Introductions

[Laureltree]

Estump....................I didnt know that was you Crazy... Girl. How is everything going? Pm me and we can hook up on IM.

Scott,

It's nice to see you back, I'm sorry to hear about your wife. Reni is getting so....big OMG...She is going to wrestle for the WWWF and knock them dead with her looks guy.....

We hope you keep coming back......

[Guest Taoist_Saint]

I felt bad about having deleted all my posts in this thread and replacing them with "Have a nice summer"...though I do hope you all had a nice summer. I was just having OCD again and was afraid I had written something offensive...as usual. I am making progress in overcoming that fear.

I have re-written my initial post/introduction and done my best to edit all my posts in this thread to put in what was probably close to my original comments...and I think 99% of the context has been restored. Now this thread is whole once again.

And welcome to all the new people. Lots of new people here! What's going on...are we advertising now?

But that is a good thing

[pushka]

Hiya Tao...great to see you back here!!! Looking forward to some of your 'deep' threads again...

Estump, sorry I didn't welcome you back, I didn't realise that it was you either, with a new user name!!

[Lindy]

Glad your back for awhile Tao...missed you man!

[Coylescousin]

I joined LDS Talk today. I don't know how much I'll actually be on here though because I work and go to school full time. I'm a member of the Church but am currently inactive and have been for the last three and half years. But I think a lot about what it was like growing up LDS and how my life was different then from now. I guess I'm just interested in throwing out questions or ideas from time to time and hearing other's opinions on things that I'm constantly thinking about.

[lisajo]

Welcome Coylescousin, Nice to have you!

[pushka]

Hiya Coylescousin, welcome to the site!

[porterrockwell]

Originally posted by Jason+Nov 29 2005, 06:04 PM-->

<!--QuoteBegin-porterrockwell@Nov 26 2005, 07:43 PM

I do not understand how anyone can doubt the Lord's matchless work.  Or how one can stray from the warmth that permeates from the Gospel and living it's standards.  How blessed are we brothers and sisters to have the truth in the Latter Days. 

Because religion (yours and theirs) was created by man for man. The Creator, whomever or whatever that is, had nothing to do with it. And if a given religion does not satisfy the needs of it's adhearents, then they must of necessity move on.

Now you know.

←

The only thing I KNOW(and I'm not talking "by faith,"...I KNOW), is that the true church of Jesus Christ is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

"The Creator, whomever and whatever that is"? Surely you cannot be serious, the foundation of any belief regardless of being a deist, Jew, EV, or Mormon will and must always be one of faith. Now, that being said to exercise faith and recieve the righteous fruits of such a principle one must practice such within that of the true church as consecrated by the gift of the Holy Ghost(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.).

Most of the time men and women leave the Church of Jesus Christ because they have injured themselves through living outside of their convenants and been left to the buffetings of the adversary. If any be offended by that statement, you will not recieve an apology from me. You choose not believe the truth once you have been brought through the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

36 Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither must ye lay aside your faith, for ye have only exercised your faith to plant the seed that ye might try the experiment to know if the seed was good.

37 And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit.

38 But if ye aneglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out.

39 Now, this is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable; but it is because your aground• is bbarren, and ye will not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof.

40 And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the atree• of life.

41 But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with apatience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree bspringing• up unto everlasting life.

42 And because of your adiligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the bfruit• thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.

43 Then, my brethren, ye shall areap the brewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth cfruit• unto you.

Remember Jason, you always have a choice...how are your roots?

[Jason]

Originally posted by porterrockwell@Dec 4 2005, 12:36 AM

The only thing I KNOW(and I'm not talking "by faith,"...I KNOW), is that the true church of Jesus Christ is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Good for you little buddy.

Surely you cannot be serious, the foundation of any belief regardless of being a deist, Jew, EV, or Mormon will and must always be one of faith.

Clearly you have no clue what being a Deist is all about. Deism is a belief system based on REASON, not Faith. Faith is the antithesis of Reason. They don't go together. It's like mixing oil and water.

I believe in a Creator not because of Faith, but because I cannot accept that life appeared out of no-where. That's it. Period. That's the end of my belief system. It goeth no further.

Remember Jason, you always have a choice...how are your roots?

Not as shallow as yours little buddy.

[Seraphim Moonshadow]

There is something that lights up your eyes when you taste the fruit of the gospel. It is a deep stirring, that fire of faith but to most, it is that spirit of constant peace among the swirling tides of a world that changes towards what looks like a dark dawn of evil. There is no more joy than doing that which brings eternal peace where you can have eternal increase. It is beautiful to partake of these things and though the gospel is not always easily understood, the truth of it can come unto you by that the Spirit of the Lord. I always find that when I am struggling, shifting between what choice is right and what is wrong, I find my answer in the scripture. And if it goes by for a long time and I know not my answer, I know that the Lord will grant it in His time and His manner. I can't say I've ever waited a long time for an answer. I can say that, indeed, answers have sometimes come quite easily but through no completely goodness of my own but goodness in the Lord. Sometimes we make our own answers--I'm guilty of making choices without realizing they were on my own terms sometimes. But still, the Lord is merciful to me.

