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So, 2 weekends ago, I went with a friend to Cosco so he can claim his $1,500 cash reward for using his Cosco credit card. This card has a 2% cash reward on all purchases and is interest-free for a month and then charges 18% on the balance. Now, for the math geniuses out there... 1,500 is 2% of a huge number ($75,000). More than most people make in a year. So how did he manage to get $1,500 cash reward? Well, quite genius actually, with a dash of a slight bit of elbow grease... his job requires him to travel a lot. The company pays for everything - airfare, hotel, food, cab, etc. The company offered him the option of either 1.) Taking a company credit card for convenience and then the company will go through the statement and bill him for things he charges on the card that is not company approved, or 2.) He charges everything on his credit card then fill out an expense form for reimbursement. He realized that his company is very consistent on reimbursing his expenses within 1 week of him filing his expense form. Option 1 is what everybody does because the company does all the work, you just swipe swipe swipe. But my friend opted for the extra elbow grease of being meticulous about filling out expense forms and submitting them on time. And so he got a Cosco credit card with a ridiculous interest rate but has the biggest cash reward he can find with a long enough grace period. He charges everything on that card and pays it back before the grace period is up... and katching... cash back reward for him to keep.

The story BYUHCO is now giving is that they were telling callers all along that a) no, they didn’t have a specific rule against gay dating; but b) that it’s still wrong and students shouldn’t do it. https://universe.byu.edu/2020/03/10/needs-edits-from-print-and-caption-impacts-of-byu-honor-code-changes-still-emerging/ Do I believe them? Frankly, no. But Brau, as a grownup Mormon who is paid for the quality of his ostensible brainpower, still should have known better than to go as far as he did, which was to suggest that gay affection was not only permissible but morally right. Moreover, his suggestion/threat that BYU students who expressly and publicly defended the status quo ante/Family Proclamation on-campus were now themselves potentially ripe for HCO discipline; was positively goonish—but nonetheless a useful object lesson and warning. These people love libertinism, but they do not love any kind of liberty that fails to serve libido. I’ll say it more plainly. They hate liberty. Hate it. Jimmy Brau is now whining about supposed threats to his safety, being made by the alt-right. I have no idea whether his claims are true, or just more politicized lies in the vein of the politicized lies he has already told. I certainly don’t advocate any abridgment of his human or constitutional rights. But he is, quite bluntly, a petty Stalinist who needs to be fired. He’d do the same to you.

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/gatherings-worldwide-temporarily-suspended

https://reason.com/2020/03/11/washington-governors-emergency-order-banning-gatherings-of-250-people/ Utah just did something similar today with gatherings of over 100 people, though I’m not sure whether it’s binding or merely advisory. I’m sure we’ll be hearing from the Church leadership soon.

Does this qualify as apostasy? I would say that he likes and supports aspects of the great and spacious building, the whore of all the earth. There are aspects of truth that offend him. If he continues on this path, yes, this is a path that definitely could lead to apostasy. One of my brother's was on this path a long time ago, and now he has decided he no longer has a testimony or belief in the Church. Yes, a voice of warning, if unchecked this ideology leads to apostasy. Does it make you uncomfortable? Yes. He took paid time from a course where he had a captivated audience to preach his will, his ideology. He is justifying and rationalizing concepts in order to feel better about his position. If I were in his class I would have been uncomfortable as he was taking class time (I am not paying college tuition, nor the Church tithing) to preach his philosophy. Law of Chasity? I am still shocked that any member of the Church is not able to understand the difference between heterosexuals romantically holding hands and homosexuals romantically holding hands. His idea of "Law of Chastity" was "sex." The law of chastity isn't just "sex." Yes, homosexuals to a small degree are breaking the law of chastity if they are kissing or holding hands. The Church's clarification shouldn't have needed to be made to a righteous generation. A righteous generation would understand. The Church's clarification is due to a wicked generation growing stronger in their desire for their truth (like Satan) to be heard and accepted. @NeedleinA > The Spirit. No. Anytime someone preaches their own ideology the Spirit will not testify of it. However, the notion of being respectful (that is a truth) which the Spirit will bear witness of, and there is a difference between being respectful and maintaining integrity with regards to covenants and the first great commandment (and second), and not maintaining integrity (in that thing) regarding perversions of the law of chastity and preaching contrary to the will of God (as covenanted members).

