FunkyTown

Welcome! We look forward to discussing and hearing your viewpoints.

Fargegnugen killed my parents. Well, not really. But I'm saying what if. WHAT IF! PS: No, I don't think explosions of bugs have anything to do with the latter days. Nothing in Revelations suggests a huge increase of insects. If they ended up destroying crops, then perhaps, but nothing yet.

I think you should help your brothers as much as you can. Note that when I say 'Help', I don't mean 'Give them a place to stay and money'. Doing that acts as an enabler, letting them rely on you rather than developing their own talents(In fact, I was warned against being an enabler myself once. In my patriarchal blessing, no less). What you should do is help them identify why they don't have a job and a place to stay and help them overcome those difficulties. Or at least recognize that they have them.

Totally true, ABQ! Just like in my example - God directly told people through the bible not to murder. The guy in my example (For the example, let's call him a righteous man and fully Christian) was told directly, too. Then, he fainted and accidentally plummetted to the ground, landing on someone and killing them. When you don't know what good and evil is, you can't sin. Otherwise, what was the fruit -for-?

Yes, but he didn't know that going against God's will was a bad thing, or evil. Define sin: KNOWINGLY going against the commandments of God. For instance, if you fainted on top of a tall building, fell thirty stories and landed on top of someone and killed them, you disobeyed God's laws. You disobeyed them without knowing. Are you responsible for that?

It does sound very emotionally abusive to me. I'm sorry you're going through this. :/ Normally, I'm a bit more verbose, but I really do have nothing in this case except my prayers. We love you.

Try asking this: "I have a question - If Adam had no knowledge of good or evil, how could what he did be a sin? He had no idea it would be bad until he ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil." That should net you at least the word 'Transgression' as opposed to 'Sin'. And if Adam had no knowledge of good and evil, he was incapable of sinning.

The first book was interesting, but the second book on I thought was edge of your seat kinda stuff. I loved 'em.

I think most of this lies in how you approached your mother. "I prayed and was told not to have a temple wedding" in an extremely LDS household is probably not the best way of going about it. This would result in her getting defensive, you getting defensive and none of you working together. Your best bet, when you had spoken, would have been to approach her humbly and say "I intend to do everything I can to be sealed in the temple to (insert fiance's name here). I have approached the Bishop and, while there are things I must do before we can be sealed, I intend to do them. In the meantime, I am going to be married. I love her and will do everything so we can be together forever, and I'm sorry for my past. Can I have your blessing?" Now, what you want to do is phone her up and apologize, to prepare to hear her pain from what has happened in your past. Yes, it will be painful - That's okay. She needs to get things off her chest. Sometimes, we have to let people vent. Do not vent back at her - She needs to say this. Be prepared to hug her and tell her it will be all right and you are doing your best to repent. If you get defensive, she will not hear "I am repentant." and, instead, will hear "Lalalala I don't want to hear what you have to say"

I disagree, Ben - Not that I support this kind of thing, but... 40 hours a week at minimum wage - Let's call it $8/hour at minimum wage(I don't know what it is in the US). That's $320/week minus tax and unemployment insurance. Maybe $1000/month. If he gets a single room in a major city, that will probably be $600/month on up. Insurance and gas, or even food comes and goes and suddenly minimum wage doesn't cover even the bare minimum. I say if you make minimum wage, don't have a car. You can squeeze by, then, and it'll inspire you to look for something better.

And the greed inherent in the human condition. When socialized medicine is bad-mouthed horribly, but using public funds to bail out private investors is seen as a valid choice, you know our priorities are messed up.

I lost twenty pounds in two months, but guys generally have an easier time of it. Forget ideas of discipline and the like, since dieting shouldn't be a chore. Instead, do the following: 1) Drink only water - No soft drinks, orange juice or anything of the like. 2) Buy only fresh fruit - No canned, jammed or otherwise altered fruit. 3) Never go grocery shopping hungry. 4) Don't eat out. Using those rules, I had simple and balanced diets. I also had something neat called 'My Personal Weight Loss Coach' for the Nintendo DS. It help me set reasonable goals in exercise and diet and let me monitor how much food I was having. It was fantastic.

Hahah... Wait... You're saying that greedy people, afraid of losing money, pulled out their funds and that's a terrorist attack? That's people being dumb. It's not a terrorist attack, it's a flaw inherent in capitalism.

Yep. They're right. What you're doing right now is justifying 'cause no immediate bad things are coming. That having been said, I think the previous poster was right: Try abstaining from sex for several months and see how that affects things. I bet that you'll see how it harms you.

... And wait - Are you saying that the proposed goals of the Communist Party is the abject destruction of human liberty? You'd think not many people would vote for a party like that. I mean... Besides me. I vote for the 'Kicking puppies and burning down orphanages' party.

