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Showing content with the highest reputation on 07/21/21 in Posts

  1. Whether you’re religious, not religious, or kind of religious, I’m convinced this is the purpose of life for all: To learn to love. We start off in life, hopefully, with a good set of parents who give us their unconditional love as an example of how to love others. We progress to love those in our immediate circles be it family, friends, or someone you love for the love they share with you. We have kids of our own and love them as our parents loved us. And from there a few of us advance beyond to love those outside our inner circles who don’t provide us with anything in return other than the sense of joy that can come from service. Regardless of how advanced we are along the path of learning to love, whether we’re still crawling as an infant or at a light jog, we are all learning and hopefully increasing our ability to love step by step. Personally, I feel like I’m barely learning how to walk when it comes to loving others outside my inner circles without expecting anything in return. I have, however, been fortunate enough to cross paths with a few exceptional people in my life that exude love. These people I think of often and hold in high regard as examples I look up to. Being someone who believes in God, I believe our life experiences are designed to allow us to develop empathy for one another and help us advance from a state of self-interest to selflessness. And even if you don’t believe in God, you might agree life has a way of molding us in this regard if we allow it to. Why is mankind prone to limit its love to its own inner circles? We often reserve love for family and friends only, exclusive to our little empires. For one, all of us are in the process of learning to love, and no one in this life, besides Jesus Christ, has ever mastered love. We need to start with the inner circles we have as building blocks preparing us for further advancement. We need to start somewhere and hopefully someday be able to begin walking in the Savior’s footprints He left as an example to us, and embrace a higher way to love. To those who have set a lasting impression on me of this type of love in my own life, thank you for showing me it’s possible. It inspires me to do the same even in my own limited, finite ability. Love is connection we all seek and transcends any one specific culture, religion, or ideology. Mark 22:37-39 “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
    4 points
  2. We murder babies. We. Murder. Babies. What careth our God if we also make the trains run on time?
    3 points
  3. (To clarify, my laugh was a response to your first paragraph; not an attempt to deride your overall point.) I guess my response would be: I’m happy to mourn with those who mourn, until they demand that my mourning include the accommodation of their demands to the detriment of others who may be mourning for a whole other set of reasons. I’ve had my spitting matches with BYU, and frankly I would go so far as to say that some of the most evil people in the Church draw a paycheck from that institution. But I never tried to subject them to a campaign of public humiliation in order to get my way. This lady is just an antivax Kate Kelley.
    2 points
  4. Whenever something unexpected happens, too often people cry out "why?" or "that's not fair!" What I'm sitting here wondering is "What are her alternatives?" The university already suggested she attend another Church School. She said it was her "dream school". I have no idea why BYU-H would be more preferable than BYU-P as far as academics except for particular fields of study -- even then it's almost a wash. When dealing with a private university, as Vort says, they have a right to require this. And she has the right to go to another school if she disagrees with the policy. So, why doesn't she? Why hasn't she looked into the other schools? I read that her scholarships are now "gone". I've never heard of that. Most scholarships are transferable. So, why is that even a factor? How on earth did she even get $200k in scholarships for a school whose tuition is only 1/20th that? Is she planning on attending while living in a 4 star hotel? What's the deal? Why is THAT particular school so important that she's raising this stink? Has anyone even bothered to ask these questions? I haven't read it in my limited exposure to this story. I'd bet Provo would bend over backwards to help her get in to Provo just because of the situation she's in. But she's stuck in this victim mindset so far that she's not even trying to figure this out.
    2 points
  5. This is why I love this verse in the Book of Mormon, (Jacob 2: 17), "Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you." Imagine if everyone on earth truly looked at their brethren like unto themselves and desired -- truly desired -- to know everyone around them. There would be no racism. There would be no hate.
    2 points
  6. I don't know about the "most evil people in the Church" part, but it may well be true. Other than that, I agree wholeheartedly with the above. I dearly hope you are mistaken. I hope she's nothing more than a naive young lady who thinks she's being a heroine. Heaven forbid another precious daughter of God follow Kate Kelley's path.
    1 point
  7. There was also a story in the NYTs today about LDS women and garments. I didn’t read it, I was asked about it by a relative. The church is all over the place in the mainstream media.
    1 point
  8. Cos $200,000.00
    1 point
  9. In the scriptures we read the the number of the faithful will be few. The scriptures then compare the faithful to leaven... where a small amount can lift the whole thing. So when it comes to the rest of the world we have to engage... thus we need to make allies and stuff. The problems we run into is when we forget our role to lift in order to stay allies. I think Trump was a good example of this, many of the faithful thought they should ally with him and his movement. There was nothing wrong with that. However too many thought that being an ally meant we shouldn't be trying to lift including making excuses for poor behavior.
