Gospel & Doctrine

In today's society, blood often symbolizes death and violence. But in the scriptures, blood symbolizes life. Think about it: Together with many other miracles that take place in the human body, blood gives us life. It feeds us, bringing needed nutrients and oxygen to each organ and limb. It comes to our aid in times of need, carrying cells that attack disease and other foreign invaders. And it bears our burdens, taking away the waste products from each cell and bringing them to other areas of the body to be properly disposed of. In many ways our blood could be compared to Christ Himself. Through Him we live. He feeds our souls. He comes to our aid in our times of need, and strengthens us against sin. He bears our burdens when we bring them to Him. Members of The Church ... Read More

Jesus Christ, during his ministry on the earth, "went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people." (Matthew 9:35) The authority to heal the sick, and other priesthood powers, was given to His disciples as well. One example of this is found in the New Testament, where James states, "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." (James 5:14-15) Our Father in Heaven loves all of... Read More

Integrity is one of those values that is unfortunately remembered too seldom in today’s society. Promises are made, but kept only as long as the parties making them feel that they are getting what they want out of the deal. Public behaviors may be honorable, but private behavior may be a completely different matter. Even marriage vows are often made “until death do you part,” with an invisible addendum: “…or until you’ve decided to do something else.” So what is integrity? Elder L. Tom Perry, a modern-day apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as “... Read More

Studying the scriptures can be of great value to us. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the “Mormons”) considers the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price all to be scripture. ... Read More

Something that often confuses people learning about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the “Mormons”) is the difference between chapels and temples. Both are important buildings in Latter-day Saint worship. Chapels are meetinghouses for local congregations. These might also be called “ward buildings” (a “ward” being a local congregation), “meetinghouses,” or simply “churches.” When a Latter-day Saint says he’s going to church, he means that he’s going to attend regular worship services at his local meetinghouse. Regular services are held here on Sundays, and they include sacrament meeting, during which all members of the congregation gather and partake of the sacrame... Read More

In an earlier post I explained that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles becomes the highest body of leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (otherwise known as “the Mormons”) upon the death of President Gordon B. Hinckley and the subsequent dissolving of the First Presidency. A question that many people may have involves priesthood authority. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims to have priesthood authority from Jesus Ch... Read More

Who stands at the head of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, otherwise known as the Mormons? This almost seems like a trick question right now, but the answer is actually quite simple. Our beloved prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, who passed from this life on January 27, previously explained the answer to us: "The head of the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His Church. But the earthly head is our prophet. Prophets are men who are endowed with a divine calling. Notwithstanding the divinity of that calling, they are human. They are subject to the problems of mortality." (... Read More

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5) The scriptures are full of counsel to put our trust in God, and not in man or in our own intellect. We receive this in our own day as well. For example, a modern-day apostle, Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as the “Mormons”) has said, “Trust in God … no matter how challenging the circumstance. … Your peace of mind, your as... Read More

Are you thinking of making some resolutions for the new year, and looking for some reasons to give you an incentive to get going? Here are a few good ones. First, perfection is a commandment. The Lord in Matthew 5:48 tells us: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Not to scare anyone, but if the Lord Himself has told us that we need to strive for perfection, that’s something we need to do. Second, we all have things we’d like to accomplish in our lives. Our goals may range from developing qualities in ourselves to visiting an exotic location. Whatever we hope to achieve, we usually do better at that when we have a conscious goal to do so. Third, ... Read More

The beginning of a new year is intuitively a time that many people choose to evaluate their lives and set goals for themselves. Sometimes temporal concerns such as losing weight or making more money are at the tops of our lists. But perhaps we should be more concerned with developing Christlike qualities: being more patient, or renewing our commitments to be honest in our dealings with others. Or perhaps we want to study the scriptures more regularly, or spend more time in service to others. Whatever we feel we need to work on in our lives, here are some ideas for setting and achieving those goals. 1. Pray for help. Our Father in Heaven knows us and loves us perfectly, and He can show us those things that we need to work on most. The Lord tells us in the Book of... Read More

Upon baptism, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as "Mormons") covenant to "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places." (Mosiah 18:9, in the Book of Mormon) What does it mean to stand as a witness of Heavenly Father and of Jesus Christ? A modern-day analogy here may be helpful. The term “witness” is often used in a courtroom setting when trials are held to decide whether a c... Read More

Some people wonder how members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as “the Mormons”) feel about Jesus Christ or if we celebrate Christmas any differently than the rest of the world. So with Christmas upon us, I’d like to share a couple of my favorite scriptures about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I love all the scriptures, but I particularly love the account of Christ’s birth given in the gospel of Luke. I remember as a child we used to act out the story on Christmas Eve before we went to bed. Some years I got to be the innkeeper, or the innkeeper’s wife. I also remember playing the part of the angel – sometimes the same years I was the innkeeper (or the innkeeperR... Read More

There are many aspects to good Christian living; moral cleanliness, worship, prayer, scripture study, and honestly dealing with one’s fellow men are just a few of them. But perhaps service to those around us could be considered the true heart of Christian living. Christ taught, “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” (Matthew 20:27). In a latter-day revelation, He commands us to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” (D&C 81:5) It is through our service that those things that we learn through our worship, prayers, and study are truly put into action. Elder ... Read More

