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@bnthome I can understand your concern. I was excommunicated about 8 months ago. You're right, things will work out in eternity. My wife really struggled the first few months with not being sealed. We have 'missed' some things. I was not able to baptize my son when he turned 8 this year. I couldn't give my kids back to school blessings. We had to call a local bishop for a blessing when my wife got sick on vacation. But each of these, have given other people opportunities to serve. My kids have been able to see extended family and ward members exercise the priesthood power. When I told them about being ex'ed, and explained that eventually I'll get baptized again, she excitedly asked if she could be a witness. (I'm choking up now just remembering how touching that was). The Lord will take care of you, your kid(s), and your husband. In this life, not just the eternities. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2006/04/broken-things-to-mend?lang=eng

I hope this debate is filled with intellectual courtesy. What's the old saying, goes something like, “Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” I don't mind these types of debates, as long as they can maintain intellectual courtesy.

Your son cannot be sealed to you alone. That is not what a sealing means. Your son can be sealed only to parentS<--note the plural. A child born within his parents' covenant is called "born in the covenant" (BIC), and receives many blessings from that. Your son was not born within the covenant of yours and your husband's sealing, because that sealing did not exist at the moment he was born. If a child is sealed to his/her parents, the wording of that sealing makes it clear that the child's status is identical with that of a child born in the covenant. That is, being BIC is the "natural" way that the Lord provides these blessings, but those who are sealed after birth suffer no damage by comparison. They are exactly the same before God. Once your child is sealed within his parents' marital covenant, that status is permanent so long as the child remains worthy (i.e. in adulthood). The status of the parents is no longer directly relevant to the child's status; he remains sealed to his parents regardless of his parents' subsequent actions, even if they should have their sealing dissolved. tl;dr—No, this is not a "punishment" for you or your son. It's the definition of what it means to be sealed to parents.

Its not about his debating skills, its about who he relates to. A young mormon. My 16yr old stopped going to church, youth activities, devotionals, service projects because she finds it boring but she will climb a mountain to attend a church dance.

One problem with a Latter-day Saint debating unique beliefs from the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is that these beliefs come from modern revelation. I don't expect anyone who doesn't accept the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price as scripture to hold the same beliefs I do. At best, I can hope they can be intellectually honest enough to see that my theology is self-consistent, and that biblical texts do not (usually) prevent such an interpretation.

It always turns me off when you put God and debate on the same statement.

My guess would be... Latte..

Hi @bnthome, I'm an LDS Christian lady married a great generic Christian dude. We have a little daughter. Ultimately, all covenants are about a person embracing Christ & His ways: they want to be that upright person, walk in His ways, have the goodness that comes from it. It is first and foremost a matter of heart, with actions following that. My husband is a great person and husband, but he's not yet formally taken on Christ's name and stepped up to that plate. Therefore, today we are not yet sealed. Because we as a couple are not yet sealed, today our little girl is also not yet sealed to us (parents bond has to come first). What tomorrow holds is not yet know to us mortals. But I do have faith that my husband will eventually come to fully embrace Christ, formally take on His name, and formally make covenants with Him. It just hasn't happened yet today. And that "tomorrow" is probably not a literal 24 hours from now. It may not even be during this mortal life. But I do have faith that it will happen, because I have faith in God and the good man I know my husband is. Likewise is the case with every other person on this Earth: they'll all have the opportunity to come to Christ and be formally one with Him/each other. Whether that comes in this life or the next.

...I don't get it. Sorry for being slow on the uptake, but what's the irony?

Amen. The notion, to me, minimizes the quest for truth into a "winner/loser" scenario where the winner is decided by who has the best talking points, can think on his/her feet the fastest, whose [human] logic is deemed best, etc. Couple that with the topic "Who is God", which is a topic that I think most of us will agree is difficult at best to really understand with our mortal understanding let alone the ability to express it in a logically coherent manner (or maybe it is just me that has trouble), and a standard debate just does not feel like the right format for discussing and discovering God. Part of me would like to hope that it can become something more like a discussion/discovery of similarities and differences (like Robinson and Blomberg's book How Wide the Divide) rather than a need to press for a winner/loser debate. I guess I am not optimistic that it becomes that.

