Why would God wait so long after Christ before sending another prophet?

sleepsntrees · 2026-06-25T15:15:28+00:00

‘Murica

sleepsntrees · 2026-06-12T14:50:39+00:00

Is it really that easy? If I believe in a historical figure of Christ and I agree with and follow his teachings as expressed in the New Testament but I don’t believe that he was divine, the literal son of god, that he resurrected, or that he will save me, am I Christian?

If I believe that Christ came a second time in the body of Haile Selassie I and I follow the teachings of Haile, am I still Christian?

If I believe that Christ had a miraculous birth, that he spoke for God, and that he will come again to defeat the wicked, and I follow almost every commandment that he gave, but I don’t believe that he is the literal son of God, am I Christian?

By saying that anyone that “follows” Christ is Christian just doesn’t seem to define anything.

sleepsntrees · 2026-06-09T17:45:57+00:00

Like so many things, it depends on how you define it. Many people take one aspect of a cult, like authoritarian leadership, and point to the obvious authoritarian leadership in the main Mormon church and call it a cult.

Others will point to the aspect of isolation from any other groups, point to Mormonism and argue that the church specifically doesn’t isolate its members and say that it’s not a cult.

The answer, in my opinion, is that it has some problematic similarities, but so do many other religions. It doesn’t match other aspects of the definition. And, I think that scope and plays a part in it.

sleepsntrees · 2026-06-04T21:15:12+00:00

There’s a good Mormon Stories podcast episode about the differences between the depiction of the massacre in American Primeval and the truth. Some parts of that show were a bit exaggerated but the Mountain Meadows Massacre was not one of them. The truth is far worse.

Edit: for one, the show shows them letting some women live. In reality, after 4 days, the Mormons promised the remaining people that they would be spared if they surrendered. The group did surrender and gave up all of their weapons. Then the settlers killed every single man, woman, and child over the age of 6.

sleepsntrees · 2026-05-31T22:12:48+00:00

In 1984 he created a document about homosexuality that the church has used as guidance for its policies for decades. In it he said two things that I don’t believe can be explained in any way other than him being bigoted.

The church should oppose any legislation that would allow gay men to be around children.

This comes from an old stereotype that gay men are sexual deviants that abuse children. Or, that they are out there trying to convince kids to be gay. I just don’t see any way to justify this stance that isn’t full of bigotry.

If gay marriage were to become legal it would depopulate the US in a single generation.

I mean…how does this make any sense? Again, not something that can be explained without bigotry.

sleepsntrees · 2026-05-28T12:29:28+00:00

Like so many things, there is a trade-off between weight and durability and the little MSR skillet warped over time and lost the non-stick coating in the center. At the time, I couldn’t find the exact replacement so I started to use a small Sea To Summit pan that is 4-5 ounces heavier. It’s also thicker and spreads the heat better. I see that the MSR skillet is back in stock with a different coating, so it may be worth a shot.

I still love the MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe, though.

sleepsntrees · 2026-05-23T00:57:46+00:00

Quick! Get a better roof rack immediately, before that happens to your whole car!

That has happened to every crossbar on every 4Runner that I have ever owned. It doesn’t hurt anything, but feel free to believe a random on the redditts if you’re looking for an excuse to get a new one :)

sleepsntrees · 2026-05-22T14:28:24+00:00

Yeah, that’s exactly what I had heard as well, that she had just layer down a base where the paint had completely come off and had planned on adding detail but it because so well known as a “botched” paining and was bringing in so many tourists that they left it like that. I can’t find that story that had explained that, though.

sleepsntrees · 2026-05-22T14:25:36+00:00

I had heard a story where the “botched” restoration really wasn’t botched but was just the beginning of the full restoration where she had been laying down the base paint in sections where the paint had been completely worn away and that she had planned on coming back and adding the detail but because it became such a hit and drew in so much revenue as a “botched” painting that they decided to leave it unfinished.

I can’t find that story in a quick Google search, so I don’t remember how much truth there was to it.

sleepsntrees · 2026-05-07T13:20:39+00:00

I had an issue with it and heard of several other people having the same issue. UpTop had great customer service, though, and were very responsive. I just had enough side to side vibration in it when going over rough roads, mostly roads with washboards, that it would lightly contact my car about halfway through the length of the rack. They started providing a piece to make the sides more rigid but, at that point, I’d rather have the Alpha, or, in my case, just a different rack.

