eddified

Yeah the general authorities attended the university of Utah by and large (my cousin who went there won't let me forget it -- I attended the Y).

In other threads on this forum, it has been stated that the only justifiable reasons for divorce are the "three A's": Abuse, Addiction, and Adultery. Now the adultery part is clear. My question is about the addiction and abuse reasons. Besides this forum, where has it been stated that these two things could be justifiable reasons for divorce? I don't recall having heard this. LDS sources are preferred. And what constitutes abuse? My sister in law's husband is emotionally controlling, as deemed by a mental health professional. (I'm also shocked at the kinds of things he does to his wife.) Is emotional abuse a justifiable reason for divorce, (assuming no physical and sexual abuse are going on)? And addiction: what constitutes a "bad enough" addiction for divorce to be an option? Does a hypothetical husband who brings home a steady paycheck, yet use the bulk of the evening on video games (video game addiction) give his wife justification for divorce? If not,what if he *doesn't* bring home the bacon due to his video game addiction? Thoughts?

Yes the key point is that we have agency. As such, we are the captains of our own spiritual destiny.

I do admit that my suspicion about the male vs female ratio in the celestial kingdom is just speculation. I've been wrong before.

I wonder on the limits of our agency in the next life. Saints are taught that only those who inherit the celestial kingdom will be able to have progeny. So it sounds like there are some limits.

From what I know about church membership and the general prison population, it makes me think that there might be too few men to go around in the highest level of the celestial kingdom.

Absolutely. Continually repenting and improving my character are part and parcel of my determination.

To answer the original question, I thought that the main thing that causes new converts to stop going to church soon after joining it, is the social aspect. That is, they don't feel like they belong, socially speaking. They haven't made any friends, so when they attend church, they feel out of place. They don't feel like they fit in. I always believed this was the biggest reason that new converts stop going to church. It would be interesting to get some hard data on their reasons for leaving.

I read a book written by a Navy Seal. He described the tough training they went through. (Turns out, Navy Seal training is so physically demanding, that it is not uncommon for them to die during it.) There is a period of time when the Seals-in-training had to do physically demanding drills for 24 hours (or maybe it was even longer) -- no sleep at all. So here they are, holding logs over their head and marching with it, or rolling around in the wet sand on the beach and then jogging for miles in wet boots, etc.... all without sleep. Anyway, they have a bell. Trainees can ring the bell at *any* time. Ringing the bell means they give up. Once someone rings that bell, they go back to their previous non-Seal unit, but they've given up on ever becoming a Navy Seal. Bell-ringers bring disgrace upon themselves by quitting. (They are not disgraced in their professional life, I think -- they're only disgraced among the Navy Seals). Well, the person writing the book went through the training and became a Navy Seal -- he did not ring the bell. He says that he just knew that he would never, ever ring the bell. He had made up his mind, so he wasn't tempted. So he never did. Why can't we have this attitude towards quitting the church? My wife's mother-in-law is having a faith crisis and my wife was wondering about the issues that my mother-in-law brought up about the church. I told my wife the story of the Navy Seals and the bell, and told her that I would never, ever leave the church. I've made up my mind. I simply won't do it. I've never been tempted to stop attending church -- my mind is made up. I've been around a few blocks, read some anti-Mormon literature, and that stuff has no appeal to me. I've "heard it all", so to speak. Still not tempted to leave the church. Sure, I will have trials. I've had some tough ones, like everybody does. But can't I make up my mind now that I will never leave the church? That's what we've been told to do regarding imbibing alcohol -- just make up your mind never to partake. Respectfully, -Eddified

I've said this to my wife. I'm serious, too. *None* of my kids will get a thing from my estate if I'm *ever* placed in a nursing home. But for me it's not about being treated like a baby. It's about the loneliness.

I'm not a huge desktop Linux user. So I missed the memo that unity is dead. What happened?

Reading D&C 119 makes it sound like giving surplus properties was only for when tithing was first instituted -- i.e. a one-time event only.

I would disagree with this assessment. The 500,000 exclusion is useful ONLY for calculating what one owes the IRS, right? So there should absolutely be no use of a $500K exclusion figure when calculating your tithing.

I can tell you that not everyone feels this way. I was emotionally stable. I was scared, but not because of the time and spiritual commitments--I was only scared about talking to people and being rejected. But I was firmly committed to serving a mission honorably (and I did). I had a girlfriend which was going to wait. And she wrote me letters and sent gifts halfway around the world. It was great. Over time the letters started coming less and less frequently. Then, about 6 months before I got home, I noticed that she hadn't sent a letter in a long time so I sent a letter asking in a cheery way if she needed to send me a "dear John" letter. (Nickname for a letter in which the girlfriend tells the missionary that she is breaking it off, usually because she found someone else.) I was correct, she did. She sent me one. It made me a little sad, it may not have even ruined my day -- I don't recall that well. (We just drifted apart over time, it wasn't very painful at all to be honest.) So yes it depends on the missionary. It may or may not be a good idea to tell him. If the person is like I was, it would be fine to tell him. ( @DoctorLemon this isn't to discount or minimize your experiences, I have my own problems as well. I'm just pointing out that it really depends on the missionary.)

