Still_Small_Voice

I know this is old news, but I just read about it recently.
November 23rd 2018
Astronomers have found that Barnard’s star — a very close, fast-moving, and long studied red dwarf — has a super-Earth sized planet orbiting just beyond its habitable zone.
The discovery relied on data collected over many years using the tried-and-true radial velocity method, which searches for wobbles in the movement of the host star.
But this detection was something big for radial velocity astronomers because Barnard-b was among the smallest planet ever found using the technique, and it was the furthest out from its host star as well — orbiting its star every 233 days.
For more than a century, astronomers have studied Barnard’s star as the most likely place to find an extrasolar planet.
Ultimately, said Ignasi Rablis of Spain’s Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia, lead author of the paper in journal Nature, the discovery was the result of 771 observations, an extremely high number.
And now, he said, “after a very careful analysis, we are over 99 percent confident the planet is there.”
https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/barnards-star/

When "a quick glance at an underage girl's breast" is not considered nudity, then what is? Young girls dancing to provocative music in skimpy clothes while cupping their breasts, twerking, slamming their hips into the ground, and moaning = PORN. This film, those who made it, and those who put their children in it are corrupt and evil. This garbage will only progress from here. In a few years full topless and bare bottom shots will be considered okay because the kids and their so called "parents" will consent to it. Film studios and those individuals who are progressive and enlightened, will tell us that pornography is only the actual engagement in sex, not just seeing a naked body. "Those who try to censor this type of storytelling and art are bigots, and are trying to prevent true freedom".
If anyone (whether on this forum or not) still has doubts, you need to wake the heck up. This film is pornography; child porn, period. Satan is working in broad daylight. The line in the sand has been drawn and gets clearer every day. Everyone needs to get their rears in gear and choose which side they are on...you cannot serve both God and mammon.

A little story about the United Order.
While I was in college I made a friend with a fellow in one of my classes - we often would study together.  He was about a year and a half a head of me and just prior to his graduation we were talking and he produced the blue prints of the house he planed for him and his new bride.  I went over the plans and the house was what I thought was way beyond what a new grad could afford to build.  But he told me that the house would be built as soon as he graduated.   He said that it would be built by his family.  I was impressed and sought more information and his family story unfolded.
There were in history several places that were quite successful with the United Order.  I believe that it was near Snowflake Arizona that a successful United Order maintained a cattle ranch.  But the Church decided to sell off all the United Order and divest itself.  My friends great grandfather arranged to purchase the cattle ranch and decided to run the ranch within the family as it had previously been ran by the church.  Over the years the enterprise expanded and the family business moved into other enterprises.  They included a construction company, building supplies store, a bank, a grocery store, a doctor's office, a dentist and a few other enterprises.  After high school my friend met with the family board of directors and was offered a position within the organization as an engineer.  The business would pay for his education and he would work within the company upon his graduation.   His pay would not be very good but the benefits were amazing.  The company would provide all the building supplies for his house at cost and his the family would provide the labor free to build his home.  In addition the family bank would provide the mortgage at a very low rate (I believe it was 2% and  the stand rates at the time were between 12 and 18%.  Medical and dental care would be provided by the company's enterprises and he would purchase food ad cost from the family store. 
I lost track of my friend after his graduation but I found the story interesting.  There are a number of "family businesses" - some less successful but never the less still in operation.  I seriously considered starting a "family business" but none of my children were interested in my consulting business and as truth be known have gone through time of their lives when they were not interested in religious things.  But times have changed and now I have a son that is putting together a family business.  I have invested in his enterprises - we will see how things turn out.
 
The Traveler

Came across this and thought it went along with your sentiment:
 

Update: Netflix has been indicted by grand jury in Texas.  Not sure how the legal system works here, but Yay!

Pro tip: If you're gonna run a streaming service, try not to stream "visual material which depcits the lewd exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of clothed or partially clothed children".

Dude!  How did you get a picture of me when I wake up in the morning?

I heard it described in even more simple terms.  I like the below definitions. 
The spirit of socialism:  We are going to take.
The spirit of capitalism:  I am going to take care of myself.
The spirit of Consecration:  We are going to give.

I was actually trying for a bit o humor 
You don't have to tell me about the media lying to us...... well known fact to those that don't have blinders on. They tend to use their position to try to sway the public to the left side by "reporting" everything but factual truth. Yes, lies.  I don't watch liberal "news" shows for facts... actually I can't stomach the lies, hatred and venom they spew. They seem to instill fear and panic to those who believe what they are "reporting".
BBC is more factual than our countries mainstream media. 
I think that the hate filled, vindictive media have joined up with the Gadianton Robbers to destroy the people.

