rcthompson88

I have it as an ebook and have tried reading it a couple of times. Finally bought the paper edition last week because the clicking of various hyperlinks to access the footnotes was becoming too distracting on my ebook reader.

I would also accept Peggy

What do you call a woman with a peg leg? Illene

Do you think so? In the 2013 edition of the scriptures did we not use them all out of respect to wishes or requests from the Community of Christ? I would think they would be public domain by now. I know the original manuscripts have been made available to LDS scholars for quite some time now as well. Given all that, I am curious what more we will be able to do with the JST and the other documents purchased now that they are officially owned by the church.

I have not read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover since my mission. In that time my studies have been sporadic and typically topic oriented as opposed to linear. This year I have decided that I want to read the Book of Mormon all the way through multiple times and focus on a different topic each time. During my second read through of the year I marked all names and titles for members of the Godhead. During that exercise I developed a much greater appreciation for the "Oneness" of the Godhead, and how many ways the Book of Mormon writers describe the Savior that we just don't hear anymore. In our time we see a clear distinction between God the Father and God the Son. Yet, so often Christ is described as God the Father, even heavenly Father, in the Book of Mormon. It has given me pause to better ponder what makes Jesus the Father in His work and mission. So far I have found the exercise to be fruitful.

As the Creator, all light does come from that creation. 3rd Nephi 18: 24 24 Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed. This points to the Light we shine to others as being Christ as well. At the Youth Theme Discussion Broadcast that took place a few weeks ago there was a cool segment about stained glass windows, and one of the YM made the observation that we are like stained glass windows, we have our own beauty, but when light shines through, which is Christ, we are able to reach our full potential of beauty.

Interesting, thanks for sharing that! I have always been more of a fan of the 8-pointed star being identified as the star of Bethlehem and representing (among other things) a new beginning.

A different temple, but I have liked this article about the significance of the eight pointed star that litters the San Diego Temple. Though I will say upfront that I find the connection of this symbol with the "Seal of Melchizedek" to be a bit dubious.

There could also have been an astrological significance to it as there is evidence that Joseph Smith was typical for his day in that he and his family put a lot of significance in astrological signs and symbols.

As Nephi is pondering the words of his father, desiring to know the things his father had seen in his dream. Being caught away to a high mountain, Nephi begins his vision with an exchange with the Spirit of the Lord, who seems to be interested in having Nephi articulate just what it is he desires. After Nephi tells the Spirit of the Lord that he desires to know the interpretation of his father's dream, the Spirit tells him to look. At this point the Spirit of the Lord seems to disappear (1st Nephi 11:12). In v. 14, when the heavens open an angel comes down, and this personage is the one that accompanies Nephi through the remainder of his vision. Do you suppose there were different purposes being fulfilled by the Spirit of the Lord vs the Angel that could not have been accomplished by just one of them being the sole visitor in Nephi's vison? Is it the nature of Nephi's desire for an interpretation that causes the Spirit to depart? I obviously need to do some pondering myself, and hope to come back with some thoughts, but this is a detail of Nephi's vision that I seem to have just glossed right over in the past.

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally I am not exactly sure what I am excusing her for though.

Calculator disagrees as well.

When my wife and I were first married, one of our first experiences going to Gospel Doctrine together in a new ward involved a discussion among some of the members about how evil the government was. An example to illustrate said evils was an anecdote someone had heard on Rush Limbaugh's show where he was upset because city ordinances were forcing him to turn outside lights off during the evening at his beach house because it would interfere with turtles that were digging their nests nearby. I could probably have come up with some more compelling reasons than that to make the point of evils in government, but the sea turtles seemed to be sufficient for this class. It is easy to look at the vast and diverse membership of the church and find a plethora of reasons to be offended or upset, but to equate our imperfections as people to the Church being the corrupting entity is wrong and (in my opinion) often demonstrates someone revealing their determination to find fault in the Church or the Gospel no matter what. It was in that same Gospel Doctrine class that the teacher gave a profound lesson that I have never forgotten. He talked about his life as a car mechanic, and the rough language and rough lifestyle he had with his fellow employees. He then took off his suit jacket to point out all of the arm and neck tattoos he had, documenting a life of questionable choices, though he did not elaborate. As he explained it though, when he put his suit jacket on, and came to church, he was acknowledging that even though he was not a perfect person and was not acting very Christ-like during the week, he was there anyway, dressed in his Sunday best and ready to try again in the upcoming week.

Royal Game of Ur was one of my kid's favorites. The base rules are fairly easy and there is enough interaction between the two players to keep them interested.

