Snip snip!

[falafel]

Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Do you want more kids?
Her: Nope.
Me: Positive?
Her: Yep.
Me: Would you support me getting a V?
Her: Sure.
Me: Will you pick me up from the hospital?
Her: What day?
Me: Tuesday.
Her: I'll clear my calendar.

30 second decision. Max.

Just to clarify. You considered, consulted, planned and scheduled non-trivial elective medical procedure all before ever raising it with your wife?

[Sullyute]

Do people pray about something like this? If so, why?

For me personally, I don't think it would rise to the prayer level. Again, that is just my own personal opinion.

If you are later on in life and done having kids (generally the impetus for having such a procedure) then what is the goal in praying about it?

I think that whether or not to have more children is a very important decision. When you are making important decisions, you seek inspiration and wisdom from God through prayer. I could also see people feeling that seeking as much counsel from wise sources might also include the Bishop, who is suppose to receive inspirition for his ward members.

I don't have a problem with people taking their personal concerns to the bishop for advice, although I think in some cases that it might be a copout from having to make the decision themselves and living with any consequences or guilt. Now once the decision to not have children has been made then the way to ensure that decision (vasectomy vs. hysterectomy vs. whatever else) is probably not a decision to be brought to a bishop unless he is your GYN/urologist too.

[TripletDaddy]

I think that whether or not to have more children is a very important decision. When you are making important decisions, you seek inspiration and wisdom from God through prayer. I could also see people feeling that seeking as much counsel from wise sources might also include the Bishop, who is suppose to receive inspirition for his ward members.

I don't have a problem with people taking their personal concerns to the bishop for advice, although I think in some cases that it might be a copout from having to make the decision themselves and living with any consequences or guilt. Now once the decision to not have children has been made then the way to ensure that decision (vasectomy vs. hysterectomy vs. whatever else) is probably not a decision to be brought to a bishop unless he is your GYN/urologist too.

I don't disagree. It seems like we may be saying the same thing. Once you have taken whatever steps you require to decide that you are done having children, why is there a need to pray about having an elective medical procedure? I guess the thought is that one may feel inspiration to have more children in the future?

Anyway, not overly important. I think my main point was that I might need to pray about a wider variety of issues. I think I lean very heavily towards the "study it out" camp.

Similarly, do women pray about getting breast implants?

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Do you want more kids?
Her: Nope.
Me: Positive?
Her: Yep.
Me: Would you support me getting a V?
Her: Sure.
Me: Will you pick me up from the hospital?
Her: What day?
Me: Tuesday.
Her: I'll clear my calendar.

30 second decision. Max.

Tuesday? You now the NCAA tournament starts on a Thursday right?

[Sullyute]

Similarly, do women pray about getting breast implants?

I am pretty sure that this type of inspiration would come directly to the patriarch of the family.

[Flystripper]

Tuesday? You now the NCAA tournament starts on a Thursday right?

he wanted to watch the play-in game too

[Jeff Lebowski]

I don't disagree. It seems like we may be saying the same thing. Once you have taken whatever steps you require to decide that you are done having children, why is there a need to pray about having an elective medical procedure? I guess the thought is that one may feel inspiration to have more children in the future?

Anyway, not overly important. I think my main point was that I might need to pray about a wider variety of issues. I think I lean very heavily towards the "study it out" camp.

Similarly, do women pray about getting breast implants?

I guess I am struggling to see your point. Isn't the typical faithful pattern to study something out, reach a decision, and pray for a confirmation? Sterilization seems like a fairly significant step. One can say, "I am through having kids", but doing the snip solidifies the decision and makes it permanent. If it surprises you that someone would approach that with some trepidation and seek some divine confirmation, I am wondering just what kind of things you consider not unusual for someone to consider praying about.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Do you want more kids?
Her: Nope.
Me: Positive?
Her: Yep.
Me: Would you support me getting a V?
Her: Sure.
Me: Will you pick me up from the hospital?
Her: What day?
Me: Tuesday.
Her: I'll clear my calendar.

30 second decision. Max.

Your discussion might be 30 seconds, but the decision process that led to it wasn't 30 seconds. What's your point?

[TripletDaddy]

I guess I am struggling to see your point. Isn't the typical faithful pattern to study something out, reach a decision, and pray for a confirmation? Sterilization seems like a fairly significant step. One can say, "I am through having kids", but doing the snip solidifies the decision and makes it permanent. If it surprises you that someone would approach that with some trepidation and seek some divine confirmation, I am wondering just what kind of things you consider not unusual for someone to consider praying about.

