NeuroTypical

Additionally, * The book of Revelation was written prior to some of the other biblical books, and prior the Bible being assembled into a collection of texts. * Even if the passage in Revelation meant that no man could add to scripture; it does not forbid that God may, through a prophet, add to the Word of God. * In Jeremiah 36, we see a story of a king burning a scroll of scriptures. Jeremiah is comanded by God to re-create the scroll. Which he does, "and there were added besides unto them many like words". LM

How come you guys both show up as moderators, but neither of you know what the rules are?

I've never bothered forming an opinion about them. If I should ever happen to meet a member, I'd enjoy taking the opportunity to see what makes them tick. I've heard that satanists are more along the lines of the "Make sure you get paid and don't be a dupe" stripe then the sacrifice goats and drink blood stripe, but again, I've never met one, so I can't say. LM

You should always be careful putting personal info up anywhere on the web.The rule of thumb I use, is don't post anything you don't want read by your worst enemy, your hidden stalker, or your ex-spouse's lawyer. LM

You got that right. You've got a hard series of choices. So, are there kids involved?Here's my two cents: At the end of the day, the LDS church is not in the business of breaking apart families. We're big on marriages, and families as instituted by God, and the founding unit of our earthly societies. Now, if your wife says "be mormon and we're through", she's issuing an ultimatum to you, and you need to make a choice. But (and again, this is just my opinion), I've seen very staunchly opposed people soften their hearts and change their tune in a year or two. If you believe your marriage is worth saving, and if you believe that your wife is ultimately open to exposing herself to different ideas and concepts and sources of truth, you may want to consider postponing baptism and fixing your marriage. In my mind, a lot depends on if you've already made kids with her or not. If you haven't, for pete's sake, don't bring them into a marriage with such a terrible, foundational disagreement abour religion. No matter how mature the two of you end up being, your kids will be thrown into the middle of it, and be torn in two different directions. If you have, you need to take into account that God has commanded you - mormon or not - to be their father to the best of your abilities. Good luck. LM

Looks very much cool! Thanks for your hard work! A few items: I couldn't log on with my old "loudmouthmormon" profile. When I logged in, it gave me the link "If this is the first time logging in since the change, you need to update your profile". But when I clicked on the link, it took me to a blank page. I was able to re-register with this new ID, which suits me fine. When submitting a signup form with a problem in it, the form removes all the data you just spent 2 minutes entering. It would be cool if it would keep your info. Thanks again! LM

Of course it is. From the Gospel Principles manual:

Just speculation, but maybe the explanation is similar to why there was a huge burst of angelic visitations and manefestations surrounding the birth of Christ, but not so much before or after. Consider - we hear about angels doing the following: * Visiting Zacharias, commanding him to name his son John * Visiting Mary before she was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost * Coming to Joseph in a dream, after he found her with child * Appearing to the shepherds * Warning Joseph to flee away from danger with his family * Keeping watch on Jesus' family as Herod tried to have them killed I guess this isn't really an answer, just a different way to think about the question. If angels were so commonplace around 33 b.c., how come we hear so little about them in other periods, or today? We can guess a few sensible reasons why new dispensations are marked with miraculous things like angels and displays of tongues. I don't know that any revelation has settled the matter for us, though. LM

Really? I didn't know there was any such claim made. I thought it was just a particularly beautiful form of Hebraic poetic form.I ain't an expert, so I might be off base here... LM

For the English, probably your best bet would be to get in touch with Royal Skousen, who is in the middle of creating and publishing his life's work - discovering the original text of the BoM. He's released a few volumes, and has a few more to go. For the Spanish, I'm not sure. Probably look them up at church HQ in SLC. But now we're all interested - what changes you got in mind? LM

Maybe I can shed a little light.The burden of sin on your soul is between you and the Lord (and His representatives). Repentance may or may not remove consequences. Facing consequences is usually part of repenting. If the choice is lie (sin again) or pariah, you're supposed to choose pariah. But I'm not sure you'd be faced with such a choice. What's wrong with figuring out plan B, and saying "It wasn't working out, so I decided on plan B instead"? For that matter, what's wrong with "Mind your own business"? You're not responsible for other's gossip. Yep. Consequences can stink. And they can be permanent. All I'm saying, is don't underestimate the value of a life lived free of the burden of sin. You may only see the downside of repenting, but God will not leave you hanging.And, as other people have mentioned, you may or may not get kicked out of school. Again, sin=soul's concern. Consequences over breaking your solemn word/student code = world's concern. And the world loves contrite sorrow. In order for me to sit down in the 'hotseat', I had to face the possibility of all sorts of awful consequences. It makes no sense to tell you which ones I had to face and which ones I was spared, since my situation is different than yours. Again, good luck. LM

Sorry you're not getting what you want here. Repentence can be a very personal thing - especially when it's over certain kinds of sins. Please don't feel personally offended if few people are willing to speak openly about their similar situations from their past. You could check out the other current thread on confession guidelines. For my part, I've sat in the 'hot seat' in front of the Bishop before. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. By the end of the process, it was also one of the most freeing, cleansing, healing things I've ever done. Good luck. LM

