LittleWyvern

Sure I do. I find it funny how you assume I'm Democratic/liberal just because I don't think somebody is automatically apostate by voting Democrat. Well, gee, I guess we better start asking every member of the Church who they voted for in 2012 and excommunicate/church discipline/take away temple recommend/etc. all those who voted Democratic. EDIT: Unless, of course, somebody says they're Democratic and never votes for Democrats. Then I guess they're ok.

And I thought the worst thing that would happen to this thread was Ried bashing. Well, I thought it was pretty clear, but I suppose it is worth a re-read: Did I miss something when I connected "Democrat" and "liberal" with "they?" Indeed. Principles compatible with the gospel can be found in the various political parties. Apart from certain moral issues, one is not apostate simply because they belong to a particular political party (or do not belong to a particular political party). EDIT: I also want to make it clear that I believe abortion, when not done according to the guidelines the Church has set, is a sin, as well as supporting those who do so.

That's what I got out of this, among other things: Which is why I wrote this: Assuming all members of (insert party/group you don't like here) are "baby killers" or support abortion on demand is a malicious oversimplification, especially when it comes to complex topics such as abortion where there are many more than two schools of thought.

Oh, mine changed too. Now I'm COOL.

Well, sure, that's fine, but your answer labels many members of the Church in countries across the world, including many in the United States as well as many on this board, as apostate (or at least sinful enough to not take the Sacrament, whatever you take that to mean) simply because they do not subscribe to the beliefs of a particular political party in a particular country. You are casting the political beliefs of those who disagree with yours in the worst possible light, which I don't think is warranted. Consider this statement by the First Presidency, which is given before nearly all large political elections and most recently given last year: There's obviously many reasons that one identifies with a political party. When it comes down to it, no one political party is 100% compatible with Church teachings. If I were to use your treatment of liberals, I'm sure I could make people of any political persuasion look like vile, evil sinners. Apart from moral issues, one's political beliefs do not affect one's standing in this Church. That wouldn't even make sense in a worldwide church, where anybody can be a worthy member of the Church regardless of what country they live in. Saying you can't be a good Mormon simply because of the political party or persuasion one belongs to is simply wrong.

Someday we're all going to sit around a fire somewhere and have the weirdest nostalgia.

I know how you feel. Every time somebody uses the word "unskew" I giggle a little.

I dunno, are there any Mormons in Europe? *looks over* Yep, it looks like they're still there.

The JST wasn't only for correcting translation errors. This is a quote from an Ensign article: So I think this one fits in category 3: not a correction, but inspired commentary.

Today, this guy made me happy. :)

As a BYU kid, you bet!

Well, fine, but take it up with the BLS, not me. I just looked up their data and copypasta'd it.

The inflation rate is a derived percentage from the Consumer Price Index, which uses a variety of goods and services to perform its calculations. The price of one or several goods may be increasing faster than the inflation rate, but the inflation rate views a wide spectrum of goods and services in order to purposely eliminate local trends or spikes. I'd have to see if there's a similar index that only uses food prices, but saying that yearly inflation is 10%-15% is completely false. EDIT: Or maybe you think the BLS is deliberately falsifying their numbers, and if that's the case then I give up.

I looked up the USD inflation rate out of curiosity, and it's currently at 1.8% for 2013. In 2012 it was 1.7%.

Oh my goodness I posted in that thread over 4 1/2 years ago what is this I don't even

You could ask the missionaries to invite the Bishop over to one of your lessons. Either way I'm sure you'll meet the Bishop at church. He might see you and introduce yourself to him, but if not (he's a busy guy: he's in charge of the whole ward!), go introduce yourself. I'm sure he'd be very excited to see new members of the ward. Also, if you want to know more people in the congregation, have the missionaries invite someone to one of your lessons. It's a good idea to make friends from the congregation early, because missionaries come and go all the time and having someone who knows the journey you've taken to join the Church who you can rely on being there makes everything easier. I've put them here so you can reference them. Easy, right? :) Ask the missionaries if they know of a ward in your area that meets in the evening. You may have to go to a meetinghouse farther away, but there should be one. Don't worry too much about it, the missionaries will help you with the planning. As far as the hymns go, just listen to the hymns sung at church. If there's one you particularly like, remember the number and ask the missionaries if they can put it in your program.

