bytebear

My weird wards are all from my mission. I guess New England has some characters. :) One girl gave her SM talk on tasks and have the visual aid of rocks (representing unpleasant large tasks) and sugar (the fun little things) and proceeded to show how if we do the big things first we still have room for the little things. She put the rocks in a mason jar, and then poured the sugar over it. Well some of her tasks got all over the pulpit. Not good to have messy examples in Sacrament meeting. We also covered a singles Ward in the Boston area. They had a potluck dinner after sacrament around 5 PM because most of the singles came from far away, and it gave them time to socialize. Well, a lot of the homeless in the area found out about the free food, and so as a compromise, the bishop only allowed the homeless to share in the potluck if they also attended church. Well, that made for some interesting testimonies, to say the least. But it was fun.

You haven't heard some of the political speeches of Ezra Taft Benson, a former prophet of the church. They speak out against the exact policies and current actions of Obama. It's actually a little scary how he describes events 30 years prior to their fruition.

Hi Tootired. After reading your post, all I can think is how those other women are complaining about the little things when you have been through things much bigger. It seems to me, if you are just getting tired now, you must be mighty strong!

Well, maybe I am biased. Heck, I know I am. My cousin (who is really like my sister) is getting a divorce from her second husband. She quit her job, moved to another state, gave up her friends, her ward, everything. Her soon to be ex husband is a nice enough guy, a temple worthy husband, and she is also temple worthy, but he had two kids from his first marriage. and she has a son from her first, and they simply could not get things to work out in discipline, time and attention to each of the kids. Both parents struggle to put their kids first and ended up neglecting each other and the other's kids. Now things are getting nasty, and both are struggling with not being mean to each other. He may be disfellowshipped over some actions he has taken to make things very hard for her. So, I think Dr. Laura is right on. Kids deserve the parents attention, and don't need the drama of another person to compete with for affection. It just has the potential for so much heartache and bad feelings.

Social life, yes. dating, no. The kids need a mom who they know thinks more of them than a new boyfriend. Statistics show that second marriages end in divorce far more than firsts, and with children the stats go up. Raise the kids for 9 years and then get back in the dating scene. They don't need the added stress of a new man who will most likely not be there for the long haul. It's just a gamble I would not take.

I don't know any secular university that tries to substantiate the claims of the Bible. For example, is there any real scientific evidence that Noah's ark existed? Was Genesis really written by Abraham? Did Moses even exist? Did Jesus? Do we have any institution outside of Christianity trying to prove these beliefs?

I am not going to be popular for my answer, but I agree with Dr. Laura when she says you shouldn't date until the kids are 18. You will have enough on your plate without adding potential drama to their lives.

I think the best thing is to communicate the situation as soon as possible. If you know you are going to miss church, call the primary president or a counselor and let them know before church starts so they will not be wondering where you are. That will make you seem more reliable and less flaky. And it will give them time to arrange for a substitute. No one likes to be caught by surprise.

You won't go to hell necessarily, but you will not be able to relate sexually with your future wife. She won't be able to measure up to your fantasies, and you will soon grow tire of her, even if she is as beautiful as the women you are looking at. Porn simply numbs you to love, and you will find it much harder to have a healthy sex life with just one woman. And that is a real tragedy. So, stop looking at porn NOW! Go play basketball or something.

Not really related, but I would recommend watching the movie, The Other Side of Heaven. It's a far more realistic depiction of missionary work in the Pacific islands.

Do you feel he represented the LDS church fairly? It sounds like if he is saying "things we've all heard and answered a thousand times" I would think the answer is no. But he has an agenda, and that is generally to distrust the missionaries and LDS followers and trust him instead. I find that sad and a little unchristian.

I always thought it was "in tents with porpoises'.

You can attend church as a visitor for as long as you like before baptism. Maybe you should try attending for a month or two and decide if you want to join after that. But I would say be an active visitor, meeting the members and involving yourself in Sunday School for example.

I would recommend prayer. The old saying, "God makes a way" seems appropriate. Talk to your bishop about your situation and together figure out the correct solution, whatever that may be. It may mean waiting until your husband has a change of heart. That's where the prayer comes in. But, whatever happens, God will provide a way. 1 Nephi 3:7 I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

You mean like the "plan of salvation?"

Articles of Faith: 13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. What does that really mean in this context?

The glory of God is intelligence, or in other words, LIGHT and TRUTH. So, light is eternally connected with truth. We are taught that through the Holy Ghost we can know the truth of all things. Once we know all truth, we become pure light (going along with your thougths). So, how do we know truth? Through experience. No other way to know than to live it.

Every principle of the gospel is true. But we don't know that. We must try the principle and prove that it is true. Let's take an example. Tithing. It's easy to pay tithing when we have a great job, are making lots of money, can feed our families. If we are never tried, we will never know what the blessings of tithing really are, because we never really see the results of sacrifice, because we aren't really sacrificing. But if we lose our job, fall under hardship, then we really will struggle with tithing, and we must prove the principle. If we continue to pay tithing, we will see how our lives are blessed. We can never know the depth of that blessing without the trial.

Luke 22:24 pretty much sums it up for me. 42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. If Jesus is the same essence of God, how can they have opposing wills?

I simply do not believe the gay couple's story that it was just a kiss on the cheek. Given the hostile reaction to the security guard, I believe they were purposely making a statement. I just don't find them credible.

It's all about the escalation. They were politely asked to stop. They got belligerent. There are first hand accounts of heterosexual couples being given the same polite request, so I don't believe for one second that they were held to a double standard. And I do believe that if a straight couple got uppity about being told to stop, they would be treated exactly the same way. There is no double standard. Sorry, that dog just won't hunt.

Actually we don't know that. Only the couple has made a statement saying it was a kiss on the cheek. Neither the church nor the security personnel to my knowledge has issued any statement regarding the extent of the affection. The church was clear on the fact that the couple "became argumentative and used profanity" which is what led to this being news. They escalated the situation. Now you can speculate as to why they chose to do that, but I think the reasons were clear. From the article

I though I had read a post from someone else who said they were told to stop kissing in the tabernacle. I think the rule is applied equally. The difference is the gay couple escalated the situation by becoming hostile to the request to stop. (and I personally think their behavior was intentional and meant to cause a scene)

My twin cousins will be returning from their missions soon. One of the great strengths of the church is the ability for a couple farm kids from Idaho to start their lives fluent in Hungarian and Korean.

Another option is to just start attending church regularly. You hopefully will make some friends there too, that you can have over and discuss religion with. The missionaries can be there too, and you can find someone who you feel is more akin to your kind of life experience.