Midwest LDS

Aw the Simpsons from back when the Simpsons were good. Classic👍

I was worried about the same things you were, which is why I was initially hesitant to click on it, but I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. I'll take a pleasant surprise any day as I'm sometimes pretty jaded☺.

I have to admit, the idea behind the article made me nervous for the same reason it does for you guys. I had meals I didn't like as a missionary, and you better believe the people feeding me had no clue about it. That's just basic politeness and gratitude for the gift given. But I just went through the Instagram posts, and I did not find any that were disrespectful. A lot of them show missionaries at street vendors talking about food they bought themselves. Even the ones we would consider weird by American standards (brains, balut, fried insects) were often also described favorably by the people posting them. The Elder eating fried crickets actually said he liked them, and thought they tasted like potato chips. The point of the posts, at least what I picked up on, was odd foods people have eaten not nasty foods we had to choke down. Very few of them were in members homes, and those few that were frequently had the smiling members with them so despite my initial reservations, I think this site is Kosher...well Mormon Kosher😉.

Thanks ☺

I swear I'm not trying to be flippant, but because the Lord told us not to drink Coffee and Tea and hasn't with Coke. That's really the only reason.

It depends on what you mean by infallible. If you mean perfect in everything we do, no we are not. Every single one of us sins and falls short of the glory of God, and even some of our apostles; Richard Lyman, Oliver Cowdery etc, have been excommunicated from their high positions. However, if you mean does the church err when God speaks officially to us through our leaders in their positions as Apostles and Prophets of the Lord Jesus Christ, then no it does not. God doesn't reveal everything to the church at once, but everything He does reveal to us is true and He will not allow the Prophet and Apostles to lead us astray. Here is a relevant quote on the matter from Wilford Woodruff's explanation of Official Declaration 1 "The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so He will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty. (Sixty-first Semiannual General Conference of the Church, Monday, October 6, 1890, Salt Lake City, Utah. Reported in Deseret Evening News, October 11, 1890, p. 2.)"

I'm sorry you are going through this, but know you are not alone. My family were active non-denominational Christians before my Mom and I got baptized, and they were less than thrilled to hear we were meeting with the missionaries. My uncle even gave my mom a copy of a prominent Anti-mormon film at the time. Fortunately, she felt prompted not to watch it and all was well in time. My family eventually came around to accepting if not agreeing with our decision, we are all about love in our family and they saw our devotion to Christ, but it took a while. I can't promise that outcome for you, as every person is different, but letting your faith in Jesus Christ shine through your actions is the best way to begin winning hearts and minds. As James says in the Bible, paraphrased, show them your faith by your works. Also, in addition to explaining how important it is to you and your husband to have an eternal marriage, you could hold a ring ceremony after your sealing. Many LDS who have non member relatives do this, I did myself, and it helps them feel included in your wedding. You don't exchange vows in the ring ceremony, that's saved for the temple, but my wife and I explained why we loved each other so much, and exchanged rings with each other in front of my entire family. It was special, and it really helped my non member father and grandmother feel like they were part of the wedding. Best of luck to you.

That's what you should work on then. If you can change that, I think other changes will be easier for you. Also, you should be honest in your temple reccomend interview, something else I think you can fix by getting closer to Christ.

Brother, from your description you are well on the road to inactivity. Honestly, the way you describe yourself here makes it sound like you view church attendance as a burden rather than a blessing (especially since you say no to all callings and skip out after sacrament). Now you can fix this, quite simply in fact, if you want to, but it requires a change in perspective. I don't want to speak for you in the least, I only know what you said in your post so if I'm wrong about this please forgive me, but it sounds like you go to church more because you feel like you have too rather than out of a genuine desire to be closer to Christ. That is the change in perspective you need. You need to go to church to be closer to Christ, not out of some sense of social obligation or habit. Go to church because you want to receive forgiveness of your sins, because you want to grow and be made a better man, because you want to be chastised by the Spirit and feel a renewed desire to try a little better next week. You want to go to church so you can be closer to Christ. If you can change that perspective, activity will be easier and not so much of a burden. This is a change that can only come from within, but you can start this week. Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to change everything at once, we cannot run faster then we have strength. Pick one thing on your list at a time and try to change your habit in that area. Stay for all three hours, or go to the temple. Do it for Jesus Christ brother, because you are important to Him. You can do this☺.

First of all, welcome to the church! It's always exciting to have new members come in, and hear about their different backgrounds. I'm a convert myself. I don't blame you for feeling guilty, but you didn't know any better at the time. You were like Paul before his conversion when he was Saul of Tarsus. He persecuted the church before his conversion because he thought that was what God wanted him to do. As you know, he became an apostle so you are in good company. I would agree with what others have said. Speak to your bishop. He will give you inspired guidance and help you prepare yourself so you can be ready to go through the temple ceremonies with the right heart and mind in the future. Don't worry about disciplinary measures, as you haven't done anything worthy of them, and you were washed clean of your sins when you were baptized. God bless you and again welcome!

Agreed. I'm not Trump's biggest fan, but the Supreme Court picks are why I wanted him to win over Hillary

https://amp-cnn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/06/27/politics/anthony-kennedy-retires/index.html?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQECAE4AQ%3D%3D#referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2018%2F06%2F27%2Fpolitics%2Fanthony-kennedy-retires%2Findex.html Looks like Trump gets a second SCOTUS pick.