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/coronavirus-update-february-27-2020 Missionary Work All missionaries, regardless of where they are serving, have been reminded to follow basic preventative health practices to avoid illness. It is important to note that young missionaries are not generally considered to be at risk for serious complications from the coronavirus. Missionaries who remain in those countries where COVID-19 is of particular concern will take precautions to stay healthy, including staying in their apartments as much as possible, avoiding personal interaction with other people and teaching through phone calls or other technology. Mission Presidents are communicating with families to let them know of these precautions and keep them updated on local circumstances. The Church is taking steps to reduce the number of missionaries in areas where the virus is of particular concern. These steps will give mission presidents more flexibility to ensure missionaries are effective and safe and that there is adequate space to house missionaries if they are moved out of cities where there are greater concerns about infection. These steps apply to the following missions: Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission Italy Milan Mission Japan Fukuoka Mission Japan Kobe Mission Japan Nagoya Mission Japan Sapporo Mission Japan Tokyo North Mission Japan Tokyo South Mission Korea Busan Mission Korea Seoul Mission Korea Seoul South Mission Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission Singapore Mission Thailand Bangkok Mission Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand: All prospective missionaries preparing to serve in these missions or who come from those countries will either postpone their start date or receive a temporary assignment. Additionally, all missionaries serving in these missions who were nearing the end of their service have returned home early. All senior missionaries and any young missionaries with chronic health problems have also returned home or haven been temporarily reassigned to a mission in their home countries. Some senior missionaries will continue to support the mission remotely. Japan: All missionaries preparing to serve in Japan will either postpone their start date or receive new temporary assignments. Korea: All missionaries who are not native to Korea have left that country and returned home before departing for new temporary assignments in their home countries. This is in addition to those missionaries who were nearing the end of their service and those who had chronic health problems, who had already returned home early. All missionaries leaving the country had already been in self-isolation for some time and had avoided contact with others outside their apartments. Prospective missionaries preparing to serve in Korea or who come from that country will either postpone their start date or receive a temporary assignment. Mongolia: All missionaries who are not native to Mongolia have been temporarily transferred from that country. Those who are nearing their scheduled release date have returned home early, while the rest have received new temporary assignments. Each missionary who returns home will be asked to self-isolate for 14 days following instructions from the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Legally and perhaps physically, he's an adult. Emotionally, not so much. Spiritually, not. It's good to recognize and defer to your children's agency. It's also good to recognize and defer to their adulthood. But you're the father, and as such, you have patriarchal responsibility toward your son. Don't be overly put off by his legal adult status. Sometimes even adult children need to be told, lovingly and kindly, which end is up.

This is the difficult part for me, though I try. I believe I'm getting better and growing as a result.

Does the length of time between when Joseph Smith was first taught the principle of plural marriage, and the date when he actually started practising it, his hesitancy to start practicing it, and the encouragement he needed from the angel suggest that this was an occasion when the Lord revealed a truth before His children were ready to accept and practice it?

I'm glad we can still partake of the Sacrament at home since I hold the priesthood but this makes me sad. I look forward to church every week https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/gatherings-worldwide-temporarily-suspended

So now it is Family Centered, Church Suspended worship.

In addition to Vort’s excellent Father response here, I, as a Mother, would go and figure out the Why of things so I can correct it. A child I raised from infanthood in the traditions of church-going doesn’t just turn 14 and decide, “I’m done with that tradition and you can’t make me!” without a reason. With my kids, I can see the way they walk as I pick them up from school that something happened from the time I dropped them off to the time I picked them up. So usually, they get in the car, I give them the inquring eyebrow and out comes the story so it’s not as challenging to guide them to the proper way to handle the crisis. I don’t know how it was with your kids and their mother and how it was in the 4 years after she was gone and how it has shaped your children. You’re going to have to push up your sleeves and do some detective work. I say talk to grandma...

