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IMO, Satan will be the accuser, there ranting and raving about how we don't deserve mercy due to all our sins. Meanwhile, a search of the Church website for the phrase "judge in Israel" yields a lot of results. Some may be helpful.

Klaw has been studying up on Dungeons & Dragons and in this morning's play time practiced his "leap on Meowmy's back" attack. Of course, I was sitting on the floor at the time, so it had little effect other than to make me laugh, but it was a good attack - arms spread wide, almost perfect to bite through my neck - if only his jaws were larger... Here's a picture of my kitty's D&D character:

Mormon? See, for example, Helaman 6 (~30 years before the Lord came - I read this recently and wondered if we wouldn't have something similar before the Second Coming - converts having to teach life-long members who had fallen into wickedness). See also 3 Nephi 1 - massive conversion followed by wickedness 2-3 years later (signs are not a good foundation for conversion). I figure in the age of "smart" phones, where people have a 2-second attention span, it might take 2 hours to turn back to wickedness (if that)... Whatever the case, these seem to me like types that will be repeated before the Second Coming. The whole world in commotion (including conversions and falling away).

Yeah, sadly, this is true. In my current ward, over the last 3-5 years, there have been times when the teacher didn't show. Sometimes we went to the other gospel doctrine class, but other times, we just agreed to have the class without a teacher - and we discussed what we had learned from our own study - they were some of the best classes we had (not that we didn't have a good teacher, just that this type of discussion was what usually ensued anyway).

I'm not sure how a threat from a prophet would be worded differently than a warning from a prophet. I think they might sound the same, unless they actually used the word "threat" or "warning". I expect "threaten" was Jarom's interpretation of what he heard - perhaps he didn't believe in mollycoddling...

Yes, that's what Sacrament Meeting, Stake Conference, and General Conference are for. Well, that's not what it's supposed to be. I hope I'm not the only one who is regularly in a Spirit-guided discussion of the doctrine and how to apply it in our lives. Perhaps the issue is that there are few in the Church who could give a good 40-minute lecture (every other week). And perhaps it is that this (Spirit-led discussion) is more likely to encourage the home-centered, Church-supported learning and worship we're supposed to be engaging in. So, I would agree, lecture isn't necessarily bad, but it would encourage too many people to do nothing at home and just come and spend 40 minutes basking in the glow of a gospel orator and then go home and wait for next Sunday. It would also deny the opportunity to ask questions, or share personal experiences in learning and living the gospel - which should help us to be one, to bear one another's burdens, to minister, etc. - I think the class discussion (when done right) can encourage even those who don't verbally enter the discussion to engage in home study, and help them in living the gospel.

On 08 June I attended a training session for teachers and presidencies. Brother Milton Camargo, First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency did most of the training. He said some things that may help: 1. When the current SSGP was called, President Nelson told him that his focus should be: Help people study the gospel and scriptures in their own homes Improve the quality of teaching in the home and Church 2. Bro. Camargo told us that the first question we should discuss in our classes is: "What has the Holy Ghost (that being the key part of this question) taught you during your study this week?" (Or you could say over the past 2 weeks.) My notes say: invite people to practice learning from the Holy Ghost. (I think that was part of the discussion of how to help people do this, since seminary stats suggest that the majority of the active members are not having scripture study in their home.) 3. The teachers and presidencies should be asking themselves: What can I do to help members do those two bullet items under #1 above. There was a good bit of discussion about that. Related to this, invite people to consider, "What does the Lord want to teach me (as I study this material)?" And I'll try to create a chart that was presented (hard to do without fixed-width font. Foo, I'll just go make a graphic... Personally, if I'm teaching, I only go into info/history if I think it's absolutely necessary, and then I lecture very briefly (like less than a minute, if I can) and I tell them what I'm doing - setting the background, reminding them of the characters or plot of the story. I do my best to stay in that "best" quadrant - and have since I first was called to be a teacher - what, in my 20s?

So really, they're varified reports?

And they are known to the state of California to cause cancer.

Pfff. Your existence is probably illegal. And it causes cancer.

Every animal has its own personality. But apparently dogs are the only animals that understand human gestures like pointing - even our closest relatives (chimps) don't understand that one. Evidence dogs were made for mankind.

Kitty kept him company in his dying minutes. Good kitty.

Funny, or not so funny, thought... I'm an extreme introvert. Church attendance and the occasional ministering visit are sufficient human interaction for me. (Now that I understand what introversion is and how to manage it, I can push that limit a lot farther, but it's still sufficient.) So, after I decided to get a kitty, I asked Heavenly Father to help me find the right one for me (leaving it up to Him what that meant, just mentioning what I hoped to do with kitty). All the timing and such fell into place for Klaw and I was quite certain he was the one I was supposed to adopt. Turns out, he doesn't much like other people. He finds them scary and just wants to hang in our nice quiet house with mom. Oh, and car rides are OK, so are walks outside - as long as we don't go to far and don't encounter other people. Make of it what you will...

