NeuroTypical

No. It says "Releases from Church callings should ... come by inspiration..."So if God doesn't like your haircut, you're hosed. Do you think He likes it? LM

And the moral of the story: If y'all're too dumb to get a ladder, then you'd better hope your significant other knows advanced cloning techniques (or the art of grave robbing). Because otherwise, she's obviously fine with self-mutilation. Now if you want a REAL tear jerker, go here. Bring kleenex. LM

Yep. Statistics like these are handy when the antagonistic no-nothing church critic is blathering about how rich our apostles are because of all those book royalties.

I like his stuff, because all the other describers of unfathomable evil out there seem to be fans of evil. The protagonists in Lovecraft are good guys.

It doesn't matter to me which of us earns more. I'll still be stuck with dishes, laundry, and garbage.

Other respondants might be unhappy that the first person to answer your question is homeschooling his kids, but we don't give much of a care about prom either.

One thing Beck often does, is satire and parody. Saying the exact opposite of what he believes, and relying on his listeners to read his tone and word choice to decipher his true meaning. I find it hillarious, but someone reading a transcript is likely to be confused to the point of distraction with all the blatantly false stuff he says. LM

Here's what worked for us (and by 'worked', I mean 'my wife was out-of-her-head-insane from sleep deprivation for the first year, but now the kid is 6 and everyone finally gets sleep now'). Bassinet by the bed. Mom didn't have to leave the bed to grab the kid. Dad shares the sleep depriviation by taking his turn. Yeah, you got to work - she needs to not kill the children. Pick up some of the night time duties. Mom sleeps when the baby sleeps. Keep other distractions away. Find something to do with the older kids if they're not old enough to help with the baby. Good luck! The LM house has both a husband and a wife who never want to go through those days again. We're content with just wanting to go back to the toddler days. LM

Thank you for my morning romp through Wikipedia - I get what you're saying.I guess I need to be more clear - let me offer a few things on my mind: * My dad was a liberal Democrat and served in Union leadership for 35 years. He was one of the more moral men I've known. He was in WWII, fought in Belgium for our freedom, and patriotically flew the flag. He told me the one thing he respected about Hitler, was that the first thing he did was to empty out death row and bury those folks. He bemoaned a direction the US took which included increasing hesitation to apply a swift death penalty to "them's what deserves killin'". * Back before folks dealt with the issues of what to do with high-recidivism pedophiles, how to help them, how to balance their rights with community safety, we still had them. There have always been pedophiles, we just never used to hear about them much because individuals in the community would 'take care of them' as soon as they were discovered, and as a result, nobody could find any to talk about. I guess I'm looking at the moral center from folks 'in the good old days', and looking at the moral center in modern people. I see different notions and tactics, but I find both have strong moral centers. We figure theirs are wrong, if they could see us, they'd think the same of us. In other words, what's so inherently more moral about centralizing the dispensing of justice to a few, vs communities taking care of business? You can't look at the outliers. One generation's story of burning witches, is another generation's story of unjust wars, unequal application of the death penalty, discrimination and reverse discrimination, or intergenerational poverty for political gain. LM (just stirring the pot)

So, my response is IMO only, and please forgive the bluntness:Once we fall away from focusing on sharing the gospel and start worrying about how to get butts into seats for sacrament meeting, we lose something important. Some free-wheeling non-demoninational churches figure they can get butts into seats with a band and energetic music. Some churches broadcast their stuff via small local AM broadcasts so folks can listen in the parking lot. Some churches have gone online, making podcasts available. With most of these efforts, they may genuinely be concerned with sharing the gospel, but I'm thinking that there's a financial incentive also - more butts in seats = more donations. That translates into our church also, I've noticed it especially on the Stake level - # of butts in seats during sacrament meeting = budget allocations, boudary changes, adding or closing wards, building needs, etc. Open letter to any and all stake-level folks: I understand all that is important. I do not believe anyone not having those issues within their stewardship should have to give it a second thought. You're here to serve us. Stop trying to get us help you with your goals. You're supposed to be helping us more effectively share the gospel and incorporate it in our lives. Stop trying to get us to help you run the church like a profitable monster truck promotion. (Again, LM's dumb opinion only. It's free, so by definition, you're getting the value you paid for.) LM

How about we work on our ability to discern spiritually uplifting things from innapropriately or inadequately given talks? Seems to me like keeping a list of stuff that annoys you, is basically saying "I refuse to budge one spiritual inch if anyone offends me with anything on this list." In other words, you wanna make the meetings more spiritual and meaningful? Go work on the person you see in the mirror. LM (but yeah, ditto to what MOE said. It's easy to give this advice, hard to take it.)

