puf_the_majic_dragon

Physiologically the brain isn't fully developed until mid 20s - true. BUT culturally we keep pushing maturity further and further back. 100 years ago a 15 year old could have been considered an adult. History books, journals, and especially our LDS pioneer history is repleat with stories of children taking on the responsibility of adults - successfully! Jewish tradition brings a young man into adulthood at age 12 (the same age we ordain our young men to the priesthood). Someone earlier mentioned that we are afraid of personal responsibility - this is so true. We don't teach our children, anymore, how to be adults; so they figure it out on their own and very often far too late to avoid some of the worst tragedies. So as Checkerboy said - teach them correct principles before they're 8 (and yes, I've found PLENTY of 8 year olds unsupervised on the internet with myspace pages etc). Teach your children correct principles, teach them responsibility and maturity while they're young and when they are old "they will not depart from it". I'm of the mind that if you teach them right when they are young and build that relationship of trust, respect, and communication that when they are 16 you won't need to worry or look over their shoulder or invade their privacy(/be a responsible parent). And give your kids credit. As a teenager I was constantly irked that my parents never acknowledged any of the good things I was doing. A little positive feedback for something done right can be far more effective in directing a child's behavior than punishment for infractions. :edit: Just a thought - if you keep interceding on their behalf, they will never develop the strength to withstand temptation on their own. Parenting isn't about protecting your children from evil, it's about teaching them how to make decisions that will protect themselves. My parents never taught me how to make decisions, they only "interceded on my behalf". And when it came time for me to make my own decisions I made a lot of poor ones and I've spent years recovering from them. Teach your kids how to make their own decisions, how to seek guidance in prayer and scriptures, and I believe they will be able to intercede on their own behalf when the firey darts of the adversary come flying at them.

I think if Hemi were a D&D character, he'd have a 28 Lore skill and a shelf in his kitchen dedicated to "Potions of Insight" I've never heard or read of any "babe prophet" scripturally or otherwise. That doesn't mean that one doesn't exist.... But the only prophets I'm aware of that have anything to do with the last days are the two Lazaruses in Jerusalem. But on that note, I do have an interesting interpretation of Revelation 8: 5 - I think I looked up "voice" in the TG to get a better understanding of what that verse meant and when I found Joel 2: 11 it all clicked.... I think when the seventh seal is (or was? ) opened, that the world will be filled with prophets and prophecies great and small - something akin to the state of Jerusalem ca 600bc when there were several prophets all declaring repentance. Oh, on a side note - on the same verse in revelations where the angel took the censer and cast it into the earth - I think Hebrews 9: 13 is an interesting cross-reference.

I say start with counseling. A meeting between you, your wife, and your bishop would probably be a good start. Tell them both everything you're feeling and move on from there. You will probably be told to get professional marriage counseling, and I suggest that you do it - and that you also see the same counselor individually. I like to say that everyone has issues. What matters is not what issues a person has, but how that person deals with those issues. How are you dealing with your issues? Above all, you made a very real promise to stay with your wife for this life and the next. Honor that, no matter how you think you feel.

Definitely the platypus, but I'm surprised you saw through it?

Exactly. The trust thing never happened in my family growing up, so there was never any trust for me to betray. And I did a lot of stupid stuff - pornography and internet were my vices. Getting my room searched only meant that I needed better hiding places. Getting my computer confiscated meant that I plug it in where they hid it and use it there. The foundation of communication and trust was never there to deter me in the first place - and consequences only taught me not to get caught. I applaud you for your approach with your children. That's exactly what I've wanted to do myself when I have kids. Being able to talk to my kids about their issues and temptations and troubles is far more important to me than whether or not I can download their text messages. Yay! I'm glad you have that desire and that trust. Personally, tho, I'd rather be on my child's friend's list than have their password. Perhaps that's one of those levels of trust that you build up to. And yes, my dad is totally on my myspace top friends (our relationship has gotten a LOT better ).

So you're saying God makes mistakes?