The world population has gotten this large because we've innovated building materials and structures so that the land can physically hold more people. The world population has gotten this large because we've innovated agricultural advances so the land can sustain more people. Has something changed in the last 10 years to make you think additional innovations won't happen? How will a Brazilian, American, or Western people limiting their own family size prevent overpopulation in Japan or starvation in Africa? Regarding starvation in Africa, I'll point out that it looks to be wealthy Westerners who are out to solve this problem. Perhaps we shouldn't limit the number of those we're producing? Also, in agrarian societies (which includes those areas of Africa you're undoubtedly thinking of) families with more children have an economic advantage. Just as a clarification, is "the south of the country" a reference to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana? Or Texas, Arizona, Southern California?

Thank you for posting this. I dont have fb so I went to Youtube and searched Kwaku and found him on the "saints unscripted" channel. I have three things I want to share. 1. Two weeks ago I found a vlog on utube of a young 45 yr old man that left the JW religion after 25 yrs born and raised. Some of the things that really interests me is that he married at 18, divorced after 12 yrs of marriage, has a 25yr old daughter, lived in his car for 2 yrs, is an entrepreneur, was shunned by his parents and JW friends after leaving the religion. He shares all of his life stories unfiltered and holds nothing back, I found a lot of gems in his videos that give me courage and strength. Im obsessed with him because he is relatable. Other channels I follow religiously is Joe Rogan, ESPN (1st take, skip/shannon), NBA, NFL to name my favorites. One channel I do not follow and is pretty boring to me is the churchs channel (T.C.ofJ.C.ofL.D.S.) I try to visit it maybe once a month especially when new videos come out but it seems so scripted and monotonous. I was thinking just yesterday if it was bad of me to think like that of our churchs utube channel but then I decided to look at how many subscribers it had and it shows 1.03 million out of 16 million members worldwide. Only 6.5% of our members are subscribed to the channel. I looked at a video posted 6 days ago "Joseph Smiths first vision" and it only had 17k views. That's a mere 1.7% of views from its own subscribers. Lets go back a month to find a video of president Nelson, that only has 54k views, 5%. Im not the only one that finds the content boring. In contrast I looked at a utube channel that my kids frequent. Norris nuts, an australian family with 3 young kids, they have 3.4m subs. Their most recent video posted two days ago and already has 2m views, thats a 64% viewing rate. How is it that a random family in australia with no talent whatsoever is more interesting than the prophet and only true church of the world? 2. So tonight I was sitting on the couch after dinner thinking how Im going to get an fhe/spiritual lesson going with my kids. I have been working nights the past week so tonight was the first opportunity in a long time (last fhe was 3 weeks ago). Usually when I mention fhe the kids run away or suddenly "need to shower/go to bed", they are some rebellious kids I tell ya! Being a little discouraged I decided not to mention anything of a fhe lesson and just surf on my phone with my earphones on. I came to thirdhour and saw your post Mrshorty and thats when I looked up kwaku on utube. Keep in mind that my kids dont know what im watching or listening to on my phone. I found the saints unscripted channel and was blown away that these young 20 something year olds were addressing mormon topics in a hip and fun way. I quickly subscribed after watching one video and then decided to watch another, considering that halloween was just a week ago I watched "Do Mormons believe in Ghosts?" which was only 6 minutes. After that I turned off my phone and then put my attention on the family and just hung out. About 10 minutes later my 13yr old daughter sitting in the corner randomly said out loud "I wonder if ghosts read people's minds", she was thinking this because her grandma passed away 5 months ago and was wondering if her grandma was reading her mind. My eyes widened as I saw an opportunity to talk religion by showing her the video "Do Mormons believe in Ghosts?", which would answer her question from a mormon stand point. I chickened out and decided not to mention the video. Then my 10yr old daughter yells out to the 13yr old "who you gonna call! Ghost busters!!". OMG, the video has clips from the Ghost busters movie. I knew this was a sign and God's hand in helping me get a religious lesson in tonight. So I called my 13yr old daughter to my side and told her I have an answer, put the headphones on her and played the video on my phone. She loved it, absorbed all the info and was entertained. Out of curiosity my 10 yr old asked what are you watching? I explained to her its about mormons beliefs about spirits, put the head phones on and then showed it to her. That was 2 of my 3 kids that got a religious message for the night, my 16 yr old had just gotten out of the shower and had no idea what we did, I had no intention of showing her the video so we carried on. About 15 mins later as my 16yr old was on the computer browsing pinterest something caught her attention and she said out loud "I want to see a psychic!", I smiled and invited her over to me. The video also addressed wigi boards, seance/psychics. Unbelievable! 3. Thank you Mr Shorty!

