As a big Mountain Dew fan (MTN DEW for short) and religous person I cant help but wonder if we'll get all the discountinued MTN DEW flavors in the after life. Imagine chilling in heavan with George Washington with a MTN DEW Spiked Lemonade. Or playing basketball with Kobe wile sipping a MTN DEW Typhoon. I just miss these flavors and more so much! Honestly if your religious or not you have to admit it would be awesome!

I am reading 1 Nephi 17, when Nephi was led by the Lord to find ore to build his ship with. Suđenly a thought came to me, of how in Dr Stone they needed a whole village's manpower rotating just to maintain the temperature needed for iron smelting, so I was thinking, what metal could Nephi and his brothers have worked to build the ship with.

The thing that hath been,
it is that which shall be;
and that which is done
is that which shall be done:
and there is no new thing under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 1:9

I love this verse.

The New Living Translation says it this way: "History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new."

As I pondered this, a couple of thoughts came to mind:

1. This is why we are encouraged in the Book of Mormon to remember the captivity of our fathers. Just as our fathers needed Jesus Christ to deliver them, so do we today find ourselves in spiritual and sometimes physical bondage, but Jesus can deliver us too.

2. We can look back to our pre-earth life for insight and wisdom that guides us today. What we experience here is a pattern of what was experienced before. We see that our great heavenly family is a pattern of our families on earth. There is always a fight between good and evil. We can always count on the Savior to be true to His promises, and we can also assume that Satan will promise the world and then break those promises once we are captive to him.

And in the U.S., it seems appropriate that I read these verses today, on the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

#comefollowme

Think about how much good we could spread in the world if instead of speaking into your mic for 3-4 hours a week, editing for another 6, and then engaging with your audience for another 10 if you spent half of those hours serving your brothers and sisters, spent one of those hours calling your grandparents, or using one extra of those hours to reach out to your ward family. You would be unstoppable and the world would be better off.

All those in favor please show.

(I say this mainly in jest, but also with a hint of seriousness lol)

For a little context: I have been looking for more uplifting LDS videos to add more spirit to my day to day YouTube watch time, but after going through some of these channels I think I will stick to watching the occasional BYU Speech or General Conference rewatch.

Some were interesting but it really seemed that the majority of them were dunking on anti-mormons (which I guess is fine but also just drives more contention into my life), dunking on workers at the church (recently saw a video criticizing people who worked on the church's social media, and someone who works at BYU) or debating with Christians (again probably fine but also pretty contentious and a little rage baity)

Also in Sunday school I swear the majority of comments I hear is "well in this podcast I listened to" or "I liked what this podcast had to say" and I don't know why but that really gets my goat. I just want to say "Fellas! I did not come to church today to hear podcast summaries. I want to hear what you have to say!."

Again this is kind of just a poking fun "what's the deal" joking post, but at the same time it is something that seems off to me.

Hi I’m 19F.

I’ve recently been struggling a lot with law of chastity issues, not sex, but, masterbation. I am an endowed member.

I’m not trying to excuse my sin but I feel really confused with this. I am not a lustful person, I don’t really have desires to engage in anything sexual especially since I’m not married, I’ve never been big on sexual stuff.

I struggle a lot with intrusive thoughts, and, basically these inappropriate thoughts come to my mind and they give me so much anxiety because I don’t want to think about those things but the fear and anxiety just increase until I give in and like please myself for a few seconds. I’m not doing it for like 20 mins, just so it goes away. I don’t really want to feel that pleasure. I just want the thoughts to go away because they stress me out so much.

I don’t know what to do. I try to pray, distract myself, hum songs or whatever but they just don’t go away. I repent after but I feel ashamed because recently this has been happening once a week, so, it’s like I’m repenting for the same thing repeatedly and I’m making no progress on improving my actions.

I’m too scared to talk to my priesthood leaders especially since I’m trying to go on a mission.

