sxfritz

I couldn't quite think of the right word. :)

Welcome! You will find plenty of feminist and pro-LGBTQ folks in the LDS church. However, it is not a place for political activism. We don't preach political views from the pulpit or in classrooms. The doctrine of the Church would not support you personally being active/practicing LGBT, but you can hold your 'pro' views and be politically active outside of church. Just don't align yourself with a group that is openly anti-LDS. That will leave you in disfavor. They may have views contrary to LDS, but can't work against the Church as an entity. The jumpsuits are because the Church owns them and lends them to people on the day of baptism. If you had a full length white dress, which you didn't mind being dipped in, you can wear a dress. You get dunked all the way under and the dress will float, so you'll want to think about it not showing too much. It is a quick dunk, so I think you'd be alright. I don't know if there is a band that can be worn at the bottom....I ain't a lady, so I can't say I thought about it much, but I have seen dresses. A lot of your comfort level at church will be based on your ward and the culture of that ward. Yes, we teach the same principles everywhere, and there are many of the same types of people in different wards, but depending on where you live, you could have an older ward, or a child infested ward, or singles ward, or a mid-western branch, or a Utah Corridor ward. Each are a bit different. Most probable, you will find a few good sisters who will hold you close and help you along the way.

I believe coffee and tea to be both addictive and destructive. They don't ruin families like alcohol, but hey ruin your stomach and other organs over time. As with most principles of the gospel, it is best learned by observance. I was a coffee drinker before joining the church. I feel my life is much better without it.

It sounds like depression. I doubt it is related to church or your faith. Your depression may be minor and can be influenced by simple things like diet and exercise. I will say, it is common for new members to struggle with their faith. I doesn't sound like the issue but, if it is, you need to wait it out. You'll get over the hump and be feeling good about the church again. Keep doing spiritual things to feel spiritual.

So....why is this person a "friend"? He and others who would engage in insulting anyone? Most people wouldn't tolerate someone who insults their shoes or hair. Why tolerate someone who insults your faith? Are you afraid you would look intolerant of you deleted someone who is gay? You aren't. You are deleting a jerk. I don't even friend family if I think them to be idiots.

I think it a futile effort. You should stand strong and give your objection to their treatment of your faith, but I think arguments are futile against them. I, for one, long ago tired of trying to defend their rights. I thought it right to defend them as people deserving dignity - and I still treat them that way myself, but I no longer tolerate their activism. I think they have too much voice and to argue with them only gives them more voice. When a 2% population gathers a 50% voice, I no longer believe they are getting the short end. I'm just tired of it all. Make it go away.

I have always been clear with my children about what I found to be the truth. My children, and now grandchildren, see me living the gospel despite the quirks we can't fully understand about church history. It is hard to understand any period of history, because we live in such different times than any generation before.

I think it should be mentioned to the organization. They might get her to tone it down if not shut up.

My "small" city (< 100,000) has Mexican cartels pushing heroin by the pound. No doubt these bad guys are not carrying slingshots.

I thought Natasha Romanoff was the lady villain on the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. :)

I have little interest in social interaction with other men. I care nothing for sports. I have nothing against hunting or fishing but don't "enjoy" it enough to do it socially. It is like skiing, I don't enjoy it enough to pay money to do it; not that it isn't fun and something different to do. Let him explore his own hobbies. Mine are solitary. I enjoy them and they give me my "me" time. I will say, when I was a volunteer Big Brother, I found my wife extremely jealous of my time. A couple of arguments about it and it made me over-sensitive about how I spend my time. It is one of those marriage lessons that come kind of hard. Now, I am older and wiser, I find I do the thing I want to do alone so long as I am sensitive to my wife's plans. Examine if something similar didn't happen in your relationship. It may be he doesn't want to get burned again.

You'll find some deep thinkers here and you find people like me that take a big picture approach and prefer one line answers. I'm in agreement with the statements thus far and only wanted to say how I appreciate your asking and keeping a dialog. Topics like WoW can create a great stir and cause pages and pages of debate. You'll find some threads that aren't too old. I hope this doesn't go there. :)

Welcome. There are lots of former Catholics here and lots of respect for the faith. We'd love to help you any any way we can.

Thanks Pam. Cedar Fort has the most onerous and extensive submission process of any publisher I worked with. Nonetheless, I've navigated the waters and will keep trying.

I have two LDS fiction books I have self-published because I was unwilling to negotiate the efforts of getting the limited number of publishers Deseret uses to review my work (I have tried). I would love one of the publishers to pick me up because I know most members won't take the work seriously if it isn't available in Deseret. I also found other Christian publishers are not interested in LDS stories. That leaves us hopeful writers in the self-publishing world and limited in distribution to Amazon.

