Seven of Everything

There is only one study comparing vaccinated and un-vaccinated children that discusses scoliosis that I have found. ( Vaccine Information Network ) This is a study done with raw data used for another study and analyzed independent of that source. In the study there were 17,641 children, 17,509 were vaccinated with at least one vaccine, and 132 children who were either not vaccinated or did not have proof of vaccination. Out of those vaccinated, 5.3% had scoliosis. Out of those not vaccinated, 0.00% had scoliosis. If this number were 5.30% then this is 928 children. Since it is not 5.30% but rather 5.3%, this allows for a range from 920 to 936 children who may have had scoliosis, taking into account rounding factors. The equivalent would be 7 children in the non-vaccinated group. However, there were none. In this study 100% of scoliosis cases were vaccinated and 0% of the non-vaccinated group had scoliosis. This turns out to be highly statistically significant. And in my opinion that...

There are many diagrams, graphics and visual aids used to depict the plan of salvation including one generally used throughout the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and known to most members of the church. I used to like it and use it until I found that it often promoted some concepts that are not scripturally accurate and even some false concepts. I have found a few that are better than the traditional one but still don't want to use them to teach primary children or investigators for one reason or another. Here is a visual aid that is both simple and scripturally accurate. There probably isn't much weaknesses in it due to its simplicity which is meant for explaining it to children and investigators. It may open a little can of worms for members of the church who have been taught some false opinions that have persisted in the church for many years and which have been detailed out in previous posts. Below is the visual aid and an explanation for it - not how i...

According to Elder Bruce R. McConkie: “Eternal life is not a name that has reference only to the unending duration of a future life; immortality is to live forever in the resurrected state, and by the grace of God all men will gain this unending continuance of life. But only those who obey the fulness of the gospel law will inherit eternal life. ( D&C 29:43-44 ) It is ‘the greatest of all the gifts of God' ( D&C 14:7 ), for it is the kind, status, type, and quality of life that God himself enjoys. Thus those who gain eternal life receive exaltation; they are sons of God, joint-heirs with Christ, members of the Church of the Firstborn; they overcome all things, have all power, and receive the fulness of the Father” (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 237). The first thing I want to say is that this quote, from the book Mormon Doctrine, was the opinion of its author Bruce R. McConkie. It was never agreed upon or declared as doctrine by the leaders of The Church of Jesus Chri...

"We are in the telestial kingdom" was a phrase stated at this last general conference which I would like to elaborate on. There are 9 verses in scripture using the word telestial and one Joseph Smith Translation (D&C 76 , 88 and JST 1 Cor 15:40 ). There are an additional 33 making reference to that kingdom in these three chapters; there may be more I did not catch. There is another verse in D&C 88:25 stating, "the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom." Out of all 44 of these verses, there is not one that makes any reference to us currently living in the telestial kingdom. So where did this idea come from, is it true, and what does it mean? This idea that we live in the telestial kingdom comes from the temple. It is a true principle but has been and continues to be largely misunderstood. It implies the world that we live in right now is the telestial kingdom. The incorrect interpretation for this is as follows: The world we live in is a fallen ...

This was a talk given to my brother-in-law at his baptism on the gift of the Holy Ghost. I am modifying it for the blog setting. Some of the things I put in brackets are things I didn't say because it is more than I would expound upon to either an eight-year-old or a new convert. Congratulations! I want to start by reiterating a little bit of what [your brother] said. You just went into the water. Now back in the day, eight years ago, before you were born, you were immersed in water and you had your spirit come into your body. Then you were born, right? You were born to your dad and your mom and they were already in the kingdom of God, so you were blessed, and you grew up in the church. You were taught about the gospel, you go to primary, and now you're eight, and when you're eight, just like [your brother] talked about, that's the time when you are ready to choose, right? You're ready to make that choice. Its like being brought to the front door of the kingdom o...

I find it interesting how different the same intro can lead only four months apart. In November, I wrote the blog post " Master, What Shall I Do To Be Saved? (Luke 10:25) ." Here I duplicated the first two paragraphs and it naturally took a different direction. Eternal life and salvation, or being saved, are synonymous terms. You cannot have one without the other and you cannot loose one without loosing the other. Another term also synonymous with these is inheriting or entering the kingdom of God. Some people believe that to be saved the only thing that must be done is "confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and ... believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead" ( Romans 10:9 ); that is enough, it is as good as done, the final judgement of salvation has been declared upon their soul, they are saved. However, this is not what Jesus taught. In fact this scripture, which is true and written in future tense, cannot be taken out of the context of ev...

Partaking of the sacrament is clearly without question to renew our baptismal covenants. This is repeated over and over in General Conference. But is it limited to that? There are many quotes where Prophets and Apostles state that with the sacrament we renew our covenants, without reference to baptismal covenants specifically. Also, there are a few quotes that directly refer to temple covenants being included as we partake of the sacrament to renew our covenants. Here are three links that I found that refer to the sacrament as having a purpose of renewing all our covenants not just baptismal covenants: I have a question? As Now We Take The Sacrament? Understanding Our Covenants with God? The first one uses quotes that can be interpreted both ways (baptismal covenants only or all covenants). It also uses quotes from sources that are not printed by the church as doctrine. The second one has the most obvious and original quote which is from Delbert L. Stapley (in Conference Report...