estradling75

Men and Women are different. God designed us that way. The natural man seeks to take these differences and declare that one is 'better' than the other. This is a falsehood and used by Satan to alienate us from each other. God doesn't see it that way and he does not want us to see it that way either. Sadly we keep ignoring that. We keep pointing to things like church attendance or self reported "Spirituality" as if they matter. We take those 'signs' of righteousness/worthiness when at best they are a glimpse through a glass darkly for us that which God sees clearly. Now some might think that since we are all different then it is possible that these difference might affect some subgroups ability to be 'righteous/worthy/saved etc. And sure if that was the only thing in play here it might, but it is not. We are dealing with God here and his Atonement. The Atonement of Christ takes care of everything we have no control over... including those difference. So anyone that wants think that one gender is better off, is denying or misunderstanding a big aspect of the Atonement of Christ. ( I do give our leaders a bit of a pass on this, because this can be a hard thing to convey when you have to call some group to repentance, which is also their job) If men (or women or any other subgroup) is truly behind due to things beyond their control (like biology)... then the Atonement of Christ brings them right up to the same starting line as everyone else.

The scriptures tell us Satan wanted to take God's glory and honor.... When he failed that his next desire per scriptures is to make us miserable like he is.. This 'second curse' denies him that. He can not make anyone miserable like he is. He can temp sure... But Christ is going to redeem all but the Son's of Perdition. (aka those that with full light and knowledge choose to reject Christ). He is not going to be able to 'drag' any one of us down with him.. The best he can hope for delay and distract us. Those that he does 'get' aren't going to be because of him.... but rather because of their own choosing. I have no problem with him being quiet upset by that little revelation

I have never read a compelling case for the Telestial Kingdom not being part of the Kingdom of God. The scriptures teach that the Kingdom of God has no sin or filthiness, the scripture also teaches us that we are all sinners, filthy and unworthy of the Kingdom of God. It then teaches us that only through Christ can we be forgiven, made clean, and found worthy, because he is all of those things. It is only through him and by no other means can this happen. Not even intense personal suffering because of our own sins can do this, otherwise Sons of Perdition would have an end. Now we are told that Hell will be emptied out and those inside it enter the Telestial Kingdom, but we don't need to suppose or imagine some new mechanism for this to happen. We have already been told that there is only one way. Christ, by the power of his atonement. No other idea, theory or proposal has any scriptural authority. For those still unclear of the implications of this I would like to point to the conversion of Alma the Younger. He was a wicked and evil man. When he was out doing evil with friends and Angel of God appeared before them and smote them with the words of his mouth. This smiting was so powerful that it effectively sent Alma the Younger straight to hell while still alive. Alma the Younger had only one way out and it discovered it/found it/remembered it three days later. He called upon Christ and was converted. We need not and even very much should not pretend that there is any other way out. Those following the path of Hell-Telestial Kingdom will get out when they convert to/accept Christ when they arrive at the Telestial Kingdom will no longer be like Alma the Younger pre angel, but like Alma the Younger (and friends) after he wakes up and is converted. That is a pretty glorious state even if it is not as much as it could have been. It is also in no way a restoration from Sin to Happiness unless we exclude the power of Christ in the changing of what they are... and if we go there none of us make it.

It seems pretty clear that we mortals do not have the same understanding of Time and Causality that God does. We see this with people claiming the benefits of the atonement before Christ did the physical part... (given how we understand time). Clearly God can accept it before it happens. We know with work for the dead, the physical part of the ordinances, can be done by proxy. While we do acknowledge some limit aka spirit prison vs paradise we don't fully understand how that breaks down. So the idea that we might have made convents in the preexistence and gained the blessing of them, with the ordinances to be done later, does not strike me as out of line with limited stuff we already know and accept.

