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Well, in a way the honor code is now potentially against the law if people are "married". The school cannot be forced to perform gay marriages. And it can't have tax breaks or other government benefits removed because of their views. But it isn't protected from law suits. Say, for example, a gay married person applies to BYU and gets rejected based on the honor code. The law doesn't allow for the Federal government to remove any benefits to the school, but it doesn't prohibit law suits forcing the school to accept legally recognized marriage as equal in all regards. I mean this is one of a myriad of examples one could come up with. It was off the top of my head, so it may not be perfect. But, you know, if people can sue and think there's a shot at a payout...you know they will. And when it comes to sticking it to religious people, the motivation is even higher. I could be entirely wrong. I hope I am. But.....???

I speak of hope in Christ not as wishful thinking. Instead, I speak of hope as an expectation that will be realized. Such hope is essential to overcoming adversity, fostering spiritual resilience and strength, and coming to know that we are loved by our Eternal Father and that we are His children, who belong to His family. When we have hope in Christ, we come to know that as we need to make and keep sacred covenants, our fondest desires and dreams can be fulfilled through Him. M. Russell Ballard, Hope in Christ The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. Joel 3:16-17

I suspect this was as much for his own comfort as for yours. Many people are uneasy being singled out. I have no insights into your first bishop and no wish to cast judgment on him. As a general rule, though, I am sorry to see the precipitous decline in formality in our society. No doubt such formality has been used for centuries--millenia--to divide people into classes so they can be treated accordingly. I'm not at all sorry to see that go away. Except I don't see it going away; on the contrary, it seems to me that people are much more socially stratified than when I was a child. The informality seems not to affect that at all. It just gives people license to act uncivilly and take less care for the experience of others. This is an example of the larger phenomenon of the decline of good manners. My daughter-in-law teaches my granddaughters to write thank-you notes for gifts they receive. I wish my own children had had a father who had taught them such, but I'm glad that at least some of my descendents of the next generation will be better bred.

With our current conservative Supreme Court it makes me wonder how far they would want to push the issue in a court of law. Right now they can hang their hat on having "done something" but if they start filing law suits they will be taking the chance of the Supreme Court striking down provisions in the law as unconstitutional. Then what could they run on in the next election?

It's really a question of how a court interprets "in celebration of".

I don't disagree, and thus we will see how this section affects this type of scenario.

"Bishop" is an office in the Aaronic Priesthood. Strictly speaking, once ordained to the office of bishop, always a bishop (in the same way of once an elder, always an elder). This is not strictly the same as being set apart as the bishop in a ward. When set apart to that calling, keys are given that are necessary for the administration of the ward. When released, the individual will no longer hold the keys of the calling, but will still retain the office of bishop. My understanding is that some people continue to refer to released bishops as "Bishop So-and-so" on the understanding that this is appropriate given that they still hold the office of bishop. I don't follow this custom myself; my interpretation is that, once released, holding the office of bishop is irrelevant given their ordination to the office of high priest. But I might not be the best example. I have developed the practice of referring to my bishops by their first name in settings that are not strictly formal. I began doing so after one of the bishops I worked with commented that he felt like his individuality had been consumed by the calling. He was always "Bishop," as if that were his name, even in the most informal settings. He missed just being Jim. All of my bishops since then have expressed appreciation for being recognized this way.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 35:10 All of this eager looking forward is much of the fun—and a good part of the meaning—of Christmas. During this special season, in some small and symbolic way, we reenact the hopeful anticipation of that first Christmas night. For what happened on that night had been anticipated not for weeks or months but for centuries—even since the beginning. “The hopes and fears of all the years” were met in Bethlehem that night.... When Jesus was born, so were hope and light and life—not just for an oppressed nation in the ancient world but for us today. This old world can seem dark and lonely, and the way forward can seem impossible at times. But Christmas is an invitation to hope—to look forward, to think of the joy and possibility before us, to ponder the miraculous birth of the Christ child and its significance in our lives. This is why we look forward to Christmas. It’s more than a holiday; it’s the “reason [for] the hope that is in [us].” Music and the Spoken Word; November 28, 2021

From a talk I recently gave. I address the Law of Consecration, quoting directly from the church website. People really have a poor understanding of what the LOC is and is not. There are some members who believe when hard times arrive we will all pool our food and everyone will have enough. They somehow believe that a miracle like the fishes and loaves will occur for them, or they think the Law of Consecration will take care of everyone. Let me read to you Doctrine and Covenants, section 130: verses 20-21: 20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— 21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. If we fail to obey a principle of the gospel, we cannot receive the blessings for another’s faithfulness. Faith without works is dead. If you do not have the faith to follow the consistent counsel from the prophets and apostles to put up some food storage and other essentials for your family, how can you believe you will have faith equal to the fishes and loaves miracle? For those who smugly think that the Law of Consecration will protect them, allow me to point out certain principles associated with the doctrine. Under the Law of Consecration all things are deeded to the church. The agent bishop than returns a stewardship back to you based on your needs and circumstances. That stewardship becomes private property for the steward and his family. It is not communal property. If there is a surplus from that stewardship, it would then go to the bishop’s storehouse to care for the poor and needy. To be clear, under this law, a year supply of food for one family, is not a year supply for everyone else to tap into. If there was any surplus, it would be available through the bishop’s storehouse.

