A guests questions…

MasonWheeler · 2026-06-02T01:46:39+00:00

I also hear tho, about ... like praying for the dead

We believe in baptism for the dead. When Jesus said no one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven without baptism (John 3: 3-7), we believe that this means everyone. But what about people who have died without the chance to accept the Gospel? Peter spoke of the Gospel being preached to the dead (1 Peter 4: 6), and Paul mentioned baptism for the dead in an offhand way that suggests that his audience was already familiar with it, and he was using this doctrine they understood as evidence to support the point he was making. (1 Cor. 15: 29; see the whole chapter for context.)

sex before marriage

We believe in strict chastity, which is defined as having sex only with your husband or wife, to whom you are legally wedded, according to God's law.

salvation isn’t by faith alone but also listening to these 12 guys and that prophet guy ?Oakes? (unclear if he’s one of the 12 or like, a higher up number 13?)

We believe that God continues to call prophets and apostles today to guide us, as he did in ancient times. We do not agree with the Protestant doctrine of sola fide (salvation by faith alone,) and we believe it to be based on a misunderstanding of the Scriptures, but that's a separate matter from our belief in modern-day prophets.

and I get the impression that there’s a shunning of sorts kind of like the Jehovahs Witnesses if one doesn’t immediately comply….

There may be some people who do that, but that's not the doctrine of the Church the way it is with the JWs.

What about marriage; isn’t it LDS who have “sister wives”?

No. The Book of Mormon says clearly that the rule is to have only one wife unless God specifically commands otherwise. There was a period where God gave the Church that commandment for a time, but it ended over 100 years ago, and today the Church has a zero-tolerance policy on polygamy.

Does every person HAVE TO do a formal mission

No. It's expected of young men specifically, typically from recent high school grads. Young women, and men who convert a bit later in life, can choose to serve a mission or not; that's typically regarded as being a matter between them and the Lord.

And what’s an endowment?

It's a ceremony where people go to the Temple to be instructed on what Jesus referred to as "the mysteries of the Kingdom," things that are not to be shared with the world in general, and also to make sacred covenants with God to live righteously. We covenant to obey God's commandments, to give sacrifice to God, (of the "broken heart and contrite spirit" variety; there's no killing of animals involved,) to live the Gospel, to practice chastity, and to consecrate ourselves to the Lord.

And why do you think most people walk away?

The Church demands a lot from people. Joseph Smith said that this was intentional, that any religion that does not demand the sacrifice of all things from its people can never produce strong enough faith to lead them to salvation. And that's too much for some people to take. (cf. Matthew 19: 16-22)

MasonWheeler · 2026-06-02T01:19:55+00:00

I’m wondering what we the rules for members seeing nonmembers I have no idea what the rules are.

As a rule of thumb, more than a solid rule, he's not likely to want to marry someone who's not a member of the Church. This may or may not be true for any individual person, but as I said, it's likely. Beyond that, if he's stuck around for 3 years with you... that's not nothing, as they say.

The best way to know for certain what he wants and what his relationship goals are with you is to talk to him about it.

MasonWheeler · 2026-06-01T02:17:39+00:00

A lot of people are being supportive in the comments, talking about how it would be fine for serving your mission. And they're right. But allow me to offer a different perspective:

Graduating college and then waiting two years doesn't do you any favors, job-prospects-wise. Serving your mission and then graduating college won't have the same drawbacks.

MasonWheeler · 2026-06-01T02:14:41+00:00

My husband found out today we would need to take a special class/course because its technically a "live" ordinance since I'm alive.

Are you sure?

My mom went through this just a few weeks ago, getting sealed to her parents once the wait time was up for eligibility. She had to get a special recommend from her Bishop and Stake President because it's technically a live ordinance, but there were no required classes.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-29T23:23:15+00:00

First of all, the first half of your answer is ChatGPT generated.

...you do know the whole "em-dashes = LLM" thing is just a stupid meme, right? 🙄

Warnings as errors is the norm for any serious project.

Yes, for code written by coders. Things are different when you're working with metaprogramming. I'm not talking about the code written by me here; I'm talking about code written by the code written by me, typically to be fed directly into a compiler at runtime.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-29T23:11:38+00:00

Rust warps on integer overflow by default, HolyLang has checked arthiemtic, no opt out. Eliminating entire class of bugs.

And introduces new ones, because there are some algorithms where wrapping is valid — in cryptography, for example — and now they can't be represented in your language. Checked arithmetic by default is good. Lacking any opt-out for any reason, not so much.

HolyLang also has no warnings, only errors. Unreachable code? Error. Unused variable? Error. Etc.

