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Some critters reproduce asexually. Some critters have both sets of genitals. None of this has really been news for a hundred years or more. Humans are God's children, inheritors of a divine birthright. Critters, not so much.

I feel like the real problem is that there is so much false material out there in general, and many people accept a combination of true and false things. For example: Someone who thinks vaccination is necessary and rejects that it is linked to autism, might also believe that global warming / climate change is a real danger to the people of the earth, or that there are more than two genders, or that overpopulation of the earth is a real problem, etc, etc, etc. Any number of people can believe in any number of true and false things, and they are all seeking to implement legislation to force other people to abide what they believe. I am not arguing for or against vaccination, just making a point that 'foolish cultural pressures' and lack of education do much more than affect the vaccine issue.

It was about a year ago that I found out that my wife had had an emotional affair. The affair was with a coworker that lasted about a year and a half and comprised about 15k messages between them, many lunch and dinner dates, gifts, etc. It was never physical beyond a hug every now and then, but towards the end of their relationship she decided that he is her Twin Flame. It took several weeks for her to tell me the extent of what happened and also me reading all of the messages. That was the lowest point in my life. The hurt lasted for months. I had seriously contemplated divorce. But after a lot of prayer and soul searching, I was told to love her and forgive her. That was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I wanted the pain to go away. I was near non-functioning. I was seriously confused and lost. Looking back I can clearly see how the spirit guided me in what to do. I consider it a miracle in my life. The hurt is all gone. The love is back. I hear a lot of people say that you can never trust again. I don't think that is the case. I think through forgiveness you can. Our relationship is certainly not the same as it was. I think in a lot of ways it is better. Better communication, better caring for each other, I think better love. I think the man upstairs has some mysterious/miraculous ways. The crazy part is I am sure that had I gotten divorced, I would be a much much much unhappier person today.

Created in His image with eternal gender.

Omygoodnessgraciousbatman. So... because a female copperhead snake can reproduce without a male then Binary Gender does not apply to Human Beings. Ahhh... there is one thing we can all agree on. Human Beings have this unique capacity to voluntarily twist their reasoning brains into pretzels.

@clbent04, let me introduce you to this word: anthropomorphism

“Bigot”, like “racist”, has degenerated into an epithet that is virtually meaningless; and in their heart of hearts most Americans know it. As conservatives, we shouldn’t dignify those terms—or the people who use them against us—by seeking to turn them back on our accusers. The best response is to a cool, unruffled “I don’t even know what that means”, and then stare them down like the intellectual dwarves that they are.

Why would LGBT parents enroll their kids, or apply to teach at a school that believes they are sinful? It's as silly as saying AA meetings are bigoted against those who enjoy consuming mass quantities of alcohol. Yeah. So? BTW...the day will come when those Islamic and Hebrew schools will be fair game, as well. After all, if Asian students are being told they are not really people of color, then it won't be long before only the truly favored groups (ironically those with political and media power) get to be victims.

Ugh. This is so not in the same concept as vaccinations. When you refuse vaccinations the risk is not just ON YOU. If it was, nobody would care. You chose to die, your call. BUT, this is not the end of the story. The risk is the contagion staying alive in society putting people who can't get vaccinated at risk and at the same time risking the thing to mutate into a form that renders the vaccinations ineffective. No kid has ever died because his neighbor has childhood diabetes.

'kay. For starters, my kids are vaccinated, so for me personally, it's a non-issue. On the other hand, if for some reason I chose not to do that then sure, it takes a risk. I suppose in that case I'd have to come up with some kind of plan to avoid letting them be exposed to the best of my ability. The reason I'd be against Government force to vaccinate kids is because of the camel's nose in the tent argument. If the Government can dictate vaccinations, then that logic can be used to justify just about anything. Here are some examples... "The Government has the right to protect the community from contagious disease like the Measles, so it's acceptable to force vaccinations, religious objections notwithstanding." leads to... The Government has the right to force a blood transfusion if doctors decide a kid needs it. Sorry, Jehovah's Witnesses. The Government has the right to enable a teenager to get an abortion over the parents' objections (Already implemented in many places in the U.S.) The Government has the right to dictate childrens' diets to avoid childhood diabetes, obesity and other health issues. Sorry, members of any religion with dietary guidelines you don't get a say. The Government has the right to choose what surgeries, medications, therapies and treatments your kids get. No, you don't get a say. I know that looks like a slippery slope argument... But it isn't a fallacy if there's a history supporting the idea that such a thing will happen. As I mentioned, some states don't allow parental consent or knowledge if a minor seeks abortion, birth control, etc. regardless of age. (Lookin' at you, Maryland. I hate this place.) In England, there's the well known case of Charlie Guard, who died under nationalized healthcare despite the parents' efforts to have the child moved elsewhere where he could have gotten additional treatment pro bono. There are laws on the books regulating the size of soft drinks in NYC, as well as the contents of vending machines in schools. It's also not unprecedented to have cases where medical professionals have sought, and been granted, injunctions against parents to prevent them from seeking alternative treatment. Remember Hillary Clinton's "It takes a Village?" She wasn't talking about putting up playgrounds.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/nyregion/measles-outbreak-jews-nyc.html I'm sure it will take some funerals before some folks will consider that maybe a tiny risk of usually-minor reaction for everyone, is better than burying children. When I'm emperor of the world, anyone who spends more than two brain cells arguing with something like this, will be subject to summary noogies, to be administered by a trained ape. Anyone who uses the word "autism" in their argument, will get triple the noogies.