Houses were quarantined in the Spanish Flu epidemic. I imagine that the legal authority for this kind of thing is well-established, although I agree it’s very dangerous authority that could be easily misused. Yeah, though the Utah thing just came out today. Our school district is still open, but tomorrow will be a minimum day to train teachers for potential online teaching.

Leather thongs have worked well for me. Seriously, though, I'm not sure what you're asking. How do you make a child do anything? You simply say, "We're doing this here thing," and then you do it. It's time to go to Church, so you get everyone dressed and go. If your 14-year-old utterly refuses to attend Church, then of course you have a problem. She's not a toddler that you can pick up and carry with you. But as a parent, you have lots of options, both sticks and carrots. In general, when a child refuses to abide by the rules of the house (i.e. the parents), then the child loses privileges. When a child is obedient, then the child gains privileges. Pretty much Parenting 101.

My vote is that, yes, minor children are required to attend Church with their parent(s).

I do not disagree. I am simply giving the Democrap line as honestly as I can.

Another: Do you feel the Spirit testify to you of the truthfulness of his (the professor's) words?

@Moonbeast32 You are not missing the point. That you do so much, and yet consider it as passing time, happenstance, or just what you do, makes your spiritual discipline that much more remarkable. I suspect that you have captured the point so well you are not even conscious of it. It's not supposed to be hard. That's the gist of this string. Once the learning of a Christian practice transitions to knowing and doing, it should be life-enhancing. It ought not make us exhausted and depleted. It's still not always easy, but it is empowering. You seem to have captured that so well it's not something you have to dwell on. Kudos.

Maybe it just bounced back into Seattle?

I do not think worship, service, prayer and study should be “hard” in the sense it is a slog but it can often be demanding. Corporate worship, prayer and service within the Church are essential. I think a small weekly study group is vital too. It is a time to really bound with fellow Saints and explore your faith in a very safe environment. You make close friendships here which are different from any other. Also, I spend time in private prayer and study. I had not really counted the hours but it must be over ten each week even if it is not fifteen. I find the blessingS that come from this and the inner peace is created far outweighs the effort involved. There may be times when my immediate instinct is to roll over and have and extra three quarters of an hour in bed or I do not feel like spending an evening with our small group after a long working day. However, once I start any reticence I had about starting goes immediately. If I do miss out on private prayer and study I feel the lack of it throughout the day. If it was simply hard, it would be a relief not to do it. By not doing it I miss the many blessings that flow from it. So for me it is not hard it is an essential part of my week which I could not do without. As corporate worship is likely to be suspended because of the virus I think many of us will experience how much we miss our Church and those who attend it.

What exactly do you count as church activity, @prisonchaplain? I spend a great deal of my time listening to old talks from past general conferences. That being said, I do not consider listening to these talks to be considered a dedicated study. I just do it to pass time Besides that, I study the Book of Mormon about 1/2 hour every day, with the occasional additional study amounting to about 1 hour per week. There is of course church, including coming early and intermingling afterwards , totalling near 3 hours. After church, I usually get together with a group of friends for 2 hoursto study and discuss next week's reading for the Come Follow Me program. With all that listed, it's time to answer your question. This question isn't specific enough. Despite all the activities I've listed, Ive still gotten no closer to being the ideal sort of member of the Church of Christ I want to be. Why? Because engaging in this amount of time isn't meant to accomplish that end. I suspect that 80% of the time, I'm missing the point as to why I'm doing them. To abstractify my thoughts, Worship smart, then hard.

