Calm

Dementia is heartbreaking for the caregivers (and for the family, but it’s so complicated emotionally when it’s in your head pretty much 24/7) Others with occasional contact may also see just the sweetness, childlike behavior with some sufferers, so they don’t understand the intense burden. The every day stuff is more likely to run into confusion, stubbornness, storytelling, childishness and more plus all the physical needs as well. Seeing the face, but not feeling the person is crushing in my experience. It was hard for me not to feel betrayed by this person who stole my mother. It felt like it happened overnight, like a changling. I hadn’t seen her much for a year or two before my dad died because we both had mobility issues and his death removed the mask she had managed even in extended phone conversation and pushed her off the cliff. Even 4 years of being the primary caregiver till she went into assisted living, I never could find my mom again. Your dad is a rockstar to take all those roles on and do it as well as it sounds.

But you do have Esau and Ishmael as violent hunters vs Jacob and Isaac as wise and faithful farmers. The Bible is not univocal, it would be surprising imo if it always portrayed hunting in a negative way.

Yes, we are here for what we need to learn, what we need to know about ourselves, not because God doesn’t know if we can do it or not. Who believes their parent when the parent says they are beautiful or perfect the way they are or the best in all the world, never have to change, everyone will love them, etc once they go out in the world and get criticized. Some no doubt do, especially if their parent protects them from reality. But most…being told by someone else who they are is not enough at one’s core…at least for the good stuff. Then there are those who think they can be better than everyone else, like being a star basketball player even if they are likely going to be no taller than 5’5” (though apparently one guy was only 5’3, looks like most short players are 5’9” or taller) or something else even when the parent is realistic telling them if they want to excel, they at least need to study and practice, but also might want to have a back up because family genetics are against them. If we didn’t have foreknowledge ourselves and even if we did, I wonder how many of us would insist our parents were wrong…we aren’t as good or as limited as they tell us, even if that parent is God. But I still believe even if we had foreknowledge ourselves, we still have to go through the process, even if we believed and accepted the new reality. Muscles wouldn’t appear just because knowledge gets dumped in our brains. Of course, God might be able to change us physically as well, but then are we truly ourselves at all if we have no active part in our changing? Are we agents or puppets at that point?

Smac, do you believe LDS should have been given the religious freedom to have practiced polygamy as they did in regards to the current marriage laws (they followed marriage laws, just added multiple marriages for one man)? Or was it morally sound for the current morality (the anti-polygamy aspect) of the day to rule and ban that religious practice. Iow, do you see the ban on polygamy as a morally sound choice for that larger community since it was repugnant to them even if the way it was enforced wasn’t called for? It sounds from what you have written like you believe the LDS shouldn’t have tried to continue the practice, taken it underground, but just accepted the law at the beginning when it first passed (though challenging it would have been appropriate), is this correct? I am not trying to get you to criticize early leaders for their decision or dismiss the sacrifices as unnecessary. I don’t believe you are doing either even if you disagree with breaking those laws as was done because you are likely assuming they didn’t have the same information/perspective you do, so I am guessing you are not judging their choices in the same way I am not. Also I find civil disobedience very moral and useful in many cases. I think giving up families because the law says so is tragic, but necessary when the other option removes one from them anyway. At least some support can be given if not in jail.

We are changed, we become while we learn. Would we be as likely to change if it was instantaneous? Seems unlikely, at least not in the same way. There is also the value we put on things we have struggled for…not in terms of wealth and possession, but meaning.

It was never reported as stolen according to records, so maybe not. To be convicted, the state has to prove she willfully did not return it. (NC law apparently). If the rental company sold the same car later, they got it back somehow. If she really was in the ICU and her kid in foster care, my guess is it was noticed by police or traffic people or maybe over stayed in the hospital parking lot, the rental company was called and it got picked up by them…which would explain why she thought it was resolved even though she owed the company money (if she didn’t do it herself, no confrontation with the rental people). They probably realized it would cost more to track her down (maybe it wasn’t in the hospital parking lot, I wonder if she walked into emergency or was brought by ambulance) and take her to court and and then track her payments, send her notices, etc as she couldn’t pay immediately anyway once they discovered she had been living in the car. https://www.aol.com/articles/dem-flipped-north-carolina-house-035231000.html PS: I make no claims about the overall morality of either party.