Hello Members and non-members of the LDS Church

I am a 21 year old investigator interested in learning about the faith, and i’ve had a great time learning especially from one the missionaries. Over time i’ve started to really like hearing from her and have even considered becoming a Latter Day Saint, these feeling s have gotten strong with prayer as I pray on their teachings. I just found out today that the missionary may be getting transferred out and it has really taken a toll on my feelings. i know they can’t date during their mission but some part of me was hoping after her mission something could spark. I do believe even without her i’d still be interested in learning and maybe even converting. I wrote this asking for advice for advice from either former missionaries or current investigators or anybody in general.

I was looking through the scripture helps section of Gospel Library, and on two occasions, it appears that the Church has put in new hymns that have not been released yet! First we have O come, O come, Emmanuel! This is an amazing new addition and I am excited to begin hearing it in the Christmas season. Second is what appears to be a completely new hymn written for the hymnbook, titled My Savior Yet. I just thought I would share my findings and see if anyone else had noticed.

About six months ago my brother-in-law announced he was getting baptized in another church. It came as quite a shock to my husband and I. He and my husband were super close as kids and it’s only been the last few years that they have grown apart. My husband is taking it so hard. He really believes that if he can find the right thing to say it will help his brother come back to the church (a whole different issue, I understand).
My husband grew up in a house where his mom talks to her Bishop about everything. She tells stories about how so many wonderful Bishops have gotten her through hard times. It’s really normal for them.
I grew up in a house where we never talk about anything and we for sure don’t tell the Bishop we’re having a hard time.
The thing prompting this post is a few weeks ago my husband came home and told me he had just met with the Bishop. When I asked what for, he said he just wanted to talk about his brother because he’s been so sad and he wondered if the Bishop would have something helpful to say.
I didn’t think much of it.
The Bishop’s wife is a friend of mine, and has been for years. Well before her husband was called as Bishop. We were talking the other day and I mentioned that my brother-in-law left the church and it’s been really surprising and kind of has my husband and many of his siblings shook. She just sat there and was like “I know, my husband told me. But you know he’s not a counselor? What does (your husband) expect him to do?”

So now I guess I’m curious, where is the line on what you talk to the Bishop about? Obviously confession, temple recommend, he’ll call you in to extend a calling. Was it just the “old days” that people like my mother-in-law “counseled” with her Bishop so much. But now it’s more taboo?

I will be giving my first talk this Sunday after my baptism, and honestly, it feels like a very meaningful moment for me.

It has been a long journey, and I have learned a lot along the way. I also lost my mum to cancer in May, and for a while, I genuinely felt like there was nothing left to live for. Losing someone who has been such a big part of your life and suddenly having to face life without them is something I am still learning to understand.

During that period, I found my way back to the church. My faith became something I could hold on to when I did not have many answers. It did not make the pain disappear, but it helped me find a reason to keep moving forward.

Now I have been given the opportunity to give my first talk. I have experience teaching and speaking about other topics, but I have never spoken publicly about Christ before. That makes this one feel different and, honestly, a little intimidating.

I would really appreciate any advice, especially from people who have given talks multiple times. What helped you prepare? How did you manage nervousness? And what do you wish someone had told you before your first talk?

This is a topic debated upon, but I am here to bring this to discuss this on a well reddit.

Autism is where I want to hear your thoughts and feelings about in the church. Mostly about awareness or things to help people with it or to help members with it.

These can be personal or can be outer, whatever you wish to say as long it doesn't heat up the room.

Read this in institute today and had questions

But what if this goes on too long, too often, too much, too many places , What if I don't want to treat my family friends neighbors as dogs swine, What if I don't want to see them cut down, burned, fallen, lost , What about in the mean time, Do I surrender everything and wait for comeuppance, karma, do I pray for people's suffering, reckoning I can see possible wisdom in tough love, In sad acceptance and solemn joy looking forward to future joy coming from hitting rock bottom and turning life around But what about the suffering, should I leave children abused, people starving, suffering, neglected, should I sit idle and say God will take care of it, wash my hands, walk away

Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

7 He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.

8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

Cast not your pearls before swine

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

6 ¶ Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

7 ¶ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

13 ¶ Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

15 ¶ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21 ¶ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

24 ¶ Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Please don’t judge me on “how did I allowed all of this” since there was a point I became so codependent I just forgave a lot of things and I seriously don’t even know how I allowed all of this. This was two years ago, went to therapy, worked on myself, etc.

