, and can learn how to create new life?

One question I have for people that believe in evolution, but not in God. Why can’t through the billions, if not trillions of years of evolution, one species got evolved into a perfect god-like creation? Isn’t this where evolution will ultimately end up?

There are several questions I have for people who believe in evolution: What is your proof? Now I can’t say this more clear, what is your proof of evolution? Is it since you CAN’T believe in God, and in Creation, then it MUST be evolution. I watched a History Channel program that told ‘a’ story of creation, during the whole show, it told so many things that there was NO WAY they, or anyone else, could possibly know. Also is your proof actual documented, provable evidence, or is it, you say something is true long enough that you believe it? For example the ‘picture’ of the different stages of evolution of humans from apes. I have one major question with that, why is that ‘picture’ a cartoon drawing, NOT a series of photos of skeletons or fossils showing the progress from ape to man. Also another question I have, why is some of your ‘proof’ of evolution of ape to man ONE skeleton???? One major example is the fossil remains known as Lucy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(fossil), to me that tells me that these so-called experts know nothing about mutation, or any other form of disfigurement. It would be interesting to know what these so-called experts would think of a skelketon, or a fossel of someone like Joseph Merrick, more commonly known as the elephant man http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Merrick if they had no other skeletons or fossels to compare it to. As far as dating the earth goes, one major question I have is what form, or forms of testing the date of things, like fossils, is it carbon dating? If it is well then, there is enough proof out there of carbon dating that it is NOT effective in dating extremely old dates, like hundred plus thousand years, yet these so-called experts can be certain that dinosaurs lived one or more MILLION years ago. One thing that a few posts have pointed out of the main reason why religious people can’t believe in evolution, especially of ape to man, is that evolution will somehow make humans less special and that it will make humans just like any other animal, not children of God.

If I wanted to discuss the Baptist faith I would have a Baptist preacher there to discuss it, NOT me. As a few other posts have noted, a preacher of one faith CAN NOT talk about another faith WITHOUT being bias.

The whole music industry is about intimidation, just think of what stealing music is called, “piracy”, these raids of sometimes innocent people, making them out to be criminals, like an 80 year old woman that was looked at for ‘pirating’ rap music, the prosecutors stopped after they realized that they would make themselves look bad for going after her, when it clearly was not her, that was stealing the music. I need to point out that the line between what is legal and not legal, is sometimes blurred. I looked at a CD, it said that you can not copy it, yet the VERY SAME company made blank cassettes that said it was great for copying CD’s, that in it’s self is confusing, but now in the digital age, we have legal places like Myspace, YouTube, and even places like Limewire, have artists that place their music there so that people can check out their music, and become popular. To make it even more confusing, there are some musicians, like Radiohead, and Nine Inch Nails, just to name a few, that have put some of their music online, FOR FREE!!! If the music industry wants stricter enforcement of laws, then I saw that the music industry needs to be more clear as to what is, and what is NOT legal.

1. They need to talk to their Bishop, my Bishop said that he knows of plenty of people who judge themselves to harshly and stop partaking of the sacrament when they still could have received the sacrament. 2. I don’t see anything wrong in letting them take the sacrament, but I don’t think it’s good to force the bread or water down their throats, as others have said, you should tell your kids the importance of the sacrament. Beware that bread can be a choking hazard, and a person can drown in as little as a tablespoon of water. 3. As others have said, in the past there has been a lot of symbolism of right and left hands, if you can, you should take the sacrament with your right hand, but if you can’t, you should feel that you are sinning. 4. The Bishop should rebuke in private, I see no need to embarrass anyone in front of the whole ward. 5. Since I’m not the Bishop, I can’t judge others for what they do or don’t do. On a side note, the people who pass the sacrament, pass it to everyone, including non-members and people who have been excommunicated, they are not to judge, so if you are unsure if you can take the sacrament, don’t ask someone that passes the sacrament, he will just refer you to the Bishop.

