Elder Dallin H. Oaks’ General Conference remarks on Same-Gender Attraction

Posted on October 29th, 2008 by North Star

The following video has recently been added to the North Star YouTube page:

On September 30, 2006, during his semi-annual General Conference address of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “He Heals the Heavy Laden,” Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles spoke of how the atonement of Jesus Christ can apply in the lives of those who experience same-gender attraction and included portions of a letter by a man who had been excommunicated and rebaptized.

You’re not in charge of me either

Posted on October 28th, 2008 by -L-

As I posted previously, we can all benefit from letting God be in charge of us. Some have cautioned that church leaders are not infallible and that if we follow them when they are wrong, we are then responsible for our own actions and no person “in charge” will lift our guilt. I agree with this warning.

Paths - A Reply

Posted on October 27th, 2008 by Kim Mack

I was going to respond to a comment to my latest post, but it ended up being long enough to be it’s own entry.  I hope you all don’t mind this kind of response.

Unrest

Posted on October 25th, 2008 by Kim Mack

I was able to take my family to California last week.  We spent a great week there and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.  We also got to see daily reminders of the Prop 8 argument.  It was on the radio, TV, billboards, and on store signs.  Some were for it, some were not.  It was expected, of course, to see all that, and it was interesting to see each side’s arguments.  But honestly, I was glad to drive away from it.

Battle over marriage in California gets heated

Posted on October 22nd, 2008 by Ty Ray

In the last few days, things in California have gotten kind of ugly. Both those in support of Prop 8 and those against it have accused the other side of misrepresenting the truth, and both are actively trying to sell their points of view. As the Church has stepped up its efforts, they have been increasingly spotlighted and targeted by those who oppose Prop 8. The Daily Kos got hold of a published list of LDS donors and have called on readers “to see if these donors have contributed to… shall we say… less than honorable causes, or if any one of these big donors has done something otherwise egregious. If so, we have a legitimate case to make the Yes on 8 campaign return their contributions, or face a bunch of negative publicity.”

In addition, while at least one man vocal in his opposition to the Church’s efforts faces possible excommunication, protesters of Prop 8 in California have been reported to disrupt visitors to the Oakland temple. Mormons and ex-Mormons also recently delivered letters to church headquarters to protest the church’s involvement.

“You’re not in charge of me.”

Posted on October 21st, 2008 by -L-

My son, 4, has a new favorite phrase for when either I or FRM (my wife) ask him to do something he doesn’t care for: “You’re not in charge of me.”  We have several times now tried to point out that actually we are.  He doesn’t believe us.  And, ultimately I think he’s really the one who can back it up.

Wish I were a GeekDad

Posted on October 18th, 2008 by Mark

Although I don’t claim the mighty title of Geek, I do aspire to the role - especially that of GeekDad. I have no children (though maybe someday), so I fulfill my GeekDad aspirations vicariously through Wired’s GeekDad blog.

In a recent post, the blog highlighted a mega-cool mega-man costume making by geeky dad “cranieum.” The costume making posts are cool, but what I appreciated even more was an early post on cranieum’s blog in which he describes his video game addiction history and his committment to his young family. Sometimes it’s just good to know that non-ssa guys struggle with unhealthy addictions but have the same desires to be good, honorable men.

And the Captain Nintendo costume? Wicked. I used to watch that crappy cartoon too in order to get my NES fix. Now if only he had a buddy who would dress up as Simon from Castlevania…

North Star Newsletter - October 2008

Posted on October 13th, 2008 by North Star

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“Closet Boy” and other favorites from Engrish.com

Posted on October 11th, 2008 by Ty Ray

One of my favorite websites is Engrish.com. I lived in Japan for three years when I was younger and my undergraduate major was Asian Studies, so Engrish my second language. The following are some of my favorites from the Motherland(s):

Caption: “These are perfect for my pink sweaters…”

Church steps up efforts on marriage proposition, launches new website: PreservingMarriage.org

Posted on October 9th, 2008 by Ty Ray

On the heels of a recent turn in California polls toward favor of those wish to maintain the legal definition of marriage as a union of a man and a woman, the Church has launched a new website: PreservingMarriage.org.

Two recent California statewide polls show that the Protect Marriage campaign has taken a lead. A CBS/Survey USA showed that Yes on 8 is leading by a margin of 47% Yes to 42% No. Shortly after that, Equality California briefed the gay media about their own campaign poll conducted by Lake Research Partners showing our campaign leading by a margin of 47% Yes to 43% No. Apparently, they attributed the sudden shift in voter attitudes to, “Yes on 8 is raising more money, and its most recent ad campaign is highly effective.”