NOM

So just a little question here. How would you respond when someone inevitably says "the leaders of the church will be held responsible for how they use the funds. We are just responsible to pay our tithing." I might say, "According to who, the people collecting the tithing?" Or, "I disagree about b...

My thoughts are similar to the fluffy ones above. You are a good person and want good things for people. You were in a situation to offer support to someone and you know enough about them to offer pretty good/accurate comfort but you also know little enough that you can imagine nice things for them ...

I love this question. I wanted to respond earlier but it's been a busy week. This question touches on the basis of wonder that probably started religions, but with the well developed religions we have today the canned Sunday School answers can kill the wonder in the question. Who am I? What am I? Wh...

This would be a nightmare, that poor woman and family. I hope she gets some recompense, safety, and closure.

I knew the perp as a kid, it's sad that this is the first thing I've heard about him since then.

Watch out, it's a slippery slope to •••••, or •°•º, and you really have to watch for O O with those big gauges.

Good for Sis Ryder! That's a big step to trust your own sense of morality over what has been beaten into you. Did you get her something nice to put in the extra •s?

Thank you for your kind words and thoughts. My post was in a pain peak and I wanted to get it written down. Things will settle I'm sure, and some other thing will be painful later. The other day my wife asked our inactive young adult male son if he was an Elder. She couldn't remember. He said he was...

OK. I have reached nirvana with my calling, and I have never been so excited about this new relationship the church and I have. I recently received an email that a member of the stake presidency asked me very nicely to do an audit in the stake, and actually apologized for having me do it, knowing h...

My son was ordained a deacon yesterday. It was unexpectedly painful. He seemed to have an unvoiced opinion about the idea of me performing the ordination, so last week I asked him who he wanted to perform the ordination. He was silent. I gave him a hug and told him that I will always love him no mat...

Interesting topic Hagoth. I would change the definition of religion, it's less of a methodology in my view. Something like: Religion: A set of beliefs related to any or all of the following - morality, god(s), premortal/after-life, epistemology, the purpose of life, and more. This is an extremely br...

It doesn't need an announcement, but it doesn't need to be hidden either. If it comes up in conversation and your child is public about it then tell your family member.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all! Thanks for being part of this great community. I hope it’s a great day/season for each of you.

I think some "miracles" can be explained but some makes one wonder. How do you explain those that seem too unlikely to have happened? For me, - I've seen enough normal stories turned into miracles/supernatural events after enough time or enough retelling to reject any non-first-hand miracle claims ...

I think you can always find connections with a few things, good food, music, appreciation of nature, health. We're all just people, live, laugh, love and all that. This is a great point. It's something I've known intellectually but struggled to actually implement. It is hard for me to get past the ...

I'm sorry to hear your grandmother did that to you. Was it actually pleasant at times?

My family had our annual advent gathering recently. It was a mixed experience.

My family had our annual advent gathering recently. It was a rollercoaster. Good: - Singing Christmas songs together - Sharing a few gifts - Reinforcing our connection Bad: - The story of how at the school Christmas concert the arrangement of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" was so powerful beca...

I ran across a great quote recently from Adam Smith, the "Invisible Hand" Scottish guy from economics. Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely; or to be that thing which is the natural and proper object of love. He naturally dreads, not only to be hated, but to be hateful; or t...

The mean old guy

The Aussie or Kiwi family who is allowed to swear because they aren't swear words where they are from

The lady who makes even the most terrible news into something positive. Then she gives a talk that's a how-to guide for toxic positivity.

I'm a misotheist. (That means that I hate God, not that I worship Japanese soup. Although...) I was enormously relieved to find that there is a word for it, and that it's not even all that uncommon of a belief. I'd never heard of misotheist. Is that theist or atheist or both? Like, from a theist pe...

But the Mormons, they are the ones who read it and ring anyway, because they aren’t just any religion, they are special. Normal people have and respect boundaries, but the way the church operates, it teaches disrespect for boundaries. You get called to an appointment with no idea what it is about. ...

My dad is an adult convert. For him I think the church was where his skepticism of the world led him and he is happy there. He is conspiracy-minded and the church has enough in the doctrine and culture to check that box for him. It's odd, because if he pointed his conspiracy thought beam at the chur...