Freedom of speech is a right that needs to be protected just like the other rights we have... Also like our other rights it is not absolute, it has limits. Those limits are when it comes against the rights of others. You can't harm others. The common example given is Yelling Fire in a crowded theater. Other cases are statements that are harmful to reputation and whatnot. Freedom of speech is one of the few rights that have an exception to this limit. That exception is TRUTH. If the Theater is crowded... and it is on fire... then we want you to be yelling fire even if by doing so you cause some harm... Truth can be harmful to people's reputation. We can and should tell the truth even if it hurts... If we do not want to be hurt by truth then we should live in such a way that it can not hurt us. Now I have not followed this case beyond what has been presented here. But if you accuse someone of being a 'Crisis Actor' that is something you better be ready to prove because that is an attack on that person's reputation. In the case where causing others to take action that hurts (aka the Theater example) that can get murky fast, but it is not unreasonable to think that with greater power/influence comes greater accountability. But that greater accountability needs to be equality applied. You don't get to go after commentators/talking heads/politicians that say things you do not like for causing harm while ignoring the commentators/talking heads/politicians that say things you do like that cause harm. It is unwise to protect one group because you "like/agree" with them and strip the protection from those you "do not like/agree" with. Because the day will come that you find yourself in disagreement with the group you protected. What are you going to do when they turn on you and you helped them become too powerful to stop? That is just short sighted and foolish

I think it is the same idea that is behind forgiveness. Bad things happen, struggle is real and we need to deal with it. But there comes a time when we have done all we can, and we have to wait for some kind of resolution or at least the next actionable step... So what do we do while we wait? Most of the time we run in mental and emotional circles. This keeps us stuck, we don't let it go but there is nothing useful or productive to do about it. So we waste a lot of mental and emotional energy going no where. But if we have the faith to say, 'I've done what I can, now it is in the Lords hands' then we can turn our focus other things. That is what we need to do, and that is what takes time and practice, because it is hard. I find it exhausting to spend a lot of metal and emotional energy going nowhere... but that same energy spent moving forward is still tiring... but it seems to make its own positive feedback loop with progress being made.

The question should not be about when it become life (because it already is alive)... but rather when it becomes Human with all the Human Rights that come with it. If it is not human... then it is simply another clump of living cells in the mothers body and her bodily autonomy prevails. But if it is human with all the Human Rights that come with it.. then we have a conflict of two individuals rights. This is a conflict that we have repeatably dealt with in our legal system. Generally speaking our legal system does not allow killing or harming another through the right of bodily autonomy, but it does allow it for defense. Some of the greatest historical tragedy we have come from finding a reason to view someone else as less then human. We have had it done based on superficial physical or cultural differences. Slavery, holocaust and treatment of women are just the really big ones that come to mind. In all those case the differences were largely unchangeable. Yet we realized we were wrong and we fought to change it. (And we continue to fight) In the case of the unborn their differences will go away... all they need is time... Yet I am suppose to consider them not human or sub human for the lack of at most nine months? Sorry that does not work for me. I see that as putting me with historical company that I do not want to keep (Slavers, Nazis etc.) For the church side of it... if we knew through revelation when a spirit takes on the body we would have a clear line in which to draw. But we do not have that... and we could not prove it to others even if we did.... So we need others reasons... and I just outlined mine. The current legality is not a good reason... all the other tragedy's were legal at the time until we said no more. Choice can be a good reason if it is not in reality an attempt to undo poor or regrettable prior choices (that is a consequence and murdering someone to avoid a bad choice is not acceptable) ... But rather a response to other imposing their will... In that case a choice could fall under defensive action depending on ongoing trauma from the event.

I got called, selected, saw the whole case (It was a robbery) and then told to not come in for deliberations. I was some kind of alternate in case someone couldn't finish the deliberations or something like that.

The scriptures tell us that "without 'faith' it is impossible to please God". Note it does not say "without 'the results we expected to get' it is impossible to please God. Sadly too many use there own judgment on the results to figure out what they should do... Just image if Abinadi had that mindset... "I'm going to get burned to death by King Noah without a single convert. (He likely did not know of Alma) So clearly this in not the path God wants me to take." Yes missions are hard and can be discouraging.. but missions do not have a monopoly on hardship and discouragement. It is in these moments that we prove our faith, and we gain the strength to face the other trials and discouragement we will face. Toughing it out is OK but the better mindset is... "The Lord has put me here for a wise purpose which I know not, but I will trust that he does."

