zil2

Welcome, @Emmett Xavier Theodoran! You can contact missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the Come Unto Christ website, via the "Contact Us" menu. You can also find a local church to visit and meet members in person. On this site, members and others discuss a wide variety of topics. If you'd like to post a question here, you're more than welcome to and we'll do our best. But for missionaries, check out above link.

Sounds more like this. When it's kids, there's no minivan and they don't drive from house to house. (I live on a corner, easy for the kids to ring the bell and race around the corner, so when the neighborhood boys were all tween-ish, I got a lot of it - so did my counterpart on the corner three doors behind me. Of course, I'd long since started ignoring my doorbell - no one ever shows up unexpected, so the last laugh may have been mine...) Might be good to check in with your neighbors, @Emmanuel Goldstein.

I've encountered too many people in this circumstance who have not yet experienced the fulfilled promise and who keep trying despite this (for various reasons). I believe the word simply is wrong. I believe that there are cases of those who just don't understand (yet). They haven't figured out how to be sincere or how to recognize the answer or some other how. To their credit, they recognize that it's worth continuing the struggle. For some, it just isn't simple. They aren't intentionally being blind, but the usual lessons on how to see aren't working for them. In high school, I had a friend in most of my classes (she was very smart, a fellow honors student). In our trig and pre-calc class, she could not understand a significant percent of what the teacher was trying to teach. But if I re-explained it, she could understand my way of putting it. Fortunately, the teacher accepted this and didn't mind me turning around and repeating the lesson to my friend. I think this is the case with many who struggle with The Sunday School Promises - whoever is explaining things to them isn't speaking their language. They need to hear it in some other terms or experience some other insight, or something different from the norm. I trust that eventually, everyone can experience the promised results, but for some of us, for whatever reason, it's harder, and I no longer believe that it's because they are willfully doing something wrong. Maybe they're doing something wrong, but if so, it's in ignorance or confusion. In such cases, I try to encourage them not to give up, that the struggle is worth it, that even without all the promised experiences, life is better continuing to try than giving up. I also encourage trying to look at things from different angles, considering all the variables involved, asking what's missing, etc. etc. Anything to keep them trying and help them to find whatever it is they specifically need to come to Christ. But I don't tell them they're clearly not doing it right - just doesn't help.

I see nothing figurative about it. The language is plain and clear. As to why the rest is missing from the Bible - heaven knows - maybe the authors never felt it appropriate to write about it, maybe they didn't know how, or maybe scribes removed it. And we don't know exactly how much blood was involved. But I believe the exact words written in the D&C.

Yeah, sure, fine, this is how every other Christian dismisses this passage, but we have the Lord's words: ...while we have no account of people's reactions to his appearance - perhaps it was a moonless night, I don't know - I believe the Lord's account and short of miraculous removal of this blood, I expect he looked a bit of a mess if not downright scary. I do not know why people have such a problem believing that Christ simply let a bit of his power and authority and majesty show through when he declared that he was the person they sought. So unless they all tripped over their own feet while stepping back for personal reasons (which I don't believe), I'm quite happy to believe that the momentary assertion of his glory caused them to fall in a not dissimilar way to how one day every knee will bow.

I highly doubt that any prophet or apostle has considered the design, placement, or construction details of any temple to be "superficial". One source of my doubt ... I was going to quote from it, but there's too much, so just read the whole talk. If you don't come away with understanding, pray before reading it a second time. (Note that it's not this one talk per se that causes my doubt, it's the facts that the talk gives us about how all temples are designed and built - and there have been other talks that teach additional facts in the same vein. I believe there is absolutely nothing superficial about our temples and that prophets and apostles direct all of it, even if they're not the ones doing the physical inspections. Unfortunately, I don't remember enough details from other such talks to quickly find them, but there have been such talks or Ensign articles explaining the process and standards involved - as well as the miracles involved - in placing, designing, and constructing temples.)

