My TBM BIL is a good friend, and we often play video games together, many of which are Rated M & contain copious violence & profanity and occasional nudity. Yet he & his wife refuse to watch rated R movies.

As a TBM, I did the same thing (I'd never seen an R movie, but played tons of M games).

I knew it was "wrong," but because it wasn't explicitly prohibited I decided play as many games as possible (because doubtless it would one day be prohibited).

So my question is this: How do you think TBMs justify playing rated M games? And will TSCC eventually prohibit it because so many members have made that justification?

TSCC leaders are too damn old to realize that there are "mature" video games. If they knew, they would speak out about it and tell members not to do it. I think that just hasn't happened yet.

The only game they are probably aware of is Pong, and that's simply about smacking your balls around so how bad could it be...oh wait...

ROFLMAO!!! Hahaha!
Well done ballzac, well done!

lol they just got cable and found out HBO has nudity. Can you imagine being the grandson of the prophet right now? Hell no is he going to tell grandpa about Left for Dead or Red Dead Redemption (my 2 favs btw)

HBO... Has nudity and had Big Love..

I will bet that really torqued their bananas...

Anybody in at the time that remembers what the church did when BL was broadcast? I heard some vague complaints. Did they prohibit people from watching?

I bet they just love 'Weeds' on ShowTime...

Sex, drugs, rock'n'roll, apostasy and polygamy! What a wonderful life–well except the polygamy.

Don't forget Spartacus and Shameless! Seriously the two dirtiest shows I have ever seen. Love them both. You know, they would be wise to let the members watch naughty shows and porn. That might keep them from researching "anti" literature on the web.

I love Shameless! The british version though

FOLLOW THE MONEY!!!!!!

I remember distinctly when TSCC used to 'ban' drinking coke and pepsi because of the 'caffeine.' Well, back in the day when coke and pepsi 'used' to make their secret recipes using sugar, Coke bought U and I Sugar. U and I Sugar is a brand many of you may not see; unless you live in the area of Utah and Idaho.

U and I Sugar is owned, partially by TSCC. Herein is the problem, which I can speak to regarding coke. Officials from the coke company went to TSCC bigwigs and said, in short, you stop telling your membership "YOU CAN'T DRINK COKE," or we will STOP purchasing U and I Sugar.

Then the order came on down from high (the corporate holding room of TSCC), and bishops 'banning' drinking of coke disappeared down the Orwellian Memory Hole."

I grew up on a farm in Southern Idaho, in about 1973 we contracted for beets to sell to U and I sugar. We started developing more beet land from other uses because of the increase contract sizes.

If one were to look hard enough, find out what stock TSCC has in ownership. Example, if you live in Sacramento, CA area (I am sure they are in other places) there is a market chain called "WINCO." They proudly represent themselves as 'an employee owned company.' Well stock sales are closed to the public, only employees can purchase stock (which is not an illegal act by any means), but one of the major backers/owners/financiers of Winco is TSCC.

I own about 800 shares of Apple. I started purchasing those shares back in 1982 when I was still in college). Look at the worth of those stocks today. TSCC does 'confess' to owning stock in Apple. BTW, there are a lot of retirement systems (PERS and STRS in CA) that own stock in Apple also. If one belongs to a union, and your union has a pension plan, they may also own Apple stock, they would have been stupid not to get into Apple when it was almost worthless; less than one dollar per share. Apple, as of this date (2-20-2013) if $459.91 per share. Apple also pays a 2.5 percent dividend. A wise investment.

TSCC does have a lot of brands in different fires, as it is more a business venture than a 'church'

I travel a little-by car...

I've run into a lot of people who believe Flying J truck stops are owned by the church...

Flying J sells the trifecta of WoW violations: Hot Coffee/Tea; booze; and tobacco in several different forms...

I wonder if the church tries to strong arm Coors into giving them a discount... (If the church owns Flying J, that is.)

Of course Flying J is Mormon company since it is a Utah based company it must Mormon right! so goes the faulty logic.

Some time ago I was told by an usually unreliable source that the reason the U.S. has never normalized relations with Cuba is because influential Mormons did not want Cuban sugar to compete with the Mormon dominated U.S. sugar production.

Any truth to this?

Is there any irrefutable, corroborative, verifiable proof that sugar production in the US is dominated by the church?

'Cause an awful lot of sugar gets made from sugar cane in the southern states, particularly in Florida. Suggesting that the US never normalized relations with Cuba because of sugar interests doesn't make sense to me. Cuba doesn't have enough land mass to produce enough sugar that they would likely be considered a threat to the US sugar production market.

Who here from SE Idaho remembers Sugar City? Or the sugar plant by Ucon and Lincoln? I don't know if it made more than Florida, but I remember how successful those plants were when I was young and driving past them on our way to Yellowstone.

Who 'wodda thought Uncle Fidel would have outlived Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and lasted through two bush's, Clinton and Carter and now oDumbo?

The CIA got 'schnookered' plain and simple. Another example of the U.S. 'picking sides' in internal squabbles and reaping the whirlwind of our bad choices.

Kennedy, in the middle of 1963 was making overtures toward Cuba, saying words to the effect of "We want the hemisphere to be one giant of cooperation with regards to trade, without regard to economic systems of individual countries." That little comment made the CIA mad. On one hand the CIA was using its contacts to try and kill Castro and on the other hand the government was trying to reach across that 90 or so mile gap and holding out its hand to offer economic cooperation.

You provided the answer to your own question. You said you played the games because they were not specifically banned by TSCC and played them as often as you could because you figured they would be banned at some time in the future. You followed only the specific rules layed out for you.

Yep - also you have M on tv - which is more liberal than R from what I've seen.

I kind of think the days of the LDS church getting more restrictive with rules is over.

The pattern seems to be that they are getting less and less restrictive with time - the better to keep people in and mainstream.

Even with Hinckley - the two earring thing was really nothing new and it was given more as an opinion. The poker is bad pronouncement, was likewise, nothing new.

Unlike in the past, their primary goal is PR and popularity, and adding restrictive rules don't accomplish this.

I am thinking the church realizes, with each new announcement from 'god', they box themselves in more and more.

So, 'god' is down to prophesying about torturing 18 year olds by sending them on missions...

I refused to play M-rated games or watch M-rated TV shows. I figured that they are the same as an R-rated movie, so I went by the classic "if you have to ask, then it's probably not okay."