In this day of rampant immorality and addictive pornography, parents have a sacred responsibility to teach their children the importance of God in their lives. Those evils, so highly destructive of divine potential, are to be strictly shunned by children of God. When a child needs correction, you might ask yourself, “What can I say or do t...

Today during gospel doctrine, our teacher brought up a point I'm not entirely sure I knew or not. When Nephi states that he is keeping the record for a "wise purpose" in God, yet Nephi openly states he doesn't know what that purpose is, I've always assumed that purpose is the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. And I was right...&nb...

I thought I had to substitute teach the 15-16 year old class today, so I prepared it this morning, only to find out I didn't. That's okay, because the gospel doctrine teacher we have is amazing, and I got to sit in his class! Omni.... One of the best lines of this chapter is in verse 2.  "I myself am a wicked man".  I'm...

I didn't really anticipate writing anything about the sustaining of the church officers after seeing it, but for some reason, when President Uchtdorf asked all the elders and high priests to stand and sustain Thomas S. Monson as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, something I didn't expect ...

I've been working on this entry for days, and I think I'm finally ready to get it out there. But first, let me say that this is quite possibly the most rewarding programming job I've done to date. I was hired on at Nature's Way last year in June.  I was hired on with the understanding that I was to completely re-develop the public Nature...

Jarom, for some reason, didn't seem all that inspired to me, this time around. The only thing which caused me to question was verse 2. To me, it seems that Jarom didn't want to write "much" for two reasons:  1. Because the plates are small, and 2.  They are being written for the benefit of the Lamanites. I guess I can u...

Well... I put this in the "Current Events" category primarily because it's really late, and I'm kinda caffeinated.  Other than that, life is pretty normal. Let's see here...  My birthday.  I don't usually write about my birthday, but I don't know why I don't.  I really should.  Maybe it's because my birthdays r...

Someone of spiritual authority once told me that anyone who read the book of Enos, and marked his scriptures based on importance, would have the entire book of Enos highlighted. After reading it this morning, I can see why. The first thing that hit me was the phrase, and my father "taught me in his language".  If we read the fi...

I believe that Sherem is the first "villain" of the Book of Mormon after Laman and Lemuel, who could be considered an "anti-christ".  Not 100% sure, but I don't remember anything standing out in 1st or 2nd Nephi.  This guy reminds me of Nehor, Korihor, and Amalickiah. Some points of interest this time around are: ...

The first thing which caught my eye in this chapter is in verse 5 where it says "Cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you." When I read that, the first thing which came to mind was D&C 88:63, which states, "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you." I also think this is one of the first times, if not the first time...

Reading these two chapters didn't leave me with much spiritual insight, as I didn't understand much of it. That said, I did, however, really feel the Spirit while reading them.  I yearned to know what the words meant.  I wanted to study them more....  Oddly enough,  I find myself wanting to study them more, yet kind of scared ...

First thing that catches my eye tonight is "wilderness of my affliction" and "greatest sorrow".  I can only assume that Lehi either meant during the ship controversy, or the time when Lehi was murmuring because Nephi broke his bow.  Not sure... I wonder how many scriptures there are like verse 12.  I know there ...

So, in Gospel Doctrine, from time to time, we talk about praying, and how we're supposed to pray all the time, and then we get the comments that it's impossible to "pray" all the time, and then someone else says that we need to be praying "always" in our hearts.  That's true, and verse 1 of this chapter is Jesus' commandmen...

Beginning this chapter, another testament to the correlation between peace and keeping God's commandments is apparent.  Giving "strict" heed to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel undoubtedly brings peace. Now, on a totally different note, I wonder where Korihor came from?  It just says that he came into the land.  Was ...

"Remnant of this people".  Talking straight to the American Indians.  heh..  I love the foresight. Guiltless...  I love that word.  He that is found guiltless.  Please note it does not say "sinless". To be found guiltless.  What would that entail?  Continual repentance would probably b...

