Kenngo1969

Is there any real difference between, "Yew Marminz ain't Christiunz 'cuz ya believe in the wrong Jeezuss!" and "Yew Marminz is atheists 'cuz ya believe in the wrong Jeezuss!"?

I don't think it is possible to do any of those things without Christ's grace to begin with.

I'm in charge of "Zoom"-ing my ward's Sacrament meeting. (I'll hasten to add that I'm not techno-savvy ... at all. I joke that when I first got the call, I busted out laughing for 15 minutes straight before finally stopping, looking the counselor who issued the call in the eye, and saying, "Oh. You're actually serious, aren't you? Umm ... ... Okay." There isn't much I can do when people are having connection problems because I'm not in charge of the software, like @Nemesis is here. Occasionally, people will message me with the equivalent of "You're doing [x], which is creating problems on my end." I simply shrug and message them back: "I'm sorry you're having technical difficulties. Insofar as I am able to determine, things are functioning normally on my end." (I'm scared to tell them to try rebooting, because if their connection sucks that bad and they try to reboot, they might not be able to get back in. ) Whaddayagonnado? All I can say is, Good luck and God Bless to our "Cyber-congregation" every week!

Yeah, I got that error too, for a few days.

What's the first condition listed in Moroni 10:32? That we come unto Him. I suppose I'm not understanding what in that verse, aside from the human tendency to try make life a "do-it-yourself" operation, is so hard to do. In Christ, I can indeed "be perfected"; in Christ, I can indeed "deny [myself] of all ungodliness"; paradoxically, perhaps, in Christ, I can indeed "love God with all [my] might, mind, and strength." And why is it that I may become perfect only in Christ? Because, otherwise, I might be tempted to "deny the power of God." And if [as] I come unto Christ, it is He who does the "perfecting" ("be perfected in Him").

If one wishes to demonstrate to me what one values most, don't just tell me what one says. Show me what one does. Now, am I entirely consistent, at all times, in demonstrating what I value most by what I do as opposed to what I say? No, but that's where repentance and the Atonement of Christ figure into the equation. "All I can do" in cases, in circumstances, and on occasions in which what I say I value most is not reflected in what I do is repent, pick myself up, dust myself off, and, in the words that a sage three-year-old said when asked what it means to repent, "It means we git to twy agin." As the old saying goes, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." When all is said and done (the integral part of "All" being the Atonement of Jesus Christ) perhaps the one thing I have left to give to God that He did not give me in the first place (see Mosiah 4:21: I am indebted to God for all that I am and all that I have) is my will.

@smac97, It appears that Ms. Hartnett defines "biological s*x" in the same way that former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart defined obscenity: "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it." One might wonder what would be the equivalent of attempting to define "biological s*x" for the Court to the Court's former practice of holding screenings of allegedly-obscene films for the Justices so that they could attempt to determine whether such films were "obscene" or not. We live in ... interesting times ... and have, for quite awhile now.

That'll do it!

Weren't the Reelies ... Bill Reel and his acolytes ... arguing, awhile back, that 10% of surplus is the standard? (IMO, if someone thinks that 10% of surplus is the standard and tells his friends and family that 10% of surplus is the standard, that's one thing: Such an one is entitled to one's own opinion. If one "goes to war" [albeit only rhetorically and metaphorically speaking, of course] against the Church of Jesus Christ about 10% of surplus being the standard, Churchwide, is it therein that lies the problem? What say ye?

Did it work? I mean, did he succeed?* Sorry! Couldn't resist! *Asking for a friend who has insomnia.

Nah! Joseph Smith is the spitting image of Paul Wuthrich! 😁 Seriously, I wonder how much thought was put into how Joseph might've sounded.

And then there's this, from Daniel C. Peterson: Why — cue portentous music — has the Interpreter Foundation had nothing to say about polygamy denialism? Well, it has had something to say about polygamy denialism: Historical and Stylometric Evidence for the Authorship of Doctrine and Covenants 132

Yes, he was quite doctrinaire, wasn't he?

