bluedreams

I honestly think it's not....maybe if you're assexual but those people are very rare. There's a statistic out there that says about 90-95% of men and 65-70% of women have masterbate from time to time. This is an average population statistic....so I'm not sure what it would be for men and women inside the church. But I assume its far above 0. Either way, to be arroused in som fashion is natural and though it can be controlled and guided, I honestly do not believe it can be completely dammed and dried out. It is possible. I have very frank conversations...vey very frank constantly. Friends easily open up to me about sexual matters and I'm very aware what men and women deal with when it comes with sexuality. This stated I also know there are men who did not masterbate at all on a mission. There is no biological need for men to masterbate. I'm about to do it in the next few months. It's very much possible to go without lying. A single thought will not keep you from the temple. But repetitive masterbation will. It is possible to maintain control and learn to express sexuality within the proper limits for the temple. It isn't always easy, but it is certainly doable. Misshalfway, While I was reading this thread, I got the same impression from the tone of the posts (not yours imparticular). By the point I initially posted I was actually beginning to feel somewhat depressed by it. Probably not for the same reason JBE is worried, but for the overall manner by which we talk about this issue in the church....or really, don't talk about it. With luv, BD

no....you mean freedoms. It's called freedom. Those corporations are rolling in freedom, not money. We buy hummers with freedom and it's chugging out the sweet smell of freedom into the air. The waterways are littered with delicious freedom. If only there was more freedom in the world, we could have the true american dream and turn the everglades and commie like parks into nice freedom communities, free up thousands of species from the burden of living, wreak freedom all over what's left of our chaotic and liberal-leaning wildlife, drain freedom with patriotic abandon, and hold up the true values of the American life: Freedom for certain classes with little regard for the people as a whole. You and I have very different definitions on what destroying ourselves entails. Though I've never even met a person who beleives animals trump humans when it comes to killing (and I'm a vegetarian, so it's not like I haven't met any animal rights type people before) I think you're missing the larger troubles that are, very much facing this planet. It is simply fact that we are developing in a manner that is simply unsustainable to this world and its people. You do not have to be a leftist loon (personally didn't know ducks were into politics as it were) to have an interest in what is happening in this world today. It's well documented and often brutally felt in certain areas of the world. With luv, BD

The article disagrees with you: with luv, BD

Very much true....well sort of now that I think about it. No matter my justifications I'll usually have some sense of guilt or prick of conscience for doing something wrong. I can usually trust it. Sense of guilt can be deceiving cuz we're often very good at self-deceoption. What i meant is more so that I'm comfortable with my stance even if others would not be. Make that two....I knew this one woman was so squeaky clean from a libido that she tried to make the argument that men were not to lust (lust in this sense of desire sexually) after any woman...including their wife. I've heard some crazy things mentioned when it comes to sex in the church, but that topped the cake. It was a good thing I wasn't the teacher cuz I'm pretty sure I would have said something along the lines of "are you nuts!" before I even realised my mouth had moved. With luv, BD

O thank heavens, I was starting to wonder if I was the only one who felt like that. Well with the exception that I'm a woman. Chasitity is a personal matter, set and defined by the self. I've set my boundaries to where I feel comfortable and can wake up in the morning without guilt. I set my limits prior to ever having any sort of relationship with men, I've stuck with it, corrected actions that needed correcting in the moment, and lived contently afterwards. They entail things that others here would not, but it is the place where I am comfortable and feel fine in answering that I follow the LoC. I have learned dicipline but it has not given me, personally, complete control. Dicipline has alllowed me to stay entirely seperated from men when I felt it necessary and to follow the stop signs i've placed up for myself. It has not been able to give me full reign though. To say I control my desires is like sayign I control my back. I can use it to bend over, pick up things, move around and stand. But there are certain things I'll never be able to do with my back. I have learned to control many things when it comes to my sexuality but there are certain things I have not been able and never really expect not to do with it fully. With luv, BD

