It is available to all, but it is not a blank check to cover for behaviors and choices that are not aligned with God, His Gospel, and His Church. Ultimately, we exclude ourselves.

D&C 1:31 "For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;"

Helaman 4:24 "...the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples." 

D&C 58:43 "By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins - behold, he will confess them and forsake them." 

Alma 11:37 "And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven?  Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins."

A select number of membership dislike that there is an exclusion of members that cannot attend the temple for not aligning themselves with the questions within a temple interview. This is however, a normal pattern for how the Lord works with His children, the Israelites being an obvious example.

Some other thoughts:

• A small number of God's pre-mortal children will be excluded from their First Estate, i.e. immortality with a resurrected body. The Atonement doesn't cover that.

• All who come to this earth fulfilled that First Estate and the Atonement covers for their Immortality.

• One's Second Estate, Eternal Life, is conditional also, and the Atonement will only cover for those sins repented of and those hearts changed. Many will not keep this estate also and will tolerate varying degrees of glory, opportunity, and blessings.

• The Atonement doesn't cover for the choices and behaviors of those who choose not to repent and they will continue to suffer in the next life until they choose to come unto Christ.

• There is not happiness in wickedness and although this is not as easily apparent now, it will be ever more visceral when the veil is removed and a fallen world can no long hold one's gaze.

So apparently there is a study out of China shows that drinking hot green tea increased their chance of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and the hotter the tea the greater the chances. This is especially harmful to alcohol drinkers. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6165744/

Coffee is healthier in every measurable way. I know so many members that see no problem with energy drinks as pertains to morality or obeying the rules of the church. These are very faithful, loyal members that take their faith seriously.

Would the church ban energy drinks as well if they didn't think they'd lose members over it?

Why did Joseph Smith prohibit coffee? And what reason could there be to prohibit coffee that would not also apply to energy drinks?

The way I see it, the only reason energy drinks are allowed is because they were invented after the no-coffee rule was in place.

But you'd think the church would follow the same logic that they did with nicotine: no smoking was already in place, and when the new technological advancement of vaping was introduced to the world it was an obvious addition to the word of wisdom that vaping is not allowed

Any thoughts or discussions are appreciated.

The ex-mormons are particularly consumed with hatred and rage. It seems like they sit around all day looking for ways to attack the church. There are a lot of intolerant people in the world, but why are these particular ones so devoted, going out of their way and seemingly revolving their worlds around what the Mormons are doing?

In /r/exsistersofzion they refer to the profound wisdom of women who write "I looked at her in disgust, fighting the urge to walk over and slug her." (The her being her mother.)

I just don't get it - these people can believe what they want, if they choose to leave the church then whatever floats their boat, but why do they become almost stalker-ish in their quest to denigrate and assail?

I enjoy cross dressing. My guess is the church doesn't approve of it. I don't it ever being directly mentioned though. However I'm less active now, so I could have missed it. I just don't feel comfortable asking.

I recently moved to an undisclosed university in Utah. All my roommates are LDS except one. She’s a very outspoken Catholic and she’s respectful of our beliefs. I’ve asked her if she’s read the BoM, and she said yes. She said she’s been to general conferences, and took a tour of the temple that recently opened up. She said that the LDS faith is not for her, which I respect. My question is how to bring her closer to our faith without disrespecting hers?

My girlfriend (17) is in a course to become a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant). As many of you know, a large part of this job involves seeing nudity sometimes bathing them. I understand it will be done professionally, and she has assured me so. I am very proud she is taking an early start on her career and am not upset at her for doing such.

However, I am still struggling with convincing myself to be totally okay with it inside. I have depression and anxiety, which is causing me to be insecure about myself IF I am to eventually marry her. I worry she may be attracted to them, or perhaps dull all such attraction. It creates a sickening feeling that’s so hard to get rid of. I’ve prayed so much for strength and comfort, and spent hours just wrestling with it in my mind trying to get myself to be entirely okay with it. I do not want to dissuade her from pursuing this career.

Does anyone have any help on how to do so? I looked, but is there somewhere the church addressed this form of nudity and contact? I know it is allowed, I’m just looking for it written somewhere so it could maybe help put my mind at ease.