Swiped from another forum: Update: CDC has slightly modified the risk assessment. It now reads that "there is not widespread circulation in most communities in the United States." However, CDC has still not declared COVID-19 a "pandemic," unlike the WHO. "Mitigation strategies" have been released for Santa Clara, CA and Seattle, WA. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html "Risk Assessment Outbreaks of novel virus infections among people are always of public health concern. The risk to the general public from these outbreaks depends on characteristics of the virus, including how well it spreads between people; the severity of resulting illness; and the medical or other measures available to control the impact of the virus (for example, vaccines or medications that can treat the illness). That this disease has caused severe illness, including illness resulting in death is concerning, especially since it has also shown sustained person-to-person spread in several places. These factors meet two of the criteria of a pandemic.As community spread is detected in more and more countries, the world moves closer toward meeting the third criteria, worldwide spread of the new virus. It is important to note that current circumstances suggest it is likely that this virus will cause a pandemic. This is a rapidly evolving situation and CDC’s risk assessment will be updated as needed. Current risk assessment: For the majority of people, the immediate risk of being exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19 is thought to be low. There is not widespread circulation in most communities in the United States. People in places where ongoing community spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 has been reported are at elevated risk of exposure, with increase in risk dependent on the location. Healthcare workers caring for patients with COVID-19 are at elevated risk of exposure. Close contacts of persons with COVID-19 also are at elevated risk of exposure. Travelers returning from affected international locations where community spread is occurring also are at elevated risk of exposure, with increase in risk dependent on location. CDC has developed guidance to help in the risk assessment and management of people with potential exposures to COVID-19." https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/summary.html#risk-assessment

I had my own COVID 19 scare about half an hour ago. After travelling in some Asian countries for about 2 1/2 weeks, I got back home last Thursday, several days into a persistent cough. I got myself tested on Monday afternoon and got my all clear results yesterday afternoon, after approximately 48 hours of self isolation. About 40 minutes ago I read a news report that the first case of the virus has been detected in the area I live, and that the person with the virus had been tested at the same clinic, on the same day, that I was tested. That kind of worried me because I'd spent more than 3 hours in a small room with several other people who were also waiting to be tested. I called the hotline and they assured me I'm ok, so I'll stop worrying about it for now.

We had a Sunday School presidency this evening. Most of the discussion revolved around making technical arrangements for doing classes via teleconferencing, should the need arise; and looking into ways to train teachers to use the tech in a pedagogically effective way.

If any of the sermons you gave (I look forward to more of your videos!) is any indication, I can surely feel it touch my life. And I’m only hearing it over the internet. How much more for those sitting on the pews. A message delivered with such love brings one to live what the Spirit confirms in our hearts even as we’re not ultimately conscious of it.

Nephi in Helaman 10 seems to have learned the principle of "unwearyingness" (v. 4-5). I take this to be a combination of spiritual effort in godly endeavors and the Lord's grace. I think sometimes physical and emotional strain can, with the help of the devil, get misinterpreted as spiritual exhaustion or get leveraged to undermine faith. As we practice charity and see God's children and the world we live in with spiritual eyes, we can be disciples even when we are otherwise weary or burdened with our mortal weaknesses, and take a rest (following the Lord's example). This rest is recreational or restorative physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. but not spiritually since as we fall asleep, or whatever we do, we consecrate it unto the Lord (2 Nephi 32:9)... when we remember!

When all is said and done, for me, the main game is my own salvation and that will happen as i become the sort of person that God wants me to be. That drives a lot of why i do what i do. I'm doing it primarily for my benefit and self-interest, not God's, with the knowledge that He is still very interested.

Life-saving stuff right there! Jesus promised we'd save our lives if we would just give them up.

I don't know who Joel Osteen is—my brain wants to make bad associations with televangelists and other Christemporoi—but I agree with his wife. We "bless" God in the sense that we bring him joy when we accept the salvation and exaltation he so freely gives to those who desire it. We "make him proud", as it were. But other than that, the flow of blessings is pretty much unidirectional. Everything we do redounds to our exaltation or condemnation. God in his being remains wholly unaffected by our decisions. So does that mean we worship God in order to gain blessings to ourselves? Well...yes, in an important sense, it means exactly that. But as we serve God and follow his Christ, we begin to lose ourselves, which means we begin to lose interest in ourselves as far as satisfying our own carnal cravings goes. We think of others. We work for their benefit. And in doing so, we find our own salvation at the hand of God.

