NeuroTypical

Yep. I've dreamt about nuclear war back in the '80's, economic collapse in the '90's, and the earth crashing into Jupiter in the '00's. I've dreamt entire epic stories chronicling a person's life and loves. I've had concepts play themselves out in dreams, like "betrayal" played out in several different (sometimes contradicting) ways in one dream. Dreams rock. But no, I have never dreamt that the prophet will issue a call for the saints to gather in the mountains for two years. AVOW spews false doctrine and is full of crazy and deluded people. Several stake presidents, two GA's, and at least one apostle is on record of saying flat out that AVOW teaches false nonsense. No, there are no plans for a callout. No, bishops don't have plans to move their flocks to the rockies. The counsel is what it's been for a long time - for the saints to gather at the stakes of zion where they live. According to direct statements from many church leaders, there is nothing in the works to change that counsel. lds2, if you've fallen for what AVOW is selling, I urge you to untangle yourself from their seductive melodramatic web. The only good place those paths lead, is away from them and back to reality.

My kids and I are working on this. We teach them all about bad guys, and how to defend themselves and get help when there's a bad guy. We also watch movies like Tangled and Monsters vs. Aliens and Meet the Robinsons and Megamind, which explore notions like is a person bad or good - or do they just do bad or good things? And how people become bad or good, and how they sometimes switch sides. They reach some pretty interesting conclusions. Like there are no bad guys in Diary of a Wimpy Kid, although there were plenty of intentinoal acts of bullying and unspeakable horibleness.

* Creationism vs. evolution * Liberal vs. conservative * Love the Boy Scouts vs. hate Boy Scouts * CleanShavenWhiteShirtites vs. ColaAndHerbalTeaDrinkerites * This issue in this thread [My list of highly divisive issues that mormons often find themselves passionately contending against other mormons, and yet still can find each other in the celestial room at the temple. Dang, I'm sure glad God doesn't mandate that we have to be right and in lockstep on these issues.]

Required reading for anyone interested in arriving at an answer to Vort's question: “Judge Not” and Judging By Elder Dallin H. Oaks

Hmmmm - this looks like a perfect example of an entitlement mentality to me.I agree - but the purpose of my post wasn't to discuss the mentality of a 14 yr old boy, but the mentality of his typical gambler father.

This is an interesting comment. I'm not sure I agree with it at all.I know a bit about gambling environments. My dad was a serious gambler, from a family of gamblers. I was practically raised inside a casino. Starting from my early teens, lots and lots of 'family vacations' consisting of a 2 hr drive from Salt Lake to Wendover, where I was then given a $20 roll of quarters and told to make myself scarce for 4 hours. I would sit on a barstool by the front door and watch the gamblers. I got really good at looking sad, so the cocktail waitresses would bring me cokes. I got to know 'his people' - the beer-drinking Moose Lodge members, the crusty old American Legion war vets, etc. They all gambled too. When I turned 21, he treated me to a trip to the racetrack so I could gamble legally. We took a few trips to casinos, then I 'went mormon' on him. He never understood why I'd take good money that could be turned into something on the craps table, and go give it to some church. From what I came to understand about him and his culture, he was quite a typical gambler. Anyway, my dad wasn't a perfect man by any means, but he was hardly what I'd call an 'entitlement mentality'. He was a child of the depression. He worked his rear end off at two jobs to provide us with better than he had. While he was a democrat and generally in favor of social programs and whatnot, he was very very passionate against anyone paying his way in life. He respected charity, and made sure it was always flowing from him to someone else - never the other way around. Brigham Young and the early saints are also on record with passionate discourses against gambling. One thinks that would be the case, because the environment was so seductive to them as well. Yes, gambling is horrible. If you've got the right set of genetic predisposition and life stresses, gambling can and will usher you out of a good life, and into lonliness and poverty. It is a way of parting people from their money based on illusion, false promises, and lies. I'm thinking it is a path to destruction laid out by satan - not a consequence of entitlement mentalities.

To me, part of raising righteous, capable, grounded, moral kids, is to give them a good handle on what sin is and does. We've had good luck walking them through casinos once every couple of years. They see the alluring call of the lights and sounds and raucous laughter. But they also see the glassy-eyed rows of faces blankly pouring money into machines. They see the objectivised women and the looks on the faces of the guys paying to go see what's showing behind the curtain. They see the impact of drug and alcohol abuse lying in the gutters and behind bars. Honestly, casinos and all they represent, have helped us raise righteous kids quite a bit - just because we know what to point out to them. All that said, we'd take a Disney cruise. We had a blast in the park last year - one girl taught Tinkerbell how to finger knit as we were taking pictures.

CPS can enter my house if they obtain a search warrant. Many of them are responsible and posess common sense. Some of them are totally clueless about the laws they are bound by, some of them are trained to bluff. A ton of them have become jaded about helping people any more, they're just doing a job that pays like crap, doesn't accomplish anything good, and everyone hates you. Listen to the folks giving advice here - since when is a dirty house against the law or indicitive of a problem? Insane. Yeah, Judo has a big pile of dirty laundry in the living room - she must be the person abusing the kids. Who the crap cares if a government employee LIKES your house or not? How about they just do their dang job? Yeah, my perspective is colored by being a homeschooling parent. Every decade that goes by, there are fewer horrible stories of working over parents who aren't doing anything wrong. Yeah, you'll probably be absolutely fine and won't have any problems whatsoever. Just for the love of pete, know your rights, and have your lawyer's phone number handy. If you trust CPS to protect your rights, you could get burned.

