Echo2002

I think it depends on who you ask. When I was younger my parents divorced and I was only able to see my dad on the weekends. My dad was not a member. He always took us out to eat or to the mall or something. I asked our home teacher if it was bad that we were not observing the Sabbath, he said family comes before church. I never felt pressure from leaders to attend Sunday firesides or activities because they knew that was the time we spent with our dad. I don't see a problem with you spending time with your son on Mother's Day at a restaurant, because you are spending time with your family. Truthfully the only difference in my Sunday is I go to church and I don't go out shopping. I usually lay around watch TV, surf the web, take a nap. I've heard other people who choose to stay in their Sunday dress all day to remind them of the Sabbath. I've heard others say they don't watch TV.

In some developing countries it is still common for a 12 or 13 year old to be married off, usually because the family can't afford to take care of her. When the life expectancy used to be around 40 years old, I bet marriage came pretty early. I think I've heard from either internet or TV sources that girls are actually getting their periods at even younger ages than before, because our society is so focused on sex. Children are being exposed to it at much younger ages.

I think you made the right choice. I remember a discussion between a member and a local church leader about how bad the PG-13 movies were getting. She asked if the Presidency were going to make a change and say that PG-13 movies were inappropriate. He said no, that is something you need to decide for yourself. I'll admit, I will watch a PG-13 movie regardless of what I think the content is going to be just because it is not rated R. Sometimes I regret that decision. I've seen R rated movies if it is based on an actual event, but it's rare. I know some members who have no problems watching R rated movies and others who have never seen a R rated movie in their life.

Being in Nashville we have a lot of musicians and song writers in our wards. Most of them we've known since before they were famous, so it's no big deal for them to attend church. Dan Truman (Diamond Rio) was our ward piano player before anyone knew who Diamond Rio was. I've seen first hand how long it can take for someone to get their big break in the music business. I always laugh when I hear of members moving from out West to Nashville to work in the industry. I ask them if they have a back up plan, because most of the guys I know it took them years to make a name for themselves. All that hard work paid off. A couple of years ago we did get one of the Osmond sons as a missionary. I'm not sure who his father was.

They really only do it for the media coverage, of course the media continues to feed into their game. If the media would stop paying attention to them they would probably go away. I'm surprised these people haven't been taken out yet, I'm not sure too many people would be sad about it. Not that I'm saying they should be harmed in any way, but it seems they stir up a lot of anger where ever they go.

I have very good home teachers, well, it's him and his wife. They come every month and I can tell they care about me. I did have 2 different visiting teachers come, I think because I'm single I don't feel like there's a connection with the VTs. I also don't really want two different home visits every month, I'd rather it be done with one visit. Also, if your ward is spread out, it can be hard to get to everyone in one month, not to mention expensive since gas has gone up.

Heath did an excellent job in making you believe he was truly evil. I don't have cable or satellite TV so I haven't seen any of the previews for Batman, I didn't even know a new one was coming out until last month. I guess that's why I haven't gotten that excited over seeing it. I also hate going to the theater to watch movies, everything is so overpriced and so loud! The last movie I saw in the theater was "Planet of the Apes, Rise of the Apes", it was so loud the seats vibrated. I don't think it's fair to say anatess doesn't care about the shooting, she was just brought up in a different environment. If I remember correctly, ana is from the Philippines? I have a co-worker who also is from the Philippines, and we were discussing one night about how she didn't understand why people all over the US was that upset about the events of 9/11. She said since they were hundreds of miles away why should those events make me fearful? She said where she grew up you didn't trust anyone, not even the police, because they were easily bought of. She said it was not uncommon for rich kids to be kidnapped and held for ransom. I'm assuming if you live in a society where terrorist type crime is pretty common, you get desensitized to it. I'm sure someone who grew up in Iraq or Iran would probably have the same reaction, "it didn't happen to me and my family so why do I need to be fearful"? Unfortunately mass shootings seem to be getting pretty common in the States, so who knows maybe in 10 years stuff like this won't be such a shock to us.

I thought about seeing the movie today, but after hearing about what happened last night I'm not going to. I wouldn't be able to get the shootings out of my head while watching it. Of course I will watch it eventually, just not now.

Depression can have a lot to do with weight gain. Like someone else said, delete those pictures, they will just depress you even more. Making small changes can help a lot, trying to make big changes all at once just sets you up for failure. I don't know if this is allowed, but I have a friend who sells a weight loss program. I've seen some pretty amazing photos of her clients on her facebook page. The plan costs $300 a month, it's $10/day. I think there's also a book they encourage you to buy which is $50. I've had several friends go through the plan and they said it taught them how to eat differently. They were also able to keep the weight off. Also, you get a free personal trainer of sorts, meaning you can call her whenever you need to and ask her advice or just talk. If you want I can send you her information, just let me know. The important thing is to remember you are a daughter of God, you have infinite worth. It will be a struggle, but you can change.