Seriously? You never burned yourself as a child? Your mother never put aloe on it? You still go around touching hot burners or pans? Or maybe you're a parent and when your child is foolish and burns or hurts themselves you just say, "I told you so, now you get to suffer! Suffer, kid, suffer!" Or to bring it back to the topic, you run around willfully sinning away since you know repentance is always an option? Deceive on Saturday, repent on Sunday, ad infinitum?

My name is Legion: for we are many, Mark 5:9 (Luke 8:30).

I wonder if google did literal translation (hence the return to English seems better) and Chat GPT did some sort of localization into the various languages, which morphed the meaning enough that a literal translation back into English sounds all wrong.

Hmm. That person has three arms. Exactly what sort of doctor are you again...?

Thank you! Yet another way in which our neighborhood is amazing.

Well, now who's being silly?

Only because they haven't spent enough time watching I_am_puma videos. (I really, really want my very own mountain lion now.)

In the beginning: What, you didn't expect me to be serious after death, did you?

Glad to hear it! I hear the spot I'm in will receive less damage than most - some sort of rock under us. Of course, I haven't researched that myself, so I'm taking the neighbor's word for it... If needed, I'll see if @mirkwood has room in his Prius for an extra passenger - we can both come over... (Or if his Prius can't make it, I'll offer the three extra seats in my CR-V. )

Perhaps "Ask Captain Moroni whether they were angry at the kingmen." would be a good addition to someone's PBL... For an added bonus, use a fountain pen. (Above is Sailor Seiboku in a Kaweco Sport, fine nib on Staples ARC paper.) #postbucketlist #post-bucketlist #pbl (Apparently I'm not the first person to think of this, but I didn't know that until after I thought of it... It's not terribly popular right now, and existing uses of the hashtag appear mostly to be about posting your bucket list online or what to do after you've done everything on your bucket list.) (Also, it's possible I should have thought of this 4 days ago, but oh well, better late than never...) Now that I've made the challenge, I'll have to go think of what to put on my Post-Bucket List...

I have no idea, but I can honestly say that I don't feel hatred for anyone, not even Satan. There are things I dislike. I often say that I hate yardwork, but it's not the same emotion - not even sure that's an emotion. More importantly, I think it's very different to hate a person vs [anything not a person]. Did they feel anger or hatred for the kingmen? Did they act out of anger or necessity? Perhaps they felt a deep sorrow over these people who embraced evil and rejected good. (I don't know, or know how to know, I'm just asking the questions.) I guess the question I would have is, what good does your anger do? Does it bless your life or the lives of others? If so, then perhaps it is indeed righteous anger? If not, what's the point? I feel things like sorrow and disappointment more than I feel anger about the things like you describe. I don't know that my sorrow does any good either, but then, I wouldn't say I feel it all the time, only when confronted with these things and taking the time to ponder the people involved and the consequences. Perhaps the right answer is found in moderation: are your emotions consuming you? Preventing you from providing for your family? Interfering with your Church attendance or callings? Keeping you from feeling other, happier emotions? Creating unhealthy relationships? Ruining otherwise healthy relationships? Draining your bank account? Do you skip over the scriptures about mercy (thinking, "yeah yeah, whatever") and delve into the ones involving cleansing the temple or killing kingsmen (thinking, "YEAH! TAKE THAT!")? Etc. Etc. And maybe the details aren't the same for everyone. Maybe the emotions that would destroy me (because I couldn't keep them reined in?) would drive you to righteous actions (because that's how you would express them). ? I don't know. I'm just thinking that exploring the questions, doubting our certainties about our own "rightness" can be a good thing.

