SeattleTruthSeeker

It is officially called Mormonese

One has to understand what it refers to, what we are saved from. This is where mainstream Christianity gets mixed up with their myriad of philosophical meanderings. Paul taught that Sin and Death came into the world by one man. Because of this, we are rightly condemned because of this nature and propensity to sin. We also suffer physical death. When you think about it, Sin is the act of separation. When we sin, we are literally rebelling against God. A simple analogy would be that when you see the speed limit is 50 MPH and you are doing 70 MPH, you are separating yourself from those who are obeying the speed limit. Because of this, you suffer the consequences. If caught, you are given a ticket for the violation. This ticket comes with a fine that you have to pay in retribution. Because of Adam and Eve's transgression, they sinned against the commandment of God. They, therefore, were held accountable and were punished for this transgression. Part of this punishment is mortality, mortal existence and subjection to physical death. Physical death being the separation of the flesh and spirit. Therefore, Sin is the separation of oneself from the commandments of God, and Death is the separation of one's spirit and flesh. Now, if there were no redeemer, man would no longer exist past his mortality. He would die in his transgressions, there would be no hope for him. How then could man save himself from Sin and Death? This is where the power of the atonement comes into play. The very purpose why the Levitical/Mosaic law pointed too. Christ fulfilled the Atonement. He conquered Sin and Death. Christ did this by living a perfect and obedient life to the will and commandments of the Father. He also became the sacrifice necessary to redeem mankind from his fallen state. Because of this, we are no longer held accountable for Adam's transgression. In fact, Paul points this out when he says that by one man came sin and death and by another came life eternal. So, when it comes to the doctrine of Grace, this refers to two things that we could not do of our own accord. We could not provide the sufficient retribution to pay the fine imposed upon us because of the consequence of Sin, nor could we place ourselves in the position to Conquer death. How then did Jesus Christ conquer death? He rose again the third day with a body of flesh and bone, a resurrected being who now is immortal with a body that is eternal and without corruption. Therefore, we are saved first because Christ conquered sin, provided the necessary atonement sacrifice needed to redeem mankind from his and her sins and transgressions, as well as conquering death - which we could not do in and of ourselves. This, therefore, does not mean that we are saved and therefore do not need to obey the commandments of Jesus Christ. On the Contrary, we are saved initially and justified, but now we have to live our live in accordance to the will and desires of Heavenly Father. We secure the saving Grace that is bestowed upon us by growing from faith to faith, and evidence our faith by the works that are produced because Christ says, that a good tree can in no way produce bad fruit just as much as a bad tree can in no way produce good fruit.

I watch M*A*S*H, The Nanny, George Lopez. My wife loves Ghost Whisperer, we watch Dancing with the Stars. I like the Show Castle (it is not kid friendly, but has its most interesting dynamics of family), Monk, Psyche, The Forgotten, Cold Case, CSI, Law and Order, Clean House. My stepson watches alot of kid shows (burned out on iCarly, Drake and Josh, The Backyardigans - even though he is 11).

I would also suggest the following book Living a Covenant Marriage, edited by Douglas E. Brinley and Daniel K Judd.

What do you mean by Fried?? If you can't turn it on... there may not be a way to retrieve those photos. Unless you have them hosted online somewhere... And, the reason why I asked what you mean by fried and what you mean by you can't turn it on, are you not able to get to the desktop? Monitor no longer working? Hard Drive crash??? Please specify.

You can always look up possible wards/branches as to where you are moving to and contact the bishop, stake president, branch president about your intentions on moving, and the logistics there.

If you have not already received one, check with your local used bookstores or Goodwill, they usually have them stocked and priced around 2-3 bucks a pop.

You never answered the question: What is the show that your team chose that you feel is offensive. Title of the Show, Channel it is on, and why you find this offensive.

I am actually writing a final project essay on Social Networking and its impact on Mass Media Communication. Here is what I have found out - and why it is very important to watch what you are posting on social media sites. Yes, employers now look up your name to see what your "virtual identity" is. So, what do you do? Google your name. See what comes up. For me, here is what comes up: The first 8 links, only two are not me. The other six refer to my Associated content page, wordpress blog, and my own personal website page, and helium content page. Each subsequent page after the first have a variety of listings under "Timothy Berman" where some are me, and others are not me (heck did not even know there is a Tim Berman Memorial Stadium"). Now, one does have control over what appears on their Myspace comment page (it helps if you set your comments to approve before posting, this way you can actually view your comments before they are published and highly recommended), and on Facebook, you can delete any offensive information. Even request that your friends do not post anything that may be offensive on your wall. Also, keep in mind as to what you say on your status updates. It is fine if you write "is home, cooking, had a frustrating day at work, now relaxing and enjoying time with family". Any employer will not hold this against someone. However, if one were to post "just got back from a party, drank till I can't see straight, woke up with some strange woman in my bed, and puking up a storm last night" that is where the problem is. Posting pictures are fine, if they are in good taste. Family pictures, pictures of kids, vacationing, etc. Yet, posting you hugging the toilet and paying your alms to the porcaline king is probably not the wisest thing to do.

Out of Curiosity? What show are you talking about? Maybe this will help provide a more sound and objective and coherent response on how you can go about getting this accomplished.

If this is a known problem in your branch, and there are others with your story, the next step is to go to the Stake President. Follow the chain of command. As I understand it, the Stake Presidency calls people to the Bishopric or Branch Presidency. And, I am sure if the Stake Presidency receives complaints similar to yours they will investigate it - for the safety of the children and the families. And if it is found out that the Branch President and the Primary Instructor are involved in something that is proving to be harmful to the children, then I am sure they would be more than happy to remove them from their callings. But to sit and "wait it out" is not doing anything good because by doing this, you are allowing it to continue. Also, if you can afford it, maybe see if you can connect with the LDS Social Services and have your daughter and family seen by a professionally licensed counselor in psychology and human social sciences. This may also help resolve issues and they may be able to assist you with other ways to have this issue resolved.

It is late, and I just happened to read this particular thread and the advise being offered. Much of which is very sound and good advise. Snowwhite, you are a young woman. You will always and forever be a Daughter of God. Here is what I would like for you to do (and I will explain why in after this). For the next thirty days. However, whenever, wherever. Set aside time where you can pray and study the scriptures by yourself. Once in the morning and once before you go to bed. Secondly, while you are doing this - here are three specific passages of scriptures that I have come to love and refer to in my process of repentance because of my own volition of will against the law of Chasity. Read Nehemiah Chapter one. Do not read it once, but read it several times. And, then over the course of the next 13 days, read and reflect upon each chapter (it will help to have a notebook handy with you because you may want to write down some particular thoughts). In Nehemiah 1, pay attention to the prayer Nehemiah offers and then the action he takes. Next, throughout the course of this thirty days, read the account of Naaman in 2 Kings Chapter 5. He suffered from leporsy, and the admonishment of the prophet for Naaman to go down and dip himself seven times in the Jordan River. Every day, reflect upon this and your situation. Write down your thoughts every day, your impressions, seek after Heavenly Father's grace, love and patience. The third passage of scripture is that of the parable of the Prodigal Son. Again, like the other passages of scripture, read this every day for the next thirty days, writing down your own thoughts and impressions. While doing this, go to your Bishop. Just because he may be deaf and you can't "verbalize" yourself toward him, you can draft up a letter and let him read this. You are still communicating this to him. You do not have to have an interpreter there. Also, get a hold of the copy of The Miracle of Forgiveness and read this as well. Now, as for the violation of the Law of Chastity. I am currently going through my own repentance process. 38 years old, and finally realizing my need to be realigned back with the Church of my youth. My wife also is going through her own repentance process as well (we lived together prior to getting married). Without going into specific details, my wife and I already are receiving our blessings for making our return back to the church. Is the road difficult? Yes, I am not going to kid you on this, not going to sugar coat it. There are going to be temptations, certain feelings that will be used to entice you. However, the more you cling to your Heavenly Father and (the reason why I say to devote 30 days to reading and pondering on these three specific passages of scripture - reading Nehemiah 1-13 at least 2 times in the thirty days), you will be able to gain confidence, not only in who you are in relationship to a loving Heavenly Father, but that you are establishing a love for the scriptures. I also reflect back on my favorite hymns, "How Great Thou Art", "I stand all amazed" and other such hymns. The reality here is that when you do go before your bishop and make a full confession of your transgressions, there are going to be certain consequences that will follow. Most likely (I can in no way be sure) is that you may have some disciplinary action taken against you. Do not look at this as a bad thing because it really is not (no matter how much the enemy may say this to you). Went ended up happening with my wife and I, because we were living together, was that our Bishop, Hometeachers, and her visiting teachers new about this. The Bishop also knew that it would not be wise for us to break up because we were already in a position as that of a "family unit" in one sense. He strongly urged us to marry (which we already were talking about, but he advised that we marry earlier than we wanted) so that we could go through our own separate disciplinary councils. Now, from my own personal experience - there is much I have missed from the blessings of the Church when I had left at the age of 25 years of age. My life has not been the best life ever. Suffered severe bouts of depression, suffered serious points of low self-esteem, and wondered if my life would ever have any personal meaning. The truth and the reality is this - the enemy is recognizing that you are realizing your need to return back to the faith, a desire to repent and move past your transgressions, and to turn your life around. You mentioned that you are a "mother figure" to your siblings. While this is definitely a hefty responsibility on your part to nurture them and see to their needs, what a greater blessing and testimony will you provide to them when they see you stand firm on your testimony and conviction to repent of your transgression and receive forgiveness from a loving Heavenly Father so that you may be able to set an example of how a young woman conducts herself with specific standards that not only boost her self-esteem, but gives her the courage to become a true woman and daughter of God that will one day stand before Heavenly Father. The reality is that by your convictions, by your ability to take a hold of your passions and desires and put them in control will not only open the doors of heaven and blessings be poured out, but you will also be able to present yourself to a future husband who will love you and appreciate you for who you are. And in quite honesty here, it is when you understand the full meaning of Love and intimacy will you begin to understand why the love shared between a husband and wife has more depth, more meaning, more importance in their relationship with one another that you will look back on those past experiences and realize that there is a vastly different respect to them. This difference is based on the one being influenced by self-indulgement and gratification, while the latter is based on pure intimacy and giving of oneself to their eternal companion to cherish and love. I hope this helps.

I agree that these are cute. Yet, what is wrong with sleeves? There is no extreme here. Even though you may feel or think it is extreme, the reality is that we are not going to wait when she is 8 and say "okay, now start wearing more modest clothing". It builds habit, habit forms, and becomes easier.

There is support for divine punishment in scripture. On the one hand, the chastening of our Heavenly Father is like that of an Earthly Father. Whenever your child disobeys, as a parent, you instill the punishment for that particular act of disobedience. Not because you are being mean or unfair (as children sometimes do), but because you love them and are teaching them that there are consequences for their actions. One aspect of this punishment is the withdraw of the Holy Spirit. Another aspect of the consequences that are used to teach us humility and to bring us to repentance. However, there is another type of divine judgment that our Heavenly Father has used and will use. This is known as his wrath being poured out. In this sense, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their progression into sinful desires to the point that their whole society became wicked and vile. He also used armies and came against Israel because of their Idolatry. He even used Israel to come against the people of Canaan who were being judged and their land taken from them and given to them (because of the promise of Abraham). So, yes, there is evidence for divine punishment for both the righteous and the wicked. And, then there are just things that happen because they happen and not a result of God's interaction. In this sense is the reason for the passage that says that it rains on both the righteous and wicked. How are we to determine whether or not it is the Chastening of a loving Heavenly Father, an outright judgment to bring us to repentence to call upon him, or just an aspect of the natural world around us? We do not know. One could argue that 9/11 is a result of Judgment of God upon America. However, one would say that it was not because it was just the result of those individuals exercising their moral agency. Another could say that Hurricane Katrina was the judgment of God that came upon New Orleans. Again, another could say that it was the cause of natural elements. What we do know is that there are going to be many things that are going to happen in the last days before the Coming of Christ. Some of these things are going to be because God causes them to happen or that he allows them to happen, or they happen as a direct result of man's moral agency and are the consequences of those decisions.

Wow... person of the week eh??? Never knew this was something LDS.net did lol.... Congrats Gargantuan.