Something which I've never even tried to verabalize, let alone write down is the subject for today's blog. I've always thought there must be something wrong with me, since I've always been almost at the point of being tormented spiritually.  That may seem a bit harsh, and surprising to those who know me, but it's true.  Never actually ...

Tired of the same old colors?  Try customizing the color scheme of your ILMJ blog!  Here's how to do it: First, make sure you go to your blog home page.  If you're not sure how to get there, simply click on "Blog", and choose your blog.  You will then be at the home page of your blog.  From there, you will noti...

I've been using Linux now for long enough to have heard just about all the facts, opinions, babblings, and flame-wars about Linux security vs. Microsoft security. *sigh* It seems that every time I try to explain to people the added security inherent to Linux, they have all sorts of explanations why my explanations are bogus.  Some of my ...

The main thing that stuck out in this chapter was obviously the destruction of Ammonihah.  As I've stated in a previous post, I find it so interesting that one of the judges of Ammonihah was the one who mentioned that "even if thou shalt declare this city shall be destroyed in one day, we shall not believe it."  It was as if the...

 So, today's entry is going to be a bit less, but I still was able to see God's hand in my life quite a bit. I had a late studio session to tend to, but I had felt horrible all day long...  I prayed that I would be able to have a great session, and it went really well.  Everything that needed to happen, happened, and nothing too t...

Someone of spiritual authority once told me that anyone who read the book of Enos, and marked his scriptures based on importance, would have the entire book of Enos highlighted. After reading it this morning, I can see why. The first thing that hit me was the phrase, and my father "taught me in his language".  If we read the fi...

On Friday, around 4:00pm, Bill Hoopes and I took our teachers quorum up to camp out up Hobble Creek canyon.  It was pretty fun.  (This is going to be rather dry because I'm so tired) Anyway...  We had a great time.  Kaiden, Jake, and Josh came with us to camp.  Bill brought his awesome dutch oven skills, and I brought, um...

Okay. I've gotta write this down for two reasons: So I don't forget what I just figured out. I hope to high heaven someone doesn't have to go through what I just did to figure something THIS SIMPLE. On with the story. Well, about 2 months ago my server started acting strangely. The most notable symptom of this strangeness was manifested by a...

Not sure why this caught my attention this time, but doesn't it seem a bit weird that Mormon was carried by his father when he was 11 years old?  It seems like he was carried on somewhat of a journey, too - to a different land.   Maybe his father was quite big and could accomplish such a task, because an 11-year-old isn't small enough to ...

Onward and upward towards the goal of finishing the whole Book of Mormon, writing about each and every chapter, by the end of this year. This chapter was all about war, and strategy.  I didn't find anything particularly enlightening about it, yet I firmly believe that each and every word written in the Book of Mormon has a meaning - and will...

Okay... I'm getting like crazy frustrated here... You know all those wonderful firefox extensions which allow web developers like me to work even faster and more efficiently?  Well...  They must all hate me. I've heard incredible things about Firebug and Y-Slow as far as web development tools go, but can I use them? Apparently no...

Oh wow.  Man, life just keeps getting more and more interesting...  along with frustrating, slightly scary, and faith-promoting.  I won't get into the details here, though, because I want to talk about something else. One thing which came at me as quite intriguing today during church was the concept of "Doctrine of Gratitude&...

Yesterday, my wife spent some time setting up her "my space page", which I absolutely refuse to do for myself, and when she got it done, she was pretty happy with herself.  I helped her with some images and that was that. Later on in the evening, she mentioned that she had received an email from Annie (my sister-in-law who I love)...

Once, after inquiring the reasons why he believed Mormonism was wrong, a good Baptist friend of mine began telling me about Satan and his desire to take the throne of God before the world was. Everything he told me was true and accurate, as far as my knowledge goes.  Satan did try to take the throne of God and was thusly cast out of heaven ...

Yet another great strategy-based chapter.   I'm kind of tired right now, and this chapter wasn't really loaded with doctrinal insights, but I will say that if there's any question about whether or not obedience has its rewards, you'll have to read verses 21-27.  Definitely makes me want to both learn about and obey my Heavenly Father...