Rain

Thanks! ☺️

Is there any chance this is how fasting came about? People were hungry, and the main thing they could do was pray, and as they prayed, they grew closer to God. So they started to get the idea that if we go without food for a time while praying, then that will bring us closer to him?

My husband and I call it "eating out emotions". Of course, one stressor is not having enough food, which may be one reason why the people in the bible are feeling sad or stressed while fasting and then happy when feasting.

Please know I am not criticizing, and I'm not going to criticize any reason you give, but I'm really curious why you capitalized "Restored Gospel". Would you share why you did, please?

You're welcome! Before I found that it just wasn't worth it to go back sometimes because too much time had passed and sometimes finding the right place in an audiobook is difficult even if you weren't half asleep. That is one advantage of paper books - so much easier to flip through to find spots you're looking for.

I understand the falling asleep thing. I actually listen to some books to help me sleep. Did you know Libby has a sleep timer? It is the moon at the top. Touch it once to set it. Twice to change the amoint of time. I'll bookmark when ready to sleep and put the timer on so there is only that amount of time to search through to find where I fell asleep.

I understand. You would have loved, as I did, our interview yesterday with a woman who took an asylum seeker into her home. She talked so strongly about asking the person what they needed. Connecting with them so that you really know. That they are not a project, but someone who you can connect with on a deeper level and bring joy and friendship to you too.

I got the impression that by saying to let the consequence follow Manol meant do what is right with the Lord and for the person and let the consequence follow on the doer not do what is right with the technical commandments and let the consequence follow on the receiver. Maybe I read that wrong?

I've been noticing how often things are at variance with one another lately. A few days ago a local government organzation posted a statement. In that statement it said it will do something. Later on it said it would also do this other something. Most of the time I realized that would be no problem, but what about the few times when the 2 somethings were at variance with each other? Which would take prority? Which is the greater law?

No doubt. And then add to that the complexity of immigration laws and the many processes by which people are illegally here it gets crazy.

Not quite the same. It's subtle. You talked about resisting unjust laws. I'm asking about following unjust laws. One is trying to figure out how to not follow the law, the other is trying to figure out how to deal with following the law. It may not seem to make a difference, but it will make a difference depending on the law and the persons beliefs. For example in resisting the no prayer law a person may find places not to be seen while praying. In following the law the person may feel it is best to not pray, but feel God will understand as long as you are trying to get the law changed.

The opposite question could be asked as well. How much would you follow immoral or unjust laws? Say there was a law that you couldn't pray. How likely are you to not pray while you are waiting for the law to get changed?

I loved the first part. The last part I felt kind of went against the principles of the first part. They pressed it so hard that for me it was like, "Wait! No. Goals are not just for showing you a direction, but the thing you should focus on rather than the habits and systems." Maybe I felt that way just because it was the last part, but it kind of felt to me like the editor said, "this part isn't strong enough. We need to press it more so that it will compete with other "be the best you can be" books. I've not run into anyone who felt the same way though.

Not a chance. I've had several years where I've been learning how complicated immigration is. The last year I've heard more. The last week, specifically the last 2 days I've heard even more from lawyers doing charitable immigration work. The system seems set to fail you at a number of points. Plus I've been listening to former detainees and their lawyers talking about what they are dealing with in detention and it is immoral what is happening in some of these places and how the system works. So, not a chance I will report them for their immigration status. I would report felony and some misdemeaner criminal behavior to the police.

My husband and I are at the point we would really like to go to the theater and watch more matinees, but rarely are we finding one we want to go to.

Thank you

Thanks! For Nemesis. Here is one of the errors. An error occurred (500 Error) We're sorry, but a temporary technical error has occurred which means we cannot display this site right now. User mormondi_db already has more than 'max_user_connections' active connections You can try again by clicking the button below, or try again later. Try again

Or is it just me? Incredibly slow sometimes. About a third of the time, when I click on a new page or board, it will come up with different errors.

I don't think most people do this purposely. I think your first paragraph works with that. The second sounds like it is more done on purpose.

South America is almost always mentioned. Was it not mentioned in this thread? But like I said originally, another thing that would account for Europe (at least the UK and Denmark) and America another thing for that is the strength of the church there for long time or strong ties to the beginning of the church. In other words, they are mentioning the 2 areas where much of the church's roots come from.

I can see why you might feel this way because some who leave the church do a lot of scoffing, but I think it would be a good thing to really look into whether it is just a correlation before deciding a feeling about people being racist is correct.

I know for me community is a huge thing. While I no longer feel like I belong, I don't belong to groups of ex members either. Not because I haven't officially left, but because I'm not against the church and I'm not feeling lost and trying to replace the church or deal with things of leaving the church. I would love to do social things with church members, but I have long felt frustrated of not finding church members who prioritized anything social that was just social.

I haven't paid much attention to this thread and believe it or not I'm not opposed to the church (plus I don't pay attention to the numbers), but usually people bring up the activity rates of Central and South America, which while West, do have a lot of brown people. Have they not been mentioned on this thread? I think while sometimes it may seem a race thing, it is probably more likely a stronghold and time thing. Meaning, they are talking about numbers in places the church has often seen as strong. As far as I am aware, the church has never been strong in most of Asia or the Middle East. Then we have Polynesia countries and Africa with people of color. I rarely hear much of Polynesian countries growing anymore, but not about them losing members either. So that pretty much leaves Africa, and while the church sent missionaries in the 1850s, blacks were not supposed to be officially taught till 1978. The major growth there is fairly new. Maybe you are seeing correlation rather than cause. I'm not saying you are because I really haven't studied the stats, but given I saw other possible reasons, it might be good to look into it.

He should be able to. You could always respond on these boards, just not start them.

"Tithing is the donation of one-tenth of one’s income to God’s Church (see Doctrine and Covenants 119:3–4; interest is understood to mean income). All members who have income should pay tithing." https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/general-handbook/34-finances-and-audits?lang=eng