carbon dioxide

This is great news. Can we now start blaming all the negative Utah stats on those who are not LDS? Like if Utah has high suicides, it the non Mormons who are the reason.

AI only knows what information is put in but does not really do well determining the quality of the information. Garbage in you get garbage out. The Book of Mormon is an English translation from non English speaking and writing people several thousand years ago and how exact is the carry over from one to the other? Does AI take all of those issues into account? I highly doubt it.

What gets frustrating to me are those who dis polygamy but then support SSM. I was having a conversation with someone who did not believe polygamy came from God. Ok I can accept a different point of view then though one can write a whole essay on the subject of polygamy in the scriptures. At least there is something there even if one does not like it. Yet while polygamy could not be accepted by this person, the view that same sex marriage could be something that God approves of even though we have not got a revelation regarding it yet. So polygamy bad regardless of what is in the scriptures but same sex marriage might be ok even though there is not even the most remote evidence that it would ever be accepted by God. It was such a frustrating conversation to have.

Who knows. I guess I am technically inactive as I work in a hospital so I can't go to church every other weekend. Inactivity does not mean lack of belief or testimony.

There is no way I am being cremated. I think the best option is have my body sent to a taxidermy and be set in my home on the couch watching TV. People can visit me whenever they want.

I agree that the odds of Mosiah recalling this from memory so many years later when he was 10 with the details so specific are very small. But the prophecy is there so where did this most likely come from? In my mind, either Mosiah or someone else recorded it when Joseph Smith said it and Mosiah retained the record in his collection of stuff and quoted from it that record in his autobiography. The original apparently is lost but that should not be unusual. Most documents written in the 19th century are lost to us.

I read this prophecy way back in the 1980s while I was about 15 and it has remained with ever since for one reason or another. I cannot say it will happen or not but as as time passes I can see it happening more and more. Our country is weaker than it has ever been. Our military is built on many very expensive high tech weapons that are extremely expensive and take a long time to replace. The Ukraine war as exposed this great weakness of our country. Despite our massive military spending over decades, we don't have enough weapons to supply to Ukraine without depleting our supplies. Supplies that will take years to replace. All it will take is a few moderate wars to make our military really weak. Add to that our national debt of over 30 trillion we are in big trouble in the long run. We will be spending more on servicing the national debt than defense. Add defense and debt payments, it will be half of our budget. Since this prophecy has been in my head for so many years, when I came across the George Washington vision, I noticed immediately connection between this prophecy and the Washington vision. The 3rd peril matches the Joseph Smith vision but just is told in a different way or perspective. I will reproduce the Washington vision here with the 3rd Peril in bold. Read the Joseph Smith and 3rd Peril side by side. The First peril is the Revolutionary War and the 2nd Peril is the Civil War. You will find it quite interesting. Compare the white spirits coming down from heaven in the Washington vision with the boys of the mountain with the Priesthood coming down both to join with a US military that is about to be defeated. "George Washington's Vision" This afternoon, as I was sitting at this table engaged in preparing a dispatch, something seemed to disturb me. Looking up, I beheld standing opposite me a singularly beautiful female. So astonished was I, for I had given strict orders not to be disturbed, that it was some moments before I found language to inquire the cause of her presence. A second, a third and even a fourth time did I repeat my question, but received no answer from my mysterious visitor except a slight raising of her eyes. By this time I felt strange sensations spreading through me. I would have risen but the riveted gaze of the being before me rendered volition impossible. I assayed once more to address her, but my tongue had become useless, as though it had become paralyzed. A new influence, mysterious, potent, irresistible, took possession of me. All I could do was to gaze steadily, vacantly at my unknown visitor. Gradually the surrounding atmosphere seemed as if it had become filled with sensations, and luminous. Everything about me seemed to rarefy, the mysterious visitor herself becoming more airy and yet more distinct to my sight than before. I now began to feel as one dying, or rather to experience the sensations which I have sometimes imagined accompany dissolution. I did not think, I did not reason, I did not move; all were alike impossible. I was only conscious of gazing fixedly, vacantly at my companion. Presently I heard a voice saying, "Son of the Republic, look and learn," while at the same time my visitor extended her arm eastwardly, I now beheld a heavy white vapor at some distance rising fold upon fold. This gradually dissipated, and I looked upon a stranger scene. Before me lay spread out in one vast plain all the countries of the world — Europe, Asia, Africa and America. I saw rolling and tossing between Europe and America the billows of the Atlantic, and between Asia and America lay the Pacific. "Son of the Republic," said the same mysterious voice as before, "look and learn." At that moment I beheld a dark, shadowy being, like an angel, standing or rather floating in mid-air, between Europe and America. Dipping water out of the ocean in the hollow of each hand, he sprinkled some upon America with his right hand, while with his left hand he cast some on Europe. Immediately a cloud raised from these countries, and joined in mid-ocean. For a while it remained stationary, and then moved slowly westward, until it enveloped America in its murky folds. Sharp flashes of lightning gleamed through it at intervals, and I heard the smothered groans and cries of the American people. A second time the angel dipped water from the ocean, and sprinkled it out as before. The dark cloud was then drawn back to the ocean, in whose heaving billows in sank from view. A third time I heard the mysterious voice saying, "Son of the Republic, look and learn," I cast my eyes upon America and beheld villages and towns and cities springing up one after another until the whole land from the Atlantic to the Pacific was dotted with them. Again, I heard the mysterious voice say, "Son of the Republic, the end of the century cometh, look and learn." At this the dark shadowy angel turned his face southward, and from Africa I saw an ill omened specter approach our land. It flitted slowly over every town and city of the latter. The inhabitants presently set themselves in battle array against each other. As I continued looking I saw a bright angel, on whose brow rested a crown of light, on which was traced the word "Union," bearing the American flag which he placed between the divided nation, and said, "Remember ye are brethren." Instantly, the inhabitants, casting from them their weapons became friends once more, and united around the National Standard. "And again I heard the mysterious voice saying "Son of the Republic, look and learn." At this the dark, shadowy angel placed a trumpet to his mouth, and blew three distinct blasts; and taking water from the ocean, he sprinkled it upon Europe, Asia and Africa. Then my eyes beheld a fearful scene: From each of these countries arose thick, black clouds that were soon joined into one. Throughout this mass there gleamed a dark red light by which I saw hordes of armed men, who, moving with the cloud, marched by land and sailed by sea to America. Our country was enveloped in this volume of cloud, and I saw these vast armies devastate the whole county and burn the villages, towns and cities that I beheld springing up. As my ears listened to the thundering of the cannon, clashing of sword, and the shouts and cries of millions in mortal combat, I heard again the mysterious voice saying, "Son of the Republic, look and learn" When the voice had ceased, the dark shadowy angel placed his trumpet once more to his mouth, and blew a long and fearful blast. "Instantly a light as of a thousand suns shone down from above me, and pierced and broke into fragments the dark cloud which enveloped America. At the same moment the angel upon whose head still shone the word Union, and who bore our national flag in one hand and a sword in the other, descended from the heavens attended by legions of white spirits. These immediately joined the inhabitants of America, who I perceived were will nigh overcome, but who immediately taking courage again, closed up their broken ranks and renewed the battle. Again, amid the fearful noise of the conflict, I heard the mysterious voice saying, "Son of the Republic, look and learn." As the voice ceased, the shadowy angel for the last time dipped water from the ocean and sprinkled it upon America. Instantly the dark cloud rolled back, together with the armies it had brought, leaving the inhabitants of the land victorious! Then once more I beheld the villages, towns and cities springing up where I had seen them before, while the bright angel, planting the azure standard he had brought in the midst of them, cried with a loud voice: "While the stars remain, and the heavens send down dew upon the earth, so long shall the Union last." And taking from his brow the crown on which blazoned the word "Union," he placed it upon the Standard while the people, kneeling down, said, "Amen." The scene instantly began to fade and dissolve, and I at last saw nothing but the rising, curling vapor I at first beheld. This also disappearing, I found myself once more gazing upon the mysterious visitor, who, in the same voice I had heard before, said, "Son of the Republic, what you have seen is thus interpreted: Three great perils will come upon the Republic. The most fearful is the third, but in this greatest conflict the whole world united shall not prevail against her. Let every child of the Republic learn to live for his God, his land and the Union." With these words the vision vanished, and I started from my seat and felt that I had seen a vision wherein had been shown to me the birth, progress, and destiny of the United States.

