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Found 11 results

  1. I am very frustrated by the way the English word "joy" gets used in gospel discussion and would maybe like to find a different word or just be clearer on what we mean when we say "joy." To me "joy" is not a productive word because it makes lots of people feel they are failing when they are living the gospel teachings the best they know how but are still not feeling "joyful." I know there is a lot of discussion about the difference between "happiness" and "joy" - "joy" meaning more durable happiness -- but there seems to be an implication in the church that "joy" is an unending absence of sorrow or stream of contentment that comes from living the gospel to its fullest. President Nelson's recent talk on joy gives some insight to a possible, better definition of the word saying, "If we focus on the joy that will come to us, or to those we love, what can we endure that presently seems overwhelming, painful, scary, unfair, or simply impossible?" (emphasis added). In this case he is not really talking about "joy" in the sense of persisting, current contentment but talking about how we should focus on the idea of potential "joy" in the future which thought will give us the strength to endure this life. In the body of his talk, he seems to suggest that joy is not a persistent feeling but a potential, temporary state amidst affliction. I don't think Jesus was "joyful" at the very moment he was bleeding at every pore or having nails put in his hands. I can believe he may have been anticipating great joy in the future and as a result was able to endure, but was he really feeling "persisting contentment" when he called out "why has thou forsaken me?" Jesus, the most perfect of us all, is described by Isaiah as "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Multitudes of prophets -- from Jeremiah to George Albert Smith -- seemingly had moments of immense anguish. Did they still have "joy" even in their despair or did they just have a faith in future joy??? Should we maybe stop using the word "joy" in gospel discussions and instead find words that better describe the satisfaction the gospel might bring?
  2. aeglyn

    The Plan

    The Plan At last, it was time to be born To willingly pass through unknown I was there, with you, that first morn Vowed never to leave you alone We parted and you left in trust Of the plan we all had agreed Formed of spirit, water, and dust With a pledge, my voice you would heed Others were forced down to earth Not willing to listen to love A third who would never be birthed In Heaven rebelling above Shadowed by a charming deceit A son of the morning who fell Embracing a massive conceit To drag all to a mis’rable hell Then into this world you will live But absent your previous fief To make your own choices, I give To face opposition with grief I promised to help you along Be with you through all of your trials Ceaselessly forgiving your wrongs Embracing all heaven’s exiles Eventually I will come down And free all the prisoner’s caught Lifted up, I will certainly crown All children my voice who have sought So brief was my visit on earth I came down to satisfy laws To show you all traits of high worth And enlist you in heavn’ly cause I give you a higher path option If you will conceive to believe And treat each other with caution All children of Adam and Eve One day, when life will have ended Return and report of your deeds Judgement will then be extended Based on the fruit of your seeds I will embrace all the willing Who chose to do good the long day To life everlasting fulfilling The promise to those who obey Aeglyn May 2020
  3. I get the opportunity to teach/council an Elders Quorum in a mid singles ward (31-45) in Utah. We had noticed a couple of Elders are kind of negative. I caught hold of idea about the Plan of Happiness, and we should be happy. I will share some of the scriptures and talked in the next post. One idea that popped into my mind is that Happiness is a spiritual feeling. I might be the last person on earth that finally realized that. Before I felt like Happiness was more of a physical attitude/state of mind. I think it still is, but I now feel like a happy spirit can lead to a happy attitude.
  4. I was reading Elder Cook's conference talk and something he said has caused me to ponder. He presented two scriptures, "If there be no righteousness there be no happiness" (2 Ne 2:13), and, "Behold, I say unto you wickedness never was happiness" (Alma 41:10). Of course I have heard these scriptures many times, but following the first scripture he said: Towards the end of the talk he says further: So, if righteousness is happiness, wickedness never was happiness, and it is a myth to believe happiness is delayed until a future state, how come wickedness sometimes appears to make me happy now and righteousness sometimes appears to not? Am I simply deceived in the very moment?
