There are at least three roads that lead to spiritual apostasy.

The first posted earlier was naturalistic empiricism, or reliance on experiences of the senses to ascertain truth.

The next road into apostasy is Humanism, the confidence that success comes through purely human plans. The values and the approach usually derive from self-serving pleasure-seeking, and are found to be independent of a reliance on God's grace. Humanism is the insistence that achievement and success come by human means, such as power, ability, and reason.

It is Jacques Cousteau’s reaction to what humanism is doing to the Earth that has brought him to this point of view:

The road to the future leads us smack into the wall. We simply ricochet off the alternatives that destiny offers: a demographic explosion that triggers social chaos and spreads death, nuclear delirium and the quasi-annihilation of the species... Our survival is no more than a question of 25, 50 or perhaps 100 years.
– Jacques Cousteau

Humanists believe those who succeed at the expense of faith and love are on a down elevator. Their celebration in their own strength and achievements is their form of honor to the shrewdness of Satan.

On the other hand, those who have accepted the true gospel see that the authentic victory in this world is overcoming self-interest and egotism. It is found in making their weakness a strength and dedicating that to righteousness. If we have power, it is for the purpose of blessing others – not self. True Christians know that this kind of triumph is found at the top of the hill, reached through an anxious effort into the very jaws of the forces that make sin so easy. True Christians know that overcoming the world is not determined through a human effort. For all that we can do with our own strength, we are still nothing. When God’s grace is profoundly a part of our lives then we can overcome the dominantly humanistic world. And at the end of it all, in the moments where progress is seen, there can be no boasting, no pretense. For that draws us into the trap of vanity.

Oh! I can't believe it. I'm so excited. I have never owned an SLR Camera. Made the mistake of not taking pictures for the first 35 years of our marriage. So all we have of the past are memories. Oh, to have pictures of Bumper, our first cocker spaniel together. And Bones, Renegade, Sassy, Basher, (Mer)Cede, our other cockers. Pictures of our bald headed son with a face and head covered with yogurt, completely enjoying himself in his high chair, . A picture of my son at 8 completing a quarter mile on field day, hitting the tape after running a perfect race using the strategy I told him to use. Oh, he came from the middle of the pack at the head of the final turn and I ran with him all the way down the stretch to the tape. All those days that are gone, Gone. To have a picture of my father when he was younger, my mother when she was alive, where now he is so close to death. And there would be an entire album of my wife. But now with this Digital Rebel with a lens at nearly the cost of the camera, I am off to the races myself. I hope its not too late.

News Item: "BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 5 - Gunmen abducted a Frenchman outside his house... in Iraq.
The man, identified as Bernard Planche, was leaving his driveway in his van when he was surrounded by a group of armed men who dragged him from his vehicle and forced him into one of their cars, the authorities said. A witness told Reuters that neighbors watched as the kidnappers beat Mr. Planche with a pistol as he screamed for help."
As he is being dragged across the pavement I can hear Mr Planche exclaiming, " Jacques Chirac is your friend. I hate the Americans who are here. Look, I give you lots of money like Chirac. Look, see my peace decal on windshield, look at my "Hate America" bumper sticker. I fix sewers here, clean up your s___. I am your friend. We do not fight you. The French love you. I am French! Here, come closer. I give you the embrace of Islam!"
Mr. Planche worked on a sewage project with the Eastern Baghdad Water Company.

After Chirac's treachery, and now so much later during the Christmas season, in the middle of Islam, who was Planche thinking would come to his assistance ? A Frenchman?

How can we believe the Book of Mormon to be sacred scripture when the Bible says we shouldn't add to it (Revelation 22:18-19)?
The text "the prophecy of this book," "the book of this prophecy," and "this book" refer only to the book of Revelation. At the time John wrote of his visions and these words, the Bible had not been assembled. There were only separate scrolls for each book. This was true because the original apostles of Jesus Christ did not recognize a singular collection of books. They did not recognize the theology that closed the doors on Heaven. In the absence of Christ, recieving further instruction was vital for their understanding.

Much had to change over the next 3 centuries in the continually fracturing “Christian Church”, after the primitive church spiraled downward. It remained in the best interest of the clergy of the day to exterminate Christ's original Apostles and those who knew the real truths and what the rest of the world was to believe were mysteries.
The first bound Bibles do not appear until the fourth century A.D. Some of the earliest Bible manuscripts do not end with the book of Revelation and, in fact, some of them don't even include that book and omit other New Testament books as well.
Moreover, to make matters more embarrassing to modern day orthodoxy, similar warnings are found in earlier Bible books. For example, in Deuteronomy 4:2, we read, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you" (see also Deuteronomy 12:12).
Now, don't get me wrong. While we are prohibited from adding to the divine word, the Lord is not constrained by such restrictions. God's word is revealed through prophets, and it is through prophets where he has added or enhanced doctrine. As a consequence, we read that, when king Jehoiakim had destroyed Jeremiah’s written words (Jeremiah 36:1-4, 23), the Lord commanded Jeremiah to rewrite what had been written (Jeremiah 36:27-28). "Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides
unto them many like words" (Jeremiah 36:32).

I am really conflicted over same sex marriage.

I have a sister who is gay. My only full blooded sibling, separated from me at 3 by divorce. And because of the pain in her life where she has been the victim in so many circumstances, we aren't even talking. This is a woman who has been married and divorced three times, mothering 5 children. I am coming to understand that she is gay out of an exception to the rule. All her born-again Christian life she gave clear instructions to her children about her negative feelings concerning the gay lifestyle, Then after repeated marriage failures and an incredible weight gain, and then full disability from that weight, she announced she was gay and soon after entered a same sex marriage in Vegas. The marriage lasted 5 months. Her mate was a man who had a sex change operation. So why would a man get a sex change operation so as to marry a woman who was a lesbian? My head spins over it. And I am sad.

I balance the compassion I feel for my sister and others with the official position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, my church, my life. I try to balance something that won't. Being a High Priest in this Church and devoted to its doctrines, I know they speak the mind of God. Always.

But I will not openly insult The gay and lesbian community with previously recognized homophobic feelings.

After real study, I support you in legitimizing your relationships even where I cannot approve of your lifestyle. I could not have said this last week. So, don't think little of it.

Do not believe this represents a rejection of my Church leadership. As a member of this Church, disagreement with its official position needs to be carefully considered. Marriage or even a form of it can provide legitimacy. And happier you will be in marriage than out of it. Meantime, some advice? Make the best of it.