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6 games left before the big dance. If we take 4 of 6 we are in. Or if we beat Kansas tonight. I’ll be watching.

Thank you guys for your responses. It has helped me realize that maybe it just doesn't mean during my mission. I've always had an issue to recognize the Spirit from my internal monologue, but there's a point in the Doctrine and Covenants, that basically says He will teach you in your heart, but also in your mind. Unfortunately for me, I struggle with my perception of reality, think an auditory hallucination is really a hallucination or God speaking to me. Schizophrenia is like your mind constantly deceiving reality. I also have scrupulosity, and that makes it harder to deny the voice when I'm being delusional. But all of this is more psychiatrict than spiritual, so I'll leave it at that. Again thank you.

I saw a clip on Fox news that is a preview of a Trump and Musk interview. Musk is talking about a good friend (but no longer a friend) of his that started to talk about Trump, and it was like he was shot with a dart of methine laced with rabies. Musk said that his friend suddenly turned. Musk then holds his hands up like claws. This was quite a surprise to me and at the same time I realized that I have observed this same behavior myself – both with family members and friends. Some are not democrats but republican supporters of Romney. In all cases the conversations were not expressly about Trump. For example, about a year ago I asked a family member if they had determined who they were going to vote for. They never answered the question but instead when into a very angry rant about Trump and why Trump could not ever be president again. In a more recent case, someone mentioned how they could not believe all the corruption and graft was being discovered by DOGE. And then a friend suddenly went into a most angry tangent rant about Trump targeting FBI agents to lose their jobs that opposed him on Jan 6th. Musk said that it is impossible to have any reasonable discussion with such angry individuals. I do not know if anyone has noticed this Trump derangement syndrome. I am of the belief that contention is of the devel. I have no desire what-so-ever to have any kind of a discussion with someone that is hot angry – even if I agree with what they are saying. In fact, if someone is angry in discussing a subject, I am of the notion that I need to rethink my stand if I agree with them. There are several conservative commentators that I just do not listen to because their composure is somewhat over the top with anger. One last side note. A long time ago in a galaxy far far away I competed in debate in high school. I learned that if I could make my opponent angry I would always win the debate – a tactic my debate partner was expert at and won us a state championship. This is also a lesion I have determined is necessary for communicating on the internet. If something makes me angry, it is only because Satan has found a way into my heart. The Traveler

Our leaders seem to understand nuance far better than we do.

Here are the temple recommend questions: Can you point out which question you might find problematic, and explain why? The questions dealing with laws are the law of chastity, and laws of the gospel. From what I've heard from our church leaders for quite some time now, worthiness doesn't mean perfection. It doesn't mean we've necessarily got our lives together. It seems they are happier with us in the temple than out of it. Even if some things in our lives aren't totally aligned with the current culture or legal landscape in which we happen to live. Especially if some things in our lives are out of whack.

Lol, I know what you mean, I just don't get down with tiktok. I think that platform is pure evil. (Maybe that means it needs the gospel more lol.) I just think there is a lack of short-form come follow me content out there (be it articles or videos) I don't have the time to watch a frankly boring, 3 hour come follow me podcast. I just want a 5 minute read/commentary video to get to grip with the basics on my lunch break and I can't be the only person who feels that way. If I were to ever do some form of online content, it would be that.

I like this perspective. I believe in the messages that the GAs give and I would like for my kids to serve missions. One day when my schedule isn't so rammed I would like to do some kind of service mission/temple work. My main gripe, is that there is a number of people in my ward who have served missions, and the way they talk about it in lessons and leadership meetings, its almost as if they are superior for having fulfilled this important priesthood obligation and everyone else should be forced to do it. Such contentious rhetoric is both quite common and quite demeaning. I'm happy for not serving a mission, I am comfortable with it, I look at my life and realise I have been blessed for it. But I am human, and weak, and as @NeuroTypical pointed out, take the opinions of others way more seriously than I should. And so these comments bother that part of me, that just wants to feel accepted, after all, that's why I come unto Christ, because I know he will accept me (even though his church sometimes falls short of achieving this end). It's nothing worth getting too upset over I realise, it was just something annoying me today.

I've wanted to start some kind of blog/Facebook page for a while, maybe I'll finally do it lol.

TDS absolutely exists, and I have experienced such behavior from numerous personal acquaintances and endless people online. It seems to be largely a function of where the individuals get their news. All news is biased, but news with a political agenda can be some of the most extremely biased. And since Trump began his run in 2015, the "mainstream news" and just about all of the left-of-center news ramped up the divisiveness, the character smearing, the fear-mongering. After J6, the shrieking and demonizing grew exponentially worse. It became "mainstream" to push the narrative that Trump is more than just a narcissistic evil rich person, but actually a fascist as bad as hitler. Sources: MSNBC comparing the Trump rally at Madison Square Garden to a 1939 pro-nazi rally. https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/trump-s-msg-rally-draws-comparisons-to-1939-pro-nazi-rally-222807621632 Tim Walz did it too: "Donald Trump's got this big rally going at Madison Square Garden," Walz said, speaking to voters in Nevada. "There's a direct parallel to a big rally that happened in the mid 1930s at Madison Square Garden. And don't think that he doesn't know for one second exactly what they're doing there." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-madison-square-garden-rally-dnc-projections/ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused Trump of being a fascist, trying to unite racism, bigotry, nationalism with industry and the keys of government, in order to stamp out democracy: https://www.foxnews.com/video/6363844350112 The list went on and on. Michele Obama. Hillary Clinton. Nancy Pelosi. All of them accusing Trump of being a fascist, comparing him to Hitler. Former President Obama last year asked "How did we get so divided?" The obvious answer is at least in part, "voices on the left side of the political fence keep feeding it through fear mongering and borderline inciting". It was so bad in one LDS group populated by mostly lefties, I opened a thread called "Please stop comparing Trump to Hitler". In it I listed those sources and made this plea: It was fairly scary to see one LDS person continue the narrative. Continuing the comparisons, extreme rhetoric about how the world must never allow another hitler, even defending the attempted assassination attempts by equating them with other attempts on world leaders.

