SpiritDragon

Won't that be a step backward for women in sport. Good grief.

Indeed. This is why I was so taken back to discover this term had shifted from one of respect to one of sexism in the minds of at least a certain subset of the population. I'm curious to know how prevalent it is. I don't want to be offending people, but I also don't want to go along with stupidity and changing language is difficult.

So, I was recently essentially told that the term lady or ladies is pejorative and is best not used. It apparently conjures up images of women needing to be polite and submissive to men, a reference to sexist masculine class dominance. In fact, unbeknownst to me, at least according to one individual I recently encountered, it is akin to calling a person of color the N word - such that females can call each other ladies but for a male to use the term he is telling the "ladies" to get in their place and do what he says. I always thought it had more class and was complimentary. I'm curious to get others take on it. I can't keep up with all the ways people are coming up with to be offended.

Sad but likely true.

I met a man from Switzerland who explained with great national pride about the Swiss system of compulsory military service. I had been ignorant to this fact prior to meeting him not thinking that a neutral country would maintain peacetime conscription. Having heard from him and learning a little more poking around the internet, I think the Swiss system doesn't seem so bad. They basically require all capable male citizens to go through basic training and serve for nine months time with periodic training updates over a ten year period. Those found unfit to serve do not have to serve but do pay an additional 3% tax for the ten year period they would have been required to stay up to date with service training. I'm not really for forced armed service, but I can agree that it would be useful to have some common unifying service to help people bond. I'd think that forced service without being forced into active duty could be a good way to go. Essentially, everyone would get basic training and have an understanding of how things work, but then continue to serve their term, which might only need to be six months or so to accomplish a shared unifying experience, by doing disaster relief, infrastructure construction and repairs, perhaps working with firefighters and law enforcement and so on. Basically, train citizens to understand a little about basic military service and command structure and then teach them to work hard as part of a team early in life before unleashing them on the rest of the workforce and voting populace. (I also have a soft spot for anyone working retail, where I think everyone should have to work retail for a period of time, perhaps over the Christmas Holidays so they can be more empathetic toward those serving them in this capacity.)

Indeed. He has a plan that is simple to understand and follow, and yet immense and complicated in the details we won't fully grasp in this lifetime. Nothing wrong with enjoying a beautiful testimony.

That sounds much more inline with my experience. I remember it being an hour of early morning seminary, but 50 minutes is very close so it could have been the same. I was surprised to hear some were getting only a half hour.

There are several. Are you looking for portability or simply a backup at home if the water plant isn't keeping up. You might look into simply bleaching your water (chlorine) or accomplishing essentially the same thing with Hydrogen Peroxide. Ultraviolet light is also often used. This was the method used when I worked at a Reverse Osmosis water bottling operation in the late nineties in combination with ozone treatment which is very similar to H2O2 treatment. Of course, as @Carborendum has mentioned you'll also still want to look into filtration along with purification. For a semi-portable or countertop solution I do feel the Berkey is an excellent option, but I'm not an expert. My opinion is based on reading material put out by the company and reviewing third party tests on the filters. This link starts out with the same info you'll find on the Berkey website, but also has links to third party tests which I think are credible, but really have no way of knowing. Although the Berkey does an excellent job at cleaning out pathogens, small amounts do get through - I'd feel better taking a specific purification step for myself and my family with non-potable water. https://www.consciouswater.ca/berkey-water-filter-test-results/ For a highly portable option of filter, I've heard really great things about the Sawyer mini which many of my acquaintances who are avid hikers really find them great to slip into a pack to allow refilling bottles at streams and so on supposedly quite safely.

@skalenfehl I believe I heard about this guy while serving my mission 15 years ago. It puzzles me how one can be so engaged with the Book of Mormon and early church teachings and not be converted, but I think he may be serving a valuable mission building bridges and reaching hearts and minds that otherwise couldn't be reached.

I'm thinking "the hub at temple square" follows the precedent set so far 😄, but lds.net has a nice ring to it... maybe we'd even have a banner at the top with angels flying about sharing the gospel.

I'm curious if this will do away with the "Teaching in the Saviour's Way" classes, or if they will also alternate Sundays to accommodate when teachers are not teaching?