BINGO!
The mainstream media makes it so easy for people to become and remain 'low information voters'. The Left leaning mainstream media spoon-feeds people their same biased talking points and many folks, being generally lazy, take it at face value. They never bother to dig any deeper, learn more for themselves or investigate the other side of the story = hence 'low information voter'.
The far left loves 'low information voters'. They typically play to their emotions only.
Ex. "Trump is a racist!!!"
Most people strongly oppose racism. All the mainstream media needs to do is call Trump a racist over and over and over again... low information voters then believe he actually is a racist and thus oppose him.  Trump has repeatedly denounced white supremacist, yet the media repeatedly demands he do it again and again as evidenced once more in the last debate. 

Low information voters don't dig any further. Just like rioters that spawn up 'immediately' after an event. They don't dig, they don't wait for facts to be heard first... 100% emotional low information driven.
 

Of course they would.  Look what they did with Obamacare.  
Put the judge on the bench

FIFY.
Note the following article:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/12/amy-coney-barrett-bad-choice-women?ref=hvper.com
Basically, the point she makes is that because she's a devout Catholic who actually lives her beliefs she shouldn't be on the Supreme Court.  Of course, it is couched in the fact that she's pro-life and actually addresses people by their biological sex rather than by the vain imaginings of a person's mind.
But all that is evil in this author's mind (as well as all the leftists in the country) because -- how dare she actually want some sanity in the country and actually want to save babies lives!  And it is all because of that @%)(# Catholic upbringing, which the author was BTW wise enough and strong enough to shun for better, more just, ideologies.

Your concern is the one expressed by those who suggest the rapture will happen at the end of the 7-year tribulation. Those in my doctrinal camp are equally concerned that those who are not expecting a sudden, imminent return will not be in a state of readiness for the return. They may be ready to "prep," and endure hardships--but not for the unannounced "like a thief" return of the LORD. This doctrine, in itself, will not deter one from salvation. Those who believe as I should indeed be ready to be wrong, and endure what sufferings may come. Our brothers/sisters in persecuted lands have much to show us in that realm. Likewise, those expecting to endure should also be on constant watch--soul ready--for Jesus' return.

I have watched parts of this video many times.  The soundtrack is spectacular.  The music is so good that I bought it.  I lose interest after they predict the Earth will consumed by the Sun.  We know it will not be in the future.
One thing I found interesting was scientists believe that it takes so long for a black dwarf to form that they think there are not any of them in our galaxy.
When many stars eventually die, they will become an object that doesn’t emit light or heat, and is devoid of any radiation—a black dwarf. Black dwarfs are a projected state of a low-mass star, but they don’t currently exist, as our universe is not old enough for them to have formed.  Scientists think this process takes many trillions of years.

I think you make an important point in involving our families in spiritual matters to a greater degree than perhaps we are in the habit of doing. One thing I really like about the new self reliance courses is that they encourage parents to involve their children in financial discussions and even decision making when possible. I remember a bishop telling how when he had to leave home to go council with a struggling couple and his children asked where he was going instead of just saying he had church work he actually stopped and told them someone in the ward needed his help or that someone couldn't afford to keep their electricity on and he was trying to help them. He spoke about how involving his children in these things (without breaking privacy protocols of course) helped his children better understand how the gospel blesses lives through us and that his time away from them was for an important purpose. I like how your transitioning your children to fasting was purposeful and not just a law laid down simply because that's what we are supposed to do. I agree that the principle on consecration can and should be taught very early in life. Not necessarily the details of the united order but the idea that everything is God's and he gives it to us to support ourselves and to help others. I think this needs to happen more.

I would only change - that we (as a family) are as close as we want or determine to be.  And it is not just about money - it is also about time and talents which can also be expressed as service.
 
The Traveler

I personally dislike the terms "Sex" and "Sexual".   It is my personal opinion that the covenant of marriage is a good and wonderful blessing.  That kissing and intimate relationships are a sacred trust and that living the Law of Chasity is good and righteous thing to do.  Everyone should prepare for marriage and keep sacred things sacred.  If discipline is a difficult thing - then engagements should be shortened.  But we should not think of intimate relationships as dirty, evil or corrupt - just something very sacred that should be disciplined as are all sacred and divine things.
 
