OK, I’m not dead and I didn’t quit! yes, it’s been quite a while since I made the time to post a blog entry!

I simply like to have a normal life outside of cyberspace! Too many of us can be guilty of spending far too many hours infront of our laptops indeed I can be guilty of this at times. Then I reflect that I’m so blessed with a wonderful family and there are better things to do in life that be tied to the computer sreen! For those of you, forever on your keyboards, if you feel like this image below seems like you, then it’s really time to chill and get on with real life – unplug!

So this past Friday (15th May’09), I took our 13 year old son Antony on a Father and Son’s overnight camp. Each year, we take the time to ‘bond’ and spent this valuable one-on-one time with each other. With 5 daughters, who get very jealous that I take Antony camping, this just has to be done! We’re so out numbered in our household by the ‘female kind’, that Antony and I have to get some male bonding each year with our camp outs!

My life long friend Clifford Herbertson has a lovely estate and hosted this Father and Son overnight camp on his land, which was perfect, apart from one thing – typical British weather, it rained and rained that night, but it all adds to the fun!

Thankfully we have a pop-up tent, one of those tents that when upzipped automatically flips into shape and so all we had to do was peg it down whilst in the rain, thankfully Antony held the umbrella whilst I did the pegging down in the dark night as we had arrived late.

YouTube Video: Father and Sons Camp – 15April09

You can’t have a camp out, without a camp fire…

These pics show the camp fire the following morning, some of the boys had stayed up all night keeping the fire and embers going, thats dedication for you!

Antony and I didn’t have that staying power to remain awake all night, we hit the sack in the early hours! Getting into our sleeping bags Antony then got out his Apple iTouch and wanted to play Chess, I tried to oblige but trying to play Chess on an iTouch is a little difficult in the wee early hours! With no Wi-Fi access, he wasn’t able to get online either thankfully so Antony fell asleep after me, as we drifted off to sleep in our warm sleeping bags, with the rain dripping on out tent. Note in the video his wet socks, lovely!

By Morning, after breakfast, time for games, a variety of father and son team games, such as catch the egg throwing competition. Oh yes, I knew what to expect, lots of eggy mess, so we hung back, but it was not surprising to find some pre-planned fun cheating going on, some were using part hard boiled eggs. It all becaome too suspicious, when the distances being thrown and dropped was too unbelieveable for a soft raw egg to survive, especially when they bounced – no way!

The last game was popping the balloon, tied to your angle, not so much fun if those tramping on your feet were wearing football studs, ouch!

So why do we do all this, apart from the obviously bonding time with our youth, our sons and young men? Certainly camping isn’t the idea of fun for many men, who’d rather be comfortable on a matteress bed at home. For me, I love camping and spending one-on-one time with Antony camping is great for our relationship, but there is another reason for the recognition of this date 15th May each year.

In our faith, the significance of this date is important, for Latter-Day Saints, 15th May 1829 is the date that John the Baptist appeared and restored the holy Aaronic Priesthood which is the authority to act in God’s name.

YouTube Video: Restoration of the Priesthood

Restoration of the Priesthood

Hope that if anyone is looking for a back to basics bonding time with their children, trust me, go camping, get your kids unplugged from their games consoles, TV or computers and spend some ‘human’ interaction time with your kids, you won’t regret it, just watch the ‘ole back if sleeping rough!

I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time, it was a special day for our family… Sunday evening (18th May 2008), our Elena was Baptised by myself, here both of us dressed in white with Andria (mum), symbolic of the purity of Baptism. It was a very special day for Elena.

Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (sometimes incorrectly called the “Mormon Church”) is very important to our family, our faith sustains us, much of what we do revolves around our faith.

We know that baptism by immersion is part of the vital process of following Jesus Christ and entering into a covenant relationship with Him. We’ve taught each of our children about their decision to follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.

We’re taught that baptism must be performed by one who has proper authority from God for this sacred ordinance. Naturally, there are many other views and many questions that people ask about our beliefs in this regard.

I realise that some groups claim that baptism is not essential, assuming that faith alone is the requirement for salvation. The broad issue of the relationship between faith, grace, works, and salvation I’ll not get into here, my friend Jeff Lindsay wrote an excellent summary of those issues on his faith and works page.

So why did Elena get baptised at age 8 and why by me? By what Authority?

