NeuroTypical

Probably your best bet is to buddy up to someone who knows such things and learn from him. But if there's nobody around: For personal protection, I'd recommend a basic handgun class and a basic handgun personal protection class, before you chose something to buy. Different personalities, styles, hand sizes, etc come in to play when you're choosing a handgun - finding out what you want before you choose something is advisable. The NRA will probably have something available in your area. What state do you live in? It's very necessary to find out what your state and local laws say about defending yourself and others. Does your state follow castle doctrine, or will you go to jail for 20 years if you shoot an armed home invader? Do you intend to carry? Lots of things to figure out before you actually buy something. Also, it's important to have a very clear understanding of what 'personal protection' means. It means the ability and willingness to take a human life if necessary, and learning to recognize when it's necessary. This is no small thing. We are Christlike peaceful people. We renounce war and proclaim peace. We turn the other cheek, pray for those who spitefully use and hurt us, forgive everyone, and love our neighbors. Do you have a clear understanding on how you can do all those things, and still put two in the chest and one in the head of someone coming at you or a loved one with a knife? Until you do, you might be better served by a karate class or a tazer. For hunting rifles, I'd definitely find a way to go hunting a few times with someone knowledgeable. (I've only been one time myself, lots to learn there.) LM (no clue about bows and arrows - sounds fun though!)

Absolutely! (especially FoxNews) es·pe·cial·ly   /ɪˈspɛʃəli/ [ih-spesh-uh-lee] –adverb particularly; exceptionally; markedly: Be especially watchful. So, to start out, I'm fully in agreement with crazypotato's take on things. But who out there is willing to defend kimiko's claim, that FoxNews is particularly or more deserving of crazypotato's suggestion? Is FoxNews more biased than, oh, say, CNN, or MSNBC? Or moveon.org? LM

There have been parts of this thread I've only scanned, so forgive me if I've missed it. Where exactly are these "rules" that ward members need to obey? I mean, yes indeed there are pretty clear rules for people entering the mission field, and attending BYU for that matter, but for the rank and file member?I've taught Gospel Essentials for years, and don't remember seeing them there. One would think there would be something in the chapter on keeping the Sabbath day holy or something... I see guidance and counsel and urging, I also see much tolerance and respect given for what varioius folks bring with them as they come to be edified by the gospel. Got a link to the rules? LM

I guess in the interests of full disclosure, I should just let y'all know. My wife and I have the (very serious and honest) plan to retire, buy and learn to ride some Harleys, join Bikers Against Child Abuse, and become what they are and do what they do. We'll probably clean up a little on Sundays for church, though.

So, I hate to burst everyone's bubble here, but this woman's situation is reality for thousands of elderly across the nation, and has been for at least the two decades I've been paying attention. People dump their elderly somewhere and forget about them. The places they dump them, see the government as their customer, not the elderly patient. It happens everywhere. Take a look at the data the government gathers. Do a search on homes within 25 miles of your zip code. Look at the "Health Inspections" star rating. Quite a bit of one and two stars, right? Those are the places where elderly sit in their own urine and feces for hours upon end, bedsores are left untreated, etc. Expressions of anger are understandable, but don't accomplish much. What are you going to do about it?

Yes. Without the smallest hint of doubt or hesitation, yes. Trying hard not to reveal too much information and get my post edited, yes.I guess other husband's mileage might vary, and surely I find my wife attractive wearing things other than garments too (she does have some lingire and other things). But absolutely I find her sexy in her garments.

I think I know what you mean. My wife works with troubled youth. A lot of drug addictions, horrible lifestyles, and the like. She is occasionally able to work miracles with some of them. I think it has much to do with the fact that she isn't looking down at them from some righteous pedestal. She truly cares about and loves them. She once got an ok from our Bishop, to buy cigarettes for one of them as he was trying to get his body off of it's addiction to meth. According to this kid, most of the "good people" in his life didn't want him around, avoided eye contact with him, assumed he was 'up to no good' whether he actually was or not, and in general, shunned him and treated him like an outcast. Now that's certainly understandable, especially from some of the parents of daughters that this guy enjoyed hanging around with. To say he was living a lifestyle contrary to the desires of God, would be quite an understatement. But a lot of people struggle with how to love people at the same time you see him as a danger to you and yours. We need to learn how to do that. Because kids like him are a dime a dozen, and they are all our neighbors, just as much as all the people we know and love and like to be around. LM

Excellent update! By the way, that's what missionary work looks like sometimes. Not only that co-worker, but everyone else within earshot of your conversation, now knows a little more about Mormons than they knew the day before. Even if the only thing they learned was "a Mormon can remain civil and polite in a conversation with someone being a bit overzealous and loud", that's not bad at all.

Love them, yes. Support and don't judge? Well, the matter isn't that cut and dried. We are explicitly commanded in scripture to judge in certain circumstances, and not judge in others. It's important to know when a righteous judgement is necessary.As far as this thread goes, "He's not righteous because he has a beard" is pretty much never a righteous judgement. LM

A better way to put it: People in a position of power try to manipulate public thought in various ways. The media is one tool they use. A "leak" is one method of employing that tool.

Yeah, Coraline gave me the heebie-jeebies when I saw it last month. No kid movie really got to me as a kid. Of course, my parents had HBO and Showtime, so I'd get up after they went to sleep at night and watch the R movies. The Shining, Scanners, a few others - they scared me as a kid. I have two little girls - one of them REALLY HATES movies where people are being mean to each other on purpose. Movies with bad guys in them, she's usually ok with, unless the bad guy is a bully. She'll leave the room if some poor innocent person is getting ill-treated by a bully.