How about no graphic sex? Gay, trans, pan, bi, A, furry, or straight?

Anyone in the public eye leaves themselves open to critique from onlookers. Intolerable to some may be outstanding to others. No matter what side you are on, I give him and the others a huge amount of respect for providing gospel positive content and trying to build up the kingdom of God in a world that consistently pushes the negative. If their content or personalities are intolerable, heck, feel free to produce something even better. Maybe you have? If so, please provide a link, I'd be happy to share your faith promoting content with my family. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin - The Virtue of Kindness

I agree. When debates are done well and both sides are well informed, they provide a fascinating breakdown of where the core disagreements lie.

I guess I’m talking about the blessings he could be missing out on if his father doesn’t choose the covenant path. I understand things will be worked out in the eternities. “Those who shall hereafter rule and reign in eternity as exalted beings will form a patriarchal chain which will begin with Father Adam and spread out until every exalted person is linked in. Exaltation consists in the continuation of the family unit in eternity, and every family which so continues will find its proper place in the eternal organizational framework which the Almighty has ordained. None will be forgotten. Unworthy mortal links will be dropped in eternity, for there is no family in which all generations will attain exaltation; later generations of worthy families will be welded into the links formed by their ancestors who became worthy of a like exaltation with them.” (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p.558)

Airplane Movies are called Airplane Movies for a reason. They are "Edited for format and content". You usually see that message flash on the screen before the production company logos roll. There's no set standard for airplane movies. Each airline have their own standards. For example - if you're riding Lufthansa, nudity is not edited out but gore is. If you're riding Cathay Pacific, nudity is edited out but gore isn't. Etc. etc. The Delta announcement is exactly a change to the Delta standards that they're not going to edit out homosexual acts just like they don't edit out heterosexual acts. Before that, Delta edited out homosexual acts in the same manner that they edit out full frontal nudity. Now, hetero and homo sex scenes are treated the same way.

You don't need a government to tell you how to live your life. As a matter of fact, you SHOULDN'T have a government that tells you how to live your life. That's what FATHERs are for. Yeah... because the only way you can be healthy is to have a government dictate that SOMEBODY ELSE PAY for it.

Africa is starving to death not because they have a lot of children. Rather, they have a lot of children BECAUSE they're starving to death. Human instinct is survival - human survival becomes more possible when humans pass on their genetics to the next generation in the hopes that the next generation will survive. China and India are not disasters. It is such an elitist thing for a First Worlder to think China and India are disasters because they haven't achieved the level of monetary wealth that is the measure of happiness in the First World. Japan is not overcrowded. Japanese population is concentrated in the big cities because that's where current industry is. The rest of Japan is sparse. To call this overcrowded is like saying that in the Medieval Era, Rome is overcrowded... well, duh. And Canada is, uhm, better?... than the US? Really? And you have European leaders thinking "we need immigration because we don't have enough population to labor..." Yeah... And to say that the measure of success is... the size of your bathrooms? Yep. Only an elite First Worlder thinks of humanity in such terms.

This is great! I'm David Snell (the guy whose face you were looking at in that Saints Unscripted video about ghosts). So glad that video was there for you when you needed it!

I’ve seen Kwaku debate in the past and it isn’t anything to write home about.