  5. A little help please. I read a scripture a while back in the Book of Mormon that said something like this. "My greatest joy is to know that my children are steadfast in the gospel." I can't remember who said it or where it was, but I am fairly sure it was in the Book of Mormon. Of course the quote is para-phrased. Let me know if you know of a scripture of this nature. Thanks
  6. Hello - my name is Greg Batty and I've been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all my life. My wife, Ann, and I have two pretty amazing children who are actually adults now. That's a hard one to wrap our heads around. Just like you, we have had a lot of adventures that we have loved, as well as rough times we are glad to have weathered. Because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have been able to learn some pretty amazing lessons from all the experiences that combine to make up our personal journey. Because of the Atonement, we have been able to start again when we blew it. Because we know God as our Father, the Savior as our Brother, and the undeniable truth of their teachings, we want to share some of our lessons learned in case it could help to make your journey just a little better. Many of our thoughts and new understandings are on our site at ChooseToDanceInTheRain.com Some of the things we've been working through are some intense neurological issues, my struggle with being Bipolar, and not allowing my same-sex attraction to cause any pain in our family. We've certainly got a lot to still learn, but I can honestly say that in spite of all our problems, we are incredibly happy. Isn't that what the gospel is all about?
  7. The financial website Wallethub conducted a study to find out which of the 50 states were the most happy, and unhappy. I wasn’t surprised when I read that Utah was at the top of the list. After all, Utah is always ranked number one in both charitable contributions and volunteer hours which are behaviors that lead to happiness. The study didn’t just focus on the number of volunteer hours and charitable contributions. It looked at things such as; the percentage of people overweight or obese, the percentage of the population participating in sports, the average number of hours worked each week, the volunteerism rate, divorce rate, the prevalence of depression, and the quality of sleep. Like any study dealing with subjective topics, such as happiness, should be taken with a grain of salt. But one thing is for sure, true happiness comes when we forget ourselves and look for ways to bless the lives of others. As a side note; maybe the members of the church could learn a thing or two from these “Utah Mormons.” Here is the link to Wallethub if you want to learn more. http://wallethub.com/edu/most-least-happy-states-in-america/6959/
  8. Dennis Prager, a nationally syndicated radio host posed this question on his show last week, “what is the essential ingredient for happiness? Allot of people called in and made great arguments for what they believe is the "essential ingredient" for happiness. What do YOU think? In your opinion, what is the essential ingredient for happiness? Don't write a one word answer; give the reasons behind your answer. UPDATE, UPDATE! Happiness Defined Several people have asked me what I mean by happiness. Now, I am assuming that 99.9% of people who come to lds.net are actually LDS. That being said, when I refer to happiness, I am referring to the same concept that the Brethren refer to in their talks. For example, Elder Holland just a few days ago gave a talk about happiness. I doubt that anyone who read his talk asked themselves, "I wonder what he means by happiness." The happiness that I am refering to is the same as in Elder Hollands talk, and every other talk given to us from the Brethren that reference happiness!
