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  1. I know it's not much notice, but I'm hoping to have a game of LDS Trivia and Puzzles tonight, Sunday the 23rd, at 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern. I am done with school so that I can do other games on a different day of the week. Let me know what day. Information on how to get to the game is on its website.
  2. Okay, an opening has come up in my schedule for Sunday, 24 Mar, at the usual time of 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern. The game may start earlier if two people show, and I'm ready. I'm done with school until a week from Monday. (Boy, that's not a lot of time.) I don't know when I'll be able to have games, but I'll announce here when I'm available. IRC is an older form of chatting, but it's still great due to features the IRC client I use has. Without its scripting capabilities, I would have to use other methods. The games would last a lot longer, and it may not be as fun. I'm still writing questions, but puzzles can be the hardest to write. Writing a combination of small and large puzzles is difficult. As for other days in the week, I'll announce the day before when one or more spots open. Thank you, and I hope to see you there.
  3. Okay, I thought I posted about the game sessions this week, but I didn't. My apologies. Normally, it's Friday and Saturday in addition to Sunday, but today is a snow day. Add tonight to the mix with a start time of 6 to 7 PM Pacific, 9 to 10 PM Eastern. For more information about the game, see the game's website.
  4. Okay, next week has three days for games: Sunday, Friday, and Saturday at the same time of 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern. The first one will be today--tonight. I'll try once again and post three questions to the mailing list. If a game doesn't happen, I'll post again later in the week. See the website for details on how to get to the game.
  5. Okay, no one has responded to what time to do a game, so I'll try for a game of LDS Trivia and Puzzles either tonight or tomorrow night at 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern until about 8 PM Pacific. There's an on-time bonus for showing up at 6 PM. Hope to see you there. More details on the game's website.
  6. Okay, school is done for this year, so I hope to get one game done this coming week. After this week, I don't know when the next game will be due to personal circumstances that I won't say on Facebook. The two days is tonight on Monday and Wednesday at the same time. Remember that subscribers will get an e-mail containing three pre-game questions that can earn points at the beginning of the game. I hope to see you all there. For more information, see my website.
  7. The next game of LDS Trivia and Puzzles is tomorrow, Monday, 12 Nov, at 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern. All subscribers of the mailing list got an e-mail with three completely at random questions to answer. Only subscribers will get this. To get this message, please subscribe on the website: http://www.ldstrivia.org/. If you don't get the e-mail after subscribing, let me know. Anyone who is at the game on time will get a shot to answer those questions that won't be shown in the channel. Whoever gets the questions correct will get the points. Remember the on-time bonus still applies. I don't know if people are trying to sign up but can't due to technical problems. Let's have some fun and learn about the gospel at the same time. I hope to see you there.
  8. I thought to post when the next game is because it will be different than usual. Because I work on Sunday, I will not have a game; however, it's a school holiday on Monday so that I won't have school. I can hold a trivia game that night, which will be at the usual time of 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern. Think of this as a GREAT Family Home Evening activity for the family. I'm going to try something for this next session to get people in. First of all, whoever shows up on time to the game will get 5,000 points right off the bat. Additionally, the day before, I'll send an e-mail to all subscribers in the notify list with a reminder of the next game AND three completely random questions. I will not change the point values or mark them as used. The objective is to get people to come to the game by thinking about the questions, including looking them up. Try to answer first before looking them up, please, but I can't enforce this. The people that show up on time to the game will get the answers and points if they provide the correct answers before the game officially starts. The newsletter will contain the right answers, which is sent only when after playing a game. If you want to sign up for the notify list and/or the newsletter, please see the website, send me an e-mail, or PM me here on Facebook. If you have difficulty signing up, please let me know. I don't know if people are trying to sign up but can't due to technical problems. Let's have some fun and learn about the gospel at the same time.
  9. Okay, no one showed up during conference weekend. I'm at a loss as to what time will work for people; however, I'm not going to change the time. Due to school and actual work, I won't be able to have a game later this week, and I work next Sunday, so the next game won't be until 21 Oct at 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern. I guess IRC is just not a popular medium for chatting, or people aren't talking on-line anymore. That is a good thing. (People not talking on-line anymore is a good thing.) I'll keep trying. Edit: I forgot to post the URL for the game's website. If people want to play but can't figure out how to get to the channel to play, please drop a line by either replying here or sending me an e-mail at the website. Please give me as much information as you can, so I can help.
