For some time now I have been interested, as many people before, in the chronological timetable from Adam’s removal from the Garden of Eden to the conquer of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 B.C. To this date, nobody has been able to come up with a complete, exact and proven timetable for the individuals we regard as the Patriarchs of the Old Testament, and I doubt anybody ever will. The goal of this serial is to lay out my current LDS views of the chronological problem and allow others to discuss them.

In undertaking this task I will be referring heavily on the standard works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which include: the Holy Bible (KJV), the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. In an instance where a discrepancy may exist with regards to the timeline, I will favor the LDS standard works over others, such as we will see with the lifespan of Enoch, and the age of Noah at the birth of his three sons.

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Respect Others

I was cooking dinner the other night, and I decided to listen to the Mormon Channel to try and recoup the spirit in our house. At the time, it was a talk portion called “Standing Up” and this episode was on “civility”. As the show progressed, I thought it might make for a good Topical Guide installment. While I didn’t find “civility” in the topical guide, I did fine the next best thing, “respect”.

I didn’t get to catch the entire show, but it started out by talking about what things have gone missing [in some] in our daily lives. Specifically speaking about what “reality tv” shows are presenting to those watching. They spoke about the anger and backbiting, and other awful behavior they present as everyday life.

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The Eternal Family Through Christ by Judith Mehr

I know, I know – it’s been awhile. I have no excuses really – though I have been busy, though lately I’ve been the opposite of busy – I’ve actually had nothing to do since the end of May (workforce reduction).

This past Sunday, my wife had the opportunity to speak being part of a newly installed Primary Presidency, and her topic was the Eternal Family. I thought, what better way to get back in the saddle then with that topic. I mean, I have a family and we’re sealed together and I never really thought much past the topical notion of being sealed for all time and eternity. But what does it mean beyond that?

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Inside the Temple

Last week, I came across an article in the Salt Lake Tribune about Temple Worship. While the article was fine, the comment section was full of vile, bitter, sacrilegious offenses. I mean it seriously made me ill reading over it. There were things I hold sacred, written across the internet for all to see. Needless to say, it prompted me to my current topic this week, Sacred.

12 And it was because of the ^apride of their hearts, because of their exceeding ^briches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the ^cpoor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a ^dmock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery, rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi, among the Lamanites- [Hel 4:12]

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Constitutional Convention

Alright, so I’m going to cheat a little bit here, some may have noticed that “Constitutional” doesn’t exist in the Topical Guide. It’s really more of a stretch verses a cheat. If you look up  the word Constitution in the Topical Guide, you’ll get referred to “Citizenship; Governments”, I chose Governments and ended up with a list of scriptures, one of which used the word constitutional. So you can see how I came to the word I am using.

Over the weekend, there was some discussion, or arguing depending on which side you were on, about what our prophets have said on the matter and what we’re suppose to be doing.

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Contention

It’s Tuesday again, that means another exciting installment of TOPICAL GUIDE TUESDAY (say it like those monster truck announcers). This week, and maybe this is going to be a continuing thing – but I’ve been thinking about my own issues, and I suffer from this affliction, so let’s talk about it and see if we can come up with something.

Did anyone remember to try and thank the Lord for our blessings from last weeks challenge? I did, and even though I didn’t make it all week, I consciously thanked him a number of times and noticed slight changes in myself. I still need to continue with that, but let’s move on and look at another topic.

I went looking for Contention’s definition but came across a number of them that really didn’t make contention out to be so bad. It was merely arguing or debating. So I went looking for it among the teachings and writings of our modern day prophets. Read more…

I got the idea of this from seeing MordernMolly’s “Book of Mormon Mondays – Humility“, which then morphed into going through the topical guide on Tuesdays, and discussing something out of there.

The Opposite of Pride

Today’s Topic – Pride.

Out of the numerous verses listed, I was drawn to the following verse. I think it speaks volumes of our current situations in the world. The surrounding verses enumerate a lot of cause and effects, and “wo unto’s”.

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