pushka

TannersDad, I tend to agree with you on your position regarding selfishness opposed to selflessness...I think all this talk about everything one does being a selfish act, whether it be a good or a bad act is taking things a little too far. I think the reason DisRuptive1 brought up the argument of raising a child, was to support Cal's arguments that whatever we do we do because it makes us happy...therefore, the very act of creating and bringing up a child is a selfish act because it makes us happy!!! I just think they are being 'picky' for the sake of argument.

Due to my recent diagnosis of Diabetes T2, I've bought a whole heap of 'healthier' foods...I've changed to Soy Milk and learned that it lowers cholestrol too...which I need to do...so I'm feeling really bright about it all!!

I've taken a break myself and may have missed something or maybe it's news to everyone but did some kind of honest-to-goodness nuptials happen to you (bat) and Jenifer recently? M. bat: Yes, we were married on the 108th floor of the Stratosphere Temple on December 30, 2004. It was the perfect wedding. Jenifer announced it here mid-December. Now, g-d sanctions us having sex, as opposed to if prior to our wedding we would have engaged in immoral sex and be thrust down to hell. It's weird how a piece of paper typed by a room full of monkeys over the course of a million years in a room full of typewriters determines whether one will spend the rest of eternity (which is a REALLY REALLY long time) in heaven or in hell. The g-d's must be really buerocratic, or even worse, lawyers. Congratulations Bat and Jenifer...and good point you made about that piece of paper...I wish you lots of years...or an eternity even, of happiness together...

Thanks DisRuptive1...that was my problem with solving the stuff that Jenda said too...I remember a similar problem being addressed in Dr. Who once, about who was the real Doctor and who wasn't...they used the same solution as Jenda I think, but still as you say...how do you know which one you're asking in the first place!!!!!

That would be the theory debunked by The Nash equilibrium. Society is better served when self interest is modified by the best interest of the group. "Adam Smith was wrong!" Curvette, the Nash way sounds good to me...I vaguely remember touching upon Nash and Adam Smith..Smithsonian School? in a Social Policy class...I'm not too great at economics tho, so it went a little above my head...LOL

Interesting discussion here, I'm not going to contribute cos I don't know enough about the facts...however, if Bat is posting at all I would like to say a big HELLO, because I remember his posts from 2003 and how interesting I found them back then...:)

Can't quite get my head round that answer Jenda...although you're probably correct...could you unravel it for me please?

Me too..and the year 2005 seems to be my religious OCD phase!!!

Just in case any of you youngsters are not familiar with this little Elvis ditty...here's the words...suppose they could be used for any situation... (words & music by joe south) If I could be you, if you could be me For just one hour, if we could find a way To get inside each other’s mind If you could see you through my eyes Instead your own ego I believe you’d be I believe you’d be surprised to see That you’ve been blind Walk a mile in my shoes Just walk a mile in my shoes Before you abuse, criticize and accuse Then walk a mile in my shoes Now if we spend the day Throwin’ stones at one another ’cause I don’t think, ’cause I don’t think Or wear my hair the same way you do Well, I may be common people But I’m your brother And when you strike out You’re tryin’ to hurt me It’s hurtin’ you, lord how mercy Now there are people on reservations And out in the ghetto And brother there, but, for the grace of god Go you and i, If I only had wings of a little angel Don’t you know, I’d fly To the top of a mountain And then I’d cry, cry, cry

Yes...'Walk a mile in my shoes' springs to mind at this point...

Shanstress70 and Curvette...I agree entirely with your recent posts...I can't add anything to them...however I feel that this argument is about to go round in circles because ultimately some of us here believe that being gay is not a choice and others feel, just as adamently that it is...and the same goes as to whether it is a sin or not...'fraid I don't see this difference of opinion ever being settled!!

LOL good joke Amillia!

Thank you Ray, it's been a pleasure for me too! Now...onto the next argument...LOL

No, that wasn’t what I was getting at. My comments weren’t directed at anyone in particular, I was simply stating that there are some people on this planet who think they will be able to claim that they really didn’t know what they should do because there is so much confusion about what the true church is or what the true teachings are that God wants them to accept and live by, and while that argument may seem reasonable to some of us here on this Earth, God knows whether or not we know something is right or wrong and He will hold us accountable for doing something we knew to be wrong.In other words, we may be able to fool some people with that argument, and we may even be able to be fool ourselves, but God knows what we know and He will hold us accountable for everything we have done if we don't Repent and have Faith in Jesus Christ. Btw, if you don’t already know it, Faith and Repentance are my most favorite subjects to talk about, or in other words, the message I now consider to be the most valuable message I can give to my fellow man. And btw, in regards to a comment you made earlier, pushka, God doesn’t want us to merely feel sorry for the bad things we have done. He wants us to Repent, which means to stop doing the bad things we know we should not be doing. Ray! I think, for once, I agree entirely with your post!!! LOL.Regarding the repentance part of feeling sorry for sins committed, yes I agree that you must also stop what you are doing once you realise it is wrong and have said sorry for it...I just took it for granted that you knew that was what I meant!!! :)

I don't know too much about this topic...except that I've recently been diagnosed as Type 2 diabetic, so am gonna have to make some big lifestyle changes...however, the dietary sources that you mentioned for Vit.D don't sound like the sort of things that the average child in England in the early 1900's would have been eating, unless they were part of the aristocracy...as the working classes here were in a really poor dietary condition at that time...