    1 point
  10. If this were the case then introverts like me are doomed to outer darkness. 😃 I don't know if I would say learning to love is the one sole purpose of life. There are things like gaining bodies and learning to master them. But love surely does encompass a great deal of our purpose here including the motivation behind our obedience to all of the commandments so in that respect I think you have a good case to make.
    1 point
  11. When values are mixed up like this, it is no wonder why there are so many efforts to say, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. All's well in Babylon."
    1 point
  12. Off topic-before I joined the church I sort of did feel like the world was doomed and everything was miserable. After I joined I sort of got an infusion of optimism for both myself and the world at large.
    1 point
  13. The day ain't over yet But seriously, folks... I don't believe it's ending in three hours either. But your Vox link doesn't really mean much. Most of those measures aren't as important as you seem to think. The fact that fertility is decreasing is considered a positive? Why? Literacy increasing? Measured how? I'll grant that more people can read. But read well? And what do they read? How many people in first world countries have even opened a classic, much less read it? Senior law students don't even read the Federalist Papers. I could go on. But I'll sum up with: Yes, some things are getting better. Some are not. But the biggest point here is that in both your previous post as this one that I quoted is that you're not taking into account the eternal scheme. How many people are coming to know Christ? How many people are changing their lives because of that fact? How are interpersonal relationships getting better because of how we treat each other? How is the strength of the family in this era? How many people spend their lives in service to others rather than for their own gain? I honestly don't know the answers to these questions. And further I don't know how anyone would be able to gather such statistics. What kind of questions would you even ask? How could we even verify the answers? Maybe strength of the family is something that could at least be close to verifiable. Without really having such data, it sure seems like more and more people are going away from God+family, and more towards their own gain at the cost of others. Think about the pride-prosperity cycle. Did all those Vox numbers really help the Nephites spirituality? No, it hurt it. And I find it interesting what side of that you seem to have come down on. I'm not saying that the world will end in the next year or five years. But to say that the REALLY IMPORTANT things are getting better in this world??? You're entitled to your opinion. But... well... I'm not seeing it.
    1 point
  14. IRL, I'm the entertainment writer for a local family of newspapers. I've had people tell me that they wait to get my review before deciding to see a movie or not. Even if they disagree with my review, they trust that I'm being honest with my opinion. In other words, I - as one person - have the ability to influence what people in three counties see in theaters. Never underestimate how much influence you can have with your friends and neighbors.
    1 point
  15. And that is my point. It’s not the hill that I’m willing to die on because, quite frankly, there are far more important concerns for my family. (Not of COVID vaccines, but of whether my child should go to BYU-H! 😁) To your point: I would say that when confronted with any choice in which a policy exists, for which I refuse to bend, I am left with three options. I can fight, I can leave, or I can adhere. If I am forced into a corner where no other alternative options exist, then I either fight or adhere. All of these options have consequences that I should weigh before making an important decision. So, to circle back again, the question remains as to whether this is the hill someone wants to die on. Because, IMO, getting a vaccine most likely isn’t the real issue for those wanting to make their stand here. Rather, I would assume that they are actually desiring to stand and fight for a deeper issue. (Ie. Removal of liberties, rebelling against social norms, rebelling against religious authority, rebelling against the opposing political party, standing up for religious ideals, simply wanting to bash the church, etc.) But, perhaps it is just that simple for someone. Maybe they have determined that this is the issue of their lifetime. This is the final line in the sand and they absolutely refuse to cross. And there is just no other school that should even be considered except BYU-H. I am certainly not their Master or their Judge. It just seems to me that a re-focusing of priorities might be needed. (That is not to say that I also don’t need to reprioritize the things in my life!)
    1 point
  16. That is sad. I admit that I and my family could do better at studying CFM throughout the week. But we do read from the sections almost every day as a family. And I don't think we need to, or are even asked to do any or all the extra little things in the manual. The intro says we should use the manual for our needs, in any way that is helpful to us. So we need to walk a fine line of encouraging people to do better at studying without overwhelming or discouraging them by asking too much. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/come-follow-me-for-individuals-and-families-doctrine-and-covenants-2021/using?lang=eng I just got called as a gospel doctrine teacher (my first calling since being baptized again!) and I'm hoping that my class will be doing at least some reading. I'll try to figure out the best ways to encourage them to do more. My first lesson went very well last week on section 76
    1 point
  17. The Church and Political Activism. Politics is downstream of culture. The Church's culture is made up of families. We do the most good in society when we spend our time and energy on raising our children to know the word of God, and have faith in and a testimony of The Atonement of Christ. The Book of Mormon as the word of God. The spiritual hospital that is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Sunday School presidency recently went around to families in our ward and asked the following questions: Is your family actually reading the Come Follow Me manual and doing the extra little things that it instructs us to do? Is your family reading and studying the D&C and answering the questions that the manual asks? Is your family reading the Book of Mormon daily? The results were astoundingly awful. Very few even opened CFM. Very few read the assignment. Almost no one was reading the BoM daily (or even close to daily). A reasonable number were reading the scriptures "sometimes" outside of Church. Do we really hope to change the world through political activism if we continue to "treated lightly the things which we have received"?