I disagree that quantity makes an alcoholic. Some drink once or twice a month, but their drinking leads to problems. Others drink much more often, but are simply heavy drinkers. They know their limits, do not drive under the influence, and live and associate with people who are not troubled by it. Personally, I don't drink. It has been an -ism in my family tree. Further, I do believe that some are born with a predisposition to alcoholism. With all that said, AA is for those who wish to quit drinking. It would not be a welcome place to those who embrace drinking, and believe it's wrong to try to change people's natural born drinking disposition.

This is very simple. The fish actually alters its own gender through a natural biological process, and when complete, it has truly become the other gender; when a human seeks to alter its gender, it can only be done by external and unnatural procedures, and even when complete, it is only a surface level alteration; biologically the human remains the same gender. Hence, there is nothing about the fish that could realistically apply to human gender; if anything, it is further evidence that the alteration of ones gender by mechanical means, is against nature.

Star Wars has been smart to stay clear of time travelers. Voyager is my favorite series but man... that time traveling stuff was just becoming ridiculous!

Yes. all intelligence is eternal. Now tell me, what's your definition of intelligence? So, if you look at the things that go on in a bee hive, you'll be amazed at the synchronicity in that 24/7 hive activity... would you conclude that bees have intelligence? Do ants have intelligence? How about cockroaches? A fish have a memory span between 3 seconds and 5 months - do they have intelligence? And if they do... what do their progression look like? Do they go to the telestial, terrestrial, or celestial kingdoms? Do bees who drop their pollen end up in the telestial kingdom and bees who perfectly execute their duties go to the celestial kingdom? Or do they just all go to outer darkness? I love pretzels.

Does anybody know of an antivaxer who is prepare to meet the medical expenses caused by their refusal to vaccinate?

That is exactly what the debate is about. Yes, religious schools are heavily subsidised by the federal government, but not by the state government. The balance between private school funding and public school funding has been a very passionate debate for decades. Whenever the federal government wants to introduce a new national education policy on anything, the only way they can do so is by offering to significantly increase the amount of funding they provide. About 6 years agp the Liberal federal govement introduced funding specifically for school chaplains. The Labour government have promised that if they win the next election, which they almost certainly will, they will replace the chaplains with counsellors.

It may not be new, but it's supposed to be very bad form these days. The whole JFK incident was taught to me as a way people used to be. We're better now. So I thought.

Also from the teachings of Harold B Lee, a rather interesting story saying more or less the same thing. "I remember a man, a big, heavyset, rough-looking fellow, dressed in a working garb, came into my office, and after a few pleasantries and a little introduction, he said to me as though to startle me, “I’m a literal descendant of Aaron.” Well, I said, “I have always been curious to see a literal descendant of Aaron.” And when he saw that I wasn’t too much impressed, he said, “And I have come to claim my right to be the Presiding Bishop of the Church.” “Well, now,” I said, “that is very well, but there is just one little matter that you have overlooked.” And he wanted to know what that was. And then I read to him from the revelations [that] a literal descendant of Aaron may serve without counselors, if called by the President of the Church and ordained to that office (see D&C 68:20; 107:76). “Now you just go back home and wait until the President of the Church sends for you, and then if he ever does send for you, you won’t have to have counselors to be the Presiding Bishop of the Church.” Well, he had lost that vital thing, which, if we understand, would keep us from being led astray. He failed to understand that only through that one man who is His mouthpiece on earth will the Lord reveal instructions for His church."