To say that Praying and scripture study and serving in the Church can be too addicting has to also understand in the appropriate context. For instance, if you spend all your day studying the scriptures while neglecting all your other responsibilities, then yes, one has to prioritize their time effectively. If serving in the Church takes away from time with your family, this can pose a threat to your family responsibilities. One can even be burned out so the defining line is "when does it become an addiction" as to a healthy balance between praying and scripture study. Personally, for me, I study the scriptures daily and intermittenly. Sundays, I spend that time reading going over the information from talks, sunday school lessons, and priesthood lessons. I then try and study for the next weeks lessons as well. However, one has to draw the line to how much studying one is going to pursue. Set up an hour or two and no more a day. Or reserve Sunday for in depth studying of the scriptures. It all depends on what you personally want to do, nothing anyone else can say what you ought to do.

Thank you everyone for your sound advice here. I talked with my wife about it (and it is an ongoing discussion, even while we are shopping for clothes for her). On the one hand, we don't want her to wear just jeans and t-shirts, but we also do not want her to wear dresses and skirts all the time. And, if we find something that is like a tank top, we will try and find a shirt that will compliment it and then use that as an outfit, or not get it at all. I want her to take pride in herself, and have a self-confidence that just blows people out of the water, but still be a sweet girl. We want her to be herself. In fact, I commented to my wife the other day (we happened to be in the Bra section at JCPenny) how she will come up to me and say "Dad, I need to go shopping for a new bra and panty" My wife just cracked up saying, "Yeah, can't wait for that day to happen now can you...that will be very interesting" The whole issue is knowing where to be a parent and say "No" and yet still allow her to make her own decisions without making her feel bad or guilty.

I agree with Pam. I honestly believe what we have here is a situation where there is a fetish between a young man and an older woman. It is known that men who are in their 18-20's are in their sexual prime. Woman do not reach their sexual prime until their 30's. And, there are some who would consider this type of scenario of a young man having what is called a "Mother Fetish" where young boys seek a "mother like" figure. On the same token, the same could be applied from the Older Woman's perspective. Again, my honest opinion is that you are better to develop more meaningful relationships with those around your age. If she was five years older than you, that is a whole different story. Ten years, that is pushing it. 20 year difference, that has some psychological difficulties. Ask yourself this question, you are a father of an 18 year old girl and she comes home and tells you she met a great guy and he proposed. You find out that she is marrying someone that is the same age as you.

My wife and I are expecting a little girl. She is 31 weeks along and we are scheduled for a C-Section on Nov. 23 if she does not go into labor. We have discussed at length some parenting strategies that we would like to integrate in our parenting with this little girl. One of them is modesty and modest clothing and attire. We both agree that tank tops, even on infants and young girls are not something we are willing to allow. So, our question is this: When is being too staunch in modesty and what ideas for those who have raised (or are raising) little girls where they have instilled some standards for what is allowed to be worn and not allowed to be worn?

Do not confuse Infatuation with honest to goodness love. While age should not make a difference, one has to be very reasonable with whom they choose to settle down with. My advice, keep her as a friend. Especially if you think that you love her. You can never bank on "I think I love her" because years later, you may wake up and realize... "I don't really love her". My suggestion attend Single Adult functions where there are women around your age. My wife is two years older than me, that is fine because we are close to one another's age. The other aspect is don't rush so fast to grow up. You are still young and it would be better to spend time with those of your age. Yet, you have your moral agency to choose, but choose very carefully and as difficult as it seems, put aside emotions and infatuations and look at it as objective as possible, maybe even talk with your Bishop about it. Just because she is talking the same talk does not means she wants to walk down the aisle and say I do forever.

I lost track of what lesson we are on in the Gospel Essentials Class for Sunday school? Anyone point me in the right direction as to what lesson that is supposed to be for tomorrow?

I just blogged about my recollection of that day, and pose some significant question that I humbly feel are pertinent when we reflect on today. Come share your thoughts, comments, and ideas This Ordinary Life: Perspectives and Perceptions

Max, just the way you said that and the way you have your avatar... can we put 2 and 2 together lol...

No, Moshke, I meant "What the heck did you say" lol... but thanks for the laugh...

Say Huh???