LDSJewess

Ok I guess I am being judgemental but I find it absolutely amazing that this Eternal Pet Company is actually gathering clients and appearently they want payment up front AND ignorant people are paying it. It scares me that people with this same lack of common sense actually drive cars, and vote and manage to perform many tasks that can effect us all. I have to think that if I believed in all this, then it is more likely that our pets would be raptured and we would be pet-less. If mine is missing tomorrow with a full food bowl left behind, I will be sure to post about it.

I am very much anti gun control and here are the reasons why: 1. When law abiding citizens are denied their right to bear arms, then the only ones owning guns are those who are not law abiding, or the government. Criminals will obtain them on the black market, and commit the crimes anyway. As for the government owning guns but not the citizens not; this may seem fine in theory until some fanatical or evil leader emerges in government. I have to think that if citizens lawfully had guns in Europe in the first half of the 20th century, we may not have even had a holocaust. 2. The theory that guns can get into the hands of children who take them to school or commit suicide just doesn't hold water. When I grew up in the 50's and 60's in the Midwest, many children knew how to shoot guns and owned guns by around the age of ten. Opening day of deer hunting season was a school holiday, and kids went hunting and most by early teens belonged to shooting clubs for sport. I went to shcool in a very large city with a graduating class in the thousands, and I NEVER kn ew one kid throughout high school that shot anyone and none committed suicide. The reason was all these kids were taught gun safety, responsibility, and feared the repercussion of disobeying their parents when they were told they could only handle guns under adult supervision at the shooting range or when hunting. Those were different times though. I have to wonder what kool aide the parents of the Colunbine shooters were drinking when interviewed they said "They had no idea their teenagers were building gunds and bombs in the garage." And They had not ever recalled seeing the 15 propane tanks in their garage. What???? Where do they park their cars? Didn't they ever enter their kids rooms? That crime and others like it were not the fault of guns. 3. The logic of denying a law abiding citizen the right to own a gun because "there are those who would abuse gun use" is about as silly as saying that if someone drives recklessly and kills someone with a car, we need to deny the law abiding citizens the right to own a car. And for the record, the leading cause of (non illness related deaths) is not guns it is cars. (Or should we say the miss use of cars).

I don't think any of the above are hypotcritical. Mormon's aka The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints went through many changes from time of Joseph Smith to current day. Polygamy was once practiced and later changed. Blacks could not hold the ksys to the priesthood, and that later changed. Life in general changes and that is a natural course of things. When Heavenly Father revealed a new revelation to the Prophet, then a change was made according to what Heavenly Father felt was appropriate for the time. Jews of the days of Abraham, Issac and Jacob had concubines (maid servants or mistresses if you will that bore children for them). That too has obviously changed long ago and not a part of modern day life. Today Jews practice their religion through a number of movements aka Orthodox. Chassidic, Chabad, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, secular Humanism and yes even Messianic, (believers in the savior who do not consider thwemselves "Christian" rather "Messianic Jews"). Christians too changed and continue to from warly Catholicism, (Greek and Roman), to Anglican (not recognizing the Pope as authority), Lutheran (first protestant reformation), and all the denominations since then. Each sect of course argues the truth and correctness of their religion, and the movements that stemmed from the original religion/s then call the others hypocrits. I think Heavenly Father will ultimately make the decision on what is right for his children in their time on this earth. Perhaps that is another good reason to have a living prophet with us on earth now so that revelations can be received that are "relevant" to those living on the earth now and we can have a better understanding of Heaveny Fathers plan. Aren't we all glad we don't have to figure all this stuff out on our own? As for "fundamentalism" within the LDS church, I have found (in my own experiences of course), that people seem to be more fundamentalist if they come from a more fundamentalist Christian background, and those that did not or were born into the church are much less so. I see this as frame of reference of the individual rather than the stand of the Church itself. We have to keep in mind that members of the LDS church are made up of more converts (thanks to the amazing and hard work of the missionaries). So naturally a vast amount of members who are converts bring with them some of their thinking and ideas from their upbringing and the churches they once belonged to.

