NeuroTypical

I guess I would think about two things: - How do you know they are lies? - Why are the details of their divorce and his disfellowshipment any of your business? I would think about stewardship. If I'm someone's friend, I can love and support them while they move through difficult periods in life. But I don't necessarily need to take sides or insert myself into what comes down to an argument between two people. Battles for public opinion are often destructive wastes of time that accomplish nothing but increased levels of gossip. I'm guessing "keep out of it" may be your best advice. There's a guy in my ward who is very, VERY easy to dislike. He's also mourning the loss of a son, and his family seems to be disintigrating. My baptismal covenant is to bear one another's burdens. I helped bear his, by letting him know that I share his hope about his son's experience in the afterlife. And I refuse to participate in any of the gossip or judging or unwanted advice-giving that's going on around him. I think there's a lot to such an approach.

Do you have kids?

I'm wondering how you would define "athiests and deists".

Well, they tell me that in 2012, you shouldn't really be able to tell the difference. But the real answer, is a random background character with askew eyes was discovered and named and popularized by the fans, and then introduced as a minor background character into an episode or two. Nobody on MLP really knows why her eyes were like that to begin with.

If you are not a My Little Pony fan, you don't need to read any further. In fact, I'd ask you not to read any further, because I haven't really come out of the closet yet as a Brony, and I fear judgement and ridicule. If you are an MLP fan, do you know about Derpy Hooves? Are you aware of the firestorm of controversy surrounding him? What are your thoughts? (If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, but read this post anyway, I'm talking about the 4th generation My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic animated TV series produced by Hasbro and DHX Media. Which quickly generated an energetic and passionate fan base of, believe it or not, teen and adult males. Derpy Hooves is a very clumsy pony with badly crossed eyes and a speech impediment. The controversy is between the people who are offended that a tv show would make fun of such things, and people who are (often personally) offended at the first group's reaction, characterizing it as an attempt to just pretend people with disabilities don't exist.)

Congrats, and thanks for giving me something new and exciting to read about people trying to lose weight. After ten years of trying various things, and watching others try various things, I have collected two categories of examples. Stuff that works (about 2% of the total) and stuff that doesn't work. To make it into the first category, I have developed the LM rule of weight: If it comes back within 3 months, you never really lost it. I have graphs too. I've charted 20-30 lb weight loss over 6 months in such charts. Only to go a year and start another chart back where I started originally. I have done this 3 times since 2006. I will set a reminder to myself to come find this thread around the first week of March, and ask you how you did. Good luck!

Do you know her parents? I'd show them the text message and then be done with it. If not, I guess the school or the police would be the next folks to show. Yeah, two possibilities: * Girl is serious, and needs adult help. Notify someone with stewardship and be done. * Girl is not serious, and needs a very clear, unambiguous message that such nonsense is not acceptable. A whole big avalanche of unwanted adult attention is a good way to send that message.

That's FLDS, Anne. Fundamental LDS. The folks who still practice polygamy, and live in very closed communities, from which women escape and young men are booted. The RLDS is Restored LDS. They renamed themselves the Community of Christ, have basically abandoned the Book of Mormon, and you can't really tell the difference between them and other various evangelical sects these days. But yes, I agree, it is important to know at least a bit about them.

Ah, Traveller, my poor brain isn't getting the point you're shooting for. On the internet, I tend to write that up to the other guy just having an invalid point. But you always seem to have well-reasoned and doctrinally sound things going on behind what you say, it's just that I'm missing it in this case. Bini is asking about FLDS folks, who have seen many of their leaders on the receiving end of numerous judgements handed down through the legal system. In 1953, the largest mass-arrest of polygamists in American history happened, resulting in several children becoming wards of the state. Shem Fischer sued them and won a settlement in 2004. Their leader Jeffs has been in prison since 2007 for all his sexual assault charges. The latest raids in 2010 have resulted in at least six felony convictions with sentences ranging from 7-75 years. You show up with a scripture about the law not judging people without due process. I don't get it. I don't get what I'm supposed to glean from Nicodemus' context behind the scripture. Could you spell it out a bit more plainly?

Sounds like your minds are pretty made up. I wish you good luck, and the advice to have a nice long engagement stands.

3 yr old and an 18 month old? Yes, that can be pretty challenging. Absolutely bring things to keep them occupied. My girls are 11 and 8, but I remember the years and years of struggling with exactly this. There were lots of trips to the foyer. Sometimes there were entire first hours done in the foyer.If the place you attend has lots of families, you will be in good company with other folks who are in the same position. There should be a nursery available for the kiddos. But I don't remember if the minimum age is 18 months or 2 years - does anyone know? It might be different for different wards.Regarding dress, we are one of the last Christian churches out there that still believe in "Sunday best". That said, I see plenty (and I mean a lot) of young kids dressed in just plain practical stuff. Cords and a sweater sounds fine - he should fit right in. It hasn't been that long for me since I was in the grips of young kid challenges. Welcome and I hope your experience is a good one!