  9. I know this could go under the missionary thread, but this is a bit more than just a mission problem as this type of dilemma has popped up in other areas of my life as well. So since I've received my patriarchal blessing I've pretty much felt like one of my purposes in life was to serve a mission (originally this was hesitantly accepted because of my own reasons I didn't really prefer the idea of serving a mission) So I've always been planning on going when I was 21 and then the missionary age change came about and I was immersed in the new sea of eligible sisters. I was happy, but anxious because I didn't feel prepared/ready, but I thought I should put in my papers in February. Well, in December I kind of mulled over it briefly and I just kind of got a good feeling about trying to put in my papers as soon as possible. So I pressed forward and despite everything being crazy and doubts over how soon I'd actually be able to get medical appts. etc, everything fell perfectly into place. Without twisting anybody's arm I was able to get medical/church appts all finished within a week and a half of starting them and my papers submitted. So let's jump forward. I've received my mission call. Yay, right? It arrived it on Thursday but I wasn't able to actually go home and open it until Saturday. During all of that time, I wasn't really emotional/anxious. My coworkers and roommates were actually giving me funny looks and comments and I actually had to try to pretend to be really excited and dying from waiting for it, but in all honesty, I didn't really feel anything. So Saturday came, my roommates were there, my family was there, I was there, I finally got to hold my envelope and open it. I opened it and immediately once I started reading it I suppose the Spirit hit me because I shook a little bit almost like I was going to cry. I read it and finished and everyone congratulated me and was so excited. I was in a good mood, but I wasn't overly excited, I told everyone it seemed surreal to me, and I suppose it was true. But over the course of the day and through to today, I just kind of feel empty. I don't really feel excited or happy, not that I really feel negative emotions either, I'm not really anxious or stressed or unhappy. I feel like the only thing that is making me feel unhappy or sad right now is my lack of happiness or warm fuzzies and excitement. I've tried to make myself happy over it. Logically, it seems like it should be a wonderful mission, I've found my mission president's blog and they seem great and fun. Everyone and their dog has either been there or known people who are there currently and says it's awesome. If it was anyone else I would be congratulating them and would be happy for them, but I feel such a disconnect, like that's not where I'm going. Like my real mission call still has yet to come. My mom says that she was so excited and she's so glad that I was so excited because she knew beforehand that I was a tad concerned about where I might go, but she knew when I read my call that I felt so relieved and I am so happy. But I'm not. When having to announce it in church or having people congratulate me and ask me where I'm going (which is nice, I so love and appreciate their support) I just feel kind of numb or almost embarrassed and sick of talking about it and I don't know why. So what's going on? Logically, there's not much to stress over, no real financial worries and the timing is great and everything seems great and to fall into place. I'm happy to be taking Mission Prep and to be studying Preach My Gospel and talking to other people about their missions. So why now that I've received my call am I not excited or even mildly happy about it? P.S.: I'm pretty sure this isn't from Satan (he has much more potent methods [depression, anxiety, etc.] that he can use to get me that I have been experiencing off and on and he can sometimes use these feelings of sadness/unhappiness as fuel, but otherwise I'm pretty sure this specifically isn't him)
  10. I haven’t posted in a while and I have just been lurking around the different relationship forums. What I have read has been quite interesting. One particular topic that gets to me is this whole idea of “happiness”. Especially when you apply that term to a relationship. After being served divorce papers and gone through the entire divorce process because my ex was not “happy”, this topic personally gets to me. My original post was frantic and I wanted to know whether or not it was possible to save a relationship when one party has apparently given up. This was largely due to the fact that I had just been told that my ex wanted to divorce me and her original response from my expected response “Why?” was that it was because of my actions that caused her to be unhappy in our relationship. There are volumes I could write on the months that followed after that discussion. I wronged and she wronged was the final outcome. I was willing to work through the wrongs and she was not willing to work through them. She thought the effort was too much and that happiness should be found with little to no effort. She saw, and I see too, certain long lasting relationship that were married in the temple (e.g., her parents’, her grandparents’, some of her aunts’ and uncles’ marriages) and they are not visibly happy. Those relationships seem to be held by their temple covenants solely and they have not found happiness in that decision. Instead certain individuals chose to stick through their marriage no matter what (I’m not including any type of abuse here). My ex didn’t want that type of lifestyle and she was well on her way of going down that path and she had to make a choice: stay and be unhappy or leave and perhaps find happiness. According to the interwebs, happiness is defined as “a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.” Shortly after I was given the horrible news about divorce, I noticed my soon to be ex seemed happy, which of course bothered me significantly. I found out that she had already started in another relationship with a non-member that spoke the same love language and they