I was taught "the three S's": Swimming, showers, and nookie. I suppose doctor's visits and medical procedures and whatnot are fine too, although I'd rather avoid them if possible. :) I'm pretty sure you don't go to hell if you get in a wreck and the EMT's have to cut off your clothes to get at your injuries. That's silly.

The image is about right. :)As someone who has had the pleasure of looking at my wife in her garments for almost a decade and a half, permit me to respectfully disagree. I like seeing her in them.I hear the youth of our church say all the time: "Mormons don't have sex" What a bunch of horrific false doctrine! We're just not supposed to have sex out of wedlock (not really a moral stand taken only by Mormons, right?) "Marital relations" are just as important to us as any other married couple out there - and the only valid guidelines we have on the matter is "do anything you please, as long as it isn't demeaning or mocks the sacredness of the covenant". How those guidelines are put into play, are left up to the individual couple and the Lord. LM

Such discussions seem to me, to be all about what you must do in order to be accepted by a certain culture or group. I speak from personal experience, that there's more to being LDS than being accepted by a bunch of Mormons. I might even go so far as to say, I consider it possible to be a good Mormon (i.e. doing everything God wants of you) even if a big stack of Mormons do NOT accept you. I don't get to judge whether someone else is a good Mormon or not. And neither do any of you. I just get to judge myself. We don't get to judge this guy: (Yes, those are all the LDS prophets, and Jesus, and a tatoo of him as well.)

Sounds like you and your husband suck at communicating. If 'every little thing' sets off an argument, it's because one or both of you are unable or unwilling to talk about what the real problems are. So, practically speaking, it takes two to make a marriage work. However, you can certainly work on your end of things. I would absolutely recommend counseling. Make the appointment (hopefully with LDS Social services - they're good at helping). Tell hubby you'd like him to come, but you're going alone if he doesn't. You'll know you've found a good counselor if they won't let you sit there and complain about your husband, but they get you to look at yourself and your behaviors and how you can do your part to make a marriage work. Let us know what happens.

I don't think we have anything to disagree about, except maybe whether I need a breath or not. :)LM

Sounds like you're good. If they want you to work before your end date, they need to fix things. If they want you to work after end date, they need to fix things. If they don't fix anything, you're done. You've set clear expectations with them - if you never hear from them again, then whatever. (I'm assuming there's no benefits or severance or insurance or anything to worry about). LM

Full disclosure - I was inactive for 6 years. I never understood or felt necesary to remove my name, because all the mormons were afraid of me for some reason and pretty much left me alone. I came back.

I thought it was pretty basic that if you're under the age of consent, then the law considers you unable to consent. Hence the term "statutory rape" (translated, "it's rape because the law says it's rape - it's not about what the girl wanted").Occasionally you get a rape conviction despite the young girl testifying on his behalf, and doing everything else humanly possible to get the guy off the hook. The girl in this case was 14. Age of consent in Utah is 16, in Texas it's 17. This is basic stuff, right?

Excellent, mliff. Hats off to you, and your decision to remain true to yourself. Baptism is a ceremony that marks formal acceptance of belief, and acceptance of a workload. If you do not believe, if you are not willing to accept the workload - then formally undoing that agreement is one way to preserve your personal integrity.I tell people all the time - the only good reason to be a Mormon, is you've come to understand that God wants you to be one. From where I'm standing, you're starting on a path that will quite probably lead you back here. Walk that path, and remain devoted to truth like you are now, and I figure you'll head back here eventually. Good luck to you, and God Bless! LM

Thumb drives are amazing things.

It's no good kicking Moksha's rear end over such things,..because he's only looking for attention ....and a cheap laugh .......at our expense. ....So even though it might tickle our funny bone, ..we won't deign to notice his outbursts and give him the buttkickin' he so richly deserves. LM

Is that a glock? I guess if he can't have a lightsaber, that's the next best thing.

I hear it both ways, they both sound about right to me.

At the time I got sealed, I was close to many non-temple-recommend holding people. From family to friends to close co-workers. In many ways, I live up to my screen name in personal life. But I believe I dodged some serious harmful relationship consequenses by approaching this issue with as much gentleness and tenderness and genuine concern and unfeigned love as I could wedge into myself. If there's ever a time to carefully consider how much "let your light so shine" is appropriate, it's when people who love you are not able to participate in something special you're doing, because you just happen to have the light and they don't. For me and all mine, we had a big wedding breakfast before the sealing, where I made a great big to-do about how I owed most of my moral foundation to my non-LDS dad. And we had a big reception afterword, full of all the garter-throwing and cake-in-face-mashing and car decorating nonsense you'd expect, and many non-TR holders (believers or not) provided many of the important memories of the day. None of the non-temple stuff we did that day detracted from the sacredness of what we'd done in the temple. Everyone could see us all standing there in our temple whites. They all seemed pretty happy that we had just done something sacred and incredibly important, and they mostly respected it. The buddy who made a dumb joke about secret handshakes remained my buddy. The half-sister who showed up in jeans and made all sorts of goodnatured sarcastic comments about mormons and religion in general, was recieved with genuine warmth and accepted with a light heart. The black sheep recluse who hates social get togethers in general, was given a picture of the party he was to beat up if they showed their face, and he had a great time circling the fringes and playing secret agent and whatnot. If people really do care for you, they're usually willing to help you achieve your dreams, as long as they perceive you hold them with respect. LM