crazypotato

Well, sometimes I read a post and think "why would a member be saying that" and then sit and discuss doctrine with them, only to find out they aren't even a believer. Other times I read posts and think "this person is a troll! get off the computer!" but then I don't want to make assumptions. What if someone is playing the devil's advocate, for example, to a question just to see what kinds of responses they will get? They may look like a troll but are only trying to get more of an answer out of people.

What do you hope to accomplish by coming to LDS.net? Learning about the LDS church for educational purposes? Sharing other religion's beliefs and exchanging ideas? Making friends? Sharing your reasons for not believing and why you left the faith? Investigating the church? Persuading LDS members away from their faith? I am just curious to know how many non-believers are out there, honestly some people seem to be trolling and I don't want to assume that. Thanks.

"i am the great and terrible snow! How dare you come before me!!! Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"

What if instead of calling it "military" it was called "Support for Military and their Loved Ones" or something like that, and had a sticky rule about not using the forum for political debate? I looked through the groups, too. There are so many groups, some of them military, and they all seem inactive. Each group has only a few members that don't appear to be talking to each other. I agree that most people don't look at those groups and that they get little traffic. But I also don't want to see a bunch of posts on the immorality or war or debates on current policy either.

You have your beliefs, we have ours. Why are you here? To discuss? To put down our beliefs? To mock?

How about under resources, we could have a forum category for the military? There should be plenty of people with topical posts about handling pre-deployment, deployment, and post deployment. Being a member in the military, and a family of military is not exactly easy.

nbblood, If you want to start a military forum, that would be great. My husband is in the Army National Guard getting ready for his first deployment.

Can an LDS deployed soldier that is say, in a small group with few to no members have his own meeting?

Aren't there LDS branch services on all the US bases? Are there LDS services on the larger bases in Iraq? What about in Iraq and Afghanistan? How does a deployed soldier access an LDS service or an LDS chaplain?

Rumor has it that there are hardly any LDS military chaplains. Why are you wanting LDS chaplains? My understanding is that LDS members can use their chaplains for spiritual guidance whatever their faith may be.

That is why the Spirit is personal. I can't say whether someone else is feeling it or not, but I can tell with myself whether it is emotions or the Spirit, because of years of practice. We should do our best to prepare ourselves, and then be praying for our teachesr and speakers as well, rather than finding fault with them.

My last ward, about half of the people in the church had tatoos. It was a ward that included a military base and tatoos are big with the military. Welcome. You will find out soon enough that the church is true, but the people in the church are all just normal people with a common belief.

But it's funny! I know it is socially taboo, that is why it is more entertaining. We are, after all, talking about church being boring.

I knew of a music leader/organist that used to yell out during the songs for people to sing louder, or with more enthusiasm, as if it were choir practice. Now that adds to the spice of the ward. Plus, I think church is kind of boring if all the talks are polished. What about the crazy people that go off on tangents? I still remember a sacrament meeting from a nice old man who was probably suffering from dementia. He started out his talk about some gospel subject, but then cut into a wild tangent about the dangers of using power tools and how he knew someone who sawed into their hand. This wasn't an analogy or related at all to the talk, but I still remember. Twas great!

I LOVE black licorice!!!!! And my husband, when he was a kid, used to get to go pick out a liver to eat for being a good boy.

I am with you. I think assuming the best instead of assuming the worst when people give a talk is the way to go. Some people may look unprepared, but maybe they really are doing their best. I think that the church has high goals for its members and lots of members don't measure up, but patience and love are needed rather than criticism. I have to say that my last ward was small and mostly converts, with some lifetime members and lots of people moving in and out all the time (this was a military base). Some of the lessons and talks were absolutely awesome, by either the new converts or the lifetime members, I couldn't tell the difference. The church is a lot like attending a piano recital for little kids. Maybe they don't play the piano very well and the music doesn't sound good, or maybe the kids don't really have a lot of interest in the piano but play anyway. If you encourage the kids and lift them up, rather than focusing on their actual performance, you will enjoy the recital a lot more than just going to hear great talent. People go through stages of being lukewarm in the gospel, but they always need love and encouragement even if they are a slacker, rather than criticism.

Maybe the writer of this article needs to do research on "faultfinding", and "pride," and "humility." How many people enjoy her talks? Maybe people think she is boring, bitter, and negative.