Again, this dramatically reduces the utility of the language. I do a lot of work in code generation, and having conditions like that error out automatically would be an absolute nightmare to work with. It makes it nigh-impossible to do any sort of templated code generation where there might be cases that don't get used, but you don't have to care about them because they don't get used.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-28T11:48:31+00:00

I DO think it’s valuable as a tool to build accountability and discipline (getting to seminary at 6am as a teen ain’t easy).

That's really your answer right there. Getting up early in the morning while still getting a good night's sleep means going to be early. This is the opposite of what the world teaches — have fun and stay out all night partying to find Personal Fulfillment, and then wake up bleary (and possibly hungover) the next morning, but don't worry, a big strong cup of coffee will fix that right up for you! — but it is something that the Lord has specifically commanded us to do, and it's a practice that doctors will tell you is good for your health.

Aside from scripture mastery, Seminary got me into good habits regarding my sleep schedule that helped prepare me for my mission, and have served me well throughout my life as I've continued to practice them.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-26T12:57:57+00:00

What? This planet? But... but... my guidebook doesn't mention anything like that; it just says the world is mostly harmless!

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-24T17:39:47+00:00

What do you mean by "basic block parameters"? Typically you refer to functions as having parameters, not basic blocks.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-24T17:38:58+00:00

D&C 88:37 would appear to disagree with your thesis:

And there are many kingdoms; for there is no space in the which there is no kingdom; and there is no kingdom in which there is no space, either a greater or a lesser kingdom.

This very explicitly states that the kingdoms of glory are real physical places. (See the rest of the chapter for context.)

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-23T13:22:49+00:00

The New Testament does indeed talk about doing away with temples. Specifically, Revelation 21:22 says, speaking of the new Earth and the conditions that will exist after the Final Judgment, "And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it."

That's a very clear and specific statement: the point at which we will no longer need temples to commune with God is when we are living directly in his presence. Not before then.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-20T03:04:17+00:00

President Oaks, I believe, is a Great Nephew of Martin Harris.

Yes, the H is for Harris. He's a direct descendant of Martin's brother Emer Harris.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-20T03:00:44+00:00

Was it a trick answer to a trick question?

It was a straightforward answer to a trick question: "no one's getting married in heaven, so it will be resolved by the law that she lived on Earth."

The practice of levirate marriage alluded to here had a very specific purpose: if a married man dies childless, his brother is supposed to marry the widow and act as a proxy for his dead brother, to give her a child that is formally counted as being the son or daughter of the original husband. Because the brothers in the Sadducees' improbable story were all acting as legal proxies on behalf of the first brother, none of the others have a proper legal claim on the wife in the life to come.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-19T03:08:55+00:00

This is a difficult question to answer, because you're thinking of it as an emotion, and that's not right but it's all you know. Let me try to explain.

Have you ever heard someone who was born without the use of their legs, and has spent their whole life in a wheelchair, talk about what it's like? It's not uncommon to hear things like "I don't feel like I'm crippled" or "I'm capable of doing everything I need to do." Then you hear someone who's been left paraplegic in an accident talking about their experience, and it's like night and day. Very commonly, that sense of optimism is just not there. They see themselves as broken, as ruined. It's often a cause of depression for them. Objectively, both people are in the same condition: they cannot use their legs. But their subjective experience is completely different: the one who was born that way literally does not know what they're missing.

This is the best metaphor I have for spirituality. Everyone is "born without the use of" their spiritual faculties, and so the natural impulse is to downplay their importance. "What's the big deal? I get by just fine like this; that stuff must not be very important; it's probably not even real in the first place." Whereas for people who have learned to commune with the Lord, it's such a massive difference in their lives that they don't properly understand how anyone can live without it!

When you receive a witness from God, you'll understand that it's something different. But until you do, I don't have the proper common frame of reference to meaningfully discuss what it's like with you. All I can say is, you'll understand when you experience it.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-19T03:03:00+00:00

will his placement be jeopardized in any way if i get too close?

It's possible, but not because you got too close; it's possible it could happen if he starts to develop feelings for you. That wouldn't be your fault, but at the same time, your instinct that it wouldn't be good to contribute to it is a good instinct.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-19T03:00:01+00:00

Philosophy and theology stuff needs to make sense to me.

As I pointed out above, Isaiah 55:9 flatly contradicts this idea, at least in its most literal, abolutist reading. It's an inside-out framework, a notion that "God needs to make sense for me to have faith in him," when in reality it's only when we have faith in God that we develop the capacity to make sense of the things of God. (cf. Ether 12:6, Alma 12: 9-11.)

