Josiah

Alright, so this thread has been on my mind since yesterday. I've been thinking a lot more about what I want to do (or not do) for my kids in 20 years or so, and why. I've also thought about the role Heavenly Father has played in my life, both in spoiling me at times and in letting me struggle at other times, and His possible reasons for both. So far it seems like we've mostly been weighing the supposed financial and/or educational benefits for the adult child against the supposed detriments to their personal responsibility, character, etc. My question at this point is, could limited financial help ever be truly beneficial? Not just in the sense of helping a kid pay for things he/she wants or needs, but actually beneficial as a whole for the child's character and personal growth (a spiritual benefit)? If so, in what ways and under what conditions? And coming back to the OP, would the said benefits be reduced or changed after marriage? What think ye?

I'm a college student myself, so I'd say keep on helping forever! Ok, seriously this time. I'm kinda with Jane_Doe here. If anything, getting married makes things a lot harder financially as it is, and (my opinion) probably shouldn't be in and of itself a reason to stop giving financial help. Growing up is a much better reason for that, so in a general case, maybe the phone bill and car insurance in particular should've been gone a while ago. But maybe your parents know something about him that I don't. As far as tuition goes, I feel like there are solid arguments for and against helping students handle college expenses. From my admittedly limited perspective both are probably fine, but which one's better may depend on the situation of the parents and the child. In any case, what strikes me personally as less beneficial is conditioning that help specifically on being single. I really like how my family has done it. They've helped me a little (or occasionally a lot) here and there, and they do it in such a way that I'm never expecting it or depending on it, and I get to handle the bulk of the expenses myself. They've made a very significant impact, but I was certainly never brought in on their cunning plans...Basically any help that comes is a not-so-surprising surprise. The feel of it is actually pretty similar to that of receiving blessings from God.

It really does depend on what you mean by venting. Venting in the sense of using our strong feelings as an excuse to do something wrong or negative, because otherwise we would let it all out at once in even worse ways, is pretty much useless. It strikes me as having the same effect as procrastinating - seems useful for the moment but ultimately just makes the problem twice as bad when the time comes to actually deal with the issue. Venting in the sense of releasing those feelings in productive or useful ways (or at least non-harmful ones) is fine. "Whatsoever inviteth and enticeth to do good..."

Exactly how you do this is between you and the Lord. Go to Him, and disregard our opinions if He speaks to the contrary. Having said that: Consider this question: Would I expect a deeper understanding of a gospel principle to lead me to sacrifice more, or less to the Lord? Why? This looks like a loaded, or even a completely rhetorical question on the surface. But I don't intend it to be. After all, compared to the Pharisaical additions to the Law of Moses prevalent in His day, Christ's teachings actually did constitute a scaling back of the requirements of the gospel...in some ways. That's where the "why" question comes in. The letter of the law had been greatly exaggerated to the detriment of the spirit of the law. The Savior's teachings simplified the letter of the law (see Carborendum's post for what I would consider some great applications of that), but simultaneously greatly intensified the spiritual demands behind the law. That's the principle I would take and apply as a test here and elsewhere in the gospel for cases like this. If I thought I had found that the Lord actually expected me to pay a lot less tithing than I already had been, I would exercise a lot of caution and consider first if my spiritual sacrifice would be increasing or decreasing. Because if that's going to be decreasing, then I have a problem. ... ...or, if you don't want to bother with me mixing in my own philosophies and principles with scripture, just read this instead: https://www.lds.org/manual/doctrine-and-covenants-student-manual/section-110-121/section-119-the-law-of-tithing?lang=eng

I am ponderizing Omni 1:26 this week: "And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved." If anyone has an insight or something about this verse I could be pondering, your thoughts are welcome!

Ponderize, and stop making/using excuses (spiritually and otherwise). There were others, but those are the ones so far that I have felt need immediate implementation.

??? Hit the 9, then the 1, then the 1 again. "There's an emergency. It's a [insert type of emergency here]. I need help. My address is ______." Soooo much responsibility; you definitely have to be at least 18 to handle this one. I get that there's a lot of stress and panic involved and I don't mean to ignore that, but calling the parents instead wouldn't change that anyway. It's just as much responsibility to make an intelligible phone call to a parent when under that much pressure, only it's less effective. Any information they could give their parents would just as easily be given to the professionals, PLUS the people at 911 will actually know what questions are important to ask. So I'm not sure what makes calling parents "worth it."

The question here is at what point the spirit is fully and permanently connected to the body. There's no official answer I'm aware of, but speculatively it seems possible that some abortions or other difficulties could occur before this happens, which could lead to the situation you describe. Then again, maybe not, considering how strongly and on what grounds we oppose abortion. Hard to say. In any case, we do know from Moroni 8 that little children and infants who die are basically set.

Depends, what's the context? As it relates to the potential removal of some of Peter's writings, the great and abominable church could include whatever group(s) or organization(s) participated in driving that dispensation of the Church of Jesus Christ into apostasy. The political councils that got together and decided on their own power which writings and doctrines were "valid" come to mind as well.

I hate hearing about these situations, and I'm sorry your going through it. Having said that, I'd stick it out in your current ward. Maybe a new family will come in and you'll be the ones that need to be there to make them feel welcome. Maybe you need to learn something from having him as a bishop. Maybe he needs to learn something from you. I don't know why you're there, but knowing what little I know about God, there are probably quite a few good reasons. All the above aside, it's certainly worth praying about, and possibly talking to the stake president about depending on how your new bishop turns out to be as your bishop.

We have also lost quite a few "plain and precious things" from the Bible, according to Nephi. My guess is that many more of Peter's words were written either by himself or others, but were rejected by the great and abominable church, or simply lost. But that's just my speculation.

Honestly, you shouldn't. Charity and forgiveness beat anger and bitterness any day. The Savior can help you more that way. As far as moving on goes, all I have is this: Turn to God and rely on Him. Give Christ time to heal your pain, because it will take time. If you haven't already, ask for help from your bishop, family, and/or trusted friends. Things will get better!

I'd imagine you know from last time how much better you will feel after you confess. The Savior can heal you and help you, but you have to do what it takes to let Him. Right now, that's confession to the bishop as well as to God. There's nothing to fear. Things will get better if you do it Christ's way. :)

Generally, you are supposed to go without eating or drinking anything. It's different if you have a health condition or other circumstances that don't make that reasonable (for example, some medicines need to be taken with a little bit of water and/or food in order to be safely used). Otherwise, you wouldn't drink water while fasting.

Pretty much this. It's a decision for you to make prayerfully. If you do decide to say no, you probably wouldn't hurt any feelings if you explain the reason and make it clear you're interested for next year.