JVW

I would like it if you started a new thread about eternal families. I didn't know there was any other religion that had explicit teachings on the topic of what happens to family relations after death. I know that everyone that I've met "feels" like they'll be with their family and loved ones forever. And NDEs certainly indicate that family lines are special and important. But doctrinally I haven't seen any creeds or whatever specifically address the issue. And, as far as I can tell on the LDS side, even though it is our capstone doctrine, it has probably had the least amount of revelation around it out of any of our doctrines. All I know about what it means to be sealed is that a couple's marriage won't end at "death do you part". Other than that, I don't know that we really know anything else about it. I think a separate thread would facilitate the more intelligent among us (i.e. not me) to provide more information from a variety of perspectives and sources.

Hey Manol, I know you're not LDS. I thought you were agnostic but are you actually Christian? The way you write makes me feel like you believe in Jesus more than I do. Also, I'm with Nehor, if the Second Coming teachings changed from "we are preparing for the Second Coming" to "we are the fulfillment of the Second Coming as we convert" I'd probably find another church. But you present a nice concept.

https://www.abc4.com/news/religion/lds-church-scotus-brief-transgender-rights/ This is really an @smac97 kind of thing. I don't know lawyer language so you'll get no analysis of the brief from me here. Honestly, I'm just happy to see that leaders of Evangelical organizations are getting along with LDS, maybe I can hope for a future with less anti-Mormon bias. What I'm most curious to hear about from everyone is not whether this is right or wrong, but what would your personal solution be to balance religious freedom and the rights of trans people to do whatever they want to do? (However, comments about anything are welcome.) Should churches be forced in any way to compromise their doctrine or beliefs to accommodate people who aren't living in accordance with it? What about religious schools or charitable organizations? How would you draw the line and balance this?

My memory was rusty. Thanks for the correction.

Thanks for your good faith effort to participate here. I loved reading your thoughts on the topic.

I don't believe that Nelson bided his time, but other than that I feel like I could have written everything you said, only in a much less elegant and succinct way.

I hear it's great for off-roading too!

His focus on the Second Coming was tremendous. It was really interesting last conference that there wasn't a single mention of the Second Coming by anyone. It honestly got me wondering if there is a difference between being the president of the church "prophet" and being an apostle. My curiosity won't be sated until next conference, because if I am right, and "the prophet" is a unique mantle, then President Oaks will be hammering down on Second Coming stuff next conference like what Nelson did. I am starting to think that there may be a lot of communication from God that only the prophet is privy to. You could see the fire in Nelson's eyes. You know he saw things that the apostles didn't. I thought he was going to live to be 120, dude had more vitality than I do at 40.

No offense taken. I see your point. I understand that prophets and apostles have an administrative role. But isn't a prophets role primarily to cry repentance to the Israel and to the world? During times of peace and righteousness there isn't a lot of repentance that needs to be cried. But we are certainly not living in that time. I know there is a lot that members aren't privy to about how the brethren are travelling throughout the world trying to gather Israel, but you would think that, by now, the prophet or the Apostles would have started to receive death threats, or been on the news in various different countries doing interviews telling people to repent (like how President Nelson was published in TIME magazine, though he didn't cry repentance, just gave good advice. I'm not even sure that he mentioned Jesus in the article!). I'm not looking for fire raining down from the sky, but I am looking for some effort to communicate with the world and to boldly declare the need to repent and turn to Jesus Christ. Not soft, corporate speak bi-annual conferences that only members watch. Am I making any sense?

I'm not familiar with Cody Judy.

I drove a used, 2005 Mercedes for about 6 months (complicated story) a few years back and it was super smooth and felt slower than it was. I don't have much experience with European cars but I imagine that VWs, BMWs, etc. feel similar since it's the same country. In general I feel like larger cars feel slower than bigger cars. If I'm driving a Chevy Tahoe or a Kia Carnival I feel more comfy and slow than if I'm driving a Mazda 3, as an example.

It was fun to read about the parts that form the Pyreaux puzzle. You are one of my favorite contributors to forum conversations. I don't view any of what you wrote as a negative if the end result is the Pyreaux that I see online. Cheers brother!

I agree with you. I wish the LDS prophets acted more like prophets. It's like we got a Moses, a bright flash in the pan, and then everything just fizzled out. It's one of my complaints about the current church, it feels more like being part of a corporation than it does like a Biblical or BoM-type Israelite church, at least outside of the temple.

That's interesting. Why is that? He was before my time but wasn't he president for less than a year?

You got me. I meant since Joseph Smith, sorry! What was it about President Nelson that you liked so much? Was he your first prophet? My first prophet was Monson and I really have a soft spot for him. I've found that many people's favorite prophet was whoever was in charge when they joined the church. President Nelson is a special prophet to me because he pulled some crap that didn't sit right with me and was actually a catalyst for me asking God about him. And God responded. I don't know that I'll ever care to ask God about whether a prophet is His prophet or not, so Nelson may be the only prophet that I ever receive confirmation from God about. It was a very special experience.

