carlimac

I’m 61. Some of my earliest memories are from testimony meetings that I didn’t want to go to because people cried. I had a brother die when I was three and I learned that crying meant sadness. So I thought we were going to sad meetings every month.  Point is, this kind of emotion didn’t just start recently. I think it has always been the case. 🤷‍♀️

I feel right now we are getting enough direction overall, in some instances perhaps too much direction...depending on which leaders you are referring to (the Prophet and the Apostles, or are you talking more locally speaking?).
I do not see a need for them to give any great amount of direction currently.  If you listened in the past, you should have food storage to last you during the current events (or I hope so, for our fellow brothers and sisters) if resources have gotten scarce where you are at, and we also have instructionary manuals and other items that one should have for study in the home, also given in the past via instructions.
We have been given instructions for this situation in many ways already, the question is whether one was listening and heard the instructions or not, or heeded them or cast them aside before the various items hit us.
Some unexpected things occurred (toilet paper shortages for example) but overall, I think many have well sheltered the storm thus far. 

Both my husband and I are return missionaries. Both our sons served missions. Both are BYU graduates. Now both our sons are agnostic less than a decade after their missions. We did everything right in raising them. 🤷‍♀️

Both my husband and I are return missionaries. Both our sons served missions. Both are BYU graduates. Now both our sons are agnostic less than a decade after their missions. We did everything right in raising them. 🤷‍♀️

Both my husband and I are return missionaries. Both our sons served missions. Both are BYU graduates. Now both our sons are agnostic less than a decade after their missions. We did everything right in raising them. 🤷‍♀️

I often wonder if a coincidence is really a coincidence.  To @carlimac's initial question - I would ask; is it a coincidence that we are studying the Book of Mormon this year?  Is it a coincidence that we are studying Alma at this point of our countries turmoils?   It is easy to become distracted.  
I wonder about so many things.  So many things in commotion.   I have wondered what to post - my personal opinion as to where we stand at the end of time?  I never thought we would worship our Sabbath in our own homes and leave our callings and churches empty.  When we started - I did not think it would be as long as it has.  I do not know if I have any words of comfort for those that feel downtrodden.  I have no idea what is coming next on the horizon.  
As to the riots - I am hearing that some blacks do not trust the "whites" protesting with them.  Somewhere I am thinking or remembering that Joseph Smith talked about a 2nd uprising of blacks.  I have heard that in the last days there will be a great deal of violence and the only peace will be in Zion.  In my youth I obtained a patriarchal blessing to seemed to speak of war and rebellion.  I thought to join the army to get it over with in my youth.  But after completing my obligation it did not see so - and so I thought maybe it was a reference to our next state beyond death.  I wonder now if we are hearing only faint thunders of what is coming.  This year started out not so different from other years - it seems that more and greater storm clouds keep gathering. 
My plan is to double my repentance efforts and hope more to trust G-d and his appointed servants.  If someone wants to start a thread about repentance - I am full of ideas and things that I have never considered before about repentance.  For sure - it would seem that things are going to get quite exciting.  I often wondered when I was serving in the army - who would I like by my side in combat.  I would like to say I would want all of the forum with me - but I would not be telling the truth - but a few of you - I hope to have with me as this year progresses.  I also hope of assist some of you.
 
The Traveler

I’m 61. Some of my earliest memories are from testimony meetings that I didn’t want to go to because people cried. I had a brother die when I was three and I learned that crying meant sadness. So I thought we were going to sad meetings every month.  Point is, this kind of emotion didn’t just start recently. I think it has always been the case. 🤷‍♀️

I agree that they were pretty direct back then. No political correctness needed. But the emotion I see these days feels genuine to me. I don’t believe for a second it’s manipulation of any kind.

I agree that they were pretty direct back then. No political correctness needed. But the emotion I see these days feels genuine to me. I don’t believe for a second it’s manipulation of any kind.

And for those of you picking up your missionary who is inbound early don’t be like these folks. Too bad we get persecuted enough and now we hand them ammo to do it with
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2020/3/23/21191288/missionaries-airport-mormon-lds-latter-day-saint-leaders-coronavirus-covid19

I've heard that claim being disputed. Do you have a source?

One of my 40ish LDS acquaintances posted on Instagram,  “I stand with the LGBTQs at BYU”.  What does that mean? Do you sanction everything they do? Do you think they are totally helpless to control that aspect of their lives so they should have the freedom to be “authentic” at BYU?   Another friend with a gay son feels the same. 