Here are some numbers to fool around with: I'll give you the conclusion first. By cleaning up social security the budget gets whacked big time. There are 68.5 million people on social security. They believe there may be "tens of millions" on the rolls collecting benefits that are most likely dead. We've never had an American live over 120 (verified) in the entire history of the US. Only one person in the world (that I could find) has lived over 120 years old. Yet there are many on the rolls over 120. Gerentology experts estimate between 100 to 600 people in the US are over 110 years old. Early counting says there are "millions" of recipients on soc. sec. rolls who are over 110 years old. The budget is about 1.5 trillion (1500 billion). The data above indicate they could cut $300 Billion just by disenrolling dead people from benefits.

Stop taking your sense of worth from random people giving their opinion about things. No, really, it’s that simple. Stop giving people the power to define your self-worth. I’ll say it a third time. People don’t give you your sense of self-worth. And yet here you are, getting your sense of worth from people. Stop it. What, if you can get more people to say you’re fine than not, that means you’re fine? No really. Stop getting your sense of self-worth from other humans. The church offers a fine place to get a sense of self-worth. Do that instead. (Full disclosure: I didn't go on a mission, and I have received absolutely no grief over my decision from anybody, in any of the wards or cities I've lived in. But I hear stories like yours and I know it happens.)

A prophet said that every member is a missionary, and there are a ton of ways to evangelize without being a pest or serving a formal mission. Maybe you could start a tik tok or something and spread the gospel there? I didn’t serve a mission either-so convert to convert I know what you mean. I never felt bad about it though

Am I a lesser saint for not ministering to my ministering families? Am I a lesser saint for having not read my scriptures today? Am I a lesser saint for ...??? We all sin -- whether they be sins of omission or sins of commission. That's why there is an Atonement. We pick up an do the best we can from here on out. We press forward with a steadfastness in Christ.

As a young man living away from home, when I bought a car, my mother tried to force financial advice on me. I resented the advice (and to some extent her for offering it unsolicited) and didn't follow it and ended up signing a predatory lease agreement. 🙂 Because I live away from home and have achieved much for my age, this comes with a certain level of hubris. I deserve a nice car. The payments are only X pounds a month. This is a good choice. I hardly read the contract or researched the state of car sales in the UK, and now I have a wee baby and wife out of work it's a financial strain. I can afford the payments fine, but it is a difficulty. In 17 months, when I repay the loan on car, I will have learned a valuable lesson about prudent financial management and humility (that being my arrogance lead to an unwise financial choice), which I couldn't have learned if I just did what my parents told me too 100% of the time.

To be honest, sounds like a great idea. My wife and I are would be interested in home schooling, but she isn't academically blessed and we don't have the resources to pay for private tuition.

happy birthday

Elementary school. They've risen in popularity over the past few years. Ours is a public school, but I find the families who do best are the ones who want to homeschool but want it free and for the state to do most of the heavy lifting.

Right now, translator jobs are in *very* high demand. This is especially the case in the entertainment industry, as there have been repeated fan revolts over the way that companies like FUNimation (now a part of Crunchyroll) and Seven Seas have mishandled the various foreign-language franchises they've gotten the rights to. If you're fluent in another language, you can get some pretty solid job offers.

There are people online who think Elvis is still alive and that the world is flat. Don’t engage with them, all it will do is drive you crazy. Pat them on the head and move on.

It’s understandable-I’m an East Coast guy and I think East Coast bias absolutely exists.

Under the legendary coach Stan Watts, BYU was a national name in basketball. Our luminaries back then included the fantastic Kresimir Cosic, maybe the best basketball player that no one outside of BYU remembers. Cosic could easily have played in the NBA. Our team in the early '80s with Danny Ainge was Final Four caliber. Back in the ancient days when the NIT was the premier postseason tournament and the NCAA tourney was an also-ran, BYU featured prominently among NIT schools. We have had some very good teams in the past few decades, but I don't think we've managed even a Sweet Sixteen appearance in that time except with the team that had Jimmer Fredette. Now that was a great team. Sadly, the starting center was suspended from the team for honor code violations right at tourney time, and BYU didn't get past the Sweet 16. BYU is not currently a basketball powerhouse, but it is a very good team. Beating BYU is no mean feat, and losing to BYU is no disgrace. Now that BYU is a member of the Big 12 athletic conference, which is certainly the nation's premier basketball conference, I expect things will improve for us in the coming years. We have the Marriott Center, an enormous basketball arena (19,000), tenth-largest (I believe) collegiate arena in the country and certainly at or near the top among private schools.

I've had similar thoughts often.... and yet.... I actually never learn said valuable lessons. Because...dang it...I deserve a nice car!