Refugees: How Can Our Past Help Their Future?

Understanding the Mormon refugee experience has prepared us for a great work: helping millions in the same plight today. Latter-day Saints have a special connection with people currently fleeing from religious persecution: we were once refugees too. In his speech “The Mormon Refugee Experience,” given at Windsor Castle on September… Continue reading

Priesthood Authority to Perform Priesthood Functions

Latter-day Saint men and women are equal in the sight of God. Both have access to priesthood authority to perform priesthood functions. A string orchestra is made up of five sections: first violins, second violins, violas, cellos, and string basses. Sometimes it seems like one section is more important than… Continue reading

The Wisdom of the Aged

We may cherish physical strength, but the Lord knows what strengths his leaders need. Seeing President Thomas S. Monson be able to give only a couple of short talks at general conference is saddening. His physical abilities are declining, and the weaknesses of old age are apparent. But old age has its strengths—strengths that are so great… Continue reading

Science Is Catching Up

Modern science continues to affirm the blessings of following the Word of Wisdom. In his Ensign article, “A Principle with Promises,” G. Craig Kiser discusses the counsel given in Doctrine and Covenants 89 with an insightful approach to the Word of Wisdom. Not surprisingly, there is scientific evidence to support the… Continue reading

Lessons Learned from a Broken Bow

When Nephi breaks his bow in the Book of Mormon, he teaches us by example how to deal with adversity. The first part of the Book of Mormon follows the journey of Lehi and his family out of Jerusalem, through the wilderness, and across the ocean to the promised land.… Continue reading

Your Car Can Be a Mask

Though car horns are a seemingly indirect form of expression, we should remember to treat people on the road the same way we would treat them face to face. I was driving to work and the usual happened. I don’t remember the specifics, just that someone else’s driving irritated me.… Continue reading

When Evil Increases, So Does God’s Help

pink and purple sunset

The more darkness grows, the more God will help us if we rely on him.  It’s not easy to be a person of faith in our day, let alone to be a faithful Latter-day Saint. With the moral decline of society and the growing opposition against religion, it is easy… Continue reading

Joseph Smith and the Kirtland Temple

Kirkland temple in the fall

When God called Joseph Smith and the early Church members to build the Kirtland Temple, they obeyed and left us a legacy of temple work.  Joseph Smith knelt down in prayer when he was only a 14-year-old farm boy, hoping to receive forgiveness for personal sins and to receive some… Continue reading

Marriage: Then and Now

shot of bride and groom feet

By using “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” as our standard, we can see how far off-center the world’s idea of marriage has become, how it got there, and how we need to define marriage today.  A judicial system has to balance social and individual interests—the good of the… Continue reading

What the Temple Can Teach Us about Marriage

In the current turbulent discussions surrounding marriage, it can be pretty hard to know what that relationship should really look like. Fortunately, we can look to the temple.  With so many models of marriage being proposed today, it can be hard for any of us to understand what an ideal… Continue reading