The Church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints (no TM)

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Sunday, July 31, 2011

I've spent a lot of time reading a lot of people's blogs. I have even added my own two cents' worth. Sometimes I couldn't, because their comments were closed. (At the time, I didn't think about bringing my comments over here, where I could chat to my heart's content.)

I have learned a lot from these blogs, which are LDS-based. Personally, I hate the word, "bloggernacle" and that is the only time I intend to use it. Mormon blogs is what they are. They range from slavishly defending to mocking (yet they all claim to be LDS blogs). I had no idea so many people were dissatisfied with the church.

Enter Denver Snuffer. Okay, I only said that to be dramatic. I was looking at his blog along with many others. At first, I dismissed him. He was boring. Then I finally decided to read what he had to say. I read nearly everything in his blog, eventually - then I bought some of his books. His is the voice of reason among so many other voices, centered in worshiping Jesus Christ instead of the leaders, but urging to stay with the church and let Jesus do his own housecleaning if housecleaning there must be.

I have to say that I am a different person for having been exposed to all of these blogs. I'm beginning to tire of them, now. I have no interest, for example, in banding together to remove the church handbook "no one" is allowed to read. I have no interest in polygamy, nor "line marriages". I have no interest in starting my own church, nor in attending churches that are more "fun" or that pay more attention to me.

The fact is, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints IS the Church of Jesus Christ. It belongs to Him. Even if it has become a corporation whose only legal member is the president of the church. Why would we want to be a member of a legal corporation anyway? I want to be a member of the church of the Firstborn. The only way to that is through the ordinances of the Church of JC of LDS.

No matter how imperfect the people, no matter how imperfect the organization, this is Jesus' church. He will do His own housecleaning, and I assure you that He will do it, if He isn't already doing it. We are not to steady the ark. But, as Denver Snuffer points out, God does things in ways we don't anticipate. He raises up people from places we don't expect. He fulfills His prophecies in ways we would not have guessed, no matter how learned we may think we are. We can't second-guess God.

Things are scary today. Maybe we aren't as prepared as we should be. Myself, I am as prepared as I am able to be - which seems woefully inadequate at the moment. Even if we think we are prepared, even . . . you know this reminds me of my preparedness friends, who have much storage (or hope to have it) and intend to protect that storage with guns, should someone come along who wants to steal it. They expect marauding gangs, etc. to come along. They have reason to believe that.

But what if what happens is something that never occurred to them? What if no one comes to steal or to kill? What if something totally unexpected happens?

So much of the time, so many people seem to think they know so much. (I'm returning to my other topic now.) We don't know the hearts of the leaders of the church. We don't know anything, even about ourselves and why we do and say things; we are certainly in no position to judge others. Yes, things have changed. Yes, some of those changes seem to be steering the church away from the intended course of a gloriously happy rendezvous with Jesus. But those changes are prophesied all over the Book of Mormon. We can see it if we read "LDS members aka ME!" in every place the book says "gentile(s)". Nearly all of those (if not all) apply to present day LDS people, me included.

There was a reason Pres. Benson urged us to read the Book of Mormon. There was a reason he said we were still under condemnation. If you're unsure of how to read the book and apply it to us (you and me), read some of Denver Snuffer's posts on the books of first, second, and third Nephi.

1 Nephi

2 Nephi

3 Nephi

Gentiles in general

Righteousness

Restored post

Sunday, July 31, 2011

I had a friend ask me today whether I thought priesthood is always attached to an institution, and what I thought the definition of righteousness was. I decided to share my answer here.

I don't know that the priesthood is always attached to an institution. I think it often becomes an institution, though. The gospel requires a few things:

*authority to perform ordinances (i.e. priesthood authority)

*actually performing the ordinances

*places to perform the ordinances

*people meeting together often to

*partake of the Lord's supper (to renew covenants)

*uplift each other

*worship God

*places for the people to meet

The people are to have a specific lifestyle, such as

*sharing one another's burdens

*helping the poor

*not reviling against revilers

*praying for those who harm or try to harm them and/or their loved ones

*being honest and kind

*it would appear that eating mostly plants is part of it

*praying often to God

*humility, meekness, charity, et al

I would think that righteousness is a frame of mind, or perhaps I should say a state of being that is framed (as a picture is framed) by humility, faith, and love/charity.

We cannot be righteous (or at least it is very difficult to be so) if we think we know more than God, if we are deriding our fellowmen, if we think we are better than others, if we are not open to the fact that we don't know everything, etc. I would classify that under humility.

Could we really be righteous without believing/having faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ, not only for ourselves but for others? This reminds me of an experience I had a few days ago.

As I was praying, I began praying about all of those who had hurt me in my life - from perverts to peers to siblings. As I prayed, my mind and heart opened up and I wanted with all of my heart and mind for them to be forgiven. As that happened, I saw very clearly that if I refused to condemn them, the Atonement cleared them, and it was as if they had never done anything to hurt me. The up side of that was, not only their salvation, but that it had never been done to me. The whole thing, the whole experience was (or could be) wiped clean - as if I had never been wounded and as if they had never hurt anyone. It was an awesome thing to witness, to see. A complete wiping away of the whole experience. And I saw that, in this way, each person is pulled away from Satan, who thinks he owns us.

I think what I saw was the full effects of humility, faith, and love as one person forgives. Multiply that by a billion, and you've got Satan losing, wholesale. Even a million people with that experience, ongoing, would put a serious dent into his plan to capture and enslave all of us. I rather like the idea of erasing other people's sins. Of course, being healed from the wounds is pretty enticing, as well.

Adam and Eve Partook of the Fruit Prematurely

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Monday, February 28, 2011

Denver Snuffer said the following on Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Adam and Eve . . . were like little children who are born male and female with the capacity to one day become parents, but who are immature and innocent, and therefore unable to bear children.

The great offense was in Satan's control of the timing. Had they remained in the Garden throughout the Sabbath day of rest then they would have received the commandment to partake of the fruit in the Lord's timing.

http://denversnuffer.blogspot.com/2010/03/adam-and-eve.html

The above is exactly what I think and have thought. It has never made sense to me that God would make two conflicting commandments. It seemed to me that Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge prematurely. They were not ready for it, but - since they did it - God took the steps necessary. Emotionally, Adam and Eve were not perfect. We have done such things in our own lives, things we have been told by our parents not to do. I expect that we usually suffer the consequences, especially if the action was forbidden for our own safety.

Also, I believe that Satan had planned to give them the fruit from the tree of life immediately after they ate the forbidden fruit (which was never described as an apple - I don't even know where that idea came from), so they'd "live forever in their sins", thus making God a liar and frustrating the plan of salvation. Fortunately, God interrupted the plan before Satan could complete it.

There is so much of our own history we don't know and far too much we think we know.

The Barefoot Professor: An Issue of Safety? Really?

The Barefoot Professor: An Issue of Safety? Really?: "warning: I was a *tad* angry when I wrote this! I recently saw a news clip* of a British Columbian teen who was left stranded at a bus station ..."

[Note: I, L'Jn, did not write anything in this post but this sentence that you are reading right now.]