unixknight

I used to do that, too.  I was running a 2nd Edition campaign until the 5th Edition rules came out and I gotta tell ya, they're pretty good.  Feels like a true successor to AD&D in a way that 3rd and 4th never even came close to.

Kinda disappointing how derisive this discussion has been.  Not everybody thinks the same way.  Why is that a bad thing?
 
The crux of the tax = theft argument is the idea that because the Constitution doesn't impose taxes, any effort by the Government to collect taxes is unconstitutional and therefore illegal.  Of course that gets into the debate over how literally to interpret the Constitution, but that's another discussion.
 
Now, I think we mostly agree that unnecessary taxation is a problem.  To the extent that the Government is inefficient, wasteful, corrupt, then taxes go up when they shouldn't.  Whether that's theft or simply corruption is a matter of opinion, but I'm not prepared to cast aspersions on someone for calling it theft if that's how they feel about it.
 
Europeans are frequently coming from a very different perspective than Americans, and it isn't just about taxation.  Guns, cars, the level of media censorship, etc.  All different points of view, and that's okay.    From a European perspective, it may very well be that Americans who resent high taxes seem silly, since most European countries impose much higher tax rates on their people than the U.S. does.  
 
Personally, I think a Government that's too comfortable going back to the well of taxation to take more and more money from the citizenry is a Government that's in need of some serious trimming.  I feel the same way about a Government that is constantly having to borrow more and more money.  But that too is another discussion.

It's a matter of judgement.
 
I remember a couple of years ago where a person posted that he was terrified that his new fiancee' might break up with him and that he'd be in hot water with the Bishop because he pleasured himself once in the shower.  And man, this guy came across as beside himself with stress and fear over it.  I don't know what part of that broke my heart more:  the fact that his discernment was in such a state of atrophy that he couldn't see that in a reasonable perspective, or the chance that his fiancee' might actually freak out about it so badly that she'd break off the engagement.  (I hope he was just being paranoid, but sheesh some people are so uptight his fears could have been justified.)
 
Guys... seriously... We're given discernment.  We're  given a library of scripture and a direct line to Heavenly Father through prayer and personal revelation.  We have a huge number of great and wonderful tools at our disposal and it seems like too often people want to just dump it on the Bishop 'cause he's got a cool title and runs things and if he says we're good then we must be.
 
I agree that  this would be a waste of the Bishop's time.  This is a chance to flex your own discernment muscles.  Pray about it, meditate about it, and unless it becomes a habit, let go of it and let your spirit grow.  Guilt is the single most effective weapon Satan can wield against us, and litigious thinking only makes it more powerful.

Haven't posted here in years, so for all intents and purposes it's like I'm new.
 
My family's been inactive for a long time, and we started going to church again as of last Sunday.  There had been a few things holding me back, but I've finally gotten over enough of them to get a clear path to returning.
 
One of those things is that I simply refuse to become one of those cookie cutter guys that fill EQ meetings.  I just won't do it.  I'm boisterous, opinionated, have a somewhat unrefined sense of humor, I like wargames, I have a tattoo on my right arm (Placed there by a Quaker friend of mine.  Just how many times in history has a Quaker put ink on a Mormon, do you think?  I bet we were the first.)  My car has lots of bumper stickers including the Superman shield, the Inquisition logo from Warhammer 40K, and I'm looking to put an Autobot sticker on my hood.  All that next to a 100 years Johns Hopkins sticker ('cause that's where I work.)  My quad sits on the same shelving unit that holds my Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks and a copy of the Bible miniseries is next to Conan the Barbarian (both versions, actually.  Neither was very close to the original source material, though.) on my media shelf.  
 
Does that make me sound divided?  I hope not.  I admit Conan is somewhat problematic because of the nudity but not because it's a sword & sandals style adventure flick.  That said, I see everything through the lens of my faith, and you'd be surprised at where I've found parallels and spiritual wisdom that is perfectly in line with LDS doctrine and teachings in my Scifi/fantasy hobbies.  I like to note those because they make Gospel study a bit more fun and less dry.
 
Yeah, so enough about me.  Thanks for being here and providing a place to chat, share and be opinionated :)

I feel there's great potential in a knock knock joke in there somewhere...

I have a close friend who is going through exactly this, and yes he's a member of the Church.
I also had a co-worker once, who was gay.  I told him about my friend, and he said "It's sad that he can't be who he is in order to stay in your church."
 
I reject that mentality wholeheartedly.  Who was my co-worker to judge whether or not my friend was "being who he is?"  My friend alone gets to decide that.  He is exactly who he wants to be - a man who places God's will higher than his own wants and desires.  He is a man for whom his spiritual path is more important than any other aspect of his life.
 
To say that a man with same-sex attraction isn't being himself simply because he chooses not to engage in a relationship is to suggest that our sexual appetites are what defines who we are above all.  I am married to a woman, but the fact that I'm heterosexual isn't my singular defining characteristic.  

If you want to check out reviews of games for the content, take a look at Christ Centered Gamer.  It's a Christian based site and the reviews are meant to help give a heads up if games have objectionable content.  (I've written a couple of those reviews myself )

Just a few minutes ago I saw this video on YouTube.  It addresses this question better than I could.

I have a close friend who is going through exactly this, and yes he's a member of the Church.
I also had a co-worker once, who was gay.  I told him about my friend, and he said "It's sad that he can't be who he is in order to stay in your church."
 
I reject that mentality wholeheartedly.  Who was my co-worker to judge whether or not my friend was "being who he is?"  My friend alone gets to decide that.  He is exactly who he wants to be - a man who places God's will higher than his own wants and desires.  He is a man for whom his spiritual path is more important than any other aspect of his life.
 
To say that a man with same-sex attraction isn't being himself simply because he chooses not to engage in a relationship is to suggest that our sexual appetites are what defines who we are above all.  I am married to a woman, but the fact that I'm heterosexual isn't my singular defining characteristic.  

When you start reading about some of the stuff that went on in the early days of the Restoration it gets... interesting.  This is why anti-LDS folks love to go to that period to find stuff that isn't consistent with how things are done today.  Everything from using wine at Sacrament to Joseph Smith and the guys chewing tobacco during meetings to the number of wives Brigham Young had (WOW, by the way.)  
 
The thing to remember is these guys were just trying to figure stuff out.  It's not like everything was revealed in one big wave.  They got revelation little by little, and made a few mistakes and blunders while the gaps were being filled.
 
What matters is the end result, which is what we have today.  I'm quite sure if Joseph Smith were standing here right now, he'd probably do a few embarrassed facepalms as we look at some of the things that were done back then, but it's not a big deal.  I have no doubt that the weird cases like the ones discussed here were straightened out along the way.

I have a close friend who is going through exactly this, and yes he's a member of the Church.
I also had a co-worker once, who was gay.  I told him about my friend, and he said "It's sad that he can't be who he is in order to stay in your church."
 
I reject that mentality wholeheartedly.  Who was my co-worker to judge whether or not my friend was "being who he is?"  My friend alone gets to decide that.  He is exactly who he wants to be - a man who places God's will higher than his own wants and desires.  He is a man for whom his spiritual path is more important than any other aspect of his life.
 
To say that a man with same-sex attraction isn't being himself simply because he chooses not to engage in a relationship is to suggest that our sexual appetites are what defines who we are above all.  I am married to a woman, but the fact that I'm heterosexual isn't my singular defining characteristic.