Except is being homeless and in the hospital a character issue vs using an attack ad impugning someone’s character in this fashion? Also according to Chat, Moore, her opponent, was accused of having an affair by an estranged husband, using public power for personal or political gain, and engaging in political favoritism.

She claims to have been homeless with her son and there being a medical emergency (she is type 1 diabetic, so it may have been due to that), which falls kind of on the other side of family values. Anyone know if she returned the rental eventually? (One report has the car sold by the rental company and it was never formally reported stolen.). Or why she was homeless (unemployment?) It happened in 2019. Odd it took this long to charge her. Serving her at a Democrat rally was a nice touch if it happened. I can see this helping her, sympathetic for her past plight, anger for what looks like an attempt to manipulate the election. Chat says she was an underdog. If so, bet her opponent is pissed off at whoever went after her on this as it looks like a close win (51 to 49). Might be questioning himself for the attack ads and questioning her character. Answers may show up in four days. Her opponent had raised over $2 million, she $25,000/56,000$. All that free advertising helped. Given her campaign issues included health care, food security, and economic opportunity, it feels particularly appropriate. Democrats won big in NC, so she may have just been part of the wave…

Is our culture suiciding with gay marriage being legal? If so, how? (Credible stats please) suspect this group would have seen accepting early LDS as cultural suicide as well.

Why didn’t you quote his closing punchline? That looks like someone who would be willing to protect the fundamental religious rights of LDS, right?

Is there anyone here or in mainstream transgender discussion that is arguing a person who is transgender is biologically somehow the opposite sex? Smac, you have posted since I ask for clarification in the above. I am assuming you missed this. I hope you will answer it because I am confused by your statement and how it is relevant to the discussion.

This should provide another avenue for protection for those who need it most, imo. Divorce, etc. is almost always brutal. If that (‘it’s too complicated’) is ever used as a reason not to have the state give legal protection for families, we are in big trouble. Whether or not this occurs in every non traditional—or traditional for that matter—marriage, it happens enough it is best to include legal protection for those involved, imo. There is also the problem with unequal partnerships, one providing contributing from home more, often with less income. They deserve legal protection as well.

I am not wed to our current 3 dimensional experience as being our eternal existence. I suspect we are much more in part because of how God can be aware of all things throughout time. This might even include a true omnipresence for God and the rest of the universe. I don’t see 3 dimensions as required by scripture.

I read it as ICE is a prime example of masking/anonymity leading to incivility, abuse: https://www.cato.org/blog/ice-agents-seizing-people-now-routinely-wear-masks-thats-wrong My guess is Elder Cook wasn’t thinking of the government in his talk. Would like it if he was though.

Why is it necessary to you to insist it’s binary instead of bimodal? There are other human systems that are strongly bimodal and yet no one has issues with describing variations on the spectrum rather than insisting on there just being two modes and everything is one or the other. For example, handedness…it’s not either right or left even though the vast majority of people (over 90%) are one or the other. Sex (and I mean biology and not gender) was defined long before we knew of the existence of X and Y chromosome, so objectively why should we only use them to define sex? There are those who produce eggs, get pregnant and have children who also may possess some male biological characteristics. There are those who produce fertile sperm who may have some female biological characteristics. Others may need help with only some aspects, but still be a mother or father in any meaningful biological sense. https://www.pacificfertilitycenter.com/blog/intersex-fertility-care-exploring-your-reproductive-options There are plenty of professional organizations that define sex on the basis of multiple biological characteristics. Why insist the only relevant ones are the chromosomes and then dismiss the variations and their expressions that even occur with them as irrelevant anomalies? AI did the work below: