Seven of Everything

I believe that the opposite of denying the Holy Ghost is receiving the Holy Ghost, that is through baptism. Everyone will have the choice to either receive or deny the Holy Ghost, there is no in between. The only exception to the water baptism requirement is outlined in the scriptures and I believe that those who do not need water baptism (because they don't need to repent) will choose to receive the Holy Ghost through whatever other means God has provided. This is a little confusing, possibly, because Jesus needed baptism to be saved but did not need to repent. However, the only exceptions are to those not accountable. Christ was accountable. The only reason that there are exceptions is because the merits and mercies of Christ save all those who are not accountable for sins, their own or that of others.

I created a paragraph in a previous blog post titled,  The False Doctrine of Telestial Glory , which is considered to be completely true by some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I created it as an exercise to see if you could spot what was false and what was true. If you haven't done that, go ahead and read it, then come back to this post after you have tested your own knowledge of the telestial kingdom. The False Doctrine of Telestial Glory In reality every sentence of the paragraph was false doctrine. I will outline the details here:       "Their are many who are wicked in this life, who will remain wicked after they die, never accepting Jesus, but not denying or rejecting the Holy Ghost." This is false because all those who remain wicked, deny and reject the Holy Ghost in their wicked nature. The Holy Ghost does not dwell in unholy temples. For someone to choose wickedness, they inherently reject the Holy Ghost. I don't know where th...

I was recently made aware of these two videos about a potential location for the river Lehi named Laman and the valley he named Lemuel. I like these videos. I like the suggested location for the valley of Lemuel, but I have issue with this concept: In the first video he states, 1:40, "we know that Lehi fled Jerusalem and traveled south to the borders of the Red Sea; and then from this point traveled 3 days further south to the valley of Lemuel." Then he states, 5:30, "the distance between here and here, was about a 2 weeks journey, about 250 miles." Then again, 6:18, "after they came to the borders of the Red Sea, the text says that they traveled three more days south until they came to a place... that Lehi called Lemuel." Both videos suggest the same concept that after traveling to the borders of the Red Sea the family further traveled three days into the wilderness. In the Book of Mormon it says, "He taketh three days’ journey into the...

As mentioned in a previous blog post, there is a phrase in the scriptures, "it had been better for them never to have been born." ( D&C 76:32 ) As stated in this scripture, this phrase specifically identifies sons of perdition, "the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power." ( D&C 76:37 ) If something only applies to sons of perdition, then the opposite applies to the kingdom of God, aka all kingdoms of glory. In 3 Nephi 28:34-35 , it refers to those sons of perdition with these words: "And wo be unto him that will not hearken unto the words of Jesus, and also to them whom he hath chosen and sent among them; for whoso receiveth not the words of Jesus and the words of those whom he hath sent receiveth not him; and therefore he will not receive them at the last day; and it would be better for them if they had not been born." The opposite of this could be stated, 'blessed be he that will hearken unto the words of Jesus, and also ...

Abraham 2:11 "...in thy [Abraham's] seed after thee ... shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal." Doctrine and Covenants 88:4 "This Comforter is the promise which I give unto you of eternal life, even the glory of the celestial kingdom;" The word 'even' in these two verses could be used and interpreted in two different ways. This allows for four different ways of interpreting the relationship between salvation, eternal life, and the glory of the celestial kingdom. I will show all four and then explain which one is supported by scripture. The first could be interpreted two ways when it says, "the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal." It could be interpreted to mean, (1) life eternal is equal to salvation. So this can be written equally to say, 'all the families of the earth will be blessed with the blessings of salvatio...

Is baptism required for the telestial kingdom? While the scriptures are not direct in answering the question above, they are clear about the answer to the three questions below. Is baptism required for salvation? Is there only one way to be saved? Are those who receive telestial glory saved? If the answer is yes to all three questions above then it is yes to the first.

In our most recent General Conference (Apr 2019) President Oaks stated, When we repent, we have the Lord’s assurance that our sins, including our acts and desires, will be cleansed and our merciful final judge will "remember them no more." Cleansed by repentance, we can qualify for eternal life, which King Benjamin described as "dwell[ing] with God in a state of never-ending happiness." I have recently been reviewing all 100 references to eternal life in the scriptures and, interestingly, this is not one of them. I looked to see if there was a connection. This quote is near the beginning of King Benjamin's sermon. The only time he says the phrase 'eternal life' is at the very end of his sermon. So I decided to see if there was a semi-direct way to connect these scriptures that President Oaks suggests are connected (Mosiah 2:41 and Mosiah 5:15). Mosiah 2:41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of thos...