rustedwithlove

I wouldn't go that far (well, I would with some sexual abusers, but not all of them), but yes, they should face temporal punishment for a temporal crime. If a priest is sexually abusing someone, that's a crime against a person, full stop. The justice system shouldn't give them a bye just because they're working in a religious occupation. Could you imagine if the U.S. Department of Justice simply said, "Naw, we won't pursue Warren Jeffs's wrongdoings; the guy was just fulfilling an ordinance of the church he leads"? (I know Warren Jeffs isn't a Latter-Day Saint, but I'm just holding him up as an example.) The LDS faith has had some sexual scandals, but not on the level that Roman Catholicism has had, and I think we have better safeguards against it. For starters, we have the 12th Article of Faith; Mormons who commit these crimes don't get to run from the law (or, if they do, they don't get the church's help).

For me, it's mostly the sexual abuse scandals. Like I said, my mom was raised in Belgium, and the Archdiocese of Mechelen (the country's only archdiocese) is knee-deep in these scandals. Combine that with the other sex abuse scandals they've had around the world, and I have a hard time believing that it's not something systemic.

I don't, but I'd like to own one. I've always thought it'd be kind of cool to get a revolver, although I'm not certain if they can fit in most holsters. For a long gun, I'd want a Remington rifle, probably a Remington 150 .22.

If it came from family influence? Probably Catholic, since that's basically the only other religion in my family tree. My father's family are American Mormons, and my mother's family are Belgian Catholics. No in between, more or less. I hate saying that, since I view the Roman Catholic Church as a borderline criminal organization (let me stress that this is a criticism of the church's governance, not the followers), but there you have it. If it was not family influence but personal study, possibly Methodist or Presbyterian.

I find it hard to pay attention in Sacrament meeting or Elders Quorum without playing Tetris on my phone. I know it sounds strange, but something about Tetris makes my brain focus better on what's being said. Fortunately, it hasn't been an issue with my Elders Quorum instructors.

State schooling.

Not sure if this counts as a confession, but... What a great show. :)

We Latter-Day Saints don't have these, do we? Just kidding, of course, but thinking about that gives me the opportunity to do what I've done on a few other forums. The "confession box" is a place where, acknowledging that you're online and thus have some "comfort," as it were, you can vocalize a confession of yours. For example, some of the confessions I've heard are "I'm a big fan of 'Weird Al' Yankovic" (just an example; I LOVE the man and am not ashamed to show it) or "I'm infatuated with [user]'s avatar." To be fair, I'll begin: I am very lazy on General Conference morning sessions. I have a TV in my room that can receive BYUTV; when Conference rolls around, I wake up about two minutes before it begins, then roll over, get ahold of the remote control, and turn on BYUTV. I don't know how controversial this is on the outset, but I have to further confess that I kind of wish more Sunday mornings could be like this.

Parts unknown.

Piano tuner.

I was just thinking about this earlier this week when I was out walking. I wish there was a more neutral manner in which to phrase the question, but I don't know how. I'm currently on an extended holiday in Belgium, and haven't been to church in almost two months. This is largely because I don't have access to a car. The nearest meetinghouse is roughly 40 km (~25 miles) away, and there's no real practical way for me to get there without a car, especially on the Sabbath. (For anyone unfamiliar with Belgium, the country basically shuts down on Sunday, and the train and bus routes are scaled back on weekends.) I don't want to say that this is a major crisis, since my time here is winding down and I'm heading back home shortly, but what if this was my normal situation? Before I came here, a friend of mine in my ward–––"Rob," I'll call him–––told me that his sister-in-law was born in Belgium, and that her family emigrated to the United States when she was still a child. Rob and his brother first met her when they moved to the U.S., as the family moved into a house in their neighborhood in Mesa, Arizona. Mesa, for anyone unfamiliar with the city, has a long-standing history with the LDS faith and a high number of Latter-Day Saints. When I asked Rob why his sister-in-law's family had decided to leave Belgium and settle in Mesa, he told me, "The Church. My sister-in-law's parents didn't think they could raise their children in the Church very well in Belgium." My mother is from Belgium, and my father told me recently that one reason why he and Mom decided to settle in the U.S. and not in Belgium was because the Church is so sparse in numbers here. And it's not just an international thing. I used to live in New England, where I belonged to a stake that included ten units in four counties in three states. I suppose I would find it hard staying active in the church in a place where it's weak in numbers. But at the same time–––and I swear, on everything, that this is NOT an insult against anyone here who lives there–––but I would also go crazy if I lived in the Mormon Corridor, where I'd feel like I was drowning in LDS culture. The saying goes, "Be in the world, but not of it"; I'd struggle with that if I lived in the Corridor. (Where I live, in the South Sound of Washington, is something of a balance between the two ends of the scale.) My point? I'm not sure I have one. I guess it's just this: Does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have, for lack of a better word, a geography problem? Are we stuck with a reality where you have places where the Church is saturated in numbers, places where the Church is weak in numbers, and little in between? How (positively or negatively) could this affect the Church?

Downs cell.

Number withheld.

Washington State! :)

The most recent book I read is Assault and Flattery: The Truth About The Left and Their War On Women by Katie Pavlich. It's a political book written from a conservative/pro-life/pro-gun perspective, with Pavlich criticizing many of the politicians and policies pushed by liberals/Democrats in the name of "women's issues."