Fether

That tangible resources do not convert. Only convince. While on my mission I met many people who, when they heard the doctrines of the gospel said “that makes sense! I believe that!” But then did nothing about that belief. They were convinced... but not converted. I admittedly have also met many “active” members of the church who are convinced, yet do nothing with their membership. They are not converted. If you read Doctrine and Covenants 29:7, 131:34-40, and Matt 7:13-14, you’ll see that it is fairly clear that the gospel isn’t a club or a product for sale. Even God knows only a handful of people will actually accept the gospel, providing physical evidence (which I argue there is) will only provide condemnation for those that reject the gospel. We aren't converting people to a scientific thought, but to a divine and godly way of life and belief.

My first time seeing one was great too... however having been to Yellowstone 3 times now... they are like annoying rodents that get in the way of the cooler animals you want to see x)

We need a name for this “firewall”... say... veil???

I don’t know the scenario of the gunman at fort hood. But when a gunman walks into a church, particularly the chapel, at any entry point there is a person only feet away. As oppose to fields, streets, stores or other open areas where the nearest person may be 100 feet away. I get that it isn’t perfect option, but how different would the outcome be if everyone just ran/waited for someone with a gun to shoot?

If you see critics talk about the Book of Mormon, they will cry about how there is NO archeological evidence. But... If you say nothing of the bom and listen to archeologists talk about archeological discoveries in South America, they will say that the Amazon is such a huge mystery. Joe Rogan interviews an archeologist that spend a good portion of the time talking about how we have only recently discovered how incredibly advanced the ancient South Americans were in agriculture in a seemingly impossible place to grow crops. and how we have no idea what is underneath the Amazon Rainforest. Only recently are Entire cities have been discovered buried next to popular tourist attractions.

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Well... I’ll just throw out the normal argument... by the time someone can run out to their car and return, a lot of damage has been done. And also, most people don’t have guns with them at all times. If a shooting incident happened, we would certainly NOT be ok, even if half the congregation has LMGs laid across their laps and fired with perfect aim. Someone will get hurt or die. A natural question I have when it comes to mass shootings in populated places, what would be a faster and better way of stopping a gunman. Drawing your own gun, aiming and shooting him... or just the nearest person tackling him, or at least pushing the barrel of the gun skyward or wrestling t the man long enough for someone else to jump on

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I should have added the clarification that almost all the open carries I have seen have been in low income / ghetto parts of Louisville and Owensboro KY.

Can I just say that everyone I have ever seen “open carry” have been people I don’t trust with a firearm. They seem to be people who are trying to make a statement or are just seeking a reaction. I am very on with that policy

I personally worked part-time at 2 separate jobs, ran a side gig business detailing cars, did side jobs with my roommate on occasion, attended school full time (with 14-16 credits depending on whether it was football season or not), and was on the college drumline (which honestly took up the majority of the time during the fall). All the while maintaining a healthy 3.7 GPA to hold on to my scholarship and playing a health 15+ hours of videogames a week. One of my jobs was a night shift job where most of my homework and videogame time was accomplished. I don't feel like I was superhuman, in fact I felt there were still plenty of times I slacked off or procrastinated. that being said, I am one of the few that actually does very well with lectures. I know there are a ton of people who learn differently, but I did well with lectures and tests. I am one of the few people that typical public education strategies sit well with. Oh and btw... I never once felt like school debt or my living expenses were too high. Tuition was $6,000 a year with my scholarship (and then I was getting paid $2,000 after I got married and applied for grants). Had I continued and gotten my planned accounting/finance degree at SUU and later a masters, total school cost, ignoring interest) would have been around $20,000, but it would have been about $50,000 had I not gotten a scholarship or grants (not counting living expenses). So maybe someone can help me understand? From what I see, this school loan debt crisis the country is freaking out about seems to come from students: 1) Going to big popular and expensive schools 2) Not working at all in college 3) Using loan money to fund expensive lifestyles and unnecessary trips 4) Students not getting scholarships of any sort 5) Highly intensive science and medical degrees To me, with the exception of the 5th point, it seems like this "crisis" we are having was brought on by bad decisions made by individuals and not a broken system. Am I missing something in my analysis?

I actually follow a few mid tier YouTubers (from 10,000-100,000 daily/weekly views). All of them are on that cusp of the immense amount of effort put into their content ALMOST meeting their financial needs. One in particular is just right there where it seems to be the hardest. He is often talking about how he is battling the joy that is suppose to be in it with the pressure to provide regular quality content for their subscribers, which ultimately has lead him to needing medical treatment because the stress and hours he works is just too high, found out yesterday that the doctor gave him the all clear to return to full time content creation as long as he gives himself limits. Steven Crowder is another who ran into this too and had to take a brief hiatus.

I'm actually very hesitant to click on that link...

