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Happy birthday PC, hope it was a good one!

I remember reading a case about a transgender person who was born as a male but always said he had feminine feelings (would try to dress up in his mothers clothing, wear her makeup, etc) and he sometimes felt like a woman trapped in a mans body. But he grew up, got married, and fathered six children. One night he went to the emergency room for kidney stones and had an ultrasound and found out he had both male and female internal organs. So he had external male organs, both male and female internal organs, and felt like he was a female. I believe he is now living as a woman but is still married to his wife, it was an interesting case.

It's interesting in scripture how often we are told to pray for our enemies and to respond to hate with love. Just a cursory reading of the bible we have... Matthew 43-47 "43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?" Proverbs 25:21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Luke 6:27 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, Proverbs 19:11 A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. We are also told in scripture that a soft word turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger. There is this forum I read online that has a Franciscan religious brother who posts a lot and I remember a story he told, he once sat next to a man on a bus and when the man saw his habit he asked him if he was Catholic, the brother responded that he was and the man just went into this huge rant about Catholicism and how evil it was and all the horrible things it did. The brother waited until the man was done speaking and then just asked him "I'm sorry I seem to have offended you, would you like to talk about it?" For the rest of the bus ride the brother and this man had a conversation, it turns out several this young man had several horrible experiences in the Catholic Church and just talking with someone about them was a huge help. The brother and this man kept in touch and the young man eventually started going back to mass. I'm not saying every ex-Mormon is going to be brought back into the church but if you respond with love instead of anger to them you might soften some attitudes.

I've found I like the liturgical services of more traditional churches more than I like the services at Evangelical/non denominational churches. The Methodist church I attend now has beautiful traditional services, I love it, it seems to touch something within me. I sometimes attend Catholic masses as well and they are also quite beautiful. The Priest at the Catholic church gives such wonderful thought provoking homilies.

Oops, well then Tough Grits is an awesome girl.

Happy birthday Pale!

Tough Grits is cool. I like reading her posts and her threads are always interesting to post in.

Most of the people I know who refer to themselves as recovering Catholics are very hostile to the Catholic Church.

A quick Google search for ex Christians revealed at least 6 different forums and this was just on the first page of search results (I have no idea how active they are but they are there). I personally know more people who call themselves recovering Catholics than I do ex Mormon (most of my dads side of the family are ex Catholics). A search for ex Muslim forums also yielded several results. So this appears to be far from an ex Mormon thing. It makes sense to me though, religion is a huge part of a persons life, especially if you were raised in it. When you lose your faith in a religion it's a big thing, especially if your family and friends are still part of that faith. It's only natural to want to seek out others who have gone through the same thing and get advice and support.

I do agree with Dravin because I have met a lot of people who are angry that they put so much of themselves into something that they now believe to be a lie. On the other hand I was pretty active, I went to church, held a calling, read scriptures, and said my prayers (well nightly ones anyway, I could never remember morning prayers) and I'm not angry at the church. I don't believe anymore but I still can't regret my years in the church, it made me into the person I am today. One of the most bitter angry people I know is a relative of mine that left the LDS church and joined the Catholic church and was for a while bitter against all religion except Catholicism then she left the Catholic church and became an atheist and was bitter against all religion for a few years and now she is a non denominational Christian and she's against all religion except for her particular brand of Christianity. When she found out I was thinking of joining the Catholic church I thought she was going to have a stroke right there. So I think individual personality plays a big part in it to.

I actually do know some ex-Catholics who call themselves "recovering Catholics", quite a few of them actually. They are usually the ones who have joined another church and want to tell the world about how the Catholic church is a Mary worshiping cult and how they never really knew Jesus until they left.

I left the Mormon church a few years ago. I'm not bitter or angry or anything, I hope I don't come across that way. There are still many things I love about the church and for a while when I realized I no longer believed in key parts of the Mormon church I even debated with myself about staying in the church just for the things I do like. In the end being honest with myself and others was more important and so I left. At this time I have no plans to return to the church but if I ever felt God was leading me back there I would return. Are some ex-mormons bitter and angry? Yes of course but most I've met aren't, they are just ordinary people trying to live their lives as best they can. The angry and bitter ones are the loudest voices though and so they get the most attention.

I agree with those that say no to the gym but yes to a nice nature walk. In the summer sometimes I walk down to the river near my house, take a stroll around the greenbelt and feed bread to the ducks.

It wasn't supposed to be that big, I don't know how to change the size.

Not if you do it right.