got along effortlessly and it was her definition of “happiness”. The relationship started before papers were severed on both of their parts. Their relationship was rapidly accelerated and needless to say I was beside myself anger wise. The statement of “wickedness was never happiness” was and still is such a conundrum to me at this point in my life. I’m not sure people would do things if it didn’t make them “happy”. There has to be some part of the brain that responds positively to whatever action we are taking; otherwise, why would we make that decision? Why would we do something that made us unhappy? By nature, I think certain actions spark what we may coin as happiness; however, I believe those actions are illusions of happiness under certain pretexts. Here is what I found: 1) Satan mimics happiness so well and tricks us to the point that we call or believe that actions we take that are contrary to the will of God are the very definition of “happiness”. 2 Nephi 28:20-21 20 For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good. 21 And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell. 2) Our very nature is to seek out that which makes us happy and some of those items we seek are what the scriptures coin as “carnal, sensual, and devilish”. Alma 42:10 10 Therefore, as they had become carnal, sensual, and devilish, by nature, this probationary state became a state for them to prepare; it became a preparatory state. 3) We can, with the subtle help of the devil, fool ourselves to believe that our own will is what will bring us happiness even though our natural will is contrary to that of God’s will. D&C 3:4 4 For although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do many mighty works, yet if he boasts in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him. So what is happiness? Why did this topic, or the lack of it in our relationship, lead to the destruction of my family? I'm sure my relationship isn't the only one that has ended under the "happiness" umbrella. Several points have been raised about happiness in a few threads, which have been along the following lines: “I find happiness when I don’t focus on my happiness and I focus on other’s happiness.” “Focusing on your own happiness in a marriage is selfish.” “When you worry about your happiness you will never find it. When you worry about your families’ happiness you will find yours in spades.” I believe these statements to be true as they apply to myself; however, I believe that those statements outright are offensive to those that have been tricked into their state of happiness or perhaps even their state of unhappiness. In the end, happiness or statements about happiness are very fuzzy concepts when you try to apply it to everyone. For example, following certain church beliefs such as not drinking alcoholic beverage as part of the Word of Wisdom makes me happy; however, it does not necessarily make those that enjoy drinking to get the “buzz” and for the social aspect of drinking happy. Why did my ex's decision for happiness cause me so much unhappiness and what I see will cause problems with our 3 beautiful children down the road? Now try telling those people that enjoy what they do and are happy with those decisions that what it is that they do is just an illusion of happiness and prepare to be served :). Thank you for reading my long-winded post. I'm just pondering happiness and interested in the whole concept in general. I am just like the rest of you and seeking happiness and have seen others apparently find it in manners in which I would have never imagined possible…
  11. So I've been working out in Vancouver, Washington for the last few months selling attic insulation door to door. I knew beforehand about what I was getting myself into, but I prayed dilligently for an answer of whether I should work there or not and the spirit told me that it was where I needed to be this summer. Its a very high paying job, and I'm not bad at it, but its terribly difficult and I've been holding out for the last month and a half just telling myself "work harder...". To be perfectly honest, the only days where I feel completely at peace are on sundays, because they are the only days that I don't work. Every day when I get home from knocking on doors for hours and crawling through attics, I come home so relieved that I get to stop. I'm only 18 years old and I took on this job so that I could pay for my terribly high tuition at Southern Virginia University. I'm so very behind on money and I have so much pressure on me from all sides to succede and remain financially independent. I dread going to work everyday. Is that even healthy? Don't get me wrong, I love some parts of my job, but I feel as if I'm failing at being happy. My job doesn't provide me with adequate satisfaction and not enough money because I earn commission rather than salary. My church life has been not much better. I attend a single adult ward and I am definitely the youngest attendee in the ward. Most of the people in my ward that I spend my time with are older than me by 5 or 6 years, and as if my opinions and participation in conversation doesn't matter to them. All in all, I'm very lonely. I almost had a mental breakdown today so I left work early and sat down in a cemetery for about two and a half hours with my scriptures. I read a lot and a prayed a lot... about my job, my peers where i currently live, my financial situation, my parents and my real friends back home. I'm praying so hard about whether I'm supposed to go home and find another job and finally find a degree of peace and happiness or stick out my job for the rest of my summer. I don't know if the voices in my head are telling me to stay or go. On top of that, I don't know if those voices in my head belong to the still small voice or my own mind. I want to be impartial. There is good news to be shared though. I have changed so much for the better since I moved to Vancouver. My spirit has grown. I have become a more mature and independent person and I have learned to love and respect myself a lot more than I used to be capable of. What can I do?