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Hi SamBee, Ramblings follow... if it were my assignment, here's what I would do (but there are many other perfectly valid ways to do it, so do what you like best): - I'd stay away from money versus treasures in heaven. I would not take the "treasures of the earth" to mean wealth, but rather the purs...

I will surprise no one, I suppose, by saying that the resolution to this issue lies more with us than with the Church. I agree that it is great when the local wards have activities that are more social and less purposeful, but people like us have to allow that it's not the Elks Lodge or a Book Club....

On the topic of the endowment itself, I will say that I would probably be more OK with it now than I was for a long time. I used to like it fine, but then FC happened and I fell out of respect for the ceremony. I don't remember the last time I was in the temple, but guessing around '95/'96-ish. But ...

The publication does something else, it draws elements of the temple experience out into more open conversation. Not sure how to put this, but it trims back a portion of the hedge we've built up around the temple experience. Yes! Exactly. And there's this other paragraph in the same General Handboo...

I'm sure many of you are already aware of this... but, FYI... The Church General Handbook was updated in December, 2020, and includes new and much more specific language regarding the endowment: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/general-handbook/27-temple-ordinances-for-the-living?lan...

Is DAB intentionally misleading here, regarding the unavailability of temple ordinances? I'm not sure. It looks like it on the surface. My take is that he's probably not lying, but rather mischaracterizing reality because of his world-view. He doesn't see things the same way you or I do, so from his...

Between 1855 and 1889, the Saints performed more than 54,000 endowments, 68,000 sealings, and 134,000 baptisms for the dead in the Endowment House. *It should be noted that the endowment house was not the only place temple ordinances were performed and that not all temple ordinances were performed ...

jamison, I'm sorry to hear of your frustrations. I know what you mean. The last time I tried to read the BofM was 25 years ago, and it just didn't do it for me any more. That it does for some is fine. For me, nah. On the Come Follow Me curriculum... I have mixed feelings. I thought it was OK when I ...

SamBee, I agree with you about that. I think it is a very unfortunate aspect of our human nature that we view people who think like we do as intelligent, sophisticated, and enlightened. But when we encounter people who think differently than we do, we view them as dumb, simple-minded, and backward. ...

Carrot or Stick? In early Christianity, the carrot was what was presented. Jesus does seem to have been someone who offered, rather than warned. My reading of Paul, and by that I mean the real, original Paul of Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, I Thessalonians, Philemon, and Philippians, not the later...