The Bible teaches the importance and even necessity of baptism, we also have 13 Articles of Faith, the fourth stating:

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Let us first consider the example of Christ, who showed us how to live and how to follow Him. As he began His ministry, He sought out the prophet and messenger of the Messiah, John the Baptist. John was teaching men to repent of their sins and to be baptized by immersion (that’s what the Greek word means) in “water unto repentance” (Matt. 3: 2,11), or, in the words of Mark, John preached “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4). Though Christ was the Son of God, pure, holy, and without sin, He came to John and asked to be baptized (see Matt. 3: 13-17). John refused, knowing who Christ was, but Christ explained that it was necessary “to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3: 15). Then John baptized Christ in the river Jordan – apparently by immersion, for then Christ “went up straightway out of the water.” It was at this moment where the Holy Ghost descended in the form of a dove and the voice of God the Father spoke from above saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

This is the same manner in which our Elena was baptised by myself, by immersion.

Infant Baptism

In mainstream religions – Baptising a baby is often viewed as very special event in the lives of young parents. Grandparents come to witness the special occasion. A white baptismal dress is purchased for the baby. Photographs are taken. The little child, often crying and unaware of what is happening, is sprinkled with water by a robed priest or clergyman at the church house. Parents hug. Grandparents smile with pride. The little baptismal dress is stored away as a memento. Some of you who are reading this article may have been baptised as a baby. It is a very common practice. The term “christened” often refers to infant baptism. Why are babies baptised and what do the Scriptures teach about such things?

Actually, there are two different reasons why some believe babies ought to be baptised:

The Catholic view is based upon the idea that babies are born in sin. Pope Clement IV declared in 1267, that infants who die without baptism die in their original sins and are excluded from the vision of God. The doctrine of “Limbo,” the intermediate state between the suffering in hell and the glory of heaven, was developed to satisfy grieving mothers whose children died without baptism. For Catholics, infant baptism is a matter of salvation. There are some non-Catholic groups that practice infant baptism for this same reason. They have accepted the idea of inherited sin and this is a natural conclusion that comes from believing that.

The Protestant view differs from the Catholic view. To most Protestants, infant baptism is not seen as a matter of salvation. Generally, Protestants believe in salvation by faith only and would not accept baptism as necessary for salvation. Yet many of them will baptize their babies. Instead of baptising the baby for the remission of sins, as the Catholics do, Protestant’s baptise babies as a promise that the parents will raise the child in a godly home and bring the child to church services. Infant baptism is viewed as a sign or a pledge made by the parents to the child.

Latter-Day Saint view – I ought to point out that some other faiths not just us ‘Mormons’ such as most Baptists, and the Seventh-day Adventist do not practice infant baptism either. We feel the Scriptures are quite clear on this matter.

Moroni 8: 9-15
9. And after this manner did the Holy Ghost manifest the word of God unto me; wherefore, my beloved son, I know that it is solemn mockery before God, that ye should baptize little children.
10. Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach—repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children.
11. And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins.
12. But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!
13. Wherefore, if little children could not be saved without baptism, these must have gone to an endless hell.
14. Behold I say unto you, that he that supposeth that little children need baptism is in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; for he hath neither faith, hope, nor charity; wherefore, should he be cut off while in the thought, he must go down to hell.
15. For awful is the wickedness to suppose that God saveth one child because of baptism, and the other must perish because he hath no baptism.

Let’s be clear – Babies are not sinners! They are incapable of sin. They cannot be held accountable.

Moroni 8: 9-15
19. Little achildren cannot repent; wherefore, it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them, for they are all alive in him because of his mercy.
20. And he that saith that little children need baptism denieth the mercies of Christ, and setteth at naught the atonement of him and the power of his redemption.

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we baptise children not before the age of 8 years old, this being when a child can be held accountable since they are capable of knowing right from wrong by this age. In the New Testament, the only indication of this age of accountablility is recorded in 1 Peter 3: 18-21. These few verses describe following Christ’s crucifixtion on the cross his body now lay for three days in the Tomb, but his spirit went and preached to those spirits who had been waiting since the days of Noah. I find it interesting how the scripture references to those who were saved from the Great Flood in the Ark – “eight souls were saved by water”, these being Noah, his wife and their three sons and wives.

More improtantly the following sentence, which says…. referencing the age or number 8… “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us.”

19. By which also he went and preached unto the bspirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us.

Within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we have additional other revelation through living Prophets and the Book of Mormon both which support this teaching.

So that’s my rant on Infant Baptism! I don’t mean to offend anyone, but looking at our six childen I know that little children are pure before God and for me saying a baby or child who dies without baptism is going to ‘Hell’ really doesn’t make sense!

I’m grateful for the knowledge and restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here the testimony of others who have been baptised into this Gospel and what motivates us to share it.

Your friend, John Deighton
My other web site!

