clbent04

That is a better way to say it. Many times it can be fun for kids. Me personally though I don't have many fond memories of going to church as a kid. I just had to buckle down and get through it each Sunday

Yeah I am paranoid about this as well. Too many bad people out there, and the church isn't exempt from having a few crazies come through from time to time. Crazies who somehow slip through the cracks and are assigned callings they should never have. Thanks for taking the time to explain how it can be more secure than it looks

My hat is off to you. I don't know if I could single parent the 3 hours with a newborn Yeah, I agree. It would be kind of sad switching off and going by yourself anyway I would have loved the gymnasium as a kid! Church was sooooooo boring to me at that age. But out of all of it, going to church did teach me who Jesus Christ is and how to cultivate a relationship with Him just like you said. So the trade off on letting your kids have fun verses helping them develop a relationship with their Savior seems like a no brainer

That makes perfect sense. Thanks

My testimony is not dependent on receiving any answers to questions I may post on this website. I already have a testimony of the church however imperfect it may be. I ask the questions I do to out of curiosity to topics I've wondered about for a long time

Thanks @Mike. That's pretty much the idea right there. Just glad to hear one other person on this forum would accept my good intentions. Maybe I didn't explain it well enough for others to understand in the beginning of this thread, or maybe a lot of members in the church really do have a problem with someone admitting to not being perfect from behind the pulpit even if attempted in the right spirit

In a previous example I gave in this thread, let's say you were assigned a talk on tithing but hadn't happened to pay your tithing the last 3 years. Would it be okay to base the majority of the talk on explaining what tithing is using scripture references and possibly an inspirational story, how you believe it to be a commandment of God, and then somewhere in the talk briefly mention that although you yourself haven't been a full tithe payer for quite some time, you are actively working on becoming a full tithe payer once more as you know it is a commandment of God and will bring blessings to those who are faithful (sorry for the run-on sentence)

I agree sharing sins is not appropriate in a fast and testimony meeting. But what about a talk? Do you think you could in the right spirit share an obstacle you encountered in your life even if it's something you're still working on?

Do any parents out there have trouble trusting their kids in the care of others at church during nursery or primary, and if so, what do you do? I don't like the thought of leaving my baby when she gets old enough in the care of someone at the nursery who I don't know very well. Even if I do get to know them by helping out in the nursery for a period, I feel like whoever is in there watching over the nursery is still a stranger (I guess everyone would be a stranger since I haven't been to church for awhile). Should I just trust that the bishop was inspired to call whoever he did to that position? We currently use a daycare facility for our baby Monday - Friday. The facility is great. You have to sign in and out, it has cameras, the only people who have access to the daycare are the teachers and parents, and there is only one way in and out. I always feel safe with my baby there and have zero trust issues. The church's nursery and primary school does not have safe guards in place like these. Any advice from other parents on what you've done to feel more comfortable leaving your kids in the care of others at church?

My wife and I have a baby who is 9 months old now. The thought of going to church with even just one very active baby seems overwhelming. How do parents typically deal with going to church with a baby? Do you switch off with your spouse keeping the baby entertained the whole the 3 hours? Does one spouse stay home with the baby one Sunday so the other spouse can attend services, and then switch the next Sunday? Do you only go for the sacrament meeting hour? Do you wait to go back to church until your child is 18 months old so you have the help of the nursery as you and your spouse attend all 3 hours? (I know this idea would not be recommended by the church, and also problematic for families who continue having kids. Just curious if anyone takes this approach)

What is it you do?

You're right. Testimony meetings are intended for the edification of its members (perfect the saints) and to share the truthfulness of the gospel with anyone present. I also believe testimony meetings are designed to bond and unify the members of a congregation together. They do bond us in the spiritual knowledge we share. They unify us in helping us embrace each other as a ward family. There's not a set guideline to what you specifically can say or can't say in a testimony. As long as a testimony is shared in the right spirit, you're free to express yourself in your own way

But yet it's not a temple recommend question like coffee and tea. Interesting to think what if it was. Under that definition of "sparingly", very few of us would qualify as card-carrying members

@Jojo Bags Jojo, you really had to go there?

@jewels8 Jewels, all in italics? Really? So would you say meat is non-replaceable in our diets in order to be healthy and balanced?

Nicely said. This is kind of what I was trying to express earlier only worded differently

@Grunt The post above along with some of your own in this thread got me thinking about something I didn't really consider before. Maybe some of my posts not only come across as negative to you, but they also don't help bolster your own testimony of the church, or even worse, maybe a thought or idea I've expressed has negatively affected you to some degree even if very minimally. If this is the case, I'd like to say sorry and I hope you just ignore whatever I've posted that may bother you. I didn't really think about how people investigating the church were also posting stuff on this website. When I first joined the website last week, I thought it was more of just seasoned members in the church sharing their knowledge on gospel topics. I was really glad to find this website to have the chance to ask a lot of questions I never had a chance to ask before. So anyway, you seem like you got a good head on your shoulders and are likely to continue advancing your own testimony very quickly considering how far you've already come. It's easy to tell just based on some of your posts that you have a quick understanding to the gospel. Don't let someone like me who has a lot of issues to work through hold you back from having anything less than the greatest conversion experience to the church. I do believe in this church, I know it's true based on experiencing the power of the Priesthood in my life, the power of the Priesthood is so real, surround yourself with the men of the church who are righteous Priesthood holders and you will be blessed immensely. I can already see you have a lot of great members who genuinely care about you just on this forum, and I'd like to slow down with some of my own questioning to say I'm rooting for you too

@Carborendum really? were you on a church assignment? can I ask what you were doing? sounds interesting

@person0 I finally got around to reading this. I think this is a great answer. You hit some key points I get what you mean now. I agree Very true And now after reading your post I think, maybe it isn't a matter of me needing to apply the same level of scrutiny to other churches that the LDS church applies to itself. Instead, following along your thought process, shouldn't we be asking why other churches haven't done so on their own initiative? Yes, agree, this makes sense. The summation of spiritual experiences one has is not the same as receiving a spiritual confirmation that the religion is true. This is a key point I think I was missing before. Thank you for recognizing it

Ok, no problem having a differing opinion. I think I already explained myself sufficiently so we can leave it at that

I think your premise is faulty. Admitting you don't have a perfect testimony or that you're not perfect, but are actively trying to become better = DOES NOT EQUAL = casting doubt unto others

None of my examples were in that tone of "I'm not buying what you're selling" No one is assigned talks with titles like these. My idea was more along the lines of, if you're assigned a talk on the Book of Mormon, but don't have a testimony of it, you should still make the bulk of your talk positive and uplifting. Share some of its passages, share a story about how it changed someone's life, even share how it makes you feel positive reading it. Then, if you feel so inclined, say to that congregation you know what, I have yet to receive an answer from God for myself as to whether or not this Book is true, but I am actively working on finding an answer just like I know so many of you have No, it's definitely not normal as I stated in the OP. No one hardly ever talks about what piece of their testimony they may be deficient in. Depending on the tone in which you address your own deficiencies, I think it could be a very positive message knowing that we are all struggling in this together, trying to be the best we can even if we don't have that amazing testimony quite yet

Not sure why you think that way. Care to elaborate?

Admitting you don't have a perfect testimony or that you're not perfect, but are actively trying to become better = EQUALS = casting doubt unto others?

I'm thinking of a couple scenarios where the only thing available to you to eat would be meat. After some difficulty, I have arrived: -You somehow get locked inside an Oscar Meyer wiener factory where the only thing edible is hot dogs -You live on an island undiscovered by anyone else where animal life flourishes yet plant life is non-existent