NeuroTypical

Yep - helping folks who can't do for themselves - absolutely. Helping folks who are doing the best they can - no problem. Sheltering people from just consequences springing from their own choices - well, sometimes that's what 'help', 'love', or 'service' looks like. But sometimes not.

There are many, many less expensive, less politically dangerous, and more effective ways to get revenge on Qadaffi than to invade his country and break his stuff. Geopolitics isn't about getting revenge, it's about improving your cards.

Are you a fan of corporate training and communication skills and whatnot? There is plenty of training available on how to approach and resolve important subjects with high emotional content. If you answered yes, I can recommend getting the book Crucial Conversations, or it's companion Crucial Confrontations.

The church "must" do no such dang thing. In the training supplied for the new auxiliary handbooks, moving was specifically mentioned as something the EQ might choose to do less, so they could focus on spiritual needs more. The Bishop is over the temporal needs of the ward. If he wants to help buy them boxes, that's his call. Now, all that said, there are blessings that spring from service. Even when serving difficult people or personalities.

I'm a fan of MMA, BYU/Utah football, professional golf, tennis, texas hold-em tourneys, and NRA pistol competitions. I watch clips on YouTube, I watch the TV, read coverage from public sources online, and talk about it with other fans. I've never boosted any viewer number. Never done pay-per-view. Or bought a ticket. Or bought or rented a DVD from Netflix. Or bought fan stuff from vendors. I've never paid anyone one thin dime to view or discuss any of that.So yeah, I'm a textbook case of the difference in being a fan, and supporting a sport. And I don't think I'm the only one out there.

I'm glad I'm a red meat-eating omnivore, but I agree with dahlia completely.

Be advised that my 7 yr old daughter often prays "for all the animals everwhere that have died that they can be happy and not miss their owners".So shame on you for your condescending total focus on only humans. (There - I hope that is enough smileys to indicate that I'm not really seriously taking issue with you.)

Does anyone else remember the website thisiswhyyourefat.com? Now that was a masterpiece of a website.

Maybe you should try a BLT like this:

Chicken Fried Bacon - still on the list of things we can make fun of without getting in trouble.

So basically, what I'm hearing is that life is hard right now and your wife is unhappy and both of you are worried and struggling. What you are describing here doesn't sound all that out of the ordinary to me. And it doesn't necessarily sound like depression (as in the medically-treatable, 'unable to feel happiness' definition of depression). It sounds like she is experiencing a difficulty adjusting to married life. She might be complaining to you about it, or maybe even blaming innapropriately. You might be feeling blamed, totally useless, and unable to help.Honestly truly - both of you are in good company. Folks are going to post on this thread with all sorts of reading material, things to consider, and things to try. A lot of it came from their own experiences, and they've seen improvements and changes. Happy reading!

We were watching our 2 yr old niece, and hauled her to church with us. My wife took her to the bathroom during sacrament. As she was climbing over the people in the pew to get to us, she yelled "UNCLE [LM] I WENT PEE-PEE ON THE POTTY!!!!" I'm sure the microphone picked her up and carried her voice to the overflow and mother's lounge.

I loved teaching the Gospel Principles class. The very best, was when we had an investigator, a guy who wore his riding leathers to church and was going through a divorce (who had suffered abuse at the hands of his wife), a 'grounded member' who had been assigned to come because she was still very loudly wrong about a lot of the basics, a habitual single member, and me (still learning). It was never boring. We got on each other's nerves. We learned from each other. We struggled, not just to love each other, but to stand being in the same room as each other. I've since heard the phrase "God's awkward squad" - I wish I had heard it at the time, because it fit us perfectly. That class is for boulders who are in the process of rolling downhill to knock off some of the corners, before they can become perfected spheres. It's not for people who have it all figured out. LM

I love stories like that. It really makes the scripture come alive: "...he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile." It almost makes me think there's room for me too. :)

The words "believe" and "know" were very much on my mind as I left the church at 18, because honestly, neither word applied to me at the time, and I wasn't about to stand before people and lie to them in order to remain active. Part of my road back involved years of thought and learning about what those two words meant. I came within a few credit hours of a minor in philosophy trying to resolve the issue. The class called "Fact, belief, truth, and knowledge" helped, but everything else past Descartes' couplet "I think, therefore I am" just made things worse. Alma 32 was all I really needed, but I guess I had to spend a few years learning that. Anyway, yes, I remain observant about how I use those terms in my current discourse, and I remain very aware that lots of my fellow humans bandy the terms about lightly without really understanding what they mean. It's not about being PC, it's about saying things that are true, not saying things that are false, and being wise enough to understand the difference.