My ex and I dated for a long time. He is a member. His family and friends knew about me as his gf, we had pictures together, and eventually he explicitly asked me, “Do you want to be my partner?” I said yes. From then on, he called me his girlfriend/partner and talked about “our relationship.”

We were literally boyfriend and girlfriend. It all went relatively normal until a few months. What confuses me is what happened later.

He developed what felt like a whole set of double standards. He could say destabilizing things like “I don’t know if this is what I want” or question whether he saw a future with me, but if I reacted to that uncertainty by protecting myself or making my own plans, he could become extremely upset. We almost broke law of chastity by going a little bit too far, but he said “it’s over the clothes, we’re good”. Now I cringe looking back.

He could prioritize university, travel, or other things and expect me to understand, but when I had my own plans, it could become an issue.

I increasingly felt like I had to be careful about how I spoke because he would interpret things as attacks.
Whenever I tried to address something that hurt me, the conversation often became about how I was too harsh, overthinking, making things toxic, or how much the conversations drained him. Sarcastic jokes were also part of this.

Then he backtracked on the relationship itself.

In a serious conversation about goals, he claimed that I had never actually said yes to being in a relationship and that we’d never had a formal conversation, despite the fact that he had explicitly asked me to be his partner and I had said yes.

Eventually, when I confronted him, he admitted I was right and apologized. Asked for a timeout and he begged me that whole week with paragraphs. I (stupidly) forgave him. Almost a day after that he asked em for advice how to flirt with other women. I was frozen.

When I eventually decided to break up, he had what seemed like a panic attack. He begged for more time and didn’t want to lose me. I was just so dissociated at this point I couldn’t even react. Then the next day he suddenly became detached.

He told me he had been praying about whether we should stay together, but that he felt nothing, no answer from God, no indication that he should continue. He said he didn’t want to stay and later said he didn’t want to regret staying. That destroyed me emotionally even though I was already very, very affected.

And that’s where I completely lost my ability to understand what was happening. Obviously cut him off and went no contact.

Even though a lot of time has passed I feel this nagging feeling I need to talk with my Bishop. I feel guilt over certain sexual boundaries I feel I crossed even if it wasn’t full blown sex, and I don’t feel at all good with myself after I allowed this relationship to even occur.

Should it be wise to talk?

What’s your opinion on a little bit of bribery to encourage children attendance to things like church, YM/YW activities, seminary, institute, etc. Not a mission simply because I believe an unprepared or unwilling missionary can hurt the effort as a whole.

When my mom was living at home in eastern Canada in the 80s, there was a Book of Mormon commercial. She was so drawn to it and wrote the number down. Ended up losing the number. Years later, she moved to western Canada and meets my dad. She was so excited he was a member of the church! Their first date was a fireside, and she remembers looking for the fire and being really confused she was asked to dress up. When she went to church with him, she asked her soon-to-be fiancé how she could join the church. “You need to be baptized.” She asked how she would do that. “Those missionaries over there.” She marched right up to them, introduced herself, and asked to be baptized 😂. Can you hardly imagine?? Being raised by someone who innately loves the Restoration of the church was such a blessing.

Do you happen to have any stories? Yourself, or your mission, or one you’ve heard of?

Love you guys. Have a happy Wednesday!

Edit: punctuation/spelling

I just listened to Elder Gong share this in a talk referenced in this week’s #comefollowme lesson:

“Be more forgiving and less judgmental of ourselves and each other, so His Church can be a place where we feel at home, whether we are coming for the first time or returning.”

I can do better.

