marge

By the way, I went to my therapist today. I took emails from my family.
My therapist told me to:
chnage locks on my doors
tell my family to take a flying leap.
Screen my calls
Set boundaries! 
Thank you for your encouragement! ❤️

You tell your family "No."
I recommend some research into healthy personal boundaries, and start implementing them.  What you are describing here is NOT healthy at all.  

If you like that, then you should take some time to read Hugh Nibley's Temple and Cosmos.

I think its the most beautiful teaching of the LDS church, I love the idea of an eternal marriage.
I'm not an LDS member so this is just my personal view on it, but the bible says there is no marriage in heaven, so if you want to be married in heaven it needs to happen here, in the temple (or maybe in the spirit world? But before the resurrection), and because traditional marriage is only until death, you would need to be sealed for eternity so you your marriage is valid in heaven.
LDS members, please weigh in and let me know if my interpretation is ok?

I think its the most beautiful teaching of the LDS church, I love the idea of an eternal marriage.
I'm not an LDS member so this is just my personal view on it, but the bible says there is no marriage in heaven, so if you want to be married in heaven it needs to happen here, in the temple (or maybe in the spirit world? But before the resurrection), and because traditional marriage is only until death, you would need to be sealed for eternity so you your marriage is valid in heaven.
LDS members, please weigh in and let me know if my interpretation is ok?

I think its the most beautiful teaching of the LDS church, I love the idea of an eternal marriage.
I'm not an LDS member so this is just my personal view on it, but the bible says there is no marriage in heaven, so if you want to be married in heaven it needs to happen here, in the temple (or maybe in the spirit world? But before the resurrection), and because traditional marriage is only until death, you would need to be sealed for eternity so you your marriage is valid in heaven.
LDS members, please weigh in and let me know if my interpretation is ok?

I think you are right to want to get this resolved before marriage. Just based on what you’ve written here, I think the bigger issue (over finding a church you are both comfortable with) is that you are so committed to this and she, seemingly, is not. You need to sit down together and really communicate about this issue. Find out why she doesn’t seem to think this is important to figure out before marriage.

HI @marge, great to see you again!

Junior,
1. You need to break up with her right now or marry her.  Choose one, but do it now.  Don't be a monster.
2. You are paying 1/2 of her medical bills?  Wow bro.  you need to do better than that.  like it or not she is the mother of your child.  
3. Bishop doesn't decide if you are forgiven.  He is the facilitator through which you are guided to forgiveness.  He needs you to do the things he has asked and meet with him when scheduled.  Not keeping your commitments is an indicator that you are not repentant.
4. If you keep on this path you en-route to disfellowship or excommunication.
5. Do not go live with your girlfriend/ex/baby momma after the kid is born unless you are husband and wife.  Don't be ridiculous.  
 
Part of being a grown up is taking responsibility for your actions.  Doing what is right even when you don't want to.  You have made decisions that impact the lives of 3 human beings.  Time to man up.  

There are as many different ways and forms to pray, as there are people.  Prayer is a way of conversing with our Father, doing our best to grow closer to Him and accept and live out His Divine Will in our lives.   I pray through action, by offering up every day and chores (this is where it varies from person to person, we are called to fulfill different roles).  This type of prayer glorifies Him, since I am joyfully doing what He has made me to do.  I also pray through meditation (rosary, which is a long prayer meditating on life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus.  This is only one example of meditative prayer), and contemplation (when I read the Bible or other theology books).  The Mass is a prayer of worship, which I do every Sunday, and can also participate in daily by going to daily Mass if I'm able.   
 
I also pray asking for guidance in His Will, and He has answered me in some truly remarkable ways :)  So, yes, I also pray for answers!  

In my mind, the primary purpose of prayer is worship, to try to grow closer to God.
 
That being said, I do sometimes come to God with particular problems. In those cases, though, I don't tend to expect an overt response. God is the author of all that is good. When good things happen in my life, I have to acknowledge that God is their source. When I bring those particular concerns to him, I believe that he will either grant them or He will not. If He grants them, I believe he either does so through the thoughts and actions of others or of myself. If He does not grant them, well, then He sees a bigger picture than I do and I'm sure He has a good reason.
 
