SanctitasDeo

Fascinating. I gave it a research proposal I wrote last week, and it told me I am male. Apparently, 'the' is a masculine word. Who knew?

I wonder what our mandatory military would look like, though. My impressions from what I learned about Russia's mandatory service was that the non-professional soldiers, though only there to serve out their time, were not nearly as serious or effective. I think the quality of our military would decrease if you took people who do not care or do not want to serve and tried to make them serve like those who do. If we didn't change anything, except the volunteer nature of the service, there would be problems. Perhaps if we gave only those who serviced the vote... I also share the fear that we would have such a large military that we would seek out things to do with it. I don't think we need to police the world, but I think we would even more. I could see a more reserve-style military training around high school or something. In fact, Truman even proposed a similar program while he was president.

I am in a married student ward, so we don't actually have an option. When I was in the Sunday School presidency, we called a friend of mine to teach who'd been married only six months. But then, I guess in that ward we are all in the same boat.

It's a Slavic thing. I mean, maybe other people do, too, but Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Slovakian, etc. will have Ameen. I still say it that way most of the time. Personally, I have no problem with women praying. I don't think that the civil rights protest model is the best way to effect change in the church. I also think they don't know any other way to achieve the results they want. I wonder what would happen if they asked (I wonder how they would go about asking, anyway, since a letter from an individual will just go back to the Stake President). Tradition in the church is a tricky thing.

I did. I spent around that amount of time there, too, mostly in Severny (knocked nearly every dom there) and Center (in the office). I did vaguely wonder about your name a while ago. When were you there?

If you look in the student directory and see your name, you might be able to find out early. Sometimes admitted students are put in there before they get their letters.

Yeah, I'm sorry. I think that the off topic veer started with my post. We can talk about fitness now. So would you recommend the program?

From another angle, I've always thought that the word knowledge in those verses refers to the kind of knowledge mentioned in John 17:3.

That is pretty cool. Does he fly it out of his garage, too?

When I saw the the thread title and the little bit you can see when you hover over the title, I thought this was going to be about you building a jet engine in your garage. I got kind of excited.

It is somewhere between 15 and 25 in Texas. At least if you do it online.

Just remember that you don't have to do anything you don't want to. But also remember that the you of now will invariably be different than the you of now-plus-one-or-two-years. People change. Guys at LDS schools are quite varied. I have friends who as of yet have no desire to get married. Many guys do want to get married. This does not mean that they are marriage-obsessed robots (although some recent RMs come off that way). But it does mean that they will be dating with an eye to marriage. JAG is right. The best way to avoid marriage really is not to date.

I can second CCleaner, Defrag, Malwarebytes, and the other programs mentioned so far. I used all of those at the Church's IT Desk when I worked there. Are the programs that are still showing up full programs? Can you open them? Or are they just icons or folders? CCleaner's uninstall function works pretty well, generally. And of course, if these things don't work, and a reinstall of Windows doesn't help, there are some great Linux versions for older computers

My availability date was sometime in late December. My reporting date was April 9th. So really, it is hard to plan. You really just plan to be okay with anything. The biggest reason for long waits is visas. Since the Church sends missionaries to countries that are less friendly to the United States, sometimes it is hard for American missionaries to get the necessary visas. So if you were to go Russia, Ukraine, Romania/Moldova, Venezuela, etc., you might see something like that.

I have to second this. That would be awesome.

Oh, and you are right, the Bible movies are great.

Well, he might not have called himself Protestant--but I should rephrase. What I meant was: Had Joseph Smith grown up in a Catholic, rather than Protestant, milieu... The Church's cultural inheritance is Protestant, rather than Catholic; there are all kinds of non doctrinal cultural practices that stem from time and place, such as the style of hymn singing in the Church.