Of course he is back to work. He has full prospective. He is very close to the end of his life and as he continues to fulfill his calling he will have secured his place in exaltation. There are two main classes of people in the eternities. The exalted and everyone else who reside below them and are servants to those who are exalted. His critics will have their short time to complain about stuff but in the end they all lose. The best anyone can do is join Pres Nelson in the eternities. None of his critics will surpass him yet if they continue all of them will be servants to him and the rest of the exalted for all the eternities. Time without end. In the end, the good boys do win.

Why do I get the feeling that you have not given money to the LDS Church in years and even if the Church was giving 80% of the tiths to relieve human suffering your overall position about the Church would not change and you still would not be paying tithing today? Maybe I am wrong but I just get that impression.

I think a good standard of practice would be learn if something is actually true and has been proven before being shocked and disappointed. Anyone can accusing somebody of anything they want but that does not mean it is true.

Looking the long game, there is no other belief system out that places the eternal destiny of a woman as high the church does. What other faith system has an equivalent to exaltation in the LDS belief system? At best women spend their eternity as just angels I guess singing, playing harps and dancing on a pin. Those who do not believe in an afterlife, well their existence of women ends at death. That sounds like fun. A faithful LDS woman becomes a god and has everything. Find the best examples of women who have achieved great secular accomplishments in the standards of the world. Their academic degrees, social status, money, titles, ect are become worthless once they die. They are less valuable than used toilet a few seconds after death. However all that sacrifice and patients by the faithful LDS woman rockets her past those other women at death and beyond. She becomes a god and those secular women become servants to her and the other exalted for all eternity. Sounds like a great deal to me. LDS women are not oppressed. They are making some short term worldly sacrifices for a great investment that pays out big time in the end.

