Gospel Doctrine / Gospel Discussions section on the forum?

[BrianM]

I was doing some further thinking, related to a past suggestion of adding a new area to the forum "Becoming Zion"... The forum has a "general discussion" area, but that is mainly used for general political discussions. What do you all think about having a "Gospel Doctrine" section, or something more general like "Gospel Discussions"... a place more specifically for basic gospel discussions, testimonies, telling us what you got out of Church on Sunday, home teaching experiences, etc... thoughts?

Much of our talk is trying to figure out who is more correct on exactly how much of the world/church is corrupt and to what degree. We all see that it is corrupt. Ok, so now what? We all know what is going to happen to the world. We all know the prophecies. I think there are things that we in this forum can agree on 100%, like preparing ourselves and purifying our lives and uniting with our Prophet as people who can hear the voice of the Lord individually. How can we do that here? Isn't this the 'Freedom' forum? Or has it just become the 'Contending about Conspiracy' forum? Isn't the tagline of this forum: "God, Family, Faith, Freedom, Peace"?

I propose the creation of a new Board: "Becoming Zion" where moving forward can discussed without contention - imagine that. Can we have a place here where people who are awake can go and try and create a bit of Zion on the web. Where we can make commitments to ourselves and post stories about the victories of righteousness. The builders of Zion are being prepared right now, they are becoming pure and are quietly changing the world. Let's have a place to post these victories separate from the other discussions of darkness. Go look at all the boards. We've got 'politics', 'principles', 'news' and 'Zion and God's Law' where we aren't practicing it, we're debating about what it is. We're all debating about how we're becoming prisoners. Can we have a place to broadcast the work of the Lord moving forward without contention?

Can we have this on a 'freedom' blog?

Here's the first thread: Witnessing Zion Moving Forward

Here's the first post: A few Sundays ago I was in Elders Quorum where food storage was being discussed. In times past I have been in classes like this where the men all looked down at the ground and made excuses about how hard it was. To my surprise, almost everyone began to share stories about how prepared they are and gave excellent council to the group on tips and tricks and ways to do it more effectively. The teacher did not teach this lesson, we all taught it to ourselves. I had a new found respect for all my fellow brethren in the Elders Quorum. These guys had it right, and they were not only getting physically prepared, this whole group would bend over backwards to help anyone who needed it. I know because I have seen them do it with several struggling families. Let's all support this kind of behavior and bring it to light and lift where we stand.

Can this happen? Or am I in the wrong place. If so, does anybody know where I can go? I think the other boards are fine where they are, but can we have some balance to all the darkness?

[Mummycaptain of 1,000]

Is it possible to constrain the individual threads (and comments) to the specific categories? If not why bother having categories at all?

[BrianM]

Is it possible to constrain the individual threads (and comments) to the specific categories? If not why bother having categories at all?

There's no way to preemptively control what topics get discussed in which areas of the forum, though sometimes threads will be moved into a more appropriate forum area... the reason to have these separate forum distinctions (categories) is to make it easier to know where on the forum you can go to find discussions on particular topics, for example, you'll find it's quite common for some users to spend most of there time on discussions in the "Last days" area, others in "Secret Combinations" area, and so on. I personally find this structure to be much better than forums which have no such distinctions.

[Mummycaptain of 1,000]

Is it possible to constrain the individual threads (and comments) to the specific categories? If not why bother having categories at all?

There's no way to preemptively control what topics get discussed in which areas of the forum, though sometimes threads will be moved into a more appropriate forum area... the reason to have these separate forum distinctions (categories) is to make it easier to know where on the forum you can go to find discussions on particular topics, for example, you'll find it's quite common for some users to spend most of there time on discussions in the "Last days" area, others in "Secret Combinations" area, and so on. I personally find this structure to be much better than forums which have no such distinctions.

Rodger!

[Stephencaptain of 1,000]

I think it would be good. I have gone to other forums to ask general doctrinal questions as I didn't think this was the right place.

[Songbirdcaptain of 1,000]

I would enjoy this thread/section if it were to become a reality, however, I would like to add a caution. A lot of times, we as members of the forum tend to get into opinions that are not doctrinally based. The Church/Priesthood leadership is quite clear on this in the Handbook #2: From 5.5.3 we read:

Leaders ensure that teachers use the scriptures, the teachings of latter-day prophets, and the approved curriculum materials as outlined in the current Instructions for Curriculum. They help teachers understand how to supplement the curriculum with Church magazines, particularly the general conference issues of the Ensign and Liahona.

I teach Gospel Doctrine and I used to teach Institute. As an Institute teacher, they kept a tight hand on us as teachers. (At least they did in my area). Unless we could back up anything we said with something from the scriptures or the words of the prophets, we were not allowed to "offer our opinion" or "speculate" on a doctrine. Personally, while I love to offer my opinion on this forum and a lot of us do on many topics, I do find it disturbing when threads are started whose very titles call for speculation and opinion. Most notably and offensively, "Mary was Not a Virgin?" In my opinion, we would do well to stay away from this kind of tempting conversation. Just the question alone invites one to question God's integrity in bringing His Son, Jesus Christ to earth in the purest manner possible. To engage in this kind of "speculation" is sin against God.

So, with the Gospel Doctrine section you are thinking about starting, I would encourage one of the "rules" be, that on matters of doctrine and thought, that whoever posts, be required to back up their statements (within their post) with scriptures or words from the prophets and other leaders of the Church. This may seem tedious, however, if it is going to be a "learning" thread, why shouldn't it be a requirement? Then, it would force people to "search" out answers instead of just "going by the seat of their pants".

In my opinion...

[durangoutcaptain of 1,000]

Yes, yes, yes!

[kathyncaptain of 1,000]

Songbird....+1