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In my ward here in TX, it seems we always have refreshments after convert baptisms. I think it offers the person getting baptized a chance to meet those who are supporting them. In our experience, this appears to have added to the service, not detracted. The baptized looked overjoyed to talk to everyone and feel that the ward was placing their choice as the center of attention. I suppose you don't need a snack to do this, but it certainly doesn't hurt. Since I wanted more than just cookies and punch for my sons baptism, I invited select families back to my house for more of a meal. Now, if I were to advertise that brisket and ribs were to be catered to the church afterward, although that would be delicious, it would over the top.

Who brought everything to the media's attention when all this started? It was her. So I can't for a moment put the blame anywhere else but towards her.

I agree with everyone above. Call it off now.

Personal responsibility is the missing factor in Baltimore and other cities where overreation and lack of self control prevail. The State is a democratic stronghold as is Baltimore itself. I believe the majority of the police as well as the governing class in Baltimore is black and democrat as well. Maybe....just maybe...they should exercise a little bit of forethought before they vote if they really wanted change. The vast majority of those people are not protesting anything. They are just engaging in mob mentality and if they find life where they live to be distaseful or they are not prospering, here is a suggestion....move. Correct what is holding you back from fulfilling your potential....however limited or limitless that may be.

The idea that marriage solves everything is bunk. You will still struggle with the same things until the both of you learn and grow to deal with them. You could break it off and hope to find someone else.... but all that will do is change what things you struggle about. It will not remove the need to learn and grow. So need to ask yourself what set of struggles does the Lord want you to learn to over come and are you willing to do so?

I went to a fundraiser for the Democratic party once......

Do him and yourself a favor and call it off.....your setting yourself up for a disaster. getting married is no magical pill that will resolve your issues. They will still be there

I shake the globe and watch through the snow flurry are you there?

Hi, For some reason the intro thread is locked.So I will introduce myself here. I'm LDS. I served a mission in the Netherlands. Wrote a couple books related to LDS topics. https://payhip.com/b/4Oje Favorite topics include DNA and Church History

I really regret not representing you there. I have had clients say some good lines, but that one, well there should be some type of award for that one. dc

I suppose every member a missionary doesn't trump priesthood duty, nor does it automatically replace the duty to seek to serve. To say "I don't feel like serving a full-time mission, I'll just do the everyday thing to share" seems like a cop-out. That isn't to lessen the importance of all our duty to share the gospel. If a convert is worthy and able, he ought to serve.

Dirty . . . fair enough my bad. Plenty of other worse dirty jobs out there, plumber, etc. No, sorry I don't believe you. I've got statistics and facts and you have belief. Now if your belief lined up with statistics and facts, I'd believe you; but they don't. You've got rhetoric, I've got statistics. The facts don't lie, being a cop is a safe job. There are times when it might be dangerous and I've never said they shouldn't carry guns, I believe they should carry guns so that in the extreme rare case they encounter a nasty person, they have the means to stop them and protect themselves. Please put aside the rhetoric; it is extremely rare for a cop to be in a situation that calls for physical violence. Unfortunately, instead of looking at facts cops believe the lies and "prepare for battle" every day . . . well guess what happens when everyone you meet you treat as the enemy . . . they start seeing you as the enemy. The stats do not lie, violent crime is dramatically down over the past 20 years and cops rarely are in mortal danger (more are killed in automobile accidents than someone killing them).

David is not alone in that belief. . I have a great deal of disdain towards labeling people racist as the word is so overused and most normal people have racism fatigue since it has been used as a battering ram for so many years. I tend to view all races as inherently prejudice toward the unknown and particularly toward those of different races. I live in and grew up in a small southern town and to this day there are areas of the city that white people should not walk through or near and that is on main streets and not even in the neighborhoods. The local football stadium has had and still has a section that if you are white you best not be found in during a football game if you don't want to get attacked. That problem is more pronounced in larger cities and is not isloated to the southern United States. Perception becomes reality when it is your day to day experience.

They are silent . . .but it's pretty easy to figure out what happened given the rap sheet and that the area he was in was where drug busting cops liked to hang out (can't remember nor find the link for the above).