I hope to go on an LDS mission soon, since I'm already 21 so that I can share the gospel with those who need it. I hope to help bring others unto Christ and most of all, I want to show my love to the Lord by doing so. I will be honest, though. I need to loose some weight before I go, though. In the meantime, though, there is still much good to do. I have many purposes...now if I see those purposes or not will depend on how well I happen to be listening. Erk. O_o

At any rate, I'm an artist and a writer. I have my own website and I am tired of iFrames. I live in the sticks, though I'm fine with that, and I am a self-taught pianist. I enjoy creating music, singing, dancing, horse back riding and other such things. I could say more but I shall not do so at the moment, as this post would become obscenely long, lol.

[prisonchaplain]

Introduce yourselves!!!

I'm in shock I really thought I had done this. I started from page six and went backwards to the #1, and I'm not here. I'd like to think old-age has something to do with this lapse, but as my cousin pointed out, "No...you're too young for that excuse. It's just a lack of concentration."

So, first--since this is a religious discussion site, primarily, I am and ordained minister with the Assemblies of God, which is a Pentecostal/evangelical Christian fellowship. I am a convert, in that I began going to church at the age of 10, after some workers from the local church came around our neighborhood with candy and balloons, and invited us to come so Sunday School--where we would get more candy and balloons. Within about three weeks, in November 1974, in response to the teachers explaining that Jesus died for our sins, and if we would ask, God would forgive us and help us to live godly lives, I raised my hand, prayed the 'sinners' prayer,' and became born again. Although my brother went to, he never embraced the gospel. I did. Three years later, at a summer Bible camp, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and yes, I spoke in tongues (still do). One testimony that sticks with me to this day, is that I got through my teenage years without drugs, alcohol, sex, or even "back masked" Satanic rock & roll.

After high school I went to Whitworth College (Spokane, WA), majored in history/political studies and elementary education. During my senior year I went on exchange to South Korea, and fell in love with the place and the people. So, after graduation I took a position as a 5/6th grade teacher at an American-based Christian school. As I was settling in, a Korean campus missionary asked me to start teaching English Bible studies in my home. I did. I started with six students, and within three weeks was up to twenty. Three years later, we had about 150 students a week attending meetings on five campuses, and I had three other native English speakers working with me. God gave me a revelation! He said, "Look around you. See what is happening. You are no longer a volunteer. I'm calling you as a missionary!" Soon afterward, I contacted an evangelical tentmakers mission (they provide organization, support, and supervision for missionaries who use secular jobs as their entry into ministries). Three years later I received another revelation. I was to apply for seminary (graduate theological study). Mind you, this was nowhere on my radar screen. I was considering a degree in Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language, but not theological studies!

About this time my Korean roommate introduced me to his sister, so I could help her prepare for a job interview--teaching English. Well, ah...you know...uh--yeah, it happened. We started dating, and then the time came for me to come back to America. Half way through my studies at seminary, the call came, "Go home for Spring Break--my parents are coming to meet your parents." We were married in the church I grew up in! About this time, I receive a third revelation from the Lord. Check into prison chaplaincy. What?! Where'd that come from? I'm used to working with Asian university students. Why would I do that? Just check into it, the Lord says. Sometimes the Lord is also "Innocent as a lamb, wise as a serpent."

Fast forward about ten years, we know have three lovely girls, 5, 3, and 1. I've been a chaplain for 8 years, and love the work. We're blessed that my wife is able to stay home with the girls. Also, in the last two years my mother and brother both came to faith in Jesus. Patience and God's faithfulness--a wonderful combination.

So, why am I here? It all started with a school board race in Federal Way, WA about six months ago. Our region of the country is extremely non-religious. Less than 5% attend any type of organized religious meetings on a regular basis. Yet, two of our school board members were Mormon. When a board member suddenly resigned, a third Mormon was appointed. Then, three months later, when he had to run in an election, the opponents all accused the board of appointing him because of his church affiliation. As an evangelical in a non-religious city, that got my dander up! I thought, "This time it's the Mormons, next time it'll be us evangelicals." So, I wrote a letter to the editor, supporting the Mormon on the basis that, as a man of faith, he'll be far more sympathetic to any religious conflicts my children might encounter than would an opponent who would use religion as a disqualifier (She claimed a third Mormon would mean a "lack of diversity--a narrowness of view." Well, I'm a tangental thinker. So, this got me to thinking that, as a chaplain, I probably should know more about Mormonism than what some anti-cult writers had written about twenty years ago. So, I did a simple google search, and the rest is history.

I've learned much in my three months here, and look forward to "many happy returns." God bless you all.

By the way, as a shameless plug: If you want to see a conversation by a Mormon and an evangelical professor done intelligently, check out my bookreview of "How Wide the Divide," in the book review section (I should have just posted in the the general section--me thinks the book review subsection is something of a ghetto ).

Blessings to you all--and thanks for the warm welcome, and the liberty that reigns here.

