NeuroTypical

I think of it this way: Part of repentence is making resitution where possible. Part of the atonement is making things whole when they can't be made whole in this life. I don't really see the repentence process for sin, involving someone apologizing to every female he'll ever meet for his sin against her. And I don't see every single female in the world reaching the afterlife knowing that she's been made whole through the atonement, because some guy she's never met looked at naked pics of some girl she's never met. I do see the atonement making the lives whole of those in the porn industry.

And don't forget sin against the person you were viewing, for reasons stated in my earlier post.

That's an appropriate stand. And it's also pretty true that the only peers of Maxwell's degreed LDS scientists and scholars, are other degreed LDS scientists and scholars.Or, to put it another way, there is no such thing as (for example) a non-LDS DNA scientist publishing scholarly papers on DNA and the BoM. I wish there was - they might be able to help quiet down all the ignorance from the critics. I figure they'd have to mostly agree with the stuff FARMS is producing.

I love the gospel principles book. It helps keep me grounded and away from flying into left field fringe-doctrineville.

We might be able to help you with that one, but not sure what good I can do on the rest of it, besides mention that we have numerous divorced single guys in my ward. Two bishops ago, we even had a divorced bishop.Welcome to the site.

I would react my understanding that I'm an outlier. When mormons show up to kid-related activities, 95% of them have kids. The other 5% are something unique, and humans comment on the unique. I'd react by not just leaping to the conclusion that I'd been unrighteously judged by this lady. I'd react by giving her what she was looking for - an understanding of why I was there. I'd tell her some of the stuff you just told us about how you fill your life with kids, and want some of your own.In short, the world already has enough offended people in it. I wouldn't react by becoming another one.

Why are you asking questions you already know the answer to?

I only have one more year of ignoring 2012 predictions. Running out of time.

Another thing to think about - plenty of people would still fight against the church even if non-LDS archaeology discovered clear, unambiguous, convincing, conclusive evidence of reformed egyptian, BoM peoples, cities, battlefields, "hebrew Nephite DNA" (if such a thing were possible), or even the three witnesses.

I'm not sure that's true. There are sure many questions I have that aren't answered clearly by the scriptures.James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Sorry to hear you're hurting. Emotional pain is part of our mortal probation sometimes.

Something to think about - every bit of porn out there is connected to a soul - one of our siblings who kept their first estate - someone with a divine nature. And if you want to see an industry peopled by tortured and troubled souls, it's the porn industry. It's closely associated with the child prostitution/slavery industry the drug trade, and organized crime. If you ever get the chance to someone in the industry, ask them for some of the more horrible stories that they've experienced, witnessed firsthand, or heard about. Just remember to ask them to stop before you lose your lunch. Makeup and good lighting hides a lot. You fork over a buck for that, you're sinning against more than just God. LM

Hi SMS. I'm LDS and a Christian. Good to meet you.

happyhappyhappy

Jury's been out on the Batcreek stone since the '70's. For the Decalogue Stone, Hibben's work doesn't hold much water with folks, and folks think they've caught him making stuff up and faking things to support his claims. Yeah, it's fascinating to discuss and suppose and all. But at the end of the day, when I ask critics of this church if they'd get baptized if we discovered the sword of Laban, Nephi's grave with a Hebrew DNA link, and the city of Zarahemla - half of the critics still say they'd continue to fight against the truth claims of the BoM.

We tip somewhere between 10-20%, based on service. If service stinks because of factors outside of the server's control, we tip higher.

It's not about being better than other people. It's about being a better person than you were yesterday. And part of this life is trials and tribulations. They can be good for us.

Hi there, There was nothing wrong with approaching your bishop about it as soon as you wanted to go back to the temple. Everyone's journey is different, and none of us here can tell you the particulars. Surely, wanting to go back is a great thing - I hardly think the bishop will beat you over the head with your desire to attend the temple or anything like that. So go approach him, and work with him. It might be as simple as seeing if your TR is still active, it might involve something else. We dunno, but the bishop is the place to start.

Hi all, Have any married folks out there, had some big career-related changes during their marriage? My wife is going into a field that will eventually lead her to a residency, quite possibly in a different state. We're trying to time this to kids leaving the nest and whatnot. We understand this can be quite a stress on a relationship, going from one wage-earner to two, me leaving a career to support her, and all that. I'm willing to support her in this. We're looking for success stories from folks who have made similar changes and thrived, or at least survived with the marriage intact. A couple we know from girl scouts just faced something similar, and they basically moved away and got divorced, and it's stressing my wife out bigtime. We see the stresses coming and are planning for them, but it would be a great comfort if we could look at a couple or two who have succeeded at similar things. Thanks, LM

Hi Celsetec, If you're trying to find an anti-vac person here, you may or may not succeed. I know there are some anti-vac LDS folks. Just not sure if any of them reading this thread or not. There are a couple of herbal/natural medicine folks here. But as you can tell from that thread you originally posted to, things can get heated. I take it you're on the anti-vac side of things?

Let's keep in mind this thread was started by someone who said "thanks everyone" and hasn't posted in a year.

What Pam said. There are endless good charitable things one could do with those extra percentage points - both inside the church and out. If you wanted the church to use the funds, there's humanitarian aid, PEF, missionary fund, and others.

This guy could use a hefty dose of skepticism. It's like he's associating us with drug runners or satanists or something. Skepticism is a useful tool that accomplishes good things when used correctly. See, the world is full of schemes and plots and plans of naughty people who are trying to take things from us or harm us. Ordinarily, how carful/skeptical you should be, depends on how sensational or emotionally swaying or pivotaly important the claims are. There's nothing wrong with wanting a basis for belief. The world is full of dangerous notions that arrive on your door, complete with adherents who will "plead with the skeptic to try [X] and see". In other words: * "Just smoke/drink/shoot/pop this, and your problems dissapear" = be skeptical. * "Really baby, I've never felt like this with anyone before. Now let's [do something that makes you uncomfortable]. I think I'm in love!" = be skeptical. * "Earn thousands per month from home - no selling!" = be skeptical. * "God exists, and wants you to [set of commandments]!" = be skeptical. Lots of people have pushed agendas with that last one. Lots of wars, asassinations, excuses for abuses by the ruling class, etc. Not everyone is pushing the same god, nor the same set of commandments. So a rational mind is supposed to, what? Figure out that JW's and moonies and that kool-aid drinking cult aren't it, but LDS is? Based on what evidence? There's nothing wrong with this line of thinking. Alma 32:26-43 is the roadmap for the skeptic who wishes to test this church's truth claims. No giving up skepticism necessary. It's a pity that Brother Haefen seeks to demonize the skeptic. I think he could learn some important things from us. LM

Bishoprics do best when they have clear, unambiguous, freely-offered facts. Tell them everything you're telling us. Tell your RS President about wanting to be a visiting teacher. Welcome back - and I can pretty much guarantee they won't beat you over the head with these important desires and elements of your life.

You mean as opposed to the current day, when they just think they're demigods?