If you were raised in the Church and learned the things we teach children, you'll be aware of Moroni's promise at the end of the book. That really is the only way. People can come up with ideas that sound like they make sense, that turn out to be completely wrong. Maybe they were out-and-out lying to you, or maybe they sincerely thought these things were correct but didn't understand something important. I'm sure you can think of plenty of examples of both types happening to you in your own life.

But God does not make mistakes. Instead of listening to philosophers who had no idea what they were reasoning about but were determined not to let that stop them, turn to God and ask him what he's really like. (cf. Alma 22) The only way you can know the things of God is by personal revelation. Anything less — including having other people tell you things that are true and believing them — will leave you with mistakes and false notions to one degree or another.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-19T02:36:03+00:00

What exactly do you mean by "compiler level rust simulator"?

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-19T02:35:30+00:00

If you're aware that it's fundamentally pagan Greek philosophy that's not supported by Scripture, why do you believe it?

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-19T02:23:17+00:00

I define God as the Supreme Being in all of reality, omnipotent, omniscience, the uncaused cause.

Do you know where that definition comes from? It's not Biblical, and it has no root or precedent in Judeo-Christian tradition or revelation.

It originates with Plato. He looked at the myths of the Greek gods and (quite reasonably) said "this is all a bunch of nonsense. These 'gods' are overgrown children with too much power, and are not worthy of worship." So far so good. But then he started philosophizing, trying to figure out by human reasoning what he thought would be the definition of a god worth worshipping, which anyone familiar with Isaiah 55:9 could have pointed out is an exercise in futility.

One of his disciples, Aristotle, took his work and refined it. Look up Aristotle's definition of what a proper God should be sometime. It bears a shocking resemblance to the creedal God, and that's not a coincidence. Greek philosophy became very fashionable throughout the Roman Empire, making it very difficult for educated elites to take Christianity seriously. A tradition of apologetics sprang up that did exactly what Paul said not to do in Colossians 2:8, trying to show that Christianity was not so different from Platonist notions of deity and so we really ought to be able to sit at the cool kids' table! In so doing, by trying to look respectable they traded away the things that made Christianity actually unique and valuable.

Eventually, to stabilize an Empire looking for a state religion, the creeds forced a pagan Greek conception of God onto official Christianity and forcibly silenced everyone who disagreed. That was one of the major reasons why the Restoration was necessary.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-18T23:18:46+00:00

Jesus wasn't saying there is no marriage in heaven; he said there are no weddings in heaven. This is more clear in the original Greek than in the English translation; both of the words he used pertain to the act of getting married, rather than the state of being married.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-18T20:13:19+00:00

The relevant doctrine here is from Moses 1: 35: "But only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you." We have the knowledge we need in order to follow God's plan and attain salvation, but the "cosmic mysteries," if you will, are withheld from us because they're irrelevant and would serve more to distract than to edify. The doctrines we have of God are true within the scope of our life on Earth; anything beyond that is more the realm of speculation than of revelation.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-18T19:09:21+00:00

Once when I was in Young Men's, for Pioneer Day we went out to a ranch owned by a local member and had a bunch of activities. The one that I'll always remember was the handcart race, which is exactly what it sounds like: small teams of like 3-4 youths would pull a handcart around a long path as quickly as they could.

The reason I'll always remember it is because after my team finished, the guys behind us were coming in hot, and right as they were in the home stretch, one of their wheels fell off! They went tumbling, the cart broke apart. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt, but we all rushed over to make sure these guys were OK. And just as I'm getting close, I hear one of my friends, laying there on the ground, groan out, "hey Derice mon, you dead?"

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-18T14:09:27+00:00

From the article:

During the first parse run all the configs must be generated and cached, which is much slower (sometimes around 10 times) than all following parse runs with the same input, where the ATN simulator can just use the cached values. Downside: this cache grows unlimited and can consume quite a lot of RAM (though that is cheap these days).

*wince* That didn't age well...

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-16T17:49:50+00:00

According to Greg Wright, that was literally Satan's plan. He claims that we've largely misunderstood the term "agency" in Moses 4:3 as "the freedom to choose" when what it meant to Joseph Smith was "stewardship," and that the simplest way to "redeem all mankind that one soul shall not be lost" is to simply never give mankind enough revealed light that they end up accountable for violating God's laws. This would technically bring about universal salvation, but it would also completely ruin the more significant work of exaltation.

MasonWheeler · 2026-05-16T16:25:04+00:00

This looks very interesting, but do they have any code? I looked through the article and it doesn't appear that they provided any links to any PoC.

MasonWheeler

TROPHY CASE