  10. The next game will be tonight at 6:30 PM Pacific, 9:30 PM Eastern, or it will be either Monday or Tuesday at 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern. I work today, so that's why it's moved a half an hour. For more information, please see the website. People should now be able to sign up for the mailing lists. If there's difficulty signing up, please let me know.
  11. Okay, time for a game Wednesday night at 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern. More information on the website. Since I work on Sunday, the next session won't be until next Tuesday or Wednesday night at the same time. I hope to see you there.
  12. Okay, I'm hoping to have a game Sunday night at 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern. Once again, more information on the website. I added some information on how to get to the game with an Apple product. Unfortunately, I don't know much, but I hope it will help someone get there.
  13. I forgot to post this last night, but another game of LDS Trivia and Puzzles is scheduled for tonight at 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern. More details on the website. I hope to see you there.
  14. . . . I'm still working on the web site, and it's almost done. I keep reading it to make sure it looks good, and I keep thinking of stuff to add. Then I got to find a host. I'll post here when it's finished with a URL.
  15. As a life-long Mormon (so far), I've always known that one of the requirements to get into the celestial kingdom is to be a faithful member of the church (LDS, obviously). I have also often heard the question come up (and wondered it myself) whether if someone that's never heard of the church or its teachings would be penalized (not allowed into the highest kingdom) simply because they weren't members, and if that would even be fair. My teachers have always answered that question saying that everyone will have the chance to discover the church throughout their lifetime and whether they decide to explore it would be their choice, therefore making it fair for everyone. However, there are many countries on the Earth that do not give citizens the freedom of religion. For example, the majority of people in China are unaffiliated with a religion and general Christianity only accounts for about 5% of the population. China only has 5 registered religious organizations, which are the Buddhist Association of China, Chinese Taoist Association, Islamic Association of China, Three-Self Patriotic Movement and Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. Any religious groups outside of this can be subject to anything from harassment, forced conversion, imprisonment, and torture. These horrible consequences have happened many times before. Now, for my question. In the scriptures, it has stated several times that it is very important to follow the laws of your country. So, say someone from China or anywhere with similar laws had discovered the church and had maybe even gotten to the point where they were praying and reading the Book of Mormon, etc. If they were to continue practicing Mormonism, would that be considered a sin if it is illegal in their country? And if so, how would they be able to enter the celestial kingdom without having to leave the country? Please, only leave relevant answers! I have been wondering this for a while and I would like to see what other people think.
  16. Grieved--that's how I felt seeing a bumper sticker that said: Christian Democrat: I can pray and think. It tells of one who is more comfortable with non-believers than with "brothers/sisters," who apparently can't think. Similar feelings arise when I hear, "How can you call yourself a Christian and vote for ... support/oppose ...?" Democrats and Republicans, Liberals and Conservatives--we can all be guilty. BUT, we must not. We must stop this! Again, this year, families are eating apart at Thanksgiving, because political disagreements led to hard feelings and broken fellowship. Those of us who name Jesus as our example ought to remember that He asked Father to forgive his murderers--as well as those mocking Him while He was dying. Less pride, less talk...more humility, more listening. Let us love one another for ... God is love.
  17. So it finally happened...I got asked to prepare a lesson plan and Power Point presentation on Mormonism. The lesson will be part of a three day conference on Christian religious group faith practices in correctional settings. The audience are all chaplains. So, these were the highlights: Introduction: What three words come to your mind when you think of Mormonism? I then ask if words like polygamy, homophobia etc. Come to mind. Then I ask if any have seen The Godmakers, or read Walter Martin's works on the faith (rhetorical questions). The point: The prevalence of anti-Mormon media is one reason that the term LDS is preferred these days. History/Beliefs: I mostly quote from mormon.org to briefly highlight Joseph Smith's founding of the church, the claim to living prophets, and the Great Apostasy/Restoration. I then use LDS.org to briefly cover the belief in the possibility of godhood, the literal nature of our being children of God, and the understanding that we have an eternal intelligence. I conclude by pointing out that there are no dietary restrictions (other than the WoW), and the need to accommodate sacred garments. It's so hard to summarize a faith group in 15 slides and 20-minutes. Hope I did y'all justice.