Oy. My girl is learning to read, and with very little help from my wife, she writes "I need a ipad". I'm doomed.

Meh - I won't be doing dental surgery on anyone before the choice is between that and death.

Love him.

One thing I've been doing, is printing out free copies of books like these: Where there is no Doctor Where there is no Dentist the U.S. Air Force Survival Training manual The misleadingly-named LDS Preparadness Manual The folks who put it together are LDS, but they're sort of fringe nutty LDS who believe in an impending callout where we'll all going to go have to march to the Rocky Mountains and live in tents for a year. Most of us don't believe that. But it's still a very good manual. If a short or medium term disaster happens, one overlooked thing, is the need to keep busy and avoid boredom. Lots of helpful reading material would be great.

Interesting. Why are you focusing on the Evangelical criticisms? Will other books focus on other directions from which we take heat, like scholarly or historical or cultural criticism, criticisms from athiesm and other religions? Like Pam, I think you'll enjoy much more success by teaching defenses rather than trying to pick holes in other people's belief systems. Happy writing!

Nah Phoenix - I can't go that far. The old "adieu" criticism from the '80's has got to be one of the most soundly and permanently refuted BoM criticisms in existence. So many very fatal bullets have been put into the head of that horse for the last two decades, that nobody could possibly be beating it today. Even the folks over at the UK based Reachout Trust countercult forums don't bother with it any more - and they were holding tenaciously on to their "coins in south America" criticism the last time I checked. If anyone still thinks that "adieu" in the BoM is still a criticism that holds water, they would have to have been living in a cave for 20 years. Or maybe be mentally ill. Or possibly they've been locked in a room their whole life with nothing other than a Bible, BoM, and an old box of anti-mormon pamphlets from the 1970's. Inquisitive couldn't have been referring to it. He can use proper punctuation, speak in complete sentences and upload his own avatar.

I enjoy Beck's humor. I appreciate the investigative contributions he's made in revealing stuff nobody else had revealed. I also think every month that goes by, he's further and further into fringe nut territory, and I can't really follow him there. (I'm also secretly afraid that the 'fringe nut' stuff is getting more realistic, more based on solid fact and more reasonable and easy to believe.) (Finally, I'm ultimately afraid that my secret fear is an indication that I'm moving towards the fringe, and interpreting that as the fringe moving towards me.)

Hi Woody, Keep in mind, the people funding this board want a place where mormons can talk about what they believe and why. We do have the Christian Beliefs board for discussing and learning about what non-LDS Christians believe and why. But if you're on, for example, the LDS Gospel Discussion board, and you respond in a way like this: This is a pretty difficult statement to make. being resurrected is not going to happen to those in hell.Then you can expect further clarification on the matter. Because again, the board you are posting on is about LDS beliefs, not w00dy's beliefs. The random person interested in what LDS believe about resurrection might find this thread via a google search or something, and they won't know you're a former LDS with differing beliefs, unless the next post or two corrects you.Glad you're enjoying yourself overall, and I hope I've helped clear up what's happening so you won't be frustrated. Absolutely you are welcome here, different beliefs and all. I think if you throw in a few additional "from my former-lds perspective"'s every now and then, you'll be fine.

Thanks for the further info, volgadon! Although I have to concentrate very hard to hear the same tune in the Gilderoy stuff I can find on Youtube.

Hi "inquisitive", For someone who is only "here to respectfully ask some questions", you certainly seem interested in arguing with our answers! Please be aware - we're not interested in arguing with you. The people who fund this site have made it a place where mormons can talk about what they believe and why they believe it. Not defend it from people critical of our beliefs. If you want to push your point of view, or point out why we're wrong, you'll have to go somewhere else. I can suggest Mormon Dialogue and Discussion Board (run by LDS) and mormondiscussions.com (run by critics). Happy choosing.