These are the new features:

• Share your mission, with dates and experiences, and see other friends from your mission
• Share the temple you were married (or would like to be married). Include the date you were sealed.
• Share gospel artwork on your profile and through messages.
• Group your favorite scriptures together and share your thoughts on them.
• Play some scripture mastery games.
• Reference the help section which overviews all the features.

The LDS App was created by the More Good Foundation. The LDS App now has almost 40,000 members.

This is the link to the book at Amazon: Gender and the Work-Family Interface

Gender and the Work-Family Interface

This is the description:

How do men and women differ in their perception of the work-family interface? How do these differences change as men and women transition to parenthood, raise and launch children, and then approach retirement? No previous studies adequately address these questions. This landmark study begins to. Data come from an IBM Global Work and Life Issues Survey representing 79 countries (N=41,813). Six family life stage groups were defined: no children and age 35 or less, transition to parenthood, preschool children, elementary children, teenagers, and empty nest (age 50+ years and no child dependents). Using a well-validated model of the work-family interface differences by gender by each life stage were identified. Using structural equation modeling the strengths of the paths were also compared. The findings indicate that gender differences are negligible until men and women have children. Parenting responsibilities are associated with greater gender differences. These differences diminish during the empty nest stage. Read this book for many other interesting, and sometimes unexpected gender differences in the work-family interface.

Obviously a quote or story is not enough for those who decided not to investigate seriously Mormonism, but this is the story about Count Leo Tolstoy and I love it, and I think it is becoming every day more true.

Count Leo Tolstoy, Russian author and statesman, in conversation with Andrew D. White, United States foreign minister to Russia, in 1892 said, “I wish you would tell me about your American religion.”

“We have no state church in America,” replied Dr. White.

“I know that, but what about your American religion?”

Dr. White explained to Tolstoy that in America each person is free to belong to the particular church in which he is interested.

Tolstoy impatiently replied: “I know all of this, but I want to know about the American religion. … The church to which I refer originated in America and is commonly known as the Mormon Church. What can you tell me of the teachings of the Mormons?”

Doctor White said, “I know very little concerning them.”

Then Count Leo Tolstoy rebuked the ambassador. “Dr. White, I am greatly surprised and disappointed that a man of your great learning and position should be so ignorant on this important subject. Their principles teach the people not only of heaven and its attendant glories, but how to live so that their social and economic relations with each other are placed on a sound basis. If the people follow the teachings of this church, nothing can stop their progress—it will be limitless.”

Tolstoy continued, “There have been great movements started in the past but they have died or been modified before they reached maturity. If Mormonism is able to endure, unmodified, until it reaches the third and fourth generation, it is destined to become the greatest power the world has ever known.”  –Shared by Elder David B. Haight in the May 1980 Ensign, emphasis added.

we had an investigator at the stake conference where we had a church building burn down, it was really sad, probably people will start saying that God burned it because it was not the true church…..

Luca is right. In fact, I was reading some of the comments to an article reporting what happened in Cambridge, and I found this comment:

God hath casted his awful verdict upon the heads of heretic! Repent or be astonished by his terrible anger, o you heathen!

And another:

How many signs do those people need?

I do not think they know yet the cause of the fire, but some people attribute to many things to God. The most probable reason was an accident, the second most probable reason was that someone -not God- did it on purpose.

To explain this kind of facts by saying that the wrath of God is on the Mormons, is the same like saying that God is responsible for killing thousands of innocent children every year around the world because of natural disasters or wars.

Probably there is another and more natural explanation.

The Rev. Alberto Cutie was removed from his duties after pictures showed him bare-chested with a woman… The Rev. Alberto Cutie — sometimes called “Father Oprah” because of the advice he gave on Spanish-language media — said Monday on CBS’ “Early Show” that he is in love with the woman and is considering his options: Whether to break up with her or leave the priesthood and marry her. The woman, who has not been publicly identified, wants to get married, Cutie said.

In a message posted on the Miami, Florida, archdiocese Web page last week, Archbishop John C. Favalora apologized to parishioners and radio listeners for what he called a “scandal.” “Father Cutie made a promise of celibacy and all priests are expected to fulfill that promise with the help of God,” Favalora said. “Father Cutie’s actions cannot be condoned despite the good works he has done as a priest.”

This happening really caught my attention, because before becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) I was involved in the catholic church, and in spite of never considering seriously the possibility of becoming a priest, I never liked the idea that priests were not supposed to get married. I had the feeling that it is was wrong.

It is not my intention to discuss policies of the Catholic Church, but I simply want to quote a scripture from the Bible, from the book of Genesis, and comment it briefly.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth..(Genesis 1:27-28)

From this scripture it is clear that God intended marriage to be part of life and to be good, not something to be avoided. He did not say that some men are more blessed because they do not marry. He did not say… “be fruitful, and multiply… but not all of you, just the normal people, the most special among you will live the higher law of celibacy..”  He did not say that.

There is a lot of confusion about what happened with Adam and Eve in the Christian literature, and many believe that in order to live a more spiritual life (like priests are supposed to live) marriage can be an hindrance and should be avoided. However, this is a mistake; marriage is ordained by God and it is a higher standard than celibacy. Moreover, celibacy is unnatural and may become a serious problem, has it has become for Rev. Alberto Cutie.