I didn’t actually get to see or taste it, but I sure heard about it. A program provided for the youth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as “the Mormons”) is seminary, and the early morning seminary teacher had made a mess of pottage to share with her class while teaching them the story of Jacob and Esau. (An early morning seminary class meets every morning before school.) Esau, if you remember from the story in the Bible, was the firstborn of the twins and legally owned the birthright. The birthright son received a double inheritance, and it was also his responsibility to preside over and care for the family in the a... Read More

When the children of Israel journeyed in the wilderness after their deliverance from Egypt but before their entry into the Promised Land, they received food from the Lord called manna. It’s not something that we’ve knowingly seen since then, but through the scriptural record we can still learn many lessons about obedience from it today. Manna was an interesting thing. According to Exodus 16, it was a “small round thing” that appeared on the ground in the morning like dew or frost. The word manna comes from a phrase in Hebrew that literally means, “What is it?” The children of Israel did not know what it was when they first saw it. But ... Read More

It's been cold lately where I live, but we had only had a little dusting of snow so far this season. During the years I've lived here, we haven't had a large multi-inch snowstorm until January or later. So when a big snowstorm was forecast for the first day of December, it almost seemed odd to expect. You could look outside the day before and not even see a sign of snow. And yet the weather forecasters were telling us that we had a one hundred percent chance of getting approximately 10 inches of snow by the end of the next day. Usually the forecasters don't publish their predictions with such certainty; they often leave a little wiggle room in there. Even when we woke up the morning of December 1, there was no snow. But we acted in faith that the predicted snowstorm wo... Read More

The Savior warned us of how difficult pride can be to root out in ourselves in his Sermon on the Mount. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. (Matthew 7:3-5) Why is it so much easier for us to see the faults of others, while looking past or even completely missing our own? ... Read More

Too often in the world today, we hear people bragging of how they "won" and gained more power for themselves - by hurting someone else, or by manipulations or negotiations done to get their way, or by any number of other methods. But what about nice things that we do for people? Sure, the Savior told us that we shouldn't do good things and then go around bragging about them in order to get recognition and gain power for ourselves that way: "Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward." (Matthew 6:2) But shouldn't acts of kindness carry more power with t... Read More

During the course of conversation, a friend and I once ended up discussing a book by Sheri L. Dew. Sister Dew was one of the members of the general Relief Society presidency a few years ago. The general Relief Society presidency helps to guide local Relief Society programs (the local womens' organizations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the "Mormons"). I hadn't read this particular book, but I was familiar with Sister Dew and always loved her frank way of speaking and writing. As my fri... Read More

On the surface, the first of the Ten Commandments -"Thou shalt have no other gods before me" -- may seem to have little relevance to many of us today. But President Spencer W. Kimball, the twelfth president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as the "Mormons"), had this to say about this commandment: "As I study ancient scripture, I am more and more convinced that there is significance in the fact that the commandment 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me' is the first of the Ten Commandments." (... Read More

Pride is a difficult vice to conquer. It's relatively easy to recognize when we have done something overt that we shouldn't do, such as swearing or stealing. But recognizing and rooting out pride in our characters can be completely different. The nature of pride itself keeps us from recognizing it. Rather, pride lets us rationalize and keeps our egos "safe" on top. Because of this, it is a dangerous sin that allows us to mask and rationalize other sins in our lives. President Ezra Taft Benson, thirteenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... Read More

In the fourth section of the Doctrine and Covenants we read in the third verse: "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work." The Doctrine and Covenants is accepted as scripture by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called "Mormons"). It's unique among scripture because it came to us through the mouths of modern-day prophets. So we can view the counsel between its pages as uniquely geared toward us in the latter days. We've discussed the marvelous work that the Lord has brought forth, and the importance of serving with all our hearts, might,... Read More

Are the Ten Commandments still in force today? They may have been received thousands of years ago, but the truths behind them have not changed. Even so, they are commandments many of us are able to rattle off without really considering their meanings. One interesting exercise that can help put the Ten Commandments in a different perspective is to take the "thou shalt not" commandments and turn them into "thou shalts." The fourth and fifth of the Ten Commandments are "thou shalt" commandments. In other words, they tell us things we should be doing. The others are "thou shalt not" commandments. They give us specific instructio... Read More

You might think that there was nothing to be grateful for in the horrifying conditions of a Nazi concentration camp. On the contrary, the lesson that Corrie ten Boom learned there and shares with us in her book The Hiding Place impacted me greatly when I first read it as a teenager, and it has stuck with me to this day. Corrie and her sister Betsie were Christians living in the Netherlands and were arrested and sent to a camp when they were caught hiding Jews in a secret area in their home. At one point they were sent to a flea-infested barracks where the women were crowded uncomforta... Read More

Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day. (D&C 4:2) It's natural for people to want to be blameless. Or rather, it may not be so much that many humans truly want to be blameless as it is that they don't want to be blamed. How often do we see individuals (maybe ourselves) caught at something they've done wrong then turn around and pin the blame on someone else or on external circumstances? But truly being able to stand blameless before God doesn't mean we have wiggled out of blame that we deserve. Instead, it means that we have lived our lives in a way that we sinc... Read More

I first learned what repentance was in Primary, the children's organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our teacher told us that when we did something wrong, we needed to repent for it. She had us learn and recite the four major steps: Feel you're sorry. Say you're sorry. Ask for forgiveness. Try never to do it again. Maybe you can envision a group of six- and seven-year-olds reciting this in a singsong voice. It's pretty amazing that I still remember this particular lesson. At the time, it seemed to me like a consequence for doing something wrong... Read More