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I have attempted to access this thing, but apparently my hours are everyone else's hours. Next time you're on, see if it knows the true name of Quintus, the Fifth Wizard - because until I know his true name, I can't write the scene where he links to his sentient wizard's staff and learns her name. (I know her name, but not his true name.) (If you're so inclined. Thanks.) Looking forward to hearing whether pizza ice cream is any good. (More looking forward to having pizza to end my fast later...)

This does not surprise me. I'm the reverse - Codex Alera is up my alley, Dresden Files, not so much. Either way, the guy's a good writer.

No time to explain further - gotta get ready for church - and not sure I really can, but I think faith is much more foundational (basic, simple) and much more profound, extending far beyond the idea of "belief-driven action" (while that the same time, being exactly and only that). Without faith, none of us would or could do a single thing. With it, we can do far greater than most of us, myself included, do.

I think I'm more impressed by the imagination of the questions than by the computer-generated answers, fun as they were. This brings two thoughts to mind (demonstrating how a good story can start with the craziest ideas): 1. Sorry, but I wasn't there for the whole story, so I have to, um, butcher it: Jim Butcher was once challenged to write a story combining Pokémon and the Roman legions. The Codex Alera series was what he did with that idea. (This is the only Jim Butcher series I've read, and I like it.) 2. I started doing (fountain pen) ink reviews in 2020. When researching to figure out my "format", I noticed other ink reviewers would commonly use "The quick brown fox..." This seemed absurd to me. The point of that pangram was to teach typing, by giving you all the letters of the alphabet. You don't need a pangram to test a pen or ink. So why? Well, I decided to have fun with this, by mixing up pangrams. To mix them up, I needed more pangrams, and among them I found: "The five boxing wizards jump quickly." and "Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow." This led us to the character of Quintus, the Fifth Wizard, and later Makhabesh (a cat-sized sphinx trapped in a sphinx of black quartz (the size of the one in Egypt)). And I stopped doing (mixed up) pangrams, and started telling a story. Eventually, I added Essri, a smol snek with a lisp. (ESSRI is short for Ecclesiastical Stationery Supply Registrars Ink - an ink I reviewed and source of the idea to have a character named Essri.) (Your fluffy snake thus triggered thoughts of my own snek - who, though not fluffy, is cute.) ETA: If anyone decides to read, it would be useful, eventually, to know who Marcel Bich and László Bíró are (the Wikipedia intro text is sufficient knowledge).

Sorry for your suffering, Crimson. May the Lord help you endure.

Certainly, if one doesn't know there is an enemy, or one hasn't been taught how to fight against that enemy, then one is more vulnerable. That makes perfect sense to me. It also makes sense to me that choosing, e.g. against the Light of Christ, something you know is less / worse / not good, will increase your risk, while choosing better will decrease it (not the risk of attack - quite the opposite - but your risk of being overcome). I've always thought this bit in Moses 1:20 was revealing (emphasis mine): I believe some of Satan's power comes when we fear him - it suggests, in a sense, having faith in his ability to harm us - after all, if we didn't believe it, why would we fear? If we can overcome that fear - e.g. by turning to God, remembering His power - then Satan loses his power over us. Sounds simplistic, but I believe there's something in there, even if I can't express it well.

We have no idea what "of a child" means - at least, I don't. Pre-accountability, sure, the kid's not held responsible. Post-accountability...

1. Agree. 2. Yep. 3. See Joseph Smith's first vision experience already cited. It appears that there are powers we mortals do not understand. Perhaps we understood them as spirits, and thus Satan and his followers still have control of those powers that we here do not understand. And no, I'm not envisioning demon fingers in my brain. (But I'm betting if you opened a restaurant and had demon fingers with hot sauce on the menu, they'd be very popular. See #2.) As to, "if they could, why not do it more" - it goes back to what I said about possession: perhaps it's not easy, perhaps we have ways of protecting ourselves, perhaps there are bounds - see D&C 122:9. And remember, I'm open to the idea that it was a dream intended to teach me something. I'm also open to the idea that I had these experiences at spiritual low points - I've never recorded when they happened, let alone my spiritual state preceding them... 4. Well, it was more figurative "keep away" - that is, do your best to do those things which invite the Holy Ghost into your life and which would act as protection against evil spirits: keep covenants, etc. Dedicating your home sounds like a good idea. IMO, the way one becomes possessed is likely a gradual process of giving in to evil influences, then inviting them increasingly until you basically say, "OK, Satan, you're in charge, just tell me what to do." Perhaps there are exceptions to this, I don't know, but that seems the most likely sequence. Unlike you, I have no problem with the idea of a spirit basically latching on to a person like a leech (not literally the way a leech does) - occupying the same space as the person's body, or following them around, or whatever other mechanism. I don't consider the "come out of him" type references in scripture as necessarily figurative (or flat-out wrong) - though I concede they could be. 5. I think it likely that Satan, et al, take advantage of our failings. When I hear examples like you gave, I assume people are joking. I do think Satan and his kind have the ability to suggest, for lack of any better word, and entice. That doesn't mean every sin we commit was (only) because we were enticed - were that so, we might be able to claim entrapment. That said, I also think that sometimes the smallest thing (like going to church on a specific day) can have an impact orders of magnitude greater than one would expect, and if Satan can figure that out ahead of time, I can easily imagine him doing whatever he's allowed to do to stop that smallest thing. And yes, we're running into one of the problems with mortal language - using "evil" in multiple ways. At the foundation, I think "evil" is simply an option available to all who have agency. I don't think there is a force / energy / being out there that is the "source of evil". It's just an option. I doubt we're all that far off in our thinking, but perhaps I attribute stronger ability to Satan and his followers. I don't know where their bounds are, but it seems a mistake to underestimate the enemy...