Had to snicker at that one.I suppose you mean vigiliante (or quasi-governmental) justice has been largely replaced by a system of laws and courts and penalties. I suppose that's correct. But if you look at the micro as well as the macro, there's still plenty of things getting settled via force or the threat of force. It's still one of the most-used tools for both kids with little adult supervision, and nations on the geopolitical stage. But yeah, if you beat me up, I'm more likely to have you arrested and sick lawyers on you, than drygulch you with a bunch of my buddies one night. I have to ask though - exactly how is moving from one to the other an indication of going from less morality to more? LM

There are a big pile of stories about mentally-ill folks interacting with mormons in various trajicomic or tender ways. One story had someone with a missing grasp on proper social behavior visiting fast & testimony meeting. Imagine the normal quiet F&T meeting, punctuated by a lady loudly talking during the service, saying things like "Isn't that nice!" "Can I have another piece of bread?" "What a wonderful thing to say!" The Bishop headed her off when she walked up to the microphone to speak, and the lady started screaming and had to be hauled off by two beefy elders. Her screams echoed off down the halls for a while. That would have been a cool meeting to witness! One that happened to me personally: One weekday, I pulled over to help an old guy who had fallen on the church lawn. During the next hour, I found out: * He hadn't fallen, he had been "stricken lame by the Lord" * He had a message of vast importance to give the Bishop, about how his wife was the resurrected Virgin Mary, who was ushering in the last days by committing adultury with Elvis. * He was off his medication again, and it was ok when he wandered away, because he always ends up back at home where his wife gives him his pills. LM

Infatuated member of the opposite sex: "I know we're meant to be together. I received personal revalation that you promised yourself to me in the pre-existence." Not-impressed person: "Glad to hear it. Unfortunately for you - God gave me my agency, and I've changed my mind." LM (Training my daughters for stuff like this.)

If they're interested in God and mormons, invite them to learn more. If they're not, treat them like you believe in the principle of agency, accept their decision, and let them know that they would be welcome if they ever change their minds.

Here's a poll/thread on preparations to defend one's home and loved ones.

When I first heard this story, it helped me enjoy Lillith Crane on Cheers much more.

Yeah, we need to know the difference. Example 1: When I returned to church activity, I was asked to help set up chairs for something. I was so excited to help that I accidentally dumped a pile of chairs on my bishop and almost broke his leg. I was very sorry and spent the next week apologizing. Example 2: [Elgama's experience] You should put up with examples like mine, but not put up with the stuff that was happening to her daughter. LM

Artists always suffer.

Yeah, Standing Together Ministries pretty much rocks. And so do the counter-protesters at temple square who show up dressed as Satan with a "this guy is one of my best henchmen" sign stands next to the protestor. (I don't think many of these guys are actually evangelicals, more like college kids with too much free time. But they rock anyway.) LM

There are a few words that paint a thousand pictures! It shocks a lot of people to see a church full of imperfect, fallible, agenda-driven, error-prone people off doing things that really don't seem to be all that inspired. The concept of "we're trying our best" is useful to learn in these situations. If we allow it, the experience can help us be charitable. LM

I've fooled my Bishop with the church sign generator.

People have an understanding of who God is and how things are put together. Sometimes that understanding is very well researched and defined, sometimes it's vague and nebulous. Our view can differ pretty fundamentally from other's views. So, when confronted with new info that fundamentally contradicts what someone has always believed, a gut reaction is to say the new info is wrong. It's a human reaction, not limited to reactions against our church. No, it might indicate you need to develop your love of your fellow man and ability to be charitable in the face of opposion though. No. No faith can be proven right. All you can do is have a firm grip on what you believe, and why you believe it. It also helps to gain an understanding of common dumb beliefs people have, and why they are dumb.As you go through life, you'll encounter people who are off spreading church criticism, and people who have heard the church criticism and don't know what to think or how to respond. You will probably never, ever make a single dent in the first type of person. You can have a great impact on the second kind. If the second kind sees you off yelling at the first kind, it's sort of a turn off though... LM

Yes, yes, not particularly, and sure: I had a bad manager who made everyone's lives miserable. I was, beyond the shadow of a doubt, prompted directly to go and discuss it with her. It actually felt like the spirit had a finger in my back belt loop and was pulling me up out of my chair and pushing me towards her office. I needed that level of clarity, because I didn't really see how approacthing the topic with her would help. But I approached the topic with her. And it didn't help. It was a big embarassing mess, and then two months later, everyone got laid off. To this day, I don't really know why God wanted me to have that discussion. But I'm absolutely certain He did. I can only assume it helped the manager person somehow, because it didn't really do much for me, other than to give me a story to share whenever someone asks the question this thread asks. LM

More "juicy details", less charity and civility. Honest people will tell more truth, dishonest people will tell riskier lies, because there's less risk.