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First and foremost, don't fall into the mistake of thinking this is something that can be fixed. There is nothing broken with your son. I consider what has happened with your son to be a breach of trust. I believe we all experience these breaches at some point, and it can be extremely unsettling (whether it is intended or not). The primary advice I would give your son is to lay out every concern he has about the church and his leaders to you. Give him room to speak and be heard without judgment. When he is done, say nothing more than, 'can I have some time to think about this?' Let your discussions about flawed leaders (and flawed disciples) and the possibilities of mixing up revelation with what-we-really-want for another day. Ultimately, I would guess that there are other concerns that have quietly existed for some time. The first step to helping is listening, understanding, and showing that you still love.

I have to say I hated the trilogy of new Star Wars movies with The Rise of Skywalker movie being one of the biggest disappointments I have ever watched. But The Mandalorian has been surprising to me. I like it a lot. It is a much more simple story, the writing and plot line is very good in my opinion and they stay with the older Star Wars legacy. I was beginning to wonder if the Star Wars billion dollar industry was flushed down the toilet with The Rise of Skywalker movie but I think The Mandalorian is breathing new life into Star Wars in my opinion.

Have faith in the Lord and in your son. A testimony is not truly built or broken on one individual's statement -- even though they certainly can cause mega rough spots and flared tempers. Let time pass and trust the Lord. The Spirit has your son & family in hand. If you want to pray to feel that comfort & strengthen that faith, that is certainly a good idea. I know I've prayed "Master the tempest is raging" many times.

I suspect that the law of entropy applies to social constructs as well, meaning that without some sort of external influence, things will gradually decay and fall apart. When applied to the specific "social construct" of the plan of salvation, that outside influence which prevents it from falling apart could be God, and as He is the one that is keeping it going, it could be described as His plan. Another possibility: How much difference is there really, between certain types of car models produced by different manufacturers? Some of them look almost identical, but you can bet that there are seperate sets of plans behind each model and one is definetely a Honda while the other is a Toyota. As to the idea of this current version of the plan of salvation (version 3Bii) as being something that "just has to be done" I think time and the universe are big enough to allow for the possibility or perhaps even the probability of multiple different outcomes and multiple ways of achieving each outcome. The plan we are operating under is aimed at achieving one particular outcome under one particular path.

I would approach this question from a strictly engineering standpoint from which I have some experience. If we look at the engineering challenge of automating a manufacturing process - I believe it is quite similar to what has happened in the eternities in developing the plan of salvation. We begin by gathering together a council of "experts" and determining what is referred to as "The Requirements Document". The Requirements Document breaks down what is needed and required to accomplish the most efficient and desired results. This may sound quite simple but it is the most important and critical step in the process. If we are manufacturing cars - this document will define how many cars per hour (top, mean and minimal production) as well as long term outputs (yearly). The document will also define the production quantities, qualities and tolerances as well as an initial budget to insure financial feasibility, profitability and sustainability. Once the requirements are determined we move toward the design planning stage. The design document is a step by step process to accomplish the requirements. This is a most interesting process. Many engineers as well as customizers start to add or leave out "things" that will not accomplish the specified requirements (in essence - something else). Often such design changes are based in ego and power of an individual or individuals. BTW - this will always lead to the failure of the project (at one level or another). And so another document is created called the Design document. Usually this document is more verbose than the requirements document. Sadly or strangely this document is considered to be more important than the requirements document - but in all the planning and design - it is the least critical. The final plan document is what is called the Testing Document or Test Scripts. This document looks primarily at the requirement document and itemizes the testing necessary to insure that all the requirements are preciously and exactly met. This document us usually comprised of volumes. It gives exact step by step action and step by step expected results. Each step is signed off and dated by a specific tester that also logs exact items, times individuals and versions of hardware and software utilized in the test and finely the results - including pass or fail to meet the requirements. If there is an non-pass or failure; a determination is made for corrections or if changes will be addressed and made. If we think on this we can find "types and shadows" of thing revealed concerning the counsels of the pre-existence where the foundations of our salvation and eternal exaltation were laid. For example we can understand that some took responsibilities and exercised faith in establishing necessary principles while other went along and how Lucifer would rebel to take advantages for himself at the expense of others. We can also see how our mortal experience was planned out in great detail to insure we are "tested in all things" specific to our individual needs to prepare us for that which we intended for ourselves and those with which we would covenant for our intended eternity. The Traveler

Because of the Mandalorian I have had sooooo many orders for Baby Yoda masks.

I read through The “Book of Mormon Made Harder” by James E Faulconer this last year and I will be buying all the other ones to study along with come follow me. I STRONGLY recommend these books as companions while studying. It does not offer further insight on scriptures or share stories and quotes from church leaders. Rather, it poses questions to challenge the meaning of scriptures and points out sentence structures and order of teachings and then asks questions why they were done in this order. Or it will explain other ways words are used or how they were used when the book was translated and follow up with more questions on the meaning of scripture. Instead of holding your hand through the scripture and telling you what it means. The book challenges perceived meanings and tries to get you expound your understanding. https://www.amazon.com/Book-Mormon-Made-Harder/dp/0842528628/ref=nodl_

The Mandalorian is excellent. My wife and I look forward to watching it together every week after we put the kids to bed; it has that classic trilogy flavor. I keep referring to the little Yoda character as “Grogurt” and it drives my wife crazy. Over Thanksgiving weekend, I introduced my oldest brother to The Mandalorian, and now he’s hooked.

The Mandalorian theme music is also masterful and a delight for me to listen to. The composer Ludwig Göransson wrote it. The music is different from John William's superb music he wrote for Star Wars but on the same level of excellence in my opinion.

#3 was the lie.

Jesus said that when we see Him, we see the Father. In John 11:41 after he raised Lazarus from the dead: " Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I athank thee that thou hast heard me." When He instituted the sacrament he said: " And he took the acup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, bDrink ye all of it; " When he fed the 5,000 he also showed gratitude: " And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given athanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. "

We get a yearly ornament that symbolizes the year. Every year we finish the tree decorating with a year-by-year retelling of our family. This year's ornament:

Dibs on the role of Town Drunk (er, hyper from too much root beer)