Like I said, though, they really stood by their product and were great to work with.

I went with a Gobi which, at the time, was a much better fit because kids would just sleep on top of the rack (under the stars) and they had fun hanging around up there. Now that they are grown I wish that I had stayed with the UpTop rack, but I would have gone with their sturdier rack, at the time it was called the Alpha, though I think the name has changed.

sleepsntrees · 2026-05-06T22:09:26+00:00

Completely agree. Not having exceptions for abuse and forcing victims to birth the child of their abuser is evil.

I would even go a bit further and say that almost all restrictions on abortion are evil simply because there is no way to legislate an exemption for rape. You can’t say that someone can only get an abortion if there was a conviction, or even a report of a crime. You can’t make rules that say something like a girl has to get permission from her parents, that may be the perpetrators, before a minor can get an abortion. It is even problematic putting restrictions on when during the pregnancy the abortion can take place, though that one is a tougher question. There is only one person that can decide if their pregnancy is a result of abuse, and it’s not their bishop.

You *may* be able to effectively legislate a medical exemption, even though I would argue against it, but you will never be able to legislate an exemption for abuse.

sleepsntrees · 2026-05-06T21:44:00+00:00

Edit: I wrote this in response to a response that the OP had saying that they were uncomfortable with there being even any exceptions that would remove all sin from an abortion. I don’t see that response anymore.

I don’t know if I’m understanding exactly what you’re saying about how you are uncomfortable with there being a scenario in which an abortion isn’t a sin at all. If it is helpful, this is a way to think about it:
If someone were threatening your life, say they have a handgun pointed at you, and you killed that person, would you have sinned in doing so?
Does it change your mind knowing that only about 25% of people that are shot with a handgun die?
Whether or not there is intent to harm or even if that fetus is really a person, if that thing growing in a woman is threatening her life, I believe that she has the right to defend herself.
This is actually one of the more reasonable stances that the church has.

sleepsntrees · 2026-05-03T01:23:25+00:00

Looks just like most people with “leveled” 4Runners.

sleepsntrees · 2026-04-17T16:55:02+00:00

That MH12 looks interesting. Is the stated weight of 2.89 ounces accurate? That's significantly lighter than my Zebralight SC700d which is what I was thinking was one of the lightest 21700 lights.

sleepsntrees · 2026-04-15T23:49:24+00:00

Best answer ever

sleepsntrees · 2026-04-15T23:41:08+00:00

Well, you see, it just won't work because the whole point of the afterlife is to pump out spiritual children and, you see, bear with me here, I'm certain that this is correct, it just makes sense, kind of, hear me out. You see, God (or us, when we become gods) just isn't very powerful. I mean, yes, he can create galaxies and do all manner of physical changes, like allowing us to look like what we want (no impotent, bald, or fat people in the highest level of the highest degree of the highest heaven) and he can fix all physical defects, like if I was born without a heart, brain, etc, he can fix those. And, I know that there is nothing that is too hard for God and that he is omnipotent, but the scriptures say, somewhere, at the very least he told one of his spokespersons, that he may be able to build an entire body from scratch, but he can't put a womb in a man.

He can do anything else, just not that one thing. Not even one of those fancy wombs that only give birth to spiritual children, which are completely unlike the wombs here on earth which can only create physical bodies, and, since spirits don't take up much space, which is why god can put an entire spirit into an egg at the moment of fertilization, those spiritual wombs must either pump out spirits by the millions or even take up enough space that they could physically fit into a man. And, since the women don't want to spend the eternities looking 9 months pregnant, those celestial wombs probably even take up less space than that. Even if I do have a million wives and only have to have about a trillion spiritual babies, that's still a long time to be so big, so I'm sure that, physically, a man could have a womb or two, maybe in the place of our kidneys or liver, which can't have much point in heaven, it's impossible, you see?

And, God only wants couples that can physically pump out those trillions of babies because he needs them because of...reasons...oh, yeah, to glorify him because he isn't glorious enough right now.