Having a faith in God, a Supreme and Divine Being, a Creator, it may seem a confusing task, so greater is the need for divine relevation and direction from above. Check these figures out below:

Christianity 2.1 billion

• Catholicism (1 billion)
• Orthodox/Eastern Christian (240 million)
• African indigenous sects (AICs) (110 million)
• Pentecostal (105 million)
• Presbyterian/Congregational (75 million)
• Anglican (73 million)
• Baptist (70 million)
• Methodist (70 million)
• Lutheran (64 million)
• Adventist (14 million)
• Mormonism – Latter-day Saints (13 million)
• Jehovah’s Witnesses (6.5 million)

Islam 1.3 billion

• Sunnism (940 million)
• Shi’ism (170 million)
• Sufism (2 million)

Hinduism 900 million

Chinese Folk Religions 394 million

• Taoism
• Confucianism

Buddhism 376 million

• Mahayana (185 million)
• Theravada (124 million)

Sikhism 23 million

Judaism 14 million

Bahá’í and Babi Faiths 7 million

Jainism 4.2 million

Shinto 4 million

Here is what I’ve found….

God is your Father in Heaven (Matthew 6:9). We call God Heavenly Father because He is the Father of our spirits and we are created in His image ( Genesis 1:27).

From the beginning, Heavenly Father has called prophets? to testify, record His word, and provide His plan for His children on the earth. The teachings of prophets are found in sacred? books called scriptures? (Amos 3:7).

In the scriptures God’s plan is called the plan of salvation, the plan of redemption, the plan of happiness. The plan is centered on the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Throughout time, people have often pondered questions such as “Where did I come from?” “What is my purpose in life?” and “Where will I go after this life?” God has a plan for the happiness of His children: the plan of salvation, which is centered on the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

The Testimony of a modern-day Prophet – Gordon B Hinckley:

What does this knowledge mean to others, knowing the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, restored in these the latter-day days?

This is my Faith and Knowledge in God too.

Your friend, John Deighton
My other web site!

This picture was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. A wonderful scripture comes to mind…

And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten. (Moses 1:33)

This image above when it first came through from the Hubble telescope and their newly installed Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) way back in April 2002 quickly became known as ‘The Hand of God’ because of it’s finger like nature, before I continue on Life’s 3 Big questions and how when you look at such an image our own purpose on this earth comes into our minds, more on what this is, the scientific part if you’re interested…

This is the Eagle Nebula, also know by the designation M-16, it’s part of an enormous interstellar cloud of dark, cool gas and dust in the Constellation Serpens, some 7,000 light-years from Earth. These magnificent pillars reveal the birth of dozens of stars. The pillars are made of gas and dust, and sculpted by intense radiation from very hot, bright nearby stars. Protruding from these pillars are small “fingers.” Buried within the tips of many of the fingers are stars that are still forming. As the gas and dust evaporate, the stars are unveiled. Radiation evaporates the gas and dust, and that radiation creates these surreal looking shapes. The largest of these pillars is about one light-year in length.
To give this some perspective, one light year is the distance that a beam of light would travel in one year, going at the speed of light, which is approximately 186,000 miles per second! 186,000 miles would be the equivalent of circling the Earth about seven and a half times. Now, imagine that distance spread out in a straight line. That’s how far light travels in one second! Now, imagine how far the light could travel in 31,536,000 seconds (one year) – almost 5 quintillion, 866 quadrillion miles! That’s 5,866,000,000,000 miles!! It’s a distance so vast that it’s hard to fathom! That’s the height of the large pillar in this photo! That would equal 60,000 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun! To travel one light year in the fastest space ship we have today (25,000 mph), it would take us a mere 17,000 years! Keep in mind, the Eagle Nebula itself is 7,000 light years away from us!

I love looking at such images, another example is the Cone Nebula below, are these truly not just beautiful?

So where does this leave us in the grand scheme of things?

The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator. (Alma 30:44)

Another favourite scripture I enjoy is again from Moses:

And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations. (Moses 7:30)

Life’s 3 big questions?

When we face the difficulty of loosing someone close to us, many will wonder is there more? I’m grateful for the peace and knowldge that I have in my life.

Here are the answers:

Where did we come from? (Click here)

Your life did not begin at birth, nor will it end at death…

Why are we here? (Click here)

You have a divine mission in Heavenly Father’s plan…

The Atonement of Jesus Christ (Click here)

Because Heavenly Father loves us, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ…

Where are we going? (Click here)

From an earthly perspective, physical death? may seem like an end, though it is really a step forward in Heavenly Father’s plan…

How can I know this is true? (Click here)

As the Savior taught in the Bible, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (Matthew 7:7)

Have hope, have faith. There is more to life than blogging!

Your friend, John Deighton
My other web site!

http://www.agelfortune.co.uk
http://www.mlmRockStars.co.uk
http://www.BuildingonaBudget.co.uk
http://www.a-Bombcall.com
http://www.mlmRichEnough.com

You may of heard of Einstein’s theory of relativity!

