aharon

It is quite a contrast. Amazing how black and white that city is.

Brian Regan... soo funny!

Compliment for sure! It shows that you are open and friendly and perhaps she had some bad experiences with mormons who are not so friendly. Stay easy going and relaxed and keep up the good work! You can do it.

As far as saying America has collapsed, I definately disagree. If America had collapsed, we would be in some sort of state of anarchy, like Somolia, as was mentioned before. America is definitely not as strong as it used to be, and I greatly fear the repercussions of the government bailouts that took place. It is pretty clear that that type of spending is not sustainable. It is hard to determine the 'morality' of the people, for in some places, people are very civic minded, helping out their homes and community and in other places, people don't even know their neighbor. I think the biggest thing we should be concerned about is whether or not we personally have 'collapsed'. We can each go through that list and determine if we are doing good or not, and do better in the places that we are weak at. Things are supposed to happen in these last days, things that we really can't control, but the scriptures tell us that the righteous have no need to fear. We should try our best to be as close to God as possible and we will be ok, regardless of the economic and political state of America.

That is a deep insight, Traveler... good point. I wanted to bring up something as well, and that is debt. We should stay out of debt, but however, don't let the principle of not charging up your Department Store card stop you from starting a small business because you refuse to take out a bank loan. Taking out a loan for capital that will in turn produce more money, is what people in the entreprenuerial world call "good debt" for this is the type of debt that allows you to seize an oppportunity and increase your (and in many instances the community's) abundance in the future. I think this is why the church says that it is ok to go into debt for college education, for it would be considered "good debt" (having said that, don't be dumb like me and take out all the loans you can while in school, cuz you do have to pay those suckers off!) However, when going into good debt, it should be done within your means. For example, if the business goes belly up, make sure that you can still handle paying it off. Don't become one of those Fanny Mae derivative buyers and then get stuck with a billion plus bill when your investment goes bad :)

I think it is a great idea to write down your prayers i do it myself and i find i get more out of them when i read the scriptures i keep a pen and paper handy and i begin with a prayer sometimes i write it donw including the things i am struggling with and pray for guidance i then will sit and listen to my thoughts. I write down impressions I get, and I put a squiggly line by it so I know it is an impression. When I am done, I will review them and listen to my feelings to determine whether they are something I should act on or just something my mind spitted out. I find that a lot of times, they are real answers to my problems. So, yeah, it is great to write down your prayers. You can then listen for answers and write them down too. It is a great way to focus the mind and then you have a record of your spiritual journey. I go back to my journals and will get reinspired from time to time when I am feeling down. Really good stuff!

I agree about the decent wages part, but by taking from the rich and giving to the poor does not improve anything. It will make the pie smaller, for where is the incentive to work? Seriously, why should someone work their tail off when they can sit around and collect a welfare check? The better answer is to free up the market and find ways to drive down the cost of health care, rather than forcing people to give up their money to others. Some ways that the cost can be driven down is allow the consumers to be more in direct with the doctor. Insurance provides a detachment where people can be free from the cost of health care, and doctors can be allowed to drive up prices. Also, make it easier for people to get into the health care profession. My sister just got her D.A. and it is rediculous the amount of money she had to throw down. Why does it have to be so much? Why not do online schooling to drive down costs? Also, what about doctors using the internet to make house calls? Things like that could help drive down the cost of medical care. And doing those things doesn't take away anyone's money nor does it require fining people if they choose not to have health insurance. Our government has failed us in so many ways (US) and here we are putting our trust in these yahoos that have gotten us into these long long wars and debted us trillions of dollars! :mad: Oh boy, I'm getting riled up. Anyways, my thought. One more thing about the wages... Make incentives for people to improve themselves, rather than incentives to not work. I have heard stories of people who wont go back to work because they get more money from the welfare check. We got to inspire in people the spirit of entrepreneurism... true, take care of the needy, but don't let the federal government do it! They are the least qualified for it!!! and we all have to feel the force of their blunders. Let other social institutions do it, like churches and non profit organizations. If we are insistent on getting the government involved, then by all means, allow the local or state governments do it, but not the federal. The federal government in charge of things like that is like trying to spit into an anthill 20 feet above the ground.

Hang in there! God is in charge and knows whats best. Probably not what you want to hear, but it is true.

