NeuroTypical

Sweet! As of April 13, here are poll results: Does someone in your home own a gun or other means of self defense? Yes 50 64.10% No 26 33.33% I really am surprised, even I'm sure this poll is heavilly impacted by self-selecting bias, I really didn't expect to see more than 40 or 50%. Women Of Caliber - great blog! Captain, yes indeed 'providing food' is a perfect reason to have a gun. We have a little .22 rifle for just that purpose. Lots of rabbits in our neighborhood. LM

Our car's 'get home bags' have a couple store-bought bottles in them only. We're preparing for an 8 hour walk through a town that had some sort of weather-related or man-mad disaster - water should be available along the way. Our 'bug out bags' have a quality water filter, so we can pump it from wherever we find it. Our food storage water is five 50-gal blue barells. We bought them used, they transported cola syrup once. Cleaned them out very thoroughly with soap, change the water every other general conference, add bleach. LM

It's time to stop taking direction from your heart, and start paying attention to your head.You are a mom. You are now role modeling to your kid, the kind of behavior you find acceptable in a husband and wife. As you make choices in this, you are training your kid on how to behave. Not sure if your kid is a boy or a girl. If a girl, make the choices you would like to see her making if she ever finds herself in a similar situation. If a boy, make the choices that send a clear message about which husband behaviors are unacceptable, and what happens when a husband engages in them. LM

Hi Mahdi! Welcome back. I've found your Iranian state-controlled opinions about this country to be very backward and goofy in the past. But on the subject of filth and garbage pouring out of Hollywood, we have little to disagree about. Mormons are big on the sanctity and purity of the human form. We are not happy about the filth that emits from our movie and tv studios. Most mormons stay away from it, and urge others to do so as well. Most of us expect modesty out of our children. You are kidding yourself if you think there was no pornography available before America invented it, or that somehow we've got the market cornered and 'export it' to other countries. But if you can set aside your endemic America bashing, we pretty much agree about nudity in cinema. LM

I'd ask her how she wanted me to respond. There is a ready answer for every single word she typed - does she want it? Is she open to a response from you that asks her to look at what she believes and why she believes it?Without some indication that she's willing to hear what you have to say, I wouldn't bother saying anything other than the standard sisterly "love ya and hugs and stuff" stuff. LM

America is founded on the principle that when folks pour into the streets to march and gripe and yell, the government listens. Popular 'useless gatherings' have accompanied woman's sufferage, civil rights, losing the Vietnam war, and dozens of other weighty issues. Numbers speak loudly to our elected representatives - just remember how much squealing and howling was done after only 400,000 showed up to the 'million man march' - Louis Farrakhan threatened to sue the govt agency doing the counting. So here's the hope - if millions of Americans pour out into their streets to gripe about X (be it high taxes or horrible deficit spending on liberal non-stimulative stimulus), elected folks will see their re-elections in jeopardy, and will change their tune. LM

I'd love to go into beekeeping, but don't know enough about it.

I got no problem with you, bgs. The purpose of communication is to encode a message for a particular audience, and then send it across a medium, where people recieve and decode it. Hopefully, the decoded message resembles what you intended, and hopefully, the recipient is the person you meant to give the message to in the first place. From that standpoint, I figure that we all got the message you were sending (one of tender vulnerability about a particularly disturbing element of your past life). The encoding and sending of the message was a bit problematic, but whatever. I briefly considered being hurt when I read Snow's post, but at the end of the day, I live by a simple rule when interacting with people on the internet. When you talk to someone online, you're talking to the whole world. I never open up and share without keeping that in mind. So, BGH, you feel like you're twisting on the line a little, be comforted that you're in good company. I need to mention Paul H. Dunn. He was a General Authority, hailed as being one of the most dynamic speakers of the '70's and '80's. The only problem was, sometimes he "substantially embellished" the stories. Sometimes he completely falsified them - basically making them up and foisting them on us as if they were true. He claimed he had been in major league baseball. He told stories about charging machine gun emplacements in WWII. Total fabrications. He originally defended the stories, claiming that he was speaking in parable like Jesus, and he was only interested in communicating the principles. People weren't having any of that, and demanded more. It really makes no sense to hold a grudge against a repentant person. The best way to prove your repentance to everyone (including yourself) is to prove Elphaba (Once a palgierizer . . .) wrong. I figure you can do it.LM

Yeah, homeowners didn't create any of the crappy unsafe loans. They just went out and got them. So tell me, it's also possible to go fifty grand into credit card debt. Should we also avoid any blame if we decide to? After all, I can figure out a way to convince myself such insanity is "the best thing for my family, for my children. I want us to live in safer neighborhoods, proven schools, and yes, even a better lifestyle. Lord forbid!" LM

We've always had 'bunny day' on Saturday. Today being Saturday, we had an egg hunt at the house, and then another one at the local Burger King.

