TSCC claims that God, an all knowing being, is leading the church via continuous revelation through His living Apostles and Prophets, who then reveal His will and mind to TSCC members. TSCC leaders teach its members that they will always teach the truth, that they cannot lead members astray, that God would not allow them to lead members astray, and that God would remove them from their position of influence to prevent them from misleading TSCC members. Despite all these promises, there is a clear historical pattern of the TSCC taking a firm position on a belief/claim/doctrine, stubbornly continuing to claim that it is true despite growing evidence and stronger arguments to the contrary, and then eventually, after decades or even 170+ years later, altering or abandoning their position about the belief/claim/doctrine once the evidence disproving their claim becomes irrefutable. TSCC has officially changed its long standing positions on many things including: translation of the Book of Mormon, translation of the Book of Abraham, authenticity of the Kinderhook Plates, Native Americans being the principal ancestors of BoM Lamanites, African Americans having dark skin because they inherited the curse from Cain, darker skin color being an indicator of unrighteousness and lighter skin color being an indicator of righteousness, dark skin being a “curse”, African Americans being denied the priesthood and other gospel blessings for having been less valiant in the preexistence, that African Americans would not receive the priesthood until all of Adam's other children have received it, that African Americans are inferior to cacasians intellectually, socially, and spiritually and whites should not marry them, that people born with disabilities were less valiant in the preexistence, the Americas were uninhabited from the time of Noah’s flood and the “Jaredites came first” and populated the land, blood atonement doctrine, Adam-God theory, polygamy required to receive exaltation, Joseph Smith’s treasure/money digging past and use of a seer stone, Joseph Smith being arrested and convicted, Joseph Smith’s plural wives, the geography of the BoM, location of the Hill Cumorah and other previously identified BoM locations, origins of the temple ceremonies, origins of the temple garments, Nephite coins, that the eternal sealing received by faithful parents would secure the salvation of their children even if their children were rebellious and/or wayward, that Heavenly Father’s lo
... keep reading on reddit ➡I love how words in Mormonism mean exactly what they say for decades until society exposes it as hate speech or a prophecy is proven false. Then words mean something entirely different and it’s your fault for not knowing that.
Fundamental to the narrative of the BoM is the idea that God uses a dark skin as a curse. For well over a hundred years that was well understood. The 1949 proclamation from the first presidency made it clear that racism was instituted by God via revelation. That is now recognized as hate speech so suddenly TBMs are saying it means countenance, not skin color. This is not a revelation, just changing the meaning of words. This also happened when the Rising Generation prophecy failed to come true. We just changed the meaning of generation.
What TBMs are actually telling us is that God is not capable of communicating in written words that can stand the test of time. No vision, no inspiration is able to propel prophets beyond being products of their time and cultural context. What they say may not be what actually is. The proclamation on the family may be hogwash. When JS said he saw God, maybe he meant something entirely different.
If we cannot trust the BoM when it says a dark skin is a sore curse, then how can we trust ANYTHING taught by modern scriptures and prophets?
Greetings. I'm coming up on three years sober and wrote a post about it on my blog. I've been writing about my life and I thought it might be helpful to someone.
I've been dueling physically with cards, and there have been two instances in which there has been some contention, where
1). In my Main Phase 1, I activate Millennium Revelations from my hand, and use its first effect:
"You can send 1 Divine-Beast monster from your hand to the GY; add 1 "Monster Reborn" from your Deck or GY to your hand."
Then, my opponent uses Spell Shattering Arrow to destroy it (but not negate it). Can I still activate Revelation's first effect? Or does its destruction prevent me from doing so?
- Same scenario. I activate from my hand Opening of the Spirit Gates, and my opponent uses the effect of Galaxy Cyclone while its in his GY:
"You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 face-up Spell/Trap on the field; destroy it."
Does this effect prevent me from using the first effect of my Continuous Spell Card which states that
"When this card is activated: Add 1 "Uria, Lord of Searing Flames", "Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder", or "Raviel, Lord of Phantasms", OR 1 monster that specifically lists any of those cards in its text, from your Deck to your hand."
