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john doe

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Posts posted by john doe

  3. Lottery tickets/raffles/draws

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    For us and having 4 kids in school we got to a point with all the fundraisers going on .....we asked if we could just donate a sum of money.

    When you have kids in Marching band sometimes the fundraisers are endless.

     

    I finally called the school and told them that if they really need the money to raise my taxes. The fundraisers were all overpriced junk that could be purchased elsewhere for less. KIds don't need to be taught to be hucksters at age 7.

  7. Bishop submissions rejected by the First Presidency

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    You know this how?

     

    So the prophet reviews 50,000 plus new calls/year prays over them and gives his stamp of approval? 

     

    Sorry you are up in the night. I do not doubt that he approves the calls, heck there is a rubber stamp with his signature on it for every call.

     

    I suggest that he is involved in deeper issues.

     

     

    Someone hasn't been paying attention during General Conference. This from Elder Ballard during the April 2015 conference:

     

    "Fortunately the Lord has provided ways for us to reach out to you. For example, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve assigns every missionary to his or her mission. Although this is done without a traditional face-to-face interview, technology and revelation combine to provide an experience that is remarkably intimate and personal. Let me tell you how this happens.

    Your photograph comes up on a computer screen, together with key information provided by your bishop and stake president. When your picture appears, we look into your eyes and review your answers to the missionary recommendation questions. For that brief moment, it seems as if you are present and responding to us directly.

    As we look at your photograph, we trust that you have cleared in every way the “raised bar” required today to be a faithful, successful missionary. Then, by the power of the Spirit of the Lord and under the direction of President Thomas S. Monson, we assign you to one of the Church’s 406 worldwide missions.

    No, it isn’t the same as a personal, face-to-face interview. But it’s close."

     

    A sustained prophet does indeed call and approve every mission call.

  8. Bishop submissions rejected by the First Presidency

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I skimmed the posts, I think most are missing the point, by the time a name is submitted to Salt Lake the prayer and reflection about who would be a good candidate has already been done.

     

    If a name gets rejected from salt Lake it is not because "it's not the right time" It is because in their background checks they found something that disqualifies that individual. 

     

    Lets not kid ourselves and think that a GA ponders the names of a bunch of strangers/people he has no association with and gets some flash of enlightenment about who is worthy and who is not. 

     

     

    And you know this..... how?

  10. Bishop submissions rejected by the First Presidency

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I don't get the inference here. If someone's name is submitted to be a bishop and he is not called, does that make him a less valuable worker in the Lord's vineyard? Is whether a person is called a bishop some sort of litmus test for his worthiness?

     

    I think the danger here is the idea that not being called to a certain position in the Church somehow makes you less in the eyes of God or Christ. If your name is rejected for being a bishop and the Stake President is suddenly less cordial to you, doesn't that make it a 'him' problem and not a 'you' problem?

     

    There are generally a few men at any given time who are perfectly worthy to be bishop in any given ward, but just because one is chosen to be called does not mean that the others somehow don't 'measure up'. I think you will find in the Celestial Kingdom many great men who were never called to high callings in the Church. God is not a respecter of persons or their calling. It doesn't matter.

     

    Some people are foreordained to be leaders, some people are foreordained to sustain their leaders and aid them in fulfilling their callings and duties. If a church leader has no followers, how effective of a leader can he really be? Personally, I think that being a Sunday School teacher, or Priesthood/Relief Society  instructor, or Primary teacher, are just as important, and possibly more important, callings as bishop. After all, the bishop may address a ward a couple times a year, but the weekly instructors are the ones who really deliver the Gospel Message to ward members on a regular basis.

  13. Utah Mormons

    in LDS Gospel Discussion

    Posted

    I think it's a open secret in every non-Utah ward to PLAYFULLY make fun of Utah Mormons.

     

    All the Utah Mormons I've met chuckle at it, because they know it's all in good fun. 

    Whenever we get a new person from Utah in my ward, I always say something like "Where is this Utah? Why do you Mormons flock there?" 

    So far, everyones been cool with it. 

     

    All the families from Utah I've met have been truly remarkable. 

     

    Outwardly they're chuckling, but inwardly they're thinking "What a jerk. Here I am thousands of miles away from home in a strange place, and some clown is harassing me about it." They're really hoping you'll be more welcoming next time they see you.

  14. Have we distanced ourselves from Brigham Young?

    in LDS Gospel Discussion

    Posted

    I think Brigham was a great Prophet. He was definitely an inspired and inspiring man, who held the Church together during one of its most difficult times following the death of Joseph and the forced removal across the plains. One of the problems we run into is that many fundamentalists seem to think that revelation stopped with Brigham or shortly thereafter. Those same fundamentalists like to point to the mainstream church, the one that most likely excommunicated them or their fathers, and claim that this is not the same church that Brigham presided over.