I think the best reason to pray is precisely for those times when He doesn't give you what you want. It's easy to be a good Christian when everything is going great, it's harder when the road gets tough. It's best in my mind to grow closer to him while things are going well so that you have a stronger foundation to start on when things start to go wrong.
 
-Claire

I was raised Catholic and I prayed then the same as I pray now as LDS.  Any of the rote prayers were used in guiding meditation. My father taught me to meditate the seven mysteries of Christ ("The Sorrowful Mysteries")as I prayed the rote prayers of the Rosary. They guided my thoughts toward Christ in a way my praying now finds lacking.
 
Nonetheless, I was raised to pray personal prayers that included being thankful and asking for blessing, just as I do now. I just don't do the sign of the cross before and after...although I wouldn't find it offensive to do so.

We are actually doing a lot better. My husband has started his own property company with his brother and God willing come May I will be taking a 6 month Sabbatical from work to spend time with my son.

Woe...check it out...that's me...all blue-highlighted and everything. How cool is that?
In all seriousness, I've perused this string, though not word for word. As FYI, for me the biggest difference between the Trinity and LDS Godhead is that the latter allows for so much distinction between the three persons that Father and son have separate corporeal bodies. Yes Son prays to Father. Yes, out of Son's respect for Father, He declares Abba to be "greater." No, Jesus was not saying He had betrayed himself when He called out, "Father, why have your forsaken me?" The three persons are distinct, yet truly one--truly the one God.
Muslims and Jews accuse us of tritheism, and reject our explanation of God's oneness. Our concern is that the LDS Godhead, with its "oneness in purpose" approach lends some justification to the Judeo-Islamic criticism. We've discussed this before, and I know there are some very scholarly and profound defenses of the LDS teaching, but just as many Evangelicals in particular (my camp) misstate the Godhead doctrine, so I sense that some LDS misapprehend the Trinity. Trinitarians do not deny that there are three distinct persons. We are not Oneness--'Jesus Only'--modalists. On the other hand, in saying that the Father is spirit, and that only Jesus has been and is corporeal, we contend that our "one God" is one in essence, despite being three distinct persons. The LDS view may be easier to understand, but to Protestant/Catholic ears, it is much harder to categorize as monotheism.

I'm going to assume you're born and raised LDS?
Because, this write-up is not going to go well with Catholics in the same manner that anti-Mormon stuff does not go well with the LDS.  I can only speak for Catholics, of course, because I used to be one.  But then Catholics are the largest Christian denomination, so...
I'll give you an example:  Your entire section about the Apostasy has nothing on the Apostasy.  "Apostles died" and "Roman Emperors burned scriptures" is not definitive support for the Apostasy having occurred.  So the Catholic Magesterium declaring the Pauline Epistles as Biblical while the Book of Mormon non-Biblical is completely within their authority unless you first submit the argument that the authority of the Catholic Church is not valid.
Also this:  "All the scriptures that mainstream Christianity uses to prove that God is done with prophets do not hold water." does not follow because Catholics don't believe such a thing as "God is done with prophets".
Anyway, Talmage has this book, "The Great Apostasy".  That book is instrumental in my conversion.  But I would highly NOT RECOMMEND that book to Catholics.  That entire book is an attack on the history of the Catholic Church that has no bearing on it having been in Apostasy.  It would be like saying the LDS Church is not true because the 3 witnesses to the Book of Mormon left the Church.

OP  just read through this thread.  Nothings going to change until you are ready to change.  6 pages of whining.  It's time to make a decision.  Don't do it for yourself.  If you truly love your son like you claim  you do, then do it for him.  Once he is 18 and out of the house you can go and ruin your life however you want.  