Thx
https://www.continuousrevelations.com/
Greetings, I have started writing a blog. In part, it is a means of sharing my music/ sound experiments and my photography. Before the pandemic, I off and on visited my local friends meeting, which has continued to be an inspiration to me. I think you will find the influence of the society of friends in my writing. I am also inspired by Buddihism, Taoism, and in truth all of the spiritual traditions~ in a Joseph Campbell kind of way. Quaker meetings have been amazing experiences for me and I thought I would share my blog. You might find something of value here.
Hello all, long story short: I've been lurking for a while now. I've read the CES letter and have serious issues with the Book of Abraham and parts of the book of Mormon. I'm realizing now that it's pretty much a cult, but I'm still "closeted". I tried expressing to my wife that I have questions (only questions! Not that I'm leaving or anything), and it almost ended in a divorce. So I am slowly giving her small truth-nuggets to digest, and playing the long game on this one.
Anyway, I still have my calling as an EQ teacher, but haven't taught since I've seen the light. This weeks lesson is: "Continuous Revelation through Living Prophets- Chapter 7, Teachings of Howard W. Hunter". I want to bring up something like "Yesterday's prophets are today's heretics", but I don't want to be too pushy and ruin our reputation with our friends. I'm seen as the "fun" EQ teacher, more relaxed, willing to bring up sketchy topics, says "crap", plays hangman before every class, etc. So I think that I'd be able to ask some probing questions and get people thinking. Any ideas?
"The fundamental principle enunciated by Bahá'u'lláh, the followers of His Faith firmly believe, is that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same, that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions are complementary, that they differ only in the non-essential aspects of their doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society."
- Shoghi Effendi, From a letter to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, 1947
This is from Clayton M. Christensen's book "The Power of Everyday Missionaries".
> The brother of Jared (Mahonri) had often talked with God, who spoke with him from within a cloud. The Prophet knew God. He had been chastened by God, and he knew how important it is to God that we often pray to Him.
> He formed sixteen white stones and asked God touch each stone with His finger. The Prophet was so surprised when he actually saw the finger of God touching the stones that he "fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear". The Prophet then explained his reaction by saying, "I knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood".
> The Lord then asked the Prophet whether he had seen more than just His finger. When he said no, the Lord offered to allow the Prophet to see Him in whole God then introduced Himself to the Prophet by saying (in my language): "I'm actually not God. I am Jesus Christ, the son of God--but it is okay for you to call me God. God and I are of the same heart and mind. I have been prepared from the beginning of the world to redeem mankind."
> God then explained to the Prophet that at that point He had a body that looked like ours, but it was the body of His spirit. He explained that in the future He would come to earth and live in a physical body like ours. Furthermore, God told the Prophet that this was the first time, from of the creation of the world until that point, that anybody had been allowed to see Him.
> By asking questions, the Prophet learned some fundamental dimensions about who God is that he simply had not previous understood. The Prophets early concepts weren't wrong per se. But they were incomplete. The brother of Jared had to revise and to state differently his early concepts of God. The revelation about God was not a discrete event, in which all that could be known about God was delivered in a batch to His Prophet. It was a process over time. And I presume that at the end of this experience the brother of Jared had, there remained a lot about God that the Prophet still didn't understand.
> Now imagine, after the Prophet had had these experiences and had begun teaching to others what he had just learned, that someone showed you two "snapshots" about the ministry of the brother of Jared. One snapshot had been taken early in the Prophet's journey, and
... keep reading on reddit ➡Talking to my wife tonight and it clicked. The "continuous revelation" that Mormons are so horny about does, in fact exist. It is the continuous reworking of our history.
For example Thomas B Marsh. If we hadn't had continuing revelation, the church would teach that he left the church after freaking out when the Danites went over the deep end and were threatening to kill dissenters. The prophet revealed he actually left over spilt milk. Thank God for a living prophet!
No tithing obligation (would obviously still accept honest donations)
Garments in temple only
Tea and coffee permitted
What you got???
Monson to Nelson is my first prophet transition since officially becoming a member. If you remember Hinckleu Hinckley to Monson, Or any other prophet transition, what did they that feel like?
In President Nelson's Sunday morning address he proposed that it is unreasonable to expect that there would be no changes to certain aspects of rituals like the endowment. Whether for updating them for our needs, or for ease of use, there will be updates to ordinances as follow through an Ongoing Restoration.