Ummm... well no... We recently moved into this new ward and it is very... unimpressive. I could write a paragraph about the complaints I have with this ward, but I’ll refrain.

Ya I think it just depends on local interests. My stake growing up had volley ball and basketball and stake dances regularity. My ward in Vegas didn’t have any sports but had stake dances regularity. I ward in Utah now has nothing due to lack of interest in either sports or dances.

I am fully aware of the change in the Book of Mormon intro as well as other “shifts” that have been made. The problem isn't that the church may be wrong or that changes come and go at times, the problem is thinking you know better than the church. That attitude is the problem. I don’t know how someone can have disagree with church teachings and not cultivate that thinking in their life.

I’m all for not going to college, I dropped out after 2 years and have had a pretty good experience so far. I’ll have 2+ years of work experience before any of my friends even get a job or internship. It depends on what you want do for a career of course. Some jobs require a degree. Now on to the other matter, it may be too late for this, but I never once expected my parents to pay for college. They never once said they would either. I expected to get scholarships, work and attend school. It may be too late to set that expectation though. Other than that, community colleges are fantastic! They are places for both losers who don’t get into colleges, and the most brilliant people that don’t care about status and don’t want to pay a premium for the same education they could get anywhere else.

I did some more pondering on the topic and I think their is a problem with believing the Book of Mormon is a figurative and fictional book. The intro to the Book of Mormon says the Lamanites are among the ancestors of the native Americans and there are multiple church supported sources where they speak of the evidence for the Book of Mormon. Believing that the Book of Mormon is figurative is not the problem, but believing you know better than the church in any matter seems to me to be sowing the seeds of apostasy in your own life. When times goes on and the church does something you disagree with, you can then point to the matter of the reality/figurativity of the Book of Mormon as proof that the church isn’t always right and further separate yourself from church’s teachings. Apostasy doesn’t happen all at once, but little by little.

Yes you can believe that, but don’t cry it from the roof tops as if it were true. Don’t turn it into a “gospel hobby” where you become obsessed with sharing it with people and finding other scriptural stories and demand they be accepted as figurative too... I would argue however that there is some impressive revelatory evidence from apostles and prophets that says the Book of Mormon is literal. But will being wrong in this matter effect your salvation? Perhaps...

WARNING! Man's perspective: I think what has been shared above is amazing. But if you can't seem to fix things, I would release her regardless of the backlash from her. She may defile your name, drag it in the dirt... but that doesn't really matter at the end of the day. The YW need a healthy place to go to and they deserve leaders that will give them the attention and direction they need. She is focused on who is right, you need to be focused on what is right for the YW. EVEN IF you were as terrible as she thinks you are, it sounds like it is her that is driving wedges into the YW leadership and causing contention. The righteous leading of the YW is far more important than her feelings.

I’m actually pretty adventurous in what I eat and if what you saying is true (I have no reason to doubt you), then I am 100% positive. That I have consumed some amount of alcohol at restaurants. But to me, pouring alcohol into a food I’m cooking still doesn’t sound right to me. I’m not saying anyone’s temple recommend is less valid than another (though a temple recommend is not the only way to measure righteousness), I’m just saying that I don’t personally feel cooking with alcohol is in line with the WOW, maybe not enough to lose a recommend, but enough to have some negative physical or spiritual effect.

But now you got me thinking about so maybe I will die on this hill. From my understanding, chocolate, protein bars, energy drinks and sugar free gum all have traces of alcohol in them. I would still eat it. But something about deliberately adding alcohol to a food you are cooking seems to be in conflict with the WOW. I see plenty of holes in my belief as it pertains to eating food I buy at the store... but I’m just not comfortable with the idea of adding a cup or scotch to my brownies (or however you cook with alcohol)

This is why I added my second reasoning for staying away from Alcohol in food. I have no reason to argue for cooking with alcohol. To me, it is a pretty obvious that you shouldn’t and any argument against it seems nothing more than justification. BUT... it is an immensely easy decision for me to avoid cooking with alcohol so I have never been in a situation where I needed to think it over. I have no cards in this game and won’t die on this hill, I won’t even fire a second shot. It is like asking me if I would pay tithing on $1,000 earned monthly from a investment property that I owe $1,200 a month on that I acquired via down payment with a $20,000 tax return. I would say “no”... but that decision is so far away from me that I have no intention to debate or think about it further.

I loved stake dances and in my stake... EVERYONE danced, particularly when the slow songs played. Everyone had a sizable tool kit of line dances, and knew how to do basic waltz. And we were all pretty good at tell the DJ to change the song when it was immoral. I would often visit other dances i different stakes with friends of mine in SLC and they all had different feels. my wife went to a stake dance to chaperone while we lived in Vegas and was completely blown away by how much immoral music was being played. Everywhere is different and carries different cultures.

Not sure where you live, but I’m pretty confident the stakes in Utah still do these.