First off all, I used the word ethic, not ethNic. It was meant as a play on words but I think the intented meaning is clear. And you're absolutely right, there simply isn't enough information given to us to make a proper judgement, but the information that is given simply doesn't look good to me. At the time that Moroni's draft was instituted, the king-men were behaving peacably. They had not rebelled at that point and had not done anything contrary to law. Only when their deaths were mandated by law, did they choose to defy the law. I see them looking at the situation as so: "I don't want to fight, but I'm being forced to do so. I can fight the Lamanites (who I like) and die, or I can fight the Nephites (who are forcing this upon me) and die." If I were a conscientious objector and my government told me that I had a choice between Iraq and lethal injection, I'd probably take Iraq, but I can certainly sympathize and even empathize with someone who would take the injection. And yes, I know about the death penalty for treason. But I don't think the king-men committed treason until Moroni came after them with a big ol' petition and a sword. I'm not saying that their reasons are just, I certainly think that they were not. But I think that they had the right to have those reasons and act on them in any way they saw fit.

Ditto on the books. My plan for the wiki is to build a complete scripture compendium similar to scriptures.lds.org complete with footnotes and cross links, except in wiki format so I can add my own notes and cross references and interpretations - and leave it open to my friends to do the same. I plan to make a self-contained version that I can distribute so others can do the same, and possibly even leave one up online for (almost) anybody to add to. I'd also like to see it include study manuals, priesthood manuals, and some of that "extra" literature such as JS's Lectures on Faith and Jesus the Christ etc. However these all have copyright issues, so I won't be able to distribute them in my open package unless or until I get permission from the publishers. But I think I can still get away with it in my personal version And btw - I'm totally open to suggestions for features, improvements, additions, or even domain names!

The teenage years are really difficult. This is a period where people are developing greater independence and self-reliance. But at the same time it's a time where some of the greatest temptations and difficulties (especiall socially) arise to cause trouble. Teenagers need a great deal of trust placed in them in order to help them mature into responsible adults. But when that trust is betrayed, appropriate disciplinary action needs to be taken to prevent one mistake from blowing up. The real question, then, is how closely do you monitor your teen's behavior - where do you draw the line between trust and necessary oversight? Personally, I lean towards trust. Some people lean towards oversight. I don't think there's any "right" or "wrong" way to go about it, just what you feel is best. I, for one, would not be opposed to talking to my teen about the subject and see what they feel is appropriate. Of course, I'm an idealist, and I don't have kids yet so this is all just theory and conjecture from my own teenage experience

First off, marriage is an eternal principle. The law of eternal marriage allows a man to have more than one wife. It's all available in http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/132a "Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Nauvoo, Illinois, recorded July 12, 1843". As far as WHEN plural wives are acceptable to the Lord, the Book of Mormon is clear on that: 27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; ... 30 For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things. (emphasis added) I think a lot of the trouble that comes about because of polygamy is due to a serious lack of understanding on the subject. But in any case, the D&C is quite clear that JS received the doctrine.

Just a thought - we DO have multiple prophets today. Remember that we sustain ALL of the Quorum of the 12 as "Prophets, seers, and revelators". But I don't think Moroni was a prophet, the scriptures specifically mention him seaking spiritual guidance from Alma: Alma 43: 23. I have some thoughts on Captain Moroni, if nobody minds me hijacking a thread.... Alma 48 : 17 Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men. Sounds like a pretty awesome guy. But wait.... Alma 51 7 And it came to pass that this matter of their contention was settled by the avoice of the people. And it came to pass that the voice of the people came in favor of the freemen, and Pahoran retained the judgment-seat, which caused much rejoicing among the brethren of Pahoran and also many of the people of liberty, who also put the king-men to silence, that they durst not oppose but were obliged to maintain the cause of freedom. 14 And it came to pass that when Moroni saw this, and also saw that the Lamanites were coming into the borders of the land, he was exceedingly wroth because of the astubbornness of those people whom he had labored with so much diligence to preserve; yea, he was exceedingly wroth; his soul was filled with anger against them. 15 And it came to pass that he sent a petition, with the voice of the people, unto the governor of the land, desiring that he should read it, and give him (Moroni) power to compel those dissenters to defend their country or to put them to death. To explain my interpretation on these matters - the king-men wanted the law changed so they could have a king - they obeyed the law and petitioned the Chief Judge and the people voted on the matter in direct election (similar to our modern democratic way of doing things). They lost, and accepted their defeat peacefully. Then the Lamanites come along and the king-men see an opportunity and choose to refrain from battle. And this is where it gets fuzzy. The king-men choose to not fight against the Lamanites. Moroni gets mad and submits his own petition (which is passed by popular vote) basically instituting a draft with the death penalty for dodging. The problem I have with this is that this draft ONLY applies to a single ethic (hee hee) minority. The same draft requirement does not apply to the People of Ammon who covenanted never to take up arms again. I imagine it something like if GW Bush instituted a draft for the war in Iraq that only drafted Democrats. How is this right? How is this fair? And how does this preserve the liberty of these (apparently peaceful) dissenters? Sorry to hijack the thread, but this has been on my mind for a while and I figured I could catch all the Moroni fans here in one place...