@NeuroTypical did a better job than I can answering this. I'll add only that anger's cousin is hatred. I learned in my early 20s what hatred felt like (it feels like Satan wrapping your heart in outer darkness), and swore I would never feel that ever again. Successful so far. To me, this makes perfect sense. The more evil the person you are dealing with, the less likely any sort of contending will do good. Bring in the Spirit, approach it a different way, or separate. Perhaps, too, it's because they've already brought Satan with them and it'll be so much easier for you to fall into the trap if you let contention get it's foot in the door. But here's another possible why: Why should we do all that? Not in hopes of eliminating evil from the world or defeating our enemies or winning the debate, but because it's what God does, and we are to be(come) like Him. Also, the more I study scriptures these days, the more convinced I am that our job is to shine the light so that those who will recognize it and come can see it. When the time comes for fighting, Christ will do it, not us. To me, why is the way to how - or the way to make how natural or easier. If one truly has charity and enjoys the companionship of the Holy Ghost and is converted to the two great commandments, then it must be easier to avoid contention altogether.

But I'm not so sure it isn't as simple as: 1. Whether anger is involved 2. Against whom or what you are contending 3. To what end / for what reason are you contending I suspect that exploring one's own answers to these, or exploring the possible answers to these as a group, might help. And yeah, it might come down to a fine line. If I go back to what I learned in scripture: It's OK to contend against the wicked, for the faith. The end. That's it. That's the only kind of contending allowed. But I'm not allowed to do it in anger. Exploring the why of that may also be useful. (I wish to say that I have fairly recent experience with this: ... not as one of the contenders but as someone present at the time and I tell you, I felt the Spirit leave and devils arrive rejoicing. In worldly terms, the tension in the place skyrocketed, became palpable and oppressive. But I knew full well what that meant on a spiritual level. We should avoid it like the plague.)

IMO, the weathermen have been wrong far more than usual this year. I sometimes think maybe this is God's way of keeping weathermen humble - by making the weather less predictable. If I'm right, instead of skiing in July, you'll be swimming in late April! I hope not. I really hope not. But those entities making sandbags available are surely acting wisely. On your side of the valley, I hope you have some sandbags (or whatever you need) available to you. (I'm on the much safer side of the valley - as far as flooding is concerned. Of course, that statement may result in a humbling of my own, so please excuse me, I need to go repent...)

Quoting @laronius, but really replying to all on the general topic of contending and contention... I decided to go exploring in scripture. "Contend" (by people, as opposed to the Lord) is presented in a positive manner in these contexts: contend with the wicked contend for the faith (against those actively trying to undermine it) contending against the church of the devil And in a negative manner in these contexts: complaining about the prophet doing something the not-prophet believed to be wrong contending against the Holy Ghost (resisting its influence) contending against the word of the Lord contending against any church other than the church of the devil members of the church contending with each other And then there's contention. While searching for anything good said about contention, I'll make some notes about all the bad things said about it: Synonyms / related: strife, confusion, darkness, disputation, false doctrine, hardheartedness, war, quarrel, etc. Causes: pride (defined as sole source), fools enter into it, scorners, drunkenness, those who like to "feed the fire", envy, hatred, politics, secret combinations, Satan Resist it by: being slow to anger, separating from those with whom you can't come to terms, patience, being one, avoiding it, the Holy Ghost, charity, dealing justly, the gospel, forgiveness I found nothing good said about contention. It would seem that contention is to contend with anger: So, there are good ways in which you can contend, but the second anger enters into it, now you've invited Satan to join you. Now, if anyone who finds it difficult to contend without anger wishes to explore why that is, I'm game. It might help all of us to have even better discussions going forward. But there's no point in me yammering on about why some folks have a hard time contending without contention, so unless someone else wants to explore this aspect, I'll let the above stand.

I think you are flat out wrong. I felt the Spirit witness that President Oaks' words were precisely what we needed to hear and that his assemblage was something I need to study, to find the reason and meaning behind the sequence and selections. As I was typing that, this came to mind:

Meanwhile, zil crawls out from under her rock, looks around, thinks, I'm so glad I live under a rock, crawls back under the rock, and returns to living in unreality.

If she was born more than 30 years ago, she probably said, "I told you not to do that. But come to me and I'll break this aloe plant and apply its healing balm."