NeuroTypical

Billy2 has mastered the skills of cut-and-paste, but not the honesty it takes to properly cite another's work? He's posting, word for word, the work of the anti-mormon site CARM. And he's passing it off as his own work. Billy? You want to claim you wrote the piece on Carm? Or is 'lying for the lord' more your thing? LM

A long time ago my wife watched me climb into the laundry basket holding a sheet up over my head. Apparently, climbing in the basket was a good way to hide, and I was going to surprise "them" and throw the blanket over them.

Oh, I suppose. Being 'a keeper' is something that just isn't much of our culture any more, so even if we wish to apply the most broad definition, we tend to cast about looking for what it means. The way I see it, "Love thy neighbor as thyself" is not only higer up on the list of priorities (as it is one of the 'two great commandments'), but it's also easier to figure out how to do it. (It's also quite a bit harder to apply in some cases, IMO.) LM

I think faded nailed the reason why, and bytor nailed why we're not especially agreeing with your interpretation of the verse after we're made aware of it.I used to go into yahoo chat rooms and contend ernestly. One zealous evangelical seemed to think that he was 'scoring points for God' if I didn't follow the pace of his criticizing. He'd cut and paste half a dozen criticisms, and then declare victory after nobody gave them the treatment he thought he deserved. He quoted Jude to justify his position as well. I said all the treatment is issues could handle could be found on various LDS apologetic message boards - he wasn't having any of it. According to him, if we weren't going to contend the way he was, it was proof positive that we weren't Christian. Can't say that I agreed with him. LM

"Love", meaning the feeling or emotion of love, is overrated. Emotions aren't logical by definition. Love can show up when it shouldn't. Sometimes it isn't around when it should be there. "Love" as the verb, the actions one takes as an expression of attachment and togetherness, that's where it's at. You should love people even if you don't feel loving towards them. And loving people as God commands, doesn't involve doing stupid things to yourself. LM

Most of 'em are ignorant of the passage, but very well versed on 3 Ne. 11: 29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.I try to get 'em to listen to Jude, so they can aid me in giving folks like you the verbal thrashing you so richly deserve! Nice attempt to demonstrate us following men instead of scripture, but 3 Nephi is the source of the notion, not Elder Ballard. I'm pretty content with your definition. In other words, if I could just be a tad bit more friendly-sounding and charitable in my interactions with critics like you, I'd be good.LM

And sometimes, loving your neighbor involves being his keeper. But probably not that often.It happened once when I was five. For some reason, my dad showed up with a big armload of pistols and rifles. He said they belonged to our next door neighbor, who was having a very hard time with something, and we were just going to 'keep an eye on these' for a week or two. I never found out what happened, but the guns went back home after a while, and the next decade was uneventful. LM

Some people just decide they need to touch the hot stove and get burned.

People who drive motorcycles without wearing helmets go by the name 'organ donor' in my mind...

Since we're engaging in rampant speculation, I'll share two reasons I've heard for people to sign. Keep in mind, this is rampant speculation. I've never caught the vaguest hint of doctrinal foundation for any of this. There was a movie a few years back, about the last official Exorcism done by the Catholic church. I forget the name. The possessed chick wanders off into the woods in a rare moment of lucidity, and has a vision of the Virgin Mary. The Virgin offers her a way out of her anguish and torture (i.e. death), but she also lets the possessed chick see what will happen to the next umpteen people the demons will torment. Then the Virgin says if the posessed chick stays in her body and endures to the end (a sucessful exorcism), these demons will not be able to make those people miserable, because they're all trapped in her. In other words, the posessed chick, merely by having a very crappy time of things, will bless the lives of others. Someone told me once about a possible justification for years of horrible child abuse eventually resulting in the abused committing suicide. As the story goes, in the pre-existence, a person was offered the life of the abused person. The life could go two different ways - the abuse would not be so bad, but she would pass it on to her children, and it would continue on through the generations. Option two, was abuse so bad that it would eventually result in suicide, but her children and all generations after would be free of abuse - it was a way to end the cycle. Remember - this is all speculation firmly in the realm of fiction as far as I'm concerned. LM

