Backroads

I have a conflicting opinion.
 
On one hand, we know that children who die are not held accountable for any sins.  They are pure and they are returned to the Father.  We can read about that in Moroni 8 as well as many statements from General Authorities.
 
On the other head, I also believe in Eternal Progression - that we will be continuously learning, and making decisions based on experiences, even after this life.  Is it possible to become like the Father without having had to make choices that could have the potential for mistakes and/or sin?
 
To me, I don't think that's possible.
 
Is there a conflicting doctrine?  Yes and no.
 
For salvation, we know that little children will be saved.
 
But for exaltation - to grow and become more like the Father - I don't see how that can be done, except through experiences held and learned from.

Moroni 7 sheds important light on the subject. Angels/"true messengers" have unique tasks to perform. 

That doesn't make any sense.
 
The rule is to keep your passions within the bounds the Lord sets. Those bounds are legal and lawful marriage, not only if you're expressing love.
 
There is nothing wrong with engaging in proper and "lawful" behavior to fulfill desire. My wife can ask me to give her a back rub "for her" because she really wants a back rub and it feels good and not because she's expressing love. Likewise a husband can desire marital relations.

In terms of priesthood keys a la D&C 13 ("upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels,"), I've explained this in terms of a preparatory gospel.  With the Melchizedek priesthood, we are authorized to give blessings by inspiration with the expectation that we are able to hear and interpret the will of the Lord.  A 12 year old may not have developed that same spiritual maturity, and so, as part of the preparatory priesthood, I tell them it is well within their authority to call upon angels to minister to those around them--said angels are likely to be able to hear and interpret the will of the Lord and intervene appropriately.  In this sense, the ministering of angels is a method that inexperienced (or even unsure) priesthood holders can provide blessings to those they serve.
 
Even now, when I give blessings to people, if I don't have a clear idea of what blessings to give, I will bless the person with the presence of angels (or something to that effect).  
 
What it means in terms of your sister-in-law's patriarchal blessing...I don't know.  Probably not that far off though.

I don't agree with that necessarily. I mean, I see your point, but if you make a very steady income I don't see anything wrong with autopay. Besides, say someone made 60k a year. 5k a month. They set up an autopay of $500 to tithing monthly. You really think they're going to be blissfully unaware of the fact that a very nice truck payment amount is leaving their bank account each month? Tithing is a sacrifice, regardless of whether you write out the check by hand or not.
Moreover, I think that within 5-10 years electronic tithe paying will be the norm. The church is and always has been a bit behind the times technology-wise. Carbon copy receipts is a thing of the past. The church will catch up.

I may be COMPLETELY off on this, but I think that a lot of young men haven't actually prayed as to the validity of the Book of Mormon yet. They're still riding off their parents testimonies. And that doesn't really give one enough reason at all to pay attention.
 
It was like this for me too. I didn't really pay attention to what was being taught until I finally prayed and learned that the church really was true. After that though, I paid attention to everything that was being said afterwards.

To be fair...and perhaps this is a shameful confession...but were I put on the spot to recall what the duties of a teacher was, I'm not sure I'd come up with more than "prepare the sacrament" without looking it up myself. 

Lets break it down...  Before the boys turn 12 all the prep work is going to be have to be done in the home.  Primary is good for teaching the basics... but the details of the Oath and Convent is just not going to be covered.  So when a recently turned 12 year old is interviewed by the bishop, how prepared he is, is going to be a direct reflection on the parents.
 
Now as far as I know there are no standard priesthood interview questions.  Bishop's that are really prepared are ready to open up the scriptures with those boys and teach them or reinforce what the parents have taught.
 
But the bishop also knows that the Aaronic priesthood is a preparatory priesthood.  Like many things in the church priesthood holder can be thrown right in and are expected to learn and figure it out as they go.  That in a very real sense is what the Aaronic priesthood is designed for.
 
As for church the indepthness of the Church instruction all of the lesson are going to be greatly impacted by the local conditions.  Priesthood lessons are not immune to the same things that impact the quality of Relief Society or Sunday School lessons.
 