I wonder - could it be possible for Venkman to admit that some feminists hate men and think all sex is rape? Could it be poasible for Vort to admit that some feminists neither hate men nor think all sex is rape? I mean, I don't really care one way or the other if either of you ever budge an inch or not. But it might make it easier for y'all to live on the same planet as the other...

Coolest site so far in April. I need glasses when printed on 11X17 paper. I had no idea: I have 47 9th gen ancestors already identified, and 81 not found.

- Mr. Fabulous, formerly from the band Love Handël

Tyler, you are misunderstanding my opinion about why this is news. I'm not advocating conspiracies. A conspiracy requires secrecy and collaboration - I don't believe either is happening. I'm saying various folks who heavily influence (I used the term 'controlling', but yeah, influencing is a better term) the news cycle made this story big and are keeping it big. They're not conspirators - they're not even all on the same side. But they all figure they can make political hay out of the story and ensuing commentary. There's nothing unique about this story - shootings happen every day in the USA. There is a possible racial component to some of them. Shooters are not arrested in some of them. Wildly divergent claims based on who you talk to are commonplace. So why, then, is everyone all worked up over this one? Why does the administration issue a statement about this one, but none of the thousands of others that have happened in the past year? Why are both sides of the political aisle picking up this story and beating each other over the head with it? It's an election year, and folks figure they can swing votes their way. No conspiracy necessary. As we wade through the news and start forming conclusions, we should pay very very close attention to our news sources, their possible biases, and the pre-packaged-ness of some of the conclusions. As people keep saying, we don't know all the facts. Take a good look at yourself in the mirror - are you saying things that people should say when they're not in posession of all the facts?

Yes, I believe it does matter if you know any personally or not. I believe that if you knew someone in law enforcement personally and well, several of the extreme fringe reactionary negative beliefs you hold would not have such a death grip on your psyche as they do now.Yes, I suppose if you knew any personally, and had firsthand experience to back up your statements, your statements would mean more than they do now. Because what they mean now, really isn't that much to me. Ok kayne, I've answered your two questions, so let me ask a 2nd time - do you know anyone in law enforcement personally? Related to any? Neighbors and friends with any?

That is not a correct statement. There are uncharged homicides quite often in America. The whole reason this thing is so huge is because it's an election year, and varioius news cycle-controlling forces believe that making this so huge will have a favorable political impact.

while what you say is a good firm polite reply it ultimately means nothing when you are unarmed and against power hungry officersSetting aside the issue with you advocating shooting cops for a minute, you also happen to be factually incorrect. Armed or unarmed, power hungry or not, law enforcement personel are trained in what they can and can't do in regards to search and seizure. They've got a pretty good idea of what will make it to court, what won't, and what will land them in hot water or lose their department a lawsuit.Your general statement seems to convey the mindset of "whoever has the gun makes the rules and it's pointless to pretend otherwise". That mindset is not true in a land ruled by a constitution based on separation of powers. Gripe about the sorry state of our nation if you wish, but griping about mostly honest good folk doing a dangerous job so we can sit there and enjoy civilization? Come on. Here's a question for you kayne - do you actually personally know any law enforcement folks? Related to any? Friends and neighbors with any?

Hey - I think I used to live in that ward! Actually, my biggest load (outside of a presidency) was something like eight families. It was an effort to see who these people were, if they still lived there, and if they wanted to be visited/taught. The biggest load I've seen someone in a presidency consistently handle, was twenty-something. That list was also known as "the letter list". When I was Exec Secretary, the bishopric went out to contact all the "Do not contact" people. These are folks ticked off enough to yell at you for knocking on their door, but not ticked off enough to mail a letter somewhere, so they stay on the rolls.

Utah Driver's Handbook, page preceeding table of contents: page 51: Point Distribution: Following too Closely (Tailgating) .......................60 Page 56:

Ok. I would suggest that you do not bring any into the world until you've completely resolved this issue. If you stay and try to make it work, bringing kids into the mix is NOT a way of fixing things - it's a way of burdening innocent lives with your and your husband's problems. If you separate, and probably eventually divorce, I would not have kids with any future spouse you pick until you've experienced 3-5 years of stable marriage with any future him. 2nd marriages fail more often than 1st marriages.

I'm not hugely invested in defending them, but the data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index. What goods and services does the CPI cover? Yeah, but if you believe the government is intentionally lying, I can see why you'd discount the chart.

I've been grateful for this leadership training meeting talk for many years: General Patterns and Specific Lives - Elder Jeffrey R. Holland "The Parable of the Homemade Shirt" answered a lot of questions for me.

Got kids? My response to your situation sort of hinges on the answer.

Yes. And if you have to show up in fancier cars than mine with pictures of your more expensive vacations, at least also bring stories about how much debt you're in.

I like you phi. You remind me a little of me, back when I used to go to the countercult reachout forums and argue with people who had a beef with mormons. I did my absolute best to be polite, civil, open, honest, and deliver blows softly. I hope you stick around. Just a reminder about the forum rules. If you can stay on the positive side of them (especially #1), I think we'll all get along just fine. I do have a question - and forgive me if you've already stated this elsewhere. Are you a Calvinist? If so, please go to the Christian Beliefs board and start a thread on Calvinism. I'd relish the chance to learn more about it. I have to admit, until you, every single Calvinist I've run into has been on the rude and uncivil side. I've been hoping to find a nice one.

Oh, absolutely. Christ actually taught this on at least two different continents to two different civilizations: How do you reconcile our counsel to prepare against Christ's sermon to His disciples? (I actually don't know the answer here - it's been something I've thought about off and on over the years.)

Thanks for reminding me why I so dearly love Shrek 2 and 3. They were required viewing in our house for a long time.