NOM

We really need to turn this upside down on them and start teaching that God sends his choicest spirits to the most difficult earth assignments. Born into a loving Mormon home with uppity ups in the church as relatives? You were such a weak fence sitter that God couldn’t trust you with anything hard. ...

I no one doing their genealogy? Come on people! (Or do we call if Family History now?)

My twelve year old son made a clever observation yesterday that I thought some of you might appreciate. He has a friend whose parents are divorcing because (as my son put it) "the dad isn't Mormon enough." I tried to explain why that would matter, saying that a lot of LDS people worry that if their ...

I served a mission in Northern Europe in the late 80's, and I remember Ballard's visit to my mission very clearly. I remember him standing at the pulpit of our little chapel telling us that if someone wasn't baptized within 6 weeks, we needed to cut them loose and move on, also that we needed to ...

The woman who runs that website, Amy Stevens Seal, used to be in my ward. She's really a delightful person. I have a hard time thinking ill of her, so I will just assume the best and move on. (Good heavens!!)

Thank you. These are great thoughts. Yes, I will definitely talk with my husband about this and will meet with the Bishop to discuss this beforehand, as well, if it looks like my son is interested in pursuing it. He's a new bishop. New to the neighborhood as well, so I really don't know him at all ...

Some quick background--I'm a non-believer who still attends Relief Society periodically because (1) I'm in the Morridor and want to stay connected with my wonderful neighbors (2) I was raised in the Church (3) I've been teaching RS for over 5 years now, so I feel an obligation to attend and (4) my ...

The primary manual also has some inoculation in it. Get the kids thinking nothing is wrong with it early. https://www.lds.org/manual/primary-6-old-testament/lesson-14?lang=eng You might also want to explain that Jacob was commanded to have more than one wife. Have the children add the names of ...

I know this is a really naive question, but what exactly did he do that justifies excommunication? I'm not at all surprised by this, and yet I sort of am. What rationalization is the church using to explain why he's being ex-ed? Don't they still try to maintain at least the illusion that a person ...

I know this is a really naive question, but what exactly did he do that justifies excommunication? I'm not at all surprised by this, and yet I sort of am. What rationalization is the church using to explain why he's being ex-ed? Don't they still try to maintain at least the illusion that a person ...

Just what exactly is the gathering of Israel? I was a TBM/went to BYU/served a mission, and even went to study abroad in Israel. And I still have no clue what that really is.

Yes--I was about to ask this same thing. Lifetime of active membership, and I have no clue what this actually means.

I spent the first 40+ years of my life TRYING to believe the church was true. I knew that it didn't feel true. It didn't make sense. In this Mormon world, God was a racist and a misogynist who doled out punishment for imperfection and never thought I was good enough. Yet I was told that all this was ...

I didn't watch any of GC, but in RS yesterday, I was amazed to hear everyone gushing about how incredible GC had been. A couple of women said that they hardly dared blink because they were so afraid of missing any of these new revelations. There was just so much, they said. I'd heard about some of ...

She hearkens (used to use the word obey) unto her husband as he hearkens unto God. This is not a statement that she is to obey him *if* or *when* he obeys God. No, she is supposed to obey him as or like he is supposed to obey God. She does not promise this to God, but to her husband. Thank you for ...

Related specifically to the story of Job, I really enjoyed a book called Rereading Job: Understanding the Ancient World's Greatest Poem. By Michael Austin. This book helped me understand that everything you've ever learned about Job in Sunday School is exactly wrong.

I used to have that nightmare frequently in the years following my mission. I would wake up feeling panicked and terrified, but then almost immediately filled with relief when I would realize I never had to go on a mission again. Wow! I hated my mission.

The only story I have is very vague. 25 years ago, when I was a student at BYU, one of my friends did a summer internship at the COB. She told me one day that she had been in the elevator and that Monson had gotten on as well. In the time it took to reach the ground floor, she said that her belief ...

So last week, I learned via text message from the 1st counselor that they wanted to release me from RS and assign me to teach Gospel Doctrine. I declined the calling, also via text. But I nonetheless found myself in the Bishop's office yesterday after sacrament meeting being offered the Gospel ...

I've been too busy to find time to meet wit the bishopric in person, so the first counselor texted me this morning to ask if I would accept the calling. I sent a text back saying that after much thought and prayer, I was sorry to say that I would not be able to accept the calling. Got to love text ...

Why would you say yes when you have no faith in the church? It may be time to stand up for what you believe in, at least to a small degree, instead of living a lie. Really good question. Why would I say yes? I really enjoyed teaching RS because each lesson became a philosophical and spiritual ...