"There is clearly a gay gene which can randomly manifest itself in people hence why the proportion of people that has been homosexual has been pretty much constant throughout history." How can you tell the proportions have been constant through out history when to this day there are only rough estimates on the number of people who say they are homosexual?

So just because something is observed in thousands of species (I'd like to see the source for that), you think it's perfectly normal? The human body is imperfect, it has many flaws. For instance, I was born without elbows, and there are probably thousands of others born the same way, but by no means do I believe that those who are born with elbows are abnormal and I'm the normal one. So you believe that we were all homosexual at one point, and that only some of us has evolved to be heterosexual? If that is what you are saying, that makes no biological sense whatsoever. Yes, for a species to flourish, they have to be able to procreate, that is the only reason a species is going to survive. I don't believe for one second anyone on this forum ever said someone was going to hell because they were homosexual. I've never heard a General Authority say it either. No human being on this earth has the capability to judge another human being because we are not able to look into a person's heart, only God can do that. We are given guidelines from Christ's teachings to follow and we are told if we follow those guidelines and we do it with a pure heart then we will return with him again. We have been given the gift of repentance because God knew that we would make mistakes. No where that I know of does the Lord tell us we have X number of times to get on the right track and change our lives so that we can return to him. Our chances while we are alive are without number. It is unfortunate that people use God and religion to justify their hatred toward a group of people. On the other hand I think I can use what I know to be true to disagree with how someone is living their life. I don't believe that disagreeing is synonymous with hatred.

I want to know why some homosexuals want to force heterosexuals into believing that how they are living is right, and that it's perfectly normal? It's been my personal experience that when someone tries so hard to make others believe that what they are doing is right, they usually feel deep down that it is wrong. God, mother nature, or evolution (whatever you want to believe) did not intend humans or any other animal species to be homosexual. If you ask any Biology professor what the purpose of life is they will say to procreate. Now for some reason some people and animals are born with homosexual attractions. The animals who are born with that just die off since they are unable to procreate, humans on the other hand have a choice.

How do we learn to love? We learn by example do we not? For me Christ was the ultimate example on how to show love for others. A homosexual may not be able to choose who he or she is attracted to, but he can choose to act or not to act on that attraction. I think Vort gave some very good examples of people who have sexual attractions that are not of the norm. Should everyone be free to act on those attractions just because it may be something they were born with?

No, I haven't read those.

I also like non-fiction. I recently finished "Black Hawk Down" (I know, it has a lot of cussing).

I'm looking for some good mystery books to read. I used to read books by Patricia Cromwell, so I like those types of books, maybe with less cussing.

When I was at girl's camp most of us were so tired we didn't stay up late. Maybe there needs to be more activities planned during the day. We also would have dances at night, sometimes until 10 or 11 which made us all tired if we weren't tired already. Just try to focus on the fun you get to have with friends and don't worry about what others do. I think we were all a little crabby by the end of the week.

Are you talking about "50 Shades of Grey"? A co-worker of mine was talking about reading it. I believe she mentioned something about bondage, then I stopped listening, lol. I forgot to add, this new book isn't anything new. Look at all the "romance" novels in the grocery stores or book stores. I'm sure most women don't read them for the plot.

I recently saw an interview with a woman who said she was in rehab due to being addicted to porn, I'm assuming it was pornographic images. I didn't watch the whole story because I was at work, but she felt she needed to tell her story to let other women know they are not alone. For some reason it is widely ignored that women can become addicted to porn just like men can, it may be written or images. I've been hearing a lot about the book "50 Shades of Gray", like it's just another work of fiction. I think even teenagers are reading it, but from the description of it, it's pornography. I don't understand how a book like this can be pushed in the media, but pornographic images and movies are thought to be sinful and dirty. These books are just as bad. I think it is kind of a double standard.

lol, if my brother and I did that in public, name calling would be the least of our worries. I'm assuming this was a fake post, if not then the 15 year old needs to grow up.

Yeah, I guess when you consider religion throughout civilization, 10,000 may not be that outrageous.

The Dhali Lama (sp?) looked like a fun guy to talk to. Yes, 10,000 religions seems like a big number.

Did anyone watch this? I was disappointed, I'm guessing they did some major editing. I don't remember who was being interviewed. They way the questions were answered about how we get to Heaven made it sound as if we are following a check list. As if we are only getting there by our works, nothing was mentioned about faith. 20/20 | Investigative Journalism, Medical Mysteries, News Magazine - ABC News

It's not really teaching your kid to solve problems without being violent.

Our last Bishop was a drama teacher and the one before that worked at a bank (local branch). We did have a doctor serving as one of the counselors. The Bishop that is serving in the ward now is a salesman. Maybe it depends on your geographical location. The ward I was in was not in a particularly nice part of town. I'm sure if I were to visit one of the more wealthy wards the High Priests may be more well off.