jalc: Okay, thanks for the clarification. 👍

No prob

TallGirl - Yes, I’ll pray! What are fellow Christians for? 😄
Anyway, sibling number 6?—wow! Congratulations, I imagine that’s exciting for your family.
My mom had two miscarriages, (who I’ll meet in heaven one day) so I understand your fears.
I was really young for the second one, (the first happened before I was born) but I still remember a feeling of sadness and loss. 😦
I’m excited for your family, and I hope the baby’s delivered safely!
I’m sorry about your fears and hope they don’t happen! But whatever happens, trust that god has a gift for you and that the baby will be safe, whether on Heaven or Earth! 😃

Note: Oh, my—you said you have 6 Hearts in your last message? I thought the average human was born with 2! 😂

I can't say much now, but I will address the difference between the LDS church and the RLDS -- or the "Reformed LDS" -- church. They are two similar religions, one of which stemmed off of the other. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the LDS Church) came first, and the Reformed Church of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) came later. The LDS church is the one founded by Joseph Smith. The RLDS church came afterwards, and was founded by unfaithful members of the LDS church who believed that the future prophets of the LDS church who came after Joseph Smith were not legitimate. Their reasoning for this was in regards to the outlaw of polygamy of other controversial subjects, and is why the LDS church does not in any way sympathize with or support the RLDS church: the RLDS church is essentially a corrupted version of the LDS church, created to perpetuate things like polygamy, and as a way for those who want to support the Book of Mormon to still be able to partake of alcohol and other tabooed substances. The RLDS church does use the Book of Mormon and other LDS scripture, but they are a belligerent religion who broke off because they found the laws and leaders of the LDS church too hard to follow. (I am not saying that all those in the RLDS church are bad, but that it was created on bad grounds and still exists in part to support these bad things). If you have ever heard of "Sister Wive" shows, or shows about polygamy, many of these shows -- more than not in fact -- feature members of the RLDS church. These shows have never featured a true family of the LDS church, because polygamy is banned in the LDS church. Again, anyone found practicing polygamy in the LDS church is excommunicated. It is considered an extremely bad sin, on the same level as adultery or other chastity related sins. We actually have a written rule that we believe is revelation from God through one of our prophets that explicitly states that "Monogamy (the faithful marriage between two individuals) is God's law -- polygamy is abominable in his eyes". I don't want to sound so harsh in my stating of this (if I do), but it is just that the LDS church is nearly stereotypical of polygamy, even though it has never sanctioned a single polymatic marriage. I know so many people, especially those who attend my seminary, who get regularly made fun of for having "11 moms" or "daddy King Solomon", and just wanted to clarify the true feeling of the LDS church against polygamy -- it is not sanctioned, and God does not approve of it at all, in any way. https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/od/1?lang=eng The link to the official declaration against polygamy.

RBC: Thanks for clarifying that, it helped me understand it a lot better. 👍

Now, would anyone like to hear about Open Theism? This'll be a good exercise for me. 😄

And @Op most of what you said regarding Adam and Eve and the Fall is the stance of our church, too. But we believe that because Adam and Eve were in the presence of God, their bodies were changed ("transfigured), similar to how Moses' was with the Burning Bush, or Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration in the New Testament. However, nothing against what you said about them eating from the Tree of Life is in our gospel, as we believe the same account from the King James Bible, so that could definitely be a part of it. And yes, we believe that, if they had stayed immortal forever in the garden, they would have lived forever without sin, and we -- all the world -- never could have happened. I completely agree with nearly everything you said, especially in the latter, and also in that Adam and Eve were always mortal while they were on this earth. Like I said, we believe that we were immortal in the pre-existence, but that we were sent to earth and became mortal then. So Adam and Eve were mortal while they were in Eden. But we believe that their bodies were transfigured in order for them to dwell in the presence of the immortal God, so they were made immortal for indefinite amount of time they were to dwell in His presence. I really should have clarified that first, and I am glad you brought that up. We also believe (as I previously stated) that all those diseases and sin began when the original sin was committed, as the devil inherited this earth. Another thing we believe that links to this, is that the devil is currently the ruler over the earth. He has power over it, but he will not have so forever. When Christ comes again the earth will be redeemed, and itself will be transfigured to the literal "Heaven on Earth". We believe that the celestial kingdom will be on the new, transfigured earth when it is restored to its original paradisiacal glory.