In the Church of Jesus Christ (Mormon Church), nobody is expected to avoid marriage to pursue a religious life. On the contrary, marriage and families are of extreme importance in God’s plan and Mormons believe that a religious life is better pursue by living a full life, as was intended by our Creator.

I am glad to have such knowledge now, and I am glad that I can live with my family and still pursue a religious live at his best, without having to give up any of the blessings that our God intended for us. I am confident that those who wants to know what really God wants for them, will be able to find the answer, if they have the faith and the courage to look for it.

]]> http://gmormon.com/804/rev-alberto-cutie-celibacy-mormons/feed 0 http://gmormon.com/799/can-a-person-really-see-god-bruce-r-mcconkie http://gmormon.com/799/can-a-person-really-see-god-bruce-r-mcconkie#comments Sat, 09 May 2009 18:12:28 +0000 Giuseppe Martinengo http://gmormon.com/?p=799 Can a person really see God? This and other questions are constantly raised by people who attack the Mormon church and the Mormon doctrine trying to prove that we are hoping for too much and that we are misguided. This is really sad, how many Christian people do not have the courage to understand the promises of the Lord.

Whenever and wherever men had faith, they saw the face of God, entertained angels, and performed miracles; they healed the sick, raised the dead, and wrought righteousness. Enoch and his whole city so perfected their lives that they were taken up into heaven. A whole generation of Nephites walked so perfectly in the light that every living soul among them was saved. In the meridian of time, Jesus marked the course and charted the way. The apostles after him built up the kingdom as they were guided by the Spirit.
And thus for more than four thousand years there were men who had received revelation, believed the gospel, and walked uprightly before the Lord. He in turn had poured out his Spirit upon them so that they “subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” (Heb. 11:33-34.) They had power “to break mountains, to divide the seas, to dry up waters, to turn them out of their course; to put at defiance the armies of nations, to divide the earth, to break every band, to stand in the presence of God; to do all things according to his will, according to his command, subdue principalities and powers; and this by the will of the Son of God which was from before the foundation of the world.” (JST Gen. 14:30-31.)    (Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man, p.37-38)

]]> http://gmormon.com/799/can-a-person-really-see-god-bruce-r-mcconkie/feed 0 http://gmormon.com/793/happy-mothers-day-mom-mormon-video http://gmormon.com/793/happy-mothers-day-mom-mormon-video#comments Fri, 08 May 2009 17:48:49 +0000 Giuseppe Martinengo http://gmormon.com/?p=793 This is a nice, simple but touching video produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). Teenagers talk about the wonderful things their mothers do. This Mother’s Day – Mormon messages suggests – let your mom know how special she is. Share this video with your mother and express your love.

]]> http://gmormon.com/793/happy-mothers-day-mom-mormon-video/feed 0 http://gmormon.com/785/mormon-conspiracy-and-twitter http://gmormon.com/785/mormon-conspiracy-and-twitter#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 07:12:30 +0000 Giuseppe Martinengo http://gmormon.com/?p=785 I have discovered Twitter not long ago (as many others) and I have been tracking a few hashtags such as Mormon. Today I noticed that someone posted the following:

Mormon leader of NOM appears to advocate overthrow of US government “by whatever means necessary”.

Then several others repeated the same over and over again. I tried to post something explaining the position of the Mormon Church, but it is a useless endeavor. There are several people out there who simply repeat over and over again anything they can find to attack the Mormon Church. I wonder why they do not talk about something positive and uplifting instead.

In any case, it is obvious that Twitter is not a good place to have a serious discussion about Mormonism  because it is based on short messages that can easily become slogan thrown out there to attack Mormons.

Other attacks-slogans sound like this:

These Mormon girls are so east to manipulate!

or

Does a “Well Behaved Mormon Woman” keep trying to impose Mormon dogma on the rest of the country, and use our laws to do so?

and so on…

I wonder if Twitter is here to stay, and probably it is. I can see the positive side of it, but at the same time it is obvious that it can easily become an instrument to spread rumors and attacks against people and organizations.  However, the problem, as usual, is not the new medium, but some of the people who use it.

President Obama misinterpreted Cuban President Raúl Castro’s offer to start talks with the United States, Castro’s brother Fidel said Wednesday, appearing to dismiss the U.S. leader’s call for Cuba to release political prisoners…When the president of Cuba said he was ready to discuss any topic with the U.S. president, he meant he was not afraid of addressing any issue,” Castro wrote. “That shows his courage and confidence on the principles of the revolution.” (http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/22/castro.cuba.obama/index.html).

What a different interpretation! “To be ready to discuss any topic” did not mean they were willing to make concessions or changes, but simply that they were ready to defend what they believe!

Foxnews.com on the same topics reported that,

The ex-president (Fidel Castro) had previously expressed his admiration for Obama, but this time Castro blasted the new U.S. president for showing signs of “superficiality.” (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/22/fidel-castro-obama-got-overture-wrong

Probably Obama thought it would be easier, or perhaps Obama, as many other leaders in all kind of organizations, thought that his predecessors were not smart enough, or were not following the proper principles in solving a problem. I do not have enough knowledge to suggest policies, but I was not surprised by this turn of events.

I am sure that Obama will change many of his campaign promises when faced with reality, as all leaders need to do. But some do it better than others. We will all see what Obama will do in this and other situations. I wish him well, for the good of the US and the world.