Why can't it be both? Perhaps mental illness can make one more susceptible to the influence of or possession by evil spirits. Also, children can choose evil, and one who persists, might invite the increasing influence of an evil spirit. In short, I'm not ruling out any of the possibilities that seem reasonable to me as to how a child came to be possessed.

To add to your new-found understanding: where in that clinical description (granted, I didn't read far) is the description of evil? I was aware of a single individual who was themselves an evil spirit - again, not visually, but just aware of them as a specific person. And that person could be commanded, and did leave. Or so it seemed... Lesson learned, anyway - keep far from evil spirits!

Pffff.

Thank you. I knew there was a term for it, I just couldn't remember it. The world will say that's what it was. Me, nope, not what it was, even if it was happening at the same time, that's not what it was. It was either real, or a dream meant to teach me.

I completely agree with that. Sorry if my earlier replies suggested I believe in easy immunity. Have you never experienced what I will call a waking dream, where in said dream (if it's a dream), there is an evil spirit (not visible, but only their influence felt) in the room and you cannot move, cannot speak, and it takes all your power to think a prayer for help, and thereafter all your power to choke out words commanding said spirit to leave? I have. Twice, at least. It's terrifying. Some person of the world will say it's just a dream and the block that prevents acting out what we're dreaming (it's a thing, but I forget what it's called, like an off switch for motor signals from brain to muscles during sleep). Anywho, I've never been sure whether it was real, or whether it was a dream to teach me that I never, ever want to be in the presence of a powerful evil spirit. That's the long way of saying that I think that (not a dream, but a power capable of physically immobilizing you) is what Joseph experienced, just to a greater degree. This clarifies your earlier post. FWIW, I think what protects us from possession (specifically, since we could also talk about influence) is a combination of the whole: the grace of God, the gift of the Holy Ghost, our own rejection of evil (agency), our degree of obedience, righteous spirits on the other side of the veil fighting those evil spirits, etc. etc. - all good things that can combine in our favor protect us. And yes, all things that can combine against us do, or at least could do, so yeah, be diligent.

Really, if Satan and his minions could just possess whomever, easily, regardless of the individual's agency or degree of righteousness, why on earth are we not all possessed except those special "some" who get protected? I cannot believe Satan or his "angels" wouldn't jump at the opportunity, nor do I believe that the vast majority of the Saints are possessed.

I don't think that was possession, that was Satan's presence and influence externally.

I didn't realize arrangers weren't allowed to marry! What has the world come to!?

Have you noticed that gospel learning, in particular, follows a spiral pattern - one principle teaching you about another principle, practice leads to learning, which improves practice... IMO, it was time for the apostles to practice, so that they could learn more, better, faster.

Maybe it's programmed to tell people what they want to hear, once they tell it it's wrong. Perhaps someone should tell it the earth is flat and see what ensues...

It's not the AI that should be feared, it's the liars who program the AI.

Carb's uncle wants to know if it will be as beautiful as Carb's aunt. Carb's aunt will be satisfied with the absence of pus in Carb's uncle.

I'm now imagining that first conversation - before social media gossip - took over and the usage spread... Party 1 (pointing to patient): "What is that!?" Doctor-like person: "It looks like ... like a ... a carbuncle!" Party 1: "Yeah. One filled with pus maybe..." Party 2: "Gross!" Party 3 (outside, not hearing every word), to party 4: "He's got carbuncles." Party 4: "Whats?" Meanwhile, millennia later, @Carborendum wonders, "What about my uncle?"

Are there 10 righteous people in, say, San Francisco? New York City? Los Angeles, Washington DC? Your town? Seems like the presence of righteous people delays destruction of the wicked.

Perhaps your own presence is cancelling out his presence. Perhaps if you and said fellow were to walk past these youths (on opposite sides) at the same time, they would feel crushing pressure as your two presences collided. Perhaps one can have a talent for sensing presences. Perhaps the sensation only happens if the other person's presence is significantly greater than your own. Why do we, when sitting in the conference center (for example), stand and stop talking when the prophet enters the room - without even having seen him? Sure, some just stand and stop talking because everyone else did, some because they saw him, some oblivious souls keep yammering on until someone smacks them, but some of us seem to sense that someone important has entered the room... Perhaps our spirits perceive things our brains aren't quite aware of... Wild guesses, mostly.

You're very welcome! Exactly.