marshac

My wife and I were confirmed the following week. I received the Aaronic priesthood about a month later, and the Melchizedek about a year later after some interviews with my Bishop and Stake President.

I know that Red Bull is what's provided in the physician's lounge, and we go through it pretty quickly. I can't tell you how many cans of the sugar free kind I consume during a 100 hour week stretch. At 75mg per can, it's only double than what's in a 12oz can of Coke. Most of the major brand energy drinks (Monster, Red Bull, Rockstar) have slightly more or less caffeine than a good sized cup of coffee- and few people outside of the LDS community would bat an eye at a coffee drinker. The off-brands are the ones you've got to be concerned about- one brand (whose name I forget) advertises 334mg of caffeine per can. That's too much and would ruin a caffeine-naive person's day/night.

Be that as it may, I did watch Sum of All Fears last night- Netflix had it online and I needed to watch SOMETHING out of respect....... I liked it.

This is terrible- we lost a fantastic author. I always enjoyed the screenplays for his books too- although I'm not happy about this, there will now be less marital friction in the future about what movie to see on date night.

I'm glad it all worked out even if some abx were needed for the PROM- that sure was odd though and a good call by your doc to head into surgery. You furthered my own medical education. :)

Ugh, I feel so so so old now. Thanks Pam.

I listen to some of the same ones that SlamJet does- there are some excellent ones on that list- I won't name names just so that you'll have to try them all I would also check out the financial sense newshour if you enjoy market/economic commentary. Steel on steel is also good, although it's actually a radio show and not necessarily a podcast. I can't forget CarTalk either :)

Wow, seriously? Why must you choose to interpret my words in the worst possible light? My point simply has to do with not wanting to cause problems for people where none existed before. If someone brings up a topic, I'm more than happy to discuss, but I'm not going to volunteer information since I have no way to repair foundations I might unintentionally damage. Do you honestly think this is unwise? If so I'll discuss everything with my home teacher this Sat- from the little we've talked about it, I assure you, it will all be new information to him. And no, it's not "insider information" as you call it- the Church doesn't hide it, although it makes little attempt to highlight it either. Wow, I really don't know how to respond to such an offensive attack and really don't have time right now to go through it all. I don't appreciate the ad hominem attacks, or the malignant paraphrasing of my words. I wonder what I've done to deserve such scorn from you. I especially love how you pass judgement on us because we're not 100% active cookie-cutter mormons... wow. You don't even know us, or our story- you simply know what I've chosen to relate to you on this public forum. The bit about a family member dying of renal cell cancer, and weekly weekend trips to OHSU for surgery/treatment followed by hospice and a terrible family situation that followed involving a now quasi-orphaned minor child was omitted because it's private- yet you felt just fine passing judgement on me without knowing all the facts. Bottom line is that I was only claiming to relate my experiences from my own faith journey and those in my own ward- I never claimed superior knowledge or experiences, simply a different perspective. As for accusations? What accusations exactly? You mean my observations and comparisons to when I was a Presbyterian? Observations are like opinions- we all have them. Your own experiences were and are clearly different than my own. As for the legitimacy of my own story... I know it's true, and I know others on here know it's true- you can believe as you wish.

I'm not sure millions of Saints truly are familiar with Church history- many are I'm sure, but I suspect the great majority are simply uninformed. Personally I don't feel there is anyone I could talk to in person about historical issues because I wouldn't want to risk exposing them to something that might cause them grief. Sometimes stereotypes are valid, but often times they're not- does that mean that we should automatically assume the stereotype is true? Especially when the stereotype perhaps unjustly tarnishes a person's image? Going around saying "So and so left... I wonder if it's because they're sinning..." isn't going to help foster an environment in which that person would ever want to return. So much fire lobbed in my direction there- I suspect you're mistaking me for someone/something I'm not. All I have are my own experiences to go by as an adult convert to the LDS church. I was raised Methodist and later joined a Presbyterian church where I was involved in the high school youth ministry- we opened and closed our prayers in the name of Jesus as well, but nearly every single lesson or talk revolved around Jesus in some fashion. If you've never been to a non-LDS church, you might not quite understand just how different services and talks/lessons are conducted. For my first year+ as a LDS member I had to sit through a Gospel Principals class that went over such topics as the WoW, Tithing, etc- Jesus just didn't come up as much as I was used to. One Sunday after being member for about 9mo I decided that I really needed some soul food, so I tried to break free from that class and joined everyone else in Gospel Doctrine....some well-intentioned instructor tracked my wife and I down and brought us back to GE class.... It really was a bit of a culture shock every Sunday. Eventually we became less active once I entered medical school and eventually inactive once our second child was born- logistically we just couldn't make things work- we didn't stop attending because we were sinning, offended, or whatever other stereotype you may wish to apply- we simply couldn't due to work and school constraints. Once residency begins we hope to resume activity in a new ward, but that's about a year from now. Mock or pick apart this as much as you want, but honestly, joining the Church cost a lot personally- nobody in my family is LDS (most are atheist or agnostic at best), I don't have a single LDS friend, and my brother is gay- I can assure you that what I did in joining went over like a lead balloon. I don't have any agenda or hidden motives at play. Perhaps it's because I didn't grow up in the Church or because of my background, but when someone brings up a point that's critical of the Church, my first instinct isn't "defend!"- it's to examine the statement and to reconcile it based on my own beliefs and experiences. In the context of this discussion thread, to me as a convert who spent a fair amount of time in the ministry prior to becoming LDS, Palmer's statement about Jesus really rang true with me simply because I have experienced church services elsewhere. Sure, maybe there's stuff in the temple, but we've never been- just to head off speculation, it's not because we didn't tithe or because or some unworthiness issue (we did tithe and I was made an Elder during our period of activity).

