Day 4 Colloden Battlefield Sheepdogs Cairngorm

Couldn't figure out Robb heritage.  there is not much of a wool market and highland cattle are useless, he keeps one as a pet.

shopping in Cairngorm

Day 3 Glenfinan Eilean Donan

Harry Potter location

Jacobine

donan

Armadale Isle of Skye

Day 2 on Loch Lomond

 Rob Roys Cave and the Macfarlands on the shores of Loch Lomond.  Willie serves the hot chocolate on the cruise. Sleeping at Glencoe at Ballachulish Hotel, which has been here a long time and has a creaky yet distinct suspended staircase.

Day 1 at the Museum

 Very old stuffed animals and paintings from the Glasgow Boys.

"Know ye that ye must..." - Mormon's Final Words

The prophet and war captain Mormon of the Nephite nation was the national archivist, divinely-inspired compiler and commentator of what we have now as the Book of Mormon. He specifically saw our day and gave his advice to us through the lens of his people's historic and religious records. It is not just a story of the Nephites and Lamanites, their bitter brethren - it is more a guidebook to our times and how God deals with people and their behaviors.

Chapter Seven of his personal record is the "final words" that this historian gives, mostly to his surviving people, but also to we "Gentiles" which will be brought to God's set-aside land of the Americas.

Mormon speaks to all the descendants of Lehi, of which he was also one. Everything he promises for his own people is also promised to all of us as we make covenants with the Lord.

Mormon 7:10

And ye will also know that ye are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; therefore ye are numbered among the people of the first covenant; and if it so be that ye believe in Christ, and are baptized, first with water, then with fire and with the Holy Ghost, following the example of our Savior, according to that which he hath commanded us, it shall be well with you in the day of judgment. Amen.

This is yet another statement of the importance of having an authoritative baptism. It really has to do with the authority of the person who does your baptism - it can't be just anyone. It has to be someone that Christ accepts as a priest, so you must figure that out.  I am confident in myself that a priest in good standing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is authorized by Christ, but you need to determine that yourself.

The last recorded thought of Mormon is on "judgement" and how we will fare during it.  I can't think of the last time anyone framed their afterlife in terms of doing well in the coming judgement rather than how wonderful Jesus is, as if that fact will just eliminate judgement entirely.  

I think we all need to be concerned with "following the example of our Savior" - our actions in relation to God, our families, and others.  "...that which he hath commanded us..." will be the things by which we will be judged for our ultimate reward.  If we concern ourselves with following Christ and keeping his commandments, "it shall be well with you in the day of judgment."  Easy enough for me to understand!

You were Not Sent to Earth to Test How Much God Loves You

"Jesus loves us all unconditionally..."

From the way so many people behave (beyond spoken rationalizations), they think that they are doing Jesus some great favor in letting him be around them.  "Can I bring you your slippers?"  "Would you like a softer pillow?"  To these questions from the Christ-ish figure which most people demand, a spitting in the face is what those same people give as a first answer, and then say:  "You are not offering me enough to be acceptable as my Savior.  My Jesus would do everything so I don't have to do, well, anything!"

From all the talk, you would think that one of our purposes in life is to judge whether this Jesus character fulfils our grandest desires at zero cost to us. In holy writ, it reads the other way around: The Lord is judging us to see if we are fit to be one of his people - if we offer him our "broken hearts" and our "contrite spirits".

Overly-self-compassionate Jesus-demanders have named their term of acceptance "unconditional love" and the concept has absolutely caught fire among lazy "Jesus' love saves us no matter what we do" devotees. "Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us." (2 Nephi 28:7)  Today, captured societies demand that no one should be punished for anything, justify every behavior, and rationalize this with a new extra-scriptural and non-commanding Jesus-love that doesn't want to offend folks.

The Lord just doesn't work that way. God's love is established and well explained in scripture, which should be read far more often. Here are some examples:

• Commandments Lead to Exaltation (D&C 14:7)
• Blessings Come Through Specific Obedience to Specific Commandments (D&C 130:20-21)
• God does nothing unconditionally. Read your scriptures and see. (D&C 82:10)
• Everything God has ever Established in relation to your exaltation has always worked in the past, always works now, and will always work in the future.  There is no "new" or "better" way to suggest and God is not entertaining alternative interpretations - The Way is set, well-documented, and it is not changing in the least fashion. (1 Nephi 10:18)

We don't get to alter the conditions that God has established. Demanding that the gospel must "change with the times" demonstrates mistrust in God and his established Agenda. 

God has established the parameters of his "love" as well, mostly through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and his demands for repentance. If you desire or "demand" that God takes more responsibility for your concept of the "love" relationship and don't contribute what the Lord has prescribed through obedience, you will be ultimately disappointed with the result. Nothing is more clear than what God provides and demands - read the parables of Christ yet again for hard clarification on the nature of "the kingdom of heaven".

If you really want unconditional love, you might rudely turn to your mother or father, who you might sucker into being your personal "you have to serve me no matter how I treat you" slave. Just know that the Lord will exact retribution for every torture you inflict upon parents (or anyone else) with your "unconditional" demands. The Lord will have vengeance on you (D&C 29:17) for such behavior and you will plead that your just punishment will not be "unconditional".

You and I want God to treat us differently when we behave differently, especially for the better. The Lord has promised to bless and reward us relative to the "conditions" of our obedience. "Conditional" allows for change and improvement, which is exactly what God offers through his Agenda.

You likely really want a conditional God and so do I.

The Great Houses of the Celestial Realm

In previous posts, I presented my personal thoughts (not official statements of doctrine promulgated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) on the afterlife and its conditions. I had hopefully vivid descriptions of the "spirit world" (squaring up), judgement (full disclosure), the telestial reward (no consequences), and the terrestrial reward (no responsibilities). I feel I did a rather pathetic job on giving some analogy for the celestial reward (no limits), but after watching episodes of the "Downton Abbey" television series, I feel a bit more prepared to talk about my conception of the highest glory and what it will be like there.

There will be three basic divisions of the celestial glory, although only the highest is mentioned much in holy writ. The celestial reward is the state which God and his angels enjoy and the description that we have, of mansions and kingdoms, are a good description of the whole of it. The three divisions have more to do with what individual people will be doing on these expansive "Downton Abbey" manors - if you live upstairs, you work downstairs, or if you live and labor in the adjoining crofts or village.

It would be easiest to begin at the top and work our way down. Every great house has "the family", which consists of the Lord and Lady of the manor and their children who may also become heirs of the manor.  These people are either actively administering the manor or learning how to lead it someday.

Downstairs, the staff attends to all the support services needed by "the family" and the house. Obviously, the attention of family members are better spent on higher matters than housekeeping, food preparation and serving, physical maintenance and repair of grounds and equipment, and other service functions required of a great house. These are the servants to the manor.

Beyond the great house are lands and peoples that are under the stewardship of the Lord and Lady of the manor. Some have individual grants of land for cultivation or husbandry, others work in attached villages, all owing some fealty or rents to the Lord and Lady of the larger manorial estate. Although each individual villager has their own lives and feelings, each has an obligation to the Lord's summons.

Don't like the idea?  A little too patriarchal? Think socialism or democracy is more fair?  You can always choose a "lesser reward", I suppose.  Living a celestial life might not be a matter of just qualifying for it, but desiring the reality of or service to God's life and circumstances.  We may not become a God ourselves but if we choose, through desire and deeds, to qualify for a celestial reward, we will be a part of the eternal work.

Want to be a part of a ruling house? It seems that it really will be up to each one of us if we desire such.