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Canucknuckle wrote:
I have several but at the core my biggest issues surround:
Cultural norms that are treated as doctrine.
Bingo. I would love to hear a whole series of podcasts on that one.So your advice would be to view it as a rational step our building block then? I am glad that I have a couple of years to settle in before that. For those who have gone before… at what age would you start removing the gloss from the stories they learn. I worry about confusing my youngsters with different stories at home and at church.
Orson wrote:mackay11 wrote:
I’m supposed to baptize my son later this year. I’m not sure I want to.I was in that exact position several years ago, extremely frustrated and emotional about all things church, feeling cornered and pressured, thinking there was no way I would be able to baptize my child in a few months while being honest about it.
Today I am extremely glad I didn’t do anything too rash, the wrong action at that time could have left a scar on our lives that would have only exacerbated the situation and made continued activity more difficult. I did perform the baptism. I figured if there was a loving God that understood all – there is no way he would condemn me for this action and that I wanted to show love and support to my family.
That is a tough line to walk. In one case, you baptize him and are teaching him that it’s all good, turning a blind eye to the ‘un-correlated version’ if you will. On the other hand by not baptizing him you he has to face some realities at a way younger age. I have a little over 2 years to figure this out for my oldest child. So far the baby blessings have been easy ones as a baby blessing is just a fluffy event compared to an ordinance.
Thanks everyone. Intellectually it feels strange to me to meditate, because I am not pretending to talk to someone. Spiritually, it makes way more sense. I will look up the Transcendental Meditation website.
Old-Timer wrote:The internet made this group possible.
Just saying.
Amen brother.
I am also glad that the internet may have opened up the possibility to expand my mental/spiritual horizons. I would rather be aware of the weaknesses in my faith than to suffer from some of the ignorance that I have in the past. Sure it hurts and can be confusing at times, but it also makes my world rich in ways it never was before.
Can I get a witness?
The closed information system bit totally rings true, but I hate hearing it from Salon. I feel like a lot of what they say stinks of an “I told you so” arrogance. I have only spent a limited amount of time poking around history.lds.org and I worry that the Revelations in Context is a bit of a front. The site seems designed to draw you into the main lds.org site. The top navigation all leads to the main church website with no obvious way back to the Revelations in Context content.
That being said, I am glad to see an effort. Kind of like the Mormons and Gays website it is a good start.
church0333 wrote:I skipped ctoday, fought with my wife and now I feel like crap. I hate days with no spirt. Feeling
Sick and Don’ t want to do anything else. Can’t wait until tomorrow.
I went to church alone, while my wife was home with the sick kids. I felt empty as I drove home from church today. Sometimes we have bad days even when we try to do what is right.After expressing my frustrations of church with my wife, she gave me a free pass from church anytime I want. I think I may take some breather Sundays, especially this month when my calling has me doing church stuff 3-4 days a week.
And people are worried about the deterioration of the traditional family? Sounds like the majority of modern society understands the concept of fidelity better than those who we base all our rules on. At least most people who cheat on their spouse understands it is wrong. Thanks, more specifically, did they need to be legal marriages to be recognized in the eyes of God? Or was it more informal then? Is the idea that God only recognizes sex as a legitimate act when a legal ceremony of some sort occurs first, a modern construct? Canucknuckle wrote:
That’s how the law is written in here in Canada. We’ve had legal same-sex marriages nationally since 2005 (some provinces have had it since 2003) and our society has yet to collapse
The funny thing is, up here in Canada it really isn’t a big deal. The only time I hear it brought up as an issue is in relation to the U.S. Once it became legal, it seemed to normalize quickly. Those who want to marry, do. Those who don’t, don’t.
And my son’s preschool teacher who just married her partner…well her actions havn’t weakened my marriage one bit.
The thing is I wasn’t to go and get something positive out of it. I want to believe, but there are weeks when I go and just being there seems contrived. Maybe next week I will pick a roll to focus on. The OP resonated with me. I came home grumpy today. It doesn’t help that this was my third week in a row going solo. Maybe I should have been posting in SM and my day would have been better.
😆 goodbirds wrote:I think homosexuality is an affliction, just like other burdens we all seem to have throughout life. True, it is a painful one emotionally, if abstained from it. Should gays marry? It has been a question of semantics. The Bible is very clear, that homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. But I think that means he is aware of the struggle, and his mercy is available to all who seek him. Marriage as an institution is held dear to heterosexual couples, and they don’t want it to mean anything else.
I would agree that it is an affliction, but only in the context of culture. I have spent a good amount of time studying it out in the scriptures. I haven’t come to the same conclusion that the Lord views it as an abomination. But, in a culture where it is commonly accepted as an abomination, being gay can be an affliction.
In fact, I believe that one of the reasons the “gay lifestyle” that you mentioned is so prevalent is because gays have been treated like deviants and forced underground by mainstream culture for years.
For what it’s worth, I have a gay uncle who grew old with his better half and wasn’t lonely until his partner passed away. My brother is also headed down that path,a he is in a long term committed relationship. As society and hopefully Mormon culture continues to open it’s arms to our gay brothers and sisters hopefully these success stories become what we think of a the gay lifestyle.
I think this slow dissemination of info from sources like this will be a slow but effective way of overcoming the plague of church history secrets. Eventually the context of our history can be woven into the fabric of our understanding. Dumping historical issues on the general church public would be detrimental, but letting them seep out will likely be a safer approach. As more people start questioning and searching, sources like this will be valuable.
