FunkyTown

Moe had a near death experience and we all started fading away. Moe? Don't die and let the world disappear. The world is where I keep my stuff.

Hahah. As funny as bashing Bush is due to the Iraq war, I firmly believe he was just being manipulated by the people giving him the information. When he has done things on his own - Developing closer ties to Eastern European nations like Ukraine or standing up for Georgia - He did well. When he relied on others - The Iraq War, Homeland Security - He made decisions that were terrible. He's a good man relying on manipulated intelligence from people with an agenda.

For best advice, go to BlackBerry and find your device on there. The website will have an instruction manual on how to use the device. If there's something specific you want, I can probably help, but a general question of "How do I use this thing?" I'm wary of. It's a miniature computer and we do full 8 hour sessions on how to get everything out of your BlackBerry - And that's in person, let alone troubleshooting.

English, Bad English and Pig Latin.

Hahah. Frankly, Brick? All these people saying "It exists" or "It doesn't exist" - You only have two choices: Continue trying to date LDS girls or don't. If you do, it doesn't matter if you think some judge you because you're going to continue regardless. If you aren't, it doesn't matter because you aren't going to be dating them. Either way, there's not much point in worrying about it.

All right. It sounds to me like someone has been feeding you a line of bull, Aesa. All of these tired old arguments have been done to death and could easily have been discovered had you gone to FAIR. Regardless, let's address them: 1) Your admonition against the shedding of blood in Genesis is interesting. How do you justify the bloodshed -after- that to cleanse the Holy Land? The slaying of Goliath? The fact that a soldier named Cornelius is the only person in the bible that garnered Jesus' unfettered praise or the fact that David was considered a man after God's own heart? Clearly, sometimes bloodshed is necessary. Thankfully, we have a living prophet. 2) Adam and Eve praises God for their Sin - Which do you believe, Aesa? That the fall was part of God's plan or that the omniscient God was hit out of left field and surprised by Satan? Since Adam and Eve didn't know good from evil when they choose to disobey, it couldn't have been a test. They weren't capable of knowing the difference. 3) Adam-God doctrine - Not doctrine. 4) Moroni Angel of Light - Yep. The Devil can look like an angel. Surprisingly, so can an angel. 5) You're picking at words here. He isn't saying it's irrelevant. He's saying God needs to continue to guide us. What does the Bible say about genetic engineering? Computers? How about quantum physics, robotics, modern economics, medicine or psychology? For everything you state on any of these subjects, I will find people who follow just the bible who say something different. Not just different - I would hazard a guess I could find someone who interpreted other script to mean the exact opposite of what you believe. Aesa? If you aren't here to spread disharmony, then there is someone who is feeding you garbage theology about the church. Which is it?

I'm the same way with women, Wing. "Yo, girl! You got some serious drop in your Aorta. Yay-yeaaaaaaaah!"

Your fearmongering mystifies me, Skyler.

Hahah. This is possibly the greatest introduction on the boards. Welcome, Mavie! We're all friendly and won't bite. Except for the ones with rabies.

President Gordon B. Hinckley has said: “Your chances for a happy and lasting marriage will be far greater if you will date those who are active and faithful in the Church” (Ensign, Nov. 1981, 41). Hmm... Hordak's right... President Hinckley. Hordak's right... President Hinckley. Y'know? I'm gonna go with President Hinckley on this one.

You marry who you date. Only date members.

What you're going through is something every convert(And possibly every member) has to and it's being exacerbated by having young kids who keep you up at all hours. Basically, when you joined the church you saw this image of idyllic families as close to each other as could be. They loved one another and were strong in their desires to serve the Lord. Like most people, you wanted this - It was almost Norman Rockwellish. When new members see the truth is somewhere outside this perfect painting, we think the fault lies in ourselves. We question our own strength, we feel it draining away as others seem to be perfect. Then, when it seems we're at our lowest, we start to think others are judging us and it drops us even lower so we don't want to go to church. You -will- get through this. You know it's true. Now, know that you're loved and there are people you can turn to. You are never alone.

Hey, girls - Go after Brick! Both you and he are complaining nobody's around. Why not take your fate in to your own hands, take a chance and ask him out?

Brick? I didn't go on a mission and I can -promise- you that there are girls out there who don't care. Most of them, in fact. I have a current temple recommend, I fill my calilng as an employment specialist and I do my best to make sure everyone is welcome at church. I joke around a lot and sometimes, I can get a bit too passionate about politics, but I will always try to reach out to someone genuinely in need. There are certain things that I can promise you about dating: 1) Bitterness and desperation is the cologne of lonely men - People are very intuitive. If you're bitter, you don't make them feel good. If they don't feel good, they don't like you - At least not romantically. The bitter and desperate become consigned to loneliness, not by the fault of others, but by themselves. 2) Apathy is antipathy - Those are just fancy words for 'If you don't care where your life is going, some women will be repulsed by you'. If you don't have opinions, even more women will be turned off by you. Care about something, anything, and you are more likely to find someone who cares about you. 3) Peacocking ain't just for girls - Seriously. Clean under your fingernails, care about what you wear. Don't just slap on the first thing in your closet. It's fun to dress to impress and girls? They want to be impressed. There are a lot of permutations of those rules, but basically they're the big ones. And just remember: If -you- don't think not going on a mission is a big deal, -they- won't think it's a big deal.