And on a side note to my last comment, the difference between LDS and RLDS can be compared to that of the Roman Catholic and Canon Catholic churches -- both came from the original same Catholic religion, which came from the original Christianity, right? But then they broke up into different sects, which have changed more and more over time. This is similar to that of the LDS and RLDS churches, except that it is only the RLDS church which has changed. I can say without a doubt that the LDS church has not changed a single one of its policies since it was first restored by Joseph Smith. The LDS church did not sanction polygamy, but it was practiced until God clarified that it was wrong and had to be eliminated. This is, again, when the RLDS church faction first broke off.

One more thing: https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1990/01/the-fall-of-man-and-his-redemption?lang=eng

Just for anyone who wants it, and in case I stated things wrong, this is another, more in depth view of exactly what we believe about the Fall.

I would like to hear about Open Theism -- I know a fair amount about it, but I know that it appears in multiple sects of Evangelicalism and Protestantism (among others), and therefore differs quite a bit. I'd love to hear your stance on it.

Thank you so much to everyone who is praying with me!
Wizard: That means so much to me- thank you. I know that if anything does happen, I'll see my little sibling in heaven, just like you will. And sometimes, I think that they got the "easy way" out, kind of like Faithful in "Pilgrim's Progress", and they get to be right next to God almost from the beginning. Maybe sitting on his lap!
Thank you for saying that. ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡
(One heart for each of my family, including me, Mom, Dad, and the little one. 😉)
P.S. I'm bad at counting- this will be my seventh sibling!
Don't blame me, though. There's too many! 😃

Rubricks, I had a couple questions for you on the previous page. Did you see them? If you could answer 'em, I'd appreciate it. 😉

TallGirl - Very welcome! The fact that they’re with Jesus instead of on Earth still makes it sad when a baby dies, though. 😦
Oh, and the heart thing makes sense now—I’d be even more worried for the baby if your ancestors included an extra 5 hearts in their chests! 😂

😁

Just think, though. Actually, they got to live before us! Really live, I mean.

That’s true! I just mean the thought of not spending your earthly life, (as in, right now) with a person you love, before the real living comes...

Anyway... Let’s only speak life over the baby and say it’ll be healthy! 😁

Yes!

RBC: Okay, that all makes sense. It's a ton of fun to discuss this stuff, I really enjoy it!

Okay, so, Open Theism. This'll be tough. 😂

Open Theism by itself is the belief that God has changed some rules over time. Not moral rules, like murder, stealing, committing adultery, etc, but symbolic rules, like dietary laws.

People will say that Open Theism is from the Devil, that it's . . . "putting words in God's mouth", so to speak. But it truly is not. God has changed rules over time, especially to do with Israel and the Body of Christ.

One good example is before the flood, with Cain. God prevented anyone from killing him, even though he murdered his brother. However, after the Flood, God reinstated the penalty for murder (which was death).

Another example is the Sabbath law for the Israelites. After the Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites, they were required to keep the Sabbath as a day of rest, with no work being done on that day. However, after Israel was cut off (after the Crucifixion), and the Gentiles were grafted in, they were no longer required to keep the symbolic laws of the Israelites, like feasts, Sabbath, dietary laws, etc.

That's a . . . sparse, but clear explanation of what Open Theism, itself, as a doctrine is.

@TallGirl I had seen your comment, but wanted to be completely accurate both to what I know and what my religion officially states, and needed to finish up some school before I could say anything more 😛.

