NeuroTypical

Again, I'm hesitant to share the stories I've heard on this subject - it's a 'what happens in vegas stays in vegas' sort of thing, and sharing another's stories is considered a violation of the sanctity of the group session. I shouldn't know the stories in the first place. All I'm willing to offer is a vaguely painted picture, and a calm standing-by of my earlier statement. Anatess' point is valid about 2% of the time. In other words, maybe one or two out of every hundred people seeking help at a rape crisis center is a male. (At least that was the running stat when I knew something about such things, which was 1997.)

So, our system of justice stinks. Rapes go unreported. The ones that are reported rarely make it to court. The ones that make it to court rarely result in a conviction. Victims enter such an experience with a foundation - a set of friends and loved ones, a belief system, a worldview. They exit out the other end of the experience often with all of that looking completely different. As a victim begins dealing with the trauma, one thing that is made clear pretty early on, is that odds are, they probably won't get justice from the justice system here in this life, and it's probably not worth their time and grief to pursue it very far. File a police report and hope the next woman gets to an ER in time with a more coherent story than you had - you might increase her odds - that's often about the best you can hope for. But there is one place where victims are able to get a little 'street justice'. It is in crisis center group counseling sessions, when it becomes apparent that one of the girls there is lying. My wife has passed on a few stories - I won't share details. I will say that if anyone is considering making false alligations of rape, you should consider not going to a shelter or a crisis center to 'make it look good'. Those girls will sniff you out, and you will regret your choice.

I think I used to work for that company. Didn't they go out of business in 2002?

I remember that quote about being a menace to society. Probably half a dozen people mentioned it to me in my mid-20's as I wandered around single. Mostly it was in jest. I wore it as a badge of honor that I made it to 26 before getting married. :)

I think I remember an article a decade or so ago, about some rich folk who got hold of a ten-thousand year old mammoth that had stayed frozen in a glacier. They cooked and ate it and said it was good. I tried tracking back the story about millenia-old egyptian honey, but all I could find was an account of millenia-old egyptian honey that had turned black, but still otherwise looked like honey. I couldn't find any account of anyone tasting it. We did crack open a 5-gallon tin drum of food storage honey that was at least 30 years old, and it just needed to be reheated to re-liquify the stuff that had crystalized. Still good honey. (And the chicken chunks were still ok too.)

Hey kikiah, So, I know you are being played. He is trying to make you his dupe. You are in danger. Of course you don't want to accept this reality. So I propose a simple test. Have your brother, or your father, your bishop, or any other trustworthy LDS male guy contact the guy and offer to interact with him and send him articles and help him change his life. Then after nobody ever hears from him again, you can come here and pay me ten bucks. If I'm wrong, and the brother/father/bishop helps him turn his life around, I'll pay you ten bucks. Deal?

If you wish to become BiniXena, warrior of food storage, then you store what you eat, eat what you store, and nothing gets older than a year or two because you are constantly rotating it. If that goal is too lofty, and you want to shoot for Bini the preparadnes enthusaist, then you just make sure you donate stored stuff a month or two before the date on the can, and replace it that way. If you wanna be like most of us though, you'll make stuff out of a can of chicken chunks dated 2003, like I did a few days ago.

She also did a pretty good job playing Sylvia Pickel in Vibes. Which wasn't that great of a movie, but it was 1988 - what else would you expect?

We are a charitable people. Sometimes, we are charitable to a fault, in that we will protect people from consequences of their own actions (or inactions). My personal opinion is to not sweat such things, because the zombies are coming.

Yeah, I'm doubling the advice to get that "And They Were Not Ashamed" book. Start reading it before you get married.Good luck! Happy December!

I rarely suggest people ask to be released. I will usually suggest the person go meet with their bishop and explain the situation that is making them want to be released, and then counseling with their bishop about what to do.

Huh - you mean Catholics don't believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost? You don't believe in heaven, or the atonement of Christ, or in prayer? You don't believe in revealation, or authority given to individuals to act in God's name? You don't believe in baptism?The Catholic family that lives next door to me would probably be surprised to hear that.

