My flippant, non-serious answer involves comparing mormons in Utah to those outside of Utah.
My serious answer involves what the opinion is based on. If it's facts, common sense, inspiration, past experience, or humorously presented, I generally find that opinion of more use to me than one that is based on emotion, hope, or anything PC or feel-good.
Also, the value I place on someone's opinion does not automatically relate to their being a mormon or not.
I don't give any more relevance to someone's opinion based on their religion. I will ask a friend's opinion and take it into consideration. I find that there are just as many crazies inside the church as outside. Now if President Hinkley tells me his opinion on something I will take it more seriously than the opinion of the crazy lady who talks to squirrels in the ward or the guy the professed his love for a woman in the ward during testimony meeting. But opinions are just opinions and facts are facts.
If you really knew how little others think about you, you wouldn't worry what others think of you. -- paraphrase of some George Durrant wisdom...
As to opinions, there is the natural tendency to give more creedence to someone who has shown they are a subject matter expert. And, that also translates into greater creedence being given to those that seem to be more righteous. Unfortunately, many do not temper that against the difference between opinions and facts, equating the one for the other. And it is there that people open themselves up to a variety of mischief from the adversary.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Personally I value my husband's opinion more than other members of the church and when my in-laws were alive I valued their opinions pretty highly. I give Cat a 9 or a 10 and my in-laws a 6 or 7, maybe 8 depending on what the topic was. There was a time when I greatly valued my father's opinion, but his opinions mean very little to me now. I valued my mother's opinions too when she was alive, but then again there were some topics where I didn't pay much attention to her opinions.
Bottom line is there are very few opinions in this world that really matter and I made reference to this on another thread a little bit ago. Ray said that he is in a point in his life where he needs the spirit with him all the time. Imagine what this world would be like or even what most church members would be like if people actually lived their lives being guided by the spirit continually. When we start letting other influences into our lives, when we start looking at or studying things that are questionable we are opening ourselves up to allowing the adversary to bring us down. He doesn't do it all of a sudden either. He does it bit by bit and most of the time with people who have allowed him to do it they have no clue that is actually what happened. And before you know it they have been completely deceived and they have lost the Spirit, lost their testimony and lost their faith and they have no clue where to look for them. They probably don't even have a desire to get them back. They have no clue that they allowed themselves to be deceived, because they did not seek the guidance of the Spirit. We need to be constantly seeking the guidance of the Holy Ghost. How often have we been commanded to pray? We have been commanded to pray always. And considering recent events that have taken place on this forum, it is true as latter-day saints we must band together and lift one another up as best we can. But ultimately we must be actively striving to exercise our testimonies and searching the scriptures for guidance and strength. I hadn't intended to go off on a tangent like this, but Ray it's your fault you kind of inspired me and so did my dear Cat Herder because I have witnessed his distress in person.
So on a scale of 1 to 10 the opinion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ- well, I give him a 100.
Any topic I start is free to be hijacked in any direction you like. I'm just that sorta fellow who loves the conversation, even more than the right answer... I like it when folks discuss things. I like openly sharing opinions, even if I disagree with them or think that they're nutzo...
I like being free to hear opinions of others, then to ponder them and allow the Spirit to influence me in the right direction.
I also appreciate the occasional nudge from well-meaning and loving people who (at least think they) have my best intentions in mind... though often their advice is the hardest to accept, cuz there's the whole pride thing of "Why didn't I think of that on my own!?"
I am grateful to have a place to share stuff... even if I sometimes go crazy or push the boundaries of polite conversation...
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
I must admit I do enjoy a good warning though. Like, "you might want to be careful about loaning that guy money." or "You might want to take chains if you go up the mountain this weekend." Warnings like roadsigns are always good.
"There are not too many people whose opinions I'm concerned with."
Gosh, that sounds awesome. *sigh* I wish I was more like that. I let people get to me too much sometimes, even people I don't think I care about can say some *thing* and it'll stay stuck in my craw... But I'm getting better... I'll practice by blowing off my online friends' opinions first... then move on to real life...
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
On a scale of one to ten, where do you generally place the opinion of your fellow saints?
No higher or lower than people in general.
Whose opinions do you value more? And why?
I value most the opinion of those who have my (or the country's or humanity's-depending on the issue at hand) best interest in mind, and who have shown themselves to be trustworthy and dependable, and who have demonstrated over significant periods of time that they are competent and responsible adults.
I like to think that most people aren't purposefully deceptive, but that we have this front we put up for protection, and that many of our pet causes are what we use to judge who is dependable and worth their salt in our lives, and who is just looking out for themselves...
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
If I'm looking for "support" for a decision I've pretty much already made, not much will usually sway me unless it's my family... Sometimes I'll fish around for supporting opinions and don't even realize I'm actually just making chit-chat with no real intent of truly listening to their input on my "question" ... which in reality is closer to a "done deal." If they agree with me, I like to go off on how they really seem to have a grip on the situation and how insightful, etc. they are... I like giving compliments.
Speaking of compliments, there was this lady in Wal-Mart the other day and she pretty much looked like she was dressed up for Halloween as a gypsy. You couldn't miss her. My 5yo daughter said, "Mom! Look at her!!" And her voice sort of carries... if you know what I mean. Anyway, Miss Gypsy didn't hear her, and we walked closer to her and I said, "My daughter thinks you're soooo pretty." She was taken aback but I could tell she appreciated the kindness. My daughter said, "Why'd you DO that?" I said, "Oh, it makes people feel good when you say something nice." I hope my kids grow up not judging/condemning people by their clothing.
And I just remembered the modesty thread by ray... no, this isn't any reference to that at all... I hadn't even remembered it until now. Miss Gypsy was indeed modest BTW.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
Good for you, Coco. I don't sit around calling people trollops, tramps and sluts, just because they dress immodestly, you know...I just like to make it sound that way here... cuz it's controversial and the more controversial it is, the more we talk about it. :)
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
