Enduring to the End

I'm a random person who loves your blog. My stake ...

2009-11-29T00:36:17.386-05:00

I'm a random person who loves your blog. My stake in Southern Utah was asked by our area authority to index 1 million names in 1 year. We were asked in the spring of this year and I thought that was a lofty goal. Last I heard we had reached close to 800,000 names and are on our way to meeting the goal before the end of 2009, well before our due date. (I've only contributed a tiny amount myself.)

What an awesome goal for yourself! I have no doubt that you will reach it and look forward to hearing about the lessons learned.

Cortney: I'm glad you think it's so easy for him....

2009-11-22T13:40:59.439-05:00

Cortney:

I'm glad you think it's so easy for him. But I must point out something to you that will show you how wrong you are.

To genuinely believe in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to believe that the power and authority of God has been restored to the earth. It is to believe that through baptism and repentance, our sins, shortcomings, sorrows, and sufferings will be made whole through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It it to believe that there is hope for a day when he will not deal with the heartbreak of this issue, because the Atonement isn't just for sins. It covers every pain and heartache we ever face.

If my friend is to hope for that redemption and peace, He has to endure well in his faith in Jesus Christ, and the restored Church on the earth. If he doesn't, then he won't obtain that relief.

To believe that the Church is false would also get rid of the one staple in his life that is teaching him that such healing is even possible. So I have to disagree with you by saying that leaving the Church is the WORST thing he could possibly do.

I hope with everything in me that Boyfriend leaves...

2009-11-22T04:54:56.606-05:00

I hope with everything in me that Boyfriend leaves this Church and finds love, and a life, and a full and accepting view of himself. He is a person with natural thoughts and feelings, and no one should be made to feel ashamed or less than for how they love when the relationship is equal and consensual and both parties- or all parties, as in polygamy- are willing. You're right, he could stay and be celibate, or perhaps take Church advice and try for a "mixed orientation marriage" or "MOM" for short, trapping another precious person and the little children to come in a sham of a marriage done solely to assuage the loneliness of being an outsider in what you correctly deem a family Church. But I hope instead of that he leaves. And I hope to God that he is able to leave with the majority of his dignity and self worth intact.

Beautiful post, Paradox. I hope your family is ab...

2009-11-21T21:49:14.778-05:00

Beautiful post, Paradox. I hope your family is able to go to the open house - and I'm glad your parking lot has been refurbished into a living house of worship.

I loved this post. It brought me back to the many...

2009-11-20T15:49:54.105-05:00

I loved this post. It brought me back to the many times that I had the very same experience of walking up to the temple to find solace my first few years at BYU. I made the weekly walk an important part of my Sunday. I grew up in Illinois in a place where it took a 2 hour drive to get to the temple, so having a temple within walking distance was a real rush.

That's awesome that you listened to talks on your iPod while walking up there.

Hang in there!

Thanks for sharing this. I hope that your family ...

2009-11-20T15:41:29.546-05:00

Thanks for sharing this. I hope that your family will come to the open house and see what you hope they will see.
It must be very hard to not have your family's support when you choose the right.

Thanks for stopping by. Always good to see you bac...

2009-11-17T14:54:10.617-05:00

Thanks for stopping by. Always good to see you back :)

Amen.

2009-11-16T17:45:10.382-05:00

Amen.

just popped in to say hey! good to see you're stil...

2009-11-04T12:22:20.782-05:00

just popped in to say hey! good to see you're still blogging!

I really would have liked to have gone. And that's...

2009-08-26T13:51:10.079-04:00

I really would have liked to have gone. And that's putting it lightly.

But really, someone has GOT to tell you Mormons how to name things properly. LOL

Honey, no one can spell Oquirrh. My dad can't even...

2009-08-26T13:45:52.820-04:00

Honey, no one can spell Oquirrh. My dad can't even remember how to pronounce it, no matter how often I tell him. On a more related note, I wish you could have come to the dedication with us. It was amazing, to say the least.

To which I would add that further research has rev...

2009-08-26T12:53:12.380-04:00

To which I would add that further research has revealed that the Boston Massachusetts temple was the 100th temple, NOT Palmyra. However, the Boston temple was dedicated in 2000 also, so the calculation is still valid.

That is all :)

I couldn't agree more! I definitely will want to r...

2009-07-17T15:08:25.138-04:00

I couldn't agree more! I definitely will want to return again some day.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Thanks for posting this. I was baptized in the Sc...

2009-07-17T11:18:38.956-04:00

Thanks for posting this. I was baptized in the Scranton Stake. I have had sacred experiences myself there many times and time spent there was a key to my testimony of the priesthood. It's a shame that more perople do not take the time to go to Harmony (Susquehanna). However, I appreciate the serenity that has remained in the surroundings.

I love your analogy, dahling! However, I think you...

2009-07-04T01:12:31.712-04:00

I love your analogy, dahling! However, I think you could add something. Out there, somewhere. Is a real lobster. And that's what you really are looking for. With temporary infatuations, you are chasing the inflatable imitation, when you really just want the real thing. ;)

Garent: If you're asking me what I do personally ...