The Traveler

When you're a youth, dating exists to get to better know people and practice basics of relationships.  There's more focus on group events.  And of course, things should remain chaste.
When you're a adult, dating exists for the purpose of finding a spouse.  There's more focus on pair off events.  And of course, things should remain chaste until marriage. 
Nothing about the Lord's Law of Chasity is dependent on your age.    Living together / sex before are very serious perversions of the Lord's way.  Postponing marriage for selfish reasons of "I don't want to grow up!" is childish.  
 
Also a relevant side point since you mentioned conversion: if a person is interested in coming to Christ, taking upon His name, and joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, that person is excepted to try to follow Him.  It's the give your whole heart, mind, might, and soul thing.  Therefore, yes you are actually expected to strive to keep the Lord's Law of Chastity.  If you're cohabitating, then you're obviously not there yet.    So we're work on that before baptism and formally taking His name upon yourself.  

A thought-inspiring video. Here's my reaction.
In the time before astrophysics was really a thing, scientists believed that the universe had existed forever, in more or less the same state we see it today. This was the so-called Steady State Theory (or Model). Edwin Hubble had demonstrated the very weird idea that the universe itself was expanding, so the Steady State Model accounted for this by saying that the average density stayed the same because matter was constantly being created from, apparently, nothing at all.
(By the way, I believe it was this particular idea that Joseph Smith was responding to when he revealed that the elements are eternal, not "created" ex nihilo and not destroyed into nothingness. The model that replaced Steady State, at first rejected by both scientists and religionists alike and mockingly called "Big Bang", is the one most astrophysicists today accept. I personally think that it fits in much better with Christian—at least LDS Christian—doctrine than does the Steady State Model.)
The video that @Fether linked in the OP suffers from exactly this same myopic view. (Thanks, President Nelson!) It assumes a sort of "steady state", in that what we see happening around us at this moment reflects what will inevitably happen in the vastly distant future. Like VASTLY distant. Like so much so that the entire life of the universe from its inception ("big bang") until  now, roughly 13.7 thousand million years, accounts for 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% of the time shown. If the age of the universe were represented by the width of a proton, this video purports to represent a time period represented by 100,000 times the width of the entire present universe itself.
And therein lies the problem. We have no way to confirm our extrapolation of current observations and ideas through such a fantastically long time scale. Indeed, the video is, at best, conjecture. I see it as more a nihilistic fantasy. I admit I have nothing better to offer, cosmologically speaking. But that is the purpose of religion, to infuse purpose and relationship into a universe of things. Cosmology says nothing about purpose.
Remember, we are here in proton-neutron-electron-based bodies exactly because we wanted the further progression that such a type of matter offers us. By taking upon ourselves bodies of such elements, we render ourselves capable of interacting with, influencing, and building things out of that same matter. Based on that idea alone, I reject the nihilistic take of the video that things will simply keep going on for literally unimaginable periods of time, growing ever dimmer and more entropic until...well, never, because (as the video states) time will have lost meaning.
Section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants tells of a time, much closer than 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years away, when "Satan is bound and time is no longer". That's a future I can look forward to.

This is how it worked out with my friend. Apparently, I accidentally misstated his fundamental position. He did not say Pope Francis was the antichrist but instead a false prophet, which is to me at least a few rungs down in intensity from the literal antichrist. He read the thread and wanted me to stress that he is always looking to Christ.
 
We talked about some of the Bible verses he uses to say the rapture might be predicted, if not the actual second coming, itself.
We talked about some of the reasons he says Pope Francis is a false prophet and even though I expressed my skepticism of what he was laying down, I listened to where he was coming from.
He said he would dial it back a bit about the apocalypse alerts. I told him he could send me a countdown timer via a web applet that read 17 days, 2 hours, 24 minutes and I would know what was for. He told me he had been giving me a lot of rapture updates because he feels like the time is sooo close and he is soooo excited.
He wanted to know if a bunch of Mormons were going to show up at his house. I told him to, "Open [his] curtain. See the man on the bicycle? He's one of ours." Because we do manage to have fun, the end of the day.
So I guess the conversation was a success? Thanks, everyone!
 

I have not been on here in something like eight years. It is strangely reassuring to see that many of you familiar faces are active and present.

So...if you could get my wife that interpretation she would be most grateful.

BUT...I am still here.

I got to meet him in person a few months ago when he drove through Colorado.   He continues to be a heck of a guy, and is doing well.