Here we go, this is a quote from Joseph Fielding Smith's Doctrines of Salvation "The person spoken of in the revelations as having the right by lineage to the bishopric is the one who is the firstborn. By virtue of his birth he is entitled to hold “the keys or authority of the same.” This has reference only to the one who presides over the Aaronic Priesthood. It has no reference whatever to bishops of wards. Further, such a one must be designated by the First Presidency of the Church and receive his anointing and ordination under their hands. The revelation comes from the Presidency, not from the patriarch, to establish a claim to the right to preside in this office. In the absence of knowledge concerning such a descendant, any high priest, chosen by the Presidency, may hold the office of Presiding Bishop and serve with counselors."

Let us review a couple of points. Because of the war in heaven we are told that a third part were cast out with Satan. Not only did the ancient Hebrews not understand the mathematical concept of zero - they did not understand fractions. This tells us that it was not 1/3 of heaven but rather that during the war in heaven there that the kingdom was divided into 3 parts - one of which was cast out. The next obvious question is - what were the other two "parts". If you study scripture and know to look for 3 parts you will find them. Interestingly the number 3 has "symbolic" meaning in scripture - do you know what that meaning is? I will help you a little - where is the number 3 used and for what purpose and reason? Why 3 and not 1, 2 or 4? In particular where is man divided into 3 parts? and what is the covenant made with each of the 3 parts? I will try to help you a little - one of the symbolic references given to one part of heaven is the term "first born". What is the symbolic meaning of the first born? Here is a hint - it does not mean the chronological oldest. The people of ancient Near Eastern kingdoms were divided into three parts - Egypt was one such kingdom. One part was called "the first born". In the revelations we have of the pre-existence, G-d says of one part of the population (after Satan and his followers had been cast out) - "These I will make my rulers". In Alma chapter 13 - we are told that if we were not pre-ordained in the pre-existence that we would not have opportunity to receive the priesthood and the blessings of the priesthood during our mortal probation. Now lets go back a little - where was Satan and those that followed him sent to? Where did they go when they left heaven? Here is a possible answer - they came to earth and became tareson earth. Where did the rest of the spirits of heaven end up going? Here is a possible answer - the came to earth as wheat. What will happen when the wheat has grown and is ready for harvest? Note wheat does not grow for most of the season and somehow end up as a tare - likewise something growing as a tare does not end up as wheat. The Traveler

I love freedom. It's what America's all about. However, ANTIVAX is not religion, it's really bad, dangerous superstition mixed with quasi-political conspiracies. The kicker is that yes, it puts our children at risk. To my thinking (chaplain's protect-religious-liberty prime directive in action) Jehovah's Witnesses are the middle ground issue. They have a sincere religious belief that blood transfusions violate the Old Testament prohibition against "consuming blood." That is a fascinating debate where this issue of individual liberty vs. public interest in protecting children match up 50/50 IMHO. ANTIVAX falls way short of the Jehovah's Witness stance. Children who are not vaccinated should be required to be homeschooled, with regular visits by social workers. This is not as draconian as it sounds, since most school districts offer online academies free of charge. The families could even be given the outdated laptops teachers turn in every so often, for new ones.

I'm not shooting at all. Just bypassing. I used to read six or seven articles a day from realclearpolitics.com. Now I only read a couple. Trump Saves the World Again! by Washington Examiner or Fox News is a predictable read. Constitutional Crisis for Real This Time! by Wash Post or HuffPost is the same. Perhaps I'm more terrible than those rapid shooters--after all, opinion instigators would rather be hated than ignored.

Ugh. Yes it is. Medical decisions are the most personal, most private decisions we make. The argument that an unvaccinated kid is a public health risk is a pretty weak one compared to the result of setting a precedent that the Government can force your medical choices. It's easy to be okay with it when you're making the same decision the Government would have you make anyway. What about those who don't? Are the ingredients of vaccines kosher? (I don't know if they are or not.) What about vegans? Many vaccines contain egg whites. What about other religious groups who may have moral objections for whatever reason? Are you ready to chip away at the First Amendment? Not me. I wouldn't knock on my neighbor's door and tell him what to do with his kids' medical decisions, regardless of his beliefs.

I think that's basically it. They wanted to appeal to the older fans and have Luke, Han and Leia there to pass the torch. "This is legitimate, real Star Wars! We swear!" (In Star Trek, this is exactly why they brought in Leonard Nimoy for the Abramsverse films.)

