Tarnished

I think you mean addlepated and canker blossom. Spell check does wonders. And an appropriate use of all three words would be something like this. If this is really about the problems men and boys in that ward have with a mother breastfeeding then I find the addlepated behavior of the men in that ward churlish, acting as if the mother is waving a canker blossom around for all to see. Getting closer to the subject, I would like to hear what came of the whole matter.

Ok, one chink in this whole dream plan. I checked on the auction house this morning, and it is not done yet with bidding. Bidding actually doesn't end until August 25th. So this Wednesday. The current bid is up to $34,000 and has not yet made the reserve. So, I am of the opinion that we wait to see what happens with the bidding before we start making serious plans about the whole thing. That and we wait to see what happens with the $119k house. For those interested I am ready to give up on the auction house, it has given us too many problems already and we aren't even into it yet.

I went to BYU - Idaho, and it didn't negatively affect transfering to other schools. The fact is that when you transfer from one school to another there are some classes that your new school will not accept or does not have a similar class to. I got my Associates from BYU - I and then went to USU to get my bachelors, but because my husband had health problems we had to move to Salt Lake City and I had to transfer from USU to U of U, I had more problems with my USU classes transferring than I did with my BYU - I classes transferring. In fact I had to re-take about 5 courses that I had taken at USU, just to get my degree at U of U. BYU is a good college, my brother in law got his degree there and had no problem finding a job. I think what college you choose to go to really comes down to what you want to do in life, and how that college will help you get there. Often this applies more to grad school than it does to undergrad.

Why? I have personally seen men lower than an Apostle or a prophet damage the faith of people in the church, so why does it have to be at a higher level?

I wish, there was no money there. That is ok, what he doesn't have in money he makes up for in sweetness and good looks.

Oh yea, that is right he said you would be rich and successful, and a salesman. Which has also all turned out false, I could have dealt with the rich and successful part though. *sigh* Oh well, at least you know I didn't marry you for your money.

As related in my earlier comment, a bishop can influence quite a number of people, especially depending on where they are located. At the very least they can influence their own ward, and the people in that ward can influence people they know. The bishop I spoke about had quite a following, and from what I hear now that he has his own church he has a good following there as well. There was also the man who decided to write the book of Lehi, and pass it off as real. He made things up, the way he figured Joseph Smith did, and he led quite a number of members away from the church. I don't know that he actually held any position at all.

I ran into a person like this, a false prophet if you will. When I was at college I had a bishop who "told the future" people in my ward would go to him to have him tell them what would happen in their future. He claimed to have personal revelation for every person in the ward. My roommates at the time went to visit him on a weekly basis, it was quite disturbing. At one point my roommates became worried because my boyfriend and I were thinking about getting married and they felt that we were moving too quickly so they reported me to the bishop. He called me in and told me that if I married my boyfriend that my husband would have many female friends, he would cheat on me and I would have a terrible marriage. My boyfriend at that time is currently my husband, he has never cheated on me, he has never had a female friend while we have been married and I have never been happier than I am married to him. We sent that bishop a wedding invite when we got married. Later I asked someone who grew up in the area about the man, it turns out he has started his own church and set himself up as the prophet of it. This is what I think Elder Ballard was talking about. People who claim to have revelation that overrides that of our leaders. People who claim to have personal revelation for other people when they really don't. I don't think we have to worry about the First Presidency or the Twelve Apostles.

I am friends with a heterosexual married couple that practices polyamory, or in other terms they are swingers. They attend parties that involve polyamory, and actively look for people to date and have sex with. I think if homosexual couples are charged more for health insurance due to promiscuous sexual behavior then people like this couple would need to be charged similarly. Promiscuous sex is promiscuous sex no matter what your sexual preference is. Straight, bi, or gay, if you are sleeping around chances are you are going to catch something.

And in my house that question is always answered with, "BOY, GET YOUR OWN!" Followed by laughing on both sides.

I tend to find that I get aggrivated with athiestic books I come across. The way they are usually portrayed by the author just rubs me the wrong way. Though I haven't read the book you are speaking of I have come across some child focused athiest books that really bothered me. In general I tend to stay away from those types of books as I don't much like reading things that aggrivate me. Thank you for giving the book review though, it helps if I ever come across the book.

When it comes to blood donations I do know that they tend to no longer ask for blood from the family anymore because the pressure to donate can lead family members with problems that would keep them from donating to donate. It has been awhile since I last donated so I can't remember what they ask, however if the question is already there then I don't think they will stop asking. Besides I think they check the blood they get for diseases before sending it on to be given to people.

You may be angry at Muslims for the terrorist acts they have done but you can't blame every single Muslim for it. When I compare the extremists to a completely different religion I am serious. The extremists may be of the same religion but the things they believe are as different from mainstream Muslims as Baptists are from Catholics. Not every Muslim is a terrorist. In fact most of them are very good people. I think this comment is a bit over the top, and reminds me of some of the things that were done to our church in the early years.

I second the thrift store idea, as well as things like Craig's list. You can find people willing to resale baby items that are almost new. Each time my siblings or me have had a baby on the way my grandmother has gone garage sale shopping, she is able to pick up a huge number of cute baby clothes that she sends as a present. But it works well for new moms as well. And often you can find clothes that have only been worn once, if that. I have found swings, strollers, and many other high priced items for cheap at thrift stores, again remember to check recalls.

