Some more thoughts...

[Jamie123]

3 hours ago, zil2 said:

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you mean "claim not to know" or "claim to know"?

I mean claim not to know. If I claimed I did know the church was true, then I would not be admitting to the possibility that it was false. But if I claimed not to know, that would imply that I was open to the possibility that it was false.

[zil2]

25 minutes ago, Jamie123 said:

I mean claim not to know. If I claimed I did know the church was true, then I would not be admitting to the possibility that it was false. But if I claimed not to know, that would imply that I was open to the possibility that it was false.

Got it.  Thank you for clarifying.  Makes sense now.

[zil2]

On 7/10/2024 at 1:27 PM, zil2 said:

I believe in the end we will be dumbfounded, left speechless and in awe of just how perfect that care was for each of us - you and me included.

I was watching and reading Elder Kearon's GC talk, "God's Intent Is to Bring You Home" and thought of this thread.  You might like it, @Jamie123 - if nothing else, he's British (and sounds it) and he starts off with a mother-in-law joke...

 

 

[askandanswer]

17 hours ago, Jamie123 said:

P.S. Now we're on the subject of Mr. Spock, when I was about 6 years old they started putting promotional Star Trek cut-out masks on the backs of Kellogs Corn Flakes boxes. I really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really wanted to be Mr. Spock. The trouble was, so did every other kid. My mother and I checked out every box of Corn Flakes in the entire store, but we couldn't find a single Spock. I had to be content with Captain Kirk, but that wasn't down to any fault of me Mum. She kept on going till we'd checked every single box. That's the kind of mother she was.

For @Jamie123

This is the kind of poster I am

 

 

[Jamie123]

31 minutes ago, askandanswer said:

For @Jamie123

This is the kind of poster I am

https://youtu.be/jL1dEyDMA-o?si=9SO3uS3BNx7V8Lt_

[Jamie123]

35 minutes ago, askandanswer said:

For @Jamie123

This is the kind of poster I am

[Jamie123]

15 hours ago, zil2 said:

Utterly unrelated to everything except this word, here's an amazingly politically incorrect song that should not be funny and yet I find it ridiculously funny (I chose the lyrics version so you could see why it should not be funny):

 

Hmmm...those aren't quite the lyrics I remember!

[Jamie123]

12 hours ago, zil2 said:

You might like it, @Jamie123 - if nothing else, he's British (and sounds it) and he starts off with a mother-in-law joke...

I thought there was something about his voice!

It reminds me a bit of the poem The Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson. (I keep a copy of it on my desk.) This is how I always hoped it would be, but I am always being perplexed by scriptures like Mark 4:11-12 or Isaiah 6:9-10 - that people hardly ever talk about.

P.S. A quote from THoH:

Quote

For, though I knew His love Who followèd,

Yet was I sore adread

Lest having Him, I must have naught beside

So totally true.

Edited July 14, 2024 by Jamie123

[zil2]

25 minutes ago, Jamie123 said:

but I am always being perplexed by scriptures like Mark 4:11-12 or Isaiah 6:9-10

We interpret these not as "God will prevent you from understanding", but rather, "God will not force you to understand". If you choose to close your eyes and ears, God will respect your choice, while at the same time (I believe) arranging everything to give you the best chances and outcome. 

[Jamie123]

1 hour ago, zil2 said:

We interpret these not as "God will prevent you from understanding", but rather, "God will not force you to understand". If you choose to close your eyes and ears, God will respect your choice, while at the same time (I believe) arranging everything to give you the best chances and outcome. 

Another theory I've read is that Jesus did not want too many followers early on, because if everyone had become a disciple there would have been no crucifixion and therefore no atonement. He would have grown old, died an ordinary death and returned to his Father, and his whole life would have been pointless. After the crucifixion - and particularly after Pentecost - the number of believers skyrocketed, and these probably included many who had initially rejected him.