For me, it's a couple of times a year, primarily due to logistical constraints. There are two temples in my area, one of which I love very much and have always felt extremely welcomed at. The other my mom is a temple worker at, but I don't feel particularly welcomed at, due to disagreements over rules with that temple president. I, being a symbol-thinker, do very much love the endowment and initiatory-- the symbolism is my groove. Other people the symbolism completely confuses. Some people love the bond-centric nature of the sealing. Still others have favorites in baptism. And I don't think any of this individual-ness is remotely bad.

That is an interesting point worthy of consideration. However, the issue for me isn't people disagreeing with me since I value differing perspectives. Rather, it is a seeming intractable mindset lacking in healthy self-doubt or curiosity towards thoughtfully exploring challenges and varied points of view, to the point of not only trusting deferentially in one's own view over those in a likely position to know better, if not also in the face of strong reasoning and authoritative evidence to the contrary, but having the gall to unhesitatingly judge the Lord's anointed to be in error. Perhaps there are better words to describe such attitudes, but I am comfortable with my flexible and generalizable use of the words "humility" and "teachable" in this informal setting--though I appreciate you giving me pause to reconsider. [Thumbs up] Thanks, -Wade Englund-

Well, there go the founding fathers.

Isaiah gives insight when he prophesied that we acquire a understanding of truth - line upon line upon line and precept upon precept upon precept. One of the principles (please note that I used the term principle rather than doctrine) is that a paramount purpose of our mortal probation and second estate, is growth - or perhaps better understood as evolution. In short we are in a universe, galaxy, solar system, planet and culture of change. One of the best indicators of where change is taking us is - what we have become over the last 13 or so billion years? Not so much at to the data we have accumulated but the love and compassion (beyond ourselves) that we have achieved. And how does that compare to Christ? For all the "talk" of doctrine - it does us little if we are not evolving into Christ as surly as an egg evolves into a chicken. The Traveler

Dark Empire is one of the most popular stuff in the EU. Some people strongly panning some Star Wars thing is the norm in the fandom. It's part of being a fan. But there's nothing about Lucas saying Episode 7-9 would be based off of DE except for fan rumors. Lucas did get involved in the plans for DE back in the 80's and personally rejected several ideas of who gets to be the next "Palpatine" and ok'd the clone idea. Disney slashed the EU to make it easier for them to make tons of new stories based off of old characters and timelines.

Right, he believes some heinous things and probably would love to actually see a "purification" in his life time. But as long as he stays away from racist acts and doesn't participate in those activities he can maintain his membership in the Church, right?

Lack of education, or miseducation, or urban legends disguised as education and reinforced by foolish cultural pressures. Yep.

I'm getting to the point where I tune out the sycophants. Every President has them but these last two seem to be more than usual. I think it's partly to do with changes in culture and campaigning where the rockstar approach is more effective than the traditional approaches. Elect someone to be a rockstar, people will react to them like a rockstar. With the Obama fans it was a "scandal free presidency" start to finish and were calling for a Constitutional amendment to remove term limits the day after he was elected. With the Trumplings it's everything Trump does is part of the 4D underwater chess master plan. Both Presidents made mistakes. Both Presidents did good things. Anyone who is willfully blind to any of that is someone whose political acumen is unreliable at best.

I don't know any, but I suspect that they do more often than you'd think. Realtalk: I agree that it's incredibly foolish in 2019 to still believe the fake studies linking autism to vaccines. The evidence debunking that is everywhere and easy to find. We all here seem to agree on that. That said... if, for whatever reason, a person finds that stuff compelling enough to avoid vaccinating their kids, they honestly believe they're acting in their child's best interests. That's still better parenting than a lot of cases out there. Are they wrong? Yes. Are they doing their best, as they see it? Yeah. I believe they are. And that usually means they know the risks and are doing what they can to mitigate them. I'm not defending people who refuse to vaccinate. I'm just trying to keep the focus where it belongs: On a lack of education.

As FYI, the Pence's are ignoring the criticisms. It's concerning though, in that the implication is that people in office should have no affiliation with faith-based organizations. There's also the story of a Trump nominee who's been heavily criticized for his association with the Knights of Columbus (a Catholic lay organization, mostly given to charitable works). Of course, the real target is pro-life advocacy--but they are going about it using "guilt by association." This is the kind of stuff that drives religious folk who may be politically moderate into the hands of candidates like our current Commander in Chief.