The account of the first Christmas in the Book of Mormon helps us to learn and more fully understand that Jesus Christ is the “light which shineth in darkness” (see D&C 10:57–61). In every season of our lives, in all of the circumstances we may encounter, and in each challenge we may face, Jesus Christ is the light that dispels fear, provides assurance and direction, and engenders enduring peace and joy. David A. Bednar, The Light and the Life of the World Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God. Ether 12:4

This cannot be true, for homosexuals have agreed in affirming that life itself simply is not worth living if homosexuals cannot exercise their passions. To be slightly more serious, I am bothered no end by the blatant dishonesty displayed (primarily by the Left, but truth be told, by people on both sides) in adhering closely and with anal retentive insistence on the picky specific definition of words, until that definition doesn't support their view--at which point they move the goalposts and then remark to their opponents, "My, aren't you anal retentive in your insistence?"

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien As to be hated needs but to be seen; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace. Alexander Pope This is why as John Adams stated: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

They said the same thing about Abortion. I would support limited Abortion (not the free range it had become, but more of a medical doctor's provision to use as a tool as needed for the health of the mother...etc) far more than the Gay Marriage push and Transgender indoctrination on young children that we have today. I would have thought that the righteous in the nation would have fought far harder and quicker against that attack against our children than they have, instead they choose to go after abortion in it's totality. I believe in America and that it is a Republic built on freedom. It is a nation where no one religion is the law, and where religion and government are separated. Thus, one can have the beliefs they want without fear of persecution. Because of this... I support the idea that those who believe in a manner can act in that manner as long as it does not harm others. If one wants to practice polyandry and it does not hurt others in that relationship, I do not think they should be persecuted. I felt the same way towards those that wanted to have homosexual relationships. However, when they started pushing indoctrination into children's films and such (and just recently Disney just released a children's film with a main factor of it being a child/teen/young adult pursuing a Gay relationship from what I understand) that IS NOT OKAY by me. This is how you turn those who would support your freedoms to be those who are against allowing you to keep doing these things.

Yeah, I thought that was awfully convenient for him to claim. But the woke crowd already destroyed any chance of denying the claim since it is all supposed to be a personal declaration and no other proof is valid. A woman is a person who identifies as a woman is a person who identifies as a woman is a...

Good friend of mine from childhood wound up gay, and he posted that article on his Facebook with a diatribe basically blaming the “don’t say gay” bills and the “groomer” panic. I’m still debating whether to push back on it. Will probably give it a few days to see if this story of the shooter being non-binary pans out . . .

I've never had a problem with the Book of Mormon's writing style until I started recently reading nightly scriptures to my 5-year-old. One might ask, why would you read something so difficult to understand to a 5-year-old? Well...for the same reason my mother read it to us. So when we're older the language doesn't seem or feel hard or strange. Every time I read "And it came to pass..." now my child pipes up, "that means, 'It happened!'". And she's just naturally starting to understand what "thou/thee" means, etc. And I have to explain what I'm reading as I go a lot, and find that in some verses...well, a lot of verses...I have to explain every other word. The language is not common or plain, despite Nephi's proclamation that he's speaking plainly. (Obviously what he means by speaking plainly is a subjective idea. And he is, indeed, speaking plainly....relatively.) Anyhow, my point is, I've never given much thought to the difficulty of understanding The Book of Mormon (other than the Isaiah parts, that I still struggle with), until I started reading it to a 5-year-old. 😆

You know those rubber gloves you get at the pharmacy? The ones everyone thinks are to keep the filth on your hands from getting all over the sick person / wound / bandaging / etc.? Well, if you wash your hands roughly once per day, your hands will have less bacteria on them than those gloves fresh out of the box. (Scientific fact, proven in the lab, by the person sitting 2 cubicles away from me.) Those gloves are only good for keeping icky stuff off your hands.

@zil needs to give you some pointers on wordsmithing.

What is the Church policy on annulment? I'm fairly certain the legal process doesn't void a sealing, and as such would entail the same difficulties as a divorce in that respect. The number of divorces I've seen where one or the other (or in one case both) had been cheating more or less continuously since the engagement or earlier is downright disgusting. I've also talked to a number of divorcees who found out shortly after the marriage that their spouse had been concealing one or more significant addictions, including one woman who found out while trying to renew her car insurance that her new husband had 3 DUIs, with the most recent being just a few weeks before he proposed. I know one who, upon learning substantially more about the Church, realized that his girlfriend wasn't living up to anything near Church standards, and expected him to BS his way through a TR interview after a year of being coached by her on how to "act Mormon" in public. How the missionaries, bishop, etc. hadn't gotten enough information through to him for him to spot that before baptism, (kid honestly thought LDS belief was that we shouldn't be seen drinking or smoking weed) I don't know, except that I suspect with the relatively low baptism numbers here, they just got a little too eager to dunk everybody they could as quickly as they could. He hasn't become hostile to the Church, but he is openly hostile to the hypocrisy of certain groups of people within it. (And really, after going to a Conference watching party where the hosts were spiking people's drinks with vodka, I can't blame him for that.)