Sorry you were dealing with that brother. I'm almost positive this is a holdover from the 60's and 70's when beards and long hair were signs of rebellion in a way they aren't now. After all, some of our early prophets had awesome beards (Joseph F. Smith and Brother Brigham had especially great ones) and, as you point out, the Savior himself does in all our depictions of Him as well. Keep your chin up though, you'll run into imperfect members wherever you go and at the end of the day, we go to church for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. As long as They are happy with us, the rest is just noise☺.

We aren't impossibly far apart. I too agree that we need too strongly teach the doctrine of Christ. I just think we need to give people space to fall short and be able to get back up again, especially the ones who are trying by coming to church. I was in a branch presidency, and I remember being overjoyed when I saw long missing faces in the pews. I would rather see someone with tattoos in church fulfilling their callings than somone who doesn't but stays home. At the end of the day, both are imperfect, but one of those people is striving to come to Christ and one isn't. Far better to show kindness and love to all then shun someone out of the church.

Yes which is why we should teach correct principles at church. There we are in agreement. Bishops and other priesthood leaders may also need to be more proactive in seeking out those who struggle to give them firm guidance. But if somone is trying to be a good saint; they show up to church, they try to do their calling, they try to minster to their fellow man, then it is our duty and privilege to encourage and love them as they make right decisions until they choose to repent of their own shortcomings, just as we hope others will love and support us as we strive to come nearer to Christ, not cut them off.

Sorry brother, but you are wrong if you think I am advocating sin in the church. It is not a "care bear" attitude to try to lift each other up rather than beating each other down. Otherwise you would have to look down on our Savior when he sought out Zacheus. Rather than delivering a thunderous condemnation of the man, he merely told him he was going to dine with him. He showed him love and kindness and, on his own initiative, Zacheus chose to repent of his sins. We absolutely must teach correct principles in church, but it is absolutely not our place to go up to someone trying to follow Christ by coming to church and fulfilling their callings and rip them down. It's that kind of attitude that rips up the wheat with the tares and convinces people to never come back again. I wasn't asking you about showing kids porn in church, that's a straw man argument. I was saying that a tattoo is merely a visible struggle, like smelling smoke on someone coming in the door. All of us are guilty of sin. Every single one. If we start picking people out to shun at church then we become as the Pharisee, who gave a self serving prayer thanking God that he was not a sinner and talking about how great he was. Remember what Christ said next? He said the Publican, who could only pray for forgiveness was justified rather than the Pharisee. It is far better to strive to correct the beam in our own eye, before we try to fix every mote in our brother's eye.

Yeah but all of us fall short of the glory of God. They may be weak in areas where you are strong and vice versa. Far better to extend love and mercy to our brothers and sisters, especially ones who are trying, then to arbitrarily decide tattoos are so bad you should shun those who are trying to follow Christ by coming to church. Would you also advocate shunning those who are struggling with the WOW? Pornography? Keeping the Sabbath holy? Pretty soon you wouldn't have anyone to talk to at church. Christ broke bread with publicans and sinners after all, and He is far better than all of us. Why not follow His example?

That seems a little harsh. There are a lot of reasons people may have a tattoo. What if they are a new convert, and you decide to shun them? Also, why would you ostrasize someone over a picture on their skin? Especially if they are at church and attempting to fulfil their calling. That's head and shoulders above half the members on the rolls. Teach your kids not to get tattoos, I'm going to teach my daughter that she shouldn't get one, but also teach them to be loving to their brothers and sisters at church, that's far more important.

I feel for you sister. Ask anyone on this board, and I'm sure you will find that we have all had times where we felt overwhelmed by our callings (for me it was cub scouts shudder☺). I would suggest two things. First, you need to remember the number one reason why you go to church. You go to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" as it says in Philippians 2:12. Strengthening your relationship with Jesus Christ has to be the foundation of why you go to church. Serving in callings, ministering, helping others is good, but solidifying your relationship with our Savior must be paramount. That's how I motivate myself. I go for Him before anything else. Second, you also need to remember another scripture Mosiah 4:27 "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength..." You are obviously feeling burned out, and it's important to recognize that feeling, so you can remedy the situation rather than throwing up your hands and quitting. Let your Bishop know what you are going through and request a different calling or even a full release, that's completely ok. Work on your own spiritual struggles for a bit and, when you are ready again, you can take on more challenging callings with a renewed faith in and renewed strength from Jesus Christ. God bless you in your struggles sister.

I'm super excited. Hopefully we can get "Come thou fount" back in that's a long time favorite of mine. And hopefully we can get rid of some of the ones that just make me laugh when I sing them (I'm looking at you "In our Lovely Deseret". I love Sister Snow, but that hymn always forces me to supress giggles😃).

Parenting is not easy for anybody. I'm a new father myself, and my wife and I had six years to prepare for and have our kid (infertility) and it was still hard. But most worthwhile things are hard. A lot of times when talking about raising kids we like to focus on the negative, but let me tell you, the first time your baby looks up at you, and bursts into a huge smile while you are getting ready for work, your world will change. I cannot describe how much joy comes from parenting, or how much I've learned about God in the short 3 months since my daughter showed up. Do not let fear ruin one of life's greatest joys for you.

We are encouraged to have children, but at the same time the Prophets and Apostles have specifically said that the size of each family is a private matter between parents and God. I can't tell you whether or not you should have more kids, but I do know that if after thought and prayer you and your husband feel you are done that's perfectly ok. There is no one size fits all family size.

Ours did it's job. Honestly other than a couple of bad alternators, it lasted a long time.

Yeah that's the same reason we kept her car. Not enough greenbacks.

Hey that's more than I got . Although technically my wife did bring an old Geo with her when we got married so maybe I'm looking at this from the wrong poit of view😁.