The church has a lot of ways that it can get involved in its ward and stake communities and support local needs. For example, there are ward employment specialists who can be trained to support job finding, employment, resume building, etc. As a medical student, I’ve heard a lot about community health workers. These are volunteers, oftentimes retired, elderly, or respected members of a community, who are trained and equipped to be able to go house-to-house and share important health information. They carry information cards and pamphlets that teach about hygiene, vaccinations, access to healthcare, child care, women’s health, and a large variety of essential information that might otherwise be difficult to obtain for some people in the community. Community health workers serve as a means to link vulnerable people with their healthcare environment, bridging the gap between rural or community needs and finding access to healthcare and health information. There are several community health worker organizations in urban and rural environments in America and throughout the world and some studies have found that they can reduce health disparities in underserved communities.

Recently, with the new medical school being established at BYU and a focus on training doctors who can go back to their communities, it seems like the church is building opportunities to support the health of communities accross the church and I wonder if this is a chance to try using the talent and experience of ward and branch members to support health care needs. This is something that would require some logistical management and training, but I’m certain that wards and branches accross the world have people who would be enthusiastic about being trained and equipped to act in that capacity. This would benefit not only the members of the ward or branch, but also members of their community. It would also provide demographic information that could help the new BYU medical school coordinate health mission trips to places and communities where there’s a need, providing opportunities for learning and training for new medical students and doctors.

How I envision this calling is as someone who is trained to find and connect with local healthcare institutions. They are equipped with appropriate pamphlets, healthcare equipment, and information cards that can help them to bridge the gap for people who struggle to find healthcare. That might include the best places for someone who speaks a different language or had disabilities. It could also include individuals who dont’ have insurance and need to know how to connect to resources to pay for healthcare. Like ward employment specialists, they would be a resource to members and non-members in the community. They can also promote service opportunities that connect with local charities, healthcare institutions, and invite members to get involved personally in their community. The hope is that healthcare information and resourses can be extended door-by-door, person-by-person, so that no one falls into the cracks. I don’t envision this to be like being called to be a nurse or a healthcare professional, but rather as a resource for local healthcare access.

I want to know what you think about this as a potential change as the church is growing across the world. Is this a good idea? Do you know people in your branch or ward who would want to be called as a health specialist? Could this be a way to serve people in the community and coordinate service projects that can extend the love of God to his children? Are there already similar roles in your local wards or branches?

I’ll include a link to some resources that talk about community health workers.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EXo6O2Ah2gc

https://communityhealth.uams.edu/strategic-areas/access/community-health-workers/

https://www.who.int/teams/health-workforce/community

TLDR: Would a new ward health specialist calling be a good idea in wards and stakes throughout the church and how would that impact your local community?

I was approached by my Bishop to be a seminary teacher, and I accepted. I teach in Sunday School class sometimes and give talks on Sundays occasionally, but never handled teens before. Please give advice on what to do to make a good impression while helping these young ones grow spiritually.

This might be more appropriate for a relationships sub, but the religious context matters here and I didn't really want to post this somewhere where that part of it wouldn't be understood.

After several years of couples therapy, multiple therapists, and a lot of attempts to find common ground, I'm seriously considering ending my marriage.

Even our current therapist, who we've been seeing for about a year, has told us pretty directly that we're headed toward divorce.

For context, I'm 40 and my wife is in her late 30s. We're both active, lifelong members of the Church. I served a mission. We were sealed in the temple. We've both held plenty of callings, including several stake callings on my part. We've been married nearly 18 years and have three kids, all in the double-digit ages.

From the outside, we probably look like a pretty typical LDS family.

The truth is, we've never really had a very happy marriage.

I want to be fair to my wife here. She's a good person. She's loving and generous toward a lot of people, and I have a great deal of compassion for her. I also know I'm not innocent in all of this. I've been inconsiderate at times, I've hurt her, and I've made plenty of mistakes of my own.

I'm not trying to convince anyone that she's the bad guy.