However, this seems to be directly in conflict for one of the major doctrines of the Church: The Great Apostasy.
The church was clear that the Catholic Church lost their authority by making changes to ordinances like Baptism. It was immersion, but now is a sprinkle.
But the lds church is equally guilty. The initiatory literally used to be fully naked and done in a tub. Now it is, unironically, a sprinkle.
In the endowment, currently, you no longer even physically receive the tokens. You just get them by proxy. Women no longer covenant to obey their husbands and nobody verbally agrees to take the penalties anymore.
Claiming revelation for me, but great apostasy for thee is a huge double standard that the church is trying to sweep under the rug.
Alright, so I've seen a similar copypasta with the Quran, so I decided to do roughly the same with the book of revelations from the bible, aka book of the apocalypse. But since it doesn't completely fit in the post I'll continue in the comments. Enjoy.
啟示錄1:
(1) 來自耶穌基督的啟示，上帝賜給他啟示他的僕人即將發生的事。 他通過派遣他的使者到他的僕人約翰那裡，使之為人所知，（2）他為他所看到的一切作見證——也就是神的話和耶穌基督的見證。 (3) 念這預言的人有福了，聽了又記在心上的人有福了，因為時候近了。 (4) 約翰，致亞細亞省的七個教會：
恩惠與平安，從今昔、今昔、後世，並從他寶座前的七靈，(5) 並從那忠實的見證人，從死裡復活的耶穌基督，和 地上諸王的統治者。
祂愛我們，用祂的寶血使我們脫離罪惡，(6) 使我們成為王國和祭司，以侍奉祂的上帝和父親——榮耀和能力歸於祂，永永遠遠！ 阿門。
(7) “看，他駕雲而來，”
並且“每隻眼睛都會看到他，
甚至那些刺他的人”；
地上的萬民“都要為他悲哀”。
就這樣吧！ 阿門。
“我是 阿爾法 和 歐米茄，”主上帝說，“誰是，誰是，誰將是全能者。”
(9) 我，約翰，你的兄弟，在我們在耶穌裡經歷的苦難、國度和忍耐中的同伴，因為上帝的話語和耶穌的見證，在拔摩島上。 (10) 在主日，我被聖靈感動，我聽見身後有像號角一樣響亮的聲音，(11) 說：“把你所看到的寫在書卷上，寄給七個教會：以弗所， 士每拿、別迦摩、推雅推喇、撒狄、非拉鐵非和老底嘉。”
(12) 我轉過身來，看到正在對我說話的聲音。 我轉過身來，看見七個金燈檯，（13）燈檯中間有一個好像人子的人，身穿長袍，垂到腳下，胸前束著金帶。 (14) 他的頭髮潔白如羊毛，潔白如雪，眼睛如火焰。 (15) 他的腳好像爐中發光的銅，他的聲音好像流水的聲音。 (16) 他右手拿著七顆星，從他口中出來的是一把鋒利的雙刃劍 . 他的臉龐就像陽光一樣閃耀著所有的光彩。
(17) 當我看到他時，我像死了一樣倒在他的腳下。 然後他把右手放在我身上說：“不要害怕。 我是第一個也是最後一個。 (18) 我是活著的人； 我死了，現在看，我永遠活著！ 我掌握著死亡和冥府的鑰匙。
(19) “因此，請寫出你所看到的、現在的和以後將發生的。 (20) 你在我右手邊看到的七顆星和七個金燈檯的奧秘是：七顆星是七個教會的使者，七個燈檯就是七個教會。”
啟示錄2：
“寫信給以弗所教會的天使：
(1) 這是右手拿著七顆星，在七個金燈檯中行走的人的話。 (2)我知道你的事蹟，你的努力，你的毅力。 我知道你們不能容忍惡人，你們試驗了那些自稱是使徒但不是使徒的人，發現他們是假的。（3）你們為我的名堅持並忍受了苦難，沒有厭倦。
(4) 但我反對你：你已經放棄了你最初的愛。 (5) 想想你跌了多遠！ 悔改並做你最初做過的事情。 如果你不悔改，我就到你這裡來，把你的燈檯從原處挪開。 (6) 但你有這樣的好處：你討厭尼哥拉黨人的做法，我也討厭。
(7) 凡有耳的，就應當聽聖靈對眾教會所說的話。 得勝者，我將賜予他在上帝樂園中的生命樹上的食物。
(8) “寫信給士每拿教會的天使：
這些是那位最初的和末後的，死而復生的人的話。 (9) 我知道你的苦難和貧窮——但你是富有的！ 我知道那些自稱是猶太人但實際上不是猶太人而是撒旦會堂的人的誹謗。 (10) 不要害怕你將要遭受的痛苦。 我告訴你們，魔鬼要把你們中的一些人關進監獄來考驗你們，你們要受逼迫十天。 忠心至死，我將賜你生命作為你勝利者的冠冕。
(11) 凡有耳的，就應當聽聖靈對眾教會所說的話。 得勝的人不會受到第二次死亡的傷害。
