WillowTheWhisp

Sometimes a child may feel a testimony and want to stand up in Sacrament Meeting and bear that testimony but not actually knowhow to put into words what it is that they feel. Or they may arrive on the stand and suddenly be overcome by nerves. I feel it is better under both those circumstances to help and encourage them and if this means prompting them gently on what to say then so be it. As the child becomes more comfortable with standing there in front of the congregation and more confident in expressing themselves they will put their own testimony into their own words,which may come out as simple as "I love Jesus, amen" If on the other hand a parent continually pushes, or pulls a reluctant child out to the front month after month in order to repeat parrot fashion some pre-rehearsed meaningless drivel then there is nothing to be gained by that at all and it could actually end up being counter productive.

May I ask you in what way do you think Joseph Smith was wrong? When you say he spoke of things which are incorrect are those things he claimed to be speaking of on behalf of God or were they just his own opinions?

You haven't heard us lot trying to sing! We have ben told off in the past for using anything other than the designated piano or organ, apart from in Primary when we've used the church CDs.

Well the active YSA are being obedient and going. The less active/ semi-active YSA are at present not wanting to go to church because they do not feel comfortable being sent to another ward miles away. Our Ward will continue to struggle on with fewer personnel to fill the callings we already couldn't fill and we will sing without music and continue to be unable to obtain wheat because we have no-one to take the role of wheat co-ordinator. There are a few technical hitches such as the young SA lady who will be coming to our ward for the next two weeks with her younger siblings who are in our youth and primary because their parents will be on holiday and she needs to be with them, and the young mother who has two children in our primary but is technically a SA because she is divorced. She wants to be in the same ward as her children. I suppose you could say it's sorting out the wheat from the chaff but the wheat is getting weaker at the moment by being divided and struggling to cope. This is just a 'prototype experiment' so it may or may not be adapted permanently.

I remember one young man who said he didn't mind where he got sent on a mission as long as it wasn't London England. When his call came it was to the South East of England, including London. That was when he said he knew the Lord has a sense of humour! He served an honourble mission and thoroughly enjoyed it. Heavenly Father knows where people are needed most and best able to serve. He'll get a list of what he needs to take with him. During his mission he'll probably need more socks.

I think Snow realises that. Snow is far too intelligent not to realise that. However, it seems that when Snow doesn't have a legitimate valid argument to back up personal unscriptural opinions Snow resort to petty sarcasm instead such as: It was a perfectly legitimate question in response to a statement about having a testimony of the existence of pre-Adamic men. If the moderators will permit me I would like to validate my question regarding the Temple. If we are taught there about Adam and Eve being our first parents, being the first humans on earth, Eve being 'the mother of all living' then I think we are on very dangerous ground indeed by putting forth doctrine about pre-Adamic men.

I don't think that would be allowed.

Well on Sunday our YSAs went off to their 'Singles Ward' which has turned out to be neither a Singles Ward nor not a Singles Ward! Let me explain: They have no Bishop - for Temple Recommends etc they will need to see the Bishop of their old Family Ward (who will not see them at any other time). The YSA from our Ward and one other Ward are basically attending a third Ward but within that Ward they will have their own Priesthood and Relief Society classes and their own Sunday School class (which they did have in their own Wards anyway). They will attend the Sacrament meeting of that other Ward apart from on Fast Sunday when they have their own Sacrament Meeting (not sure yet who will preside over that but the Stake President did last Sunday) So the YSA of one ward are effectively remaining in their own Ward whereas the other two Wards are losing their young adults who are basically being transferred out of their home Ward to another one. It may get more difficult in the winter months for them to travel up there as it can become quite snowbound between the two other Wards and that one. The other three Wards in our Stake are all based in the one chapel but meet at different times so for their YSA to join up is not quite so difficult as they will be going to the same building anyway - plus those 3 Wards (all on the Temple site) are much bigger so the YSA won't be missed so much as regards callings within the Ward. This Sunday we were without music in our Ward and that looks like being the case for the forseeable future as we have no-one but YSA who can play for us. Us older folks with rhuematicy fingers or befuddled brains can't master the complexities of organ or even piano music.

We also need to be careful about discussing things which are unscriptural.