Church would be more boring if only the "good" speakers were allowed to give talks. Sometimes I find myself not listening to the youth speaker and then listening more because they actually are giving a good talk. They may not look up from their paper, say the words really fast and speak in a monotone voice, but usually the content is really good. I know that it is super hard for me to pay attention and feel the Spirit with my little kids and husband usually gone, sitting in the back picking up crayons, trying to get my kids to not violently punch each other in the stomach, and stop talking right out loud about everything. It is so nice when my kids are behaving and quiet and I can actually listen to the talks. I usually only hear bits and pieces.

I really don't see how John Doe can prove that the church is liable in this case. He would have to prove that the church knew about the abuse and did nothing about it, and would have to prove the abuse, wouldn't he? Plus, I bet whoever the alleged abuser is, is a really old man now if he is still alive. How would they sue the stake? It's stake leaders are long, long, long gone. The stake boundaries have probably changed vastly over the years.

Oh Kids, Stop your arguing! I join the ranks of shallow people. I dated a guy in college for as long as I could. He was sooo nice and such a good person, and sooo skinny. I just couldn't make myself be attracted to him. I really tried because he was such a good person, but I never wanted him to even hold my hand. He was really tall and weighed probably one pound. I just don't like super skinny guys. I would rather they were a bit chubby if I had to choose. Not that any of you people care.

The 19 year olds are just kids. They are not as wise and life experienced as older people with kids, that is true. Try talking to them anyway. They have dedicated two years to the Lord to serve their missions. Every day they are extra careful about praying, studying the scriptures, fasting, and calling on the Holy Spirit to guide them. They try and keep away from things that offend God or detract from having the Holy Spirit with them. If they are doing those things, they will not be teaching you the gospel - the Holy Ghost will teach you through them. That is part of the greatness of the gospel. God expects us to use our heads and intellect to study things out and learn. Then the Holy Ghost will verify the truth or falseness of what we have learned. The Holy Ghost gives us a feeling inside, and/or enlightens our minds like a lightbulb brightening the thoughts in our head, or sometimes I can hear him put a thought in my mind that I know is true but that I did not think of myself. We had the missionaries over for dinner. The dinner conversation was normal, small talk with two dumb kids, really. Then after dinner, they opened up the Book of Mormon to leave us with a scriptural thought and prayer. The entire atmosphere of the room changed. The Holy Spirit entered our hearts and verified the truth of the scripture in the Book of Mormon that they were reading. It was a noticable difference. I can't expect you to believe me, just try taking the missionaries discussions.

Oh, no I did gossip about him once. I admitted it. I made a remark about why would a man in his 20s marry a 16 year old. Now you have got me back into the drop it and stay out of it mode.

That may be best. I just talked to the Compassionate Service lady today about them because she feels kind of like, why do we have to keep bringing meals every time the mom leaves?and added she had no idea what was going on with the family, but then made the comment - I can't believe she would do that to her kids. I just said, "she is a very quiet and private person but has her own side to the story." Maybe I just need to tell the RS Pres and she can share with the bishop and then I can leave it be. And I like your idea of what to say to the kids, too. My parents were divorced, and my dad publicly badmouthed my mom, and then I saw the ward turn on her, so maybe my worry was I was getting too involved in this since I have been through similar myself.

True, A good friend doesn't just sit and watch her friend's family get destroyed. I had a dear friend that announced to me she was leaving her husband for another man. After I lectured her about how stupid she was being, we were never friends again, but then I don't care because she never ended up leaving her husband.

Well, that is a sad story. That is the only problem I have, is I don't know the full story. There are lots of divorces where the spouses bad mouth each other afterwards and have custody battles, and since I don't know everything, who am I to butt in with my opinion to the bishop, without looking like this busybody nosey creepy neighbor. My heart hurts for her kids that think that the boogeyman took her away. She took her two youngest the frist time she left him, but she had to live with family that didn't want her there, and now, according to her, she has no high school degree and has never had a job before, and her husband uses that against her. Everything she says about him is that he is controlling and keeps her with him because she can't make it on her own. But his story is that she found a scuzzy guy on facebook and left him for another man. So who knows, maybe she did do that and maybe he isn't controlling? I am not a RS president or YW president, or Primary president, so should I say nothing?