Here I go again!

Good idea for a new blog. I am excited for you! You have a lot on your plate, but i know you can do it.

Welcome to the blog. De ja vu? You resemble a great eastern runner I know! Keep those Boston goals up. God bless!

Welcome to the Blog:) Great goals there for the coming year. Your going to do awesome. I like #4 best.

Lucia,

Saw your blog under the new kids and thought it couldn't be you, but it is. New Year's resolutions? Mine is to not make any.

Same as ultrajim. I believe in immediate resolutions. When you see something that you can do better, do it now.

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/alma/34

from verse 33:

"I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed."

Ha! Good scripture there, Sasha. I had a Baptist that I work with try to use that same scripture to confound our teachings. According to him, he interpreted this scripture to say that when we die, that's it. We have no chance to repent. And that contradicts our whole "philosophy" on baptisms for the dead. I'm like, "Dude, don't try to use a verse out of a book that you've never read to prove us wrong. The Book of Mormon has been around for almost 200 years and hasn't been discredited yet. Why don't you read a little more, and you'll underestand better what Amulek was talking about there." Well, those weren't my exact words, but close enough. I'm sure I said it in a more loving and less confrontational way. :)

By the way, Rocket, welcome once again.

Very true - why wait, right? I guess more than "resolutions" I'm talking about goals and objectives... there are some things that take up planning, saving, training, or other people's agreement/assistance, and for that reason sometimes we can't do everything we want "now"...

I like making lists like this, it helps me stay focused and happy, looking forward to good things in the future.

Well, he is right that there is not much repentance that happens after you die. There might be some factual correction, e.g if you did not believe in the existence of God, that misunderstanding is corrected, but if you did not live like you believed the correction does you no good. Baptism for the dead is for those who still lived right even though they did not know the truth. But since we do not have the authority to judge individually, we do it for everybody.

Sasha,

If you read Hebrews 9:27 is says "and as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" I have a hard time with baptism for the dead because we have already faced judgment. So being baptize can not have any affect. True or not?

Is baptism of the dead for those who never got a chance to "choose" the right path, or for anyone? Meaning, those who lived in a very remote village in China and never had anyone teach them about Jesus or God, or those with a mental illness, or is it also for those who had a chance to join the church but decided not to, or that were once in the church but decided to leave?

What happens to those that are never baptized?

Lucia:

Those with mental illness that is sufficiently hard that they are unable to know the difference between wrong and right do not need baptism. Nor do the children that die before they turn 8.

Otherwise, every individual that had the mental ability to distinguish between wrong and right cannot enter into the Kingdom of God except he receive baptism by proper authority. This should ideally happen in this life. But if it does not, it can be done by proxy. After that, the spirit can accept or reject the baptism. One may ask - wouldn't it be foolish to reject it once you see the fullness of the truth? The way I see it - the question at that point is not so much whether you believe it ("every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is the Christ"), but whether you consider yourself worthy of your baptism regardless of whether it was done while your were alive or later. And, obviously, when you stand before God and the facts are indisputably in everybody's view you will not be able to call yourself worthy if you were not. Thus Alma 12:13-14 is easy to understand:

"Then if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned. For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence."

Barry - I do not see how Hebrews 9:27 would exclude the possibility of baptism for the dead. All it says to me is that you die, and some time later you are judged. You do not get to come back to the earth to live another life and have another chance to repent of your sins. 1 Corinthians 15:29 mentions baptism for the dead suggesting that Paul was familiar with the practice. 1 Peter 3:18-21 talks about Christ preaching unto the spirits in prison who were disobedient in the days of Noah. Once I learned about the doctrine of redemption of the dead, the New Testament actually began to make sense to me.

Hey Lucia. Just noticed when someone clicks your Lucia name it will take you to the old blog instead of your new one. Not sure if you will have to change your Lucia link or what so we come to the right blog.

Great goals for the year Lucia! How is your jaw? I feel like I have been out of it for a bit!

Great new blog. I just fixed my link to your blog so I can get to you :) Happy New Year!