A lot of my hobbies are games based, particularly playing chess, Baseball Strat-O-Matic, and reconstructing ancient board games. When I was a teacher I taught ancient history of the eastern hemisphere and western hemisphere, and learning about the games played by these civilizations was a favorite unit activity of mine.

I love board gaming. I play this one with my Bishop and a few others whenever we have a day (or a whole night) that we can devote to it:

Funny you say that, because that is basically what I told her. His answer is already written in the scriptures. She just needs to read, study, and be open to recognizing the answer when it comes.

My daughter wrote a note to God wanting to know an answer to her prayer. She was disappointed when He did not write back. Now I know what to get her for her birthday so she can get that answer!

As President Bartlet learned, you are safe with stuffing as long as you cook it through. The problem is that by the time you cook your stuffing through the meat will be dry and overcooked.

I have been considering this topic since last summer when my family and I took a road trip from Colorado to Florida. Along the way, we stopped at as many temples as possible and took our girls around the grounds and into the lobbies if they were open. The Las Vegas temple was in my mission, and a symbol I always remember seeing represented there a lot was a square with a circle in it. I have heard that this symbol can represent the union of man's relationship with God. On my mission, I thought about the tools you would use to draw a perfect square and a circle, a compass and a square, and that the symbol to me represented the fulfillment of covenants when we act and live up to promises. Recently in discussing the scriptures with my family, we talked about Revelation 12 and the connections between the woman in that chapter and the symbolism of the column on the Nauvoo temple depicting the mood, sun, and stars. The Salt Lake City temple could almost double as an astrology dome for all the astrological-based symbolism it has. You also have the thousands of eight-pointed stars all over the San Diego temple, which Elder Haight said was simply a designer's aesthetic choice but has helped spark a whole (false, IMO) belief in it representing the Seal of Melchizedek. Given the topic, are there other good resources that examine more symbolism in the architecture, designs, and decorative choices of temples?

My daughters have really been on a roll with metaphors during this final stretch of our Come Follow Me studies. As we have talked about light about bringing light to the world my middle daughter is set on ensuring she turns on ever light switch in the house and wants a flashlight so she can bring light to others. When talking about Christ at the door, my daughters could not get past wanting to know when he was going to get to our door, and which one of them would get to answer it. We have been praying to have successful days at school and to be kind to our friends and helpful for our teachers because one of my daughters is struggling with that. After having a good day she proudly informed me that we are now all good and don't need to pray anymore. It has been a fun end of the New Testament full of lots of opportunities to learn and expand on things together.

I do not mean to detract from the conversation at all, and this may be a completely false perception on my part, but growing up I always figured that being called to high leadership positions in the chuch would require a certain level of prosperity on the part of that individual and their family so they could financially support themselves beyond the (I assume) humble expense stipends they may receive. At the end of the day, Christ prepares those who He calls to lead His church. The idea of church leaders being out of touch or unable to relate has been brought up several times before. I always remember a talk by Elder Holland where he said: "Not often but over the years some sources have suggested that the Brethren are out of touch in their declarations, that they don’t know the issues, that some of their policies and practices are out-of-date, not relevant to our times. As the least of those who have been sustained by you to witness the guidance of this Church firsthand, I say with all the fervor of my soul that never in my personal or professional life have I ever associated with any group who are so in touch, who know so profoundly the issues facing us, who look so deeply into the old, stay so open to the new, and weigh so carefully, thoughtfully, and prayerfully everything in between. I testify that the grasp this body of men and women have of moral and societal issues exceeds that of any think tank or brain trust of comparable endeavor of which I know anywhere on the earth. I bear personal witness of how thoroughly good they are, of how hard they work, and how humbly they live. It is no trivial matter for this Church to declare to the world prophecy, seership, and revelation, but we do declare it. It is true light shining in a dark world, and it shines from these proceedings." Prophets in the Land Again Either the church is truly led by Christ or it is not. My testimony is firm in Christ as my personal Savior. Everything else is just an appendage to that.

I don't know, based on other discussions going on within the forum today, maybe our own actions aren't as far removed from the animals as we would like to think 😉. I think it is a given that there must have been other civilizations that the people of the Book of Mormon mingled with to achieve their expanse and their numbers. I also do not have a problem with the ideas some have suggested that Adam and Eve may have been an entirely new species similar to other pre-Adamite beings, or that they simply represented the human race finally evolving to the point where they could be considered "children of God."

Your article seems to use some sensationalism to oversell the idea of persuasions impact on how we make certain choices more than proving our lack of free will. I also say this as a professionally trained social scientist, the social sciences in general have an alarmingly low replicability rate when it comes to research, and, as with many of the sciences, much of what we think we know today will change tomorrow.

This must be what President Nelson was talking about when he said to not take counsel from those that don't believe.