JosiahReckons

@latterdaylaura Looks like we’re 14th cousins lol

It’s that time of year again! Are you my cousin?? familysearch.org/en/connect/902…

@jkimballcook I’m not sure the difference is depth in engagement. Maybe though.

@jkimballcook There was a time in my life when I thought I engaged deeply with general conference without disagreement or troubled feelings. For the last several years though, I often disagree with or am troubled by parts of talks and have to figure out how to deal with that.

in my experience, if you watch general conference and don't disagree with or feel troubled by any of the talks, you probably are only engaging in a shallow way

The number of times I’ve sung the word ere and only been guessing its meaning surprises me. I’d come to think ere mean when, mainly based on repeated exposure to the hymn Did you think to pray?

Yesterday while reading The Hobbit with my daughter, she asked me what ere meant. I realised I had never really checked. I’d just guessed from context. I told her we’d look it up. It turned out that my guess was wrong. Ere means „before „ (in time).

@Zez288 @council_of_50 @PenelopeSalem @GingerPumprnkl On my mission, a sister asked missionaries to travel quite far to dedicate her home. When permission to travel was sought from our mission president, he directed us to teach that she could dedicate it herself, just not to pronounce priesthood authority when she did it.

@Zez288 @council_of_50 @PenelopeSalem @GingerPumprnkl There seems to be more variation in who performs them through history than saving ordinances. For example, women have sometimes been directed by church leaders to bless the sick.

In a priesthood blessing yesterday, I was told to rededicate my home every now and then. Does anyone do this? I’ve never heard of this before?

@Zez288 @council_of_50 @PenelopeSalem @GingerPumprnkl I think home dedications are fantastic, but I don’t see them on the same level as the sacrament or saving ordinances. I don’t see home dedications as playing a central role in the restoration either. The priesthood is very important, but some things don’t always require it.

@JosiahReckons @council_of_50 @PenelopeSalem @GingerPumprnkl Well think of it this way. Would you want someone to pray over your baptism, sealing, or even sacrament or have the priesthood authority? Isn’t that the whole point of the restoration?

@blake_surerus Too right!

@JosiahReckons If we can rededicate our lives to Christ, I don't see why we couldn't also do it for our home.

@AaronAsher11 Nice. How often? Every few years? I received the counsel to rededicate our home every now and then about a year and a half since we dedicated it when we moved in.

@JosiahReckons I do. Yes!

@Zez288 @council_of_50 @PenelopeSalem @GingerPumprnkl „Just a prayer”?

@council_of_50 @PenelopeSalem @JosiahReckons @GingerPumprnkl It sounds like it’s just a prayer at that point.

@PenelopeSalem @GingerPumprnkl Thanks. I see that. Looks like there has been some back-and-forth on this. On my mission (now 15yr ago) the church loosened up the prescription around this, and stopped describing it as a priesthood ordinance. I can see this has changed now, but still has some vague flexibility.

@JosiahReckons @GingerPumprnkl I hate to correct, but I believe this is important enough to point you to the Handbook of Instruction, section 18.15 (18.15.1 & 18.15.2). Dedicating homes is a priesthood blessing. It requires a Melchizedek Priesthood holder. Please check the LDS Library app so you see yourself.

At first I sort of smirked at the idea, because it sounded like home dedications came with an expiration date or something, but after thinking about it, I think I like it a bit. It feels more like a family reminder or refresher than that the dedication wore off.

@Exchairstacker What I get out of the Book of Mormon is feeling the Holy Spirit, learning doctrines, examining my own heart through thoughtful consideration of the narratives in the Book of Mormon. I don’t read the Book of Mormon for it’s history.

@Exchairstacker For me, the three witnesses and eight witnesses aren’t really persuasive and my love and testimony of the Book of Mormon aren’t based on them. Neither am I looking for information about the ancestors of native Americans. These are mostly a distraction to me.

Many LDS assume that unpaid clergy is the scriptural model; this isn't actually true, mostly arose out of polemics, but it's largely irrelevant. Most religious leaders barely scrape by— the priest, pastor, rabbi, imam, etc. It's the Creflo Dollars who give it a bad name.

@DChadwickAuthor Nice guys can stand up for themselves. Being nice doesn’t mean letting people walk over you. Being nice is about being good-natured and kind. You can be assertive and kind, speak up and be good natured. Rather than stopping being nice, learn to be respectfully assertive and kind

Mormons, we need to have a difficult conversation. Watch this video, please, as it’s just one of countless examples of why we need to stop being nice. They hate you! They don’t care what you call yourself. They don’t care who’s name is in the branding. They don’t care if you’re a nice guy or a nice girl. They. Hate. You. And they hate you because of who you are. They hate you because you’re a Mormon. Stop caring what others think of you. Stop trying to fit in. You’ll never be accepted. To them, you’re freaks and heretics and you’ll never be anything else. They do this because they know they can get away with it. That we’ll never stand up for ourselves because we’re the perpetual nice guys and we’ll just let them walk all over us. And we have nobody to blame but ourselves because for some reason, somewhere along the way, we decided that this was the image we wanted. Well I am fucking sick of it. We need to lose the nice guy persona. We need to start being mean. We need to start calling this shit out and getting in peoples faces and letting them know we’re not going to put up with it anymore. Stand up for yourselves, Mormons. Stop being nice! The people you’re being nice to are not worth it.