Now in classical argumentative and condescending fashion let us all accuse those wishing for longer church of being uninspired, and then let us accuse those advocating for two-hour church of being slothful and blame the change on them for being unwilling to live the higher law of three-hour meetings 😋 Perhaps, we'll just all have to adjust and be sure we do take advantage of the additional time. My fear is that it will feel like a lot more time for about six months at which point it will become routine and the hour will be occupied with "stuff" and most everyone will be "too busy" to do ministering and so on. My suspicion is that those already doing a good job of teaching in the home will continue to do so, and I have to believe in the inspiration that this change will allow some others doing a mediocre to poor job to rise into the ranks of doing a fair to good job, I'm admittedly in this latter camp and hope to improve by getting my house in order. Our scripture "study" is currently merely reading children's scripture stories to our children at bedtime which is consistent but not terribly in depth. Maybe this can also kill the myth that ministering visits should not be done on Sundays as though being about the Lord's work is somehow Sabbath-breaking.

All of the above over the years. I've watched conference on my computer, I've gone to friends places and had friends/family over. I've watched at church buildings, I've caught up later because I had to work. I've had a cat snuggled on my lap, but currently have no pets. As far as eating goes conference often lands on Thanksgiving weekend for those of us who are Canadian and so I expect I'll be eating a turkey sandwich with leftover pumpkin pie at some point Sunday, but I can't say for sure that it will be during the conference. I tend not to eat while watching conference as it seems a little disrespectful from my perspective, but I have on occasion grabbed some munchies because I was really hungry and/or falling asleep. Staying awake through conference has always been a challenge for me. It's just so conducive to putting me to sleep, not because the content isn't interesting, but the reverent tone and the fact that I'm just sitting there not up and doing while my mind is not racing thinking of everything else that I need to get done is a recipe for sleep.

Do you think a remake can out do Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke?

For those confused, this article is easier to keep straight who is accused of doing what to who: https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900034840/bountiful-couple-denies-decades-old-allegations-of-abuse.html As far as I can tell the people involved are as follows: Plaintifs 1-3 (Jane Doe 1&2, John Doe 1) Children Of Perpetrator Plaintifs 4-6 (Jane Doe 3&4, John Doe 2) Step Children of Perpetrator Perpetrator - some random guy who had kids and lived in the Bountiful area who may or may not have abused his children and step children. (no relation to president Nelson or the Miles as far as we know) Brother and Sister Miles - Daughter and son-in-law of President Nelson, accused of taking part in events with perpetrator sometimes at large public molest fests involving several others according to the allegations. Babysitter - 16 years old at time was allegedly both a victim and a predator. Exhibits 7-9 - the mothers of the children involved and psychiatrist (who planted false memories that some children don't recall, but others assure them did indeed happen?) President Nelson: associated by relation to the accused and rumours stiring of being involved in some kind of high-power church cover-up to hide facts from law-enforcement. Elder Maxwell: purportedly gave a blessing to help victims heal and forgive - somehow suggesting that indeed wrong was done. Although such a blessing could be given for much more benign reasons if it was given at all.

@NeuroTypical keep up the good work. I'd be a little surprised if you're consistent and your weight doesn't start to trend downward again.

Are the long slopes where you forgot to input data for a week or so? I don't know about others but I don't see how the comparison to 2013 gives much to go on, simply because 2018 doesn't seem to show a weight reference point anywhere. I'll be nice and assume that since your 245 entry in 2013 that you've dipped down to 190-200 where you are fluctuating in 2018 with an upward trend currently, but it will reverse shortly.

From the article: I feel like this part is fairly telling about the true motives here. What does it matter what members of the church think if the point is to actually get some form of justice or damage reparations. This strikes me as simply saying, "The climate wasn't right in the 80's when this was investigated and found baseless, but now in 2018 when every sexual allegation is believed first and the alleged are automatically monsters by virtue of saying so, perhaps we can successfully give the church a black eye and some members will fall away." This part strengthens the thought. Did this lawyer seek them out? It sounds like he's an ambulance chaser after anything to attack the church with. I also fail to see how President Nelson could be found guilty of wrong-doing. When three law enforcement agencies review a case and all decide there is nothing to see, why would the church think they should look further? As always, if people are found to be in the wrong then we should of course hold them accountable. But... really... is anyone else just finding this whole sexual abuse accusation thing to be getting old? It's a great weapon because the alleged perpetrator loses either way. What protection exists for the falsely accused? I'd hate to see deterrants to reporting crimes, but seriously, I'm finding there are too many of these that seem to have political/social agendas rather than actually seeking justice. The timing seems to always be right before an election, or in this case after President Nelson took the leading mortal position in the church. It just starts to seem fishy. Not all white males with conservative christian values born before 1990 are sexual predators. You're right - tragic either way.

