Ponder the Path

My thoughts from today's lesson at church: Through faith all things are possible... Mountains can be moved... The dead will rise... The lame will walk... This is what the scriptures teach us about the extraordinary power of faith, but when we misunderstand these scriptures they can lead us to despair in the face of persistent trials and infirmities. We can begin to doubt our faith and the pureness of our hearts and desires. Satan will whisper that we are not good enough, not strong enough, and therefore we cannot overcome our infirmities. Many of you know that I have struggled in this life to bear children and that it has been a great heartache over the years. One day someone very close to me asked me, "Don't you think if you had enough faith you would have the righteous desires of your heart? Don’t you believe that through faith you can be healed?" This question would have hurt me if I had not already spent years asking myself the same question. I replied by asking i...

With the prominent Mormon political figures in the news these past few years, and with the beginning of a Republican primary season when there are two Mormon politicians running for the party's nomination for President of the United States, I have begun writing an article about how Mormon doctrine colors the political ideas of these prominent politicians. I couldn't wait to finish my essay to share with my friends and family a significant talk by Elder Marion G. Romney on the subject of Communism, Socialism, and the United Order. When you take time to read what prophets and apostles have written on the subject it is hard to understand how members of the church can support the expansion of the "welfare state" in America, unless they were uninformed by these great milestone talks in the history of our church.  Mormon doctrine as taught by the church is clear and homogenized and yet there remains sharp political divisions in the Mormon church similar to those througho...

Should the government play a role in prohibiting immoral behavior? Is it the duty of the nation to uphold time tested morals in our institutions, public life, and law? Laws against the destruction of property and acts of violence against persons, remain an unquestioned responsibility of government, but beyond that confusion has settled into the national discourse. The moral compass that in the past left no room for tolerance of abhorrent immoral personal conduct has lost its bearings. The days of chivalry that protected virtue are vestiges of the past, so rare today are the champions of virtue, that many people question whether the white knight and fair lady ever existed at all. Modesty, Soberness, Virtue, Fidelity, and Innocence were protected by both law and cultural norms, it was widely viewed that traditional values were the bedrock of the family and therefore society. Legalize Drugs, Legalize Prostitution, and Legalize Gay Marriage are but a few of the public calls made in the ...