Hey ldsguy, If I could recommend a book: And They Were Not Ashamed: Strengthening Marriage Through Sexual Fulfillment I think I'm going to have both of my kids read this book in their teens.

If I'm on top of life, I get up at 5:30 AM and drink water while driving to the gym. For the other 99% of the mornings, I'll have yogurt, apple, oatmeal, something like that. I just wake up. Don't need anything to get going in the morning.

I'm sorry, I'm having a bit of a hard time understanding the problem. How do you know you were released due to someone lying about your health issues? Why are you so hurt over being released from a calling? How do you know the Lord doesn't have your next calling lined up, or someone else that needed to be counselor in RS? I mean, you haven't actually talked to the bishop about any of this, right? Why jump to all these horrible negative assumptions about how your bishop is uninspired? Why are you characterizing the business of filling callings as "going behind your back"? I guess I'm not understanding. Who showed up 20 minutes before church?

So did Johnny Cash. He even released an album of gospel songs. When I baptized my last kid, I came very close to sneaking in Johnny's "Ain't no Grave" into the interlude music. Every time I think about it, I wish I had.

Not really, no, and no. LDS folks are all over the map in believing and thinking about this stuff. An early prophet or two speculated about life on the sun, but there was a lot of similar speculation in the culture at the time.

Why? Dunno. We're left to speculate. I'm happy to throw your speculation in the pile with all the others I've heard.

Hi Hala - glad you came back! Other faiths hold many aspects that can be incredibly beautiful, meaningful, touching. I honestly love Black Baptist Choirs more than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. There's a song in a Veggie Tales movie (our God is a God of second chances) that does it for me more than Handel's Hallelulia, or 85% of what I sing at church on Sunday. I don't see anything wrong with praying 5 times a day. I don't know enough about Islamic modesty to comment one way or the other.

Sorry GraceComesFirst, had to ban you for numerous repetitive violations of site rules. You even managed to pack in mention of a political candidate for pete's sake. It's a pity - if you could have come here with honest questions respectfully put, we were showing ourselves ready and willing to answer. But as it is, your lying about your intentions and intentional breaking of site rules meant you just couldn't last here. For the second time, I'll point you over to Mormon Dialogue and Discussion Board. They have site rules too, but if you can manage to be respectful they're happy to win the debate you're looking for.

Hi GraceComesFirst.Please read the site rules - especially site rule #1. This is not an argument or debate forum. This is a forum where people can come to learn about the LDS faith and people, not show us where we're wrong. Feel free to go visit a different forum like Mormon Dialogue and Discussion Board if you'd like to get us to debate and defend.

The Gospel Principles Manual chapter on Chastity starts with this:

It's always good to meet another person who gets a particular look whenever the hymn "Families can be together forever" is played. Stuff like this often is part of "endure to the end", in that there probably isn't a good answer that makes everything all better for everyone. But I can think of a few things to help you: First, a really good way to honor thy mother is to stay out of her business. Even if she brought you into her business. Having lunch and sharing stories and nodding sympathetically is fine. There's a big difference between saying "Hard choices coming mom - what are you going to do?" and agonizing about how to solve her problem. Second, aunt was in govt housing before getting married, maybe she's heading back there. Third, being homeless is often a choice - even by mentally ill folks. Very, very, very often, the homeless person refuses available options in order to guilt someone into providing them a different option. Someone who struggled with all sorts of mental illness told me this. In her words: "Just because they're crazy doesn't mean they're stupid." Fourth, if your mom has problems getting manipulated into bad deals, she might find some help by attending an alanon meeting or two. Happy drama! Keep us posted.

I think they're talking about this link: Church Newsroom Blog: Mormonism in the News: Getting It Right | August 29 Down at the bottom of the page, it says: According to a guy on another message board, the original comment was: Maybe y'all can make sense of it. I sure can't.

Some depression is caused by stuff we do or stuff that happens to us. Some depression is due to a brain not functioning properly. When we try to peanut-butter our advice across both groups, we often end up doing a disservice to one or the other. Here's some good required reading about folks who may fall in the 2nd group: Myths about Mental Illness - By Elder Alexander B. Morrison of the Seventy