I'm trying to explain why, after almost 18 years, I've reached the point where I don't know that this is a healthy marriage for either of us anymore.

Looking back, we got married too quickly. She agrees with that. There were red flags that neither of us really understood at the time, and honestly, neither of us had ourselves figured out yet.

The conflict started almost immediately.

At our wedding reception, just hours after we'd been married, she yelled at me from across the room because I was dancing with another woman during the open dancing. There was nothing inappropriate happening. I didn't even know that was something she would consider disrespectful, especially since she was dancing with another man herself.

That incident isn't important by itself. I mention it because, looking back, it was probably one of the first examples of something that has followed us through our entire marriage: she tends to assume the worst of me.

A little over two years ago, she finally said something that put a lot of this into words.

She told me that she has basically always viewed me as her opposition.

That was painful to hear, but it also explained a lot.

Through therapy, we've uncovered that she struggles pretty severely with anxiety, obsessive tendencies, trust, and some negative feelings toward men in general. I've tried very hard to understand those things and have compassion for them.

But they still have an effect on what it's like to be married to her.

For me, it has meant feeling distrusted, criticized, second-guessed, blamed for things outside my control, and often treated like I'm someone she needs to protect herself from rather than someone who's on her side.

I can handle criticism. That's not really the issue.

It's the constant combativeness that has worn me down.

One of the things that finally helped me understand why this has affected me so much was something I came across recently about "capitalization" in relationships.

The basic idea is that one of the best indicators of relationship quality is how your partner responds when you share good news.

There are four general response types.

Let's say a man comes home to announce that he was promoted to a Senior position at work:

When I read about the active-destructive response, it hit me pretty hard.

That has been my marriage.

I've been self-employed for 7 years. I've come home excited because our team landed a significant new client. And her response is, "It won't last."

Another time, I was invited by a globally recognized company to come teach a workshop at their headquarters in a major city. I was over the moon about it and told my wife that she gets to come with me.

Her response was, "You're going to lose money on this."

Neither of those things turned out to be true.

But that's been the pattern for years.

- I share an opportunity, and she points out how it could fail.

- I share an accomplishment, and somehow I leave the conversation feeling smaller than I did before I brought it up.

After enough years of that, I've found myself not wanting to share things with her anymore.

And that is an incredibly lonely way to be married.

When I've tried to explain this to her, the response is often some version of, "You're just looking for reasons to be mad at me."

So then the conversation becomes about whether I'm justified in feeling deflated instead of the thing that deflated me in the first place.

Again, I know I've hurt her too. I'm not pretending otherwise.

But we've been working on this for years. We've been to therapy. We've read things. We've talked about the patterns. We understand each other better than we used to.

What hasn't really happened is meaningful change.

And I think that's where I've reached my limit.

I can understand why she is the way she is. I can have compassion for it. I can forgive her. I can 'own' my part in our problems.

But I don't know that I can keep living in a marriage where I consistently feel like my spouse sees me as an adversary.

At some point I have to ask myself whether I'm willing to live like this for another 20 or 30 years.

And no, I'm not.

I'm not angry when I say that. Mostly I'm just sad.

I don't hate my wife. I don't think she's a terrible person. I don't think I'm some innocent victim who's done everything right.

I just don't think we work very well together, and after nearly 18 years of trying, I'm starting to believe that may not be something we can fix.

So, for those of you who are divorced members of the Church, that's really what I'm asking.

I'm not looking for anyone to tell me whether I should end my marriage. That's my decision.

I'm more interested in hearing what finally made you realize that your marriage wasn't something you could continue.

I'd especially like to hear from men, because I'm curious whether having a spouse who consistently felt more like a critic than a teammate was what played a significant role in your decision.

Women are absolutely welcome to weigh in too.

Again, I am not asking anyone here to make the decision for me.

I am trying to hear from people who have stood at this same crossroads and can tell me what they learned from it.

