Stuck Inside Of Sunstone Bookstore

[_moksha]

I mean, the Great Lakes are sea East, North, West and South? No, not by me.

This argument does seem strong when coupled together with the Vern Holly maps.

[_Nightlion]

This place is really buggin' me!


I just recently rediscovered music from my late nineties LUCKY BUGS musical that never got finished. I got lots of really cool tunes but I got seriously bummed out and forgot about it. I only got to tell one visitor about it. See where I had my guitar at the ready? Man!

But I got reacquainted with an old buddy from my invention days. Interesting that it was HIS theory that triggered Rod Meldrum's super effort to pin down Book of Mormon geography in Middle America. Rod even asked Duane for permission back in the day. About the only difference is Meldrum's Atlantic crossing for Lehi. But that would insist that the Lehi party walked around in circles in Arabia for almost eight years before they sailed around Africa. No way. Lehi went to Indochina somewhere from Malaysia to Vietnam and crossed the Pacific landing on the 30' South latitude. Book of Mormon geography is Andean.

Some say William McClellan wrote that 30' South latitude with or without attribution to Joseph Smith. I think Lucy Mack Smith included it in here History. Anyone know where that quote is? Perhaps twice.

[_Nightlion]

I mean, the Great Lakes are sea East, North, West and South? No, not by me.

This argument does seem strong when coupled together with the Vern Holly maps.

Where do I see these maps? Are you at all serious?

[_ajax18]

Mormon missionary work wasn't much easier. Do you still feel like your efforts are worth it Nightlion?

Do you believe in mainstream Mormonisms degrees of glory. Who do you think will qualify for the Celestial kingdom?

I'm a huge believer in life after death, the spirit world, and even Jesus Christ. But sometimes I think it's a shame that I inherited this religious mentality that only believers and patrons of a certain Church will qualify for God's love. So many of the spiritual lessons in life are the same lessons and challenges presented to people of all belief systems. I think the most important things I've learned in life include finding meaning in suffering, a reason to be Christlike, and that the greatest potential good for me is the same thing as it is for all living things. And yet, so much of my mission was devoted to the truth of the Book of Mormon, who holds the priesthood authority, and ultimately where to send your 10% tithing check each month and perhaps turn over the deed to your farm.

And what has been the result? UT people might pay their tithing. But I personally would rather do business with a 1950s New York Jew than an LDS man from Provo, UT. The Church seems to have put a sufficient strain on the people that has bankrupted any common brotherly kindness or compassion that wasn't a part of an official Church program. Sometimes I see a person who simply can't afford spectacles and yet they're out struggling to work as a -7.00 diopter myope. So I just help them out and cut them a break. But how often would that happen in UT? How many optometrists can afford to do so? As a UT Mormon optometrist, perhaps I wouldn't be able to afford the extra half hour of time it would take me to offer such pro bono work, because I had to be at the temple or in a bishopric meeting. And doing what? The answer is probably brainstorming of ways to increase church attendance, baptisms, and tithe paying, not much helping people out right now at all. Is what I was doing by going out recruiting people to espouse and commit to my belief system loving them? Or would loving them have to do with the poor student waiting tables that you tipped rather than stiffed?

Are you creating another religious empire or did you have another purpose in mind?

[_Nightlion]

Mormon missionary work wasn't much easier. Do you still feel like your efforts are worth it Nightlion?

Do you believe in mainstream Mormonisms degrees of glory. Who do you think will qualify for the Celestial kingdom?
[snip]
Are you creating another religious empire or did you have another purpose in mind?

Yeah, I still accept the degrees of glory concept in the afterlife. All will bask in the warm glow of the love of God. That is all 99% of the world would ask. Few expect to realize a face to face relationship with God.

That warm glow, though radiant and wonderful, is only telestial. So imagine the joy of getting more than that if you are judged capable of being closer to God's actual presence. Terrestrial. Then the celestial where you will see God and have to do with him. Man is that he might have joy. For that to be a fulness of joy we need to learn of God so to appreciate a fulness of who he is. There is not so much joy if there is no comprehension. We can know God. What good would it be to inherit the presence of God and have no clue of his true glory and majesty?
Easily won, just as easily bored and ignored.

I am about building Zion. Not a congregation. If you do not qualify as a true saint you do not get in. Period. So I am not expecting much of the present generation. Perhaps after the Lord pours out his spirit upon all flesh before the end of the world. Then maybe Zion can be born at once.

You can see the wisdom in having a few old salts like me before this event. Somebody needs to know what's up.

[_ajax18]

Do you still feel like your efforts are worth it Nightlion?

