August

No, she does not, the priest we spoke to was very clear that they would not pressure her to convert. The church has made interfaith marriage much easier than it used to be over the last few decades.

I won't have a catholic marriage, but I will have a marriage the church will recognize as valid. The classes and counseling are what the church requires as a preparation for marriage, they deal with more than religion. After the classes, we would go through a low key and informal marriage ceremony with a priest so that we will be married in the eyes of my church. Marriage is different in the catholic church than the lds church, I need to fulfill the requirements for marriage in my church or they will not recognize my marriage. That means I cannot receive communion, or absolution in confession, until this is done. I know this seems strange to you, but this is what I need to do. Im not sure how well I am explaining this, I am learning this process as I go.

Its not like that. We need to attend a few classes and some counseling. She needs to be aware of my commitment to do everything I can to raise the (future) kids catholic, but does not need to agree. This is more about me getting into good standing, I currently cannot receive communion as I am considered to be not married. My wife is very supportive of doing this.

Hello, It has been many years since I have posted here. When my wife and I got married 3 and a half years ago, I was an inactive Catholic and she an inactive Mormon. Over the last few months, we both started going back to our respective Churches, and are beginning the process of getting our marriage recognized by the Catholic Church. Basically, when we got married this wasn't an issue, and suddenly we find ourselves in a real interfaith marriage. Any advice? What do I need to do to help my wife practice her faith? What is fair for me to ask of her? What about kids? We've discussed all these issues of course, I just want to know if anyone in a similar situation has any thoughts or advice. Thanks, A.J.

Acts 20 33 I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. John 10 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. Once again, I see no explicit connection between these verses and the 6th sign. Certainly, it's true that no one should join the ministry of any church for financial gain, however we have numerous accounts in Acts of Paul & company being taken into peopes homes during their ministry, being supported by the church. Most ministers in any denomination are being paid very modestly. In my church (Catholic) priests are paid enough to live on, and this allows them to devote their full attention to serving the church.

Ephesians 5:23 (New American Bible) "For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body." I see no command to put Christ's name in the name of the church, only that Christ is the head of the church.

So, in a couple of weeks I'm going to have the chance to attend a temple open house in Draper, UT. Any thoughts on what I should expect, or details I should look for? How do you feel about temples in general, what do they mean to you?

Why is that? Christmas is pretty much the biggest day of the year for most churches.

It depends on your purpose. If the authors intent is that gore and violence are ends unto themselves, then it isn't appropriate. If the intent of the violence is to add drama, horror or realism is fine for the right audience. I guess I think of it like a war movie. If it isn't gory enough, people might just think of it as a fun adventure story, and not see the horror of war. As an example, so much of what made Saving Private Ryan great is that I could barely watch the D-day scene, really drove it home.

Why weren't the Jews as prepared, do you have specific reasons for this belief? And which verses do you mean? I'd be interested to know.

So I decided a while ago to read the Book of Mormon, since I've become very interested in Mormonism and Joseph Smith. I just finished Jacob, so I've got a ways. Anyway, what has struck me is how explicit the text is in prophecying the coming of Christ. It's different than the Old Testement, where the Messiah is prophecied, but in a much less specific way. If the BOM were true, it would mean that God revealed Christ's coming very explicitly to the Jews in America, but the Jews in Israel didn't recieve such explicit instructions. How do you interpret this difference? And tell me if my timeline is correct, I thought that the Nephites left Israel after the books of the Old Testament were written.

I always thought the teletubbies were creepy. Anyone else?

There was actually a study done on this, I might need to see if I can dig it up. What it showed was that there was a correlation between violent videogame playing and more agressive behavior, until they screened out the kids with risk factors for violence in their home situation. The correlation then disappeared.

MGS 4 was pretty awesome. This is pretty much how I feel about it. For an adult player it's not violence I have a problem with, it's the glorification of crime in GTA and similar games.

So here's a interesting question I thought of. What do you all think about violent video games? Unlike movies or TV, where you only see acts of violence, many popular video games require the player to committ acts of violence, sometimes in sick, gruesome ways. How do you feel about this? What about a game like Grand Theft Auto, where you can murder innocent bystanders? Is a murder committed in a virtual world still a sin? Just thought it was a good example of the moral dillemas posed by new technologies. What do you think?

That makes sense. I sort of approach it the same way. I always say Catholic if I'm asked, if I just say that I'm Christian they assume that I'm an evangelical.

Actually, very much untrue. I enjoy the taste of tea and coffee. Sure, I don't usually drink them plain, but the tea or coffee flavor is quite fantastic in the right mix. When I want caffeine, I resort to my 3 diet cokes a day habit. This is where I find the standard interpritations of the WOW pretty incoherent. I'd be in the wrong for the 2-3 coffee or tea drinks I have every week, but totally ok with my raging diet coke addiction. Not that I'm criticizing arbitrary dietary laws.

So, I'm taking an American Studies class called "Rogues and Rebels" where we've been studying different historical figures who went against society or the ruling authorities to determine whether they are a rogue who is only in it for themselves or a rebel who fights for what they believe is right. I need to write a paper for this class and thought that Joseph Smith would be a good topic, as it's already an area of interest for me. So, can you recommend any books or academic sources that would present information in an unbiased manner? Websites are great, but most of them can't be used as sources for this assignment. Pretty much anything that would give a non-Mormon a fair look into whether Joseph Smith made it all up for his own benefit, or really believed in what he was teaching. Thanks:) PS. I'm already reading Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, a good book so far.

Could you explain this a little more? I kinda see where you're coming from, knowing what I know about LDS beliefs, but how do you relate to an "office?" Do you feel a personal realationship with God is important? And do you believe that God has always been made up of the same 3 people?

I've met people who literaly believe that.

It is actually pretty impressive that these people are such faithful members of the church, especially since I know that some people still think blacks can't even join the LDS church.

1) Are the persons of the Trinity capable of expressing emotion to each other? (ie can they love each other) 2) Are they capable of communicating with each other? 3) Can they be in differing spatial locations? (ie differing places, the Father was not crucified with the Son) 4) Will Jesus maintain his resurrected body in heaven? I suppose my answer to all of these is the same, that nothing is impossible for God. Our limited minds can't comprehend how Jesus is the Son of God, how he can pray to His Father, and yet still be fully God? God the Son and God the Father and the Holy Spirit are the exact same being, yet are also 3 persons. Don't take this as an official position, it's just the way I look at it, if any of the other Catholics here need to correct me, please do so. I'll be the first to admit, if I look at things purely on logic the Trinity makes less sense than three seperate beings. It's one of those things I accept on faith, because I could never hope to fully understand the nature of God.

Once again, I have to give a shout out to the Mormons on "Sunday best." When I was a kid, going to Baptist church, everyone wore their best dress cloths. I hated it when I was a kid, but now I really wish Catholics dressed up for Sunday Mass. A few months ago, one of the readers was up there in a Red Sox t-shirt for crying out loud!

The Trinity is really confusing, and something I struggle to really understand, but it's like the Church teaches, it's a mystery that our human mind isn't capable of comprehending. It also should be noted that a lot of the heretical views on the Trinity came from peoples discomfort with the idea that God died, so they sought to put Jesus on a lower level than His Father, or to seperate them. I don't know which ones taught what though, have to look that one up.

Can your prophets make mistakes? For example, could you blame the exclusion of blacks from the priesthood on the racism of previous leaders, or do you believe God wanted to exclude some of his children? As members of a church that today is very welcoming to people of all races, how do you deal with this history? I'm not trying to use this to question your church, my church has a rather "unfortunate" history towards the Jews and Muslims, I'm really just asking to know how you understand the will of God.