Most of the planning involved is picking a day that you'll be baptized. Once that is decided, the missionaries will schedule a time for your baptismal interview (more on that later) and then contact the ward leadership so that they can get the word out about your baptism to the ward so that (hopefully!) as many people from the ward can make plans to attend. The baptismal interview is a brief interview done by another missionary, who is typically the leader of the missionaries that taught you. The interview is very simple, and is mostly just a confirmation that your missionaries have taught you what they should have. If you're nervous about this, ask your missionaries, they can give you all the questions they will ask (it's a standardized list of questions) and even prep you for it if you'd like. I can even post the questions here if you want. It can be any day you like (after the missionaries teach you, of course). Try to pick a day so that friends and family can come and attend, if they'd like. Don't be afraid to invite them, whether or not they are members of the LDS Church, because everybody is invited to attend baptisms and it will make your baptism that much more special. Something you may want to watch out for is that even though receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is an integral part of your baptism, it is typically done at church the Sunday after your baptism before the Sacrament is taken. This gives a chance for everybody at church to know that there's a new member in the ward. It usually takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Once you pick a day for your baptism, you'll also work with the missionaries to work out a program. This program typically contains, other than your baptism, hymns sung by those attending and talks given by the missionaries or other members of the ward. It's your baptism, so don't be afraid to make decisions about the hymns or talks, if you have any preferences. :)

The one that got pulled off of YouTube was stolen from the original uploaders (in this case, it was copied without attribution). YouTube generally frowns on that sort of thing. By default, YouTube videos are uploaded under a license whereby the uploader retains all rights of redistribution.

That's just the point. It's got everything a typical cultural hall activity has: Basketball floorA senior missionary couple stopping byThose plastic tablesThose plastic tablesheetsRed water coolerVastly under-sized water coolerImprovised surfacesBalloons filled with air, not heliumThose sliding doorsIt's got that "you kinda have to be there to get the point" kinda quality to it.

Exactly this. If we're going to be invited, I think two things have to happen: More religious freedom. Like MoE said, events in Egypt should give us hope, but we still have a long way to go in countries like the UAE, Yemen, etc.Both Muslims and Mormons need to be much more comfortable with co-existing. There's a lot of work to do on both sides of this, but I think we're slowly but surely building bridges. The fact that there's an honest-to-goodness mosque in Salt Lake City and another in the works in Orem(!), and there are some congregations in Muslim countries (one of my fellow missionaries in my mission was from Jordan) makes me happy.EDIT: For anybody who's curious where the Church has official presence, here's a map: Dark blue means official presence and a temple, light blue means official presence but no temple, and gray means no official presence. This map dates from 2011, though, so it may be slightly out of date.

This may not be exactly what you're looking for, but here's a photo essay I read earlier that I think fits this theme. :) EDIT: I just have to link this image from the photo essay. It is the most Mormon photo I've ever seen.

I'm guessing that some languages take longer to express something than expressing the same thing in English (I've heard this said about some African languages). Perhaps the translations were a bit rushed (to follow the cues and flow of the English version, since they share the same video) and a bit distracting because of it.

...what a perfect couple. EDIT: But seriously though, congrats. :)

Sorry, I meant to type "Aslan's book," not "Aslan." Again, I'm not trying to get you to agree with Aslan. Think whatever you want about him, I'm fine with that. I'm just trying to say we should be careful to not dislike Aslan because he is a Muslim or believes in Islamic beliefs and decide he's a liar or dangerous just based off that.

Oh, it's worse than that. Trying to map Aslan's views on Islamic jurisprudence to American political labels is like trying to fit a round peg into a square hole that's on the Moon. Look, I'm not trying to get you to agree with Aslan or even like the guy. All I'm trying to say is that we should be very careful about who we term "anti-Christ" (as your logic for labeling Aslan anti-Christ would apply to all Muslims, but I'll trust you when you say you're not anti-Muslim for now), and try to avoid using arguments to discredit someone else's beliefs as wrong or "incriminating" that would also label our beliefs as wrong or incriminating. We can't actively oppose anti-Mormonism and then turn around and use anti-Mormonism's same weapons to bludgeon another person's faith. This isn't (at its core) about politics or law, it's about respecting other faiths, even if they disagree with us. --> This.