2009-06-11T03:16:00.881-04:00

Garent:

If you're asking me what I do personally in such situations, I can only be honest. I pray. I spend a lot of time asking God to help me understand anything I come across that challenges my thinking. I ask for the truth, and I accept it when it's given to me. If it isn't given to me that easily, I understand that I must proceed with caution, making sure I don't confuse my thinking or someone else's with the Spirit.

I ask a lot of questions and I tend to be very defensive in my approach. If I come across something that makes me feel uncomfortable because I can feel that it isn't true, I stop reading it. I'm very critical of anything that gives me that feeling because I know better. I've been given too much in the way of sacred knowledge to do anything that would compromise my testimony of it.

The most important thing I can think to say to you is that it's VERY important to be more skeptical of your doubts than you are of your faith. We don't have to be afraid of information, of history, of science and to question and learn. The act of learning is godly, and is essential to our purpose for being on the earth. However, we need to make sure that we only seek after the truth.

" But it also has a lot of stuff in it that can ne...

2009-06-11T01:39:18.748-04:00

" But it also has a lot of stuff in it that can never be verified, and should therefore never be taken too seriously."

Hi, I have a question for you about something you mention here. At one side of this is the large amount of information about past and present church history that can't be verified and should not be taken seriously. However, I do have a question about what you do about the things in LDS history that CAN be verified and should be taken seriously??? These portions of history are the troubling and faith-shaking items that members run into but are not well understood. Thoughts??? You'll run into many as you read RSR. Good luck with the book. Huge but very well worth it.

I SAW! Isn't that great? I'm officially a bigwig ;...

2009-06-09T16:23:57.605-04:00

I SAW! Isn't that great? I'm officially a bigwig ;)

OMG I LOVE THIS. link please? oh, & you were menti...

2009-06-09T01:55:59.032-04:00

OMG I LOVE THIS. link please? oh, & you were mentioned in http://mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/today_bloggernacle/?id=8175 (look at June 4th)

just for the record, I wouldn't date someone whose favorite band is the partridge family. also, what on earth could he use those leather harnesses for?...?

1984! HA! I WIN! How legit, exactly, does this "r...

2009-06-06T18:41:08.731-04:00

1984! HA! I WIN!

How legit, exactly, does this "research project" have to be? Because I am definitely doing research, and it's a project, but it's not for a class or anything.

Niblish is definitely a good word for it. I perused them lightly for what little time I was in there. The person who was supposed to give me the code left on a mission without giving it to me. I'm now on a mission to get in there to look at the Book of the Dead in the event that he decides to be difficult.

YAY! I can totally see why he pretty much had a cu...

2009-06-06T18:35:08.207-04:00

YAY! I can totally see why he pretty much had a cult following. The man way amazing!

Ender's Game is definitely double plus good (bonus...

2009-06-06T14:25:43.062-04:00

Ender's Game is definitely double plus good (bonus points for knowing that reference). I give another vote for the audio book. One of the best put together ones I've ever heard, but some excellent bonus material from Card.

Memory of Earth is Nephi's story but very slow and very different. The first book ends with getting Laban's sword. Really slow. Frankly Card's Mormon retellings (the Earth books and Alvin Maker books) pale in comparison to his original stuff.

And I used to have the code to the Hugh Nibley room. I worked in there for a while. All you need to do to get the code is talk to the ancient studies librarian and have a "research project" that involves the stuff in there.

And don't be too excited about his annotations. All of his notes are in Niblish, his own private language composed of a bunch of languages he knew plus a few made up ones. No one can decipher it yet.

For more Nibley Egyptian goodness, check out the b...

2009-06-06T14:19:45.715-04:00

For more Nibley Egyptian goodness, check out the biographical video "Faith of an Observer" here: http://farms.byu.edu/publications/multimedia.php?id=5

Nibley wandering around Egyptian ruins explaining stuff and dissing on college and business.

I've been told that my experience as a human being...

2009-06-04T16:43:40.187-04:00

I've been told that my experience as a human being will continue to be incomplete until I read Ender's Game. LOL :) It's another thing I've intended to get a copy of and just never have.

And I agree with you about everything in Christ's church being second to Him. It's just that Christ is just so overwhelmingly above my head most of the time. It's a problem I've dealt with by working with what pieces I have and do understand. Joseph Smith is a good springboard for me because he would agree with you too, and it's easy for me to empathize with his experiences.

But really... how do you empathize with someone like Christ who truly is perfect? Maybe it's not my job to empathize with Him--rather, to always follow Him.

I'm another Mormon blogger who has not read "Rough...

2009-06-04T11:17:45.513-04:00

I'm another Mormon blogger who has not read "Rough Stone" yet, and I don't think that makes me less of a Mormon. LOL.

I just finished OS Card's "Ender's Game" and was totally blown away with his genius. To fully appreciate it, you really need to get it on CD and listen, because it is staged as an audio play with different voices for the different characters and personally, I thought it was amazing, and thought provoking. Science fiction at its best.

As for testimony fortification, when I was on my mission a companion and I immersed ourselves in a serious study of Talmage's "Jesus The Christ". We went through the entire book, and looked up all of the references and had deep conversations. That was a difinitive experience for me. I discovered Jesus Christ - and my relationship to him solidified. Frankly, everything else in our church has to comes secondary to Him.