Woo-hoo! Preggers! Advice: * Go get the book "What to expect when you're expecting". Hands down, that was the best resource we had. * If a girl, Loudmouthina is a great name. LM

If you're getting married in an LDS church, here's the short list of requirements: * It's for time only (after one of you dies, no more marriage). * Local laws are obeyed. * Not on Sunday. * The only church folks who can perform the marriage are bishop, st pres, miss pres, branch pres, or LDS military chaplain on active duty. Only if they haven't been released from the office. * Our church will happily marry folks, even if neither person is a member. * If happening in the church, the person performing the ceremony picks the room it's done in. * If done in the Chapel, no camcorders or cameras. * The person doing the marriage does have a set script to read. They can also add stuff as they wish. * No receptions in the Chapel. Happy marrying! LM

I would answer something like this: So, LDS figure the priesthood is given by God for his own purposes, not for man's. The one and only single sole thing priesthood holders do, is bless the lives of others. No priesthood holder has ever put his hands on his own head and given himself a blessing - it's all about serving others as God's messenger. So, my CofC friend, as you're also aware, we Mormons don't restrict service only to priesthood holders. "every member a missionary" - remember that one? We all serve, just in different capacities. Occasionally, we have someone who has decided that God should give him a certain job, and he gets ticked off when God has something else in mind for him. An example would be someone who has decided he needs to go on a mission, when something in or out of his control happens that prevents him from going. We remind ourselves that God has a hand in how we serve. He knows better than we what good we can accomplish, what harm would befall us, etc. The OT has sufficient verses explaining how the priesthood was given only to certain people, and withheld from other people. We're not doing anything that didn't happen in the OT. What, you figure you know more than God how to structure his priesthood? LM

Sounds like most of these aren't about conflicting teachings or changing doctrine, they're about unrighteous judgements and cultural influences. * Ask your Bishop about coke if you're wondering about the official church position. My bishop tells me, the question he hears most from the youth is "Can drinking coke keep you out of the temple", and his answer is always "no". * "filthy looks from people who look at me like a piece of dirt when I dress in something that THEY don't approve of" isn't about teachings, it's about you making choices and accepting the consequences. This isn't a mormon thing - this is a 'my choice of clothing will impact people' thing. Here's a bit of info it took me quite a while to learn: If you care about what people think, and then do things you know they won't approve of, you got no business complaining when they tell you what they think. I've matured to the point where I don't really care what other people think. I care what God thinks, and what my wife thinks. And I dress so I don't tick either one of them off. The Gospel = God exists, Christ is His Son, and died for you on the cross so you can go back to heaven. That's what the Gospel is. Everything else is details. What God wants out of you isn't the gospel. Current counsel and revealation on social issues isn't the gospel. God has on different occasions commanded his people to take up arms, and to lay them down. His counsel to us is based on what we need at the time. And our needs change.Also, not everything that comes out of the mouth of a church leader is "doctrine". Doctrine is inspired "thus saith the Lord" type stuff. Everything else represents our leader's prayerful attempt to do what is best - and sometimes they're wrong. I have no idea what a 'non church thought' is.LM

Very early on in the church, we had great sucess with our missionary program going on in Europe. Life stank for a lot of people in England, and they were more than happy to find a message of hope and truth that involved them ditching their old lives and getting on a boat. People were getting converted by the boatload and heading to America, while we were getting kicked around from state to state. A lot of early mormons were not only new converts, but new converts that had recently immigrated. Maybe that's what she was talking about. If so, I fail to see how it addresses the truth claims of the BoM. LM

So, the person I love who was raped also suffers from various 'impediments to happiness' (for want of a better term). She has nightmares and sleep problems, struggles with depression, and it takes much more energy for her to use a telephone than it takes the rest of us. From what she understands, these things might follow her throughout her life. So, here's a direct answer to your question: The healing power of the Atonement can give us a great measure of comfort and wellness. We are given the promise that eventually, after we have endured this life's trials and tribulations, we can shed our mortal issues and coporeal quirks and rest in complete health. But we are not told that we will be fully healed of all pains and injuries in this life. You are certainly not alone in dealing with issues like this. My friend considers these 'disabilities' in her life in the same way she would consider losing an arm. She can deal with the loss of the arm. She can live life, experience love, be an excellent wife and mother and friend, with only one arm. She can do everything in this life that God wants her to do - with one arm. That's her definition of "overcoming her disability". In time, her lost arm will be restored to her, and she will be fully whole. It isn't likely to happen in this life.So, a prosthetic arm helps recover some function and ability. Refining and growing strength in other limbs make your usual two-armed activities doable. Similarly, you can learn behaviors, methods, ways of thinking, that help you deal with feelings of timidity and fear. You do not transgress when you experience unwanted and excessive fear. You have little control over that, right? You come closer or move further from God, based on how you respond to the fear. (I'm sure God understands discouragement and impatience - hence the commandment "endure to the end". I dunno - I have almost no direct experience with what you're talking about. I feel unqualified to advise you at all, having never experienced it. The best I can do is pass along what my friend has told me about how she's dealing with her similar issues. I hope it helps. God bless you, LM

