Jane_Doe

"Mom, thank you for your views, I heard you. And now we are done talking about that. How is ___<insert subject change> ___". Both of these subjects are way outside of her jurisdiction. It's not remotely her job to tell your bishop how to do your job, and there's probably a multitude of relevant factors she doesn't know. It's also not her job to tell your friend what to drink, especially if said friend isn't an LDS Christian and has not covenanted to obey the Word of Wisdom.

The name "Melchizedek priesthood" is actually a nick name. The proper name of it is actually the "Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God". It is Christ's priesthood. The nickname is used to show reverence to things properly addressed and to avoid too frequent repetition of things (like internet folks would totally acronym it). Priesthood in general is the authority to act in God's name, doing God's will, with God's power. We are His disciples, and should be doing as He would have us. Back in the time of Moses, the children of Isreal were not ready for the fullness of Christ's law and convent (remember the whole golden calf thing...). So as a preparatory step, the Old Law, Old Covenant, and Aaronic priesthood were put in place. They are an appendage of Christ's fullness designed to help teach and prepare a person/people for the fullness of His ways. Come Christ's mortal life, He taught that higher law, new covenant, and ordained with the fullness of His priesthood (nicknamed the Melchizedek priesthood). Nowadays, a young man is ordained to the preparatory Aaronic Priesthood, as they prepare and strengthen their walk with Christ. Later they are ordained to the fullness of His Priesthood, the Melchizedek priesthood. If a person's growing up in the church, these steps occur age ~12 and ~18.

I totally agree with @Carborendum's answer above for the OP. However, I don't think that this particular part was addressed. I'm interpreting the quoted part as "doesn't everyone think that their God (LDS Christian or not) is the True and Living one, whom we can know and worship?". I'll break my response up into two parts: True: ok, I can't think of a person whom doesn't believe their views are the most true / correct. That's why they do hold those views after all. Though, I do know people whom believe in openly relativist truths. Living: *Jane tries to figure out how to phrase this the best* .... I do know people (Christian and non) whom believe God distant. Non-participatory in our lives, non-approachable, non-knowable, etc. One thing I love about the LDS Christian faith is the stress that God IS involved, is approachable, and is knowable. If you seek wisdom, then just go ask Him! It's that simple! He lives!!! Go talk to Him and have the real active relationship with Him!!!

It's 100% culture. A combination of the local secular culture, church culture, and of course your personal culture. The purpose is to put the Lord first, and honor Him. All fashion statements of how we do that is 100% reflection of your culture.

It's a lesser degree of glory, still glorious but with a limited level of Godliness.

Shall we both avoid his "gotcha" style of questions?

Oh, Jack Chick stuff is complete garbage, full of nothing by loaded "gotcha" questions based on bad foundations (much like the Pharisees questions). Shall we both avoid such "gotcha" questions and instead strive to fully and honestly understand each other's faiths?

The Marian docterines at least have a Ex Cathedra backing. And current Pope Francis can be ... different than others. But during the Middle Ages esspecailly there was some VERY .... colorful... behavior Roman leadership. Rather than be negative and drag out other people's dirty laundry, I'll ask things this way: is everything a Pope or Cardinal says is automatically infallible, what is the purpose of Ex Cathedra or Apostolic Councils?

Ah. What you are saying here seems radically different then the Catholicism I learned while intensively studying the faith for many months (from Catholic people themselves, Catholic sources, etc). I'm curious as to how you would respond to some .... colorful... quotes from Popes over the years. Critical note: LDS Christians do not consider every thing said from a church leader to be automatically "Thus Saith the Lord". Your question here is based your erroneous assumption that LDS Christians do.

@Jonah, you are Catholic, correct? Is it correct for me to approach Catholic doctrine under the assumption that every single statement made by every single Pope and Cardinal as if it were automatically infallible "Thus saith the Lord"? Or is there some other thing that should be taken into account (like Ex Cathedra or Apostolic Council statements)?

I’m in my 30’s and not only do I know each of those, they played on my computer TODAY.

Needless to say we have opposite opinons here

I'll answer this as a parent, on our weird journey this last 12 months-- DD started last year (Fall 2019) going into Kindergarten knowing her letters and sounds, but struggling to blend "D-O-G" into 'dog'. She was also a little particular about somethings and can be prone to tantrums when told to re-do something. So all in the normal range for incoming Kindergartners. While she loved going to Kindergarten... her old-school teacher whom really struggled with any non-neortypical students. Teacher would tell us all the time "your daughter's just too far behind, I can't handle her, you really should advocate that she get a full time para, etc". Which was the opposite of what my daughter needed. It was very frustrating, and my daughter made little academic progress. In March we suddenly find ourselves homeschooling. In desperation, I ordered a bunch of random stuff off of Amazon, with the criteria being "are you in stock?". And with that grab bag stock, we worked hard--- my daughter needs a scheduled regiment to function, and I need it so we don't drive each other crazy. With her having so much positive reinforcement, individual attention, and truly individualized learning plan, my daughter suddenly flourished. By the end of the quarter, her reading level was mid-first grade and math mid second grade (adding 100's together, etc). Her 1st grade school has been fully in-person, she started at the top of the chart on all subjects, and she.... honestly hasn't made much progress this year because so many other kids are catching up and she's so far ahead. She's actually atrophied in a lot of areas, which is frustrating. I now know that my husband and I are by FAR the best teachers for my daughter, and she can go so much faster and higher than what she gets at her school. If we really wanted to she could learn all high-school material and be graduated by age 12. I also know why we're NOT doing that. Because there is HUGE benefit in her going to school beyond the academics. She learns social skills, communication, listening, teamwork, following through when she's not the center of attention, etc. Those are PARAMOUNT. And I can't teach those at my kitchen table. Not the way she really needs it. Yes, I and DH are the most important teachers she can have, but that doesn't down play the essentialness of that entire team of teachers and students. And I am SO thankful for how much I know her 1st grade teacher, principle, staff, and all of professionals have worked their tails off to give her a great experience in this extreme topsy-survey year. The schooling experience (not just the academics) is so critical for kid's growth, family sanity, and society as a whole.

Given context, I believe it’s pointing to things that the handbook covers (like procedures). Which is should be referred to for those. It’s why the it exists in the first place.

Just because I know that people are frequently judgmental and unnecessary making calls about things they know little about, doesn't mean I have to like it or say something about it. I've seen this come up WAY to many time. Just one example off the top of my head: I've a good friend who's a devout LDS Christian and great mom. Her husband doesn't make much money, but they've alway felt it was important to have a parent home full time, so they made it work, literally counting every penny. Once all 4 kids were in school full time, my friend elected to take a teaching job at her kid's elementary school so that they could have a little extra money to save for mission funds/college/retirement, etc. This was an extremely prayerful and thought out decision for the entire family. After completing all of her teaching certifications & got hired, my friend excitedly told her ministering sister about the updates. To which her ministering sister instantly condemned her with "Women being out of the home is an invitation for Satan to come in". *WHAM* Now, do you think that my friend EVER shared anything with that sister again or trusted her in any way? No, the bridge was permanently burnt because this sister didn't care about the person/family and just judged where she had no dominion. These stories are not "those faceless crazy liberals" or anything like that. They are individuals and families, making calls on details only they know. Let us not judge them where we have no dominion.