A minor point on LDS "sealing"

[Forguette]

And the link that GirlGuide provided, doesn't work for me. I get an error 503. 'This page isn't working.'

[Erato]

"who is the most generous and religious"

I don't know about  most religious but I'll give the Mormons credit for being both open and generous with the records they have transcribed.  I have used FamilySearch for years and never once had them say a word to me about religion.  Not one single word.  They make their record sets freely available to all, even to us atheists.

[rogerb]

During my younger years, our family used to "host" Mormons as lodgers in our spare room.  Being very young I never quite understood what they meant when they said that the came here to "study".

Either way, I only have good memories of the dozen or so that stayed with us.  I remember that they used to trade practical jokes with my dad, and on the odd occasion that they would baby sit me, they would let me stay up to watch Match of the Day!

As I got older I could never understand the bad press that they got.

[Andrew Tarr]

I get the impression that the LDS has some slightly oddball? ideas and therefore are not regarded as acceptable to the mainstream faiths.

As a trained scientist, and therefore (I hope) a rational person, I am in full agreement.  Although I have found Mormons to be pleasant people, I cannot take seriously the tale of Joseph Smith and those plates returning to heaven.  And the notion of inventing post-mortem links between people is faintly ludicrous too.

Despite attending a semi-religious school, over the years I have gradually become a confirmed atheist.  Religions which insist that the only Truth was defined more than 1000 years ago, impose it on their followers and encourage them to go to war about it, tend to confirm my opinion.  The LDS are not like that, of course, but I find a Victorian re-hash of the Bible rather amusing.

[Guy Etchells]

Despite attending a semi-religious school, over the years I have gradually become a confirmed atheist.  Religions which insist that the only Truth was defined more than 1000 years ago, impose it on their followers and encourage them to go to war about it, tend to confirm my opinion.  The LDS are not like that, of course, but I find a Victorian re-hash of the Bible rather amusing.

If I were to label myself I would say I tend to prefer the deist point of view, as no one has yet satisfactorily explained what came from before "the big bang".
Cheers
Guy

[Erato]

"no one has yet satisfactorily explained what came from before "the big bang""

And exactly how does deism resolve that problem?

[Andrew Tarr]

If I were to label myself I would say I tend to prefer the deist point of view, as no one has yet satisfactorily explained what came from before "the big bang".

I think the whole history of supernatural beings (gods) arose from peoples attempting to explain the origin of what they found around them, especially things like thunderstorms and earthquakes.  If no rational cause presented itself, there must be an irrational one.

I agree about the Big Bang, but don't forget dear old Archbishop Ussher who calculated from the Bible that the Creation was completed in October 4004BC (IIRC) 

[Guy Etchells]

"no one has yet satisfactorily explained what came from before "the big bang""

And exactly how does deism resolve that problem?

It doesn't that is why I was very careful in what I wrote, which by sniping you have changed.
The reason I prefer the deist point of view, is due to the romantic in me which is in competition with my logical mind.
In other words I like that explanation rather than the scientific guesses so far suggested and indeed it could be explained by the scientific thought of initial singularity, but instead of that label (initial singularity) using the label God.
I am not saying the above is correct but simply I prefer such explanations rather than others proposed.
Cheers
Guy

[Sloe Gin]

I'm very respectful of anyone's beliefs and don't for one minute insist my own ideas are necessarily right.  Mine are what I'm comfortable with.
I'm more concerned with how someone who does have religious convictions would feel about this sealing being done to one of their close relatives.

Someone with strong religious beliefs would surely be able to feel confident that their God would set it right.