prisonchaplain

It could be the feared Y2K bug. Ironically, computers used 99 rather than 1999 because memory was limited and expensive back in the day. The fear was that nuclear weapons computers, air traffic control, energy power grids etc. would all go haywire at midnight 1/1/00.

Aw, come on @Jamie123, are you telling me you don't like THIS Tattoo:

I agree that this probably comes down to Tim not believing he crossed the line (abuse of 'name' and relationship) and the Church believing he did. The message was communicated clearly though--don't even come close to abusing the church or its leaders for personal gain. No hint or whiff of that will be tolerated.

Sometimes outside views help. My impression is that self-promotion is deeply frowned upon in LDS circles. Worse would be to use church leadership for personal benefit. My sense, then, is that leadership took great offense at Ballard's name-dropping and use of LDS connections. They did so on behalf of the Church. I'm not sure any of this controversy speaks to other allegations against him or to whether or not his future political aspirations are plausible or commendable.

Granting that any real change to the scheduling and practices of the Church will come by the direction of the Holy Ghost, how has the shift from three to two hours of weekly ward time changed spiritual practice? Is more happening outside the ward? Has the streamlining meant most of the three hours of content get packed into the two hours? Is there less fluff and more meat? OR, should the Spirit lead, would you enjoy a return to three hours of weekly services on Sunday?

😁 I'm from the government. I'm here to help.

The impression I had from the Vice article was that President Ballard and the Church were upset that he had used them to promote himself and his organization. There did not seem to be any connection (as far as the Church or President Ballard's condemnation) to allegations of Tim's sexual improprieties.

The impression I got from reporting on the reporting (bias upon bias, I know) was that President Ballard, and the Church, were mostly displeased with Tim's use of the President's name/reputation/authority, as well as that of the Church, for apparent promotion of himself and his organizations.

This point is so crucial--and so easy to demonstrate. Most of us recall praying that God would bring a certain cute person into our romantic lives. We were usually very young teenagers and thought we had met the love of our lives. How many of us thank God daily for NOT answering that prayer in the affirmative.

There are many examples of religion gone awry. Further, I'm not going to defend Baal worship. My purpose was to highlight how God can use something we've considered bad for so long--religion--as a good--a preparation for acceptance of the gospel. My pastor argues that one of the spirits Jesus' crucifixion set out to destroy was that of religion. I suspect that even within the many wards represented here there are probably a few who are more motivated by religion than the Holy Ghost. So, of course, religion can be understood as bad. However, it's amazing how God can use religion itself (again, defined as a system by which one seeks God) can be so useful in preparing a soul to embrace the Good News.

I heard a great teaching on this subject. The speaker addressed the elephant in the room--same-sex attraction and gender confusion. He told the story of a pilot several decades back who wanted to cross the Atlantic by plane. As he reached his cruising altitude, he realized something was wrong. He noticed that there was a rat chewing on wiring. He could not reach the rat. Suddenly, he realized that if he rose to a high enough altitude the rat would not be able to breathe. So he throttled up. Sure enough, the rat suffocated, and his problem was solved. Christians need to do likewise. When we have ungodly thoughts, we should "throttle up." In other words, bring the wrong thoughts to the scriptures and the influence of the Holy Ghost. So, fill up with God's stuff and there won't be room left for the dross.

Replace the word "woke" with the word "divisive," and I will grant you the possibility. I doubt that Chinese leadership is savvy enough to realize that woke ideology is horrible. However, they know that gender or race-centric fads will increase division in the U.S. Divide--then conquer.

He was trying to be funny. The next year I thought I was funnier. We both came to realize that neither of us had a normal sense of humor. 😉

And to think I was impressed that President Reagan had a BA in Economics. 🙂

When my brother-in-law graduated with a Masters in English Literature (he now has a doctorate and is a professor) he told me I should call him Master. The next year I graduated from seminary and asked if he would be calling me Divine Master. Needless to say, we're on a first name basis now. 😉

This reminds me of the Education Pyramid. 1. In kindergarten we learn a little bit about everything. 2. In high school we learn more about less. 3. In college we learn even more about even less. 4. At the doctorate level we learn everything about nothing.

GULP!

Typical scene at my college football games (and just about any sports stadium of teams I cheer for):

I'm not necessarily advocating this, but there is The A.C.T.--The Alliance of Christian Tattooers. I imagine that their argument is that the biblical prohibition against tattooing was part of the ritualistic law (similar to laws about not blending cloth types or kosher regulations), and is not part of the moral law, so Christians are not bound by it. Most Evangelicals likely agree with this reasoning, but in practice are not comfortable with tattooing. We still associate it with rebellion and being counterculture, even though it's considered mainstream these days. I guess I'm a product of my advanced middle age.

That could backfire. Far too many bought into the antisemitic trope that immoral Jewish Hollywood influencers are intentionally destroying American morality. My fear is that adding LDS would not help Jews. Rather, it would resurrect a lie that deserves to die a swift death.

I finally showed our LDS volunteers this website and my role as a non-LDS moderator. The introduction was the question: Does the term "third hour" mean anything to you? They said it used to. So, I mentioned that some LDS folk wanted a third hour to discuss the gospel and other topics, and so LDSTalk was renamed. While they said they had never heard of the site they seemed impressed. They expressed appreciation, so who knows, we may see a bit of uptick in our traffic. 🙂

Nothing bad comes from donuts. Some of us do develop a bit of "tactical girth" however. 😉

This brings to mind the sad story of a young couple who got married in church and then had their first child five months later. The oft-repeated comment was that they had broken the speed limit. 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️ (They did repent, btw).

I'm guessing it's the same way I know. 😉

Telling a narcissist who believes s/he is the opposite gender from what they were born as that they suffer from a gender dysphoria strikes me as fair, firm, consistent halfway point. 😉