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I would summarize Mormonism as consisting of both of the following: 1. Use your brain, and 2. Follow the prophet. Both are important. God want us to think, learn and grow, to become more than we are now. However, we can learn, think, ponder and develop our opinions (all good things) - but in the end it comes down to faith, by which I mean trusting in God and submitting to his teachings. For Mormons this means that we begin by feeling by the Holy Spirit that the church is true, and then we continue on in faith, trusting that it is God's church and he will not let his prophet lead us astray. Submitting to and obeying God's will is fundamental to being a disciple of Christ. This is the opposite of what the world teaches - which is do your own thing, resist authority, etc. So it's almost counter intuitive that we should be humble, seek to know God's will, and then follow it. This is not blind obedience. I disagree with the statement, "Well, the general authorities say this, I'm a good Mormon, and I don't question it." Nope. That is not Mormonism. Mormonism is using your brain, learning, analyzing, and praying about things - and then voluntarily, knowingly, willingly choosing to submit to God's will. It is recognizing that we don't know everything. Recognizing that God, not us, knows the path back to him, and we need to trust him when he points in a certain direction, even as we continue thinking and learning. Jesus Christ is our prime example in this. He was the most intelligent, informed, powerful, awesome person you can imagine. And what did he do? In all cases, he said to God, "Thy will not mine be done." The Holy Ghost can be felt by anyone, but it won't stay with you continually until it's given to you by the priesthood after baptism. In both cases, before and after baptism, the Holy Spirit will not be with you if you are not calm in mind and trying to follow God's commandments.

Again, best of luck. Yeah, sometimes jumping into a new path is scary. I assume atheists just use their own wits to figure things out. Sad for them - God knows so much more than we do what we need. But - I think that's why God tries us too, because he wants us to be able to stand on our own; something (I assume) atheists sometimes are better at than we are.

I absolutely agree. Another area is money in general. The US in general is a super rich country, compared to most of the world. We are happy to buy new cars, big houses, etc. for ourselves. But how much of that do we really need? Especially when we are surrounded by perishing and destitute people who we could really bless if we shared our prosperity more. (Maybe not literally surrounded - that's part of the problem, that we more and move live in homogeneous communities isolated from people who are not of the same prosperity level that we are at.)

carlimac, Best of luck. I can imagine finding an executive level job in middle age could be hard. They say on average a job search takes a month for every 10K salary you're looking for. I know what it's like to feel like the heavens are silent while you keep desperately praying for a career answer. I believe sometimes the Lord tests and stretches us, while we keep looking for a new door to open. But I'm sure your husband has employable skills and will find something. Maybe you need to think more out of the box, exploring other creative options? Just a notion. Go into teaching? Start your own business? Consult? What is his dream career? Maybe now is a time to pursue that.

Yeah, the main point is be righteous and reasonably prepared physically. If you are righteous it won't matter what happens to you. But the church is big on physical preparedness too. Food storage, etc. I don't see anything wrong with studying the scriptures and trying to avoid the calamities described there, as much as is reasonably possible. It won't completely protect you, but some places are more risky than others, according to what you might glean from the scriptures and from science. Some places are know to be higher risk, so why not avoid them whenever you have the choice? Places that come to mind, that seem higher risk to me: big cities, places near the ocean, especially known hurricane alleys, known earthquake faults (e.g. San Andreas). However, not all threats are known. They are discovering new fault lines every day, as far as earthquakes. (The Utah Wasatch Front is apparently due for a "big one.") And some things will be hard to avoid, such as a pandemic. Other things we don't know will happen. The righteous as a whole will be spared the worst, but that doesn't mean individuals will completely be. But in general - be prepared, be righteous, don't fear.

It is the best offer possible. Better than we can imagine or currently understand I think whatever reservations the OP has at the moment will fade away once he realizes what it is We have to trust God, as you said

We know no details about how God lives. I personally assume that God, being God, can visit and spend time with all his children. But that non-Celestial children can't dwell where he does in the Celestial Kingdom. They can't live in that realm and live that kind of life, but that does not mean God can't be with them if he wants. Think of it this way: God wants his children to rise as high as they themselves want. The more blessings his children can qualify themselves for, the more joy he has with that child. Watching children make mistakes and suffer is hard. It's the same in this life. But don't you want them to learn and progress and find joy in that process, and become all they can be? The alternative is to wish they remain babies. That would be nice but that's not what people are for, to remain babies to please their parents. Earthy parents don't live moment of every day with their grown up children either. That would probably annoy them and stifle their growth into independent beings.

We are all children of God, so it's logical that he loves and helps us all as much as we will let him. Atheists would be no different, especially if they are obeying the measure of goodness and light they have so far received. I fault no thinking, agnostic person for looking around at the world, and at all the false religions, and deciding there is no God and that religion is fiction. That is the most logical conclusion, if you do not understand true Christianity or Mormonism (most people don't understand). However, if they continue to seek the light, and try to obey what light they understand, I believe God will lead them back to him. At that point, if they are humble enough, they will acknowledge the reality that God exists. Maybe not in this life. I do believe there are atheists who live more "Christian" lives than some Christians are. You can follow Jesus without realizing it, if you are following the light.