Umm, @theplains? Joseph Fielding Smith didn't write Doctrines [sic] of Salvation. Just sayin'!

Paging @A Wretched Soul!! "Bueller? Bueller?"

OK.

Is that what the Vega$ odd$maker$ are $aying? Sorry! Couldn't resist! Carry on!

If my bishop doesn't ask, I won't tell. (I don't know what kind of specific training bishops receive on things like this, but I wouldn't be surprised if the only instruction they get is that the only question they should ask is, "Are you a full tithe payer?" and the only answers they should accept are, respectively, "Yes," or "No.")

Paging @A Wretched Soul! "Bueller?! Bueller?!"

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is excommunicatin' the faithful, now, eh? Tsk-tsk-tsk! Makes me wonder if I'm next ... not! Oh, well! Sucks to be her, I guess!

Sincere seeker after truth ... who hasn't been back to engage his interlocutors since lobbing the bomb, flooring the accelerator, and exiting the scene of the drive-by bombing at high speed? Yeeeaaahhh ... color me doubtful on that one. @A Wretched Soul, if I'm wrong, and if you can at least work up enough [fake? ] umbrage to return to this thread and tell me I'm wrong, I'll gladly apologize, but ... I ain't holdin' my breath!

A scripture does come to mind: "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall speak all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in Heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:11-13. I hope no one experiences any lingering ill effects from this incident and that everyone, including the perpetrator, gets the help they each need.

RIP, President Holland, and condolences to family and friends. I have a President Holland story that, although he was not involved [directly], I think he would appreciate and find amusing. Before she realized that she wouldn't have to know much about biology or chemistry or other things of that nature to do what she wanted to do and to be successful in life, my mother attended what was then Dixie Junior College for a quarter. Coincidentally, a couple of weeks before President Holland's call into the Quorum of the Twelve, I happened to spot my mother's yearbook in our downstairs library. I pulled it off of the shelf and thumbed through it, and it wasn't hard to spot President Holland, who was something of a BMOC *, at various places in it. Prior to this, I was unaware of President Holland's association with Dixie College (from which I had graduated a year or two before). I thought to myself, "Hmm, that's interesting," and then I replaced the book on the shelf. A couple of weeks later, when it was announced that President Holland had been called into the Quorum of the Twelve, I told my mother, "You know, Mom, you went to school with him." (Of course, I use the phrase "went to school with him" quite loosely here: I'm quite sure they didn't move in the same circles! ) She was skeptical. She said, "Oh, I did not!" I said, "You did, too, and I can prove it." I went downstairs, retrieved the yearbook, brought it upstairs, and turned to one of the several pages that featured President Holland quite prominently. I said, "He hasn't changed much, appearance-wise, in the last 30 years, has he?" So, thereafter, "Elder Holland" became "Jeffrey, my classmate": "Boy, my classmate, Jeffrey, did a really good job in this Conference, didn't he?" Whereupon I would respond, "But, Mom: His close friends call him, 'Jeff.'" I hope, one day, to be able to tell Elder Holland that story in person. RIP, Elder Holland, and condolences to family and friends, but God be thanked for the matchless gift of His Divine Son. _________________ * "Big Man on Campus"

As Count Rugen told Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride, "If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything." (Seriously, though: No, I don't, in fact, believe that. Some of the best people I have ever known also have been the ones who have faced the most serious health challenges of which I, personally, am aware: As Christ told His Apostles, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28, KJV.) I do wish everyone as healthy a Merry Christmas and as happy a New Year as are possible.

@A Wretched Soul Poor guy! Sucks to be you, I guess! Oh, well! Cough-cough-[Troll!]-cough-cough-cough! P.S.: In the [unlikely] event that you should happen to see this, I hope you had a Merry Christmas!