Not yet. I'm building one (well, eventually) but it's not exactly an easy process. Figuring out wikimedia is a feat of its own. I plan to buy a domain name and set up a scripture wiki there, and build a distributable package so other people can run their own wikis wherever for them and their friends to add footnotes, cross-references, and commentary. That's the plan. If I can get the domain name and wikimedia set up and properly configured on it, I'll post on these forums so people can help me start adding scriptures. No commentary at first, gotta make sure all the scriptures are there first I think. I've got a SQL database of the scriptures that might make it easier to import, but not sure yet...

I found the most ease in reading through those chapters when I would grab my OT and read the same chapter in Isaiah side by side and compare footnotes. What a difference that made!

CTRMatch.com is also completely free, with no ads or other nonsense. It just doesn't look as shiny as more professional websites. Well I suppose if you're going to do the internet dating thing, the more sites you sign up on the better right? But as for me, I'm a little distracted by someone more local at the moment

I've had my own struggles with the law of chastity - pornography specifically. It's a pretty nasty topic, and I'm glad you have the strength to talk about it and ask for help - that says a lot about your character (wow I sound like my Dad...). I've found that, among other things, a firm testimony helps. Scripture study, prayer, and all those other things really help push the bad thoughts out. I'm approaching about 3 weeks since I made a firm (re)committment to the Gospel and I've found that as I truly commit myself that my thoughts keep themselves clean. Truly, as the cliches say, the darkness can not abide the light. I also think our ability to overcome is directly linked to our desire. You should constantly remind yourself why you are choosing to do the good things you do. 1 John 3: 3.

Babies can scare the crap out of a guy. Women are lucky, those maternal instincts can kick in after a few days and whether they wanted the child or not at first, they'll love and want to keep it then. Guys... it can take a bit longer, if it happens at all. Especially if there's no legally binding committment (marriage) to keep him there. If you want him in your life and in your child's life, make sure he knows that you have that desire, but don't push it on him. Congrats on the baby :) they're wonderful! I hope things work out for ya.

Yes, and that's where you hide the ring :) Just make sure the meatball is too big for her to eat so she doesn't choke...

The only problem I have with saving up 2000 pounds of wheat or rice is how many people know how to prepare it? If all you have is some buckets of wheat flour, beans, and water, you're going to be eating some pretty miserable meals for that year. And if you get instant rice, the nutritional value is significantly less than normal rice and I'm not sure if it has any additional restrictions on storage. Perhaps, among all the food we should be storing, we also should think about "food storage recipes" so we can have some creative ways of preparing that mundane bucket of beans - and so the people who don't know how to properly cook raw beans won't be lost when disaster strikes.

When some people think food storage, they envision an oversized cupboard with regular kitchen ingredients. Other people think "staples" and have case upon case of flour (but no eggs or milk to make anything with it). I think "what can I live off of for a year in a camping-type situation". This means compact, portable, and easy to prepare. My dad is working on a project to incorporate a "72 hour kit" in a #10 can. The idea being something along the lines of 3 days worth of supplies for one person (or 3 people for one day) in a single can. These would be easiliy prepared meals and hygiene items - something like an extended MRE but with better flavor :) The only shortfall I could think of is how do you dispose of all those cans when you're eating through them for a month? I'd suggest setting aside a portion of every pay check into a seperate checking account dedicated to "emergency preparedness". This money would be used for food storage, emergency blankets, spare batteries, flares, etc. If saved up, you can buy "bulk" and save money. And when I say bulk I mean 50lb bags of hot chocolate - not 50 boxes of serving sized packets. You can also check auctions in your area where surplus food inventory can often be found for great prices.

