Grindael,

What did Jesus say 2000 years ago

Matthew 16:28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

Mark 9:1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

Luke 9:27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.

We LDS only teach that John the Beloved from that congregation was the only one to be promised to live until the Second Coming. Jesus here in these verses says ‘some’ indicating more than one. So are you going to contradict Jesus?

Apparently science agrees in part with this sentiment too WW.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1526594/study...

This shows that men in polygamous marriages live longer, healthier and younger life styles thn those who are in a monogamous marriage. Although they do not contribute this to God.

Here is a prophet’s personal opinion centred on the WoW.

Spencer W Kimball said - ”I never drink any of the cola drinks and my personal hope would be that no one would. However, they are not included in the Word of Wisdom in its technical application.” (Spencer W. Kimball, Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, edited by Edward L. Kimball, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982), 202.)

Many member of the church advocate against drinking cola drinks and some even teach that it is doctrine. That is one thing I really hate, when members try and teach something as doctrine when it isn’t.

Fmelo,

Do you know what the difference between a cross and a crucifix is? I am asking because of your statement above where you draw attention to when I say "I draw the line at a crucifix", then you go on to discuss a cross. If you don't know the difference, a cross is just that - a cross; a crucifix is a cross with a statue/picture of Jesus on it.

Now reread what I wrote - I don't mind my daughters wearing a cross, but not a crucifix.

Kate,

From what I have learned, the spirit is an adult, having grown to adulthood in the pre-existence, while the body is an infant. So when a person dies, their spirit will exist as an adult until it is resurrected again into the infant body, where it will receive the chance to grow, develop and mature into an adult. Since this will happen after the resurrection and within the millenium these children will grow up in a perfect world under perfect circumstances.

Fmelo,

In chapter 2 of the Gospel Principles manual we read -

Our Heavenly Father called a Grand Council to present His plan for our progression (see Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, 209, 511). We learned that if we followed His plan, we would become like Him. We would be resurrected; we would have all power in heaven and on earth; we would become heavenly parents and have spirit children just as He does (see D&C 132:19–20).

In chapter 47 under the title ‘Exaltation’ -

What is exaltation?

Exaltation is eternal life, the kind of life God lives. He lives in great glory. He is perfect. He possesses all knowledge and all wisdom. He is the Father of spirit children. He is a creator. We can become like our Heavenly Father. This is exaltation.
…
What are some blessings that will be given to those who are exalted?

Our Heavenly Father is perfect, and He glories in the fact that it is possible for His children to become like Him. His work and glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).

Those who receive exaltation in the celestial kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ will receive special blessings. The Lord has promised, “All things are theirs” (D&C 76:59). These are some of the blessings given to exalted people:

1. They will live eternally in the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (see D&C 76:62).

2. They will become gods (see D&C 132:20–23).
…

I don’t know how much plainer one can get as is written in chapter 47. So it’s not hidden nor kept secret from those investigating or from new members.

Fmelo,

The basic is – children cannot sin. Why? ”To commit sin is to willfully disobey God's commandments or to fail to act righteously despite a knowledge of the truth (see James 4:17)” (from LDS.org). Children do not have a knowledge of truth until they are taught it. This is why there is an age of accountability where Satan cannot tempt the children until they have been taught about God and His goodness and truths. Yes, they make mistakes and do the wrong thing like lying and stealing, etc, but that is a ‘wrong’ not a ‘sin’ as they do not fully understand what they have done. They are innocent of the law not ignorant of it. So Jesus’ Atonement still covers their wrongs, but it also is the enmity between the seed of Eve and Satan which allows for the age of accountability.

A good example of this is the STNG episode ‘Justice’. I disagree with how Capt. Picard argued the point, but look at Wesley’s predicament and figure out what is just and merciful and how you would defend him.

Violet,

I have heard that argument before – where is the cross? As you probably are aware, we LDS believe that the Atonement started in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus started His suffering for the sins of the world, went on to His crucifixion and death, and culminated in His resurrection. Without any one of these steps the Atonement would not be able to save us from both physical and spiritual death. Since Jesus is alive and His resurrection was the final part of the Atonement we look to a living Christ for our eternal life. So we focus on the whole Atonement and the fact the tomb was empty, not on His death only. Hence, no crosses or crucifixes adorn our buildings. However, if my daughters buy or receive as a present a cross necklace/earrings/bracelet, I would have no problem with them wearing it if they wanted, but I draw the line at a crucifix.

RickB,

What can I say. Although we have butted heads now and then, I like the no holds barred way you do things. Yes, it is best that one researches their subject before doing anything else about it, as the source of their information, if it is from outside or a third party, could be incorrect. It is estimated that up to 30 percent of scientific papers have incorrectly referenced their manuscript because the person just uses another paper that has made reference to the information they wanted, rather than them actually reading the original paper itself.

As far as telling the truth, I always try to do that. I have mentioned a number of times that as a missionary I taught one lady. She went out and borrowed 3 books from the library about the LDS church after our first lesson. One was an LDS book, another was a general book about the religions that have grown up over the last 2 centuries and the third was from an ex-member who had in there the temple ceremony as well as other things like that. All the questions she had, like do we believe that we can become gods, etc, I answered truthfully and explained the answer. Her comment was usually she couldn’t believe that but she was grateful for our honesty. Eventually she joined the LDS church and was ostracized by her friends and family.

Fmelo,

Here you do show a bias. There are eye witness accounts stating that the papyri JS had in his possession was over 8 metres in length together. There was also a description of the section that JS said contained the BoA writings. What we have available to us now is less than one eighth of what JS had, and none of it resembles what he said was the BoA. You can say what you like about the things JS wrote on the sides of the papyri we have now, but he could have been trying to translate it without God’s help to see if he could do it, where as with the section that contained the BoA he could have translated that with God’s help. But you don’t want to acknowledge that this is plausible, your bias points you to say that what we have is all that JS had because the writing on the sides are in JS hand writing, it means that JS could not translate the language and made up the BoA. If you were unbiased, you would include in your comments the evidence that we may not have the BoA section of papyrus which indicates that the jury is still out.