Should the boys know about the Oath and Convent and duties of the priesthood?  Yes they should.  Do you have something you should bring the the bishop's attention?  Yes you do because it seems to show a hole in what the boys are being taught

To be honest I find it interesting that you teach a youth Sunday School class and find that your students do not seem to know the answers.  If I was a betting person - I would bet you that if you asked the same question this next week - even though you just went over all the information the previous week - you would get much the same answers you got the first time.  Rather than explain why this is; I would point you to the whole purpose of the Follow Me direction recently adopted in teaching the youth.  In essence the objective is not to disperse information (which has been the objective in teaching for millennia)? But to train and encourage youth to study on their own. 
 
Your asking question is a good way of teaching and the way we have encouraged teachers to lead class discussions -- but misses the new objective which is to teach youth to ask the questions and seek out their own answers in order to gain or strengthen testimonies and change behaviors and lives.  As the SS president in our ward I have struggled with this new method and our teachers for a year and a half now.  Not that the teachers are not among the best in the church - just that changing the culture is more difficult than I ever thought.
 
If you figure this out - please let me know.  If you have not figured this out yet -- don't feel bad and please do not give up.  You are the vanguard for perhaps the greatest effort in the restoration - I am convinced that your concern and efforts are as needed now as any have been in the history of man.  We are preparing a generation for something that few generations before have ever faced.

Kids forget, don't pay attention or simple haven't been taught.  It happens.  Sometimes I think when they talk to the bishop for the interview, either he assumes they already know or they are so nervous about "passing the test"  (we know it isn't a test but they think of it that way) that they don't really hear everything.  Also depends on the ward.
They are blessed to have a good teacher that taught them.  I am sure that the eye opener was a good start for them. :)  They are lucky to have you. 

A recent study shows that the greatest thing that affects the levels of violence and crime is "Social attitudes".
 
http://phys.org/news/2014-06-historians-scientists-reveal-real-decline.html
 
 
What does it say about our current "Social Attitude" regarding Christians?

I am glad to hear Justina is returning to her parents.  Her condition has only degraded and gotten worst since the Massachusetts Department of Children and Family took her away from her family.

One true church with exclusive authority is non-doctrine? What about the "racist" teachings in the scriptures? Are those non-doctrine?
 
I agree with you that half-truths are effectively leading people away from God. You're interpretations of what qualifies as a half-truth seems a bit askew.
 
How about things like, love your neighbor means total tolerance of sinful behavior, or the prophet is fallible so we can pick and choose what we follow, or following the prophet means your a mindless sheep, or the leaders of the church are fallible so that means the church is under condemnation, or nobody's perfect so we don't have to worry about it if we're not doing our home teaching, or pornography isn't that bad of a sin because it's so common, etc., etc.
 
I have never known anyone that translated "the one true church with exclusive authority" into "we're better than you, neener neener" and the implication that there's a half-truth in there leading people away from God is a half-truth in itself. I am also not aware of anyone who took some of the mistaken thoughts about race and the priesthood once taught (now disavowed) and turned into the spawns of Satan from it. The imperfection of our leaders does not lead us away from God. If we humbly follow those He has set to guide us we will be blessed and brought closer to Him, in spite of imperfections they may have.

I'm not sure why you'd need to go to the Stake President unless the bishop is actually threatening some sort of action against you. The fact that he's asking things he should not is a simple matter to handle. Answer the questions that you don't mind answering and are appropriate or merely inquisitive. On the inappropriate questions, tell him it's none of his business. Unless he threatens to take away your temple recommend or something else like that there's no reason to escalate it, imo.

Disagree. The bishop is to make sure his members understand the principle of tithing. And then respect their choice on how they pay or not.
If a bishop sees a zero balance and hears a declaration of 'Full Tithe payer' he might easily assume that the person does not understand until he ask further questions.

You are correct that in the US payments made direct to Salt Lake COB (regardless of how those payments are made) do not show on your local records.
The Full Tithe Payer question is a legitimate question.
Enquiring beyond that is walking a very fine line as they are not to deviate form the standard recommend questions; however, if the bishop has 1st hand knowledge or significant reason to believe something that may raise questions regarding your worthiness, he may & can enquire in a "broad sense".
So asking how you pay your tithes could possibly be legitimate as he may have known that your records at the ward level shows no tithes paid.
That said, once you said you pay direct to Salt Lake then his enquiry should have stopped & the recommend interview continued with the remaining questions.
Per Church Policy at COB, local leaders are not to promote nor discourage paying tithes & offerings directly to COB.
Discussing your concerns with the Stake President may be an okay thing to do.
If you do, you may want to have the donation confirmations that COB sends each month & year available. The Stake Prez probly won't care to look closely at them, I would guess a cursory glance would be sufficient.

