Backroads

Not my ward but the ward/stake over, the bishop would probably be in some hippy communist commune in the woods if it weren't for his love of guns. He's the most liberal man I know (friends with his wife). And yet he is still a bishop of a ward in Utah.

I legitimately think there is, at least in some social circles, an expectation to have sex early in the courtship. I even heard someone say that a girl not interested in sex on Date 1 was a red flag. That being said, I think there is a positive with the more recent cycles of sexual expression where this idea of early sex is being pushed back upon if a person doesn't want it. I kind of laughed at your anectdote about what the local "Church" has become. When I was working for the Scouts back in the day, our office was located on a hill off the main highway, and the Catholics decided to build this gorgeous-and-huge church across the street from us. Now that is perfectly visible from the highway, and it looks like a church! Stained glass windows, a steeple, a cross, what more do you want? So when I was on the phone trying to explain to someone where we were located, I was surprised to find that saying "and when you see the big church, turn" just confused people (and no, saying the actual name of the street didn't work, either). Now, it's probably because this was in Utah, and this church didn't look like the local ward chapel. But I feel something has been lost in the cultural/community definition of church.

In a lot of ways I'm all about that "relationship with God first" but I think there comes a point where it's like, what's the point of a church, then? And that's not the best place to be. I'll go out on a limb and say that many members of their churches have their pet focuses and quirks, but when I truly think of "Protestant Mormons", the ones I've interacted with have the gospel watered down so much that the resulting church isn't anything special or remarkable. I've certainly heard my share of people going off the rails with their own personal interpretation of everything, but if not more so it seems their personal revelation is that much of our doctrine is simply a story or tradition. Book of Mormon isn't real, temples are just a fun little thing, etc.

Thank-you!

I'm only a Xennial depending on some retaliation in the numbers, but I think I honestly do related more to Gen X, so I go with it if I must divide and conquer the years.

As you probably ought to be.

I'm trying to figure out what we're trying to achieve with the generation labels. I like to think it's an observation of values and behavior over time, but that seems such a spectrum...

So, despite two forms of birth control, I am currently pregnant. Conception date? My dad's birthday. I'm a little weirded out by it.

I shouldn't have laughed, but that's funny.

I often hear this and wonder, why did they struggle so much in their marriages? (No offense to Vort's original humorous post, but I'm one for those darn milennials (Or Gen Yers) who think the Boomers complain far more than my generation, so serious answers like this intrigue me).

Like KSL comments aren't the beacon of insight?

Now I'm trying to figure out which local-ish case this is.

I'm in the weird mix of "Eh, I enjoy a good story" and take everything with a salt lick, and "I've seen more than my share of crazy in reality" that I don't necessarily dismiss everything. Still got that salt lick of doubt, though.

I think I saw it on the cesspool that is Reddit in one of the LDS subs, where this woman was talking about her YW leader, pillar-of-the-ward mother was trafficking her (woman sharing story is still happily active in the church). I'm quite sure it happens more than we dare think. I've seen mixed responses to Target Traffiking. I've seen a sample of people that are very much believing it, but I don't know how big that sample is. Most of them honestly seem to be of the boomer age, so I doubt many are active parents.

My biggest issue with Target sex traffiking is that the stories were so sensational, make for such a great social media post with such drama and how-lucky-you-escaped, that they blind people to the real dangers. I forget the term, but the average person can only fear and worry over so many things. When suburban warrior mommies start panicking over relatively minor things, it leaves me wondering if they have the bandwidth to worry about more important things: suck as the example daughter here.

This would have been early 2000s when you could get conference just about anywhere. I was nannying for my cousins, and my wealthy uncle had rented out some office space for a conference party for fellow friends/neighbors (we were not in the Mormon Corridor) of our faith and was able to rig up some streaming. It was kind of fun. These days, living in Utah, I'm spoiled. I told the Google thingy to play KSL radio while I tidied the kitchen this morning.

Shepherd. And this may be because I'm drawn to art that shows Him as a shepherd.

We found ourselves besought with soccer games during the first session of conference. And soccer pictures. I realized at the last possible moment that one child's soccer pictures were at 10 am, and then shortly after that I had to drive said child and toddler to soccer game half an hour away. Still, it was lovely. I was able to listen to some talks on the radio and the canyon I drove through was ready for fall. Of course I couldn't listen to more of the session due to soccer and toddler. Husband was dealing with the other child's concurrent soccer game, and then we had to figure out something for lunch. Tragically, we totally spaced the other Saturday sessions. It wasn't until scrolling facebook and seeing strange "Jasper!" memes than I realized what had happened. Then, this morning, the kids ran into our room to play and eventually Husband freed himself to go shave in the bathroom and one child recalls it is conference weekend and Husband had completely forgotten about this Sunday session and complained about why he had to shave if there was no church. (Answer: he was scratching himself to actual pain with his own beard). I don't know if this was something out to get us, or just the realities of having a family in this mortal world. We did better for today's morning session.

It's definitely all relative. But it does seem a stable two-parent home is good, even if the parents don't necessarily like each other.

Everyone brings up "toxic marriages" and how they're worse for the kids than if you just divorced. But there are quite a few studies that suggest if the couple can more or less get along, the kids do it better.

I've yet to meet anyone in real life or even on most of the internet who is truly against the two-parent home and a stable family. I think where the generalized left wing is struggling here is trying to defend the situations without two-parents. Some years ago I read an article about a study where they were trying to prove that single mothers are raising boys than married mothers are. Apparently some journalist dared to ask the person over the study about her happy stable marriage to her children's father and it didn't go over very well. I think people want the single parent to be "just as good". And I know some excellent single parents who give it their all and do a fine job. I just don't think that cry needs to be louder than "two-parent families are a good norm and goal".

This isn't a person I really pay much attention to (still haven't seen that one movie). I think the media will do what the media will do. Without more evidence, I'm content to remain a neutral party. That all being said... no one, church members included, are perfect, and not all Latter-Day Saints are, well, saints. I guess I'm not making assumptions yet, but with all the stuff that happens in the world, I won't put him above such behavior.

I respect this. I'm actually something of the opposite. I've come to realize I'm a hermit, and working from home these past few years hasn't helped that. And heck if I don't like it that way. So, for some reason, I tend to be more social with church. I hate the idea of calling church a social club, but it's a nice way for me to be social and connect with people. I'm actually the one chatting it up.

I liked the three hours just fine and think the system had true benefits and perks. But I think there is some real thought and purpose behind the move to two hours. I do think it puts so much back on the family, and that is a sacred responsibility. I think we will be possibly seeing even more movement to the responsibility of the individual in the gospel, a call to get the oil for our lamps, if you will. As for the hours themselves, I feel they are more concise with less fluff.