Heather

In order to access the open forum, you will need to private message me and request to be moved into the open forum group. You will need to tell me that you are 18+ and that you understand that posts there in may not always be from an LDS view point. Admin and moderators can still see the open forum, but if you wish to be removed from viewing that board, please let me know. I hope that this will make it better for everyone. I've also added a profile field titled "Religion." This will be a required field for new users when they sign up. For all those who are members now, please go to My controls (top of the page on the right) --> Edit Profile Settings --> Enter your Religion on the text box provided. Great suggestion Strawberry Fields!

Unless I'm missing posts (which is very possible, because I don't follow every topic) Jason tends to take a lot more heat than he givess. Sometimes I've felt quite taken aback by the almost drill sargent manner in which some topics have been approached by several members at one point or another. That's their choice to come across that way. I guess I take things somewhat lightly, and perhaps I shouldn't. There are certain things I would immediately draw the line on. As it is now, there should not be anything posted which would be contrary to LDS beliefs, unless it is posted in the open forum. And in the open forum it's important to note that the purpose of the forum is to discuss feelings and beliefs in a non-hostile environment. Any post which is flaming should be deleted, whether the user is LDS or not. In my opinion, the best way to spread the gospel is not by bashing it around. If we communicate with the proper spirit, the message will be received better. I personally like the idea of keeping all the discussions on whether you believe something is right or wrong in a forum that only members of the site can see, and separate from any other section. Perhaps this isn't enough? Maybe I need to make a completely separate board for it? Personally I don't feel hindered spiritually by anything Jason or anyone else has posted for that matter. I feel very strong in my beliefs, and it's not a problem for me to read another's view point, even empathize with them, yet still retain my own set of beliefs. I believe everyone has the right to believe what they will, and I will respect them for it. I also expect the same kind of respect for my beliefs. However I don't like the idea of someone who has questions about the gospel finding misleading posts and gaining a false understanding of church beliefs.

That's why I'm glad they've done the "Raise the Bar." Maybe it will help cut some of that out.

I think a lot of times we just expect people to open their arms and make all of the effort to make us feel welcome. (I know I've had that attitude, and been extremely annoyed when I felt overlooked.) When someone else new moves in, be the first to welcome them and make sure they get the reception that you didn't. Ask for a calling that will get you involved with other members of the ward so you can make new friends. I don't know why the trend is to throw all the new comers into the primary. In my first family ward after John and I were married, we were put into the primary for over a year, and we didn't know anyone, except the parents of the sunbeams and the other primary teachers. "Babysitting" for 2 hours a week and feeling left out and never making friends in a ward was almost enough for me to not want to go to church period. We should've said something a lot sooner than we did.

My husband had already graduated when we got married. He was able to get a really good job, and we were married for 5 years before we had a child. We would still like to have at least 4 children before I hit 35, and I don't think that will be a problem. I am going to teach our children to follow our example. There is no rush in life. We never had to struggle with both of us being in school, paying rent, min. wage jobs, plus we got to spend 5 years together, just us. We went to South Africa and Europe and did a lot of things we would've never been able to do if we had a baby after 1 year of marriage. I believe it was a very important time in our relationship, where we could focus on each other, and really grow together as a couple. I would hope that every parent can have the kind of bond with their spouse before they even think of bringing another life into the mix.

try it now. I had the permissions wrong

It always interests me that all of the scriptures are full of examples where God makes us meet him halfway. In First Nephi, God could've had Laban drop dead. He could've had the plates appear in Lehi's tent, so why all of the tests? He could've given Nephi the tools to build the boat, or even made the boat appear out of thin air. Surely that would've been just as much of a miracle as it was for Nephi to know how to build a boat when he has never before. It makes me realize that nothing is going to be handed to us on a silver plater. I'm sure we've all seen what happens to children who are raised, never having to do anything for themselves. Is Heavenly Father the ultimate Love and Logic Master?

no bashing any church or person, but this is where you can discuss different view points. The point is so someone doesn't come in and ask a question about how a situation should be handled, and then gets confused as to which one is a church belief, because they're reading a bunch of view points. Can you not see it on the forum list? Click on forums and go to the bottom. http://www.ldstalk.com/forums/index.php?showforum=33

Lets play nice now :) It's difficult for anyone to know exactly how someone is meaning something to be said, when all you have is written word. Lets steer away from name calling and personal attacks, even if you think you're just teasing or being sarcastic.