We do very, but I think there becomes a point where our souls can become so dark that we are truly lost and the bad. This to me is a bad or evil person. It reminds me of an article I was reading, written by a daughter of a serial killer. She talked of how nice her dad acted to her, giving gifts and activities with his kids constantly, but how she could never feel safe or comfortable with him around. There was not legitimate reason at the time that she could name. I also met someone that I would describe as evil or bad. He was a child molester and was very guilt on incest. I knew this at the time, but when seeing him I only felt this since of pity since his life was going down the tube and he had dementia, losing his capability to write or speak a coherent thought. But when he turned to me and looked me directly in the eye I litterally felt my spirit jump back....I wanted to be far away from his presence and out of his eyesight because I knew there was something deeply and irreparably damaged about it. Most people I don't think fit this category....but it doesn't mean these people do not exist. And just as there are very/evil people there are also people I'd consider very very good. There can also be people who are lost themselves, but are certainly not lost causes. So am I. I've so far enjoyed it though I'm more interested in my minor of international development. People and how their minds work are very interesting, to say the least. With luv, BD

And my feeet look just like this.....if you subtract the flower, peticured toenails, and beautiful glow and add scars, cracked thick rough heels, and some fire ant bites/sandal tans from my chronic desire to be barefoot....it's more or less the same. On fancy days, I take this bad boy out and cruise With luv, BD

My art teacher was empressed by how long I could meditate when we went to this all-religions church during a trip. I found it a dubious talent that I can just stop thinking and lose track of my surroundings for longer than anyone else. With luv, BD

What's QFT....I've never seen that abreviation before, just curious. THe reverse is also very true. One's existance (or how one exists) determines one's worldview. For example, my cousin and I are extremely alike. We're both strongly mormon, fiercely independent, adventurous, and not exactly your average LDS lady. We get along like two peas in a pod, but when it comes to politics we're very very different. She's a libertarian and I lean democratic. It was a surprise when we first realized, but just like everything else, we discussed this adnauseum. It came down, in many ways, to just a few points....a few differences in how we lived and applied that to social issues that entirely altered our hypothetical solutions to social issues and our view of things like wealth, power, government, and the world as a whole. Interesting moment, that was for sure. With luv, BD

No problems in this corner....but it could be that I'm so ridiculously new to this board, I haven't had enough time to really build up a good coronary^_^. It does worry me just how divisive politics can be. But I don't think it's something that can simply be placed under the LDS rug....it's why I decided (in part) to join here. I feel it's very important to learn to discuss politics and social issues and realize that varying opinions does not always equal obvious rights and wrongs. Or that agreeing with one party or another more does not equal some sort of corruption of heart/weakness in character. I think people who fit under the description of liberal or conservative, republican or democrat, and even libetarian or socialist have legitimate and usually benign reasons for doing so. All can find points that not only have a valid argument in life, but also within the Gospel. They just so happen to emphasize differing parts. With luv, BD

Love, get rid of him. 4 times in 6 months is more than a little ridiculous it's: -disrespectful -immature -selfish -wrong -unhealthy (emotionally) -unhealthy (physically...for you) -a strain that your kid shouldn't have in the home And even if he is faking it as funkytown described that still make him - a liar -selfish -immature -emottionaly draining -untrustworthy You can't trust him. You spend most of your time angry at him. The rest of it probably choked in fears about your own inadequacies. He doesn't love you....might say that he does but he obviously doesn't understand the meaning thereof. You obviously feel attachment to him, but I think you need to look inward and ask, what type of attachment is this? Do I want him in my life because I want HIM, the whole package (disgusting tumor-like warts and all), or because I want the idea of him (ie. a husband and not alone). Am I attached to an idea and fantasy or to the reality that exists? I do not know many women who fantasize about having a man who's never faithful and leaves them emotionally wrecked, so I really doubt its the reality of the man that you love. And this is him, truly. Because that man has proved his character time and time again. He is what he is and he will not change when he knows that he can walk all over you. Get out, divorce him, and don't look back. Have the self respect to do so. I know you weren't really in here for advice. But that's my 2 cents With luv, BD

ah...which one were you talking about?

