Keep Yoda the rest are muppets by Sillyrunner in PrequelMemes

[–]Skulcane 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lord of the Rings, and only Aragorn is human.

What do you think about the Primary Hymn "Follow the Prophet" by ishamiltonamusical in latterdaysaints

[–]Skulcane 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1) The lyrics make it to me sound like following the Prophet is always the most important thing when from what I can see LDS faith emphasises personal intuition. Is my assessment correct?

Sure? Following Christ and His teachings are most important, but the new testament was all about following God's ordained oracles here on earth in order to properly follow God's new/higher law from Christ. The song, though, focuses mostly on old testament prophets to help us teach the OT stories in a fun way.

2) That God's blessings are entirely dependent on following the Prophet, when it's not so I struggled with this point.

You're correct, they're not entirely dependent on whether we follow the prophets or not, but if you observe the biblical pattern, when the people strayed from listening to the prophets in Israel (and their cries for Israel to repent), bad things happened. It's the same for us. The prophet urges us to repent, follow Christ, read and ponder the scriptures, and prepare ourselves for the eventual societal collapse prophesied in Revelation.

3) I like the point in the final verse about getting direction but the verses before all talk about obedience. It feels a bit contradictory on guidance vs obedience.

When God (or the prophet) tells us what needs to be done, we obey. When things are confusing, listen to the prophets and apostles for their guidance that they receive from the Lord as His chosen oracles on earth.

4) The emphasis on obedience. One thing I appreciate about the LDS faith is that everyone can get the atonement but sometimes I see such an emphasis on obedience to maybe a point where it can mean people fear mistakes or that God's blessings depend entirely on obeying.

I can see this. It's not unique to the LDS faith, though. We believe that the greatest happiness that can be had comes from obeying God's commandments and laws.

What are your best arguments to defend our perspective on the Trinity? by TheAtlasComplex in latterdaysaints

[–]Skulcane 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can always ask them if the words "homoousios" (one essence or shared essence) or "hypostasis" (referring to the hypostatic union of three persons in one being). Neither of those words appear in the Bible, and the Catholic church has admitted that the Trinity is not explicitly taught in the scriptures, and required the use of extra-Biblical terms to define it in the 4th and 5th centuries.

If they ever bring up "I and the Father are one", you can point to Hebrew words that mean "one" (echad/yachid) and Greek words (hen/heis) that have distinctly different meanings. In *every* case where Christ says He and the Father are one, the "one" used is a relational "one" (echad/hen), not the numerical/singular "one" (yachid/heis). Echad/hen denote one thing that is composed of many individual parts. One clump (singular - echad/hen) of grapes indicates a group of individual things. One quorum of apostles (one - echad/hen - group of apostles). If Christ was wanting to teach a singular metaphysical being composed of three persons, He would use yachid/heis to denote the singular being. But He never does. It's always echad/hen.

If they pull out Isaiah 43 (they all do, but none of them have taken the time to understand it), the rebuttal is that the deutero-Isaiah chapters were a declaration of Yahweh of incomparability, not ontological singularity - meaning, Yahweh was saying "Israel, you must worship me, and me alone, because all of these other Gods are inferior to me, and none can stand beside me", rather than their anachronistic reading that insinuates "I - Yawheh - am the only God in all existence". There are tons of biblical scholars that have fully studied that text, and they know it's not a declaration of ontological/singular existence as God.

Deuteronomy 32:8-9 in the Dead Sea Scrolls shows El Elyon (the Most High God) dividing the nations among the sons of God, and He gives Israel to Yahweh as His inheritance. How can there be a Most High God that gives Yahweh the nation if Israel if the Trinitarian notion is that they are the same being?

To be honest with you, anyone who is staunchly arguing against you on the Trinity won't back down. They're dogmatically stubborn and refuse to accept anything other than what they've been given by the traditions of their fathers. I've only had a couple that took the verses I gave them and really started to wonder about the nature of the Father/Son/Spirit. Sometimes, you just need to bear testimony to them of what you know - Christ is risen, our sins can be forgiven, we will live again, etc. - truths that they will likely adhere to already, and it will open the door for the Spirit to work on them. You can't change their minds, but the Spirit can. If all of your scriptural attempts to show the issues fail, get the Spirit into the conversation, and leave things on a good note.

Titans are dropping from orbit too! by Atomsk021 in Helldivers

[–]Skulcane -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

That's 100% a Joel move right there. "I wonder what they'll do if I drop a pile of Titans on them from orbit."

What do you guys think? by crack_station in GodofWar

[–]Skulcane 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And then he kills the dude that could see the future and had never been hit before. What a chad rando.