  18. 2 Corinthians 6:14 reads: Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? In a different string @Carborendum asked me directly if I considered Mormons to be Christians. My answer was something of a non-answer. I said that we don't agree on any doctrines completely, but that God decides the fate of souls. My conclusion is that we are all God-seekers, for sure. I did not expect a lot of smiley faces. There are certainly ways of defining "Christian" that would allow us to call each other such (literally, it means 'like Christ," for example). I took the question to mean do I expect to see active Mormons in heaven. Perhaps a different question would get us closer to understanding why we may have deep regard/respect for our fellow religionists, of different churches, and yet, when the beliefs are far apart, what shall we do? That question is: WOULD YOU LET YOUR SON/DAUGHTER MARRY ONE? WOULD YOU APPROVE? Some on this site are in such marriages, and they have worked out. I get that. Even so, would you want the same for your children? Just today I spoke with someone who expressed the difficulty of interfaith marriage. She was raised Catholic and her husband Buddhist (they are Vietnamese). So, when I told her we were looking at Christian colleges her first response is how good that was because they would likely find boyfriends who were also Christians. It might be helpful to realize that many devoted Catholics and Protestants would struggle to let their children marry across the lines too. Perhaps not so much Catholic and Lutheran, but crossing over into Evangelical, Baptist, or other more conservative communities would be tough. I even know a psychologist--quite liberal--who told her Evangelical boyfriend that she would always remain Catholic and he would have to agree that the children would be raised the same. BTW, I realize many parents today will say they will go with whatever their children decide. After all, they are adults, and who needs family drama. If you had your way, though, would you want your daughter to never be able to marry in the temple? Would you want your grandchildren raised to believe that your church was fringe at best? Perhaps the point of this post is to say that having interfaith discussions, friendly debates, and otherwise engaging with heart on forums like this require a certain level of mutual respect and trust. My experience is that seeing the imagio Deo in each other engenders all that. Still not sure about the marriage thing though.
  19. How come there aren't as many women Sunday school presidents or councillors etc, likewise men on primary presidencies ? What about 'non practicing' Temple recommend holding gay men teaching, or being on a primary presidency or auxiliaries ? Or non practicing gay women in auxiliary presidencies ? Mixed presidencies in non priesthood callings . Also on another subject why do sisters still have to 'vail their faces' in a certain part of an ordinance in the Temple ?
  20. I've been reading the book of Genesis (started in chapter 6) and I'm currently on chapter 16. So far my experience with Genesis has been one of a paranoid child walking through the woods at night jumping at every sound he hears. I'm skeptical of every verse I read thinking to myself "how close is this to the original, how many errors are here?" I know the 8th article of faith but it doesn't answer my question. Its getting to the point where I'm only accepting a minority of what I'm reading. For example, the account of Ham's cursing is so vague that, if read literally, Noah cursed Ham for seeing his penis. It's described as "this thing you have done" it's obvious there's something missing in the account. And for some reason I doubted that Abram had hundreds of servants, imagining him as some kind a vagrant with a small flock. "He couldn't have that many servants back then" (I don't even know what this statement means.) Apparently certain theological groups in Judaism altered certain passages of the Old Testament to remove any indication that Yahweh was subservient to the most High God. How prevalent was this practice? So, basically, here's the question. Am I reading a great fiction penned by scribes and poachers? Is it a bad plastic surgery? Or is the Old Testament fundamentally accurate in it's rendering of the original text? How should I understand the Old Testament?
  21. A McConkie-ism is something abrasive or difficult said by Bruce R. McConkie. It's his own special way of "putting it." Be it his own opinions or in doctrine. The most recent time I was broadsided by a McConkie-ism was in his talk "Our relationship with the Lord" (search for it at your own risk.) In this talk he lays out the proper relationship we are to have with each member of the Godhead, and along the way explaining how the sectarians are doing it wrong. At the time I heard it, I thought he made God and Christ sound pharisaical, over pious, untouchable, impersonal. (At the time I thought "only the Smiths get be friends with God, eh Bruce?") Needless to say, it went against my conception of things. Nevertheless, he was right in the end in his main point. It wasn't that God and Christ were pharisaical, over pious, untouchable, impersonal. It's that my treatment of them was too casual, their divinity reduced by my own inadequate reverence and perhaps foolish pride. Now I understand what he was talking about. And the fun thing is, the loving, personal, and intimate Father and Son which I envisioned before this particular McConkie-ism, is demonstrated in Scripture (obvious to everyone but Snigmorder.) There have been other McConkie-isms. For example, I used to sneer and rant and murmur every time I opened one of his books. But I got over that, and now I admire the man and can read him and hear him without being broadsided. Have you ever been broadsided by Bruce R. McConkie?