So how do you reconcile that with church doctrine and frankly, with nature.
I myself also stand with LGBTQ at BYU. I stand with their confusion, loneliness, the rejection they may feel from family, friends and maybe even church leaders. I stand with them as they face whatever made them that way. Abuse, dysfunctional relationships? In some cases they may have been born that way. I remember a baby with ambiguous genitalia at the hospital I worked at. Hopefully the surgeons that fixed the problem got it right but back then it was more of a crap shoot. I stand with the underdog and anyone who feels different from the majority. I feel compassion. I want to hug them and soften their pain.
But we all have to decide where that line is when we’re standing lest they get they idea that standing WITH them means standing FOR them and condoning all that they want. Some parental emotions and midlife wokeness take people way farther over that line than is good for them or the kids they are standing with. It can be a pretty fuzzy line and can cause even more hurt and confusion!
 
 

One of my 40ish LDS acquaintances posted on Instagram,  “I stand with the LGBTQs at BYU”.  What does that mean? Do you sanction everything they do? Do you think they are totally helpless to control that aspect of their lives so they should have the freedom to be “authentic” at BYU?   Another friend with a gay son feels the same. 

So how do you reconcile that with church doctrine and frankly, with nature.
I myself also stand with LGBTQ at BYU. I stand with their confusion, loneliness, the rejection they may feel from family, friends and maybe even church leaders. I stand with them as they face whatever made them that way. Abuse, dysfunctional relationships? In some cases they may have been born that way. I remember a baby with ambiguous genitalia at the hospital I worked at. Hopefully the surgeons that fixed the problem got it right but back then it was more of a crap shoot. I stand with the underdog and anyone who feels different from the majority. I feel compassion. I want to hug them and soften their pain.
But we all have to decide where that line is when we’re standing lest they get they idea that standing WITH them means standing FOR them and condoning all that they want. Some parental emotions and midlife wokeness take people way farther over that line than is good for them or the kids they are standing with. It can be a pretty fuzzy line and can cause even more hurt and confusion!
 
 

Gracias!

For pity sakes! will one of the mods please remove two of my posts above? I kept punching submit on my phone because it looked like it wasn't going through.😜

For pity sakes! will one of the mods please remove two of my posts above? I kept punching submit on my phone because it looked like it wasn't going through.😜

One of my 40ish LDS acquaintances posted on Instagram,  “I stand with the LGBTQs at BYU”.  What does that mean? Do you sanction everything they do? Do you think they are totally helpless to control that aspect of their lives so they should have the freedom to be “authentic” at BYU?   Another friend with a gay son feels the same. 

So how do you reconcile that with church doctrine and frankly, with nature.
I myself also stand with LGBTQ at BYU. I stand with their confusion, loneliness, the rejection they may feel from family, friends and maybe even church leaders. I stand with them as they face whatever made them that way. Abuse, dysfunctional relationships? In some cases they may have been born that way. I remember a baby with ambiguous genitalia at the hospital I worked at. Hopefully the surgeons that fixed the problem got it right but back then it was more of a crap shoot. I stand with the underdog and anyone who feels different from the majority. I feel compassion. I want to hug them and soften their pain.
But we all have to decide where that line is when we’re standing lest they get they idea that standing WITH them means standing FOR them and condoning all that they want. Some parental emotions and midlife wokeness take people way farther over that line than is good for them or the kids they are standing with. It can be a pretty fuzzy line and can cause even more hurt and confusion!
 
 

One of my 40ish LDS acquaintances posted on Instagram,  “I stand with the LGBTQs at BYU”.  What does that mean? Do you sanction everything they do? Do you think they are totally helpless to control that aspect of their lives so they should have the freedom to be “authentic” at BYU?   Another friend with a gay son feels the same. 

So how do you reconcile that with church doctrine and frankly, with nature.
I myself also stand with LGBTQ at BYU. I stand with their confusion, loneliness, the rejection they may feel from family, friends and maybe even church leaders. I stand with them as they face whatever made them that way. Abuse, dysfunctional relationships? In some cases they may have been born that way. I remember a baby with ambiguous genitalia at the hospital I worked at. Hopefully the surgeons that fixed the problem got it right but back then it was more of a crap shoot. I stand with the underdog and anyone who feels different from the majority. I feel compassion. I want to hug them and soften their pain.
But we all have to decide where that line is when we’re standing lest they get they idea that standing WITH them means standing FOR them and condoning all that they want. Some parental emotions and midlife wokeness take people way farther over that line than is good for them or the kids they are standing with. It can be a pretty fuzzy line and can cause even more hurt and confusion!
 
