MiserereNobis

Could this anti-establishment attitude have anything to do with your foray into the Grateful Dead world? Those Oregon ‘93 shows were hot!

I’ve always loved this phrase of yours. The Trinity may be wrong, but it’s not stupid. The brightest minds in Western civilization have believed it and argued for it.

I miss mfbukowski.

The Catechism teaches this: God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments. I think that is similar to what you are saying, perhaps. I do like the idea: there are boundaries/fences, but not around God.

True, but it is impartial. You would have to be confirmed and then receive communion as well, and those are specific Catholic sacraments requiring Catholic priesthood. In the case of confirmation, it is traditionally performed by the bishop, though bishops often delegate to priests.

Do you believe Christians who have fences are wrong with their fences? Do you believe the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church’s fences for 1500+ years were/are wrong? This comes across as a very contemporary Protestant view. How do you account for Christian history? ETA: Our Mormon friends are very accommodating, and that is in the spirit of Christ. But sometimes hard questions of doctrine need to be addressed, hence Paul and all the following ecumenical counsels.

This was my experience from the times I went to your services. The speakers were the practical point of the meeting, even if it was said otherwise. Do you think this is something that came from low church protestant roots? Or is there a doctrinal reason for it?

September 22nd is indeed a VERY important day. It's Bilbo and Frodo Baggins birthday. Hobbit Day!

I love liturgy. The sanctification of time is a pretty dang cool idea. I can get why you wouldn't "celebrate" Holy Week in the sense of engaging in a liturgical service, but the idea of remembering the last week of Christ during the week leading up to Easter isn't bad, right? Nothing wrong with thinking about the resurrection on Good Friday, for example. It's a great way to prepare for Easter, the culminating feast of Christianity. The sanctification of time is really made evident when you spend some time in a monastery.

They were both beautiful souls.

I imagine Czechoslovakia is well represented in the book. You have quite a history there. Yoga retreats as LDS recruitment is unexpected. Any mention of Edwin Morrell?

So, you have no objections to the historical Catholic accumulation of wealth? The Papal States? Vatican City? Just checking for consistency 🙂

We’d love for all non-Catholic Christians to return home to Rome 😉

President Nelson Because he acknowledged the centrality of Rome to Christianity when he dedicated the temple there and had all of the apostles attend (which, according to my quick research, is the first time that all 15 have gathered for a dedication outside of the US).

Hi Navidad, Please accept my condolences for the loss of your son. May God grant you grace and peace. As far as I can tell from your description, the explanation of your friend is correct but incomplete. It appears the priest administered the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick (previously known as Last Rites). This is a formal sacrament in the Catholic Church and thus there are rules that govern it. The Code of Canon Law states in Canon 844 paragraph 4: As a non-Catholic, these conditions would have to be met for the sacrament to be licitly administered to you. The correct explanation of your friend is baptism and spiritual worthiness. That would cover you being a "Christian not having full communion with the Catholic Church" and being "properly disposed." What your friend left out were the other requirements: danger of death, inability to approach a minister of your own community, seeking it yourself, and a manifestation of Catholic faith towards the sacraments. Obviously I do not know if you can go to a minister of your own community and if you believe in the Catholic sacraments as a Catholic would. It is disappointing that the priest did not explain what he was doing, because how can one have faith in the sacrament and believe in it as a Catholic would if one does not know what the sacrament is? I bring this up not to impugn you or detract from any good or grace you received from the experience, but to inform readers of how the sacraments in the Catholic Church are to be administered in situations such as these. +PAX+ Jesse

“For the World is Hollow, and I Have Touched the Sky”

Miracles and mysteries, my guy. I find it interesting that you gloss right over our paradoxical belief that Jesus was 100% human and 100% God, and then focus on minutia about sperm. If we're getting nitty gritty scientific, you could simply point out that something cannot be 100% this and 100% that at the same time. Yet, Jesus was

The statement was that Christianity had two lungs: Catholicism and Orthodoxy. So no, you are not Catholicism's other lung We are both lungs needed for the full breathing of Christianity. Wonderful expression of the Christian faith. I like pointing out to those who do not know that Catholicism has 24 churches and 6 liturgical rites, so we are much more than what people think of when they think Catholicism (but it's understandable, since the Latin/Roman Rite is the vast majority).

The KJV is beautiful prose. Do you use it because you believe it's the best translation theologically?

You mention Ravenloft. I used to play the original module (published 1983) back in the day. It was so fun! I found a digital scan of it a few years ago when I was in a fit of nostalgia. I'll attach it for everyone's enjoyment. It's a single file of 5.3 MB, which is too big, so I had to zip it to make it attachable. ravenloft.pdf.zip

Wow, I'm reading through the comments section for the YouTube trailer and there are so many people who are saying this is pro-Israel propaganda. Not one mention of the LDS church. And there are a lot of pro-Nazi comments, like the Axis was great, Nazi German was wonderful, etc. @The Nehor, get in those comments and start punching people

In the trailer, the bishop is wearing red (0:16 of the video). Was that common thing back then? Or are they just putting on some clerical vestments to make it obvious that he's a church leader. It's interesting that the LDS church isn't mentioned in any of the trailers or ads.

Yep. We're told that Christ's Church had 12 Apostles, so does the restored church. But then we find out there are 15, and sometimes even more. I remember being told that Peter, James, and John were the first presidency, but then that left a quorum of the 9? This isn't an argument that you are wrong. It's just an observation that, at least in the past, you maybe simplified things to make your church organization seem the same as the NT.

In the Catholic Church, the time between popes is called a Papal Interregnum. If your apostolic interregnum continued for a few years, how would missionary lessons and testimonies have to change about having a living prophet? Tongue-in-cheek, kinda. I'm just thinking how the missionaries would have to teach that you believe in a living prophet but you just don't have one right now, so it's 14 (right?) living prophets. Having to explain the succession process early in the missionary lessons would be an interesting twist on teaching.

My deepest condolences to all of you. I know how it hurts to lose a beloved leader. May your next leader be an inspiration to you all.