I'm going to back him up on this. Men probably -are- intimidated by her. Guys in the church have this weird mentality that they can't flirt once they get past a certain age. Guys? If you don't show any indication that you're interested in a girl, they will be weirded out when you finally ask them out. It's not a crime to let a girl know that you're interested and, if they shoot you down badly, you can just laugh it off. Who -hasn't- been shot down?

On the original subject, Bodhigirl, I want to apologize. Buddha is not something that is studied by many within the church. Because I studied many religions before I joined, I do know about the Gautama, Siddharta and Mahamudra. I know the eightfold Path Siddharta, the Four Noble Truths, the Fivefold path of Mahamudra. I believe Buddha was a brilliant man, enlightened and necessary in his time. When previous posters said to you "We don't worship him." they spoke well - Even Buddha said, "Don't worship me." I don't pretend to have the in-depth knowledge of the religion that you do, but I have respect for the man. I believe he honestly sought for truth and, because of that, God loved him. I believe that because God loves all honest seekers of truth. I believe he will make manifest to those who seek it.

I agree with Ben: Don't blame other people for our own failures. The people in church are human. They always have been and always will be. We can't control people who judge, or who say unkind things to us. We can only control ourselves. If there is a dearth of men(And there are - Single men are 6 times as likely as women to leave the church after the age of thirty), it is not due to the judgmental nature of the sisters(Although, if you -are- judgmental, feel free to stop. You certainly don't help). This is caused by our own weakness. We all have problems. Some might perceive other problems as 'more sinful', but the truth is, we all have difficulties. That doesn't excuse us from standing up to those difficulties and doing what needs to be done. None of us are perfect. But we don't find our own strength by laying down and avoiding the conflict; We only learn what we are capable of by standing up to the forces that oppose us.

That is a fantastic topic and one I'm sure you will excel in, Keith. Where's the panel going to be? I'd love to hear about it. Would it be possible to video tape it?

I am intrigued, Rameumptom, and wish to subscribe to your news letter.

The children? Yes. Darn straight I would have the children sit at home, or go to school, or be provided the same benefits I had growing up.I would like it if the adults earned fair wages that are livable without resorting to sending children to work for 16 hour days.

I find myself agreeing with much of what you say, A-train. My only concern with much of what you say is that it's impossible to argue against something that has never in the history of man been had. I'm wary of the 'perfect world' scenario of true Libertarian ideals much as I'm wary of Communism(Which, in a perfect world, would be fantastic as well). Arguments aside, I honestly don't care to be right or wrong. I just want a fix that works for the economy. Our current system is broken, because it's dependent upon a system of dizzying highs and lows. This makes it impossible to provide effective planning for retirement for anyone but the richest of us. My concern with the idea of 'pure capitalism' is that there will always be an aristocracy, whether given by blood, wealth or social station. I can prove this because, in every society on earth since the dawn of time, Anarchy(And what you're proposing is self-regulating anarchy) has only existed long enough for a single tyrant to take control. What's to prevent a company, or group of companies, to form a coalition designed to undersell its competitors and create a monopoly? They can undercut prices for the competitors long enough to make them go out of business, then jack them up again?

Hahah. Okay, Austro, I will give you that one. "Adding labor and environmental protections to the North American Free Trade Agreement." NAFTA, while a -fantastic idea-, was so terrible in its execution that it just didn't work. And if there are tariffs and protections? It ain't Free Trade.

You should be proud of your daughter, getting out of that. I hear it's a nightmare and hard to leave in a lot of cases.

I agree, Ben - Unions have certainly had real problems in them: They've allowed lazy workers to run rampant without being fired, they've pushed companies to bankruptcy and they've become involved with the mob. Managers have involved themselves in rampant mismanagement, stock fraud and near slave-labour conditions (See Nike shoes for examples of children working sixteen hours a day for pennies). The problem lies not in Unions, but in ourselves. Unions, like any other group, have become corrupt when being exposed to power. Unions gained power and so many became corrupt. EDIT: I forgot to put my point! My point being: Unions are not inherently evil. They have done a lot of good and will one day do what they should have again. Both management and worker has been corrupt when given power. This is normal. However, they act as a check to -other- corrupt people. PS: A Union is just an expression of the Right to Assembly. Rules that came about when Unions started, like forcing a worker to join it, came about because of popular voting for particular unions. They warned companies that they wouldn't tolerate 'scabs' and so these rules came about. The blame for that can be placed squarely at the feet of the average joe worker who worried they'd just be fired and replaced with non-union workers. It's sad, but true.

Creepy. Get her out of there.