Again I must return to the Christian example I used before. If the people who did the terrorist act were Baptists and the people who wanted to build the building were Catholics would you have the same problem?

We have to take into consideration that not all Muslims are the same. There are the extremists and there are those who are not extremists. When this project was first announced there was not a huge outcry over it, it has only been over time and through misrepresentation of the media that this has become some huge controversy. When it comes down to it the difference between the extremists and those who are not is much like the difference between different Christian faiths, it is like some Christian group (say Baptists (not picking on a religious sect here, just making an analogy)) is the cause of some terrorist act somewhere in the world and a few years later another Christian group (say Catholics) want to build a religious building near (but not at) the site of the terrorist act, and people of that area say the same things that people here are saying. Would it really make sense? Not really because the Baptists are not the Catholics and vice versa. The extremists are not the regular Muslims and often their beliefs differ in significant ways from those who are not extremists. I think to look for some diabolical and politically destructive plot in this is really grasping at straws.

Visit teaching can be difficult, sometimes sisters don't want you to visit, sometimes they do, sometimes your companion can be a bit difficult to deal with. If you current companion bothers you so much, ask for a new one. As for the sister that visits you, you can always do what I do. My house is dog proof, but not child proof. Meaning that dogs can safely run around in it without destroying things but children might get hurt. I usually sit and watch my visiting teachers children and ask every so often, "Do you really want them playing with that?" Usually it is a knife or something else sharp and pointy or possibly harmful to children. I warn the ladies who visit me that my house is not childproof but that I am ok with their children playing as long as they are fine with their child's safety. On the other hand, this is probably not the best way of dealing with things. The best way would probably be to take the sister aside and tell her of your concerns, ask her to not bring her children if possible or to be willing to pay for the destruction they cause when they come over.

My mom is like you in this way. She often says that she is ready to go, because she is ready to return to her Savior and ready to start working on the other side of the veil. She is about to turn 50 so she isn't close to her expected lifespan at all. But she has been making comments like this for as long as I can remember. I don't much like the comments myself because I want to have more time to spend with her before she goes. I know I will see her again but I want to make the most of the time I have with her in this life.

Gingerbread cookie army made me think of this.

I have found among my friends who leave the church that somehow they tend to forget things they knew when they were members. I don't know why or how this comes about but somehow they seem to forget. It doesn't surprise me that you have forgotten. There is a belief in the church that people who are in the Celestial kingdom will be able to visit those in other kingdoms. But because we are not at that point yet no one really knows for certain. What would probably sadden them the most is that they love you I am sure, and if you end up somewhere else then you will not actually be part of their family anymore in the afterlife. You would not be able to share the same joy that they will have at that time. I don't think they would see you as worthless, just that you would not get everything they want to you have. I think parents always want the best for their kids (most of them do anyway) and the thought that their child might not have that would probably make most parents sad. Your choices though are your choices. And I am sure that they will love you no matter what choices you choose to make.

Very true, thank you for continuing to use the fish analogy.

Do people fall for it? Yes, which is one of the reasons these people come back. Do we have hordes of crazies or do we have the same ones coming back? Yes. I think people like to come here just to mess with people, and I think there are probably frequent posters, who come back again and again. Why are they attracted to lds.net? In my opinion it is because crazies and trolls like to throw something into the water and watch all the fishies roil about in the drama it causes. Any forum can give them that, and every forum attracts them. To continue my fish analogy, forums are chum for trolls and crazies.

I wanted to quote you here. Too often on these forums I see people who speak of things they don't agree with as some sort of juicy gossip. Your first comment I quoted sounds exacly like something someone would whisper conspiritorally behind their hand to someone else. Something meant to create shock and judgemental thoughts of that family and their daughter. So what that she wanted to go to BYU! The school is not going to say, "Oh, you got a breast enhancement so you can't attend now." Your second quote points out another pet peeve I have. Too often people blame things for their own actions. "Guns kill people. Cars cause accidents. The devil made me do it." When it comes down to it though, we make our own choices. A gun doesn't hop up on it's own and start killing people. Cars don't drive themselves and cause accidents. And we make our own choices when it comes to what we do in our life. Yes we can be influenced by other people, but our choices are just that, our choices. Social consequences only come about because people are often weak willed, they give in to things that they think sound good, without thinking things through all the way. Did these women's actions in getting breast implants influence others? Yes, it sounds like it did, but it was those other people's choices to choose what to do with that influence. I can't make you upset you have to choose to be upset, just like the original two women did not force the other women to get breast implants, the other women made that choice on their own. As many others have pointed out there are two sides to this. There are the women who made the initial decision to get breast implants and then there are others who made a choice based on their conversations with these other women. But the choice came down to those women. We need to stop condemning people for choices we make ourselves. And we need to start teaching our children and ourselves to think things through before making choices, to not be led by things that we see around us. It reminds me of different celebrities out there. Often you see some singer or actress who starts out as a cute sweet teen and becomes a public icon for other teens. Then they decide to train-wreck their life and people get upset because they were a rolemodel to our children. It makes me think that we need to give our children different rolemodels if we want to ensure that they make choices based on what we think is righteous rather than what the world sees as fine. But when it comes down to it we can't blame other people's choices for the choices we make ourselves.

That woman looks like a Unicorn!

How did your lesson go by the way?