A Talk Last Night With My Daughter

[_why me]

Consig can also show this to his daughter:

http://www.blacklds.org/634/mormon-huma ... -in-africa

It is wonderful what the LDS church is doing in africa. I am sure that it is very much appreciated.

And for blacks and the priesthood, he can show these details:

http://www.blacklds.org/priesthood

[_MrStakhanovite]

They look very happy.

I forget how creepy cultic you can be. The appearances of happiness can easily be engineered. Do you really think that because people are smiling in a picture, it is safe to say that everything is just peachy keen?

[_why me]

Consig can also show this to his daughter. It wonderful just what critical thinking can do for someone:

http://www.blacklds.org/testimonies

Renee Olson

I started out an anti Mormon certified in Mormonism by the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through lots of love, patience, understanding and non-judgmental friends I came to see the real “truth” behind the LDS Church. I realized I had been brainwashed before and started doing my own thinking. The “truth” is that I have found more tolerance, acceptance and genuine Christ-like love among the Latter-day Saints than any other body of believers. Through the LDS Church I’ve come to know and understand what it means to have a personal relationship with my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

[_Blixa]

"We're everywhere," I said. "We're working from within."

--Consiglieri

I love it and that's how I feel too. I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bath water. The president of the church is not some kind of mircophone through which god speaks. They don't have the answers either. I still believe in God though and I believe there is a lot of good in the church and my kids will be better off with the church than without. If people like us quit the church then they loose big. They need us even if they don't know it.

I've been wondering what your story is, Zelder, and this fills me in a bit (if you have been more explicit in other posts, I'm sorry I missed them). I can understand this position and sympathize with it.

[_why me]

I forget how creepy cultic you can be. The appearances of happiness can easily be engineered. Do you really think that because people are smiling in a picture, it is safe to say that everything is just peachy keen?

I had the same feeling of happiness and happy expression when I was baptized. And it wasn't cultish. I felt the holy spirit. Now, I am a lapsed member but I will never forget that feeling.

[_honorentheos]

Is it true or not? ...All else comes second to (this question).

Point of clarification, why me. Your point about the witnesses falls under this broader question as there is nothing primary about them. Also, for accuracy's sake, the three witnesses didn't feel anything with their hands, even if one accepts the testimonies they provided this was not part of it.

Consig - It sounds like you had a very nice honest conversation with your step-daughter. I suspect you have better ideas about what to do next than most of us could offer, but I wish you and her both the best. I'm sure if nothing else, she must appreciate knowing that you are willing to listen to her concerns with a non-judgemental ear and a willingness to share your honest opinions whatever they might be. If I had any advise, it would be to patiently keep with that.

[_MrStakhanovite]

I had the same feeling of happiness and happy expression when I was baptized. And it wasn't cultish. I felt the holy spirit. Now, I am a lapsed member but I will never forget that feeling.

So you had a feeling of joy when you got baptized, felt the Spirit, but for some reason, you are inactive in a Church you firmly believe is doing the Lord's work.

How did this happen?

[_MrStakhanovite]

Any advice?

Tell her to post here.

I want this to be said again, we need more young educated women on this forum. I'm tired of the same old sausage party everynight with Paul Osborne and LDSToronto.

[_Blixa]

So, now to the point. Any advice?


--Consiglieri

More of the same? Honestly, just having someone who can talk through things in a nonjudgmental way is a pretty great gift you can give her.

Is she going to do graduate work in Sociology?

[_Runtu]

The question eventually comes down to the Book of Mormon. Is it true or not? And did the witnesses tell the truth about what they saw and felt with their hands. All else comes second to those questions.

Well, that's easy, then. The Book of Mormon is clearly not true in any sense of being an actual history of real people in real places.The witnesses are quite irrelevant, as they simply testified that they saw and felt something, but since that something purported to be plates translated into a book that is demonstrably not true, then it really doesn't matter what they saw.

I don't see women playing a secondary role at all in church. They are pretty educated and strong minded. And they have their own organization to get together and talk things over. To believe that most priesthood holders have the power don't know women very well. In the LDS church the man has the head but the woman has the neck.

Once again you show only a passing familiarity with our church. Of course women play a secondary role; everyone knows that. A few years ago, my then-14 year old daughter asked me why Heavenly Father likes girls more than He likes boys, because boys can do so many things girls aren't allowed to do. My wife gave her the standard line about motherhood being as important as having the priesthood, but she wasn't buying it. I don't blame her. Even our young daughters know they are second-class members.

Also, what is your wife's opinion about women in the church? She may have been a good one to have your dauther have a talk with.

Yes, because only women are able to recognize how they are treated by the church.