zil2

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.

[I can't type my reply today - I have a cat on my lap... OK, Count Cuddlebutt has departed to gaze out the window.] I'd say the 116 manuscript pages of the B of M was a "compelled to be humble" situation. As is every case where we go and do something the Lord has told us not to do and we then suffer the negative consequences of acting contrary to the Lord's counsel or command. For that matter, I think one reason the Lord allows (and perhaps sometimes causes) trials and afflictions is to compel humility: (Doesn't directly mention humility, but after this it talks about pride, and what happens when the Lord doesn't do these things.) The only personal examples I can think of are too personal to share, but in vague terms, challenging callings can at least encourage humility, if not compel it. And trials, as mentioned. Experience has taught me that it's much more pleasant to choose to humble oneself than to be humbled by external forces. (And, cleverly, except of course for the Lord, those external forces lose force when you choose to be humble before they try to act against you.)

I believe Moroni was resurrected at this point. It appears resurrected beings can indeed travel through things that seem solid to mortal man. perhaps via conduits of light (not to be confused with google fiber). We also know from His appearance on the road to Emmaus, that the Lord can pick and choose what he allows mortals to see / recognize. Further, from his ministry and his appearance in 3 Nephi: ...things that seem contrary to the laws of nature are possible to him. What Jesus didn't do is not evidence that he cannot do it. Last General Conference had a great talk about this incidence. PS: Welcome to Third Hour.

No worries! FP people are happy to talk FPs any time, even if it doesn't result in penabling.

A) Brigham Young taught that the earth was created near God (can't remember if he specified Kolob or not) and that it fell when Adam did, into this solar system (ETA: Or maybe it was that the whole solar system fell, I can't remember for sure - it was years ago that I first heard this). The only scriptural support I can think of for this is Abraham 5:13: B) I will be using the P of GP accounts of the creation for this sequence: Day 1: God creates light and divides it from the darkness - there's the light for your plants. Day 2: We get some land and water - good for plants. Day 3: A quote will hopefully be more effective, but note that in Abraham (I always preferred Abraham, which is closer to what we learn in the temple, BTW) does NOT say that plants were created, rather, that the earth was prepared to bring forth plants (at some future point): Day 4: The sun, moon, and stars are created. More light so now the earth, having been prepared, can bring forth plants. IMO, there's no problem with the sequence, at least, not in Abraham. Bonus: I like the little, not-so-subtle hints (here and with the animals) about "after his kind" and "could only bring forth the same in itself, after his kind" - plenty of no nonsense there about our origins, destiny, and gender in there.

Cats purr for other reasons than happiness, but perhaps your kitty is just enjoying being in a nice safe home. I think I mentioned somewhere in this thread that Klaw will purr as soon as I touch one of his toys. His latest fun is the "curtains" made by my pajama pants when I sit on the floor with my legs out, but knees slightly up - he loves diving through the "curtains" under my knees... Just a little while ago, he informed me that I needed to "assume the position" so he could play, and once I did so, he went and got a toy and brought it back "between the curtains" to play with it, happily purring away. Apparently, they're now the cat's pajamas....

Klaw-dorable kitten sleeping beside me on the couch:

Here's my loose house cat at 10 weeks... ...with his favorite ball - the green one. Little boy does not like to sit still for pictures. He thinks his name should be Thunderfeet. (That's what it sounds like when he decides to race around the house like a krazy kitty!) And, Just noticed - that's his favorite mouse - the purple one - under his behind...

Why not domestic violence leave, too? "HR? Yeah, my wife and I have a serious fight planned for the first week of July..."

I suppose we'll have to use #54 for this:

Welcome to ThirdHour, @ChimpMunk! I have never heard a tale anything like this.

"Whoosh," said zil's comment as it whizzed over @Vort's head. I was making a joke with ambiguous adjectives: "[wireless cell phone] charging" vs "[wireless charging] of a cell phone".

Is there a wired cell phone...?

I've been wearing out my little boy as much as I can, but he still gets the squirrelies - sometimes toward the end of our play sessions. And once he got comfortable here, he decided that nighttime, when the lights are low, is the time to go into demon-mode. He arches his back, fluffs his tail, flattens his ears, and turns sideways, like that picture I posted a page back. It's all play, and he was doing it while I was busy elsewhere (IOW, I didn't spook him) - he just decided he needed to practice his "big scary cat" look. Does it every night now... And at bedtime, I'm obligated to spend ~45 minutes playing "sheet monster" with him... Never met a cat that didn't enjoy playing with the sheet monster, but this little boy takes a long time to wear out...

I mean, OK, if that's what you want and if there's really a reason not to have the real thing, but the real thing is still better by far.