I would end the bad friendship and move on. The most positively assertive approach would be to directly tell her you are ending the friendship and spell out why. Maybe she would even learn something that way. At the minimum, ignore her and always say you are busy. You are not obligated to give her any time or anything else. Why put up with friends who are not actually friends? What you have described is a bad, inproductive relationship:

We know very little about the life God lives, nor do I think we would understand it: However, my strong personal opinion is that it is a joyful life, full of things that bring true joy - so I imagine this will include hanging with friends, learning, exploring, recreation, etc. If there's anything you enjoy and you can imagine never getting tired of, that's the kind of thing we'll mostly be doing there. I imagine there is a lot of work too. Probably mostly working. And growing personally, such as learning to be better in areas such as teaching, planning, and leading. But all voluntary. And the work will be joyful too, none of this meaningless, gray-cubicle-drone or mindless-manual-labor stuff people have to do now in this ridiculous Telestial world. We will be doing things that are deeply meaningful and all about serving and loving other people - so even trivial tasks toward that end will feel meaningful. This is all my imagining of partly of how it will be. Remember also that we will not need sleep or get tired. We will have plenty of time and energy for every good activity. And forever to do it in . Hey, this sounds like a life that would be worth working toward right now, doesn't it?

I haven't played GTA but I know enough to think it's terrible. I personally love to play first-person shooters. At least I did until many years ago when I though about what I was doing - shooting people for fun. At that point, I realized it was a terrible thing. Sure, the people aren't real, but I don't think most parts of my brain realize that.

For me, it's a no-brainer: Dont do it. Sharing a bedroom with someone of the other gender who you're not married to is asking for trouble, even more so when you're in a romantic relationship with that person. I would personally feel it to be perilous if it were me. Why put yourself in a situation that could become a temptation to sin, and on a trip to the temple even? Additional advice: Stay out of each other's rooms while you're there. Meet somewhere else.

Yes, there is nothing wrong with going to your bishop and saying you'd be happy to serve in whatever calling he might find for you. Callings are a great way to serve and to grow and to feel part of the ward.

I agree. The OP is right that when we encounter God in the scriptures it is almost always God the Son, not God the Father. Jehovah in the Old Testament, is Jesus Christ. The main answer here is that we pray to God the Father, not to the Son. So the Father is definitely not absent from our lives. The other main point is that we come unto the Father through the Son. "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me," John 14:16. John chapter 17 explains that through Christ, we become one with the Father.

I think there is no substitute for just reading the scriptures. I would try reading one verse a day as a goal. It will take 10 seconds at most. Put a daily reminder where you can't miss it. After you keep hitting that goal, try for two versus a day, etc.

Coll79, I think it speaks well of your relationship that you were both able to discuss and work through your problems. I would recommend that you continue to try to understand your boyfriend's new Mormon religion, as something that is important to him. It will take time. There will be things that he himself doesn't fully understand yet. Another good information source is mormon.org. There is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding out there about Mormons. Ask a Mormon if you don't understand something. Our belief in a nutshell is that we should follow the teachings of Jesus, the son of God. To learn and grow as a person, and help others to do the same. And to follow God's commandments. We believe the original church and priesthood authority that Jesus set up was lost, and so God needed re-establish it in modern times. We believe all roads don't lead the the same place, so it does matter what path you follow. I wish you the best.

Of course you can just skip over things, if you know they are coming. Someone should make a list of objectionable passages with a summary of each. The violent passages are evidence that the record is authentic. A novelist writing in Joseph Smith's day probably would not have written the graphic descriptions. Ancient life was violent. These are people who faught with swords, and slaughtered animals every day for food and religious sacrifice.

This is a fascinating idea that I hadn't seen explained so clearly to me until now. Makes total sense if it's true. Modern agriculture a very unnatural system; that I've heard.

Kind of a trivial question - but what are the nicest movie theaters in Utah Valley, Utah? You know, stadium seats, good sound, etc. Much thanks

Well, the USDA Organic certification certainly is a joke. It's a watered down standard from real organic.

Organic food is about more than not just using pesticides. It's a whole philosophy of taking care of the soil, of fostering a healthy ecosystem. From what I've read, some foods matter more than others, as far as the benefit of being organic. I think it's a good idea. But in practice I don't buy too many organic veggies because they cost too much and I'm not convinced it matters too much, for many foods. I do think that chemical and pesticides are not a good idea when you can avoid them. I wonder what harmful effects they are having.

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Another problem with wealth is when you spend too much of your time working for it, instead of working on things that really matter in the eternal view. There's D&C scripture that says something to the effect that as disciples we shall not seek for riches. It's not the "Seek not for riches but for wisdom" in D&C 11 but another one. I can't find it right now. The topic of money is riches is very important, and the scriptures talk a lot about it. That's why I'm harping on it.

OK, here's the list of scriptures for "riches" https://www.lds.org/scriptures/tg/riches?lang=eng The Lord counsels the Saints not to seek for worldly riches except to do good. The Saints must not put seeking worldly riches before seeking the kingdom of God, which holds the riches of eternity (Jacob 2:18–19). from https://www.lds.org/scriptures/gs/riches?lang=eng&letter=r And a relevant talk: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1972/12/what-the-scriptures-say-about-pursuit-of-wealth?lang=eng The following scripture says it pretty strongly - this is Jesus speaking. Notice that his disciples are astonished at this, and that Jesus says it basically takes a special miracle from God for a rich person to get into heaven: