Still_Small_Voice

I passed! 🙂

      <-  Me
       <-  Also me 😁

For the Strength of Youth is written in a straightforward expository manner. I don't think any reasonable adult would read that passage mentioned above (and pasted below) and conclude, "Oh, look, masturbation is worse than anything else except for murder."
In God’s sight, sexual sins are extremely serious. They defile the sacred power God has given us to create life. The prophet Alma taught that sexual sins are more serious than any other sins except murder or denying the Holy Ghost (see Alma 39:5).
Never do anything that could lead to sexual transgression. Treat others with respect, not as objects used to satisfy lustful and selfish desires. Before marriage, do not participate in passionate kissing, lie on top of another person, or touch the private, sacred parts of another person’s body, with or without clothing. Do not do anything else that arouses sexual feelings. Do not arouse those emotions in your own body. Pay attention to the promptings of the Spirit so that you can be clean and virtuous. The Spirit of the Lord will withdraw from one who is in sexual transgression.

Interesting.  I think many Saints aren't hard enough on themselves when it comes to following the Prophet or keeping their covenants.

And of course, we realize and freely grant that the kingdom of God on earth is not the celestial kingdom. It is God's kingdom in a fallen, telestial world. But as with the Word of Wisdom, there are some very basic ideas that any Saint must be able to abide. If following the Brethren's teachings on homosexuality really is just too difficult, then one likely does not belong in the kingdom of God, even the fallen version of it that we enjoy here in mortality.

As others have said, I don't think it was previously, unless you held a prominent position.
The homosex thing is ultimately a type of adultery/fornication, so I understand why that would not be an automatic membership council trigger. The homosexual "marriage" thing I don't understand. If contracting a homosexual "marriage" is not open apostasy, I'm not sure what is.

Agreed. 

There is more disrespect, lack of decorum and hostility then ever before.

You have to admire a guy who's willing to tell it like it is, even when it's exceedingly and eternally bad news for himself.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democracy-2020-digest-bernie-panic-spreads-inside-the-party
Hours earlier, on a Wednesday night conference call with supporters and donors, a fired-up Biden said: “I'll be damned if we're gonna lose this nomination, particularly if we're gonna lose this nomination and end up losing an election to Donald Trump.”

As for Joe Biden, I figure the Dems will consider him Hillary part 2, and not take the risk.  Another rich old white guy who thinks he's better than everyone else?  Doesn't sound like something the Dems want. 
Besides, the impeachment hurt someone politically, and it wasn't Trump. 

I do not know what you were taught, and I cannot say what others may have taught through the decades. I was taught something similar growing up. But the above is not according to scripture, as I learned when I began seriously reading and studying scripture at about the age of 19.
There was only ever one plan, not two. That single plan was the Father's plan, originating with him. According to the Father, this plan would save all who would receive it and exalt all who would abide the law. The plan required a Redeemer, for which Jesus volunteered himself (doubtless was called of the Father to do so). In speaking up, Jesus made it clear that it was the Father's plan, done by the power of the Father, and that the glory was to the Father whose plan it was.
At least one other also volunteered himself for being the Redeemer. This prideful volunteer, a liar from the beginning, amended the Father's plan by making a spurious claim: He would redeem not just some, but all, and therefore the glory and honor would accrue to him, and not to the Father.
The Father rejected the impudent offer of the so-called son of the morning and confirmed Jehovah as our Redeemer. The liar whose offer was rejected rebelled against God, along with "the third part" of the Father's children who hearkened to his lies. This is the genesis of the war in heaven, the premortal result of which was that the third part was cast out.

I took a comprehensive practice CCNA exam on Saturday and scored a 782/1000.  I was actually very pleased with that.  The minimum passing score is 810, so I was just barely off.  I have been going through and studying in depth on the answers and why I missed some of them.  For a about 25% of my wrong answers it was just me not paying enough attention, but I actually knew the correct answer.  For the rest it was for material I didn't initially focus on and have been digging into more (because it seemed trivial compared to the meat of what a CCNA should be able to do).  If I can pass the next practice exam this Saturday, then I will plan to take the real exam on the 15th.  If for some reason I fail that one, or am not ready, I will schedule the second exam for Saturday the 22nd, after an additional week of hard core study.
Previously I have passed all my real exams on the first attempt with the equivalent of about an A-.  Unfortunately, if I don't pass by the 22nd, I will have to start from scratch because the CCNA material changes on Feb 24th.
Fingers crossed 🤞  😊
Prayers will be greatly appreciated.

"I will die if I am diagnosed with the Corona virus." -True.

removes water from bottle. Makes head bottle barrier. Gets trapped on way to airport. Needs water to survive. Ohhhhhh.

Book of Mormon has been fairly easy for me to understand except the Isaiah chapters.  I believe because it was translated by the gift and power of God is the reason for this.

One of the area 70 told this story at youth conference:
There was this man who had a dog.  One day, the dog came to him all muddy carrying a dead rabbit in his mouth.  The man knew his neighbor had a family of rabbits and he was so upset that his dog killed one of them.  But he didn't want him nor his dog to get in trouble, so he jumped over the fence and returned the dead rabbit into the rabbit hutch.  The next day, he hears his neighbor scream by the rabbit hutch so he runs over there to give her comfort and she runs to him terrified - "I burried that rabbit yesterday and today he's back in the hutch!".
It was a joke but it had a lesson in it about repentance...

The other day, my little boy came up to me and said: "Daddy...what will happen to my rabbit Thumper when he dies?"
"Well, son," I said to him, sitting him upon my lap. "Thumper will go to Bunny Heaven, where he'll have a lovely time, hopping about with all the other bunny-angels, eating the best lettuce and carrot and doing...well...all the things rabbits love to do. But he'll still think about us sometimes and he won't want us to be sad. So when that day comes when we lay Thumper to rest under the old apple tree, we'll have a big party to celebrate his life. All your friends can come, and we'll have party games and ice cream and jelly and balloons. And it will all be in honour of Thumper!"
Well, my little boy looked up at me with his big brown eyes, and he said: "Daddy...can we kill him now?"

It's always a good day when the 49ers lose. 

Fyi:  Andy Reid, head coach of Kansas city is LDS. Graduate of BYU!

I'm sure you non-watchers don't care but the Kansas City Chiefs won. 😊
M.

You will now all watch the superbowl.

Related to this second idea... Is how do you sustain a leader that you know to be in error and doing the wrong thing?  I think this is a question we all have to ask ourselves at some point because our leaders are human and flawed.  Too many people demand perfection from our leaders and at the first sign of weakness use it to excuse themselves... Or maybe they decided to take the authority on themselves.   This story shows us the answer to this question.  The sin of the leader is not acceptable... but it does not excuse us from following the commands of the Lord the best we can
 

I think we were being taught a different lesson.
 
1 Nephi 16:18-20
 
18  And it came to pass that as I, Nephi, went forth to slay food, behold, I did break my bow, which was made of fine steel; and after I did break my bow, behold, my brethren were angry with me because of the loss of my bow, for we did obtain no food.
 
19  And it came to pass that we did return without food to our families, and being much fatigued, because of their journeying, they did suffer much for the want of food.
 
20  And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael did begin to murmur exceedingly, because of their sufferings and afflictions in the wilderness; and also my father began to murmur against the Lord his God; yea, and they were all exceedingly sorrowful, even that they did murmur against the Lord.
 
1 Nephi 16: 23-25
 
23  And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrow; wherefore, I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, with a sling and with stones. And I said unto my father: Whither shall I go to obtain food?
 
 24  And it came to pass that he did inquire of the Lord, for they had humbled themselves because of my words; for I did say many things unto them in the energy of my soul.
 
 25  And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came unto my father; and he was truly chastened because of his murmuring against the Lord, insomuch that he was brought down into the depths of sorrow.
 
The only time Lehi faltered as a prophet was when he was hungry.  Lehi was a prophet of God.  This man faltered only one time in his life: when he was hungry.  He was far more spiritual then we are, and if his hunger drove him to murmur against the Lord, then how do we think we will fare when the day of need arrives?  The Lord expects us to be prepared both spiritually and temporally.
 

I like your general insight - especially of spiritual note.  But perhaps I could add something.  The area that the Lehites were in at the time of the bow incident was called the "more fertile" part of the land.  The landscape was able to provide a hardwood capable of bow construction.  This would be a more forested than desert landscape and would be more conducive to hunting than gathering (as you sort of suggested).  There are not a lot of places in Saudi Arabia that can provide quality wood for bows - but there is such a place in the western mountains - which even today are called borders and "more fertile" part of that particular area.  Something that Joseph (or anyone in the Americas) could not have possibly known when he translated the Book of Mormon.
 
The Traveler

It was a huge deal, though it could not have been completely unexpected. Everyone who uses bows knows that they eventually wear out. Perhaps Nephi and the others believed that as long as they would remain faithful, God would suspend trials such as the results of metal fatigue. But God did not.
The Lehites were not eating fresh vegetables gathered at their latest overnight camping spot in the desert. They were not feasting on the quail that flocked around their camp. They didn't gather manna every morning. The Lehites ate meat, mostly raw, and that meat came from hunting. Their bows were by this time quite old and well-used, and the wooden bows would surely have begun losing their stiffness. Nephi apparently had a fine steel bow, in my mind because he had likely been apprenticed to a metalsmith. I expect it was only the limbs of the bow that were metal, with a wooden handle, but however that was, every time Nephi used the bow he introduced stress that strained the metal grain. Over many tens or hundreds of thousands of uses, this induced fine cracks of metal fatigue into the bow, until it finally failed.
Making a bow is no mean feat. Making a bow while you are in the middle of a desert is much harder still. Not a lot of yew wood lying about. Note also that the bow and arrow must be well-matched; a heavy bolt such as one might use with a metal bow, one with great killing power and high accuracy, will be useless when mated with a handmade bow of whatever wood you managed to find lying around in a dry wash. And remember, after you cobble together the materials and manage to produce a bow and an arrow, you have to successfully use them to kill animals, or your family dies.
Nephi's bow breakage was a very big deal. In retrospect, maybe Lehi could have sent his sons to buy a dozen high-quality bows before they left Jerusalem permanently. 20/20 hindsight.