233d07f5   
   XPost: alt.religion.mormon, alt.religion.christian.pentecostal,    
   lt.support.ex-cult   
   XPost: alt.politics.bush   
   From: clitteigh@yahoo.com   
      
   IF THESE ACCOUNTS DON'T CONVINCE YOU THAT THE MORMONS AND THE AMISH   
   ARE CULTS THAT SHOULD BE DENIED TAX-FREE RELIGION STATUS, YOU NEED TO   
   GO "TO BE WITH YOUR LORD" NOW!   
      
      
      
   --------------   
   "On sex and the single Mormon"   
      
   By Peggy Fletcher Stack   
   The Washington Post   
   Saturday, February 26, 2011; B02   
      
      
      
      
      
   To many Americans, religious or not, chastity before marriage is a   
   quaint tradition at best and emotionally damaging at worst.   
      
   After all, more than 90 percent of men and women have reported   
   engaging in premarital sex, according to Guttmacher Institute surveys   
   during the past 50 years. And the older a single person becomes, many   
   people say, the more ridiculous it seems to forgo physical intimacy.   
      
   That's the perspective of Mormon poet Nicole Hardy, who in a New York   
   Times essay last month described her decision to join the rest of the   
   modern world.   
      
   "As I grew older, I had the distinct sense of remaining a child in a   
   woman's body; virginity brought with it arrested development on the   
   level of a handicapping condition," Hardy writes. "Too independent for   
   Mormon men, and too much a virgin for the other set, I felt trapped in   
   adolescence." Hardy, who declined to be interviewed until her   
   forthcoming book is out, had reached a point in her mid-30s at which   
   she thought it was no longer worth holding out.   
      
   Hardy's essay swept across the Mormon blogosphere, attracting critics   
   and defenders. They argued about her reasoning. Some blamed her, not   
   the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for her   
   predicament. They said she misunderstood Mormon principles. Others   
   empathized with her complaints. They felt - and lived - her pain.   
      
   There are millions of unmarried Mormons; some say up to a third of   
   adult Mormons in the United States are without spouses. For a religion   
   that makes marriage and family central to a person's eternal   
   potential, that can be tough.   
      
   Although Mormon men are also expected to be abstinent before marriage,   
   the challenges facing Mormon women seem particularly difficult. The   
   church tends to align itself with a more traditional culture, in which   
   men typically are seen as the deciders and women patiently wait to be   
   asked.   
      
   Frances Johnson, an unmarried 20-something writer in the District,   
   sees Hardy's approach as simplistic, missing the essence of Mormon   
   teachings.   
      
   "When you boil the issue down to simply, 'Can I have sex or can't I?'   
   you are going to find yourself in a less-than-optimal situation if   
   you're in your 30s and not married," Johnson said. "You are going to   
   be frustrated and probably talk yourself out of waiting."   
      
   Sex isn't the doorway to adulthood that makes you the type of person   
   you want to become, she said. That is a "fallacy and discounts the   
   value of all the other kinds of relationships in our lives - with   
   family, friends, co-workers and romantic partners where sex is not   
   involved."   
      
   Chris J. - writing for a popular Mormon blog, timesandseasons.org -   
   said the lack of sex is only part of what keeps him from feeling like   
   a grown-up.   
      
   What troubles Chris, who lives in Arlington, about his unmarried state   
   is the "persistent feeling of unsettledness that leaves so many   
   personal triumphs and tragedies - and the overall arc of my life -   
   doggedly incomplete."   
      
   Marybeth Raynes, a Salt Lake City psychologist and sex therapist, said   
   any institution with clear behavior boundaries is going to be   
   difficult for "outliers," those who do not follow all the rules.   
      
   Such a dynamic can lead to a "split life" for such people, who may   
   choose to give up either their sexuality or their spirituality.   
      
   "Each person has to resolve that for themselves," Raynes said. "Some   
   women - a minority, I think - lead a double life as the church would   
   define it, saying, 'This part is between me and God.'"   
      
   Stephen Lamb, a Mormon and a doctor, applauds the LDS Church's "stern   
   but compassionate approach" and blames modern society for equating sex   
   with maturity.   
      
   A recent Brigham Young University study reported that couples who   
   delayed sex until after marriage reported greater satisfaction in   
   their communication - and in their sex lives - than those who didn't   
   wait.   
      
   "The hypersexual culture in which we live has one pervasive message to   
   young adults and it is that happiness can only be derived through   
   sex," said Lamb, co-author of "Between Husband and Wife: Gospel   
   Perspectives on Marital Intimacy."   
      
   "But the vast majority of LDS kids who succumb to that illusion   
   eventually discover that sex before marriage doesn't bring happiness   
   and doesn't make them more fulfilled," Lamb said.   
      
   Mormons teach that no one attains the highest reaches of heaven alone.   
   And although LDS doctrine reassures members that all righteous Mormons   
   eventually will wed - whether here or in the hereafter - marriage   
   remains a requirement.   
      
   LDS spokesman Michael Purdy said church leaders care deeply about the   
   welfare of Mormon singles and "value these members just as they love   
   and value all members." Purdy acknowledged that "this love and support   
   are not always shown the way they should be" and said any   
   insensitivity is "unacceptable."   
      
   Many single Latter-day Saints "live happy, fulfilled lives and   
   contribute greatly to the church," Purdy said. "These faithful members   
   recognize that while they are not currently married, they belong to   
   immediate and extended families, to a church family and to the all-   
   inclusive family of God."   
      
   - Salt Lake Tribune   
      
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/25/   
   R2011022506370.html   
      
      
      
   --------------------------   
   AND ANOTHER LAUGHER ...   
      
   "Four Amish Children Killed In KY Flash Flood After Missing Radio   
   Warnings"   
      
      
   BRUCE SCHREINER and KRISTIN M. HALL   
   Huffington Post   
   02/26/11   
      
      
      
      
   MAYFIELD, Ky. — The flash flood warning went out via electronic   
   channels the Amish typically eschew: TVs, radios and computers. About   
   an hour after the National Weather Service alert, four children were   
   swept away as their family tried to ford a rain-swollen creek in a   
   horse-drawn buggy.   
      
   Whether the family was aware of the warning for their Kentucky county,   
   they knew it was raining hard Thursday night. And when they reached   
   the normally tiny creek, it was more like a fast-moving river.   
      
   Within moments, the covered buggy tipped, tossing the four children   
   into the torrent.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)