skylercollins

Those are very good points and I agree that "society" should encourage those things. But I don't think it follows that the government should be involved in any of that, especially morality. As I'm sure you know, the government doesn't have any resources of it's own to be involved in anything. What it has it must first take from the people through taxes (be directly, indirectly through inflation from printing more money, or to future generations through borrowing). Because of that, the state is (should be) restricted to only doing those things that citizens themselves can do. And since I can't force my morality on anyone, I can't give that authority to the government to do in my place. For one of my blog posts on that, see here.

Just a pondering, but I wonder if our spirits (spirit bodies and conscience) were created from these intelligences as if they are raw material. What I mean is, our physical bodies and brains were created from the raw material in the physical universe. Why not have a similar means of creation of our spirits out of intelligence, which was never created but has existed forever, unorganized? Hmm...

Should the state get out of the business of licensing marriage? What about a system where marriage is strictly contractual on a private basis w/o benefits bestowed by government? Here's some reading to get the conversation started. I'll quote an excerpt, but I recommend reading the entire thing: Cato.org's David Boaz - Privatize Marriage I personally wouldn't have a problem with the government getting out of the marriage process other than through enforcing contract law.

Since it's been hijacked, here's a good article by LDS scientist David Baily. Latter-day Creationism - by David Bailey

This isn't first hand knowledge, but it is reliable, that the Church works with Foxhall. To what extent I couldn't say, but I've heard good things about them from good sources.

I think our faith is affirmed when after we reach out to Him, he reaches back. That can happen any number of ways. Then it becomes knowledge, however it still requires faith to believe that what has happened is indeed from God. And on and on it goes, as are faith and knowledge increase. I think ultimately it comes back to agency and our choosing to pursue that course and interpret those experiences as such. With reason, of course.

Of course, past performance does not guarantee future results. I understand this company does pretty well with their management. But that's about all I understand at this point .

I blogged about something some time ago I thought I'd share. It's titled "God's Two Options" and is about God's options when it comes to requiring faith to know Him. Let the discussion ensue! God's Two Options - by Skyler Collins

Well that depends on if or how it's managed.

Welcome! Tell me now, are you easily offended by Canadian jokes?

Which part of the country? Economic, political, religious? And welcome, I'm new myself and have enjoyed it so far!

Absolutely. If I can minimize my mortgage payment with say a 5/1 option arm, and make 12% a year on the accumulated difference, then after 30 years I'd have half a million dollars and a paid for house. But if I already have a paid for house, then it would better take the entire would-be mortgage payment and invest it, as I'm sure you'd agree.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't make the best of and learn from the trials in our life. I'm saying that we shouldn't be looking for them. And when it comes to others oppressing others, we should help them fight back instead of telling them it's really for their own good. I could always come break your windows for you if you really think it's a good idea.

For #2, trading interest payments for tax deductions is silly as most of the time you pay more in interest than you save in tax deductions. It's a great benefit while you need the mortgage, but not when you don't.

Though not common, there are good renters out there. There's also ways to incentivize treating the property well such as big deposits or monthly inspections with fines/penalties. I don't know about single family rentals but with apartments, I hear it's better to keep lease terms to 6 months.

I agree with this post. I definitely wouldn't have a group meeting. As for the boy, I agree you don't want to bring him down but she also needs to understand that if he truly cared for her and her beliefs, he wouldn't have taken her there or allowed it to get there. Then again, it could have been her pushing him, you just never know these days.

Have you considered renting it and using the income on another house? That is the first thing I would consider if I had a house that was paid for and I didn't want to live there any more. Then you can afford a bigger mortgage with the extra rental income.

Maybe you could go to your Bishop and ask for a calling? That should make Sundays a little more interesting.

I must disagree. If that were the case, then Hitler, Stalin, and Mao should be praised for the blessings they delivered to their people through "trials", right? This is somewhat synonymous with what's called the Broken Window Fallacy in economics. That fallacy is about what is seen and what is not seen when a shopkeeper has to replace his window that someone broke. What is seen is the new window and the glazier's profit (much to the joy of the rest of the town), what is not seen is where that money would have been used had it not gone to replacing the window. Perhaps it would have gone to the tailor for a new suit for the shopkeeper. It's an unknown, but too often people believe the window being broken was a good thing because not only did the glazier profit, but the new window was probably made with better technology. If it's such a good thing, then why don't we all go around and destroy things? How this relates is that trials will come in our lives no matter what we do to try to avoid them. But that doesn't mean that we should look for them and invite them, and even worse, that we should stand back and watch as others face trials that we can and should do something to stop, such as oppression.

Exactly, and the world would be worse off for it.

I think I have been misunderstood. My point is we don't know and because of that, we should tread lightly lest our conjecture give someone the wrong idea.

That's great. I personally choose to render unto God before I render unto Cesar and myself. It all comes down to how much you're trying to justify what you give.

I mean there may be those that because they believe as previously described, they will justify their hatred of or actions towards (etc) those with plight (such as people under oppression), as their own fault and choosing and unworthy of our help. They would forget or ignore that in LDS and Judeo/Christian doctrine, every soul is created equal and no one is better than any other. This belief would be in conflict with the people doing what I wrote above. If I believed that we all chose the circumstances to which we are born (not saying we did or didn't, just that it may not be productive to go there) then it's easier for me to justify my evil towards people born into oppressive situations of which they have no real control over. I could feel good about not feeding the hungry or clothing the naked, since they chose to be born into those circumstances, after all. Really, these are just innocent musings on my part, but it's important I'm not misunderstood.

Oh I'm not talking about internals, I'm talking about externals. Think along the same lines as justifying slavery with an appeal to the Bible. You're 100% right on the existence, or lack thereof, of trials.

Hehe. I think we were just all unorganized (un-genderized) intelligence. Then we were born spiritually and given (on purpose or randomly) a gender. We are then born into the same gender physical bodies, however unfortunately, thanks to mortality, there are certain mutations that confuse the situation, but nevertheless the Lord knows are hearts and we'll be judged accordingly.