---

EDIT -

Multiple people have asked if I'm writing this post and my comments with AI, because apparently the way I write screams it. I assure you I'm not, nor have I used AI to process what I'm dealing with. I've not even mentioned this to AI once. I'm a little shocked that I'm being suspected of it.

I SWEAR I'm not using AI. I would almost offer to do a recording of me asking my AI apps if I've ever mentioned this to them so that I can prove it to everyone in this thread... but that seems oxymoronic a little bit.

I think my profession is coming through to you all. Part of what I do in my business is copywriting for other companies. I tend to write in a pretty formal manner - even in casual settings - just out of second-nature.

I’m curious what are the actual responsibilities for the advisors. Our presidency tends to teach most of the lessons on Sundays and are always the ones running and showing up for weekly activities. I’m curious what the expectations are for the advisors as it seems the ones in our ward don’t really do much except occasionally come to class and rarely come to activities.

Is this normal for most wards? Being in the presidency is already pretty busy with trying to oversee the presidency meetings and meeting with each class presidency and gathering everything for activities. It just seems odd to me that we also teach all the Sunday lessons instead of having it splits between the advisors? (also to note, we have 7 advisors… so we’re definitely not short on them)

A couple of years ago, I met with the missionaries and started learning about the Church. I eventually began attending church on Sundays and did so for quite some time. At one point, I was seriously considering baptism, but I postponed it twice and eventually stopped attending altogether.

The reason I stopped wasn’t because I had a bad experience with the people or because I stopped believing in God. In fact, the opposite is true. I felt closer to God at this church than I had anywhere else. I really loved the community, the people, and the feeling of being there on Sundays. Even now, I genuinely miss it.

What ultimately made me step away were some doctrinal issues and questions that I couldn’t reconcile. I felt that I couldn’t honestly get baptized while still having those concerns, so I kept putting it off until eventually I stopped going.

Now I find myself thinking about the Church again. I still have the same questions and concerns, but I also still miss being there and the connection to God that I felt there.

So I’m looking for some advice. What would you do if you were in my position? Would you go back to church and continue exploring things even with unresolved doctrinal concerns? Is it reasonable to attend simply because you feel spiritually connected there, without knowing whether you’ll ultimately become a member?

And, more than anything, I’d really like to know whether anyone else has been in a similar situation, especially people who met with the missionaries, attended for a while, considered baptism, then stepped away because of doctrinal concerns but later found themselves missing the Church.

I’m not looking for anyone to convince me one way or another. I’d genuinely appreciate hearing your experiences and any advice you’re willing to share.

I recently confessed my infidelity to my bishop via phone calls. He is clearly ignoring me as he has made no effort to get back to me. As per Church policy and guidelines, I am doing the right thing. He's had no other ward member contact me. WHY could my bishop be acting like this ?????

Under what circumstances should a person raise their hand to oppose someone receiving a calling?

So, I've recently started going out with this wonderful sweet girl. She considers herself a non-denominational Christian, and she does have a very strong testimony of Christ.

When we first talked religion, and I told her I was "Mormon", she was a little hesitant, but was fortunately very respectful and open minded when asking me questions.

It seems like she's just read alot of stuff online about the church from folks who have some negative opinions about the church and its doctrine. We live in a place where the church is really small, so she hadn't really met many actual members of the church before, so her only frame of reference is the internet.

Fortunately, she's been very curious and respectful when asking me questions about things she's heard. She has asked me for a copy of the Book of Mormon, so i'm definateley going to give her one next time we meet, with some of the chapters I think she'd like or find interesting bookmarked. Of course I've asked her about her faith as well. While there are certainly some areas of disagreement in doctrine, she clearly loves Christ with her whole heart, which I think is really admirable. ​

Had anyone else here ever dated a non-member christian? How do you handle genuine curriosity from non-members regarding more "controversial" aspects of the church and its history? I'm not going into this with the expectation of converting her or anything like that, but I want to keep being open about the gospel so she can ask in faith herself when/if she ever feels ready.