JVW

No, while that experience was a powerful moment with the divine it was like a .0001 out of 100 in comparison to my NDE experience. It was in the same realm though with the subtle not-quite-human feelings present. I've never heard of that before, I'll check it out thanks. My NDE is what caused me to no longer be atheist, so mine was from an atheist background. It isn't something I share very often.

directly related but I really hope that the church produces their own translation of the bible. I think the church's scholars and the purported spiritual gifts and authority that the church has would produce an incredible translation. It would also be great because it could be copyright free and available for free for anyone around the world via any medium. Current Bible copyright laws really suck.

Elder Scott is my favorite apostle of all time so whatever he says I believe it. I don't remember enough about the blog posts I've read to really comment further here, but thank you for sharing this information, I wasn't really aware of this. Regardless of whether it's actually happening or not, there is definitely enough material available (even if it's falsely or coerced) for someone to convince themselves of LDS SRA being a reality and it looks like Tim Ballard took the bait. I chatted with a social worker once who worked with children in the darkest police cases for his entire career and he told me (paraphrasing because of my crappy memory), "Don't trust any cop who's been a cop for more than 10 years. No normal, sane person could keep their good moral values in that industry for longer than that amount of time." I thought it was a really interesting remark, and his comment felt loaded with a lot of experience with the dark side of the police force. I can imagine his comment is doubly more applicable for those who work to rescue children who are trafficked. The kind of material they have to deal with day to day as they work to catch the bad guys would break any man, I think. And I view Tim Ballard as an example of this.

I +1 this Manol. I love NDEs, I don't care what religious background they're from, and I have experienced one myself. I must say that the experience, while it may have left me with words, the words do not adequately do the experience justice, and the perspective change... I wish there was some way for me to retain that, but the good news is that when we die we will all have it, that "experiental understanding of everything" kind of thing. Our bodies truly are designed to be incredibly limited, and I think the text you present here does a good job of trying to describe just how different our beings will feel after we pass on. In a cruel sort of irony, when I was atheist I wanted to be dead because I looked forward to ceasing to exist. After my NDE I wanted to be dead so I could experience what I felt again. So my goal in life is now to try to make my life so good that I don't want to be dead. (Yeah there may or may not be some CPTSD going on, but it is what it is.)

That's a lovely thought, Calm.

The last few weeks I've been pondering on what may be a newly discovered Christlike attribute (for me) and I wanted to get the forum's input on my idea. In Preach My Gospel there are several Christlike attributes listed: Faith, Hope, Charity, Virtue, Integrity, Knowledge, Patience, Humility, Diligence, and Obedience. See: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/preach-my-gospel-2023/14-chapter-6?lang=eng and there is a fun little quiz at the bottom of that link. The Christlike attribute I'm now considering I'm not sure what word to name it but I'll try and express the idea. We hear in church all the time that Christ suffered in the flesh so that He would understand perfectly everything that we're going through in order to succor us. I would also argue that His perfect understanding of us will enable Him to be a perfect advocate for us at the judgment bar of God. Christ perfectly understands each individual in the Evangelical community who reacted with judgment against the LDS in Michigan and said that Latter-day Saints will burn in hell or that a return to "Christian Nationalism" cannot include the Latter-day Saints. Christ understands how incomprehensibly, impossibly stupid the "other side" of the political aisle appears to be. I believe that Jesus gives me the benefit of the doubt when considering my perspective and beliefs. I even view Him as agreeing with me in many ways and I don't think I'm unique in that belief. I believe that he understands the reasons why I believe what I do, and why I act the way I act, and that He doesn't condemn me for it. And I believe that He views my enemies the same way. We are all wrong compared to God. The amount of truth we know is infinitesimally small compared to all their is to know. Yet I haven't personally encountered many instances in which God has told me, "You're wrong" and I don't believe He has done that very often to others. He allowed Brigham Young to preach blood atonement, he allows me to hold my wacky views, and he doesn't often correct my perspective or condemn me for holding said views even when they are wrong. Maybe this is similar to "steel man" or that practice in debate where you study to defend a side you disagree with? I don't know what to call it but I hope I'm making sense. People talk about being tolerant, patient, kind, compassionate, peacemakers. Yet those types of attributes aren't adequate for a perfect advocate, and they aren't exactly healing the algorithmic division existing in our hearts. I have felt this way recently about my cousin. He has left the church and is currently going through a divorce. After hearing a brief account of his life story and some of the significant events that have happened in it, I can't blame him for acting and believing the way that he does even if I don't personally agree with all of his choices and see some ways in which he appears foolish (like picking up a cigarette habit). Is what I'm talking about a Christlike attribute? What would you call it? How would you more succinctly define it? Is there any scriptural backing for this idea? Is it a bad thing? These are fresh thoughts so sorry for the text wall. Also, if I'm not really conveying my idea properly please let me know and I'll see if I can rephrase my thoughts better. I'm hoping that the discussion here will help me learn more about these ideas I've been having.