All will bask in the warm glow of the love of God. That is all 99% of the world would ask. Few expect to realize a face to face relationship with God.

When you've been through this world, you learn to be happy with less.

That warm glow, though radiant and wonderful, is only telestial.

Mormonism taught me that this world was telestial. But that isn't a very definitive statement. Depending on your level of health, wealth, class, etc. this world can be a very different world for two people even though technically they live in the same world.

There is not so much joy if there is no comprehension.

You're right on the money with that one.

We can know God. What good would it be to inherit the presence of God and have no clue of his true glory and majesty?

Clothes on your back, food on your plate, you know the old count your blessings argument we get when we complain about anything. Again, a big lesson of this life has been about learning to be happy with less. Admittedly, I need a large amount of money to make myself happy now. But what is the difference in my happiness between making a pig of myself at Golden Corral/ChuckaRama for Utahns for $10 and eating at the $200 a plate French restaurant my company paid for us to eat at? For me, it's not much at all. No matter how wealthy I ever happened to become, I wouldn't waste money like that. Do I need $10 to fill my belly? Yes, and aything less would leave me unsatisfied. But I don't really need more.

I am about building Zion. Not a congregation. If you do not qualify as a true saint you do not get in. Period.

Well at least you promise people something. Do you believe in the parable of the laborers? What happens if I wait for 20 years to join your church. Am I only losing what you're offering right now or are there eternal consequences. I quit investing in Mormonism because they really weren't promising me anything different for living an inactive life with a repentance confession some time in the future and enduring a faithful life of sacrifice.

[_Equality]

I lugged in about sixty pounds of books and it is certain that I will be lugging out the same.

Seems like God should have told you not to bother bringing so many books. The celestial cell towers must have been down for maintenance again. Seems to happen to all of God's prophets from time to time, eh?

[_Nightlion]

Do you still feel like your efforts are worth it Nightlion?

Of course I was hoping all my wildest dreams would come true. The few times I ever went to Sunstone I thought how cool it would be to sell books there. Reality is a strange brew.

I did not know before hand if I would even be allowed to sell. Beside that it cost almost nothing. I was expecting three days of something.
What a humiliation! Another book dealer read my book in a couple of hours and was enthusiastic. She would interrupt herself and come over and be excited about this and that. A couple of curious folks sat down and wondered what I was about more than about the book. But actually no browsers were the least bit interested in any sort of introduction. Wow!

Sunstone is touted for cutting edge insights. I was unprepared for how much of a name you got to be or to have earned the right to be one of their own. And even for the featured book signerst it was slim pickin's.

What ended up being worth it was an insight I realized about humility. I was possibly more humiliated than I have been since I was a kid. Funny thing was that I did NOT get mad.

I lost my handle on charity four years after I was truly born again. And that was back in the mid Seventies. Even though the Lord has been kind and led me on regardless it has been a struggle. And after the Church started to offend my children anger got nearly out of hand.

All the many times I have beat back anger and got some sort of clearance I never learned the spiritual mechanism that defeats anger until just yesterday. Humility. I was force fed a ton of it and it made me realize it has power over anger. Cool! Today I have been watching myself to see what removes humility. Just about everything does.

I am not keeping my covenant with Christ and God when I break from humility. The power of anger is greater when you have been given rights with God. Just so you do not fail to realize the danger.

And now I know. What a long, long time it took. Wonders if I will soon forget? Probably not with the dramatic setting of the entire send up.
That humility thing is probably what was missing and required before all my wildest dreams do come true.

Now if I can get back a fulness of charity I will have run the course and finished the race and taken the prize. Hmm. You see it cannot be renewed, by God just restoring unto you a gift of charity, like that which is put in you when one is truly born again. Makes for some interesting times. Kind of like beaten and forged steel.

[_Nightlion]

I lugged in about sixty pounds of books and it is certain that I will be lugging out the same.

Seems like God should have told you not to bother bringing so many books. The celestial cell towers must have been down for maintenance again. Seems to happen to all of God's prophets from time to time, eh?

Well, yeah. But he is all about fixin' what gets broke. Never gives up. Always ready to lend a hand. Has to wait for me to see it, hear it, feel it, and do it. I might amuse him much in my folly. Long as I keep striving he responds and leads me on wondrously.

[_CaliforniaKid]

James,

The book itself is not your best selling point. It's really hard to see from the book what you're talking about. You've got to get people out to that mountain and explain it to them the way you did with Mike and I. It's the beauty of the mountain, paired with your personal enthusiasm and sincerity that will make your first converts. JMO.

Peace,

-Chris