Saguaro

Today's expected high, 113 degrees. I don't go around church checking out women's legs, but I'm prettys sure nearly nobody wears panty hose or stockings around here.

I was very excited to see this. In addition to The Killers he came out with a solo album last year that is very good. This helps show that Mormons can be an inclusive and diverse group. The youtube video already has over 100K views in just 6 days, that's more than most of the other videos that have been up for months.

Looks like the neighbors and the Church came to an understanding before the groundbreaking. The church agreed to turn off the lights at 10:15 PM, reduce the spire by a foot, and work on future parking and traffic issues. "Church and Neighborhood Group representatives mutually shared their sincere regret that better relations and communications had not been established. In its efforts to demonstrate the desire and willingness to improve relations and show respect, the Church agreed to make the above referenced concessions to the Neighborhood Group. In return, the Neighborhood Group agreed to no longer pursue a court appeal of the recent Board of Adjustment decision or publicly oppose the temple project. The Neighborhood Group also agreed to use its best efforts to convey to the surrounding neighborhood the intent of the parties to move forward in a friendly and congenial manner." Mormon Temple - News and Updates

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Phoenix Temple will be this Saturday, June 4, at 9:00 AM. Only those invited can attend the live event at the site, it will be broadcast to the other buildings in my stake which the temple is in, I assume the broadcast will be available to a wider area but I don't have any other details.

Defined by who? Who wrote this? Is this from an official church source? I personally have great reverence for sex, it's a wonderful thing. Does that make me a sinner?

If I were you, I wouldn't talk to the stake president, work it out between yourself and the Lord. You're obviously trying, you've made it this far, and you're going to be married soon and you'll be able to act freely on your libido with no guilt whatsoever. Remember your last bishop's advice, it sounds like you've been following that, if he didn't think you needed to see your stake president then, why should you now? Personally I think we demonize masturbation too much in the church.

Here's the latest antics from the temple opposition. Neighbors float balloons to protest height of north Phoenix Mormon temple Last week the Phoenix City Board of Adjustment agreed with the previous approvals of the parking lot, so to my knowledge there is nothing standing in the way of the temple construction. Work has already began at the site to prepare for construction. The last update I heard from my Stake President was that a ground breaking could happen this month, but nothing has been announced yet.

Please accept my apologies. I assumed too much.

Did you listen to the tape? It sounded to me like they were joking, they would have to be delusional to think that the governor would pardon a child molestor. Did you read the article? It stated "On the tapes the two repeatedly remind each other that they are being recorded", so yes, he knew he was being taped. One other thing, he didn't file for divorce after she was convicted which was in April. According to news reports he filed for divorce shortly after she was arrested back in October.

I know a young woman named Liahona, she goes by 'Lia', can you blame her? I also know a young man named Jarom.

Seriously? They went through all that trouble just to eat at the temple cafeteria? Sorry, but I find that hard to believe. I also don't think a Stake president should be telling people about whose recommends he has taken away, one's recommend status should be strictly confidential.

A Treasured Testament - Ensign July 1993 This article has good insights into the translation process.

I live in the area so I have been following the temple story closely and also attended the public meetings. The neighborhood people opposing the temple have basically lost every legal challenge they've made and are to the point that they are just becoming desperate and mean spirited. The temple is going to be built according to the freedoms and laws of the land, all approvals have been granted and they are just waiting to get building permits and then there will be a ground breaking and construction is expected to start this fall. In spite of that, the neighbors keep protesting and complaining. The neighborhood leader even said, "We are going to keep protesting," he said. "Even if they go forward with building the temple, we will protest the groundbreaking, dedication ceremonies and any and every event that comes." So now they are beyond protesting parking, spire height, and lighting, it's now sour grapes and they just want to protest the Church.Mormon temple protests target church's Utah leaders If you search throgh AZcentral.com at the recent articles and go through the comments section, if you can get past the religion haters whose posts have nothing to do with the temple, you can see a pattern emerging, that even those who are not LDS have lost all sympathy for the neighborhood and their cause.

I'm sure it varies from ward to ward, or even stake to stake, but I get irritated by the pressure put on boys to become eagle scouts. I made it to Life and I turned out just fine, but I've heard discussions in meetings and they make it sound like if they don't get their eagle they're not going to go on missions and they're going to turn out to be losers. My son is 16 and doesn't have his eagle and I'm not pressuring him to get it, I want him to want to get it, I will be there to help and encourage him but I'm not going to force him. I know many parents who won't let their kids drive or date until they get it, or even lock them in their rooms until they finish a merit badge. I wouldn't miss scouting if it went away, I'm sure the church would replace it with additional duty to God activities or something else entirely. The boys can learn a lot of great stuff in scouting, but i think more and more scouting is out of touch with modern society, kids don't relate well to a lot of the subjects. Why learn orienteering when you have GPS on your cell phone? And then there's the fact that there's no similar program for girls. That's a whole 'nother topic.