In the US, Electronic Fund Transfers (EFT) to Church headquarters are not recorded in records sent to the local units.
Bishops should not be asking such invasive questions. You should first remind the bishop that the Church has stated that no one should be interpreting what constitutes tithing any further than "10% of of interest annually" which is understood to mean "income." If he doesn't back down, notify the stake president.

I'm assuming you use what we call BPAY in Australia (using online banking and the Church's online biller code) when you talk about paying the Church directly. If that's the case (I could be wrong; you could be posting them cash for all I know), then the local ward, via MLS, certainly can see your donations and the dates they were made. It all shows on MLS - all members have their donation summaries (can't remember the exact word) printed from MLS at Tithing Settlement time.
Even at any other time, anyone with the MLS access for finances can print a record showing all donations made by a person between certain dates (dating back years if they so choose); this is possible regardless of whether said donations were made via traditional tithing-slip-given-to-Bishop methods or the online billing method.

Never gone this route, but I've always wanted to. I took a couple of car classes in college and the professor was a big believer in leasing for many situations. 
 
Last month, Husband and I said heck with it and paid off our two car loans in one big swoop.  So far it's been a great decision and left us more comfortable for house shopping.

Not throwing it across the room, but if I have no interest in continuing the story at the end of a chapter, I won't get past 3 or 4 chapters before getting bored. The best books are those where I have to force myself to stop reading.

This is my understanding...
 
According to science (and pretty much undisputed) is that in the earth's history it has undergone several ice ages...  Ice ages that caused the temperature to drop and the seas to recede.  These ice ages were followed by periods were the ice melted, the temperatures climbed and the sea's rose. Or in a word the climate CHANGED.  This happened all without modern humanity being around to do squat.
 
Thus it seem to me that science has shown that climate change is the earth's default or natural state. And that we have been coming out of an ice age so we should expect both the temperature  and sea levels to climb.  At least until we start our decent into the next ice age.
 
Therefore when I see people claiming 'Human' caused climate change... I have to ask when did the normal scientifically shown climate change become a non existent factor?  I tend to not give much credences to people who come off as if everything would be all hunky dorie if humans would just stop messing stuff up.
 
Now there are those that say Humans are accelerating or aggravating the process.  This I concede is a possibility. (Although I would like to see what they expect the normal change to be and how they came to that estimate. Then have the human predicted impact on top.
 
Even with that though I think the focus of the Global Warming groups are completely wonky...  I don't think we can (or should really) stop the natural processes and cycles of the earth.  Therefore wrecking the economies to try to stop it is unwise...  Instead we should be looking into how to get us through the changes that are coming.

I dunno.  With regard to greenhouse gasses (which I realize is tangential to your point here)--I've been mildly skeptical of AGW--but not enough to really get into arguments over it--for sometime.  One of the reasons for my skepticism was the statement, often repeated by AGW skeptics, that volcanic activity produces far more greenhouse gasses than man-made emissions do.  Just this week I came across EPA numbers that seem to put that one to bed.
 
I don't like AGW theory proponents using "tricks" to "hide the data".  I don't like AGW theory opponents coming up with cockamamie claims that are wholly unconnected to any known data whatsoever.  All I know is, I'm tired of all the baloney sauce I'm hearing.  From both sides.
 
I want to be a good steward of the environment and am willing to make reasonable cutbacks, but it seems like most AGW proponents are insisting that I limit my family size, turn in my automobile, never set foot in an airplane, and triple the time of my daily commute--while they themselves continue to live in their mansions in between jetting around the world attending international scientific and/or political conferences demonstrating how much they care .  And to those demands, I say:  Not a chance in Hades.

Lightsabers don't kill people.  Sith lords with lightsabers kill people.

Make sure you can be very comfortable with your mortgage payment and don't feel like you need to buy the at the maximum price you are approved for.  Know your budget and pick a mortgage amount and total house price you will not go over.  It is heartbreaking to fall in love with a house that is just slightly above what you can pay.

I'll state it stronger. STAY AWAY FROM THIS!!
 
Even Satan can make well done and thoughtful communication. Well done and thoughtful is not the same as right, good, and true.