I don’t want to break any Copyright laws, so I won’t copy the whole article of “Legal perspectives on the slaying of Laban”, but besides the fact that Nephi’s brothers, Laman and Lemuel, NEVER accused Nephi of murder, it also states a few more points: At or shortly after Nephi’s coronation as king, Jacob addressed the young Nephite assembly. He pronounced ten woes upon those who work wickedness (2 Nephi 9:27-38). His ten woes quite obviously patterned after the Ten Commandments. One of these woes pertains to murder: “Wo unto the murderer who deliberately killeth, for he shall die” (2 Nephi 9:35). The conspicuous insertion of the word “deliberately” is an uncharacteristic qualification. Few of Jacob’s strict woes are accompanied by such a modifier. The thrust of his point is to be sure that only those who deliberately kill are considered guilty and punishable. Under Exodus 21:12-14, that would require deliberation, lying in wait, or other similar planning and hatred. Categorically cursing all people who killed particularly at the coronation of Nephi would have been extremely undiplomatic. People immediately would have wondered, “But what about Nephi?” The answer is simple. Nephi had not killed “deliberately.” Jacob’s curse implies that he understood Exodus 21:13 to require a high degree of advance deliberation. Nephi was not the only prophet in scripture to shed a man’s blood. Moses killed an Egyptian when Moses saw the Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave; when he looked around and saw that no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand (Exodus 2:11-12). Fearing that he might get caught, Moses fled to the land of Midian. This background sheds further light on the meaning of intentionality in the law of homicide in Exodus 21. Moses, the lawgiver himself, just like Nephi could have argued that his spontaneous action was not preplanned or premeditated in that sense. This again, is not to say that Moses had not committed a slaying, but only that it was a protectable slaying. 1 Nephi 4:13 sums it up the best: “It is better that one man should perish than a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief” Like I said in my earlier post, it would be unfair, and unjust, to judge Nephi, or Moses, or anyone else in the Scriptures by our laws, or code of ethics, since they lived by a different set of laws and ethics than we do.

In the book “Farms Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Vol. 1, NO. 1 (Fall 1992)” In the chapter “Legal perspectives on the slaying of Laban” by John W. Welch, which can be found on www.gospelink.com; http://www.gospelink.com/library/document/91337 [this is a pay to use site]. In the chapter, the author points out one major piece of evidence that says that the rules of law were different back then, and that when Nephi killed Laban, he didn’t commit murder. One key piece of evidence is that Nephi’s brothers, Laman and Lemuel accuse him of usurping power, of trying to become a ruler and teacher over them, of trying to trick them by his cunning arts and “foolish imaginations” (1 Nephi 16:37-38; 17:20), but never do they accuse Nephi of murder. We, as a Western society, need to realize that people in the scriptures lived under different set of ethical standards as we do. Different cultures have unique values and idiosyncratic legal expectations.

Both Napster and Rhapsody have a “mobile” version where you can put songs on your MP3 but they cost more per month then the regular version. I used to have Rhapsody but one thing they forget to mention is that you have to download the songs that you want to listen to. If you have put songs on your computer from other sources, like cd’s, or other music sources, then it is a PAIN to find and to get rid of the songs that you DON’T want anymore.

I agree with you, beefche, however prisonchaplain has a point, most other religious missionaries are taught more, and do more, and most times older, and wiser, then LDS missionaries. One way around this is to read the Preach My Gospel book; read ALL the scriptures; memorize key passages of scripture; if you have an LDS Institute near you, go to a Church History class; BEFORE your mission, and remember that you should not expect yourself to know everything about the Church, you are a missionary of the Church, so that alone makes you a target of people’s hatred of the Church, because, when they see you, they see the Church.

This is why I don’t care to join the military. I’ve heard several solders say that they don’t care if what they are fighting for is right or wrong, but fighting for the United States. I think this type of thinking is wrong, I most definitely care what I am fighting for is right or wrong. The recruitment offices lie too, they will say anything to get new solders, they also target poor, ‘expendable’, people, with college grants, not explaining that if you sign up during peace time, that during war time you WILL fight, and kill other people. This happened with several missionaries, they signed up for National Guard and was forced to go home, since the military called them up to fight.

I know that missionaries are legally preachers, yet the power, and authority to marry has to be approved by the Church, which it HAS NOT approved for missionaries. I know that missionaries can go to places that most other people can’t go, like going to prisons, but, missionaries still have to approve it with their Mission President.

I like the idea of scripture options of having the Bible Dictionary as a separate book, if that ever happens, then I suggest having a grammar guide added to it. Most words in the Bible are old, and not used, or even used now in the opposite way than what the Bible uses the words. For example, Thee, Thou, and Thine, most all the animal names, are different than what they are today. I also would like to have Guide to the Scriptures added as well, you can find it online here: Guide to the Scriptures

One reporter pointed out that the swimsuits that the contestants are required to wear were just as, if not more, reveling as those semi-nude pitchers of Ms. Prejean, yet no one is commenting on the swimsuit of Prejean, just of those 'shocking' pitchers of when Ms. Prejean was a model. If Mr. Hilton didn't want a politically charged, and religiously charged answer, then he shouldn't have asked a politically and religiously charged question.

President Obama said that he wants to reform credit card companies, he said that he wants to change how credit card companies hide charges in 'fine print', and force them to make the language of credit card applications to make it easier to read. I have to see it to believe it, since the government has punished the 'Joe the Plummer' Americans, for the someone else's mistakes. Like bailing out Wall Street, but not Main Street.

I have a question about divorce and being a Bishop, or any higher Church position. What if the divorce is out of your hands, for example, your wife divorces you, cheated on you, or has left you? Are you still unable to be a Bishop, or an Apostle?