NeuroTypical

Hey nickelboy - you are responding to a TON of posts that are years old. I'm thinking this is not helping anyone.

So, you felt it once, and now you don't feel it? I don't know. My story involves never ever feeling it, but wanting to. That process took about two years. My struggle was to find out if it was true in the first place. Now that I do, it doesn't bug me much when I go through periods of my life where I'm not in tune with the spirit. I know it's true. Sounds more like you are yearning for the support and comfort the spirit brings. All I can say, is that you're in very good company. Even Mother Theresa had her moments where she felt very, very far from God's love. LM

From where I'm standing, you can't have free will unless you are "subject to influences". The scriptures tell me we've all got the Light of Christ, and know good from evil. If there's a scripture out there that says culture, media, or video games can indoctrinate the Light of Christ out of you, I haven't seen it yet.Do you have any scriptural support for the notion that only book smart people have "true free-will"? That just seems, well, totally wrongheaded and false to me. Does anyone else on this board support the notion that "to have true free-will you'd have to be very well read"? LM

Just wondering, are we thinking on the federal level, or do we consider police part of "a country".On the federal level, I'd say in cases of civil war, and dang few exceptions to that. With law enforcement/peace officers (and individual citizens too), I'd say deadly force can be appropriate to protect themselves or others from serious harm that could result in death. (The specific line of thinking is that you do what is necessary to STOP the threat, and often, that involves shooting someone.) I also know in at least Utah and Colorado, it's justifiable to kill someone to prevent or stop rape - I'm pretty much ok with that as well. Are you speaking just about capital punishment here, or are you also talking about defending innocents against bad guys who mean them harm?LM

Yeah, we're trying to raise our girls with the notion that if it won't cover the eventual garment that we hope they eventually choose to wear, ya shouldn't wear it. It's a modesty thing, and a "let's make the adjustment to endowed life as easy as possible" thing. It might be a Utah culture thing too, but I despise much of Utah culture and fled to Colorado many years ago. LM

Why did I just get the image in my head of those PETA kids who got mauled trying to "free" the mountain lions from captivity?I strongly disagree that people exercising their free will, just automatically all become victims. LM (Oh - that's right - the image came right after I thought of replying to this comment with a suggestion that Aesa go find some US soldiers and tell them that.)

The folks who produced and preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls figured you should not poop on the Saabath.

"Must". What an odd word. It tends to mean something along the lines of: "obviously, people will do it because the consequence of not doing it is worse". It's so easy to disagree with a "must" statement. I wonder Funky, exactly why do you think nations "must" follow a set of rules of warfare? What obvious consequence comes of breaking this edict (as it has always been broken across human history)?As I grow up, it becomes clearer that such blanket "must" edicts don't really mean much, without the "rough men who stand ready to do violence on the behalf" of the edict-giver. In other words, courts, justice, fairness - if they exist to any extent at all - it is because people with guns will go make the rulebreakers obey or make them dead. Perhaps if you understand that, you might understand why folks are so passionate about the US refusing to be part of the world court. I am very grateful that my country refuses to be a part of a system wich weakens our sovereignty. We're the USofA, the constitution is the law of the land. Americans first, citizens of the world second. We'll enact and enforce our own "musts", thank you.LM

I have no problem with war criminals being brought to justice, no matter whose side they were on. There's not really enough information in this story to tell whether a war crime was commited or not. (Words mean things, despite emotionally charged statements like "Every murderous act is a crime") LM

So hop to it. When can I expect to have my economy all fixed? :)LM (Could care less if all of his decisionmakers and leaders are men or women, just so they do their jobs.)

Love thy neighbor, and teach your kid that some people just believe dumb things, and that's ok.

Not sure I understand. You put this question in the Gospel Discussion forum - are you asking about the Word of Wisdom?

I agree, if you're going to stand up and fight evil, it's important to know who or what to fight.I take a step back with presidential politics. God's pretty clear that He wants us to be subject to presidents. We're blessed with a good political system that allows us to choose our representatives. From that standpoint, an American president is a good thing. He's there to preserve our liberties, so those of us who wish to bring about the Kingdom of God are allowed to do so through peaceful means like spreading the Gospel. I've seen a lot of policies from presidents (especially our current one) that I disagree with. I believe some of them [the policies] make it more difficult to bring God's will to pass in our lives and our country. I stand up and oppose, for example, abortion, spending money we don't have, and attempts to make society more important than the individual. I oppose it pretty much by running my mouth when people will listen. (my two cents) LM

Yeah, Dr. Shades is a real piece of work. He came up with this chapel vs internet mormon thing a few years ago. It came with it's own test so you could see which one you were. Just about everyone in the LDS online apologetic community who took his test, came up as 'chapel mormon'. To my knowledge, he hasn't really made any modifications to his original thoughts. He just keeps finding new audiences to incite arguement among. He is out to make a profit by convincing people there is a division amongst us, nothing more. LM p.s. Arguing with folks like him, is the main driving force behind my screen name. I eventually got to the point in my personal apologetics where I could stand up and boldly proclaim why all that crap they were foisting on us was nothing more than foisted crap.

I honestly don't see any difference between the two notions. "Jumping on God's bandwagon" involves taking side in the great conflict and standing up against evil.Doesn't it? If not, I'd like to hear what people believe it does involve... LM

I want to make sure I understand right. You and your husband had a problem, so you decided to punish your kids by sticking a TV in their room and telling them they could no longer use it?My wife trained me to look at why the kids are flipping out and deal with the causes, instead of finding a way to control the reactions. Do you think I might have identified the cause? LM

Is there anything wrong with her? Or you? If not, then don't wait for a miracle.

You're in luck - I'm a graduate of the Loudmouth Dream Interpretation Academy and taco stand (Motto: We also install aluminum siding!). Your dream is easy to interpret. It means you worry that your brains isn't enough to protect you from doing dumb things. You see all the intelectual maturing you've done over the years, and while you value them highly and believe they've made you a better person, you worry that your natural-man inclincation to sin will still find a way to harm those you love. Either that, or you harbor a deep need for aluminum siding. LM

Are you asking about a gang? I dunno - I can ask my wife, but it's been a decade since she ran with people who knew that stuff. As for polynesians in general, I'm for 'em. During the Prop 8 backlash, they were the only righteously indignant Mormons I could find. LM

You remind me of my wife when we were dating. 13+ years later, we've got two kids and are going mostly strong. (She long ago figured out I wasn't nearly as perfect as she initially assumed.)Sounds like you're on the right track. Knowing you need to change is a big step. Working at it is another big step. Succeeding at it will only come to those who keep working at it. Go forth. LM

What Hemi said. You're safe to vent here. Sometimes life just stinks to high heaven. Being able to say that truth out loud, is better than denying it. LM (not going to say 'count your many blessings')

My dog wants me to ask why there's no "roll in a dead fish" choice.

I don't have help, only horror stories about both kids not sleeping through the night until 2 or 3. And one kid that would wake from a dead sleep if we tried to put her down, or even sit down. Well, I guess my help would be: They eventually got over all the problems, and now life is good. We all survived.

I love that show (New York Doll). Here's a blog entry I made about it.

So ServiceDogHandler, if a gun for self defense won't work for your situation, have you considered changing your name to ProtectionDogHandler? Our 12 yr old Rottweiler is now content to sleep in the sun, but in his prime he would have turned any stalker-turned-home-invader into ambulance fodder. And he's been the perfect dog for our kids to play with. Back in his prime, he had every handle on him tugged by toddlers, eyes poked, jumped on, he loves them. Just a thought... LM