Hiya, Passion. Welcome. :) Thanks for your introduction and insight in to your own personal beliefs.

They did both go down in to the water, but only one was baptized. Replace 'Water' with 'Baptismal font' and 'They did both' with 'Both Jesus and John'. In that case, it would read 'Both Jesus and John went down in to the Baptismal Font'. It doesn't mean both were baptized, but merely that one person did.

You do understand why someone says they want 'The Hard Stuff', right? It will either be because someone has pointed him to something he doesn't understand, yet, and he wants to know the doctrine itself without understanding the underlying reasons for it or because he wants an official site to point people to and say "See? See what they teach?!?!" In conventional Protestantism, it would be akin to saying "Jesus died for you 2000 years before you were born." without having him understand that man sins, that the nature of man is bad, that there is a God or that there is a life after death. There would be many questions in that case, just like a student of Judaism leaping to the story of Noah's Ark and hearing that God destroyed every man, woman and child on earth without understanding why that happened. When people forge testimonys on scriptural railsplits(Where they know one thing without progressing to the next or the previous), their testimony becomes shaky because you don't understand why something is. I would recommend speaking to your Bishop for discussion of the hard stuff.

So... When was the last time an attack took place on US soil?

Sure! Here is an example of fantastic mashed potatoes - They're easy and they're good. First, with mashed potatoes, the most important thing is the type of potato. Ever since I watched The Food Network on making mashed potatoes, I have started using Yukon Gold potatoes. They mash up easy and don't leave as many lumps. This depends on how many you're making for, but here's a decent size for a big meal with numerous people. 1) Take out three pounds of potatoes and peel them. Make sure to wash them thoroughly. I'd recommend a potato peeler, since if you're new a knife will result in a lot of wastage. 2) After peeling the potatoes and washing, slice them in to quarters. 3) Place all potatoes in a medium pot, with just enough water to cover the tops of the potatoes. 4) Put 1/2 a teaspoon of salt in the water. 5) Place the pot and potatoes on a burner on your stove and turn up the heat. Put the lid on. IMPORTANT: I always leave just a bit of an opening to let the steam out. It lets me see when it's boiling and helps prevent overboiling(Which causes a real mess) 6) When the pot boils, reduce heat to 'Simmer'(That's where the heat is turned to just enough that the water has bubbles still coming, but it hasn't yet hit the bubbling frothiness that is boiling - Probably a 4 would be enough). 7) Continue simmering for about 15-20 minutes. You can test this with a fork. If you press it in and the potatoes are easily lanced without you really pressing, they're done. 8) Turn off the oven and remove the potatoes. Strain out the water. 9) Put the hot potatoes in to a bowl. Add 8 tablespoons of heavy cream, 4 tablespoons of butter and add in a few dashes of salt and pepper. 10) Some people would have you use a potato masher. I, on the other hand, use a mixer. I put it in, turn it on the second lowest setting, and I mix it up until I can feel no lumps in the mix. Don't overmix or it becomes this weird gluey thing. This'll serve from 6-8 people. If you want to serve less, just cut the numbers back accordingly. If you're dividing the the number of people being served by four, divide the number of ingredients by 4.

Liz! Welcome. Everyone here is pretty friendly. Except for Gwen. She will -take you apart-.

You're an amazing person, Angela. Life -will- throw you curves, but it takes a strong person to stand up and say "I need help!" Often, our own pride gets in the way. We're here for ya!

I... Have to agree with PrisonChaplain on this one. I think you need to identify why you don't believe and what you like about the church. You -have- to be true to what you believe. I can promise you I believe. If you were struggling with belief, I would say go. If you were trying to find truth, I would say go. But it sounds like you have decided it -isn't- true and nothing that is said will change your mind. What you're suggesting is that it doesn't matter if something is true or not so long as you're content. That's simply not true. Here's a litmus test for people who say that the only thing that's important is personal happiness: "Hey, Bob." "Hey, Joe. How's your daughter?" "Oh, she's good, Bob. I love her so much, I only want her to be happy. That's why I bought a lifetime supply of opium and am mainlining it for her so she never has to think, she will never have to feel pain. Just a never-ending, unthinking bliss." Were you filled with horror at that? Most people are. The reason they are is that we instinctively -know- we were meant for more than pleasure. Parents let their kids go to school, knowing that they will skin their knees and have fights with friends and cry when they break up with the one they think they're in love with when they're thirteen. They know that the child must grow and develop, to be better, to face pain even though it doesn't give them immediate joy. You know in your heart that's the truth. Act on it.

Bonjour, Sow! Je suis Canadien et je parle Francais un peut. Good to have you on board. Been part of the church 7 years, here. :)

Prison Break was possibly the best show ever in its first season. I agree with the Cap'n. I own the first and second season and plan on buying the third. :)