NeuroTypical

Well, if it's your friend, you should probably keep out of it and let he and his bishop handle it. But if it's "your friend", then I'm with mormonmusic. Normal human males from adolesence have natural processes occur in their bodies that cause dreams and moving around while asleep and whatnot. God gave us all that as part of our mortal probation. Speaking directly and openly, God set us up such that our bodies produce excess stuff that don't really have anywhere to go until we get married. God gave us bodies that allow this situation to be handled in 3 ways: Some of it gets absorbed naturally. Some of it comes out when we're asleep - somtimes associated with dreams. And we can handle it manually when we're conscious. God says that last one should be avoided. We've got better things to be thinking about and doing when we're conscious. The other two are normal functions of our normal bodies that God gave us. LM

What a good way of putting it. I agree wholeheartedly.Yes indeed, it is a US only phenomenon, with the biggest bunch of it happening in Utah and Idaho. In the Presidential election that gave Bill Clinton a 2nd term, for example, Utah was the only state where he came in third - behind Perot. If you want to see a passionate discussion, look at a thread where US and non-US LDS folk talk about the role of government. I figure it springs from our proud Pioneer heritage, and then almost fighting a war with the US over our right to do whatever the heck we please and be left alone. Both conservatives and libertarians want a federal government to be strong in certain areas, and weak or powerless in all other areas. It's just that libertarians have a shorter list, and seek total impotence in other areas, than conservatives. In other words, libertarians want pre-civil-war fedgov, while conservatives would be happy if we could just abolish modern interpretation of the commerce clause. LM

That was largely true when I was growing up, I don't think it's true any more. If it's true in your ward lizzy, consider yourself greatly blessed - your parents have obviously chosen the right place to raise you, or they're doing a great job of sheltering you from what's there.But go to any gathering of youth in any ward in the country, show them the list I posted, ask them strait out - "How many of you either struggle personally with something on this list, or have a close friend or family member who does". If they respond honestly, I'm thinking on average, more than half of our youth would raise their hands. In some areas, just about every hand would be raised. Now Hemi suggested Apathy is the biggest struggle. I think there's something to that. It's worth considering - are our youth so apathetic because no adults in their lives want to talk about/do anything about these 'extremist' issues? Hopefully y'all find it worth thinking about. LM

As someone who shares MrT's feelings about the group Dixie Chicks, please note: Two of the three are now recording new music under the moniker ‘Courtyard Hounds’. Natalie Maines (the one who gave aid and comfort to the enemy while in London) is not one of these two. All 3 of them did just finish touring with the Eagles as the Chicks, so we'll have to see. In the interests of finding something nice to say about one's enemy, I will say that Maines once publicly spoke against legalizing marijuana. LM

A temple is God's house, where His spirit dwells. I'm very grateful He is willing to put up with the constant flow of error-prone, fallen, strange-habit-having, struggling sinners that come visit His house. If He ever decides to raise the bar on who can visit, I'm not sure I'd be able to go any more. LM

Forgive me if I misunderstand here, but are you saying our youth don't face extremist issues?LM (very confused)

On the subject of judging righteously - here is the required reading on the subject. I've carried Elder Oaks' talk around with me for a dozen years now. It really did sort a lot of things out for me.

Well, sort of, but I have a somewhat different perspective. My buddy who went to BYU tells me they teach something called "enlightened self-interest", where it's perfectly fine to pursue what is in your own best interest - with an understanding that it pretty much involves doing what God wants.I think righteousness could be defined as "Acting in accordance with God's desires", and self-righteousness would be "Acting primarily in accordance with your own desires". It's different from what Traveler said, because my happiness and eternal life is so high on God's list of priorities. Our missionary effort - heck - 33% of the mission of the entire church - is all about on letting people know how the Gospel makes things better for us. Many people come unto Christ because they want. They want salvation, peace, blessings, joy. From where I'm standing, there ain't nothing wrong with that, and it ain't self-righteous to seek it out. LM

It's a good way to start learning what a mission is. And what a mission is, is the exact opposite of 'all about what you want'. It sounds snippy but it really isn't. When you go on a mission, you are giving up two years of what you want, to go do what God wants. To the extent that you can align your wants with God's, you'll experience pleasantry. When you find yourself wanting to do something God doesn't want you to do, like experience a teenage pheremone rush by hugging a girl at an important occasion, you'll experience less pleasantry and more growth. LM (or so they tell me, I never went on a mission myself)

Sounds like you had what you needed sitting there on your desk. Any particular reason you didn't ask him?"Now that's interesting - I hadn't heard that before. Did someone teach you that, or did you come up with it yourself?" Pretty easy. LM

Whenever I think I'm being righteous or humble, and I can see myself kneeling before my Master and Judge hearing "well done thou good and faithful servant", I figure I'm doing it right. When I see him saying "ooh - good zinger - I bet you think you nailed 'em with that one", then I know it's the other kind. I have plenty of experience with both kinds. From what I can tell, real righteousness and humility both tend to happen when nobody notices, a heck of a lot more than in front of people. It's also a lot quieter than the other kind. LM

Everybody sing! Choose the Sprite! When a Coke is placed before you, In the Sprite, Your Temple Rec resides! (etc.) LM p.s. My Bishop told me Coke drinkers get TR's too.