    1 point
  18. Amen, AMEN! Nowhere is this more apparent, than in comparing new legal immigrants from Africa, to blacks already living in America. Folks coming here from Kenya, for example tend to do almost as well as our Asian immigrant superstars we hear so much about. And yes, they tend to bring their intact families with them.
    1 point
  19. I know its been mentioned before but a perfect example of this is Asian Americans. They had racial hardships including being put in prison camps because they were seen as the enemy during World War 2. Instead of constantly regurgitating the crimes inflicted on them because of the color of their skin, and blaming their circumstances on everyone else.. (Which they have had many and I am sure they can tell us about them) They focused on bettering themselves and their families, and they as a group are hugely successful.
    1 point
  20. And I don't deny racial hardships that Blacks have experienced in this country. I don't think anyone versed in history would argue otherwise. But to say that these individual events are the root cause of why blacks fail en masse in America TODAY simply doesn't look at the facts of history. Why do you think it is that so many black families succeed today? You look at the disproportionate black population in poverty stricken areas. But have you seen just how many blacks succeed in America DESPITE these horrific events of history that you point to? The NUMBER ONE reason why they succeed is a strong family unit. The NUMBER ONE reason they fail is a weak family unit. With the lone exception of some Hollywood types, EVERY demographic will clearly show that Blacks with strong family units will succeed at rates similar to any other race with strong family units. Blacks with weak family units will fail at rates similar to any other race with weak family units. You want to help Black people in America? Stop decrying racism as the culprit, and start requiring stronger families.
    1 point
  21. Again, you can take a single event in history and make it all about that one point. See the attachment. The great black migration.pdf Blacks moving from the South to the North made 3x what they made in the South. White / Black income disparity continued. EVERYone had wages increase (in terms of real dollars - i.e. adjusted for cost of living and inflation) during this period. What people don't take into account is the generational effect of income -- just as they use generational income as a bludgeon to hammer their point home. White people came here with nothing as well. They went through poverty for a couple centuries before the war. Many went off into indentured servitude due to poverty. Parents had to secure servitude for family when they didn't have enough to feed the family. Those who came out of servitude very often ended up begging or dying. Those who survived built wealth across many generations. Gradually increasing. Blacks only started this cycle since the end of the Civil war. They have even better opportunity to build this generational wealth just as whites did. But they lack the family structure to carry this onward to future generations and follow the same path to wealth as 99% of whites did. Asians came to America with nothing. But they had strong family values. Parents worked their tails off at multiple minimum wage jobs to make sure their kids could go to college. They emphasized how important it was to study. Education was the path to success. And guess what, Asians achieve wealth in fewer generations than any other immigrant group. When Blacks suffer from fatherless homes, broken homes, etc. what hope is there for generational growth? If generational growth is not going to happen among Blacks because of broken homes how is it that part of the argument is that whites have generational wealth? Why don't blacks shoot for the same thing instead of wanting everything NOW!? EXAMPLE: Larry Elder His father lived in the Jim Crow South. He moved to a less racist state, California, where they still had "white entrances" and "black entrances" (so much for less racist). He worked his tail off for decades, getting only three hours of sleep a night. He used his skills as a cook to eventually open his own restaurant. He made the sacrifices to make sure his kids went to college. Larry and his brother both went to college (Larry has a Law Degree) and were very successful. They are both very wealthy. Generational sacrifice. Generational wealth. And instead of encouraging these kinds of inspiring stories, they want to extort money on a nationwide scale? All because they don't understand the importance of families. Not so inspiring.