To address what is your primary concern; there is nothing wrong with sleeping in different rooms. Your bigger concern should be sleep apnea. My wife has sleep apnea. It is common with overweight people, but my wife is petite and thin; very tiny actually, which made her horrendous snoring even more concerning. Turns out, many years later - meaning late in life, she was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. She faithfully wears a device (not quite the awful mask). There is NO snoring. She gets a much better sleep and has far more energy. Here's the kicker ALL should be concerned about: Because of her apnea, she aspirates at night. That is the pulling of fluid into the lungs. She has a strict regiment about not eating after 6:00, elevating the bed, apnea treatment, etc. She went most of her life thinking she had asthma but in fact was getting recurring infections and destroying her lungs. It took the doctors at National Jewish to get her the proper treatment. Problem is, it is too late. She is so prone to infection that a flu could kill her (twice, she has been severely ill). So, I would encourage more professional treatment for the snoring. For the 50% of the people who have apnea and won't wear a mask, enjoy your children, you may not see grandchildren. Sorry to leave this on a downer. People joke about snoring. Fact is, there may be an issue that can be corrected.

First, I think that was a terrible object lesson. There is no point in invoking that deep an emotion. Were the children present? If someone did that to a child, I would consider it abuse. I think the sealing is about the blessings of the Celestial kingdom and not about whether or not we are able to associate with our families. For that reason, your friend may rightly believe he can be associated with his family. He simply hasn't learned the greater lesson of exaltation. Someone in early learning doesn't need to learn those deeper gospel principles. I wouldn't force the point. Line upon line. There are other things to learn.

My wife just did a Tea Party with our granddaughter, her friend and friend's mother. They had a blast. It was held at a victorian home. They were dressed in their finest when they left the house but when they got there they went into a dress up room and tried on a dozen different hats, gloves, costume jewelry. The hostess held a lesson on proper manner and custom of when to wear the hat and when to wear the gloves, and how to use the napkin and how to wash one's hands with a cloth at the table. I was lucky enough to see this part because my wife forgot her camera and I ran it over and took some pictures. I missed the rest of the party, which I understand was fantastic. Lots of finger sandwiches and little cakes. It was a valuable lesson on the customs of a golden era. The word "Tea" should not offensive to us. Anyone offended by such simply doesn't understand and frankly would be the one most needing the lesson.

I can't imagine a two year old device having any value outside of the minimal use the Church has designated. I'd be surprised if it survived two years.

It does sound odd. As a former clerk, I can say your ward probably has the money to cover it. We used to have to turn over thousands of dollars of unused mission money donated by members for non-specific use. I don't think you need feel guilt for having the ward cover it. You probably have contributed to the fund over the years. The other perspective is...your son may have volunteered to take the iPad without consideration for the cost. Young people are like that. :) He may also have "benefited" from it; meaning, it may have been worth it.

I really believe it has to do with the strain it puts on the companions and mission office. Serving is difficult without the strain of caring for someone in the event the person has issues. A young adult can't be expected to know how to recognize issues and seek treatment for a companion. It is also disruptive to the "flow" of missionary placement. My son was excluded from serving due to physical disability and it was crushing to him emotionally. The fact is, there is do dishonor in being excused. If you are in charge of teaching youth, the concept of honorably being excused should be introduced early. Our son wasn't told he wouldn't be allowed until he was about ready to submit his papers, yet in hindsight, he could have been told years earlier.

That is sad. Some people are just extreme and no amount of training is going to get it out of them. I see extremist in forums such as this and there doesn't appear to be any way to persuade them to moderation - to do so would only prove you to be unworthy, or some such thing. As stated above, the bishop wouldn't get involved. He may be able to "teach" and help her spiritually, but he has no matter in the decision to baptize. She should request an interview with the mission president. It is not uncommon to have that interview. It is common when an investigator is overcoming a condition of baptism such as smoking and the mission president can make a decision as to how long to wait until baptism. Good luck.

We had popcorn sales when I lived in Ohio, but I thought that was just an Ohio thing as they raised popcorn there. I guess your answer is telling the OP that they are right and it sounds like the ward didn't make the goal and or the council didn't make their goal.

Some years ago, the Church started to discourage fund raising (i.e. selling Ecoupons in front of grocery stores, etc). They've relented a little and allow one fund raiser a year. If you live in a ward that has some boys unable to pay for High Adventure, or other major activities, they may be trying to raise money through FOS, although I'm not sure that is allowed, as FOS should go to the Council and not the ward. You can't take me for gospel on this, as I only view Scouts marginally, as a former ward finance clerk.

My dermatologist gives me a slight scar on my lower back every time I see her. Last time, we joked about it and she said she was carving out her initials. I responded, as long as it isn't "KKK", which matches the name on her med cert. She responded "I don't know what my parents were thinking!" Obviously her name was more important to her parents than the result of the initials.