Mart is right, I do stand corrected! I felt pretty confident that I was right, considering I had two friends who told me they had to cancel their sealings before they could remarry. (Both guys). So I was going off of that. It also seems to make sense, but Apparantly, the manuel tells otherwise. So yeah, sorry utah for being so confident in my response, I agree with sitting down with your girlfriend, and the bishop and talk about it. Bishops are really sensitive to the spirit and he will be able to help and the lords will in the matter will be made known. Good luck my friend and I am praying for you.

Well said Wisc. You totally nailed it!

"Actually, a man can be sealed to more than one woman, but a woman can not be sealed simultaneously to more than one man. " Gotcha, but I think that person has to be deceased for you to be sealed to another person. Now this is bugging me... am I right?? anybody with a Church handbook out there?

That is tough stuff man. I went through that stuff when I was in Junior High. I was the new kid and little, stuck in a pe class full of jocks. Man what a rough time that was! I'm not sure how I got through it, to be honest. Some how I did. The big thing is to be yourself, the best you can, I know that is pretty tough when you have kids intimidating the crap out of you. Maybe get to another school if you can. Talk to your parents about it and the principle. Maybe even look at doing home school. That stuff is just such a pain to deal with and for me, it messed with me for a very long time. I still have issues about it. anyways, I don't know what to say other than hang in there! Know that the scriptures are on YOUR side. Jesus went through a lot of this stuff in his lifetime and he has said that blessed are we if we are persecuted for his sake as well as being blessed for being meek and lowly. I would look at doing home school, or going to another one. I am not very impressed with our school system, anyways. It is hard to really bring out your full potential and build a real love for learning in that institution. A good book to check out is A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver Demille. Anyways, not trying to get off topic, but good luck, my friend. My advice is to get out of there!!!!

From what I understand you cannot be sealed to another person as a guy, period. It is on your church records that you are sealed to your ex wife and so you will not get a recommend to be sealed to your girlfriend. You will have to get unsealed first before you can get sealed to your girlfriend. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is the policy.

Actually the cops can get you for inattentive driving if they so feel it justifies. I know this from personal experience.... said in the voice of Homer Simpson... DOH!

Well said! This type of thinking will put at ease a lot of people uncomfortable with some of the theories science has discovered, ecspecially evolution...

I have done a little study of Hebrew and one thing I found very fascinating was that their language has different layers to it, rather than English, which only uses 1 layer, meaning that a lot is lost in translation of the bible from Hebrew to English. The words, letters and even how things are written are done to convey a different meaning. I only studied it for a few weeks, but it is a very interesting language. I do know that the "h" sound in the hebrew language stands for "covenant with God" it makes sense looking at it that way, that Abram and Sara both got an 'h' added to their names.

I phone apps are great! Glad you got it figured out. I have been doing a lot of study of mormon online sites recently and have found quite a few that I recommend. Lds harvest and 1on1.net I would also recommend doing a google search under "LDS Scriptures" and go through the list! Good luck on your readings and feel free to ask any other questions. BTW check out the "Gospel Library" link on LDS.org and you will find tons and tons of LDS church publications, including the scriptures.

out of all institutions, the government has the most power. True, one can resist, but the end result is very nasty... jail or in the extreme sense, death. That is what I mean by force. It is true though that people can still choose to not obey. I am just in the philosophy that the less government the better, because of how much power it has. I take more of a libertarian approach (but I do think there has to be some regulation in the market) where the government should be limited in its powers of protecting human rights and defense of the nation. As far as social ills, we should look to other institutions to solve them, rather than the government. Anyways, just my thoughts :

Agreed! Government will not solve our problems, only a virtuous and moral people will. Our freedoms depend on the virtue of each and every one of us. We need to focus on how to keep each other virtuous (and ourselves) rather than forcing others to comply.

Heck yes it would be! If we were all angels, we would need no laws, So we got to work on being angels.. :)

I think we should continue to educate people to stop smoking but we should not make it a law. Government is the most vicious force on the planet, and as such should be extremely limited in its power, for laws so easily can be abused.

Smoking in a car with kids is bad, but there are things out there just as bad, like feeding them fast food. As far as it being a law, maybe at a local level, if the community wants to do so, but not at a state level and definately not at a federal level. If the law came up to ban cigarette smoking while driving in my town, I wouldn't vote for it, because I believe the less laws the better.

People who are rude to customer service reps and/or waiters/waitresses

I do need to work on being more friendly. I find that I go through phases, where some weeks I am extra friendly, and some weeks I am just as shy as can be. I do need to tend more ward functions. That is a good idea go tend a bunch of those and then invite some people over. Thanks for the help.

Welcome to the forum Vinnie! I am new here as well, but have found everyone very helpful. Glad that you are finding peace.