JesusParadox

The interesting part is that many Latter-day Saint are at rehab centers and prisons trying to help crack smokers. That is showing tolerance much like attending a gay pride parade is showing a form of tolerance. There is no connection between showing love to a group of people and putting morality up for a public vote. No. Love the sinner not the sin. There is no need to show tolerance for people who are doing something against the law. Vort, do you agree that we should be tolerant of gays? I am sure you do as the church teaches that. If that is the case, why should we not attend a parade? Attending a gay parade is basically an outward manifestation of what you support. To not attend just because it is parade about taking pride in their lifestyle is not a good argument. They will hold the parade and live their lifestyle regardless. If not attending the parade would cause them to stop living that lifestyle; then it would be undermining the church. Since it does not stop them, we should have tolerance(love) towards our neighbors.

They must have done something valiant in order to gain automatic entrance into the Celestial Kingdom.

Vort, we must be in tune to the world around us. Would anybody condone a crack smoking or cutters parade? There is not a person in their right mind who would. In the case of a gay pride parade, almost half of the United States would support such a parade. That is why it is important we show love towards them. If we want to have an influence over people, in this case gays, we need to be tolerant. Them attending the parade, is simply a much needed expression of tolerance. I think after Prop 8 we need a little balancing out.

Well, for one, bestiality is illegal. For two, bestiality involves subjecting something not of its own free will. There is no comparison between a gay pride parade and a bestiality parade. There would, however, be a comparison between a gay pride parade and a Mormon pioneer parade(anything of that sort). Even further a good comparison would be between gay pride and mormon.org ad campaign. It must be stated, that I do agree with both of those things. If we want respect towards our religious endeavors, then we must respect other people. There are many gays and others who strongly dislike our religion. Although that does not stop us from running our ads and throwing our celebrations. The golden rule comes to mind, "treat others how you want to be treated." This paragraph deals with not being upset about them throwing a gay pride parade or identifying themselves as gay. Then, off course, we get back to the Latter-day Saints who participated in the parade. I still don't understand how they are undermining the church. On the contrary, they are showing the world one of our most important doctrines, which is love.

I apologize for the misunderstanding. :) My intention was not to falsely excuse anybody of not loving their neighbor. I am sure that all of you love your neighbors as Jesus commanded. They just choose to manifest their love for their neighbors in a different way. It just so happens I agree with them and you disagree. That in no way means they or I are better then anyone. Trust me I am the least of the Saints sister...

When Jesus Taught love they neighbor, he knew not all of our neighbors would agree with our standards. I would even venture to guess he said it for that very purpose, to love those who don't agree with us. It is not condoning their behavior or saying we are glad they make those choices. It is recognizing that they are our neighbors and we are a tolerant people. A good part about participating in these parades is it does soften their hearts toward us. Lets be honest with ourselves, we don't need anyone hating us.

Maybe they just wanted to do as Christ taught, "love thy neighbor." A Latter-day Saint attending a gay pride parade does not undermine church teachings. It actually helps show the world that we are a church of love. I highly doubt people will think The Church supports gay marriage over members attending the parade. The church has done enough to show it doesn't where any worry is misplaced.

That was great! I will be waiting to watch the one shot on Temple grounds.

Did you enjoy having a testimony? From your post it seems like you did and are struggling with its loss. If that is the case why don't you cast aside all doubt. Like was said multiple times last GC replace fear with faith. Two Options: 1. Continue to build your testimony and experience the joy of having one. 2. Lose your testimony and not experience the joy that comes from having one. The bottom line is, we can all cultivate faith within ourselves, the choice is yours.

Your first post hit it right on the head! Was just saying, tolerance is an added benefit.

This comic strip should further help the cause of tolerance. It should eliminate intolerance in children by showing them people they look up to are gay. To me that is much needed, a land without intolerance is a land I want to live in. As Latter-day Saints our religious ancestors faced such intolerance. That should make us ever more tolerant and plant a desire in our heart to remove any intolerance.

It is hard to find something we don't have in common with the Jews. To get a taste of their struggles, which were greater then ours, read Night.

As of late, I have been trying to look for the great in all things. This thing happens to be a wonderful young lady helping out a competitor. I just push aside all doubt regarding her having ulterior motives and let the story touch my heart.

From my limited experience, the Lord seems to make callings according to what will help stretch and grow an individual. Although a natural side effect of all callings is that we help those out who we serve. The people we serve, however, are not the Lords target in calling us. In your case, you imply that you are a great teacher. That you have all but mastered your calling. Which also means you have mastered yourself in relation to the calling. You have done it, you have fulfilled the measure of your creation(calling)! That joy you feel from your calling is what you feel a million fold when you return to Heavenly Father. If only, if only, Heavenly Father only wanted us to stretch a little bit. Sadly* we need to master our whole self, not just what teaching provides. That is why it is time to move on from your calling. Move on to cleaning and when you feel the same joy from that the Lord will call you again. Instead of being disappointed your son made an error, you should be thankful. The first thing You should be thankful for is that you are able to grow more. The second thing you should be thankful for is that your son provided you an opportunity to teach him. The third thing you should be thankful for is that the Lord and your Bishop view you as humble enough to clean. That, my brother, is a lot to be thankful for. *From the eternal perspective, in the grand scheme, it would be joyfully.

Lds2, the love that shines forth from your soul to members of this board is wonderful. I feel that you are concerned for your friends and I am grateful. :) The one thing that comes to my mind, actually from last GC, is replace fear with faith. If we have faith, what is to fear? Nothing! We have all been warned by prophets to set our house in order, prepare. That is why all we need to do now is replace fear with faith. I am not trying to imply you have little faith or anything of that sort. What I am cautioning is not to search for signs that destruction is coming. Rather, be joyful that we have prepared for anything that is ahead of us.

It sounds like you are saying exactly what he means. MMN, is the type of guy who has questions regarding some policies and traditions. Clearly he is not faithless, as he believes in the gospel and even admits it will probably click eventually. We are taught to gain knowledge and a testimony of everything in the church. We are not taught to just accept everything without studying it out. Calling somebody who does not question* a Mormon is a paradox. *Somebody who studies out what he is taught and desires to gain a true testimony.

My point was to let Jen know she is not the only one struggling with this issue... It gets frustrating when you love the Temple and want to experience the blessings; only to be told that you can not enter. However, that does not negate the fact that we are believers. That we love Christ, the prophets, and the Temple. That even know, for a small moment, we get angry at the DECISION, we will still endure well.

When I have on my worldly glasses I often wonder why they dangle the Temple over our heads as a punishment. It seems that they would be overjoyed that we want to enter the temple. Instead, we get punished for desiring to enter where we should. I have rarely seen punishment end well, when teaching somebody. On the other hand, as Jesus taught, love is a great teacher. Also take this into consideration, how wonderful you will feel when you do enter the Temple. That anticipation will build and build to make the day even more joyous.