YouTube – Time Travel: Einstein’s big idea (Theory of Relativity)

In developing the theory of relativity, Einstein realised that the equations led to the conclusion that the universe had a beginning. He didn’t like the idea of a beginning, because he thought one would have to conclude that the universe was created by God.

Einstein spoke of the laws of nature pointing to an Infinite Mind that to him represented the true nature of God.

“Every one who is seriously engaged in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that the laws of nature manifest the existence of a spirit vastly superior to that of men, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble…”

Einstein continued

“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details that we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.”

I always think if someone as smart as Einstein who constantly discovered things about the Universe concluded that there had to be a God, we ought to wake up and consider the possibility he was right!

The Relativity of Time

(Some comments and references below taken from D&C Institute Manual)

Several scriptures suggest that the way we perceive time on earth may not be the way time really is throughout the universe. Alma 40:8 suggests that only men measure time and that to God all time is as one day. Other scriptures suggest that all things are present before the Lord (see D&C 38:2; Moses 1:6). Verses 4–7 in section 130 suggest a similar concept, namely that past, present, and future are continually before the Lord and that time is relative to the planet on which one resides.

Einstein postulated that what men had assumed were absolutes in the physical world – space, gravity, speed, motion, time – were not absolutes at all but were interrelated with each other. That is why the theory was called the theory of relativity. Physicists now agree that a person’s time reference will vary depending on his relative position in space.

According to Einstein’s theory, if a body moves at very fast speeds (those approaching the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles per second), that body’s time slows down in relation to the time of a body that is on earth; and for the body in motion, space contracts or shrinks. In other words, time and space are not two separate things but are interrelated. Physicists refer to this as the space-time continuum. If an astronaut were to journey out into space at speeds approaching the speed of light, though to himself all would seem perfectly normal, to someone on earth it would appear as though his clock were ticking slower, his heart were beating slower, his metabolism operating slower, and so on. He would actually age more slowly than would a person who remained on the earth. Though the finite mind tends to reject such concepts, Einstein’s theory suggests that reality to us is a product of our relative position in the space-time continuum.

YouTube – Time Travel: Einstein’s big idea (Theory of Relativity)

According to this theory, if a being achieved the speed of light, to that being all space would contract to the point that it would be “here” for him, and all time would slow down until it became “now” for him. The theory of relativity thus may suggest how, for a being of light and glory like God, all space and all time could be present. As difficult as such a concept is to understand, increasingly sophisticated experiments continue to substantiate Einstein’s theoretical description of the realities of the universe.

Lael Woodbury, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications at Brigham Young University, talked about man’s perception of time and God’s perception of time in an address sponsored by the Church Educational System:

“The evidence suggests that God . . . perceives time as we perceive space. That’s why ‘all things are before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things’ [D&C 88:41]. Time, like space, is ‘continually before the Lord.’ . . .

“. . . Right now we perceive music in time as a blind man perceives form in space—sequentially. He explores with his fingers, noting form, texture, contours, rhythms. He holds each perception in his mind, one by one, carefully adding one to the other, until he synthesizes his concept of what that space object must be like. You and I don’t do that. We perceive a space object immediately. We simply look at it, and to a certain degree we ‘know it. We do [not] go through a one-by-one, sequential, additive process. We perceive that it is, and we are able to distinguish it from any other object.

“I’m suggesting that God perceives time as instantaneously as we perceive space. For us, time is difficult. Lacking higher facility, we are as blind about time as a sightless man is about space. We perceive time in the same way that we perceive music—sequentially. We explore rhythm, pitch, amplitude, texture, theme, harmonies, parallels, and contrasts. And from our perceptions we synthesize our concept of the object or event—the musical artwork—that existed in its entirety before we began our examination of it.

“Equally complete now is each of our lives before the Lord. We explore them sequentially because we are time-blind. But the Lord, perceiving time as space, sees us as we are, not as we are becoming. We are, for him, beings without time. We are continually before him—the totality of our psyches, personalities, bodies, choices, and behaviors.” (Continually before the Lord, Commissioner’s Lecture Series [Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1974], pp. 5–6.)

Einstein’s theory is only a theory, although it is being substantiated again and again as a valid representation of reality. How God operates through the vastness of space and the eternity of time has not been revealed in specific detail, but what information man has been given can be harmonised with what physicists are discovering about the interrelationship of space and time.

Your friend, John Deighton
My other web site!

http://www.agelfortune.co.uk
http://www.mlmRockStars.co.uk
http://www.BuildingonaBudget.co.uk
http://www.a-Bombcall.com
http://www.mlmRichEnough.com