I second @person0 with respect to GParted. It's a very good partition editor which I've used for years. It's free and open source. You can get it on a bootable cd or bootable USB drive.

I agree that Linux makes you tinker and trouble shoot though. Not very user friendly.

@JohnsonJones Mac OS X's underbelly is darwin and XNU. Technically it is not based on Linux, (Darwin is based on FreeBSD). Yet Darwin is considered part of the *nix family so Linux users feel at home with Darwin. Source : https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-Mac-OS-X-Darwin-OS-and-a-popular-Linux-distribution-like-Ubuntu-What-can-be-done-on-Darwin

@Mike You can install Linux on a chrome book to get more functionality out of it. Google "how to geek chromebook Linux crouton" and read the article referenced by the first result. I installed ubuntu on my chromebook using that method so I could play a game (warsow) with my sons on the LAN. The really neat thing is that both chromeOS and ubuntu run at the same time. So you don't have to reboot to switch. Switching OS is as easy as a keyboard combination. Note: for best results use a chromebook that has a regular CPU (x86). In other words you will have worse luck with an ARM CPU.

@Armin what is NB's?

I kind think of it this way, (I made this up now to make a point, don't take it literally). Telestial: Just don't watch porn. Terrestial: Don't watch "R"-rated movies or listen to "explicit" music. Celestial: Seek out wholesome & uplifting entertainment that invites the spirit The point is, instead of focusing on what *not* to watch, focus on what *to* watch. Disclaimer: I'm a sinner and a hypocrite. As such I fall short, and sometimes watch movies/music I probably shouldn't.

I thought about seeing this movie. But after reading the description at commonsensemedia, I asked myself a question: "Do I really want/need to view this material?" The answer was, "no". I just felt that it wasn't in my best interest to see it. I would like to make a generalized statement. This statement does not apply to just movies; it applies to art, video games, etc. The statement is: Just because others (parents, trusted friends, etc) say some material is wholesome, does not make it so. Classical nude statues (just an example) are considered art by our culture, but this does not mean they are wholesome. I don't think God would approve of classical nude statues. Maybe He would, but I personally don't think He would. You should use your Gift of the Holy Ghost (if you have it) and the Light of Christ within you, to decide what is wholesome/uplifting and what is not. Do not let the world or your friends or your parents or some strangers on an LDS-themed internet discussion forum decide this for you.

Yes, I firmly agree this is a personal decision between you and God. That said, I would advise against paying tithing on all of the equity. You see, when you were making house payments, I assume you were paying tithing on that money. So if we apply the terms "pre-tax" and "after-tax" to the tithing situation, you have "pre-tithing" and "after-tithing". By way of example, if you are running a business, then it makes sense to pay for your business expenses on a "pre-tithing" basis since by definition anything supporting your business is *not* part of your "increase". Now back to the equity... assuming that you were making payments on your house on an "after-tithing" basis, I wouldn't necessarily pay tithing on *all* of the equity, since a lot of it was already paid for using after-tithing monies. Therefore if you were to pay tithing on all of the equity, you'd be "double-tithing" yourself in a way of speaking. Since we are asked to pay tithing on our "increase" then maybe it makes sense to only pay tithing on equity that you've gained due to market appreciation, and not equity that you've already paid for yourself. Note: I am not an accountant, nor a bishop. I have no authority whatsoever to help you with this decision. Seek the advice of a CLA (Certified LDS Accountant) ... that's a joke right there.

Also, I'm very excited about the new temples that were recently announced -- one of them has a high likelihood of becoming our new assigned temple! Yay!

My wife and I have many young children. It is sometimes difficult to visit the temple together (well for one, it costs more to go together due to the babysitter). And when we have infants that are breastfeeding, she feels she can't go to the temple for endowments since they take too long (young infants feed every 2 hours). So I often find myself going alone. And I enjoy it. I do love going with her as well, but I'm completely fine if she goes one day during the week, and I choose a different day to go. Besides, when we're in the endowment, we're separated anyway, so we're not really together that much when we do go to the temple together. TLDR: please just go, you will enjoy it whether you're with your spouse or not.

@mordorbund The socially acceptable thing to do is if you show up for dinner, stay for dinner. If you don't want to eat there, then don't take the food at all. That's the socially acceptable way to behave regarding dinner food.