OK...quick. His Grace is sufficient, as we cannot live perfect lives. As such, when I stand before God in the last day and passing by the Saviour (See 2 Nephi 9: 41) to gain access to the Father...all I care about is; Grace and not Justice", which Christ will be able to do will all love and wisdom. I cannot know every sin I might have committed, and this is why Grace, and Love will be my Salvation.

" Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it comethquickly, saith the Lord. Amen."

Gator, you're right and we all can be missionaries. But I don't think your kind of story and the nature of the priesthood duty of official missions necessarily are opposed. Why should it only be one or the other?

Her 15 minutes were already gone. She is just looking for another 15 minutes and has not yet realized her own irrelevance.

I wonder if by miracle the new Avengers movie will be featured on my flight. I'm guessing no but one can be wishful, yeh. So annoyed I'll be flying the day it is released, ugh!

It's a lot easier to pay out "shut up" money than to actually fix a broken system. Of course, this is made easier when all the attention is focused on the rioters and not on the root causes. IMHO The riots are a red herring. We know that'll blow over in a couple of days so that's what the media focuses on. Solving the issues that got us to this place... much harder. Easier to just blame the rioters with a little thinly veiled racism and ignore the misdeeds that triggered it in the first place. Anyone want to bet me there WON'T be more demonstrations and possibly riots if the officers who killed Freddie Gray don't suffer any consequences?

Some very interesting items in there if they are true, such as Baltimore has a budget of 5 million a year to pay out police brutality settlements. If one accepts payment they are barred from speaking about the incident, unless they want to lose the money. Individuals who are arrested are sometimes treated to a "rough" ride; handcuffs but no seatbelt and the driver drives recklessly, sharp turns, sudden stops, etc. leading to injuries . . . very interesting.

The LDS version is to compare something to Satan's plan.

I think, if all possible, male converts of the appropriate priesthood and age range should seek to serve a mission if so. It is a duty of the priesthood, and I tire of the opinion young men shouldn't feel some level of obligation to serve.

Seems to me Hitler got an awful lot of pushback, too.(Yeah. I went there.)

Well, my convert baptism was Sunday. Refreshments were served in the kitchen afterward. There is a kitchen beside two huge gyms. And there was everything, water, cupcakes, brownies cookies, at least a dozen items, which, sugar is not good for me. It was good, I think, from my point of view. Different people were involved in different aspects of the whole ceremony, Maybe 50 people. Music, speakers, witnesses, just the congregation watching, kids, and then it seemed like the refreshment committee was other people. So I got to meet and talk to a lot more people. Just more of the social aspect of it. Just good reinforcement for me. So I vote for refreshments, in the kitchen, if they have one, afterwards, or at someone's house. dc

I believe there IS a worldwide conspiracy whose ultimate goal is to "overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries." I believe the CEO of this worldwide conspiracy is Lucifer himself.Satan's sole purpose now is to destroy the Kingdom of God on the Earth, and he knows full well that the shortest route to victory is to gain sole management of the government, and he also knows that in order prevent the Church from having a place to hide, it must be a world government.Hence he has established numerous smaller conspiracies advocating world government based upon communist/socialist principles. Whether it be the WFM, CIGI, OWT, WCPA, CFR, the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission, or a thousand other globalist front groups both large and small; they DO have as their stated or implicit goal, world government, and they have been implementing their plan in piecemeal fashion for a very long time.And so far, despite Moroni’s warning, we haven't much bothered to "awake to a sense of our awful situation".

Congratulations, Dave! Just keep one thing in mind as you move along and progress in the gospel. The Church isn't just a nice religion with nice people and a nice choir. It isn't just a nice social club with nice bylaws. It IS in fact God's Church and Kingdom on the earth today, and HE does in fact preside over it; directing it through modern-day prophets and apostles. The Church is TRUE, and that's all that ultimately matters.

Indeed. Those darn white people, not stealing TVs when black folks get murdered.