I made it to 26.

I dunno. But I do know that you haven't lived until you've read the entire Little House series.

It's interesting. I have two girls 9 and 6. They both go through periods of loving me more than life itself, and hating me. They switch off between who their favorite parent is depending one their whims and moods. Overall, they probably spend a greater portion of their time loving their mother more than me. Emotions are what they are. When a kid says they hate or love someone, they really do - for that minute. Then they get distracted by something shiny and it changes. Also, they might say they love their Mom more, but they might mean they feel more anxiousness at the notion of Mom being gone. One thing to mention about your daughter: She knows you better than you know yourself. And her only worry about sharing something important to you, was that it would upset you. That sort of closeness and bond is rarely forged in the absence of a lot of love.LM

We find life so much more agreeable outside of the Utah/Idaho LDS sphere. We regret not leaving sooner. Y'all enjoy your hyperLDS cultural issues. It's nice and quiet out here where nobody has an opinion about you. LM

Excellent! Don't worry - a little sheer terror is part of the deal - it goes away after a week or two. The good thing about primary music leader is that there are lots of experienced primary people in the room with you in case something goes wrong. True story: My first calling was to help someone teach the 5 yr olds. Everything was going well until the more experienced person left to go get chalk. She returned just in time to see the whole class run screaming from the room except for the kid who had thrown up. If you had asked me to come up with the absolute worst thing that could happen, that story would have been close to the top. But I survived, and so did the kids. You'll do fine. LM

Quick note of clarification - it's not "Tee", it's "Tea". As in the Boston Tea Party. As in ticked off enough to start a rebellion against the government. Sort of the exact opposite of people playing golf.But don't get too worried - I bet there's a significant chunk of people who actually are part of the movement who have also completely missed the meaning of the term too. LM

We never used a single cloth diaper until both kids were out of them. Now we use them for everything - they make excellent rags with a thousand uses.

This is exactly what you've always wanted in a guy? C'mon MC - you can't overlook the negative and only see the positive - you have to look at the entire package. I think you ought to stop all this "he's an amazing guy" nonsense and actually hold to the wise standards you've set for yourself. As things are now, you're setting yourself up for embarassing sinful experience #2.LM

Insprational quotes ahoy!True Friendship. 1. When you are sad, I will jump on the person who made you sad like a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew!!! 2. When you are blue, I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you. 3. When you smile, I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in. 4. When you're scared, we will high tail it out of here. 5. When you are worried, I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be until you quit whining, ya big baby!!!! 6. When you are confused, I will use little words. 7. When you are sick, Stay away from me until you are well again. I don't want whatever you have... 8. When you fall, I'll pick you up and dust you off-- After I laugh my rear off!! 9. This is my oath... I pledge it to the end. 'Why?' you may ask; -- because you are my FRIEND! *********************** Friendship is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it, but only YOU can feel the true warmth. ********************** Try sending this to 10 of your closest friends .. including the person who sent this to you ... Then, get depressed 'cause you can only think of 4! LM (Didn't know I was an ol' softie, did you?)

Me too. But as long as you are a dependent child, relying on your parents to pay your bills, you'll be following their rules, judgmental or no.LM (wishing OP could have just posted that sentence, and spared us his life's story)

Boo! Hisss! No gold star for you!

My counter-argument: You don't have a surname - you only carry your father's. Folks are welcome to get bent out of shape about the man's name being more important than a woman's, whatever. There can be logical arguments made about the issue. But demanding to keep your father's name doesn't fix the issue, does it? "Hi, I think taking my husband's name is demeaning to women. So I'm sticking with my father's! That way, it's somehow less demeaning to women in some vague way that I can never seem to get around to expressing." See, it just doesn't make sense. LM

We just had a kerfuffle about flying the American flag on Cinco de Mayo. I'm always interested in discovering hypocracy in my self where I find it, so let's see. I think Bini's neighbor was at best, innocently ignorant of the impact they'd have. And at worst, intentionally being butt-heads to tick people off and make a statement. I think the student wearing the flag at cinco de mayo was at best, innocently ignorant of the impact he'd have. And at worst, intentionally being a butt-head to tick people off and make a statement. Phew! I'm good. How about you folks?? LM