Thanks so much for all of the responses. My main concern was the recommend interview question that asks "Are you wearing the garments SINCE YOUR ENDOWMENT day and night." Ok I do understand that there are times when it is not required or even considered inappropriate to wear them. I heard about the bathing and all that as well and personally think that if people want to do that and it gives them a sense of security then that is fine for them. Our concern was more about someone (Bishop or S. Prez) determining our worthiness based on how and when we wear out underwear rathwer than what is in our heart and whether we have a testimony and faith in our Heavenly Father. For is this really goes beyond clothing style and activities. It is about what we feel in our hearts and souls. Although my husband feels the same as I do, I will now speak for myself. I KNOW my Heavenly Father loves me unconditionally and will protect me ALWAYS and have my best interests at heart ALWAYS. I see Heavenly Father as the perfect parent. And if this is so and I whoheartedly believe it is, then I can be sure of this. We human parents love our children beyond measure and we are imperfect as people and as parents. Even so we would not depart from our children or cast them away or consider them unworthy in any way at all, no less for what they were wearing. We love them and we guide them and we tell them what is appropriate and teach them right and wrong but we NEVER consider them unworthy. I KNOW I will be unconditionally loved and protected ALWAYS and I will always be worthy in the eyes of God. Nothing can ever take that away, even during the time I was not going to church. This is my testimony and it is an unshakable one based on my personal relationship with God over many years here on earth and likely before. We have decided to come back to the church because we feel that we can do God's work and study, teach, learn and pray among others who have the same love and desire to serve God. But we don't want to be considered "unworthy" by another human being albeit called to his position, because there is lack of understanding about the of the garment issue. This of course will be discussed further when and if the time is appropriate. But since it has come up in conversation between my husband and I, I decided to get some input here. Thanks again.

Thanks Vort, It is interesting that you mentioned the yarmulke because that is not even a biblical requirement (although a talit is). Even so, aside from Orthodox Jews; many conservative and perhaps most Reform Jews only wear a talit on High Holy days, and the Rabbi from the synagogue I attended never wears a yarmulke at all (Reform). I think in the case of Judaism it is a matter of how one wishes to worship. And although perhaps some Orthodox Jews will say that the non-Orthodox are not practicing Judaism, there is no mention ever of "worthiness" or lack thereof. This was a pitfall for both of us before. Perhaps the other thinks are non issues because keeping commandments including dietary laws was a given but never had to deal with being commanded what to wear for fear of not being worthy in the eyes of God. I'm sure this will be something we will be discussing over time. Thanks for your encouragement and well wishes.

Thanks, I knew about the swimming and basketball part, (did not know about the ballroom dancing etc:) I happen to be a big fan of Marie Osmond and her galleries of photos are some of her working and others accepting awards or simply photos that were captured in magazines etc: in every day life as is the case is celebrities. I have never seen Marie wear anything that I would consider immodest, and being over 60 I don't see myself wanting to wear a bikini anytime soon. But every day wear Marie has been photographed wearing in a non working envoronment incouded sleeveless dresses, or tops and dresses with sleeves sheer to the shoulder, skirts above the knee (not minis) but all the above would not conceal garments. When my husband was still working he wore bermuda shorts as a part of his uniform. Not a requirement as long pants were ann option but in 90 degree humidity not an option for him. We are now in a business where evening wear and resort wear is worn and modest yes, but some items with shorts or items that again modest but not so covering as to conceal. Something we will need to work out of we continue on, but it helps to get perspective. We are a little new in our returning to church to feel comfortable with talking to the Bishop (who is younger than our kids) about our under garments. Thank goodness for forums like this.

This is a hard one for me to even comprehend. Sometimes I feel like I dropped in on another planet when it comes to how kids are raised today. I hate to point blame, but where on earth are the parents of an 11 year old child. I mean not just when the child is 11 but from the beginning. I am all for love and logic. I raised two alone and my husband and I have 5 together an 14 grandkids and one great. When our children were 11 they were supervised. I worked long hours as a single parent and was often even out of town but my children at that age were never without the supervision of a responsible adult. If we treat children like adults and give them freedom that they cannot handle at such young ages, they make wrong decisions. Once they are 16 and driving, working and dating it is harder to know where they are and what they are doing, but if supervision is in place from the beginning it makes it a lot easier in later years.