I am a big fan of personal responsibility... If you acquire a debt you should discharge it. Simple personal responsibility. Religiously speaking there are tons and tons of examples of everyone failing to be personally responsible and needing help digging out of the pit we put ourselves in. (AKA Sin and Forgiveness) There are also lots of stories where others see the help given to others and do not like it. They think it is unfair to those who did not screw up in that manner. (Aka the Older son in the Prodigal Son, the day laborers). They are wrong to do so. So from a theoretical and principle perspective, I can not call it Anti Religious. But it is not in government we should be placing our Faith... that would be Anti Religious. This whole problem exists because the government isolated student loans from corrective market forces which has allowed it to spiral out of control and take several educational aspects with it. I would much prefer that we hold the government accountable for causing the problem and have it revisit that choice, and find another answer to the problem it was trying to solve. I am very much against slapping yet another not clearly thought out patch that goes on top of a different poorly thought out patch.

The older I get the more I realize that having a issue with a church leader, can be a total trial of faith for many members. I think this is in many ways because of the duality of our leaders. We have as an Article of Faith that our leaders are called of God. We also know from Scriptures that they are imperfect sinners who make mistakes. And that is a hard duality to balance. We want to go to one extreme or the other but the extremes are wrong... On one hand we want to say will they are called of God so everything must be right and perfect... Then we see very clearly that they are not, and we want to flip to the other well they are imperfect sinners so why listen to them at all. God has called and will call very imperfect people to his work. God knows the mistakes, errors and the harm/hurt that will happen and he calls them anyways. And that can be a hard thing to accept. In many ways we can have a 'prosperity gospel' mindset when it comes to our leaders. We expect that following our leaders leads to immediate prosperity in an earthly sense. And that has never been the promise. Reading the scriptures and our own history shows that some times that happens, but just as often it does not. Yet many believe it anyways and so when a Leadership induced hardship appears we call into question their 'Calling.' Lets take a well know scripture story and liken it to this context. God tells the Prophet Lehi... "Get the Brass Plates" The prophet tells the Local Leaders the command of the Lord. The Local Leader (Nephi) leads his congregations (His brothers) to perform the work. But as is often the case local leadership and members have to figure out how to complete the commandment given. Their first attempt they draw lots and Laban goes and nearly gets killed. So everyone knows how dangerous it is... So the local leader (Nephi) knowing how dangerous it is comes up with a plan. Get the wealth they left behind and trade it for the plates. They do Nephi's plan and he nearly gets everyone killed. We know how this story ends, and with that knowledge we can better understand what is happening. But I want to stop the story here, because we do not know how our story is going to end yet. How would we respond when a Church Leader nearly gets us killed, or threatens our ability to provide for our family by their requests? Or otherwise cause us pain and suffering? Sadly when I ask myself this question I find myself with answers that more closely resemble the response of Laban and Lemuel and that is not a good place to be, not for me, and not for anyone else. Yet we do need to respond and that response needs to balance having both faith and our responsiblities to be good steward of what we are called to be steward over (Including our own health and happiness)

Yes it was... Kinda of an unintentional birthday present to myself

I just passed the test for all three levels last night. The FCC just issued my call sign. Woo Hoo

Indeed many horrible things have happened over the years, decades and centuries. Something horrible happening is not an indicator that things are getting worse... The indicator that things are getting worse is that we are not uniting in the face of the horrible things and collectively condemning them... Rather too many on all sides (depending on which horror) are trying to justify it as Ok, or not that bad, or only fair or expected because of X...

As a general rule I agree... But there are too many examples in the scripture where even the prophets themselves ask why the Lord is not responding (Take Joseph Smith and Liberty Jail for example) and there are many teaching in the church how blessing do not always instantly follow obedience. (Nor punishment instantly following disobedience). Thus expecting instant answers, once we have done our part is not something we should expect, but often do. Many times in my own life I have had to take that leap of faith, and step out into the darkness with nothing but faith, hoping that the Lord will light the path once I am committed to it. Once I've done that... then the many of promised answers have came, but some I still wait for... knowing that they will come.