     

    But that 'criticism' is somewhat true. We aren't the same. That does not mean that our doctrine or tenets have changed. Truth has not changed. Yes, we do some things differently now than we did then. But just as Brigham did some things differently than Joseph, successive Prophets have done and said things differently than Brigham. That's why we we have living Prophets, so that we can constantly receive 'course corrections', and remain on the path laid out by Jesus Christ. We receive revelation from our current Prophets to help us deal with today's issues and problems, so that we don't remain stuck in the 1850's mindset. We live in 2015, not 1865. I for one, am glad that we get those things, those renewed focuses, those 'course corrections' so that we can deal with today's world, not the world of our ancestors.

  16. Small Business and the LDS Community

    in General Discussion

    Posted

     

    This post has reminded me of the words of a popular Primary song that I'm sure many of the life long members here would have sung and loved as children

     

    1. 1. "Give," said the little stream,
      "Give, oh! give, give, oh! give."
      "Give," said the little stream,
      As it hurried down the hill;
      "I'm small, I know, but wherever I go
      The fields grow greener still."
    2. Singing, singing all the day,
      "Give away, oh! give away."
      Singing, singing all the day,
      "Give, oh! give away."
    3. 2. "Give," said the little rain,
      "Give, oh! give, give, oh! give."
      "Give," said the little rain,
      As it fell upon the flow'rs;
      "I'll raise their drooping heads again,"
      As it fell upon the flow'rs.
    4. 3. Give, then, as Jesus gives,
      Give, oh! give, give, oh! give.
      Give, then, as Jesus gives;
      There is something all can give.
      Do as the streams and blossoms do:
      For God and others live.

     

     

    You'll notice that the song doesn't say "Take from the Little Stream, Take, oh take". The idea of the song is that we should be sharing and doing things for others of our own free will. It's about the mindset of performing unexpected service for others. And that's a great concept. It's called being unselfish and lifting others.

     

    It's when others think or expect that you should give or donate your talents to them that the problems begin. When they expect you to do something for them for free merely because they don't want to pay for it, or that you go to the same church, or that you are family or friends, then they are the ones who are being selfish.

     

    I work in the automotive service repair industry. I make my living working on cars. I also work part time selling auto parts. Some people think that that means I should have no problem after a long day of working and talking to people about cars, to come home and work on their stuff for free. But my sweet wife has made sure to let anyone who approaches me about their car know right up front to expect to pay me for my services if they ask for my help. Setting that boundary from the outset gets the relationship going off on the right foot. People who come up to me now expect that they will be paying me for my services if I help them. Occasionally, depending on the problem and the person, and their personal situation, I may finish a job and refuse payment. But that's my choice, not theirs. That's where 'Give said the Little Stream' comes into play for me. It's about giving, not taking. 'Taking' removes my ability to grow by giving service, and the recipient's ability to grow by thankfully receiving service they fully expected to pay for.

     

    But it's not an LDS thing, it's a societal thing. Look at how much more certain segments of society want to take from those of us who work hard without putting in any effort of their own to better themselves. The governmental welfare system is broken. We now have people who feel they are owed something for not working, or because their ancestors may have been abused by someone else's ancestors. Or because they belong to a 'minority' group, race, or class. The end story is generally the same: they want something for free without putting in any effort to earn it for themselves. That's not me 'giving', that's someone else deciding to 'take' from me.

  18. I am a non-Mormon dating a Mormon who will be on her mission by the end of the year

    in Marriage and Relationship Advice

    Posted

    So, do you think she'll grow out of this 'religion thing' she's got going on and hope she'll return to normal when she gets back? Or will you be her 'project'? People go on missions to convert non-believers into believers. Do you expect that she will just give up on the values she will be espousing for the next 18 months when she gets back, just to be with you?

     

    Unfortunately, I've seen these kinds of situations where a missionary comes home and gets married to a person who is not a member of the church or is not as committed to living it as much as they are. Quite frankly, in many instances the former missionary ends up a few years later regretting the decision to marry the non-believer, even though they may still love that person very much. There are ordinances and experiences that they wish they could share with their spouse that they will never experience in this life. If there are children, the non-believer spouse will not be able to fully engage in baptisms, confirmations, endowments, sealings, etc., or will not be able to participate in at all. Does the non-believer expect the believer to give those things up for him/her? Is it fair to the believer to have a spouse who is never 'evenly-yoked' to them for the rest of their lives?

     

    I know this comes across as pretty harsh, but sometimes reality is not what we fantacized about before we enter into these kinds of things. Most non-believers don't realize the pain they put the believing spouse through when they think that their love is bigger than deeply-held spiritual beliefs, and that everything will end up rosy. A deeply religious person who ends up being married to a not-so-religious person or one whose beliefs differ from their own generally winds up being hurt by the failure of the spouse to choose to live the same life as they desire to have. So I ask again: is it fair to her to ask her to give up her deeply-held beliefs just to be with you? Or do you think that maybe you could put a little effort into seeing if her religion is something you might enjoy being a part of?

  22. Temple Garments

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    As a man, I wear both the cotton and mesh garments. I don't care for the compression material. I don't like the crew neck top, but that's probably because I'm not a pencil-necked geek. I wear the scooped round neck. I change garments daily, just like (I imagine) most people change their underwear daily, so you should buy enough to get you through between laundry days.