Edited July 14, 2024 by Jamie123

[Ironhold]

On 7/13/2024 at 4:43 PM, Jamie123 said:

It doesn't sound like what I remember. I think our masks were Spock, Kirk and Bones. Possibly Uhura was there too (for the benefit of girls) but I certainly don't recall any others. Still I was only 6 - or maybe only 5.

EDIT: Looks like you're right...

Perhaps the UK release didn't have all of them.

It's also possible that the Sulu, Android, and Klingon boxes were produced in such short supply that they were snatched up quickly. 

Back in the early 2000s there was actually a bit where TV Guide wanted to feature Gene Simmons of KISS on the cover of an issue. Gene refused unless TV Guide promised to have all four members of the band. TV Guide responded by agreeing to give each band member - Gene, Paul, Ace, Peter - their own cover, subdividing the print run accordingly and "encouraging" people to collect all four. It wasn't until after the covers were released that Gene learned the covers weren't produced in equal amounts; IIRC, his cover was 50%, Paul's was 25%, and Ace & Peter split the other 25%. 

[Vort]

7 hours ago, Jamie123 said:

This is how I always hoped it would be, but I am always being perplexed by scriptures like Mark 4:11-12 or Isaiah 6:9-10 - that people hardly ever talk about.

If people do not talk about these scriptures, it is because they do not understand them. From an LDS viewpoint, the meaning of these scriptures is obvious (well, to me, at least):

God's word is heard only by those with ears to hear them, and understood only by those with a heart open to understanding—that is, to those who hear and heed the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. Nothing in religion "makes sense" to those who have no conversation with God. It's all sounding brass and tinkling cymbals to them. Their very deafness is their condemnation, or at least a sure sign of it.

[Jamie123]

7 minutes ago, Vort said:

If people do not talk about these scriptures, it is because they do not understand them. From an LDS viewpoint, the meaning of these scriptures is obvious (well, to me, at least):

God's word is heard only by those with ears to hear them, and understood only by those with a heart open to understanding—that is, to those who hear and heed the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. Nothing in religion "makes sense" to those who have no conversation with God. It's all sounding brass and tinkling cymbals to them. Their very deafness is their condemnation, or at least a sure sign of it.

Quote

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

I'm still a child. I only know in part. I see through the glass darkly. The things I don't understand I commit to God in the hope He will one day reveal them to me. But that's not to say I don't sometimes rant about them a bit. It's the way I am.

[Vort]

1 hour ago, Jamie123 said:

I'm still a child.

So are we all. I think that those who realize and acknowledge this fact are several steps ahead of the game.

[Jamie123]

On 7/13/2024 at 7:01 PM, Jamie123 said:

Nowadays nearly everyone says dwarves - though only when referring to the mythological beings, not people with dwarfism.

Which in turn reminds me of this piece of very politically incorrect humour from a few years ago:

Warwick Davis gets away with it because he's a dwarf.

There's a girl who works in my local optician's who has dwarfism. Whenever I go in there and see her, "the tune" starts up in my head (you know the tune I mean) and I have to fight the urge to hum it. I told my wife this once, and she said words to the effect that I'm "a very bad person". What??? Like I can help what tunes the little DJ in my head chooses to play!

I think I'm a very good person for not humming along! Though if I ever did I'd probably be looking for a new optician!

Edit: I've just watched it again and Warwick Davis says "dwarves" and not "dwarfs".

Edited July 17, 2024 by Jamie123

[Jamie123]

On 7/10/2024 at 7:40 PM, Jamie123 said:

I do have a very good friend in America whose e-mail address has suddenly vanished along with her Facebook page. I don't have her new address either, so I have no idea if she's alive or not. But God knows, and I am entrusting her to His care.

I finally got an email from my good friend. (I'm so happy, I'm not even going to give her a hard time for worrying me! 😅) She's doing fine, so I guess God was looking out for her!

Edited July 24, 2024 by Jamie123