Questions that have answers if you want an answer...

As I listened to this discussion about the first 4 chaptersof 1 Corinthians, my mind turned to my friend Karen who was really upset by what she read in the CES Letter written by someone who had been a teacher in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but who had become troubled by some questions. I was challenged to 'read and prove otherwise' or Karen would not believe. But she seems to have blocked my number so that I cannot respond, unless she has changed her phone number and not given me the new number and I am thus unable to answer her questions. But, unfortunately, many people with such questions actually do not seem to want answers, but I wonder if they are possibly just delighted to have finally found an excuse to not continue as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I pointed out to her that it would have taken hours to read the CES Letter, and I wondered if she spent anywhere near as much time reading the scriptures themselves. The things that she is querying and challenging that 'the church does recognise these issues but does not make it available in the teachings of the church' are freely available in the volumes of Saints, in Gospel Library, and on the churchofjesuschrist.org website...

I hope that anyone reading this message will spend the 2:44:55 hours listening to this discussion by Jared Halverson, but, far more importantly, spending far more time than 3 hours reading the scriptures themselves and asking God to speak to her or him! He will speak to you through the scriptures if you ask Him. We speak to God in prayer, and He speaks to us through what He has already revealed to prophets and apostles in the scriptures. He has spoken to insignificant and imperfect Les Powrie, so Les Powrie knows that He will speak to you. Follow the recipe that I follow and the loaf of bread that you get will be as delightful, delicious, and nutritious as the one that I bake. The proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof 😋👴😉😊

Do we use the Bible in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Many people in and out of  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are under the impression that we neglect the Bible. I replied to someone last night and thought you might enjoy my reply....

Good evening, Daniel

Thanks for the messages. Sorry I was not aware of your calls. I guess that I was driving at the time. 

I am kind of confused by your message. I've always encouraged Church members to read the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon. One cannot fully remember how merciful the Lord has been to the children of men from the days of Adam, even down to the time that we read those things in the Book of Mormon if we're not familiar with the abundant mercy described in the Bible! For very many years (decades!) the Sunday School study has been a year Old Testament, a year New Testament, a year on Book of Mormon, a year of Church history, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. That happened every four years, 50% of the time focused on the Bible! 

I love the Bible. I love the parables told by Jesus Christ. I love how He dealt with the woman taken in adultery, the rich young man, the scribes and pharisees, the woman from Samaria, Mary and Martha, and every wonderful story. I love His analogy that we be leaven in the loaf (we cannot do this from outside or in splinters - we must be distributed throughout the dough), being a light (we must let our light shine so that men see our good works and glorify the Father in Heaven- we must stand out!),  and salt (cleansing, purifying, flavouring). And all of His parables so wonderfully liken the known to the unknown. I love how He addresses the faith/works/grace debate as He challenges us to work - not just confess or believe, but be faithful in the covenant path. I could go on and on and on!

Read the Bible! Read the other scriptures and Conference talks! Pray to the Father! Pray to the Father in the name of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ! 

I love how Jesus Christ speaks so clearly about Him being the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, and that He was sent by His Father. I see that He had no confusion about whether or not He was the Son of God. I love how He prayed to the Father in John 17 that we would be one with Him as He is one with the Father. 

My faith and testimony would be very different if I were not as familiar with the Bible as I am. 

I encourage you to love the word of God. As He said in what we read this past week, we will hear His voice as we immerse ourselves in the scriptures. I have had that experience and I strongly encourage you to have it. 

Blessings on you as you continue to study the words of Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. 

Kind regards

Les Powrie 😊

Some thoughts about the early history of southern Africa

I read, with interest, a review of the book The Lie of 1652 by Patric Mellet. It is a rather complex review! I grew up with English as first language and was wondering how many people will follow all of the very complicated writing!

I have appealed in March 2020, and again in November 2020, to StatsSA that they add to the next census distinct categories for the San, Khoe, Kalanga and Cape Malay since I cannot see where they would classify themselves - African, Coloured or Indian since I don't think that the Khoisan are likely to classify themselves as White, or the Cape Malays as Coloured or African, or would they simply select the category called Other? We show very little acknowledgement to the Khoisan, the original people of our wonderful country!

I have wondered what South Africa would be like now if the 'Whites' had not come here? What would the numbers of San, Khoe and Kalanga be like now? What would the numbers of Nguni, Sotho-Tswana, Venda and Tsonga people be like? What ages would people typically reach? What would their homes be like? What would their towns, cities, hospitals, universities, roads, technology, infrastructure, transport and so forth be like? Would a farm be feeding tens of people or thousands of people? 

It strikes me that the 'Whites' did not bring the soil, the gold, the diamonds, the wonderful agricultural or natural potential. Without their developing these potentials, what would have been developed by people who had been here for thousands of years and had not done particularly much with the potential?

I appeal to everyone to ask such questions and be honest with themselves before simply accepting the history as it is taught in school now, or fifty years ago, or in books like this one about the inaccuracies of accounts of what occurred in and around 1652. It is good to expand one's vision and not simply keep a narrow view, but please do not let other people tell you what is true - or what is false. Think about it yourself. Do your own research and then accept that, since you and I were not here in 1652, or 180 years before that when D'Almeida was here, 400 years before that when the Nguni peoples first came, or 1500 or perhaps many thousands of years before 1652 when the San people were inhabiting the region that we now describe as the country of South Africa, we will each have our own biases and not one of us can truly say who is right. Let us focus on what is right in the way that we treat each other rather than agonising about who is right about history. Let us rejoice in the strengths of each group and person in our wonderful country and live according to the motto on our Coat of Arms '!ke e:/xarra//ke' which is from the Khoisan language of the /Xam people - let us rejoice in the meaning - "diverse people unite", or "people who are different joining together". Let us build a wonderful united society made up of widely diverse people rather than looking for things that will divide us.