This. The Bible thing is a classic Catholic talking point. I believe that many scriptures have validity and may contain truth. I include the Bible, the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, Book of Mormon, etc. I don't care whether the Catholic church or any other particularly endorses it; I find truth where the Holy Spirit guides me. The Bible issue only really works against sola scriptura. Anatess has it right. The LDS church doesn't endorse one Bible. It tends to use the best available copy in whatever language is relevant. Ironically, if Joseph had been Catholic, rather than Protestant, we might have used the Catholic Bible instead. I don't know whether he ever asked the Lord about it, but, clearly, the Lord didn't feel like it was important enough to comment--aside from what livy111us posted above.

It is the soft Rs that get me. I've been working on Russian since my mission at school, and I've had some practice, they are still hard. It is a beautiful language, though. I would love to go back. That is true without a doubt. You've got theology, doctrine, and past and present interpretations of theology and doctrine, then you've got practice and culture, which are also limitless and different depending on area of the world, etc. People are fascinating.

On my mission, I didn't carry my English scriptures at all--just a few Russian Books of Mormon and a Russian Bible. Mine stayed inside my apartment except for zone conference. They are leather (or faux-leather) covered and survived, even in the more humid areas. But if you were going to carry your scriptures--yeah, protecting them is necessary. Having the scriptures I've had for most of my life is great--there really are so many memories.

I served my mission in southwestern Russia. It was awesome. It is a fascinating country, and I love the language. What have you thought of it so far? Russia is interesting religiously because people there seem to be mostly agnostic/Russian Orthodox. Nearly everyone was baptized as an infant, but people tend not to be practicing, although there are plenty who do. Religion is kind considered something you do when you are old, culturally. There are protestants there, and some of the best conversations I had were with them, as well as some of the most odd. Of course, Russia has many religions. I also spoke with Muslims, sun worshipers, and people trying to follow Russian pagan religions that Russian Orthodoxy replaced. Trying to teach people the gospel, and moreso in another language, is difficult, sometimes depressing, and one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. It was hard, but I loved it, and when you see someone's life improve, see someone's happiness, it is all worth it. That is cool that you were at the Portland Temple. That is where I got married. There is a picture of it on the wall above me. It really is beautiful. One of my favorites. I am Mormon because I want to know the Father I knew when I was younger. I was raised in the church, but the experiences I remember best are those when I was praying alone. I talked to God, and I knew he was there. I have tried several different ideas about the way the world works, and the one with which I felt closest to God is Mormonism. I believe its doctrines; they speak to my mind and heart like no other theology I have read. The gospel has made my life richer and given me the chance to see God's hand in many lives.

I am 24. I haven't graduated yet either. I have a year left, and in my field, I will almost certainly need at least a master's. Most of my friends are graduated and have jobs. But you really can't compare yourself to other people that way because there will always be someone who is more successful in some way--better in school, making more money, has a bigger house--it never ends. Joy in life has to come from somewhere other than our weight or socioeconomic class or marital status. I find it in my relationship with Christ. It was a long road for me to figure out what that means and how to let him comfort me--I used to be extremely worried about a ton of things I can't control (I still am, really). But you have to let it go and serve others and look at the amazing world around you that God created and love it. One of my favorite books is Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. It is about his time in Nazi concentration camps and his observations of those who gave up and those who gave even the most pathetic kind of life meaning.

Hey, that is awesome. I am happy for you. And honestly, I don't think you offended anybody. At least, you never offended me. Man, I am sorry. That does sound rough. My best wishes for a peaceful end to this, whatever you decide.

That may be true. It has been a while since I read that study. I was really more interested, though, with what you thought about the rest of what I said.

This tends to be how I think. Christmas is such a mashed-up bunch of traditions from various versions of Christianity, pagan religions, nations, and cultures that I don't know that we can know where exactly stuff came from. Personally, I don't really care that much (although it would be fascinating to know). I will use the traditions I like and that help my family celebrate the condescension of God. I am at my in-laws right now. They do a white elephant thing rather than go through the complications of other systems. My parents don't have a system yet; I am their only married child. My siblings and I have always given each other a combination of homemade and other gifts depending on the year and what we know the others want or need. Mostly, Christmas is a great time to be with family, help people, and think about Christ.