Tobin wrote:As all good Mormons should be. We should embrace what is true and discard everything that is not true. No Mormon is obligated to believe anything a Mormon prophet, or anyone else, has to say unless God also tells them it is true as well.
Tobin,
This is my take as well. God has told me *many* things that conflict with the words of our latter-day prophets. It is liberating to know that Mormonism really can be exactly what you want it to be.
Someday, I will present to you my new ideas on the temple garment. I've learned recently that the garment was never intended to be under our clothing. Nor was it intended to be plain, boring white.
I'm sure you and I will get along just fine!
Oh for shame, how the mortals put the blame on us gods, for they say evils come from us, but it is they, rather, who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given... Zeus (1178 BC)
LOL I am not sure most in the church would agree with you, but I like it.
We should embrace what is true and discard everything that is not true.
I see people who get excommunicated from the church due to this. I think if you are not currently a members, this is likely for you as well(based on some of your opinions posted on this forum). I have known a number of people who think God is telling them something, even though you would never want to get them all in the same room. It would get ugly. Most of these usually end up outside of the LDS church.
No Mormon is obligated to believe anything a Mormon prophet, or anyone else, has to say unless God also tells them it is true as well.
Actually if they want to be a TR holder then they will have to say they do to a number of core questions found in the TR interview.
Tobin wrote:Actually, it is you that should be a bit more careful. Sodom and Gomorrah - latitude and longitude please? [fill-in-the-blank]
There are some good candidates for both cities. Again, there's not only no Zarahemla but no suitable candidates in the entire western hemisphere.
Sure there are. There are lots of abandoned ruined cities in Central America.
"You lack vision, but I see a place where people get on and off the freeway. On and off, off and on all day, all night.... Tire salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful." -- Judge Doom
Tobin wrote:That is a stupid question. Where were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? They are mentioned by the Bible as well. Oh wait, they were destroyed so we don't know. And so was the Nephite civilization.
Near here: latitude of 31.5 (31° 30' 0 N) and a longitude of 35.5 (35° 30' 0 E) if current archaeological excavations work out.
This, or any other post that I have made or will make in the future, is strictly my own opinion and consequently of little or no value.
"Faith is believing something you know ain't true" Twain.
Quasimodo wrote:Near here: latitude of 31.5 (31° 30' 0 N) and a longitude of 35.5 (35° 30' 0 E) if current archaeological excavations work out.
Uh huh. Let me know how that works out.
"You lack vision, but I see a place where people get on and off the freeway. On and off, off and on all day, all night.... Tire salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful." -- Judge Doom
Tobin wrote:Sure there are. There are lots of abandoned ruined cities in Central America.
Name one that's even close to a match for Zarahemla.
I have no idea. But according to Joseph Smith, Times and Seasons on October 1, 1842:
Central America, or Guatimala [sic], is situated north of the Isthmus of Darien and once embraced several hundred miles of territory from north to south.—The city of Zarahemla, burnt at the crucifixion of the Savior, and rebuilt afterwards, stood upon this land as will be seen from the following words in the book of Alma:—“And now it was only the distance of a day and a half’s journey for a Nephite, on the line Bountiful, and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea; and thus the land of Nephi, and the land of Zarahemla was nearly surrounded by water: there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward.” [Alma 22:32.] It is certainly a good thing for the excellency and veracity, of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, that the ruins of Zarahemla have been found where the Nephites left them: and that a large stone with engraving upon it, as Mosiah said; and a ‘large round stone, with the sides sculptured in hieroglyphics,’ [such as found in Quiriguá] as Mr. Stephens has published, is also among the left remembrances of the, to him, lost and unknown. We are not agoing [sic] to declare positively that the ruins of Quiriguá are those of Zarahemla, but when the land and the stones, and the books tell the story so plain, we are of [the] opinion, that it would require more proof than the Jews could bring to prove the disciples stole the body of Jesus from the tomb, to prove that the ruins of the city in question, are not one of those referred to in the Book of Mormon.
"You lack vision, but I see a place where people get on and off the freeway. On and off, off and on all day, all night.... Tire salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful." -- Judge Doom
Tobin wrote:I assume by that statement you assume that the land mass west of Europe and east of Japan is fictional then? or do you believe that people did not really exist there long before Columbus discovered it?
Nice rhetoric.
Jersulem: 31°47′N 35°13′E Zarahelma: ?
Cajamarca, Peru Latitude and Longitude:7° 10' 0" S / 78° 31' 0" W
This is not a Christian website hoping to prove the Bible. It's the website of a secular, scientific group doing the excavations.
Not a few scholars, including TeHEP Director Dr. Steven Collins, believe that the textual evidence strongly supports a northern location in what is called the "Jordan Disk," the 25-kilometer diameter circle of the Jordan Valley immediately north of the Dead Sea. The eastern side of the Disk encompasses at least fourteen named archaeological sites (and numerous others), and many of them have Middle Bronze Age occupation (Tall Nimrin and Tall el-Hammam have confirmed MB2 fortified occupation). Tall el-Hammam is the largest of these. Therefore, it would be unthinkable to ignore the possibility that Tall el-Hammam (as well as Tall Nimrin, with its MB2 destruction and ensuing 500-year occupational hiatus) may be Sodom or Admah (with Tall Nimrin being the other). Once aware of these connections, one cannot deny the level of interest that is generated in the light of these possibilities.
Tobin, you gotta buff up on your science, pal.
This, or any other post that I have made or will make in the future, is strictly my own opinion and consequently of little or no value.
"Faith is believing something you know ain't true" Twain.