Thanks, blueorchid. :) Glad to know my thoughts are constructive in some way.
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This morning I was talking with my TBM 13 (almost 14) year old daughter as we both got ready for the day. I was telling her that my friend (who's also an ex-mo) just had her son tell her he was going on a mission and that she was feeling sad. DD: Well, good for that son! Me: Well, he actually knows the church isn't true. He doesn't believe, but his girlfriend wants him to go, so he's going.
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I know my mom was one of the fanatical followers who would always tape the Super Bowl and watch it on Monday. But -......Peyton Manning is her favorite player, by far. She's followed him since his early college days. I couldn't help but wonder if she'd break her own rule yesterday for Peyton's possible last game. Who knows. I enjoyed my time playing poker, drinking beer, and watching it
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That's an interesting perspective, because they preach the evils of moral relativism and subjective judgement from the pulpit. I know when I started defining my own set of moral values and finding my own moral compass, I could see how others did the same - and I realized that there is truth in the statement that "Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so." I understand tha
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Woo hoo! I second the thanks to Susan I/S for all the hard work here. And congrats, Itzpapalotl, on the success! I love that app, too. It's so eye opening when you note all the calories and realize all of the little things that just add up. Well done! :)
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Well said. It's the invisible manipulative glue that holds it all together.
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Tor the longest time, I couldn't figure out why I had such cognitive dissonance about my ex-MIL. She was the epitome of graciousness, kindness, and bending over backwards to ensure everyone else's happiness. Something just rubbed me the wrong way - and for a long time, I thought that I was just miserable because I thought I'd never measure up to her level of perfection. In reality, it was r
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I've been studying the idea of enmeshed relationships as I've been trying to find the balance between work, grad school, and being home a much as possible for my kids. My boyfriend kindly pointed out that I was making ridiculous compromises and bending over backwards to try to be everything for my kids, and be the perfect mom. I believed that this came from a fear of losing my kids' affecti
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I thought it was kinda awesome that within hours of her petition, there was a counter petition to keep walmart open. And it has 3 times as much support as the original petition. I never thought I'd see that here in the 'Burg. But LDS and non-LDS alike were in favor of free markets and religious freedom from persecution. Many more people here, hiding out under the radar than I knew about. It gives
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Congrats. And I, too, am a little jealous. My ex, and my kids weren't even phased by the 'revelation'. Doing a happy dance for you!
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Their own scriptures condemn them: Matthew 6:7King James Version (KJV) 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Even as a TBM, this seeming inconsistency made me question why it was okay.
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+1. That's my 13 year old. Mostly loving the endless fun activities and wondering if her crush will be at church. It's a maniacally genius plan to keep the youth involved in fun stuff so they keep coming back.....then, post mission...make babies...no more fun for you. It's a classic bait and switch. I fell for it. And when I popped out my first baby, i realized it wasn't all they'd cracked it
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I was raised to never ever say no to a calling, too. Looking back on it now, if I was still in, I would reply something like: "Give me the priesthood and let me do things my way ( love people instead of shame them) and I'll think about it." I'm pretty sure that reply would get me out of the calling, and maybe the church, depending on how vocal I was about it.
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I heard this story as a TBM, too.....and it really pulled the guilt and perfectionism strings....reinforced that I had to be perfectly good. The thing is- if you want to extrapolate this story, what we've really got in TSCC is 15 HORSES telling the rest of the horses that they speak for the Sheik. The horses never see the Sheik. Therefore, you've just got a bunch of horses following some other
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How many other wives are you spinning that line with, boner? ;)
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I remember my first skepticism about PBs. My friend was promised that his children would be personally instrumental in the events of the Second Coming. Not just "you are the chosen generation" - Personally Instrumental. He died 11 years ago - living worthily - and he never had kids. I was TBM at the time, and I asked my mom her thoughts. She said something about how we don't
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Ephraim. Surprise. Boring. Snooze. And my temple name was Abigail. There you go. You now have enough info to steal my identity in the hereafter.
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For me it was the never-ending checklist of things to do to be good enough. Even in my teens, this rubbed me the wrong way. They had it backwards. Doing the checklist = being good enough. It should be: Be your naturally moral self = desire to do good things. I was taught that the only way to feel the HG was to keep doing the checklist - in a perfect way. Well - once I started medita
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I was looking for feedback, too. My daughter went tonight. She came back giggling about her friends that she sat with, their personal conversations, and how it was cool that one of the guys in the broadcast was speaking in Spanish at one point. She didn't say much about content. But then again, she's a 13 year old girl, obsessed with friends and boys.
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Thanks, Susan. :) I had never really considered the context of when he was sealed to Emma before. Rather interesting. This pot of worms just keeps getting more and more slimy. :)
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One can only hope she'll apply what she learned from Alma with that seed. ;)
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Funny how our "revelations" seem to follow our own personal desires. *cough* confirmation bias *cough* I remember thinking, as a TBM, that it was weird that some of the "inspiration" I got in the temple was counter to what the gospel taught. How about that? It was just my own "vain imaginations" after all.
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Great idea. She's much more likely to read something that's from lds.org.... but she won't pull them up on her own. I've mentioned them before, and she says I'll just use them to try to pull her out of the church. :) But if it's just left open, she might browse. As for what she knew about Helen - it wasn't much. She just had heard from friends that JS had propositioned and then married teenage
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