That is beautiful, @anatess2. Thank you. I wonder if sometimes I worry so much about the practical part--performing well afterwards--that I fail to give myself over to what the Spirit wants to do in the midst of devotion time--or even when in worship with the congregation? Maybe I'm not alone?

We have an LDS version of this - Sabbath was made for Man and not Man for the Sabbath. The answers to your questions are Yes Yes and Yes. I used to be the Primary Singing Time teacher. My calling was not to teach children how to sing. My calling was teaching the Gospel to children. Being a descendant of Alzheimer's patients on both sides of my family, I am reminded that music stays in one's memory for a longer time. My grandma could barely remember her children's names and even remember what year it currently is... but she can still sing the words in a lot of hymns. In addition, music evokes emotions. It's a primal way of expressing deep feelings that words sometimes can't express completely. The majesty of singing The Spirit of God expresses my love of God much more fully than my prayers sometimes can. Master the Tempest is Raging expresses my need for Divine comfort more fully than my prayers sometimes can. Welcome Sabbath Morning brings about a reverence that lasts throughout a meeting, etc. etc. I also posit that Prayer is the way we align our Will to the Father's. A prayer humbly offered and answered indicates our Will aligned with the Father's Will for us. A prayer humbly offered and not answered indicates God's Will and God's Time and God's Purpose is not where we desired it to be. We read Scriptures because the purpose of life is to Love and Love means to bring ourselves and others closer to Christ. Pondering Scriptures reveals to us where Christ is so we can bring ourselves and others closer to Him. None of this bears any effect if our devotion ends the minute we finish a prayer, sung a hymn, close the Scriptures, go home from Sunday meetings, etc. These things we bring with us into our daily Christian living.

I don't look at it as "dedicating X hours a week to church and personal devotions". I look at it as 24/7 Christian Living. I don't like the idea of being devoted only while praying or reading the Bible or attending services or church functions, etc. That makes it seem like grocery shopping, soccer, work, etc. are not devotions. Reading the Bible is well and good. But reading the Bible is only preparation and study for living it.

This is my favorite one so far. I love her positivity and turning her tragedy into service for others. I also love her message in the end there.

I blame Bush. No, wait, I mean Trump.

@Moonbeast32 and @Vort, let me help you. You get to count listening to past conferences. My wife loves to listen to Pastor Jim Cymbala (Brooklyn Tabernacle) on podcast. She often admonishes me to do so. Sometimes I do. It may be enjoyable, but not relaxing...not brain candy. So, good on you for attending to the spoken word.

Ah. "Corporate" in the sense of corpus, corporis (Latin for "body"). I guess that makes pretty good sense. But I still hate the term. I won't be adopting it any time soon. Sorry.

This is the HEAVIEST card around! Won't all your friends be jealous when you drag THIS monster out! Hurry and get yours TODAY! Sheez. I should have been in marketing.

You can be a white guy and still play the Black Card!

@MormonGator can tell you that if it was truly "the Black Card" it would just have the company logo and would forgo the title. Same rule applies for the the White Card, though that was done by a different group.

With the mad dash for toilet paper, I came up with a plan to buy up all of some random product in my home town and hopeful it will start a mad dash for another weird non-disease related product. I am debating between drain-o or “I can’t believe it’s not butter” like products.

My dad pointed out you can replace the line “come on Eileen” in the song by Dexy Midnight Runners with “Covid-19”... so there’s that. Does that count as my story?

A dollar bill weighs a gram, so a literal ton of money would be 1000 kg = 1,000,000 grams = $1 million. If you're using larger denominations, this could be a lot more. If you are using pennies, which can weigh as much as 3.11 g each, then your losses might be no more than 1,000,000*$0.01/3.11 = $3,215.43—assuming you're using a metric ton. If you meant a regular short ton, your losses might even be below $3000. Here's to hoping you were measuring in pennyweight.

Heh, that's on me. I set up my computer with Spain settings so I could investigate a number formatting issue. I forgot I did that but the Web site didn't.