LDS Planet = Lonely Planet

There exists among the various dating sites one by the name of LDS Planet dot com (I wrote it out rather than give them another inbound link to boost their pagerank). I’m sorry, but you would probably have to be completely brand new to the internet to join this site.

Now I’m happily married so I don’t visit dating sites, but this one caught my attention when I noticed a Google Adsense Ad with the Title “Latter Day Blog.” I’m guessing that their ad has appeared on this site before and they saw the name of my site in their traffic reports and they are trying to milk it for all its worth.

Just out of curiosity I googled LDS Planet and found this rather humorous spam complaint against them. Apparently they are creating fake profiles and spamming people to convince them to join.

I went to the site itself and notice the footer explains that it is owned by “Zencon Technologies.” It simple Google Search of this term shows what kind of wolves are running this site. The two results contain the terms “scam alert” and “ripoff report”. Then you may notice the various other dot com dating sites they have running such as BlackPeopleMeet, DivorcedPeopleMeet, LoveAndSeek, BlackChristianPeopleMeet, PeopleMeet, SingleParentMeet, GamerPeopleMeet, … yada, yada, yada. I didn’t take the time to see how long their list ran.

Needless to say these people are low class idiots trying to milk their dating web script for all its worth.

I’ve blocked their ads from my site, but I encourage you to click their ad whenever you see it to run up their advertising bill. Hopefully if they start spending more on ads than they are making it may drive them away. Unfortunately, with so many clueless people on the internet I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

Thy Savior

I’m one of those annoying people who likes to correct others incorrect use of the English language. I don’t know why. It’s not like I’m an expert in English. In fact, my last English class was my junior year in high school 11 years ago. My step mom was a junior high English teacher. Maybe it was the joy I had in finding flaws in her grammar that brought me amusement when correcting her.

In any case, it seems in the past two weeks I’ve heard something said in prayers that I find interesting. It is this phrase: “We thank Thee for Thy Savior…”

Now, in my mind it would seem more appropriate to say “Thy Son” or “Our Savior”. It would seem to me that since we are addressing our Heavenly Father, the term “Thy Savior” would imply that Jesus was the Savior of God the Father, which is not the case. For what is a savior? According to Dictionary.com, a savior is “a person who saves, rescues, or delivers.” Certainly our Heavenly Father does not need to be saved, rescued, or delivered as he is God and is perfect.

As long as I’m on the topic, I might also point out something I hear much more often over the pulpit. When a person closes a talk or testimony I often hear: “I say these things in the name of thy Son…” This works well in prayers when you are addressing your Heavenly Father, but when you are addressing a congregation, I think it is better to leave out “thy Son” and simply close in the name of Jesus Christ. Even changing one letter might be appropriate: “the Son.”

I hope I don’t offend anyone by my comments. My hopes are instead that we might be more conscious in how we speak of our Savior.

Leadership Titles

I have always tried to use proper titles when I address or speak of my leaders in the church such as calling the Bishop “Bishop” and the elders quorum president “President.”

Now that I have been called to be an elders quorum president, I find it awkward to call myself “President Davis.” I never have done so. When I make calls and I will normally say, “Hi this is Dustin Davis.” The person on the other end will normally respond with “Hello President!”

I wonder though, should I refer to myself as president as I am doing work as the president (such as making phone calls)? I think I use my own name because I don’t want to appear arrogant. I also sometimes feel the calling is bigger than myself – as if I don’t measure up to elders quorum presidents that I have had in the past.

I try to remember when I get calls from leaders. Do they say, “This is Bishop So-and-so” or “This is President So-and-so”? I can’t really remember.

Is this topic trivial and totally unimportant? I’d like to hear your thoughts.

The Lord’s Mercy

We all sin and fall short of our own expectations. We can really get down on ourselves. We may pray for forgiveness and feel that because of our sins our prayers do no make it past the ceiling. In these desparate times we may feel like we are unforgivable.

Isaiah 54:7 reads “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.” Yes, the Lord may forsake us for a small moment, but we must remember that it is for our good and that it will only be for a small moment if we continue to call upon Him. The next verse (8) reads: “In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.”

After reading verse 8, my mind recalled the words in the previous chapter, Isaiah 53:3 which reads, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

What does this mean that “we hid as it were our faces from him?” Here He is, despised, rejected, in sorrow and grief, and we hide our faces? For what purpose?

I wonder; do we often stop calling on the Lord because we feel He is so grieved and disappointed with us and our sins they we feel unworthy to even ask our Heavenly Father for forgiveness? It often feels that we are the reason for the Savior’s sorrow and grief. He may hide his face from us for a small moment in wrath, because obviously we know better and we have made covenants to keep his commandments, but He will return with everlasting kindness as we return and repent – as many times as we return and repent.

Psalms 30: 5: “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

Isaiah 43:10, Isaiah 44:6,8

If you do a search on Google for “Isaiah 43:10 mormon” (without the quotes) you will find hundreds of articles explaining why our belief in the nature of God is wrong. In fact, it isn’t until about the 9th page of results that you find anything this it not anti-mormon concerting the topic.

It has been my goal to read the entire Old Testament this year. This morning I came to this verse and also read chapter 44 in Isaiah.

Isaiah 43:10 reads:

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

This is Jehovah speaking, in other words, this is Jesus, the God of the Old Testament. I think the keyword to note here is “formed.” Clearly he is speaking of the habitual nature of man to create their old false gods to worship.

What makes this even more clear is the next chapter. Again, these verses are used to portray LDS beliefs in a negative way.

Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

Isaiah 44:6

Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

Isaiah 44:8

Here again Jehovah is reiterating the fact that he is the only God the children of Israel should worship. What makes this interpretation so clear is by simply reading the rest of the chapter! Starting from the very next verse it follows:

9 ¢ They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
12 The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.
13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
21 ¢ Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

Tool For Downloading Conference Talks

I’m sure you’ve all heard that the latest conference talks are available in mp3 format now. Would you like an easier way to download them all? I’ve emailed the makers of LDS Audio Browser and they’ve responded to my request to add all the latest conference talks. Now you can download them all in 3 easy steps!

LDS Audio Browser

Get more info and download links here.

And yes Connor, it even works on the Mac. πŸ˜‰

Nephi Jacket

As my wife were driving in the car yesterday, talking, our nearly 4 year old daughter kept trying to tell us something.

“I have a Nephi Jacket!” she kept saying.

We were confused. Then we realized we had just bought a new jacket for her little brother which we had appropriately been calling his “levi jacket.”

Could we say she has on the armour of God? πŸ˜€

Meekness & Humility

When I got home from my mission, I remember a time shortly after that I was talking to my Dad. I was in tears and I told him I thought I was a failure as a missionary. Sure, as far as baptisms, I had lots of success. I made lots of friends and taught daily. Yet I didn’t live the mission rules as I had desired. The longer I was out the more it seemed impossible to follow all the rules. I wanted to be exactly obedient to all the rules, but I wasn’t even close. When I say that, it’s not like anything I did would be considered a sin by a non missionary. I understand that nobody is perfect, but I just felt I had let the Lord down.
Continue reading Meekness & Humility