I don't like Glenn Beck. I don't question his spiritality, and he may actually believe in the politics he espouses, but I think he's mostly in it for the money, he's a showman, an entertainer. He spits out book after book, is on TV and radio, sells subscriptions to his 'insider' magazine, and rakes in millions. I'm surprised a Glenn Beck discussion has gone on this long without getting closed.

I've never heard that before, do you have any references?

First of all, did he actually say that? I would have to see a reference. If he did say that, did he say "I received a revelation", or was he basing his statement on a previous prophet? And did that previous prophet specifically state he received a revelation? Or were they all just referring to D&C 20:1 which simply says Christ was born 1,830 years ago and wasn't actually written by a prophet but by John Whitmer? My point is that just because a prophet said it doesn't make it so, especially if we are talking about a specific historical date. I would think the Lord would have more important things to reveal to a prophet than an exact date from more than 2,000 years ago.

I agree with others that the actual date doesn't matter, what's important is that we celebrate Christ and gain a testimony of his divine mission. What bothers me though is when people claim to know the exact date of his birth or perpetuate a doctrine based on an assumption based on speculation derived from the misinterpretation of a scripture, etc., etc. Can't we just agree that since none of us was there we don't know the exact date?

I agree with MOE. You (bert10) emphatically state "The correct date is 6th April 1 BC." Did you not read the article? If you read it and disagree with its conclusions please provide a basis for your own conclusions.

What was the real date of Jesus' birth? | Deseret News Very interesting article. This month my home teacher's lesson was on the fact that Joseph Smith revealed April 6 as the birth date of Jesus. Looks like that may not be entirely accurate.

This sounds like good advice to me. The fact is you can't change the way people believe. You can provide accurate facts about the church when appropriate, but forcing your beliefs on your wife will only make matters worse. Be patient, be loving, some day maybe she will come around.

I've had an Android phone through Verizon for 4 months now and I love it. Some have adivsed to wait for the next great thing, that can be good advice but there is always something better around the corner, you could spend all your time waiting or you could get what you want now.

Others have addressed the first part of this, so I'll address the second part. The church stopped practicing polygamy because the US government was determined to make the practice illegal and stop it, also ending polygamy helped Utah to gain statehood. Even after the manifesto official polygamous marriages occurred. My own great-great-grandfather married his 5th wife (2nd living wife, other 3 had passed away) in the Salt Lake Temple in 1897, the manifesto came out in 1890. A second manifesto was issued in 1904 that reaffirmed the church's position on polygamy and threatened excommunication to those who continue to practice it.

I disagree that all of these shows are out to 'derail' people's view of the church. Starting with South Park, I assume you're referring to the episode when a Mormon family moves into town and they tell the story of the Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. They may have presented the church in an irreverent manner but the historical facts presented in that show are pretty accurate, and the Mormon family, though exagerated and corny, is shown in a positive light. Regarding House, I don't watch that show regularly so I'm not sure what the reference is. The church participated heavily in the PBS show, even having some apostles interviewed for it, overall I think it was a fairly balanced show. Did they talk about some of the more controversial aspects of the church and its history like blacks in the priesthood, polygamy and Mountain Meadows Massacer? Of course they did, but those things are part of our history and can't be ignored. Big Love is not a show I watch either, but from what I've read from those who do watch it, they make a distinction between the beliefs and practices of the family in the show and the mainstream LDS church. That distinction may be lost on the general public but even when the fundamnetals are in the news people get confused between us and them. I would agree that the Church has PR issues, but trying to hide things like Joseph Smith using a hat to translate the BofM, or MMM, or Blacks in the Priesthood doesn't help our cause. People are going to find out about these things when investigating the church. It's best to tackle these issues head on, and I think the Church has been trying to be more open about such things.

Mormon Stories and StayLDS are both the work of John Dehlin as I'm sure you know. You'll find a wide variety of opinions on him and his work on this site. Personally I enjoy the Mormon Stories podcasts, I haven't been to StayLDS for a while. I once linked to a MS podcast, can't remember which one now, and it was deleted.