  22. I should preface this with a disclaimer: I don't care about the theory of organic evolution, I can take it or leave it. We know that creation ex nihilo (from nothing) is a false doctrine of apostate Christendom and is part of the philosophical construction which they call "the Trinity." We also know that matter, physical stuff which exists, is eternal and has no originator or origin. There is nothing which exists which is not material. If something is incorporeal, it doesn't exist. Think about the eternal nature of matter. Now think about what we are, and what the animals are, and what the plants are. We are living organisms, we might call it organic matter. Do you think that organic matter is uncreated and unoriginated the same way inanimate matter is? It seems apparent to me that biological organisms are not eternal, that they must be derived from unliving matter. We don't believe in a God that creates from nothing. We believe in a God which gives order and organization and law to pre-existing materials which he did not cause to be. This includes the laws upon which matter would change incrementally into a higher order. We know that living organisms can be derived from dead matter, because that's exactly what happened. Living things exist, so that is precisely what has happened. Matter has become living. How else would something as complex as our bodies be formed if not incrementally? Do you imagine Him causing dead matter to form all of the complex processes and materials of the body in one act of creation? In one moment? I'm not sure I do. Some have said that biological life on earth was brought from the eternal worlds and settled here on earth. I'm not sure what evidence there is in scripture for that premise. There are contradictions in scripture. Such as the idea that Adam and Eve are the first humans on this earth. I've heard a theory from a BYU biologist (I can't recall his name) wherein Homo sapiens pre-date Adam and Eve and what Adam and Eve are, are the first souls, the first parents of the race of Man. Meaning God took a male and female Homosapien and placed into them the spirits of Adam and Eve. The mind of gods were made flesh. I'm not sure what I think of this theory. Lehi also tells us that there was no death before the fall. Some people have said that this means no death in the garden of Eden only, meaning there was a death outside the garden. But Lehi is very clear that there was no death among all the things which were created. Organisms outside the garden of Eden are among those things created. People like Bruce R. McConkie and Joseph Fielding Smith (one of whom I admire) were very opposed to evolution. While men like B.H. Roberts and James A. Talmage took no issue with it. And those were just the golden oldies, I'm sure the same disagreements exist today. What do you think about evolution?
  23. I have Asperger's Syndrome and I am LDS/Mormon too. I have written and published a book called The Greensons. It is about a fictional LDS/Mormon family that has a daughter with Asperger's Syndrome. Here is the link to it if you are interested: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Gratiot
  24. As a BYU student, why are beards not allowed on school campus? It's on the HONOR CODE. And, as missionaries, they are not allowed to have facial hair too. To me, this is something new. Why is it prohibited when living under the Honor Code or as a missionary? I mean....it's a natural thing to have facial hair when you are a growing man... Do beards make us look evil or something? Brigham Young had a very long beard. and the 1800's prophets had long beards too.
  25. So, the guy who I have had a crush on for a while (for internet safety, let's call him Elder since missionaries are always called "Elder (Insert last name)") is going to be going to the MTC on July 19th. I left him with two short and sweet notes (one of them was a letter I wrote before today that said "it was great getting to know him the past few years, serve valiantly" and "I'm gonna write you, you should write back". The other note was "I've enjoyed getting to know you and I can't wait to get to know the Elder you through letters and e-mails"). He hasn't been set apart yet, and thankfully~ I got one last hug from him before he was set apart. ((To be set apart is to be officially designated as a missionary.)) Anyways, I'm hoping to send him a care package once he's out of the MTC, and he's in the mission field (Mission Training Center--It's where missionaries go before they officially go out into the area they've been called to to learn the language of the land, the rules of the area they've been called to, etc). The place where Elder is going to is California (Modesto, California I believe), and so far I have two gifts that I think he might enjoy or need: A big Nalgene water bottle (A whopping total of 32 ounces) A card game like Phase 10 or something similar to that (or even a simple deck of cards to play if him and his companion have down time, and are completely prepared for all the lessons that they need to give, and appointments they have assigned) I've done some research so far as what to put in a care package, and one of the things that stood out to me was that whatever you give your missionary, you should give to your missionary's companion(s) because you don't know the circumstances of your missionary's companion. As said by Deseret News, "Sending a package with items for both missionaries will do great things for companionship morale and for your missionary’s figure" (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700040500/What-to-send-your-missionary-in-a-package.html?pg=all). So, what do you all think? Would buying Elder and his companion a big Nalgene water bottle and a deck of cards be good to send him? What others things could I send him to help him be a good missionary? What things do missionaries enjoy receiving from home in care packages?