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Girlfriends who are loyal and supportive can be GREAT help to a missionary while he's on his mission (I'd suggest looking up the talk given by a former mission President called "Missionaries and Girlfriends"). In it he makes a point that I found to be very true on my own mission, which is that many missionaries who don't have anyone back at home wish they did. I found that some of the most distracted missionaries on my mission were those who had no girl writing them, and so they were constantly stressed about "who can I get to write me?" and "who will I date when I go home?" The missionaries who had gf's who were truly "waiting" for them were some of the most happy and focused. Many times people who talk about what it takes to a be a "good" missionary have never served missions. Yeah, makes no sense.. But what I said in my last post on this thread still holds. There are 98% odds that you guys aren't going to be the exception. I'd suggest ending things with him now, as where this will be much easier on him than receiving a dear john 9 months into his mission and destroying him.

Yeah because not allowing sandals, shorts, long hair, facial hair, immodest clothing, cursing, sex before marriage, drinking, smoking, tattoos, multiple piercings, or colored hair has "neutrality" written all over it. I'm sure nobody views the University as a 1950's-like staunchly traditional and conservative institution.... But POLITICAL GROUPS.... OH NO!!! That might make people think we are idealistically biased!

Wow, I expected you to defend yourself... not actually agree that you believe anyone who has made out before marriage and never confessed it to their bishop will not reach the Celestial Kingdom. You know what, I think that pretty much just killed any desire I had to further discuss this topic with anyone here. Well i think I'm done with this thread. I hope God judges all of you more mercifully than you judge yourselves and others.

My hair was longer before I came to BYU-I (and obviously before I served a mission). It is certainly shorter now than it was before, but still long by BYU-I standards.

So according to the "current" doctrine of the church, you're saying that this faithful couple should have what... had their sealing revoked? Not been allowed to take the sacrament? Gone through the repentance process for whay they had done before they were married? Been re-married? Please elaborate.

So 90% of the currently active members in the Church have not properly repented for breaking the law of chastity and therefore have no place in the Celestial Kingdom?

Perhaps he could have expounded on why he was assuming that this person's children weren't going to receive eternal life? Seriously. And apparently I wasn't the only one who found what he said as being so ridiculous. PS - I already have expounded on it in this thread

No, but thanks anyway

And I pointed out that I wasn't aware of what the case was with the OP.

So even though they had completely forsaken their sin, aren't repeating it, and have just served the Lord and spread the gospel to countless people for over 2 years, they haven't been fully forgiven? They haven't gone the extra mile? This is quite a statement!

He asked that to a NON-member who had the guts and courage to come onto this forum and ask people for help and advice... not be asked a thoughtless, insensitive question that can't possibly serve any constructive purpose in this thread. If you don't think these sorts of things make us look bad, then wow. And if you think that Christ would have taken that approach... double wow!

Bishops are like the Sabbath. They were made for us, not us for them. Yes, it is nice to have the comfort of knowing that your Bishop is called of God and there to help and aid you when you need it. I am simply saying that someone who has - Sinned - Felt guilt - Sincerely repented - Forsaken the sin - Has put it in the past and moved on - Has a testimony does NOT need to fear that their place in the Celestial Kingdom is in jeopardy because they never told their bishop. Again, there ARE a couple extreme exceptions, but you know what I am saying. On my mission I knew some missionaries who had gone certain distances prior to their missions (feeling/oral, drug use - not necessarily both in all situations though), but never had told the Bishop about it... probably in fear of not being able to serve a mission. They had all changed tremendously, repented, and were wonderful missionaries who were serving the Lord 24/7. Tell me... is that not the goal of repentance? If they choose to not come out to the Bishop about what they did after 2 years, do you suppose they will be held filthy in the sight of the Lord? Don't dodge the question.

What a stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid comment. Ugh, and we wonder why people are scared of the church?

Haha, you make it sound like it is as simple as the Prophet saying, "Hey, you know what would gain us some members? If we baptized Orlando Bloom. Give him a call and have the missionaries set up an appointment with him for tomorrow evening." Missionaries can virtually teach whoever they bump into and whoever is willing. Consider where many of these famous people live. For instance, you named Bill Gates... this is one busy man! How often do you think he is even at his home? Do you think he has only one home to begin with? Also, many of these people, when they ARE home, live out in very nice neighborhoods where I doubt missionaries go. Additionally, you cannot just prance up to their front door and knock it, they often have fences, gates, and security systems surrounding their house (and maybe even scary watch-dogs, yikes!) So to answer your question... yes they can. Why don't they? It's not that easy.

It seemed to me like all you were doing was mocking everyone's opinions and telling them to give some sort of reference for every single statement they made. This is nothing personal against you, it is something that I've seen on many boards. Sure, sometimes it just means that a certain person likes proof, but many times it is just their way of biding their time and saving themself the effort of looking those things up themselves. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to spend so much time on a message board. Hence we don't all have 8,000+ posts. Well hey, you seem to be Mr.Popular here. so i guess I'd better back off before the rest of your posse arrives at your defense