As are so many millions around the world regarding their faith...I'm sure that someone who believes so strongly that their church is the true one wouldn't be trying to deceive God that they know it isn't the true church really, and that they have just chosen to follow that one and ignored the true one...if that's what you are getting at!

Thanks for the link Outshined...as a person born into and brought up as a Roman Catholic, who also followed the LDS church for 5 years, I will be very interested to see what's on that site :)

I wasn’t talking about whether or not a person is born to be “gay”, or not, I was stating that the child would be more inclined to think that being “gay” is “okay” because he would have grown up around it without it seeming to be a “big deal”, regardless of whether or not is truly is a big deal. Or in other words, people can subject themselves to just about anything and eventually come to think it’s okay or the “norm”, even when in fact it is not okay or the “norm”. I was simply stating that fact. I think the ideas of considering something...lifestyle or otherwise, being 'okay' or 'the norm' is a matter of personal choice...I do accept that some people have been abused (I am not talking about within homosexual relationships with children they adopt here) as children, and they may feel that the abuse is normal behaviour...however, to gay people their sexuality is normal, it's only the people who object to it who feel it is abnormal or wrong...as long as they do not abuse the child in their care I don't feel that they are going to harm the child or alter the way that the child is going to view his or her own sexual preferences.

Thank you Ray...I will bear your tips in mind, and will try my best to avoid accidentally doing something which I will later regret...although, I believe that religions in general do teach that you will be forgiven if you are truly sorry for something that you have done...:) I'm sorry that I referred to the BofA as 'extra' scripture...I was speaking as an non-LDS stating that it was extra to the Bible... I appreciate your persistence in asking me to seek guidance from God in order to know the truth, and I thank you for this...again I will bear this in mind in case I do feel an overwhelming desire to know the truth at a later date... Shanstress70, that was a good comment regarding whether or not Ray had any other means of knowing that the JS visions etc. were true...

Just a quick reply here Ray, I think that the gay parents would teach their child tolerance of other people's sexuality...You seem to believe that children learn how to be gay or straight? does that mean that you do not believe it is inborn? You say the child might 'decide' to be gay or straight...again, is that not something that is in them already, not chosen... Also, every child has relations/friends/role models of both sexes within their families and schools and close friendships...I'm sure that even gay couples have straight couples as friends, so there would be no chance of the child never seeing a hetro relationship...the child wouldn't be existing in a bubble...

heterals started having sex with the same sex long before gays did? <span style=\'color:red\'>WHAT!???? LOL...I think he might be referring directly to the act that takes place when gays have sex...

How could anyone know whether or not somebody didn’t mention the planet “Kolob” before Joseph Smith Jr. mentioned it? If an Egyptian had mentioned that planet, wouldn’t it be possible for that Egyptian to have used an Egyptian word that could be translated into an English word something other than Kolob? And wouldn’t it be possible for that Egyptian to have mentioned it while, somehow, the mention of it was lost to those who came after him? And btw, if you don’t realize it, the word Kolob is mentioned in the Book of Abraham, which was written by Abraham through inspiration from our Lord, so it is an error to say that nobody but Joseph Smith Jr. ever mentioned it. You could claim that Joseph’s claim to have received that knowledge from Abraham through our Lord is not true, or try to dismiss the testimony of the Joseph as nothing but unreliable hearsay, but you will have to make that claim yourself and thus make yourself susceptible to being a false witness. Oh, one more thing. If you do claim that the testimony of Joseph is false and nothing but unreliable hearsay, how would you ever be able to know or prove whether or not ANYTHING that somebody said was revealed by our Lord was actually revealed by our Lord, or not? Even if you Ask our Heavenly Father if He knows whether or not His son revealed that knowledge to Abraham and Joseph, you would still not obtain that knowledge from our Lord Himself. And just so you know, our Lord has commanded us to pray to our Heavenly Father, not Him, and our Lord rarely speaks to any of us in person. Yes, I can see that there would have been a possibility of the word Kolob being mentioned at one time and then 'forgotten' until JS and Abraham...in the Book of Abraham (the Mormon 'extra' scripture you mean?). Of course you are correct that questioning the story of JS and his revelations means that you must also question all the writings of God speaking through prophets...that's what I've been stating as my belief the whole time, that I am unsure of the truthfulness of the Bible even, now that I have heard that it's stories were taken from Sumerian Tablets and translated and retranslated until they became what is now our Bible...it could all be a myth! I only know that I do not know if anything in any religion is true...I only know that some ways of life that are taught are good, and that I wish to follow them.

Well said Shanstress70 and Disruptive1!!!

JRodan, do you not think your time would be better spent posting some practical advice to Shoe at this time, instead of concentrating on Faerie's avatar and whether or not it is in good taste? and being flippant at the same time? Do you think seeing your repeated 'fly' remarks will be making Shoe feel any better? Why do you think she has chosen not to respond to you?

Wow! that's one difficult situation...I would not have liked to have been a juror on that case... Note the defence's use of the fact that the boy was taking an anti-depressant at the time, Zoloft...questions need to be asked about why a child of 12 had to be prescribed those type of medications, and had he been offered counselling as a back up to taking the meds? Also, noted by the prosecution, the fact that the boy was angry with his grandparents because they had disciplined him for trying to choke another schoolchild on a bus!! There seems to be definitely more going on behind the scenes of this case than has actually been reported in the media...we don't know the full facts, I presume the jury were made aware of them, so we cannot judge..