Hello, My husband and I have been having a lot of discussions about the stand the church takes on a number of issues and to what degree. We are just returning after a decade of inactivity. Please do not think this question is being judgemental about any member. It is not meant to be in any way, but just poses questions and how it may or may not apply to us as a couple in the future. The question came up because we as I said have recently returned and if we remain active, we would want to be entirely active which would include eventually going to Temple. We discussed what would be asked of us in the future as was once asked before we went to the Temple more than 15 years ago. We don't have a problem with tithing (easier when the kids are grown and out of college), living a chaste life, (at our age there are many other interests), words of wisdom, (no problem I wouldn't drink, smoke, do drugs, cafeen or anything that isn't healthy (which includes refraining from white cread, sugar, pork, shell fish and sodeas etc: (at our age I think we want to live a healthy quality life. But there is one question that has been the topic of discussion.....the wearing of the garments. Sigh!!!!! My husband finds them hot (we live in a very warm climate), and at our advanced years we do not dress immodestly, but many modest clothing items do not fit well under what we feel are comfortable modest clothing. So my husband says what happens if down the road we are asked the question about wearing garments day and night since our endowments. The answer would be no. We wore them to church and of course to Temple but not day and night and certainly not since our period of being inactive. So this means we would be denied a recommend? And thus be considered unworthy? So again, not to judge, but we were discussing today the marriage of Marie Osmond to her first husband. We are very happy for her. But we have to wonder how she got that recommend to be married in the temple since it is evident from photos of her that no way was she wearing garments on dancing with the stars or even in nutri system ads. She was not dressed immodestly, but the cut iof her clothing would not have concealed the garments. So we wonder, since she does not wear garments night and day and would have to answer no in an interview how she got the recommend? Rather we are trying to wonder how this would apply to us in the future. Anyway, any advice, input etc: would give us food for thought. It may even seem petty to some, but to us it's a question as important as the questions of those who have other issues with relationships, words of wisdom, tithing etc:

Avrham, True the tribal identity comes from the fathers line; and in the Orthodox and Conservative Jewish movements, a person is determined to be Jewish if their mother is Jewish. However, in more modern and liberal Jewish movements a person can be considered Jewish if their father is Jewish regardless of the mother, such as in Reform Judaism. That being said, being born a Jew does not necessarily mean that one is practicing Judaism; and among both the religion and the culture there are varying opinions.

Hi Everyone, I have been reading these forums for about a week and decided to sign on so I can join in. I look forward to conversationand hope to bring some of my own experience here as well as learn from others. I will try and be brief in my background (something I am not always known to be) LOL. I'm Jewish by birth and along the way throughout childhood (too long of a story for now) was exposed to living with a Christian family. I married before I was 19 (way too young) and two kids later the marriage failed. I spent most of my adult life as a single Mom raising kids and maintaining a demanding but rewarding career. I truly wanted it that way because I did not want anyone sharing in the control of raising my children. From a religious standpoint I explored my Jewish roots and observedan occasional Shabbat (Sabbath) and High Holy Days. I also investigated the LDS church during that time. I remained pretty secular though for te most part during that time as I found that both the synagogues and the LDS church were all about two parent families and it just wann't a part of my life back then so I didn't feel I fit in. Then 20 years ago I met and married my husband. Between us we have five kids and when we met the youngest were in high school and the three oldest were already in College. My husband was raised Christian but went to church less often than I attended synagogue. We became friends with a few LDS families in our community and making a long story a little shorter joined the church and became baptized before our 2nd anniversary, and were endowed and sealed in the Temple a year later. We had a number of callings and were quite active in our ward. Then about 5 years later we moved to another State and somehow we just didn't connect with the church or our community and not much time passed when we became inactive. Six years later we moved again. We came back to the church but it just never seemed the same as it was in the beginning. We had trouble finding common ground with people, many either being young enough to be our children and others old enough to be our parents. In any event, we became inactive about 10 years ago and had been ever sinbce. My husband chose to to be involved in religion at all other than "visiting" a random church on Christmas eve to hear the music. I felt a stronger need to have religious ties so attended synagogue mostly on holidays and went to Hebrew school to brush up on my language skills. Earlier this year my husband and I got to talking and he felt something in his spiritual life was missing, and although I enjoy observing Jewish Holidays, the rather liberal synagogue I attended became more social than religious. So just recently our local missionaries paid us a random visit, suffice it to say we decided to attend services at our ward. Some who knew us and remembered us welcomed us back and we dedided to go again and from there we will see from here. We talk at home about some of the things that we have concerns or questions ab out, and I may ask for some input and advice on another thread on this forum. In any event, that's my intro story. Sorry for any typose and for not being as brief as I had planned.