 

The problem here IMHO is that so many people are obsessing about what the HCO will let them do, rather than considering what is right and/or what the Lord wants them to do.  
Gay displays of physical affection are wrong—if not inherently sinful as a per se violation of chastity, than certainly wrong as a colossally reckless step in the direction of unchaste behavior and an insensitive act of toying with and deliberately cultivating human emotions and desires that must at some point be reined in/terminated.   This didn’t suddenly change just because some bureaucrats in the HCO manifested their own spinelessness/treachery.
BYU and/or the Church condemns a lot of behaviors that many (most?) students participate in anyways.  While some gay BYU students may sincerely fear HCO retribution based on past events (and I note that Professor Brau had no problem indulging in a little turnabout when he gloated about the possibility of siccing the HCO on conservative students who admonished gay students for unvirtuous behavior)—I daresay the sticking point for most of these protestors isn’t the threat of administrative retribution.  They’re ticked off that BYU is still in the business of making statements about right and wrong, particularly on matters of sexual behavior.  They thought they had the camel’s nose well and truly into the tent.

My Momma is RIGHT once again.  As most Filipino Mommas do, my Momma's answer to everything is VICKS VAPORUB.  You have cough or colds... Vicks.  On your chest.  On your feet.  Cover your feet with socks.  You have headache... Vicks.  On your forehead.  You can't sleep...Vicks.  On your eyelids ("Ma!  I can't open my eyes!" "That's right, you go to sleep now baby.").  Corona Virus... Vicks.  On your fingers.  Thickly slathered.  You won't be touching your face with that now, would you.  Ahhh... my Momma is right again!

Will the moon collide with the earth next week? Either it will or it will not, but it doesn't hurt to take precautions. Like spend $100 quadrillion to build shelters for everyone.
in fact, it can hurt to "take precautions". It can hurt very badly. It can damage economies, temporarily or sometimes perrmanently. It can affect relationships between nations. It can fuel hatreds. It can give US media another outrageous excuse to bag on the sitting President.
How much of a threat is this virus? By all reasonable, level-headed accounts, probably not all that much. Yet the outsized reactions are causing harm even as we speak. $10 for a dust mask! Dow down 3600 points in one week! Our nation gearing up to implement massive, widespread measures to protect against what for most people amounts to a cold!
There is money to be extorted, power to be garnered, and in general, lots of hay to be made during the shining sun of this latest media-manufactured "crisis". In the words of the administration of Barack Obama, "Never let a serious crisis go to waste."

This is a debate not worth having.  Because - even if people are born with homosexual desire, it doesn't mean they should now go have homosexual relations.  I have intermittent explosive disorder.  That doesn't mean I can just now go abusing people even if I claim "I was born with it" (I don't know if I am or not, just using it as an example).  So, it doesn't change anything.  What I usually just say when confronted by LGBTQ+ people who say they are born with it is - perhaps.  Then continue on with the "what to do about it" discussion.

Nothing is said about children with gender dysphoria. They definitely need to be helped/listened to/loved but possibly distracted till it passes. Which it does most of the time. 

I agree.  It becomes clearer to me the further down the rabbit hole you go.  I think the Honor Code hubbub at BYU is what cleared it up for me.  Is a boy and a girl kissing an abomination unto God?  It's not an Honor Code violation, correct?  Yet two boys or two girls doing it is the same thing?   It just isn't.

I have considered this and have tried to see if I can reasonably incorporate this belief into my belief system. Something deep within me rejects it. The very nature of an intimate homosexual relationship is utterly contrary, not merely to God's plan of salvation, but to my gut-level understanding of family relations. I admit that maybe this is a variation of the "Ewwww! Gross!" objection, but I cannot honestly just dismiss it. There is something fundamentally wrong with the proposition of same-sex sexual relationships.
This might be perceived as the old "contrary to nature" argument, even though I know that homosexuality is certainly not contrary to nature. (But then, neither is forcible rape, sodomizing children, or killing your neighbor so you can have his wife.) However, that's not it. It seems more like...contrary to reason and rightfulness and loving smiles and puppy dogs and apple pie and basic human decency. Not sure how to explain it, but surely I'm not alone in feeling this way.
This is not meant as a condemnation of the homosexual who experiences such impulses. Rather, it's a gut-level rejection of the absolute equivalency between homosexual fornication and heterosexual fornication. To my mind, they are somehow different in kind, and thus I think different in severity.