I agree with you. I have the same issue with Hanson and his politics. I also have that issue with Dan McClellan and his politics. When he starts every video with "I'm a scholar of religion and the Bible" and then starts making a social commentary I feel like he's out of his lane. But, even with that being said, I'm glad he's around sharing his opinion about what he cares about. I'm glad our church can allow for such diverse viewpoints. As I like to say when I don't like someone, "They aren't my type of person, but there's someone for everyone. I'll let someone else be a part of their life and stay safely away." I imagine Hanson and McClellan both have helped at least one person each find their way onto the membership roles of the church, and that's a net positive for the church's mission regardless of what kind of people these new members are based on who brought them in. Cheers!

I don't watch Jacob Hansen but I am glad that he's out there on the internet having debates and making videos and stuff. The world needs more LDS influencers, for better or for worse. Christianity and Islam have a billion of them and our church has a lot of catching up to do.

My favorite church president is Brigham Young. I'm amazed at everything he accomplished with the Saints and how loud and self-confident he comes across in his texts. Whether he was right or wrong, if he believed something then people knew it. I feel like if more people were like Brigham the world would be a better, less two-faced, more industrious place. And this was still in the good old days when prophets performed miracles and stuff, so I bet there's a lot of interesting stories I could find if I spent more time digging through church history. As a bonus, my favorite apostle ever was Elder Richard G. Scott. He came across as very humble and thoughtful, devoted to his family and his late wife (never remarried as is common for apostles to do), and was apparently very smart as a retired nuclear physicist. I'd love to hear from all of you, regardless of your current beliefs about LDS church presidents. There's some members on the board that I'm really curious what their response would be to this question so I hope many of you will participate so that I don't have to start PMing people.

links?

lol, my vote was hiding in the hollow earth. The moon is just a much less efficient place to have a hideout considering it's hundreds of thousands of miles away, whereas hiding a hundred miles below ground with main portals at the poles and secret portals around the world just seems like a smarter plan that requires less gas.

The lawyer video was him reviewing a case that the judge has already ruled on, against the woman, and he shows the timeline and screenshots. He rambles about the Sound of Freedom movie for a few minutes, I didn't like that part, the rest of it was interesting. The email she wrote to the church is around the 15:40 mark.

Let me start by stating this belief I have about power - Those who break the rules are perceived as more powerful than those who don't. The inference here is that if one is truly powerful they have the ability to break rules. Example: a saint who pays tithing every month for their entire life and would have a panic attack if they missed a payment VS a saint who has historically paid whenever they felt like it and consciously choose to pay tithing even though could not without a second thought. My mother was a powerful person. She could get things done, and she always got things the way she wanted them. She used that power, somewhat naively, in a bad way that damaged me and my siblings probably beyond repair. As I grew up my mother, whether consciously or not, would spend every opportunity trying to break my will until she succeeded at which point I did not have agency anymore. I don't know how much of my personality comes from my mom, but if I ever had any semblance of her powerful personality I don't remember it because she broke me at such a young age. Because of the trauma I went through I do not really have any childhood or early adolescent memories. Only small fragments. Within a year after my parents divorce when I was 15 I was kicked out by my mom (because her new husband threatened to call the cops on me) and I moved in with my dad. He told me of a time shortly after that when he took me to McDonald's drive thru and asked me what I wanted to which I replied, "Whatever you want me to have." That small event is indicative of the way I had been raised, conditioned, and beaten into. My life's journey now is twofold: 1) to not want to be dead (as an atheist because I thought ceasing to exist sounded so peaceful, as a theist because I know the afterlife is beyond any happiness I can feel on Earth). 2) to care, to be plugged in, to be passionate and loud and temperamental and have power to effect the changes I want to see in the world. As it stands right now I feel like I'm only 5% there but in reality I'm probably more like 40% there. Though my apathy, poor memory (b/c of lack of strong emotional response to most things), and lack of ability to connect makes me feel like I'm going to end up with Alzheimer's one day. I want to be powerful and use that power in the right way, to build and uplift those around me, not in the wrong way to produce slavery and misery. Since I have lived through the "how not to do it" I hopefully would be able to avoid those pitfalls that would cause harm. Did that answer your question?

It doesn't matter, what matters is their passion and dedication to their cause and ideals, even if they are evil. From the perspective of my little brain I view most powerful people as worshipping money, so money is their primary motivation and what they think about all day. I don't think that applies to everyone listed above, or on my larger personal list of people who have this drive. Your view on his motivations is entirely possible. I'm going to take him at his word here as far as what motivates him because that's what I tend to do when it comes to public figures. If they are deceiving it tends to come to light sooner or later.

If you want to have a fun 20 minutes check out this video. You won't regret it, it's super fun.

I take a more cynical view, probably because hope is one of my weakest attributes. This is evidenced by my favorite verse in the New Testament Mark 10:18 "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." However, in some sort of a paradox my personal happiness and humility is to be achieved by focusing on what I have that is good by way of gratitude.