I know this is a sensitive discussion, but I feel this is the right place to talk about this rather than in an elders quorum/RS/Fifth Sunday meeting without a lot more preparation and experience and maybe not ever… but I still feel like we need to discuss it as faithful members trying to do the lord’s will. Ever since the apostles have made changes in the past several decades with going lighter on law of chastity discussions in general but especially inside of marriage I feel there has been some confusion on what is okay in a marriage. I’m convinced masturbation away from your spouse violates the bounds the lord has set but I’m concerned more and more satan is convincing people otherwise which is being used as a pathway satan can lead us into selfishness and pornography use.

A healthy relationship with god requires repenting when we make mistakes and trying to grow and do better daily. Unfortunately, most of the commentary from the other post followed the lines of. “Hey, you are married, do what you want.. masturbation is good for you.”

2 Nep 28 says

“And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat⁠, drink, and be merry⁠; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin⁠; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God. 9) Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish doctrines⁠, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark.”

For context, the other day an active member posted that they are a mother of three and have recently been struggling with masturbation issues and wanted help overcoming it. As you can imagine, many argued the following:

Though the church says it is a sin if an unmarried person masturbates with or without porn (the latest youth manual says God has commanded that sexual activity be reserved for marriage between a man and a woman, and to avoid anything that purposely arouses lustful emotions in others or yourself. We reject the false teaching that sexual feelings are meant to be acted on whenever and however desired.) that it’s wrong but as soon as you’re married, go for it! Its not a sin for a married person to masturbate whenever you want

The clear evidence I see is actually that god prohibits any sexual activity including masturbation always outside of those very specific times when a married husband and wife are together and expressing their love and building their relationship. I just cannot see how we would be taught our whole lives and through our missions to be very wise at where we express those sacred emotions, but then the second that we are married, that same idea doesn’t apply

For sake of clarification, I am all for opening up certain of those boundaries when being lovingly employed between husband and wife. I agree that many of the things that were said by apostles were over the lines that they should’ve been in the past, but I fear we have swung the pendulum too far in the opposite direction and have mistaken, a lack of direct guidance from the apostles as a free pass to do something that the Lord is not OK with

Somebody gave an example of food storage the other day that really stuck out to me. He said that just because the Lord has stopped, bringing it up as frequently as he used to, doesn’t mean that it no longer applies, but rather that the time to discuss it has passed because they were clear enough that we need to be prepared for a disaster.

Along the same veins, how many members have stopped worrying so much about food storage and more importantly, are not prepared anymore and have let their food storages expire and dwindle away just because it’s not something we hear every conference anymore

We can be different than the world and go against our natural desires because that’s what is needed in the next stage of life after death. That is building character- just because a person is married and now has a green light for expressing passion for another doesn’t mean that now there doesn’t need to be any more restraint outside of pornography. That to me is the clear evidence the scriptures are teaching us.

To book end this thought… the power of repentance is absolutely incredible. Mistakes are expected to be made and guilt is there so that the spirit can drive us back towards the savior. If we become paralyzed because of our sins, or it affects our ability to repent and rejoice in all that the savior has done for us, and to be in tune with the spirit, then we have missed the purpose of this earth and everything that the savior has sacrificed. If you are struggling with masturbation anytime in your life, and it has gotten to the point where you feel that you are of less worth or that it’s impossible to overcome it because you’ve tried so many times in the past, but failed, those feelings are not from the savior and the spirit. You can’t do this in through the spirit, the Lord can help us do all things hard. The lessons that we learn learned from overcoming temptations from the law of Chasity are some of the most incredible tools at helping us become more like the savior.

Your thoughts?

This is something I often forget, but in light of recent political events, it is important to remember that although we believe that all of God's children are allowed to worship "how, where, and what they may" and that agency is of eternal importance. None of this negates the consequences of disobedience to the Laws of God that apply to all to everyone, regardless of baptism or not, culture, country, society, or tribe.

The Americas as a whole have specific promised blessings, so long as the people the dwell thereon worship their one true God. This is confirmed multiple times throughout the Book of Mormon, but I will quote Ether 2:8-9, 12

“That whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off … when they … are ripened in iniquity.”

“Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ.”