Hi JRF - welcome! I'm not exactly an expert on other kinds of religious faith, but I've heard stories like yours before. Also, you're in good company with your family beliefs. My dad was quite anti-religion throughout his life. He was a little more good-natured than some folks I've encountered. Whenever meeting a new mormon, he'd shake his hand and either say "you know, I've never sinned", or "you know, I'm Jesus Christ" - just to see how the other guy would react. He was always heaping some good-natured ribbing on his mormon friends - and me. He got a little angry when I started paying tithing, but he allowed me to find my own way in life, and for that I'm grateful. My advice - you don't have to agree with family, and they don't have to agree with you - but life is a lot more enjoyable when everyone can get along and love one another. You came to the right place! Ask away!Welcome again. LM

IMO, the goal of parents is to equip their children with the tools, strengths, and resources they'll need to make it through a life where stuff like this happens.So, what you do, is equip them. Play 'what if'. Walk them through the process. Teach them to pick good friends. Teach them about the judgements they're supposed to make about other people, and the judgements they should not make. Teach them how to avoid bad situations, how to minimize the impact of bad situations, and how to repent. Talk to them about how nobody is perfect, everybody makes mistakes, and there's a way to get through the curve balls life throws at you and move on. Show them love, respect, and understanding. Give them discipline. Teach them about consequences. Do all that, (and the other stuff I forgot), and maybe they'll make it through. LM

First and foremost, here is what the Strength of the Youth pamphlet has to say about abuse:Victims of rape, incest, or other sexual abuse are not guilty of sin. If you have been a victim of any of these crimes, know that you are innocent and that God loves you. Seek your bishop’s counsel immediately so he can help guide you through the process of emotional healing. Ok. As to guidelines, again, this comes from Strength of the Youth manual: You always need to confess your sins to the Lord. You should also confess your sins to those you have wronged. If you have committed serious sins, such as immorality, you need to confess them to your bishop. For that matter, the entire pamphlet is worth reading over and over. You can find it at lds.org --> Gospel Library --> Support Materials --> Youth Support Materials --> For the Strength of Youth. LM

By the way, I also post on the forum I suggested to you. And I still wish you well. LM

Oh, that's easy. Go to a car dealership that sells Chevys as well as Fords. Go post your link on an LDS-themed board that allows nonmembers to open such threads. Mormonapologetics.org comes to mind. LM

Hi Rob, This isn't really the right forum to advertise your own non-lds beliefs. But I wish you well. LM

Well, we figure the body is like a temple, so we should treat it like one. We're all sons and daughters of God, which means our souls have a divine nature. That forms the basis of our notions about health too. You don't do stuff that isn't good for your body, you do stuff that is good. And you stay away from addictive substances. So, the subject becomes one of health. I know there are people who argue both sides of the issue about how dangerous 2nd hand smoking is. There are studies that say it's not good for you, and there are people that think these studies were set up wrong, or are not good science. Other studies are inconclusive, and some argue they're set up wrong and inconclusive. So I dunno. We figure you should stay away from stuff that harms your body. So, if you figure 2nd hand smoke is harmful, stay away from it. If it's just an annoying stinky habit, then so be it. LM

I think it may be time to ask your friend to cite his source. I'd love to hear who is telling your friend these things.LM

I think the best answer any of us can give you, has a big sign on it that says "Warning: Speculation!" We don't have a lot of detail about it, and most of what we do have comes from the Bible. Like John 5:19 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."It's a logical conundrum. If Jesus can't do it unless he has seen his Father do it first, then how could he lay down his life/be tempted of Satan/posess a body of flesh/etc/etc? Mix that scripture in, with the scriptures about God being eternal and endless and never changing, and you've got a noodler. Mormons try to noodle. I don't know how the rest of Christianity explains this stuff away so it doesn't bother them. Maybe you can shed a little light, Catholic? LM

Could you cite your authoritative source for this notion, please? Keep in mind that church leaders expressing opinions, does not an authoritative source make.LM

If it were me, I'd go with what brings you nearer to God. One would think any church or minister would want that for all their members, even if the direction leads them in another direction.You can always remain grateful for those who helped you along the way... LM

374 TAW, this active mormon boy is completely on your side. None of these things you mention would make the slightest bit of difference in my mind either. He's 15, and she's 14. No alone time. Certainly no driving anywhere alone. This isn't a mormon vs. inactive thing. This is apparently a marriage thing, if your wife is keeping information from you. I'm not exactly sure how clear you've been about your take on things, or how much lying and deceiving is really going on, but IMO, the relationship between you and your wife needs work. Sounds like I'm not telling you what you don't already know. I don't care if the kid is the prophet's grandson - if he's a normal 15 yr old boy, he's got hormone levels out of control, and the maturity centers of his brain aren't done developing yet. I got better things to do than let my daughter be a temptation this kid doesn't have the maturity to resist yet. LM (got daughters too)

I am very close with two different people with PTSD. Both of them have it under control though. If you figure your dad's condition is a major factor to your family's stress, get him to see someone that will help him. Shrinks are not bad people. A good one will help him figure out how he can live with his own brain, and help him develop good coping mechanisms that will serve him throughout his life. If you have one in your area, LDS Social Services is a WONDERFUL place to start. So, in two words or less, how did he get his PTSD? LM