One of the things I have noticed over the years is that the more there is going on around us the less likely we are to stay focussed on any one thing. "Tweeting" is a classic example of the short bursts of information we are becoming accustomed to, along with flicking btween TV channels and posting short comments on message board such as this. Sometimes we get deep into thought provoking discussions but often we just throw in a few words and move onto the next topic, only to come back later and add a little more if we feel so inclined. We have become accustomed to such business in our lives that even our leisure time has to be busy and organised. Silence is hard to find. Even 'quiet' is hard to find in some of our busy lives. If the TV isn't on then a radio, or a stereo, or an iPod is playing. Even if they are all off then noise from the traffic outside the house intrudes into my 'quiet'. If I do 'nothing' my mind immediately fills with all the things I still have to do - washing, vacuuming, dusting, ironing, preparing my lesson, reading my scriptures, tidying up after other people, mending things ........... if I luxuriate in 'stillness' I feel guilty. I justify myself by saying it is possible to pray whilst ironing, to feel close to God whilst vacuuming, and of course I am being spiritual if I am reading my scriptures. Then I think of Martha and Mary and realise that even if I can't find 'quiet' in he world around me I do need to find some within myself.

So are you saying that what we are taught in the Temple is untrue?

The part of Brigham Young's quote which seems significant to me is: He is talking specifically there about people who have been asked by the Lord to take more than one wife and have refused to do so. If on the other hand the Lord specifically instructs us not to do something he is hardly going to penalise us for being obedient to that instruction is he?

I didn't notice it in our Distribution Centre when I was there on Saturday - maybe I was too busy looking at Temple Dreses.

Some people don't volunteer to read or offer prayers because they feel self conscious about volunteering but would happily accept the assignment to do so if they were just asked. Some people don't like to read because they have difficulty reading and are embarrassed to struggle in front of others. Some people don't communicate with foreigners because they are woried they may not understand or be understood by the person. Giving people the benefit of the doubt often results in dicovering that they are not at all like ou think. Everyone has their own problems and difficulties which others are sometimes unable to understand.

Ye its like throwing out your TV because there are porn channels - there are also Church broadcasts.

You could always try sending it back with the correct answers - you know, the ones they didn't provide.

Oooh snap! Apparently we are quite rare. I'm also Rh Negative bloodtype so I must be practically an extinct species! :)

What is FEMA?

That's the kind of thing I mean though. Surely we can't all end up being identical in the afterlife - or even Jesus and Heavenly Father being identical. That would be too confusing. The Prophet says that all the Twelve looked the same but we are told that we are not to take that to mean they were identical. If we are to 'receive his image in oiur countenance' it doesn't mean we ae going to end up looking like him and lose our own identity does it?

I agree. It isn't the having or the not having. It's the attitude.

How do I find the quizzes?

It doesn't say they were identical there. Could you please direct me to where Joseph said they were identical in appearance?

Must reread Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision.

Well it is the Stake President who has approached the Ward asking us to give even more, in the latest instance so all the youth can go to EFY. We re constantly being asked to give more, which is nigh on impossible for some people if they are already giving until it hurts and already going without things - do people choose to pay the fare to get to the temple, or put that towards EFY or to any of the various other worthy causes? If they had more at their disposal then it wouldn't be a dilemma but whichever they choose they will be criticised for not doing the others. They don't need to be as rich as Bill Gates, just to prosper enough so that they can fulfil all that the Stake asks. If prospering were a bad thing how come when people in the scriptures please God they prosper? How come Job was rewarded for his faithfulness and integrity with more wealth than he's had efore? How come Solomon when he asked for Wisdom was also given riches? It can't be contrary to Heavenly Father's will for us or why would he do that as a reward?

She was the mother of the premortal Christ, a she was/is the mother of us all (unless Heavenly Father's family is polygamous in which cae some of us might have a different mother) but as Justice pointed out in order to have blood to shed he neeed a mortal mother. He lived a mortal life. Did Joseph Smith say that they looked like identical twins when he saw them? I know the scriptures say 'he that hath seen me hath seen the Father' but I didn't think that meant in a literal physical appearance kind of sense any more than 'I and my fther are one' meant that they were the same peson.