Joseph Smith first saw God when he was 14, but he did not do all this, or even a small fraction of it in that year; he dedicated literally the whole rest of his life to re-establishing what he (and his followers) believed was God's true religion up until he was martyred about 25 years later. He did have what we call "The First Vision" when he was 14, and that is when he knew he was to do his work for God. From that age on, he was openly persecuted by people in his county, which later escalated to the whole state of New York, then New England, America, and eventually the whole world. His persecution sadly isn't just a religious belief or a speculation, it's a fact and part of US History. If you have ever read about the Oregon trail and Western Migration (a key part of US history), you may know that much of its neighboring trails was made up by the "American Trail of Tears" or the "Mormon Trail". That trail was used primarily by LDS pilgrims who were trying to escape persecution, mobs, and murder targeted towards them.

The age eight is not explicitly mentioned in the Book of Mormon or the Bible, but we believe that God revealed the age of accountability to Joseph Smith when Joseph Smith prayed to him to know. This was later on after Joseph Smith became the first prophet of the LDS church.

We also believe that the Book of Mormon comes from a set of plates made by ancient peoples. Essentially, these plates were various accounts of the prophets and their words, and revelations and visions from God just as the Bible is. The last prophet in the Book of Mormon compiled all these accounts together before he died into the plates that now make up the Book of Mormon, and hid them. He was told by God to hide them so that they would not become corrupted, changed by man, or stolen as have many of the original accounts that make up the Bible. This is why some people think that we believe in the Book of Mormon over the Bible: Because we believe that the Bible is not whole and that some things in the Bible have been incorrectly changed, while the Book of Mormon remains the original, pure word of God. This is not true. In fact, we (believe that we) have the Book of Mormon partially to clarify these inconsistencies or faults in the Bible because the Bible is just so important and Holy. It is the "Holy" Bible, and we revere it completely equally to the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon and the Bible obviously do have differences, though. The most obvious of these differences is that the Bible takes place in what is now Eurasia and Africa, while the Book of Mormon takes place primarily in the Americas. Something you might find interesting is that we also believe that the Book of Mormon explains the origins of Native Americans and ancient South American groups such as the Maya, Inca, Aztecs, etc. More interesting is that we believe the Book of Mormon explains why these groups have such luck and history as the Jews. What I think you all will find most interesting is that we believe the Book of Mormon might explain what happened to these people (which no archaeologist has proven). It certainly shows the end of these ancient peoples, and (in depth) describes what happened to some of them, their ancient names (though sadly not what they are now known as), habits, customs, leaders, geological location, economic makeup, political structure, and social structure, too. It also names their major cities and describes them, and even contains account of the first example of strategy in battle, naming the general, who turned out to be a prophet inspired by God. But the Book of Mormon is not taken any more historically than the Bible -- it is a Holy Book (at least in our religion).

Also, we do believe that God's true church was taken from the earth when his apostles died. This is what we call an "apostasy", and we believe that there have been multiple apostasies. Some of the most famous include that of the time of Noah's Ark, when only those on the Ark survived because they were wicked. Only Noah had the gospel at that point. Another famous example is the account of the Tower of Babel. These people were so wicked that their language was confounded so they could not understand each other anymore. We believe that there will not be any more apostasies -- Christ will come before the earth becomes wicked enough to deserve another apostasy, BUT it will be more wicked than ever before at the time of His coming.

I should warn you about my essay. I am very wordy, and that essay is longer than every single comment I have ever posted on this forum 😛. You may not be able to get through that length, as it is all about just a bit of one man's life. Granted, a very important and controversial man, but that is a long thing to read 😄.

Speaking of controversy...
What does everybody think of the LGBTQ+ Society?
As Christians, this is a tricky issue to handle, and I wanted to see what everybody’s opinions on the subject would be.
I personally think that it’s a wrong choice, and that God specifically created humans to stay true to your gender, and be with the opposite gender— that God created us with a clear indication proving those fact. (Which we carry around... 😊)

I don’t, however, think that gay people are evil, just practice the wrong ideas and tune into the wrong feelings.
A saying my mom likes is, “The Cross is level,” which means that we’re all sinners and that only God isn’t, so we don’t have any heavenly authority to judge people’s actions as being below ours. (That’s Jesus’s job. 😉)

I don’t think that the society is a “modern” or “acceptable” thing, but we can still try to treat them with compassionate, godly love.
What do you think about the subject?

Discussion question: What do you think a person married to the same sex would do if they became saved by Jesus?