Objectively, these questions could be asked by Muslims or Jews, of all Christians. Certain Oneness Pentecostals believe that baptisms done by any other invocation than, "In Jesus' name" is wrong, and possibly damnable. The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society labels most Christian organizations as "Christendom," and considers them unworthy of surviving the Battle of Armageddon. So, the idea that a baptism might be wrong and even hell-worthy is not restricted to Antis.
So, what if it's wrong? What if my faith is misguided, or even insufficient? The obvious answer has to be the correct one:  I wanna know! It's like the classic Matrix dilemma: Do you continue in the bliss of a fake but pleasant world, or do you embrace the reality of a harsh, difficult one?
If the question is asked in sincerity, then I'd engage the person and suggest that we both do our best to find out. The Old Testament, New Testament, Holy Qur'an and Book of Mormon all contain the promise that those who seek God with a sincere heart will find Him. So, let's dig in!

Do what's best for the kids.  Doesn't matter about you, or your ex, or who did what, or who would be comfortable, or what anyone wants.  Do what's best for the kids.

I find this so interesting, the lyrics for Joy to the World were written in 1719 by Isaac Watts and while some of the original song is in this version of it, it is quite different, so I guess you'd have to look to the LDS church to find out what they meant when they changed the lyrics and if they intended those changes to change the meaning of the original song, which was about the birth of Christ. I've sung this song so many times it really took me aback for a second trying to work out what was going on.
For anyone who would like to see the differences the original lyrics are below with the original words that have been changed bolded.  
Joy To The World
Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
 

The original post here is not completely correct.  The Word of Wisdom forbids:
Drinking Coffee- that's all coffee
Drinking alcohol - pretty straight forward.  Alcohol for cooking is left to the individual's choice.
Drinking tea -- that's all products from the tea plant.  Black, green, and white teas all come from the same plant, it's just different preparation of the leaves after they are picked.  Herbal teas (which are teas that come from other plants) are left to the individual's choice.  
All tobacco use in humans. 
Recreational drugs.
 
What's not forbidden: caffeine or soda.  And many other things which aren't good for your health.  Just because it's not included in the Word of Wisdom doesn't mean you should consume it.   As a personal example: I don't need a world-wide revolution from God to tell me I shouldn't drink Red Bull- the ingredient list alone is enough to tell me that.  

I've always been told that decaf is no different from regular coffee, in terms of the WoW.
The reason, I believe, is because the WoW bans on coffee and tea have no thing to do with caffeine.  If it were about caffeine, we'd also be barred from consuming energy drinks, chocolate and most sodas.  That isn't the case.

I find this so interesting, the lyrics for Joy to the World were written in 1719 by Isaac Watts and while some of the original song is in this version of it, it is quite different, so I guess you'd have to look to the LDS church to find out what they meant when they changed the lyrics and if they intended those changes to change the meaning of the original song, which was about the birth of Christ. I've sung this song so many times it really took me aback for a second trying to work out what was going on.
For anyone who would like to see the differences the original lyrics are below with the original words that have been changed bolded.  
Joy To The World
Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
 

Unfortunately you get that with any organization inside or outside the church who help others. Its the naturalness of some men to think it a burden to help others or feel they need to chastise or rebuke those they are helping. Ive seen it in getting government help, food bank help, churches, etc. I remember one bishop I had who had me bring in all my financial stuff to work through how I could save money and not have to ask for help. His answers were always put forth in a way telling me I didnt know how to manage my finances. I got tired of asking and having to go through him telling me I needed to sell my only car and so one winter we went without hot water and ate potatoes for every meal because I didnt want to ask for help. It certainly wasnt the Lords way. 

I find this so interesting, the lyrics for Joy to the World were written in 1719 by Isaac Watts and while some of the original song is in this version of it, it is quite different, so I guess you'd have to look to the LDS church to find out what they meant when they changed the lyrics and if they intended those changes to change the meaning of the original song, which was about the birth of Christ. I've sung this song so many times it really took me aback for a second trying to work out what was going on.
For anyone who would like to see the differences the original lyrics are below with the original words that have been changed bolded.  
Joy To The World
Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
 

I agree with you Jane_Doe. That's some sage advice. The only problem is that a Bishop is different than a friend. A Bishop is somebody people in the church are taught to look up to, always have answers and be reverent towards. It's a lot harder to stand up to a Bishop than a friend. That's especially true for kids 13 and under.