In matters like this... we tend to forget that the Lord will keep all his promises... in his time... That last bit is kind of important. For example if we are talking to a faithful and true member who desires the blessing of being sealed... we have no problem believing that it will happen, but the timing might not be for a while or even in mortality, but the Lord will work it out and keep all his promises. Yet when we hear someone who is not getting a testimony of the Book of Mormon... we assume they are doing something wrong.. and while that is a good thing to check... We also have to acknowledge that the Lord is in control, and it will happen on his schedule, in his timing. While we might not understand the delay we do need to accept that it is for a wise purpose.

Which raises the question? What do we consider the 'basics' We live in a very complex society, and adults are expected to navigate lots of different things. I consider my job as a parent is to turn my kid into a functional adult... That can look like a lot of different things to different people.

The bottom line is... Parents... Parents that are engaged and active in their children's education can make just about anything work. The parents that can't be bothered.. will find that just about everything will fail.

I have no problem with a line... I have a problem when we are hypocrites about the line. Take fetal homicide laws. If a person attacks a pregnant woman, and causes her to miscarry... not only can the attacker be charged with the assault on the mother, but for killing the unborn child as well (where these laws exist). To me this law just feels right and correct. But if it is right and correct... then I can not turn around and say but it is ok if the mother gets a doctor to do it or does it herself. We can either have fetal homicide laws or we can have legal abortions but it is very hypocritical to do both. And I prefer the first

Some the greatest crimes and tragedies that one person (or group of people) have inflicted on another has been enabled by seeing them as 'less' than human... Holocaust, Racism, Slavery etc. In many of these cases we have said NO and Never again. To justify abortion we have to call the unborn... not human... That is only way we can feel good and justify our actions, of what would otherwise be horrific. Given that these unborn simply need a bit more time to be unarguably human... It seems that saying that they are not old enough to be human.... is as weak as saying someone is not human because of skin color, or ethnicity, or religion

Wi-Fi node is a generic term for Wi-FI hardware. @mikbone has posted some good examples. (And he did the weather protection which I hadn't been thinking about. That is important too)

As been pointed out the trailer being a faraday cage is a big factor limiting wifi (and cell service too). Running a cable is something is something you need to do to get past it. Now if running the cable through your house is an issue and your wifi outside the house is good.. Then you could put a wifi node outside to take it back to cable and route it into the trailer. Once inside you could continue the cable or do another wifi node on the inside. You would have to do some looking to see if that kind of thing would make sense for you (Cost wise and making sure you still have enough speed.)

Indeed.. The corporate side of the church does have an obligation... The obligation it to whatever it agreed to/offered as part of it employee compensation... whatever that might be. (It seems clear that no one here can really answer that question) The idea that the corporate side church should "do more" then its obligation raises the very logical question of where does that end? After all the command for charity does not end with a singular persons aunt. If they "do more" for her then they should do more for everyone else. And if they are busy funding everyone retirement what is happening to our Temples, the temple work, the church building and missionary work? Funds are limited... That work is also commanded us of the Lord. So the church has to balance all the commands of the Lord, all of which require funding. The church will not ignore the Aunt if she runs into problem in retirement because she neglected to prepare for it... but it will not be solving it with piles of cash... It will be in the local ward leaders trying to help her and her family solve it themselves.

Having fresh vegetables as food storage is totally doable. You just need to commit to a slightly different set of preps. In this case you learn to garden, you eat what you 'grow' and your food storage isn't massive containers of wheat or beans or whatever... but a seed bank, plus whatever incidentals you like on your vegges. Of course gardening is not without its own set of challenges... which is why you need to figure it out before you need to live off it.

The bottom line is if your Aunt wants to retire she needs to figure out how to make it happen... If her family wants her to retire then they need to figure out how to make that happen. As an employee there is probably something... but there is no guarantee that it is going to be enough. What ever the employer offers (aka the Church) is what it offers and then remainder has to be covered in other ways... This is why it is not recommended that a person waits to plan for their retirement.