Saul Hudson

It depends. Did you take something from me? IF you did, then IT'S SERIOUS!

After reading through all these, I think I would like to point out that we should keep our eye on the big picture. Though attending church and being part of the social group is an important part of our existence, it is just a PART of the gospel. The big picture is that we are preparing ourselves to enter into the presence of God. Not just to be there, but to be like Him. That's why we have commandments. In essence, if you want to be a saved being and have the kind of existence that saved and exalted beings have, then here is how you achieve that - here are the directions. The desire to be a part of a good community and to spend time with good people is a good desire, but that is not what it should be all about. We shouldn't want to just hang out, stay exactly who we are, and say all is well - I am what I am. The gospel is about change. It is about having a change of heart and changing our ways to conform to the directions that will exalt us to God's presence. I don't think we should ever say that we've reached a point where we just want to hang out and not work on bettering ourselves.

She is probably going to go through one of the worst and best experiences of her life. She will be deceived for a time, but then will learn to hate the darkness for what it is and come back into the light. Why? Because she has no where else to go. If she still loves God and feels that He loves her, then He will bring her back. Where will she go to find the peace and love and full spirit that she used to feel. Where will the doctrines and purity of the gospel be found other than here? She will one day miss that, because just having the thought of a loving God isn't enough when she will one day remember the full glory of the spirit. You be humble, you pray every day, and you let your light so shine so that her soul will remember what it feels like.

LOL, I didn't say Ol' Joe Smith! :) Actually, Joe is just easier to type, as I always seem to type Joseph incorrectly the first time.... see, I had to correct it there too! Something about the E and the H gets messed up every time. Must be the layout on the keyboard! Hhahaa... anyway, I'll make the effort to type it out. We want to avoid even the appearance of evil

Thank you, I watched 2 of them and will get to more tomorrow! They are great! You might like to read "The 5,000 Year Leap" by W. Cleon Skousen. It talks about all this stuff two, how the founding fathers used the 10 commandments as their basis.

No excommunication. But sex to a man is a physical need, just like the need for food. Can a wife just refuse forever and expect a positive outcome? Anyway, you mentioned drinking so I wanted to tell you that there is a great book called "Rational Recovery" by Jack Trimpey that will help you overcome your addiction. It's not like that AA nonsense at all. Rational Recovery will teach you the real reason why you drink and then you can stop for good. I haven't had a drop in over 5 years, not have I wanted to.

Yeah it is a tough one and I am trying to think what I would do. First, what you did was wrong. You broke God's laws in numerous ways, starting with inappropriate relationship with someone other than your wife, which led to you thinking about this person, lust, then physical intimacy. It just snowballed on you because from the very start you did not stop yourself from dwelling on the thoughts. Anyway, you know all this and I hope you learned from it. The thing that bugs me about the situation, however, is that you might be alright with the Lord, He knows your heart and your repentance. But you are not alright with you wife. You sinned against her as well. You broke your solemn marriage vow to her and have not asked her forgiveness. You're afraid of what she might do, as anyone would be afraid, but for the rest of your life you want to think of your transgression against her when you see her. Repentance is about repairing - not only repairing yourself, your relationship with God, but also with the person you wronged. Would you expect to have committed a theft and not returned what you stole? You get the point. Now that's my thoughts, but I don't know what I would do. That would be terrifying and may have drastic consequences. Did she not notice that you were fasting and stopped taking the sacrament? What did you tell her? Did you have to lie to her? What will the next lie be? What if the other woman decides she really wants you or she wants to get you in trouble and she tells your wife? This is going to be the toughest decision you might have to make, so you most certainly should consult your bishop. He is your judge in Israel and will know what to do.

Whatever you want to call it, it is something that allowed him to come from a spiritual realm to this one.

No they are not aware of that. In fact, it's called pro-choice because they do not want to think about the baby at all. It isn't called pro-end your babies life. They don't call it what it really is. Satan has deceived them into thinking the issue is about a woman having her rights violated if she can't kill her own baby. So they try to convince women that they should be able to do whatever the want with their own bodies and that a "MAN" has no right to tell them what to do, but our laws are replete with rules about what men and women cannot do with their bodies. So millions die every year so a woman can live the lie that she is free because she has the right to kill the baby. Pointless slaughter of unwanted babies. At least the Aztecs sacrificed their babies for a reason.

I got an email from the First Presidency!!! How awesome is that! I have started reading the letters of Paul in the New Testament again and then here comes this email! It got me thinking, as much as Paul wrote, how would he have used email! How awesome it is to get an email from the apostles!

Nah, just a few bucks! I will look around for parts 2-4 if there are free sources, thanks!

Hope this isn't too late, but I would like to add that you are not going to be called upon to speak, or get up in front of everyone and do stuff. The temple session is a group session or activity, with someone to help you along the way completely. There will be parts that you will start to worry that you have to remember it all, but you don't. You will be guided with everything. Also, start to get your mind geared towards paying attention to symbolism. Spend time thinking of all the symbols of the gospel. As you read the scriptures, look for the symbols they are portraying. When you get to the temple, remember that you are taking a symbolic journey. It started with God creating us and will finish with us returning to His presence. You have gone through baptism, holy ghost, priesthood, etc. Your journey continues as you progress through the history of our spirituality. Most of all, you will be participating in the wonderful endowment that our ancient ancestors had. You will start to gain the knowledge of the saints of old and will be blessed because of it!

Carter, One of the first shocks of the temple is that it is nothing like our regular worship services. The temple is very ritualistic. If you have been LDS your whole life, then you've never experienced a very ritualistic way of worship before. Frankly, I don't think the church does a very good job in preparing us for it either. A temple preparation class just gives some scriptures and glosses over some of the topics, speaking very abstractly about the temple, but they do nothing to prepare someone for the drastic change in worship style. Then as things rush along, you are not able to stop it or ask questions, but are expected to move right along. So with all that, it is no wonder quite a few people finish their first time with complete bewilderment. But, rest assured, the temple endowment has been practiced by all the people of God in ancient times as well as now. It is so drastically different than any other worship service and there is a reason for that. But we are the only ones who have it and there are deep meanings behind it all, which take years of thought to comprehend. Stick with it. It is actually good that it aroused deep feelings in your soul. The are there for a reason. And LOL to those talking about brainwashing. Aren't you the same ones who force your kids to say please and thank you, make them share their toys, etc. Is that not brainwashing?

Get your mind focused and trained on paying attention to symbolism. Read the scriptures and look for symbolism everywhere in them.

It sort of sounds like someone who has a dream that they die in a motorcycle accident, so they wake up and go buy a motorcycle. Why would anyone do that, right? Why would someone know the consequences and then knowingly place themselves into a situation for it to happen? I have wondered about that for a long time. I, too, have made bad decisions like that, knowing what I was getting myself into. My advice is to avoid the situations that would allow you to have fall. You know you are weak, so what business do you have letting yourself be alone with a girl? For the other person, no you will not be excommunicated. The worst thing to do is wait. I waited and waited and waited and waited and 13 years went by. 13 years of my spiritual life wasted. After repenting, I lamented to myself, "why, oh why did I wait?" It was the most loving, kind, and peaceful feeling to face God, face the church, and be helped back to being clean.