Yep - annualcreditreport.com. I've gone there once a year for 4-5 years now. Just keep turning down their offers to have you give them money, and you'll get your report for free. Also - if you get a username/password, make sure you remember it. LM

So, I've never been in your position, but it occurs to me that God put us together in such a way that we often feel pain and anger when a loved one betrays us. If you've got it inside you, but aren't letting it out, that worries me.Ignoring truth just never seems to be a good idea. In related news, a lady I was dating had experienced some serious trauma at the hands of another. She had a bunch of rage about it. She was helping me remodel a bathroom, which involved removing a wall. She tells me she had a very cleansing time bashing the wall to little pieces with a hammer. 13 years later, she's still grateful she was able to take out her rage on that wall. LM

A note - people experience the Holy Ghost in different ways. We tend to call it a 'feelilng', because we lack the words to really describe what it actually is. Here's my lame attempt to do so: LM

Not racial profiling, but class profiling. Some people and kids as I was growing up would assume that I was rich because my name was Loudmouth Gehosiphat Mormon III. Apparently, that "the third" meant that I was an heir to some family fortune. LM

Trinity means when you say a prayer, you can be talking to God and Jesus without changing the person you're talking to.Godhead means if you ever get to shake hands with Heavenly Father, you have not shaken hands with Jesus. You'd have to walk over to Jesus and shake his hand separately. LM

I watched Bladerunner just last week. Welcome!

As I encounter critisisms of my church and faith that seem to 'stick', I first as myself a question. Is it a valid criticism against my church and faith, or is it just a valid criticism against a belief I have that isn't really based on truth? I had many of them - beliefs I had sort of 'picked up along the way' that weren't really based on anything.In other words, if you can't explain why you believe what you believe, you're subject to believing all sorts of goofy things. And when someone comes by and points out how goofy they are, you get stuck. So, why don't you share what you've heard about Kolob that is causing you grief? LM

I predict that this news will have absolutely zero impact on the anti-vax people. (Easy prediction, since nothing ever has an impact on their problems with vaccines.)

OH! I get it! It's a trick question! If we say one is worse than the other, we're being judgmental!

Why so much opinion against being judgemental? We are supposed to judge righteous judgement. It's a commandment. It's a good thing. If we refuse to judge righteously, we're breaking a commandment and sinning.

So, when I look up judgmental in the dictionary, I see: 1. involving the use or exercise of judgment. 2. tending to make moral judgments We're explicitly commanded to judge righteous judgement throughout the scriptures. There is righteous judgmental and unrighteous judgmental.

Could I ask for a source on that, please?

I guess I'd have to know how you determine the severity of sin in the first place. What makes a sin worse or better than another sin in the first place?

Most places to live have a healthy, robust segment of the population who have turned away from religion for one reason or another, but still exist in the culture that produced them.I guess I'm a bit of an oddity here, as I spent a lot of time as a kid in casinos and bars. I got to know a lot of cocktail waitresses and gamblers on those 'family trips' as my dad would call them, then off to church on Sunday. Then I married a very streetwise former gang scene person. So the people who move through my life are not only good righteous saints, but also heroin addicts and cutters and drinkers. One thing I've learned, is there are many people who have some very serious problems with religion or what they perceive as God, and many of these people are still good people. I've witnessed incredible acts of selflessness and charity from nasty old swearing sinners. These people aren't really helped whenever the 'good folks of the world' (i.e. people reading this thread) notice one of them and get 'a creepy feeling'. We help them by understanding them. The people who own that business, who came up with the slogan, and who patronize that place, are all our spiritual brothers and sisters. They're partakers of a divine birthright. We're all siblings of the same Heavenly Father - how do you think He wants us to think of them? LM