The planet can't stand more of the wrong type of people, maybe. I think the planet can stand several hundred million of my descendants. I hope to be an ancestor of every human on the planet within the next couple of thousand years.

D&D can be one of those if you do it right.

You should join them for a session. Even if it is 5th Edition (most likely) and not the superior 1st or 2nd Edtions. The game is a lot of fun. When people who are unfamiliar ask me what it is like I usually ask if they have read/seen The Hobbit/LOTR. Just about everyone has. I tell them you are playing out the movie, but you get to make the characters up and decide what exactly they do.

My feelings in this regard are my same feelings in regards to Ouija boards. Ouija boards are squares of cardboard mass produced by the Hasbro company, who brought us occult classics like Monopoly and My Little Pony. From where I'm standing, the only thing that legitimately works about an Ouija board, is that people can create their own emotional states by bringing their own conformation bias to the table. They're about as much a "tool of lies" as professional wrestling, a politician's campaign promise, or a scary movie about demons. For that matter, they're about as much a "tool of lies" as dowsing and divination rods that Joseph Smith used to dink around with early on in his life. My own experience with the Ouija board amounts to mainly on trying to bring my adolescent arm into as much physical contact as possible with my friend's older sister as we worked the little plastic message dealie. Her name was Renee. She had on a white turtleneck. 14 was a fun age. (I did "Light as a feather, stiff as a board, rise body rise" too - and it worked! Still doesn't have anything to do with the supernatural.) Yes, evil exists. But its presence and danger is about exactly as present in D&D/Ouija Boards, as they are in random rocks, or a can of paint, or a hammer, or a box of kleenex.

Don't be so sensitive, nothing i wrote was made with the intention of attacking you. You came here to a forum on the internet looking for advice and you got some. Facts do not equal and attack. 1. It's a seasonal job (not a real/fulltime job) 2. She claims that she won't date co-workers (in general a good idea but see #1) 3. My advice is the same as all the others here don't pussyfoot around just ask her out. 4. If you read a personal attack into everything someone says or writes life is going to be very tough for you.

Delete all evidence of this activity and never tell anyone. You have a responsibility to your children that overrides all other considerations. You need to keep your family intact, if possible. The fact is, you did not have any sort of physical relationship. Over time, any guilt you may feel will be wiped away by the fine family you will raise. You will not go to hell by taking my advice That’s total nonsense By raising a great family you will have repented Dont do anything stupid like talking to your bishop. He will likely have you tell your husband, destroying all. Go to an independent counselor if you must talk this out with somebody.

Seem online: “In a fitting final bit of Hispanic cultural appropriation, “Beto” killed his campaign on the Day of the Dead.”

So to summarize... The legislature did not pass the law.. Being pressured to do "Something" rules and regulation are proposed. The church's mental health experts review the proposals... and find a small subset of the rules that are not supported by Science. They point them out and recommend that they be altered or changed to match current scientific understanding. The church is called hateful, and accused of supporting barbaric practices and killing youth. It is really not that hard to see what is really happening here.

afterI have it on good authority that my brother was named after one of the Beatles. My great-great-great-grandmother, Sarah Jane Standley My name, Jane, on the other hand, comes from my great-great-great-grandmother, Sarah Jane. I grew up hearing stories about Sarah Jane from my mom. How she was born in a log cabin and how she cooked for a railroad gang in Idaho and Montana. Her mother, Sarah Ann, had crossed the plains in the Martin Handcart Company and had lost her toes to frostbite. Sarah Jane saw electric lights for the first time on her wedding day in April 1883. She had 11 kids, all in her home. She was friendly and always doing laundry. My grandmother, Patricia My middle name is Patrica. I knew my grandmother, Patricia. She was bright and giggly. She traveled to Africa after graduating from nursing school. Her birthday was on July 3 and, as a kid, she thought the Independence-day fireworks were for her. She wouldn't let my dad buy a rock-and-roll record until he... View the full article

My computer screen on Deseret Book.

It's just a way to make the place better pal.