I've had plenty of fit people fall on me (some with quite a lot of help) without serious injury to myself. However, a 350+ pound person would be a much more significant risk. Therefore morbidly obese people should be incarcerated and forced to lose weight for my safety.

In fairness, I guess I kinda am. When I see a headline that clearly seems intent on making POTUS look bad, and I find that the source is CNN or NYT, I'm pretty quick to lose interest. I know what will be said, and it's not interesting. Perhaps I'll miss an occasional blockbuster news item, but considering the hours and hours I do not waste, I've got to triage the information I take in--and looking at sourcing is one of my methods.

Actually, answers to at least some of those questions were expected in Episode 8. The few answers we did get were all meant to SUBVERT AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONSTM because Rian Johnson is such a wonderful director. *gag*

The real question that comes to mind for me when people come up with some random requires-mental-gymnastics type idea like this is......why? Why on earth would someone come up with a theory like this? To what end? What's the point? What's the objective?

It's amazing to me that Mormons are arguing against immigrants because they will change the culture. The odd part is that Mormon culture is so much different than American culture. In a couple generations immigrants would be more in tune with American culture than Mormons have been for the last couple hundred years.

Police Officer Douglas Scott Barney, II Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake, Utah End of Watch Sunday, January 17, 2016 Police Officer Doug Barney was shot and killed after responding to an accident near the intersection of 4500 South and 2300 East, in Holladay, shortly after 10:00 am.Upon arriving at the scene he observed a man and woman who had been involved in the crash walking away from the vehicles. As he attempted to make contact with the pair the male subject produced a handgun and shot him in the head, fatally wounding him.Other responding officers located the subject on a nearby street minutes later. An intense shootout occurred in which the man was killed and another officer was wounded. The female fled the scene and remains at large. It was later determined that the male subject had an extensive criminal history with active state and federal arrest warrants.Officer Barney was a U.S. Navy veteran. He had served in law enforcement for 18 years and was assigned to the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake's Holladay Precinct. He was survived by his wife and three children.

We need a kind of "like" feature that allows us to express approval of the post without it seeming like we are pleased by the content.

There's another 15K-strong caravan marching its way to the border. Let's ask them. My first question would be... why are you carrying the flag of the country you're fleeing from? Interestingly... they're not getting oxygen in the press. I wonder why...

Yeah, how’d that work out for the Mexicans/Utes/Paiutes/Navajo? Do you believe that the current crop of immigrants to the US is more altruistic, more tolerant, more respectful of the native-born population and its values, less tribal (in the sociological sense of the word), and less allegiant to their own cultural mores; than the Mormon pioneers were? Why, or why not?

There are two main responses to your question. Those of us who believe in free will would say that God has foreknowledge of all that will happen, of every choice every being will make. Thus, while we may not choose God's perfect will (God never willed for anyone to be raped, for example), He knew those rebellious choices would be made. His ultimate will is never foiled. Calvinists (Predestination) would say that God did indeed will for all that has happened--including the Fall. He is sovereign, and it is not our place to question His will. Ours is to be thankful for his mercies, such as the atonement. I have never heard any suggest that God's will can be thwarted, but it may be the one you refer to was speaking of God's perfect will. Since He would not want us to sin, and all have sinned, it could be argued that His perfect will is rejected quite regularly.

Handbook 2 states 18.6.6 Burial or Cremation Where possible, deceased members who were endowed should be buried in temple clothing. Where cultural traditions or burial practices make this inappropriate or difficult, the clothing may be folded and placed next to the body in the casket. Additional instructions on temple burial clothing and dressing the dead are provided in 7.10.2, 9.10.3...

And how does this say that the second death is not "hell"? The scripture says exactly that - that the second death is and should be considered hell. You seem to have this idea that {We shouldn't conflate the "second death" language with "hell" or "spiritual death" as the second death in scripture has a unique and separate meaning.} confused and completely wrong. The Traveler

The scriptures teach that all will confess God’s judgments are just. Thus, while we can spend time speculating on how we, and others might be judged, we can take comfort in the promise that at the time of judgment we will agree that not only God’s judgment of us is just, but his judgment of all others as well.

Spirit prison is hell. It's where the detestable wicked spirits go. It's not where 11 year old Jewish girls who die of cancer go. They go to Paradise. No, I have always been LDS, born into the covenant.

Paul disagrees with both of you.