That's interesting advice. I've never seen one online. I doubt there are very many open-access internet stations inside the compounds at Colorado City or Eldorado Texas. Due to the closed nature of their communities, you don't really meet one shopping. Any leadership in the public eye, tends to not exactly be giving tours or answering a lot of questions (unless they're on trial for something).All the vocal people I've heard about, are former, escaped or kicked-out, nonbelieving members. Some of them have written books about their lives, or are sometimes involved in the various court cases, sometimes they are the ones pressing charges. I'm at least as concerned about FLDS folks, as I am young girls in Thailand who are sold into childhood prostitution - sometimes by their parents. Advice to not concern myself, doesn't exactly sit well.

Just to make sure we're all on the same page: Right?

I want to make sure I understand. You're back from your mission 3 months, dating this girl for one month, you've asked her to marry you. You want to know how you can keep your family from flipping out, because you just got engaged to someone you've only dated for 1 month. Do I have that about right? Well, the obvious answer is there's nothing you can do, and they're right to flip out a little. You barely know anything about someone you've only dated for one month. It takes a year minimum to "clear your skeletons" with someone - don't lie to yourself and believe otherwise. You don't "know each other for a year" if you're only back from your mission 3 months and dating for 1. You might know of each other that long, but that's it. Dude - I don't want to be a downer here. This is a horrible train wreck waiting to happen. I mean, out of a thousand couples in your situation who believe it's the right thing, you might be one of the lucky 5 that it is actually the right thing. But odds are, you're one of the normal 995 couples. Tell you what - make the wedding date December, 2013. If you make it to June, start doing serious planning and spending money on preparing.

This isn't half bad advice for living life in general either, IMO.

*Raises hand* That would be me too, I guess. We sort of hop around groups though. We did a stint with a secular co-op, gave the Nazarenes a try, and are currently involved with a group based out of a mega-church, and a homeschool academy out of our school system.Congrats to your kid, Vort! My kids are a ways away from college, but my 8 yr old did just finish Christmas shopping for her kitten, and used her own chores money. We're pretty proud of that.

I don't have any advice to give, except that this could be a life threatening situation for your very elderly mother with alzheimers, and you should get competent and reliable advice.

I doubt there was ever a culture on earth that commonly [did such things]I once attended a symposium at a stake center, given by an LDS professor who had worked on various Dead Sea Scrolls projects. He related a few tidbits about the people who preserved the scrolls. The only tidbit that stuck, was that their little community believed that one must not defacate at all on the Sabbath.I guess it's not specifically the same thing as what you are talking about, but similar.

Sounds like you need to figure out what your feelings are.This can be a tall order.

For anyone interested in some not-too uncommon dimensions of the homeless problem, there's an interesting news story. Remember that viral video from a few weeks ago of a police officer buying shoes for a homeless man? Well, yeah - dood wasn't actually homeless. Yahoo News - Barefoot homeless man not actually homeless Basically, here's a guy receiving plenty of help. He's got 2 sources of income. He's receiving rent vouchers. He actually has a place to live. And yet he continues to be on the street. You can't really conclude that Hillman is a bad guy. We don't know what particular blend of mental illness or character defect or what is going on with him. His story is actually not that uncommon. The major causes of homelessness: Addictions, mental illness, ignorance, and apathy. And the solution often isn't giving things to people. We're all good Christian souls who want to help, but again, it's important to know what "help" is and what is is not.

You're welcome.

That aligns with stories I've heard as well. In fact, it's one thing I admire about evangelical missionaries. Cool stories about smuggling bibles into places, bluffing their way past guards with machine guns, etc - I just want to be there at the judgment seat to hear the stories and cheer. Of course I understand my church's stated methods - we go where we're wanted, and if we're not wanted, we find various aboveboard ways to build trust and transparency with people who can change the answer. But when was the last time you saw a good Chuck Norris movie about how he attended parliament meetings and sponsored scholarships until the bad guys finally let the poor orphans get rescued?

So in other words, I can feel totally righteous without ever having watched anything on BYUTV in my whole life?

Oh, that's easy. I distinguish between the two, by understanding what I believe and why I believe it. I didn't know the first until I was 26, I'm still working on the second, although I figure I reached around 80% within a few years.Joseph Fielding Smith had things to say about the issue: -Joseph Fielding Smith, Church History and Modern Revelation, Vol 1, p.103

I'll want to read the research and reasoning before I reach any conclusions one way or the other. I don't suppose anyone has a link they could share? The best I could find was this link, but it ony talks about the possibility that the shepherds visited by the angel were shepherds of sheep raised for temple sacrifice.