I have found that I am less prone to find fault with some behavior if I myself am guilty of said behavior. I only have anecdotes for this but it appears to me that our leaders in government are but a reflection of the general attitude of the population. What I mean is that the people, on the whole, will vote in those candidates that they feel they connect with. Unfortunately many people seem to connect with lying, stealing, and being worldly and petty. -Finrock

What scares me is it may not be a matter of gullibility but rather a problem of apathy. Looking at Hillary Clinton's track record makes me wonder how anyone could support her, with as much information as is flying around all over the place... but it isn't that her supporters don't know... it's that they don't care.

You appear to misunderstand me, and did not quote my later sentences, which basically agree with you. My point is that any major secret conspiracy is, well...secret. We are highly unlikely to note any specifics about it. Only open conspiracies, like OPEC or the homosexual "rights" efforts now going on, are obvious -- and then only because they can be explained away as something they are not. Yes, there is one or perhaps there are many secret, worldwide conspiracies that have great power. But I seriously doubt they are the Illuminati or the Rothschilds or some such thing. Thus, any expose of a supposed "major" conspiracy is likely to be false. But that does not mean the real ones don't exist.

I think it also depends on the area you live in. Growing up in San Diego we had refreshments because usually there were only 2-3 kids getting baptized on the monthly baptism day. Even at the stake level of organization for it. Now living in Utah, when it is on a stake level and you have 6-8 wards having children baptized the number is vastly increased. I was our ward activities chairman for awhile and our ward was the ward in charge of the building for 2 years. I did all of the scheduling for the building. Now try to throw in that each ward wanted a room to have their own little refreshment activity. It got to be that a great part of the building was being used and causing a lot of work for the Primary Presidency of the ward hosting for that month. It wasn't the responsibility of the hosting ward to have refreshments. Their assignment was to have programs, speakers, music and to make sure the font was filled and baptismal clothes picked up and taken home to be washed afterwards.

As the title suggest "in baptisms" -- no refreshments wouldn't be good to see someone with a cupcake in hand as they enter the water

Yeah...where does the RS pres think she has the authority to state any such thing? A bishop, sure (whereas pkstpaul points out it's run by the ward mission leader -- the WML acts under the authority of the bishop...so...). I'd just ask the bishop about it and if he supports her, whatever. It's not like treats make or break what matters about the event. :)

Once again, I think your meaning of "hang out" is decidedly different than what I meant. Moreover, I think it probably quite valid to point out the difference between who Jesus "hung out" with and who, in contrast, "hung out" with Jesus. Big difference, actually. It is decidedly dishonest to claim Jesus just "hung out" with prostitutes. It's a half-truth that doesn't tell the complete story. What is the complete story? A few examples. Jesus sat down to eat at a man's house and a woman, who was a "sinner", hearing he was there came to him and washed his hair and feet. Not exactly the same as going out to "hang" with her. Moreover, Jesus forgave her her sins. Whereas He has stated, and other scriptural sources teach, that he only forgives repentant sinners, what really happened here is Jesus was "hanging" (an inaccurate description of what occurred) with a repentant sinner. What about the tax collector story? (Note, the implication here, of course, is corrupt tax collector). The tax collector invited Jesus to his home to explain to him how he had given half his goods to the poor and paid back anyone he'd cheated four fold, to which Jesus told him salvation was come to his house. Once again, hardly Jesus just hanging out with the unrepentant sinners idea some would like us to believe. And of course there's the adulterous woman brought to Him to be stoned where He wrote in the dirt and then told her to go her way and sin no more. Hardly "hanging out". And then, of course, there's most famous justification, Mark 2:15-17 (here included): 15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? 17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Once again, we see Jesus going somewhere to eat and a crowd following him, among which were some sinners. Note the distinct difference between Jesus going and hanging out with them and them following and thereby hanging out with him. And what was Jesus's reason for doing so? Verse 17 spells it out. To call them to repentance. Hardly just buddies sitting around playing video games, going to dance clubs, and/or whatever your individual ideas of "hanging out" are. It should also well be noted that nowhere are these "sinners" literally defined as "prostitutes". It is clear that Jesus didn't turn His nose up at sinners, be they prostitutes or not. But it is also clear that every encounter He had with them was used to teach, call to repentance, and generally go about doing that which He came to earth to do, and set the example for us to do. He did not just "hang out" in any scriptural example -- and any supposition that He did is merely that.