For me I don't believe God is offended by our addictions but he is saddened by them. Anything that prevents us from receiving blessings hurts us in the end. God is going to remain God regardless of what happens to us. He does not need us. We need him. He wants to join him in exaltation but if we choose to remain in a pointless addiction that risks everything we have worked and hoped for in the billions of years in the premortal world, its a real tragedy.

Any addiction is a problem. If one is addicted to reading the scriptures would also be a problem as one just can't read the scriptures and neglect other important things in life. Life is about balance and if one thing takes too much dominance it causes other things to suffer. There is no reason for shame as we all have our addictions to one degree or another to something. The worst thing one can do is ignore the subject as people will just continue on with their addictions year after year.

There may be other reasons. I have heard more about LGBT in the last year than in the first 40 years of my life. We don't have a pride day. We have a pride MONTH. Just a constant drum beat so some people just may be getting sick of all of it. I am not for people committing hate crimes but it is predictable that some people may just get fed up with it all over time. So I am not shocked at all and mostly likely it will get worse in the years ahead.

Dan does not bother me that much. What I watch on his youtube channel is basically Dan not giving an LDS view of issues but a scholarly, academic view of issues. The question is how much weight should we give to modern day views of what people believed or events that occurred thousands of years ago. All the scholars can do is examine what has survived through time. What has not survived but has been lost. Dan talks about data over dogma. Fine but if the data is not complete, if there are holes in the data, the conclusions made from the data probably is not that great. I think God probably is not too impressed on the conclusions that modern day academia has regarding the world and things that have happened over time. He probably tell us to take them with a pound of salt. So I listen to people like Dan but not really changing views much but its good to see how others look at things.

Nothing wrong with money digging. I am not aware of any scripture that says one can't do this. JS was not lazy. Especially in comparison to modern day people who do most of their work on their phones. Joseph Smith burned more calories in an hour than many young people do in a week texting their friends. Nothing wrong with seer stones in a hat. If young people have a problem with seer stones in a hat, how can many of them explain their support for same sex marriage which probably is a billion times worse in the eyes of God?

Lots of reasons why youth fall away. The church could do a better job at teaching the youth but the youth could do a better job at learning and studying stuff and not making rash decisions if they can't get an answer to a question in 5 minutes.

God can use whatever he wants to accomplish a task. It really does not matter if uninformed people believe a seer stone is "magic" or "occultist". Ask the average person what they think about the pentagram. They may say its evil or occultic but that is a 19th century idea. The pentagram was viewed by many Christians in early times with Christianity and the 5 wounds of Christ. What matters is not the device used but the end product. I watched an interesting discussion with Don Bradley on this subject. You might find the discussion interesting in how a seer stone in a hat relates to a story that probably existed in the Book of Mormon in the lost 116 pages.

The basic view of tithing is that it is given with no strings attached by the person paying the tithing. The Church has never said as far as I know that the money goes to A, B, and C and not ever to go to X, Y, and Z. I really don't understand Huntsman position. He may have had perhaps a personal expectation, but the Church was not required to follow his personal expectations. Perhaps the Church can show some charity to Huntsman. Calculate the percentage from the total fund that went to the mall and give him a rebate of that percentage which is probably just a few percent.

It all depends on what the policy says. You are also conflating with what the owners of a home do with what a member of the Church does. They are not quite the same thing. If a neighbor comes into my house and burns my house down, it is covered.

I am more worried about what the Lord will tolerate from his people than what the youth will tolerate. The Lord wants people who follow his commandments. Not a people who just do whatever they want based on the culture acceptance of the day. Overall, if the church has to lose half of its members to remain more pure that would be preferred over tripling the membership in the name of accepting wickedness. We have seen the issue tear apart the Methodists and other groups. It would do the same to us. I know what side I would go with.

Taxes don't really help people as much as they help politicians grow their political power. Politicians really don't care how they spend the money as its other people money.

There are different measures of what would constitute effective missionary service. I think baptisms is just one aspect of it. If conversion is the main metric, the men in the scriptures that had trouble getting a lot of people to convert like Noah were not good missionaries. Missionaries are there to provide access to people of the gospel. For those who accept they get the blessings, those that reject they have increased their accountability to God so that a person can't say before God at judgment they did not have a chance or opportunity. God will show them yes they did but they turned it away.

The same thing happens today. Both Ukraine and Russia report the number of people they killed on the other side as if Russians and Ukrainians are allowing the other side to walk around the battlefield and count dead bodies. They are all estimates and some of them are wildly off the true number.

Perhaps everything should be taken out of libraries that is not related to school related stuff like history, math, science. Religion should be taught in the churches and homes and LGBT and other political issues should discussed outside of school. However if this is not going to happen we should look at the real world. Kids are not wasting much of their time reading books. They are playing video games or on their phone with Tic Tok and other social media. If you don't like a book in a school library, don't ban it just ignore it. Attempts to ban just bring attention to the book. If they are ignored, the book just sits on the shelf collecting dust which is just as good as banning the book. Yes perhaps a kid or two is checking a book out of the library but generally kids today want to be Tic Tok influencers, not book worms.