You mean like LDSMingle.com? LDSPlanet.com? Or my personal favorite, CTRMatch.com?

It's interesting you bring up the Patriarchal Blessing. Mine says that I "Mutually chose my family and friends in the preexistent time". I never could have believed that when my dad was abusive and my family being torn apart by it. However, as I said earlier, since my mom died things have changed dramatically and I've come to know my father a lot better and seeing all the things we share in common (things like dating habits that couldn't have been learned behavior), I understand much better why I might have chosen him as a father. I think, even before Mom died, the healing process started for me when I heard the lyrics to a song by Savage Garden - "I believe your parents did the best job they knew how to do." Understanding how my parents were raised and what they too had to suffer through really helps me to empathize with their difficulty trying to be better than their parents were.

hmmm After the 4th offense, if he does not repent, we are not to forgive. I think in this case when we take it to the Lord that he heals us of the pain that would "fester" as you earlier mentioned. In the case of child abuse, if dad is still abusing even his grandchildren, then it seems to me he has not repented. And being that abuse is an on-going ordeal, it would qualify as more than just 4 trespasses. So by all means, don't forgive him :) Until he repents that is. And in the mean time pray about it. Whoa... so if my dad is abusive and doesn't repent, God answers that upon MY head too? Thankfully there's more to that scripture:

I believe that Jesus Christ is the savior and messiah of this Earth only. Moses 1: 35 I believe supports this assumption. In either case, whether Christ's atonement covers the native inhabitants of other worlds or not doesn't matter at all to the salvation of THIS world. If you think that you or this planet hold any priveledged place in the universe, I invite you to take a second look at that picture I posted earlier. To think that we are of any special significance in the grand scheme of things is selfish vanity, in my mind. It would take great deal of self-absorption to think ones-self important enough to have been born on the one planet out of billions to have given birth to the Savior of all planets. There was a member of these forums who speculated along those lines that you've suggested and I firmly believe that the scriptures, when taken in context, completely refute such a theory, and I also believe I demonstrated this thoroughly in that other forum thread where it was presented. One question I have if your assertion were true - what would the scriptures on that other planet say concerning the coming of the Christ? "Behold, and the Redeemer shall be born of a virgin on a planet 10s of billions of lightyears away,"? If we assume the same level of technological development as the ancient Jews, such a statement would make absolutely no sense, even to the initiated. That also would beg the question "Why would OUR savior be born on THAT planet so far away?" Then again, my Catholic roommate takes a rather trinitarian approach to the matter, suggesting that Christ may have been present and suffered the same or similar atoning sacrifice on all other worlds at the same time. Eh, personally, I think each inhabited world (created for the same purpose as this one) would have its own God and own Messiah. For those of you who think the "infinite" atonement would refute this, the Book of Mormon makes it clear that the atonement would necessarily be inifinite, even if it were only for one person. :edit: I just thought I'd append a few scriptural notes. 1 Nephi 11: 33 "And I, Nephi, saw that he was lifted up upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world." Emphasis added. And you may note that the plural form "Worlds" does not appear in the Book of Mormon AT ALL: Word Search: worlds And in the Pearl of Great Price only twice (and that in no context at all related to the atonement): Word Search: worlds Even IF Christ atoned for the sins of other worlds, it is evident that, at least scripturally, we aren't meant to know it.

I read somewhere that the Philistines found that Preperation E worked well for that.... The possibilities are there, yes. When I was in 8th grade I was writing my own fiction about Atlantis and one of the chapters had a visit from Lehi to get supplies :)

Mars DOES have an atmosphere and I have heard (though I haven't verified) that it is getting thicker. It is a known observation that Mars' upper atmosphere is being shaved away by the Solar Wind, much like a comet's outer layers. By a few "billions and billions" of times :) - times the size of our galaxy even. If you ever feel like "we" are the center of (or reason for) the universe, just look up.The image I linked to can be found in the book "Pale Blue Dot" by Carl Sagan.