Thanks, Fether. I'm well aware that there's plenty of information out there already and wouldn't even suspect anything new or earth-shattering really. Just that my wife and I were talking, as I said, and we thought it sounded like a cool idea. Surely, there is a way to take some of the learning curve out of family history work. That being said I suspect some fumbling around to be a given in acquiring any new skill. I thought that perhaps others would have some areas of interest or ideas in how it should be implemented and so on.

That's exciting news. I'm looking forward to hearing more. Hopefully it is available to old-timers like me and not just those under 30. But, even that would be an exciting step.

I was just talking over some things that would be kind of neat with my wife and we thought it would be great to have online courses perhaps institute-like or sunday-school-like on a range of topics. In particular it would be nice to have a well organized start to finish family history work tutorial covering where to start and what to do. It might also be a great way to cover some thorny topics of church history in a faith-promoting context helping people gain exposure to potentially damaging information in a safer environment and get really good doctrinal foundation and maybe some official church statements (or a clear pronouncement of no statement) on topics. I suppose in a way the church essays kind of do this, but I think it'd be cool if they were part of some over-arching curriculum. What do you think? Would it be neat to dig in to to guided online courses on various church topics not typically covered in great detail in Sunday meetings? What topics would you like to see? What format do you feel would be best suited to such (i.e. video and text lectures and lessons, podcasts, interactive discussion forums, wikis?) Does something like this already exist? If so, can anyone enroll? I'd love to see topics such as: Family History Work start to finish Church history and race relations Possibly Book of Mormon Geography: No official position? latest evidence to support divergent theories. Access to seminary and institute curricula complete with interactive lessons.

That's a really interesting read (your link) thanks!

Yes. i would absolutely recommend it. I imagine most forum members would as well. Not a chance. This life is the time for God's children to prepare for the eternities. It's not over till it's over, and at 34 you hopefully have more than half your life left to live. First and foremost because you are missing out on blessings. Not all blessings are for the hereafter, but several for the here and now. I can't help but think the fact you've been pondering it a lot isn't an indication of your spirit knowing what's right and trying to convey to your mortal mind what you need to do. Unless you've requested your membership be removed you are almost surely still on the church records. Records are only removed by request and excommunication, so I suspect you'd know if they were. Satan is more than happy to put doubts in your mind and use things like your age and status in life against you, but remember that Jesus suffered for us because we are not perfect and we need Him to save us. We show our love for Him by keeping His commandments and we are promised blessings for keeping our covenants. Please feel free to reach out to us here with any questions that you may have, but also be aware that your local ward or branch will be happy to help you understand the importance of returning to the fold and how much you can help others as well. Might I suggest contacting the missionaries at https://www.mormon.org/missionaries and letting them help you find your local congregation and work with your ward missionaries to have a group of brothers and sisters who can offer not only advice, but real support physically, mentally and emotionally. All the best, and welcome to the forums.

Because of what I consider wiggle room in interpretation I am open to accepting other interpretations such as yours. This is why to begin with I said it was questionable, but not outright wrong. Let's stick to the part we completely agree with and simply do our best with the understanding we have

This talk of breaking and crushing under pressure makes me think of diamonds being created, but they'll need heat to. I feel like there's a great analogy about pressure and perhaps a refiners fire that should be worked out... 😋 Perhaps The Miracle of Forgiveness is overly harsh, I too, haven't read it in years. I feel like that is a major part of the point of it though. In order to change one's ways there needs to be recognition that the current pattern is problematic to begin with. I felt the book did a fantastic job of shaking the reader out of the slumber of thinking all is well in Zion into admitting there is great room for improvement. The crushing and guilting as it were serve the purpose to bring about godly sorrow leading to repentance. Repentance is a lifelong process, not a one-time shot. People most certainly will fall short and require continued repentance, but the path they are on is the key. When they mess up do they seek to hide their sins and justify behaviour or do they seek to correct the behaviour and improve themselves? Let me say that sometimes I do find the gospel to weigh heavily which may be crushing, but when I am properly yoked with the Saviour the load isn't such a burden. He truly does carry the weight.