Well, forgiving an abuser can be a monumental achievement. You say you have no problem doing so - I've got to say that I've never met someone who told me they were abused, but they had no problems forgiving the abuser. Everyone I talk to tells a very difficult story of emotional turmoil and distress. For those who are able to forgive, there are usually still symptoms that stick around in varying degrees throughout life. But they speak of a huge burden being lifted. Here's the story of my own experience (being very close to people who have been abused) - maybe it might help a little? I tried to explain it a little before - Learning to accept these people as your neighbors, and loving them with your best approximation of how God loves them. I said my heart and soul feels clean - free of grudges, desires for vengence, misplaced guilt, etc. But the more I think about it, I know I have forgiven these people because I am truly able to love them like I know God loves me. Kind of the catharctic moment in my life was when I got on my knees and was finally able to pray for the person that raped someone I dearly loved. I tried, but couldn't do it for a number of months. I kept wanting to pray that the law would find him. That he would understand the pain he had caused. That the rest of us could be protected from him. Those were all fine things to pray for, but I hadn't forgiven him, and I wanted God to do something to him to give justice. I knew I had forgiven him when I was able to pray that he could find happiness and rest in God. When I examined my heart, and found tenderness for him there, and sorrow that he was taking himself away from God - that's when I knew I had forgiven. If I should ever see him again, I would protect my family from him. But I've forgiven him. LM

I don't get this. When my spirit hints something to me, exactly what part of me is it hinting to? Is not the living thinking intelligence-holding reasoning part of me the same thing as my spirit?I didn't think I was schizophrenic or suffering from dissociative identity disorder....

I love teaching the Gospel Principles class - it's wonderful to have all these answers constantly refreshed in my mind. From Chapter 45 - the Postmortal Spirit World

Investing in the stock market may or may not be gambling. The difference between gambling and investing? The act of gambling introduces risk that wouldn't otherwise be there. Investing is a way of handling risk that is there no matter what you do. If you have money, that money is at risk. The risk varies on what you do with your money. Cash under a matress is at risk of being destroyed by fire, and loses value over time due to inflation. Gold/Silver/etc is at risk of being stolen House/Land/Property can go up or down in value. FDIC insured banks/CD's/ultra-safe investments tend to decrease in value over time due to inflation. Stocks/Bonds may go up or down in value 401Ks/IRAs trade benefits (like company match and tax benefits) for loss of immediate access to funds. So no, choosing to invest your money in stocks is not in and of itself, gambling. Because there's nothing you can do with your money that doesn't come with it's own bunch of risk. Heavily playing stocks and day trading and the like, is probably much closer to gambling than contributing to a 401K. LM

Shepard mix? That changes everything! Here's two-syllable names that might match: Danite Laman Ramey (short for Rameumptom, if he's a posturing loud dog) Porter Loudmouth (great name for a dog)

Believe it or not, my current avatar and screen name were both attempts on my part to 'shake the image'. At the end of the day, you don't rack up 1300+ posts on this board in a year by attending a lot of social functions...

Excellent! Outstanding! I'd love a source like this to enhance my personal study. At one time, I had a picture that attempted to show all this graphically. But sadly, I've lost it. If you're interested in some spot checking on accuracy by knowledgeable folks, you should consider dropping by MADB, and letting their Pundits take a look at it. Thanks for sharing with us - please let us know when it's complete!

Depending on the year and my current attitude, I'm either an INFJ or an INTJ. Clearly, INJ is utterly superior, while sometimes you gotta think, and sometimes you gotta feel. LM (full of himself)

Well, let me expand a little: According to my 5 yr old, I've imposed countless and weighty horrible punishments too severe to be beared without serious trauma. According to me, the kid is occasionally told 'no', and sometimes gets hauled into her room for a time out. Yes, I do lay out very clear consequences, and act as judge and bailiff when it comes to parceling out justice. So yeah, I see God doing the same stuff in the scriptures Vort mentioned. The reason I do all that, is because I'm a loving father, and I want them to grow up healthy, independent, capable, and happy. From what I can tell, I get this from my Heavenly Father. My kids scream bloody murder and squeal like stuck pigs, but in reality, getting plopped in your bed for 10 minutes isn't exactly torture. But it is to them. So yeah, when we look back on our infinitely quick mortal probation, we'll realize all the stresses and hardships and injustice and beatings and torments and grief - all of it - the stuff we brought on ourselves and the stuff God gave us - were for our benefit. Witholding these experiences from us would not be mercy - it would stunt our growth. LM