I'm actually not worried about numbers declining by moderating the board better. Most times I log on, there are 10+ people browsing, and 10+ new members every day, so i really don't feel threatened by that, considering that the majority of those coming to the site are indeed looking for an LDS site. I have gone ahead an made an open forum where topics like this can be discussed. You can't view this forum unless you are a member and logged in. Moderators should move any topic in question to that forum. In the future I might make it so you have to join the forum to be able to view it, or if you don't want to see topics there, you can be placed in a different member group. (I guess depending on how popular the area is, on the number of individuals who don't want to read the topics there.

Remember me when you make a million on it

The DVD game called Scene It? Check it out on Amazon

Have you ever played scene it? That would be awesome to make an lds version of that :)

I have the board setup so when anything is deleted, it goes to a forum only Spencer and I can see. So if you feel your post was unjustly removed, just pm/email me, and let me know the topic it was in, and I will check it out.

The church teaches love the sinner and not the sin. It's not right to bash, judge, or condemn anyone for any reason. At the same time, I wouldn't promote the site saying, "It's okay." Instead I would say the church does not believe anyone is gay, but that there are those who have homosexual tendencies, and acting on those tendencies is a sin. However, that does not make you a bad person and it doesn't make God or Christ hate you.

From now on I will just start deleting them. I refuse to run an LDS based site which allows others to post topics and comments which bash and run down LDS beliefs. If you come across any such posts, please use the "report this post." I feel there are millions of other message boards out there, and it's not right if someone is coming to this board seeking advice from other LDS members, only to be bombarded with contrary and contrasting views. I feel that if someone is posting on this board it is because they are seeking advice relevant to the LDS church teachings. Else they would be posting advice on any one of the other million boards across the net. I will be making new monitors to help keep control of the topics, and allowing them to deleting anything that is misleading and false. I don't want to sound narrow minded, but allowing this kind of bashing to go on hurts the site and causes people to leave. If you would like me to create a separate forum for other christian beliefs (no anti / bashing) I would be willing to do that.

Very cool idea AK. I run my own business creating dvds from home movies/photos, although I've never done anything as complex as that. I do a lot of video editing and intricate menus with navigation when making my own dvds. I use ulead products mainly, like video studio and dvd workshop. The special features dvd with the harry potters are pretty cool for kids. It's a lot of puzzles and interaction, when if you pass it all, you can see deleted scenes, etc.

So you're talking something similar to the the Harry Potter DVDs which are interactive by using the remote?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARSHA!

i remember when I went in for my baptism interview when I was 8, I asked this exact same question!

I openned this up thinking I was about to read a punch line to a new joke.

You know if I wasn't LDS, yet I was Christian or even shared a lot of the LDS beliefs when it comes to morality and life standards, I could see myself drifting towards a site like this. When you consider that so many of the sites on the internet are practically aimed at the destruction of the family unit, I could see how this could be a safe haven for users of many backgrounds. Thanks for helping me understand.

emotes fixed. YAY! Thanks Ray. I finally figured out where I went wrong. PM me if you notice an of them not working, but I think I fixed them all. Also, if you click edit on your post that has the broken emote in it, and resubmit, it will automatically fix them. (No need to resubmit the emote back into the message.)

I know we have quite a few board members who aren't LDS anymore, for whatever reason. I'm not that curious to know why you left the church, but I am curious as to what would draw you into a LDS related forum system? I'm sure everyone has a different reason. I just think for me personally if I was to disassociate myself with a religion in real life, I'm not sure I would want to be around it on the internet either. Help me figure it out. The only reasons I can see would because you completely loath everything about the church, and you want to bash others who are members (which I don't think is the case with anyone still on the board.) Or, you want others to see the "truth" that you found, but that also doesn't seem likely to me, because it would seem that since you've taken the initiative to worship, feel, and think what you want, you'd want everyone else to have the same choice. So I know I'm totally missing the boat. Any help?

probably not what he wrote, but how her husband interpreted it or responded to it.