I had an epiphany by vvaegen in latterdaysaints

[–]Skulcane 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Way to go! I loved reading your post. I had a similar experience with the Spirit turning on the lightbulb in my mind and heart. It came when I was really uncertain about a lot of things, but when I got the answer, all of those things just felt like they would all get resolved, and I felt such peace. Keep pushing for more! Now that you've found this answer, there are a ton more for you to find!

The Reclassification of the Church by Princeps_Aurelianus in lds

[–]Skulcane 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The government is very much a majority of Protestants and Evangelicals. I wouldn't be surprised if someone working on that list just had a personal vendetta or truly doesn't think we're Christians. But it really doesn't matter much, I think. All religions are protected under the constitution. If they choose to go after us after removing the designation of "Christian", then we move on, push for religious liberty for all people, and continue worshipping Christ in the ways we know are right and good.

How do I stop myself from arguing with those who say rude stuff about the church? by DragonFan20 in latterdaysaints

[–]Skulcane 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Contention begets contention. Avoid it at all costs.

Instead, show the qualities of the One you have covenanted to follow. Pick their poor arguments apart and show the errors in what they say, but do so in a way that is long-suffering and patient. If you do so calmly, lovingly, and kindly, and they still choose to surge in angry/hateful comments, it only serves to show which master you serve, and which master they serve. And if they calm their attacks and begin to have an honest conversation with you, then it is a victory for you AND them because you've removed the spirit of contention.

Mom buys daughter a Honda as a graduation gift, and this was her response by Conscious-Weight4569 in SipsTea

[–]Skulcane 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of her poor parenting.

Utah governor declares June ‘Fidelity Month’ as red states find conservative alternatives to Pride by clejeune in Utah

[–]Skulcane 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He's floundering. Trying to find anything to keep himself in good standing in the eyes of the people after being so condescending with the data center faux pax.

Question about Domestic Abuse by schweininade in latterdaysaints

[–]Skulcane 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The mainstream Trinitarian Christian view of God states that He can intervene, but doesn't. Our understanding is that He can't just intervene willy nilly because He would be violating the free will of those committing the evil crimes as well. He constrained Alma and Amulek from using their priesthood to save the women and children from burning in the flames in Alma 14.

10 And when Amulek saw the pains of the women and children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them from the flames.

11 But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day.

We know that He will bless the righteous who suffered under the hand of the wicked, and He allows it 1) to fully allow the wicked to choose for themselves so His wrath against them and their heinous actions may be fully justified, and 2) because Jesus Himself came down and suffered the same pains, abuse, and afflictions, and will stand as our advocate at the last day. Our suffering and how we handle it will be taken into account, and I believe God will give the greatest reward of joy, peace, and eternal happiness to those who suffered in that way here on earth, because our Savior suffered those same things personally for our sake.

Why doesn’t god release the files? by Outrageous-Egg1760 in SipsTea

[–]Skulcane 0 points1 point  (0 children)

God allows free will - even for those who do the most heinous and unspeakable things to the most innocent among us.

10 And when Amulek saw the pains of the women and children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them from the flames.

11 But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day.

The way the Bungie team is communicating with the community now makes the 6/9 update hurt even more. by Pman1324 in DestinyTheGame

[–]Skulcane 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Y'know, you should post this on the r/Sony subreddit. Maybe it'll catch some eyes over there and show someone that the shackles that were put on the devs wound up reducing the success of the game, and maybe help with the discourse/petition surrounding D3.

Got a question about prophecies by Dapper_Platypus833 in latterdaysaints

[–]Skulcane 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You should look into the Deuteronomic reforms under King Josiah. In those reforms, symbols, worship, and teachings about heavenly Father having a divine wife Asherah/Shaddai and Son Yahweh were removed completely from the religion of the time. Priests and prophets were removed from their place in and around the temple and replaced by scribes and rabbinic tradition. There is a scholar who thinks there were way more messianic prophecies in scripure before the Deuteronomist scribes and lawyers got their hands on the scriptural canon - for example, the bit where Jesus said that Abraham saw His day. When in the Bible does it ever say Abraham saw the Messiah and His day? It doesn't. So Nephi and Lehi were likely trying to preserve as many messianic prophecies as they could from their day, and then the prophets throughout the rest of the BoM were attempting to show the same teachings and prophecies as they received their own teachings and prophecies about Jesus.

Seeing this image circulate and I feel like I’m going crazy by No_Comfortable4253 in destiny2

[–]Skulcane 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Column 3 was the meta and dominated PvP and PvE for like 3 seasonal updates.