[begood2]

Prisonchaplain,

I really enjoyed your introduction. I'm also not alone in extending a welcoming hand of friendship to you....I know of several members that feel you have brought a new and stimulating voice to LDS Talk. Thanks again for joining! :)

[Lbybug]

hello all,

well i see this is the "introductions" section, so i thought i'd start here seeing as i just registered and all.

hmm, what to say, what to say. i'm Lbybug/beccabug/becca. i started coming to the chatrooms here a LONG time ago (8 or so years) before it was "ldstalk". anyways, yeah. umm, i'm 24 years old and a certified (soon to be senior) sales assistant for seven eleven. i and LDS but haven't been to church in a very long time. ummm, what else is there to say. i'm not sure...i'm not good at introductions and stuff so yeah. that is me...and i look forward to getting to know ya all through your posts and such.

that is all

[Guest MrsS]

Hello all, I am MrsS. I just now joined your forum. I must confess that I have been coming to your board for about three or four months now. I am glad that I was allowed to "lurk" and to read all of the posts. Some forums will not allow you to do that unless you register.

I don't like to register unless I know I am going to like the neighborhood and am going to get along with my neighbors.

I am LDS, started coming to church when my older brother went back when I was 7 or 8. He was soooo into Scouts, and he didn't like any of the Troops. Then a school mate invited him to come to his troop ~ at the LDS Church. He got hooked! Too bad he didn't stay hooked He left the Church after he got his first job. He didn't want to pay tithing. Don't pay tithing, don't get priesthood. He isn't a bad guy. He just loves money more than he loves God.

I got baptised when I was 14. Left the Church when I was 18. I discovered that the members were HUMAN and not saints like they professed. Guess I expected them to have wings attached to their backs or something!

During the next 28 years I did not live the standards of the Church. I married the man I had been living with for six years (he was non-religion, ho boy was he ever non-religion), drank alcohol, smoked, did drugs for about 8 months when I was 19. My husband was an alcoholic, gambler, womanizer, abusive (verbal, emotional, and physical). In 1999 I went back to Church, left the jerk and discovered that I was a lot stronger emotionally and spiritually than I thought I could be.

I recieved my endowments in April of 2001. Met my new husband on-line last year, married him and moved to his home state of Arizona. I was living on the Oregon coast. We have been married 16 months.

My family are all members. Some are more active than others. My parents are NOW members. Mom joined back in 1974, four years after my father passed on. Then in 1987 she recieved her own endowments and did the work for Dad. A year later she passed on. In June of 2001 I was sealed to my parents. As my sister and I were leaving the temple, I said to her: Now, I won't be left behind as long as I live up to the covenents that I have made!

I think I will enjoy being an active member of this forum ~

MrsS

[BenRaines]

Welcome MrsS

[Josie]

Welcome Mrs S. Glad you joined our forums and hope you also join us in the chat room. It is very civil and we have alot of married people there as well as singles and also have a lot of just plain good clean fun. This is a great site and the mods are one of the best parts. They work hard to keep it clean and safe for all of us. I think most of them are married too, or atleast mature enough to have a head on their shoulders, LOL.

You will also find them down to earth, very polite, and very nice people in general.

[begood2]

Lbybug and Mrs. S,

Welcome to LDS Talk forum. I hope that you ladies enjoy your stay and share your post with us! :)

[pushka]

Yes! Welcome to the site our 2 newest members..hope you enjoy yourselves...

[JLePage]

My Name is Jeff, I am LDS I joined when I was 23. Served a mission to Madagascar. I am also a Master Mason, and yes it is compatable with the Church. :) I am married with 2 kids and one more coming in about a month. Just here looking for good conversation.

Jeff

[Josie]

Welcome Jeff,

Come to chat in the evening and get to know a few of us. Glad to have you and hope you enjoy the site.

[pushka]

Hi and welcome to the site Jeff..nice to see you here!

[Palerider]

welcome welcome welcome.......

[Sugarbay]

Welcome Jeff!

[lisajo]

I would like everyone one to welcome my husband bbbrhatt, he is new to this kind of thing to it might take him a bit, ohhhhhh and when he talks about outer darkness he means out here in the middle of nowhere, where we live LOL

[Guest MrsS]

You mean there is still some uncharted areas left on dry land, short of going to Alaska that is.

Welcome bbbrhatt ( Argh! edited to correct name)~ I take it you prefer to live closer to civilization. Me, I prefer to live on the edges. When I want to mingle with too many people ~ choke on exhaust fumes ~ hear the nonending and ever cascading noises of thier voices, then I want to be able to drive in and experience it.

I live in Arizona. Moved here Sept 2004. We live just outside the city limits in an area that is zoned industrial commercial. I can see my neighbors houses ~ I even know the first name of one of them. I am NOT anti social ~ I am just not used to living among the dope cooking, selling using crowd. NO, I will not turn them in. I have no takers for my 1 1/2 acres yet.

Jeff, just post what you are thinking/feeling ~ persoanally, before I take umbrage ~ I will ask for a bit more clarification.

BTW ~ why do you think you are living on the edge of outer darkness? What kind of darkness?