Storm Rider

If we assume that one of the great purposes of this life is not only to learn truth, but to live those truths, then the fact that individuals find truths vital to their own progression makes sense. I have observed members who have joined other churches and many from other religions join the Church. I believe they each gravitate to the truths they are able to believe and live. Additionally, individuals seldom grown in truth explicitly. There is obvious divers paths that do not lead to truth, but to greater confusion and abandonment of truths learned and known. These events are outside of

This conflict between generations is hardly new or unique. Just look at the 1960s to see conflicts that were just as bad, if not worse, than what we see today. Children need to grow up and gain experience. My position is to just be patient and it won't be long before they see that their parents are not as stupid as they once thought. They themselves will have gained a little bit of humility and realized they really don't have all the answers. One of the great weaknesses of this generation that I see is they are just not teachable. They are pretty stiff-necked and arrogant. Worse, is

I don't this is an accurate reflection of the Church's position. I had a good friend who as a young man was disfellowshipped prior to becoming an elder/going to the temple because he was not chaste. He wanted to serve a mission and began the process and found himself disfellowshipped. Sin is sin regardless of who or when it is committed. The process of repentance may be more stringent for one, but the Church never teaches that sin is not sin because you have not gone to the temple.

Robert, you are one of my heroes on this site. Given the import of the topic I would prefer to focus on it; though, I do recognize your position attempts to get at the underpinning philosophic assumptions and weaknesses/strengths. My aunt was rabidly against circumcision and it is worth a discussion, but just not here. Miscarriages, the human body, and God. I guess that I have always thought of this body as very mortal and capable of not functioning properly all of the time. Given a perfect body, I assume there would not be a discussion about miscarriages. Does God allow miscarriages may

Oh please. I disagree with you and so you belittle everything I stated in order for you to maintain that smugness of self-righteousness when you are standing on mountains of dead children. How about approach the topic from being a mature adult and dispose of that feminist agenda/talking points? We are supposed to talk about "human realities" while you completely disabuse the unborn? When did they stop being human? How about taking the side of the individuals that cannot speak for themselves and are the very weakest among us? Those that you so cavalierly ignore in your entire conversat

I tend to wretch when I read this type of feminist claptrap and double speak. You are correct, to define murder requires legally defining an act of killing to be illegal. Okay, calling it killing. Does that make it more palatable? Why do miscarriages matter? You are attempting to define what a law states and yet, there is not law by your own acknowledgement. I would think laws could be written that adequately address this supposed problem with miscarriage being different than an abortion. All legal systems are based on ideologies. It is not a major problem to recognize such.

Howdy, my initial response to your comments is that on article on abortion is seldom, if ever, also an article on all things. The fact that Givens focuses on the topic is the reason you condemn his piece as lacking? Just a kind of unwillingness to address the topic. I don't see any comparison between having your own body chopped up and vacuumed out of a womb and having a circumcision. One is a minor pain that is dealt with for an extremely short period of time and the other literally attacks one's pain receptors on all levels. We can remove almost all pain of circumcision if we chose to

I think that trials can sometime narrow our vision. We become hypersensitive in a specific area and from that point forward we may tend to only see what reinforces our position. It is not so much an issue of right or wrong, but more a difference in perspective. You have proved that you have the ability to gain a new perspective repeatedly. The challenge is not to fall back into old positions. Be well.

Great comments and it is always good to hear from you. I enjoy hearing from both you and Miserere. It is disheartening to observe so much confusion generated by this single pope. I find that I agree with those contributors to Crises in how they perceive what is going on in the world. As an outside observer, I learn a great deal from Traditionalists. There is a deep humility they show when hearing the comments from Francis and yet pray for him and never doubt in the sanctity of their beliefs in Tradition. They abide his consistent actions that conflict with so much that the Catholic Church has

There has been some discussion within some Catholic (I think it was a bishop or archbishop) that think that Pope Francis was invalidly voted in as pope. It was rather involved and I did not dwell on the article long enough to try and grasp all that was stated. Have you heard of this? I read Crises almost every day. I find the vast majority of the articles to be excellent. The one I read today was entitled, "Where Francis Leads, We Can't Follow". The comment section gives me a window into how some of the Traditional Catholics feel, but I recognize that this is a small subset of the Bod

I think it is incredibly difficult, but how difficult is it to be chaste or virtuous? Does a single man or woman have it any easier or harder? Do we commiserate with them any more or less than with those that have same sex attraction? I think we are bending too far backward to think those with SSA have a uniquely difficult life when following Christ. They have a life just like everyone else. They will know joy and sorrow. They will have challenges and they can surmount them. They will fall and need others to help them. They do not need or want our rejection or ostracization. We are under

I don't think it is that I am not empathetic; I think I have a grasp of the inner conflict and the situation. But, how should that empathy be expressed? How helpful is it be put aside an entire history that is thousands of years old and say, "Gosh, John, this is so hard. Why don't you just ignore the gospel of Jesus Christs, do what feels natural for you, and enjoy your mortal existence." How does that help? Rather than do that, I have tried to say, we don't know what it means to be in heaven, BUT we know that we are each children of our Father in Heaven. The Celestial glory is beyond o

I can only answer to my experience of things. I have never been an addict of a chemical of any kind, but I have dealt with chronic illness for decades. There are some similarities. I had a liver transplant in 1999 and I know that my first liver was destroyed by a rare disease. I know I am the recipient of a transplanted organ. However, I was never intended to be an organ recipient in the same way that an addict is not meant to be just an addict. We each are called to greater things and we each must walk a path that takes us beyond these trials. If we see something as part of our identity

Tacenda, you are very seldom, if ever, offensive. I agree that the Church puts a great emphasis on the family; however, church leaders have been pretty clear that our first priority is a relationship with God. I have heard this consistently for as long as I have been a member. The link I provided is just a quick summary of a number of talks that give evidence of this relationship.