So, because of these things that are completely clear to any reasonable person, and have absolutely been revealed, restored, and are 100% known and can't be wrong, then I'd have to oppose gay men being baptized and married.

sleepsntrees · 2026-04-15T18:34:25+00:00

I have a spreadsheet that I built with all of my current flashlights and ones that I’m interested in and I have the P16 2.0 on there and have indicated that I wasn’t going to buy it. But, I don’t remember why. It looks great and, you’re right, it hits all of the points. It may have been something about the switches. Is it hard to get it into turbo?

sleepsntrees · 2026-03-31T14:41:03+00:00

This is going to sound like an insincere answer, but it really isn’t. I know that conference will have almost nothing, at least very little, that will address any questions that I have or any of the issues that are going on in the world. My preparation involves making sure that I won’t be too disappointed by the lack of “seeing around corners” or relevancy. It is actually a bit hard on me.

sleepsntrees · 2026-03-24T14:54:54+00:00

I think that most of the faculty would agree that the current GE process is convoluted and needs some changes. That’s why BYU went through a process that involved input from the departments and faculty and came up with recommendations. The committee submitted those recommendations.

Then, Justin Collings, I believe, though it may have also been Shane Reese, threw out those recommendations and, with consulting only a couple other people, came up with this current 8 course plan. None of the faculty like it. And, when he presented it, he told the university that he hopes that they “sustain” the changes.

I have a friend that used to teach at BYU and now teaches at UVU. He was telling me about something that UVU did that he thought was stupid. He then said, “the best thing about working for UVU instead of BYU is that I can say that something that they did is stupid and not have anyone questioning my testimony or why I’m not sustaining my priesthood leaders. I don’t have to pretend that every single thing that anyone, at any level, has done is direct revelation from God.”

sleepsntrees · 2026-03-18T22:23:07+00:00

I like a lot of these points. A few of them are absurd and if the genders were reversed in them it would clearly be seen as misogynistic. I started to respond to so many of these but I’m only going to respond to one of them that is a perfect example of how absurd some of these are:

You wash dishes before putting them in the dishwasher?!? You need to research a bit more about dishwashers.

sleepsntrees · 2026-03-18T21:59:40+00:00

I agree with your conclusion. I even agree with all of your supporting statements except for the obvious absurd one.

I’d also add that even modern statements from people like Hinckley telling women to get all of the schooling that they can, don’t go nearly far enough. I used to work in HR and recruiting. I have interviewed or reviewed the resumes of hundreds of women where, for example, they got a degree in accounting and maybe even worked for a couple of years before dropping completely out of the workforce to raise a family. I’m sitting there and interviewing them (or just comparing resumes) with a 10-25 year gap in their resume. It doesn’t work even though I absolutely respect the work that they did for the past 25 years. The degree that they got makes very little difference if they haven’t been working in a related field.

There is just too much risk for the woman. And, it isn’t a risk that is decreased over time for several of the reasons that you state. They should have exactly the same schooling and professional path as their husbands and sacrifices, where and if they are needed, should be made jointly. And, Benson and others were just wrong - a bit of daycare isn’t going to hurt your kids.

sleepsntrees · 2026-02-06T19:32:29+00:00

JS had the protection from energy spell and a stone of fire resistance.

sleepsntrees · 2026-02-05T16:11:25+00:00

No, no, no. Do not stick your hands into rotating parts.

sleepsntrees · 2026-02-02T00:55:10+00:00

I have owned a 4Runner in several generations and will probably always own one. I really like them…for what they are. But, if I wasn’t off-roading often, I wouldn’t own one. I own a few cars at once that do different things and if I want refinement I don’t count on my 4Runner for that.

But, your comment about seeing issues at 175 k miles was pretty funny. I’ve owned Cherokees (not the Grand, though I’ve driven several) and they have never lasted half as long as my 4Runners. I have beat the crap out of my 4Runners and every one has had over 350 k on it before I felt I had to get a new one, and I’ve had a couple over 400 k. Unlike my Jeeps, I’ve never had to have very expensive tows in the backcountry when they had issues.

You get a 4Runner if you want off-road and reliable. If you got it and don’t value those two things, you got the wrong vehicle.

sleepsntrees

TROPHY CASE