VS Jesus' 2005th anniversary?

Part of me really feels for Grant Palmer- it seems as though he has been through a rough spiritual journey despite years of trying to put the facts together in such a way as to keep his faith alive- he shares what the last few months were like (and what lead up to them) on a mormon stories podcast awhile back. On another note, I find it somewhat amusing that within 6 posts some of the most cited reasons for why someone might leave the church came up, all of which typically heft unflattering blame on the person who leaves. Back to Palmer- I own both of his books, and the last one he wrote in 2005- The Incomparable Jesus- really shows the direction his faith was traveling towards the end. Check out the Ensign from December of that same year... It's the Christmas issue, and who is on the cover (and dominates much of the issue)? Joseph Smith. How does this happen in a Church named after Jesus Christ? Is the message that Joseph is more important than Jesus? The lack of focus on Jesus on any given Sunday in a LDS Church clearly was beginning to bother Grant Palmer, and quite frankly, as a convert I too sometimes wonder- despite all the paintings on the walls, he rarely comes up in any of the three hours.

I know we do- perhaps it's knowing that others all around the world are doing the same that makes it different live? I dunno.

Here's my take- the term "marriage" has been more or less been redefined by the state to something that's essentially a civil union- the word "marriage" has been used simply because it's easier to say and everyone knows what it generally means. Where we get into trouble is when we have two groups that use the same word, but have different meanings- LDS and many Christians ascribe a more religious connotation to the word than a heterosexual atheist couple who is getting "married" do. The later is really what gay couples want, not necessarily the former. If I had my preference I would do away with any state involvement in the 'marriage' business and simply relegate them to handing out civil unions for everyone- that way marriage can stay in the church, and the legal construct of marriage can be accomplished with civil unions.

feedly. feed your mind.

We buy coffee, Starbucks K-Cups, wine, beer, etc to have on hand for when guests like my folks are in town- do I look around before putting said items into my shopping cart and cross my fingers that I don't run into anyone as I checkout? You betcha. :)

I own a Glock 21 and I trust it WAY more than my Kel-Tec P3AT which doesn't have ANY safety whatsoever. I never carry that thing with a round chambered which you could also do with a Glock if you're concerned about it.

1 Nephi Female Score: 923 Male Score: 923 The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: unknown! Crazy

Weird. I put in a part of an old neuro paper I wrote... Female Score: 4 Male Score: 125 So it correctly guessed that I'm male, but I'm unsure how a female might have written it differently.

I carry concealed sometimes, and yet I too would feel uncomfortable. Sometimes I also feel uncomfortable when folks open carry- Are they trying to prove something? Did they get turned down for a CCW? I also wonder what their training is and how 'safe' they are with their firearm.... I know I follow the rules for gun safety, but I know not all owners do.... so when I have my kids around and some guy who looks kinda sketchy has a gun in a holster, my spidey sense does begin to tingle a bit. Last thought- if I were on the left and wanted to help bring about stricter gun laws, I would do exactly what this guy is doing- push to the ragged edge of social decorum yet remaining "legal" in order to reign in what's legal and what's not.

I believe the line between clean clothes and destruction of them hinges on how much you use. If you check out the reviews for the product on Amazon, you'll see that the majority of people are using it in their dishwashers and washing machines rather than their decks- I can't claim to take credit for using it this way- I simply heard about it and gave it a shot :)

Just because a person is excommunicated doesn't mean that they lost their faith in the church- unfortunately early excommunications were political as much as they were anything else. Look at the Laws as an example of this. Terrible circumstances, but they still retained the faith. As for spiritual eyes- I'll just point you to this from FAIR.

Speaking in generalities... Although facts are facts, you can't forget about the context in which those facts reside- sometimes a bit of context can change everything, so much so that it's often omitted in order to take a few cheap shots at the church. I've spent a lot of time going over church history, and although some of it is inexplicable, I've at least made peace with most of it.

Are they doctrinal or cultural issues?

This You can get it at home depot.

Anyone here add TSP to their laundry? I add a teaspoon or so when I do whites... man... so clean. So clean in fact that it takes the stamped-on tags on hanes tagless shirts right off. These. Gone.