NOM

I haven't read this entire thread. Mostly because this topic is so difficult for me. The LDS teachings, culture, and experience of human sexually have been extremely detrimental to me. I struggle to take responsibility for my own decisions vs being taught an heavily conservative fundamentalist idea...

.... an ordinance performed unworthily is still valid because God isn't legalist all the time. And unworthiness is not such a big deal if it makes us look bad if we were to try to be consistent about it. ... we believe the victim's sin is worse than the abuser's if the victim does not immediately a...

Chapter 2: https://www.lds.org/youth/for-the-strength-of-youth/dating?lang=eng Dating... Don't date until you are 16yo? I guess this did not apply to Joseph Smith who married a 14yo... but whatever... Choose to date only those who have high moral standards - great, lets encourage teenagers to judge...

I would like to go through "For the Strength of Youth" and discuss what is healthy, and what is not healthy in it. https://www.lds.org/youth/for-the-strength-of-youth?lang=eng&_r=1 Chapter 1: Agency and Accountability: https://www.lds.org/youth/for-the-strength-of-youth?lang=eng&_r=1 What is NOT hea...

As far as sexual abuse goes, there are several reasons it is higher in conservative religions, besides sexual repression. One is traditional gender roles. Another is more pressure to keep family intact. Male priesthood equals male entitlement. To understand the reasons these things contribute to mo...

People with poor internal controls often seek out communities with stronger external controls to help.make up for it. Sex offenders, serial killers and so on are ine seent if the population that has lower internal control. Those studies linking higher incidence of need to account for those types mo...

Perhaps it is not a test - it is all an educational experience. (Can we become educated without being tested?) I have come to really like the idea of reincarnation - the Saṃsāra doctrine of cyclic existence. This gets rid of heaven and hell, allows everyone to experience all of the different lives ...

How many people leave the LDS church over sex? How many leave because they cannot stop masterbating? How many leave because they are LGBT? Leave because kids were abused / bad PPI practices / Sam Young issues? Marriage sexual incompatibility/issues →divorce→broken cov→leave church ? Just a quick goo...

What an interesting question! I’m going to kind of work backwards through the question if that’s ok. Through my training and my studies I really believe that The Divine really is in all of us. Spirit lives in all of us and through us it’s purpose is really just to experience life. Picture it like t...

"It's great to have this belief that God blesses the righteous and has their backs. How does this belief play out for the stake presidency member who's daughter died while on her mission? Then a year later his wife died of cancer. And then a year later his grandchild died in her crib?" "I would hat...

Hopebeat - that was absolutely beautiful. Here is a question - if you were a G-d, and were trying to raise up other G-ds, what technique would you use? Is it a test of how well you can follow orders or a test of how well you can think for yourself? G-d is within all of us - to be found from looking ...

Big hugs being sent your way!

Yep--this one was caught 30 year ago, and with the help of LDS leadership and LDS LEO, was able to get away with it completely. Thankfully the current DA and PD are well aware of what happened then and determined to do better. My town has a good track record for putting away predators and holding t...

Thanks for posting this, I am really trying to bite my tongue, and "live and let live". Yesterday I took care of an elderly lady in our ward (drove her to the hospital and spent the day with her there) - she had a LGBT child who died of aids and handled the situation wonderfully so I like her and he...

I have felt a/the spirit. I did not get confirmation that the BoM was true, do not have a testimony of anyone being a prophet. I don't know any details on how anything in the afterlife works out, but I have felt spirits.

Interesting, and I agree to some extent. I would say, let someone else trap the snake because if you waste time on doing it yourself you die. And if being in the desert was not full of rattle snakes and you are never going to contain all of the hazard. Too much hazard to contain. A snake bite is no...

If something is happening in the home, set up surveillance cameras, and let the kids know where the cameras are. Carrying around a cell phone is similar to carrying around a can of mace or a knife - a cell phone is a weapon. If something starts not feeling right, teach kids to get their phones out, ...

so sorry - I have seen it, victims are blamed, abusers are protected - teach your kids to use their phones to videotape what is happening to them. Without recording what is happening there will be no justice. Even with the abuse recorded - the abuser is still fighting charges in my fam - the only sa...

Betrayal trauma ... if you are not familiar with it, wiki is as good a place to start as any. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betrayal_trauma A little bit ago there was a fb post about a recent lesson - I just looked it up, here is a quote: "When you hold a grudge against someone, regardless of the re...

My husband and I are in the middle of a faith-transition as well. we are now partially active - no callings, no temple recommend, cafeteria Mormons. For me, my religious journey takes place partially within a community, and partially as an individual. Embracing these two pieces - both community and ...