Klaw has discovered that he can use my eyeglasses to pull me close enough to lick my nose. And then he discovered that he can pull them (the eyeglasses) off and chew on the earpieces...

Erm. There was this dude. In the beginning. Telling lots of lies.....

I agree. I was suggesting it as an after-the-fact analysis of the pattern - perhaps despite the seeming failures, there was something good happening after all...?

If I noticed this pattern in my life, I think I would be inclined to take away the following lessons: I have bad timing. Perhaps with practice I'll improve. I don't recognize the need soon enough, or I take too long to figure out what I should do, or I take too long to act. Perhaps with practice I'll improve. God wants me to see the variety of ways by which He blesses people. Perhaps you are missing the effect on you: (In other words, sometimes the service you offer is as much to change you as it is to bless the one(s) you're serving.) Or, So, rather than lamenting that you never manage to be the one saving the starfish, look for other lessons and for ways to improve. Also, celebrate the goodness of others - pray in gratitude for their abilities and actions, ask for them to be blessed, thank them for their service and example to you - lift them so that they don't get tired of tossing starfish.

Well, that explains it. Apparently I bought Klaw an AR-15: That explains why he still finds it a bit scary. I'm sure when he's a teenager he'll like it better...

Crazy people. Very sad. I think @Vort explained it very clearly.

Not sure why the bold part would be there if "endless" was just another way of saying "no end". Of course, I'm also pretty sure this is academic, unless one is thinking, "I can handle temporary Endless punishment, but I'm not willing to endure torment with no end, so I need to know which it is so I can make up my mind whether to repent."

google it and you'll see lots of videos of cats climbing the wall and at least one funny one of a woman saying, "Finally I have a place to hang my kittens," as she places a third kitten on the wall-carpet.

Good for Strider - soon he'll be the brave one and the dog will be afraid. As for the claw covers - get scratching things - post, boards, whatever you think will work, and put them where he likes to scratch. I did some googling of catnip and apparently it's not effective below a certain age, but you could get some to try, if you wish. Carpet hanging on the wall would likely be irresistible to him - but you might have to rescue him until he gets the hang of climbing down.

@Traveler, in an effort to alleviate your confusion, I have made this video of Klaw diving through the "curtains" formed by my pajama pants - it's not the greatest, but capturing this myself is not easy, and it should be good enough. If your confusion is wondering why in the world I would let a little ball of fur enslave me in this manner, well, I'm afraid that's not something I can explain - either that cute little purring furball is irresistible to you, or it's not.

I agree, God does not deceive (though keep in mind that Christ intentionally taught in parables so that only those who were willing to humble themselves and learn from the Spirit could understand, and some might think of that as a form of deceit). I don't believe the creation story was meant to be scientifically or functionally instructional. If I were describing my work back when I was a programmer, I might say something like: gather requirements design data structure design gui write code test It's super-simple. No one could complete the project with that description. It's very simplified with lots of detail left out, but it's basically what I did. I think the creation story is given to us so that we can learn: God really did create an earth, just for us It was involved work It forms the basis for why we observe the Sabbath every 7th day God is that powerful and loves us that much And various other lessons, some of which you yourself have stated on multiple occasions here Whatever I don't know (yet?) FWIW. As for life elsewhere in the universe, I don't feel like I know nearly enough to say that God didn't repeat this level of exceptional work elsewhere or elsewhen, so I'll leave it in His hands to worry about - I have more than enough to worry about now. (Like trying to clear up your confusion about Klaw and curtains... )

I'm good with all of that (though it's a left turn from your literal "plants need the sun to grow" dilemma, which was the only point I was trying to address), but in addition (and again from Abraham 4): We still have day and night, morning and evening. I suppose one could consider these symbolic of righteousness and wickedness (or whatever), but I still believe that God created light (in a particular region of space - call it another light source, additional light, a temporary sun, whatever - e.g. "let there be light here"1) and a star system, and a planet in that system (eventually, anyway), and caused life to develop on that planet (somehow), that eventually led to our first parents, who were called Adam and Eve - that they were literal people from whom we descended. I'm good with any symbolism one wants to draw from these events (so long as it's consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ), but I believe in a literal creation, first spiritually and then physically. And I think the creation story gives a very high-level outline of what that entailed - in addition to whatever else one wants (or God intended us) to learn from said story. (And I still think Abraham's rendition is better than Moses'. ) 1Frankly, I'm OK if it was something along the lines of, "Someone get those floodlights over here so we can see what we're doing until we get the sun made." - I just think there was visible, bright light, and apparently the lights came on and off, cuz there was morning and evening, day and night. And no, I'm not terribly concerned with understanding scientific details at the moment. We will understand (or remember) one day, and that's soon enough for me.