You've been married to a Mormon for 25 years and it's only now that you are deciding that you don't like Mormonism? Like I asked on the other thread, what do you expect the Mormons on this site to do? They can answer questions but they can't change their beliefs for you. Some of the stuff you are complaining about seems just petty, is your wife complaining about being asked to help clean the church buildings? Are they asking you to? Is it taking your wife away from your family for a large amount of time? If not then why are you so upset about it? Do you know if your daughter was asked about sex? Have you even talked to her or your wife about it? The temple marriage thing does suck yes but have you asked your daughter about how she wants to handle it? Really if there are things that are bothering you your best bet is to sit down with your wife and daughter and have a reasonable discussion about them. I wouldn't use the combative and disrespectful tone that you've used here with your family however.

Each denomination is different, you can't really point to any one denomination and say that is what all Christians do. For instance the three pillars of the Catholic Churches authority are Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and Living Magisterium, they believe that the Pope, as the successor of St Peter, is protected by the Holy Spirit from error when defining doctrines of faith or morals. The Orthodox Church (which split from the Catholic Church over multiple issues) does not have one supreme head on earth, rather each Church is largely self governing and for matters that effect the whole of the Orthodox Church authority rests with the Ecumenical Councils or Synods which are attended by Bishops from all around the world. Protestant churches vary in belief, with the mainline churches like Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, and Presbyterians being more likely to use tradition and reason along with scripture when defining their beliefs. Evangelical Christians usually use sola scriptura, that is any doctrines or beliefs they have must be derived from scripture. As for the church that sent out a poll to it's members, I guess I'd have to see exactly what it is they voted on. If they were redefining core Christians beliefs then yeah that's not good. But just because one church did it doesn't mean every Christian thinks it's a good idea to define doctrine by poll. (PS if I got any of the above wrong please some of our more knowledgeable Christian's on this board correct me, this is just what I've gleaned from my study into different Christian beliefs so far)

I've read several of your threads and I guess I'm wondering what you expect the Mormons on this website to do? They can explain Mormon doctrines and practices to you and they can explain the reasoning behind them but they can't and won't change them just because you don't like them. You married an active Mormon (I assume she's active from your posts anyway) and if you are unhappy now with the way Mormonism is impacting your life well you should probably sit down and have a reasonable discussion with your wife about it.

Strange, it works for me. Maybe try this link? Pie Jesu - Sarah Brightman & Sissel - Live - by Andrew Lloyd Webber - YouTube

I've just been listening to this over and over. What a beautiful voice. Sissel - Pie Jesu - YouTube

True it's very hard, I know for myself I'm nowhere near that and I probably won't be in this life, I wish I could be though. (Warning, the following is just the random thoughts of a sleep deprived brain that has had way to much caffeine lately, if it doesn't make sense I'm sorry) The last couple of years were really hellish for me, it was a case of everything that could ever possibly go wrong did, I was at the bottom of a dark pit and every time I tried to climb out I was pulled back in. There were more than a few days that I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd been struck by lightening when I stepped out to get my mail. I completely lost my faith during that time and I'm only just regaining it, some days I'm still just wondering what it means to have faith. A few people when finding out that I was atheist (or agnostic, whatever I was calling myself at that time, I went through a few stages) would warn me I was in danger of hell and that I needed to invite Jesus into my heart to go to Heaven, they just got an eye roll and a muttered "yeah right". You are right, during that time I wasn't afraid of hell and I didn't care about Heaven. And those people, as well meaning as they were, didn't make a dent in my disbelief. There wasn't one moment or one person that started softening my heart enough that I could hear God speaking to me, rather it was the example of several people, most living but a few dead, some that I knew personally and some I just read about or knew online, who just radiated joy and love. They loved God and it showed in their lives, the ones that I knew personally never proselytized to me but the way they lived their lives and the pure joy that radiated from them drew me to them. None of them had easy lives but the tragedy and hardships in their lives never seemed to touch them and I wanted to know why. So I started believing again and tentatively sometimes (because I'm not sure I really know how) I started praying again. I'm still learning, it's slow and I don't really know what I'm doing sometimes. But the people who brought me back to God weren't the ones who spoke of heaven and hell, punishment and reward, they were the ones who just simply shone with Gods love.

It's fine to disagree with the ad. I personally see nothing offensive or inappropriate about it, but if you don't like a companies values don't shop there, that's fine. What I find very silly and eye roll worthy is to loudly call for boycotts of companies and individuals that you disagree with and then turn around and cry persecution when the other side does the exact same thing to you.

I prefer "I may not agree with your bumper sticker; but I will defend your right to stick it."

Scary stuff, they were lucky no one was killed. About 1,100 injured as meteorite hits Russia with force of atomic bomb | Fox News

I think this is exceedingly silly but it's no sillier than One Million Moms calling for a boycott of JC Penney because they chose Ellen DeGeneres as a spokesperson and because they put a pair of Lesbian mothers in a mothers day ad, or the American Family Association calling for a boycott of Google because of their support for LGBT rights, or conservatives calling for a boycott of Oreo because of their rainbow cookie last year. Let's not pretend that the left is the only side that calls for boycotts of views they don't like. Both sides are exceedingly silly.