    1 point
  22. A little story and perhaps you have heard it before. There was a young girl the grew up on a chicken farm. At a very young she watched eggs as the new chicks hatched. She saw their struggles trying to break through the egg shells. She thought that they ought to be helped so when she saw them struggling to break out she helped crack the shell making it easier for them. Her father saw his daughter trying to help and came to her. He separated the chicken she had helped and explained that new chicks must endure hardships and develop strength breaking the shell that would assist them to survive their first few days of life. Within a week all the assisted chicks had died. So what is the point? I believe the point is that we assist children in strength now weakness. As powerful, smart and compassionate as G-d is - he does not focus on stopping evil - rather he call his children to the light of Christ. I do not know what Jesus taught the little children when he said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me" but I am quite sure he did not talk about critical race theory. And yet I am quite sure that children of his day faced greater hazards. In my youth, I thought that there were some kids that were much smarter than the rest of us. I was in Jr High when I discovered that the smart kids were not really all that smart except that they had done their homework. For decades our prophets have counselled that we teach our children in our homes. Teach them to read scriptures and pray daily. And this we do in our homes. I would suggest that teaching is not forcing or doing so against their or your own will. I believe that the advice came with a blessing - that through obedience to our covenants and making a place for the spirit in our home - that our children will know the truth. Jesus said that if we follow his "word" we will know the truth and the truth will make us free. As difficult as turbulent as the Latter-days will be (and we are in the Latter-days) - I do not believe we can protect our children by hiding them from evil but rather that we make the light of truth known. The Traveler
    1 point
  23. Based on Munro's famous six-word story And for @SpiritDragon Took a walk and passed your house late last night All the shades were pulled and drawn way down tight From within, the dim light cast two silhouettes on the shade Oh what a lovely couple they made Put his arms around your waist, held you tight Kisses I could almost taste in the night Wondered why I'm not the guy who's silhouette's on the shade I couldn't hide the tears in my eyes Silhouette's (silhouette's) silhouette's (silhouette's) Silhouette's (silhouette's) ty oh, oh oh Silhouette's (silhouette's) silhouette's (silhouette's) Silhouette's (silhouette's) ty oh, oh oh Lost control and rang your bell, I was sore Let me in or else I'll beat down your door When two strangers who have been two silhouettes on the shade Said to my shock "you're on the wrong block" La la la la, la la la Rushed out to your house with wings on my feet Loved you like I'd never loved you my sweet Vowed that you and I would be two silhouettes on the shade All of our days, two silhouettes on the shade Silhouette's (silhouette's) silhouette's (silhouette's) Silhouette's (silhouette's) ty oh, oh oh Silhouette's (silhouette's) silhouette's (silhouette's) Silhouette's (silhouette's) ty oh, oh oh Two silhouettes on the shade ******summary******* Funny Acronym Refers to Self ******end summary*******
    1 point
  24. @mirkwood is a cop dude.
    0 points
  25. You think someone's dream of attending school in Hawaii is because of academics? As for the rest of your post, and a lot of other posts here... it's pretty easy to sit there as an arm chair quarterback in these matters and judge from that throne. I wonder why we aren't more understanding in some of these things. It is natural to defend our institutions I suppose. (Though why people defend BYU is often beyond me. I'm not a fan.) But why don't we lean towards benefit of the doubt. Why aren't we more inclined to mourn with someone who's mourning? I understand of course. I do the exact same thing. I think I'm a bit on the other side of the fence on this one because I really despise the draconian, nonsensical garbage surrounding the "pandemic". I hate this stuff. I'm actually very much on the girl's side in this case, naturally. Which makes me step back and consider when I'm not on someone's side how holier-than-thou judgmental I might be when I'm not on someone's side. Of course I accept the potential that she's an evil person attacking the church in bad faith as a spoiled brat. But for some reason I see a separation of "The Church" and the overbearing bureaucratic institution that these colleges are, despite the fact that they're owned by "The Church". On the other hand, were I in a similar situation, whereas my inclination may be to go public and stick it to them as hard as possible in the same way, the fact that they're church owned would probably make me forbear. But I'd secretly feel that was even MORE unfair, like I was being manipulated into being bullied by the bureaucracy of it all because it was "church" owned. It's one of the reasons I've always turned down opportunities to work for the church. Everyone has times they hate their job and their boss. When you work for the church that means..... well, you know. You get a jerk for a supervisor and suddenly you're manipulated into... I digress. Anyhow, either way -- despite the fact that I see this particular issue in a slightly different manner than those here who I might normally agree with (although I admit that my feelings are probably wrong) -- I do wonder why we tend to arm-chair judge these things so easily. I apologize if this post also sounds judgey. I just thought it would be interesting to consider since I'm seeing things differently here, so forgive me if I came across too harsh or something.
    0 points
  26. mordorbund

    Fenetiks

    but... but.... does this give new meaning to <3 ?
    0 points