I think so....especially since the police believed he jumped the gun on calling this race related. I watched the video personally two or three times. The first was what was shown through a lot of media....which was the grainier version that's shown in still shot on the front page of this photo of the event. It looked like a bunch of black kids circling around and getting a good cheer at the white kid's expense. In the clearer version the kid's reactions (and interractions), could be seen far better and this is so not a racial thing. Here are my reasons why: 1. The kids are intermixed from the back to the front of the bus. There's no clear seperation of a black side or white side of the bus expected in an environment that's supposedly racially tense 2. The fight started over a backpack the one kid placed to the floor so that he could sit down. Unless that backpack had some racist words against white people, I really doubt that was a motivator. The other kid litterally did just want to fight. The one kid got to be the center of attention, why couldn't he? sort of attitude 3. The audience watching and cheering was racially intermixed. There are around 3-5 white kids watching and enjoying the fight. One moved closer when he felt the fight coming on to get a ring side seat. 2 were sitting right behind and to the opposite side of the victim. One was in the back nonchalantly watching. None of them step in to break up the fight or help their comrad in supposed racial arms (very common reaction if this was actually racially motivated). And one that can be seen clearly throughout the tape is grinning ear to ear. 4. When the fight is broken up, it is by other black bus riders. One at the end, pushes the one fighter away when the fighter goes for his praising high-fives and then stands protectively in front of the victim to make sure it doesn't happen again. This isn't race related. This isn't even close to race related. This is another petty teen fight that broke out over another petty teen issue. They happen all the time. When I was in junior high and high school, I saw plenty of them, in schools of various credentials and standings. Some were over relationships, some as dumb as this or crossing some macho territorial line in behavior, a couple were even in part staged. One specifically I remember, was just a staged fight at the end of the year by two boys, just because they really wanted to do the fight thing once. They're not animals. They're teens....which does place them in the mildly crazy category. I don't think they should be punished to the fullest (or even semi-fullest) extent of the law, because I've never seen that actually work to fix a kid. Community service isn't a bad idea, though. As is suspensions...not expulsions so much. I do think the bus driver needs a serious repremending and possible suspension. If there's something that serious going on on the bus, you stop. Stopping in and of itself will usually shut the kids up and stop any action. The kids aren't looking for trouble in the authoritative sense. If there's a possible action actually hanging over their immediate heads, they'll stop. With luv, BD

deep down, yes. Right now I'm a little bored and tired, but not unhappy.

We're not in a crisis stage in that we haven't had a proverbial heart attack and flatlined yet. But we have experienced and test high for high blood pressure, cholesterol, bad life style, and some complaints of chest pains. In other words, where we're heading is definitely the wrong direction and will lead to true crisis. As for why I'm a (moderately) liberal democrat leaning mormon is because it fits my views moreso than being republican ever can. Gay marriage and abortion just can't rile me as much as social disparities, health care, an unnecessary war, and the likes. The reason I am democrat is a mix of my own faith, things I've learned in college (I go to BYU....vaguely ironic at times when I sit and think about it) that have helped to flesh out my views, and traveling and coming to get to know other parts of the world. I did vote for Obama and I'll probably do it again come 3 years from now, aside from him making a royal mistake of some sort. There is a difference to me of the killing by Cpt. Moroni and Nephi and what I've seen in the world right now. I honestly don't think most of whtat we've done in recent history can be compared to what they did. I'm not the biggest advocate for ending the death penalty, but at the same time there is no point for redemption in this system....there's also the problem of a number of the people on death row possibly being innocent. I do have a problem with the larger part of the justice system that is broken and feeds more social problems than it fixes. To me we are seeking a earthly sort of justice, forgetting that justice is not ours but God's. Ours is to find forgiveness. The Anti-Nephi-lehi story would seem to play out very differently if it occured in the world we've developed today. On the larger scale of war, I do not think the Iraq war is a justifiable one. Was Saddam bad? Yes. This does not necessitate us going in there to take him out. It's not on the same regaurd of Nephi or Cpt Moroni where a direct attack was occuring for both. We're not the world police. And even if we were, we're not doing the greatest of job. What makes Saddam more special than the starving children and genocide in darfur, the human rights abuses in N. Korea, or the nameless other conflicts, injustices, corrupt governments, and outright autrocities occuring around the world that goes largely without our notice. Even Afghanistan I sometimes feel was only partially justified...though I think we should have gone to war, I question our motives. We went there not only to protect ourselves, but I sometimes think we also went in there for vengence. With luv, BD