NOM

How do you physically force a being who can't die to leave or not enter a place, anyway? For example, the one-third in premortal life and those in the afterlife who might want to visit family in a higher kingdom even though it's against the rules. (If they followed every little rule they'd have been...

Hagoth wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 25, 2024 8:02 pm

Here's another thing. Nephi chopped off Laban's head to prevent his descendants from dwindling in unbelief. But that is exactly what they did eventually anyway.

It's interesting to talk to people in other religious traditions about this, too. At least in Mormonism you can visit lower kingdoms and there are rumors that you just might be able to progress from one kingdom to another after death. (But don't talk about that or people won't try hard enough here. ...

It's interesting how some things leak into Mormonism to greater or lesser degrees from wider Christianity. My parents would have had no problem at all with Dungeons and Dragons but face cards were off limits.

Hagoth wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 04, 2024 10:48 am

. . . conversion of Paul. Bunyan turns . . .

Now I can't help wondering what the Book of Mormon might be like had it been inspired by the stories of Paul Bunyan. Probably just a few years too late, unfortunately.

It's interesting to ask what Jesus would do in the context of the Book of Mormon. In 3rd Nephi, Jesus personally destroys a bunch of cities to usher in his visit, obviously not sparing innocent children. Of course, it's even worse in the Bible where the humans are commanded to raid a city and kill e...

The beauty of AI is the ability to combine gigabytes and gigabytes of data - to combine the voices of all the diverse groups of the world, and with the right prompt, create a combined voice that best represents all of humanity. I do see a lot of potential for many types of collaboration on a large ...

https://www.mormonstories.org/portfolio-items/confronting-nihilism-after-mormonism/ I've been listening to Mormon Stories since it started (though not quite as much in recent years). As relatable as many of the episodes have been, I think this one comes closest to matching my thought processes as I...

An idea that's sometimes thrown around is that Lucifer rebelled not out of pride but because he sincerely believed that Heavenly Father's plan was flawed. That the types and degree of suffering baked in just weren't worth it and there must be a better way. This also makes me think of the part in Bru...

I was a little surprised to hear Nelson state that baptism will get you into the Celestial Kingdom but only temple covenants and marriage would get you "Exaltation" within the Celestial Kingdom. I've never read that baptism alone, would get you into the CK. I think this is the standard teaching. Ba...

I'd also add 3) Community. and maybe 2b) The idea that wrongs will eventually be made right somehow, there's a reason for suffering, and there will ultimately be the justice that's missing in life. 2c) The idea that there's a powerful being who knows and cares for you. You're not just a random colle...

Would I have hesitated to be baptized as an eight year old if someone explained to me some of the problems of theism, Christianity and Mormonism? I'm not sure. At that point it would probably have depended on who was doing the explaining. But starting life over knowing what I know now would be a lot...

A new revelation that clarifies and expands upon the descriptions of the afterlife found in scripture.

But there will likely be nothing new other than mundane policy changes until the end of time.

Maybe it's because I've gone through a faith crisis, but I've become a lot more conscious of how much unwarranted certainty people express in general. Something comes up in the news and instantly everyone knows enough to make a moral judgment and toss opinions around. (Not everyone and not always in...

I probably need to follow your lead at some point and actually say I won't be taking any callings. I've had several meet with a leader for no stated reason messages (that I just ignored) in recent years, plus a few cases in which someone I knew from the ward pushed hard to try to get me to take a ca...

I sometimes feel lucky to have grown up in the era I did. Aside from the obvious (not living in a war zone or subject to starvation, etc.), it seems like kids had a lot more unsupervised play in the recent past than they do now. And how would my life have been different had I carried a mobile phone ...

I don't think my ingrained Mormon aversion to most vulgar language and humor is ever going to dissipate. Funny how that can outlive fundamental elements of my faith. This thread reminds me of the times when I was younger and would hear a joke that was totally inappropriate but also very clever. One ...

Looks like you can find the recording here:

https://www.youtube.com/@TheDivineAssembly

We might start with a simple belief as a child, but at some point that childlike faith faces questions and concerns. While our untested faith may have served well as a spiritual foundation, we must now move from simple faith through complexity to mature faith that is able to withstand future challe...

“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Funny to think about how normal things like this once...