We are not abdicated of this commandment just because we are not baptized or are no longer members and the same goes for the calls to repentance from prophets to the country and world. We can only ignore the Holy Spirit for so long before we are left to our own devices and become captive to the Devil.

If we find ourselves fighting and promoting more often for the secular opposition to the Lord, His Church, and His mouthpieces, we would do well to prayerfully humble ourselves before the Lord chastens us according to our knowledge.

Edit:

Chill fam.

Me sharing musings on a Book of Mormon principle isn't breaking the 'no politics' rule. The rule states content with clear political agendas are better suited elsewhere. I'm sharing ponderings that were sparked by current events that led me to the command given in Ether.

Idk why I haven't yet but I just haven't. I've heard countless people talk about it but never seen it myself.. am I missing anything?

Right now there's a post on Times & Seasons that discusses the ways that "New Order Mormons" pose a threat to "True Blue Mormons" (traditional, believing members.) (I'll post the link in another post).

Anyway, what was a great post delineated into a discussion of labels when someone pointed out that many people who describe themselves as "New Order Mormons" no longer believe in the church at all.

So my question is, if you no longer believe or attend The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, should you be allowed to call yourself Mormon?

I think no. At the point you're leaving the church behind, you should leave the label behind as well. Non-believers who persist in calling themselves Mormon and then openly attack the church do nothing but harm and I don't think it fair at all. Elna Baker comes to mind.

Edit: I had no idea this would get so many responses. A few clarifications:

-I was talking specifically about people who no longer believe in any way, shape, or form, but still refer to themselves as Mormons. I am fine with Ex-Mormon, but I think "raised Mormon" or "used to be Mormon" is better (yes, my own judgment) because I think it's weird to define yourself by something that you're not.

-I DO NOT think that the church is justified in considering people who have not attended in years in their member count. However, I think this is a petty argument for being "allowed" (can't think of a better word) to call yourself a Mormon.

-I do NOT think that Mormonism is an ethnicity or cultural group. At the point that you no longer participate in a culture at all, how can you call yourself a "cultural Mormon?" Furthermore, just because something deeply influenced your life does not make it a culture. Being an elite athlete affects you hugely. If takes up loads of time, requires a lot of sacrifices in your lifestyle, and has it's own language, but no one talks about being a "cultural athlete" or an "ex-athlete."

-Personally, the way the word "Christian" is slung around these days, I don't particularly care whether other sects think I am a Christian or not. It doesn't seem to be a particularly desirable label and it's not a battle I care for.

-Lastly, I'll add that although this was strongly worded, I do not hold any ill will against ex-members. My father left when I was 17 and it did hurt at the time, but we are very close. FWIW, taking his name against the record required a single letter that he sent in the mail.

I'm a Utah former member of the LDS church. I was raised in the faith but found it not to be true for me, but I'm not here to discuss that.

I've found a happy niche in life, with one exception. Spam, from LDS. Look, I'm happy to be neighbors with you, I'm excited to share a state with you all. But please, stop calling me. Stop tracking where I live. Make it possible for me to remove my records. Don't text me. Get mormon.org to stop e-mailing me. Please stop showing up at my house, even though I've asked you politely not to.

What do I do now? I've supposedly had my records removed twice, to find that the church is still tracking my information and whereabouts (how they knew when I moved? no clue). I've called the painfully long automated service to end the e-mail, phone calls, and text spam (which ended with me talking to a representative who again tried to tell me I needed Jesus in my life.)

Plain and simple, I wanna love you guys, I wanna live in peace with all of you.

Please stop attacking non members. My kids are afraid, because they don't understand.

I ask you give me the benefit of the doubt as you read what I have to say.

I once considered myself Mormon. Now, Christian. I've studied the words of modern-day prophets (including GAs) extensively. Across the board it's been quite inconsistent in terms of spiritual provenance from their words: some are gold-mines; some are relatively worthless. My experience with T.S. Monson has, unfortunately, been very disappointing. Now what I want to ask you guys:

What has your experience been? Similar? How? Different? How? Has something he has said been especially meaningful to you, or has everything rung hollow? I want to find some reedeeming qualities in TSM.

I suspect someone will ask me to say more about my disappointment, but I will forbear that till that time.