I don't know, really. For me personally, I tend to associate "big decisions" with prayer, but now that you ask me for specifics, I can't really give many.

With regard to snip, If I'm older, have my family, and know I don't want any more kids, I guess I don't see the need to pray about it. I'm done. I've made that decision. Unless I think there is a chance we might have a little John the Baptist when we are older, then I probably wouldn't worry about it too much.

In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure whether I prayed about a lot of the traditional big decisions. I don't remember. I knew I wanted to go on my mission, so I didn't pray about whether I should go or whether it was a good idea. I just went. I had a great time. I knew what I wanted to study in school, so I declared my major. I didn't pray about it. I already knew what I liked. Similarly, MMM and I didn't pray about when we should start having kids. We waited until we both wanted to have kids.

Like I said, I might need to pray about more stuff.

[Goatnapper'96]

Our conversation:

Her: I just gave birth, vaginally, to a 12lb 6 oz baby 2 hours ago! If you ever want the fulfill the full measure of your creation again, and at present your likelihood of doing that is dubious at best, you will not do so unless you have been snipped.

Me: I can't do that without discussing it with the Bishop.

Her: Well he is a cattlerancher and if you want him to do it sobeit. However, you probably have the time to recover from that method if it is what you choose. But until then you got the Provo High Promqueen thighsqueeze coming your way, roundeye!

[marsupial]

You missed an option:

"I have not been surgically sterilized, but my spouse has."

[Goatnapper'96]

I don't know, really. For me personally, I tend to associate "big decisions" with prayer, but now that you ask me for specifics, I can't really give many.

With regard to snip, If I'm older, have my family, and know I don't want any more kids, I guess I don't see the need to pray about it. I'm done. I've made that decision. Unless I think there is a chance we might have a little John the Baptist when we are older, then I probably wouldn't worry about it too much.

In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure whether I prayed about a lot of the traditional big decisions. I don't remember. I knew I wanted to go on my mission, so I didn't pray about whether I should go or whether it was a good idea. I just went. I had a great time. I knew what I wanted to study in school, so I declared my major. I didn't pray about it. I already knew what I liked. Similarly, MMM and I didn't pray about when we should start having kids. We waited until we both wanted to have kids.

Like I said, I might need to pray about more stuff.

This is totally off topic but when I was a missionary we were in some correlation meeting talking about something and I can't recall if it was heated or we were just lost but one of the sister missionaries asked "why don't we pray about it?" The WML said "sometimes I think we just need to listen." That perspective appeals to me. I think that if we live our lives in a way that involves God, we usually understand or have some idea of how we believe He would influence us on a issue. The Bible Dictionary says prayer is the method by which the will of God and the will of the child come into correspondence with each other, and that the will of God doesn't change. I think that is the best benefit of prayer is the peace of mind and developing of faith to accept God's will, not so much that the way before us is lighted.

But I also think women should get fake jubilees.

As my conversation with the lovely Mrs. Goatnapper indicates, there was no prayer involved in our decision to get me snipped.

[RobinFinderson]

Our conversation:

Her: I just gave birth, vaginally, to a 12lb 6 oz baby 2 hours ago! If you ever want the fulfill the full measure of your creation again, and at present your likelihood of doing that is dubious at best, you will not do so unless you have been snipped.

Me: I can't do that without discussing it with the Bishop.

Her: Well he is a cattlerancher and if you want him to do it sobeit. However, you probably have the time to recover from that method if it is what you choose. But until then you got the Provo High Promqueen thighsqueeze coming your way, roundeye!

This is the kind of abusive crap I just won't take from Faith. Face it, guys, most of you are joining the eunuch's club because your wife wears the pants. I realize that feminism has made great toward women's equality, but when they start expecting self-mutilation as a precursor to sex, that is a good place to draw the line.

[Goatnapper'96]

You missed an option:

"I have not been surgically sterilized, but my spouse has."

You might notice but this venue has a bit of a locker room feel. I blame the mysogenistic mormon church! Good you women folk speak up for yourselves on occassion.

[Goatnapper'96]

This is the kind of abusive crap I just won't take from Faith. Face it, guys, most of you are joining the eunuch's club because your wife wears the pants. I realize that feminism has made great toward women's equality, but when they start expecting self-mutilation as a precursor to sex, that is a good place to draw the line.

LOL! My wife is a sudden onset diabetic (hence the rather large baby at birth) and as such operations should be avoided if possible.

But really I could not deal with one of them rubber things, they are against my religion!