(12) “寫信給別迦摩教會的天使：
這是那把鋒利的雙刃劍的人說的話。 (13) 我知道你住在哪裡——撒旦的寶座在哪裡。 然而你仍然忠於我的名字。 你沒有放棄對我的信仰，即使在我忠實的見證人安提帕的日子裡，他也沒有放棄對我的信仰，他在你的城市——撒旦居住的地方被處死。
(14) 然而，我有幾件事反對你們：你們中間有些人堅持巴蘭的教訓，他們教導巴勒引誘以色列人犯罪，以致他們吃祭偶像的食物，並犯了淫亂。 (15) 同樣，你們也有那些堅持尼哥拉黨人教導的人。 (16) 所以要悔改！ 否則，我很快就會來到你面前，用我口中的劍與他們戰鬥。
(17) 凡有耳的，就應當聽聖靈對眾教會所說的話。 對於得勝者，我會給予一些隱藏的嗎哪。 我也會給那個人一塊白色的石頭，上面寫著一個新名字，只有收到它的人才知道。
(18) “寫信給推雅推喇教會的使者：
這是眼目如烈火，腳如光亮的銅神之子的話。 (19) 我知道你的行為，你的愛心和信念，你的服務和毅力，而且你現在做的比起初做的更多。
(20) 然而，我反對你：你容忍那個自稱為先知的女人耶洗別。 通過她的教導，她誤導我的僕人去淫亂和吃祭偶像的食物。 (21) 我給了她時間悔改她的不道德行為，但她不情願。 (22) 所以我要把她丟在痛苦的床上，我要使那些與她通奸的人遭受極大的痛苦，除非他們悔改她的所作所為。 (23) 我要打死她的孩子。 那時所有的教會都會知道我是那鑑察人心的，我會照你們的行為報應你們每一個人。
(24) 現在我對推雅推喇的其他人說，對那些不堅持她的教義，也沒有了解撒旦所謂的深奧秘密的人，我不會給你們任何其他負擔，(25) 除了 堅持你所擁有的，直到我來。
(26) 得勝且遵行我旨意的人，我將授予列國的權柄 (27) “用鐵權杖統治他們，將他們像陶器
... keep reading on reddit ➡
Q15s get 30 minutes in conference. Q70s get 15 minutes. Not counting the former priesthood session where all of the first presidency always spoke, the president talks three times. Without the Saturday evening session, the two counselors will only speak once instead of twice.
Taking out time for songs and prayers, each session has 1 hour and 40 minutes for talks. Four sessions = 6 hours and 40 minutes of total talk time. Ten minutes of that goes to the Saturday afternoon sustainings and reports. The president talks in three sessions, leaving 5 hours to split among 14 apostles. That leaves each of them 21 minutes. But since that cannot be aligned to the two hour blocks, some of them will get cut short.
There is zero time left over for the presiding bishop to speak, and no time for any seventy or any auxiliary president to speak.
Math. Not revelation. God can do math. Or at least he could if he existed. If there was any revelation at all, or a prophet that knew how to understand him, then this would have never happened.
What really happened: The first presidency announced shortening conference to four sessions. Then with conference twelve weeks away they start scheduling the talks. They spent two weeks trying to unsuccessfully wrangle the schedule. With them unable to figure it out a secretary pulled out his $3 solar calculator and showed them the problem. They probably spent another week in denial. With less than nine nine weeks to go they had to pull out the revelation card because they couldn't figure out how to get out of this without looking stupid (pssst, Russ, you can't, that ship sailed).
