Clik here to view.
April 2009 General Conference: 3 Month Review
We have a tendency to take a General Conference of the Church and discuss it, analyze it, work on applying it, and cherish it in every way we know how…for about three weeks. Then we forget it until...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, I thank Thee for Thy mercy and patience with me, for thy perfect grace, which I don’t deserve or fully understand. Father, please forgive me for my selfish indulgences, for my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Two Great Resources On The Atonement
During this morning’s session of General Conference, Elder Richard G. Scott of the Twelve Apostles spoke about applying the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives and improving our understanding of it;...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Condensed Book of Mormon, In 15 Verses
Today I read the most amazing blog post, courtesy of our friends at First Thoughts. A seminarian named Sarah Wilson thought to abbreviate the Bible by selecting just one representative verse from each...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Where Are You At In the Endowment?
Even in the fairly brief hour and a half in typically takes, the LDS temple endowment frequently, both explicitly and implicitly, directs participants to identify themselves with–even to integrate...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Finding Christ In the Endowment
I went to the temple today specifically looking for references to Christ in the endowment. It yielded a rich harvest that warrants much further investigation. Not even counting every individual...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Pattern Of Our Spiritual Journey
I’ve been reading James Ferrell’s The Hidden Christ, which is extremely excellent, and I just read chapter 19, “The Dispensation’s of the Lord’s People,” where he gives a chiastic chart of Earth’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sacrament Talk: Pioneer Faith Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow
I had the privilege again today of speaking in another ward’s sacrament meeting, on the topic of “faith of our fathers.” I tried to take a slightly different approach to the subject, mostly trying to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ironic Rhetoric Advances the Book of Mormon’s Thesis
3 Nephi 27:14 is one of the more rhetorically clever verses in the Book of Mormon. It features an ironic parallelism that explains the point of the Atonement while emphasizing its apparent absurdity....
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Was the Mark of the Curse in the Book of Mormon?
A comment on a news article last week called the Book of Mormon racist because of its references to dark skin in conjunction with a curse. I responded with the usual explanation: the curse is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Does the Atonement Have Masculine and Feminine Halves?
Latter-day Saints typically see the Atonement of Christ as comprising the suffering in Gethsemane as well as the crucifixion. I’ve been wondering if there’s some kind of duality implied by the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jacob’s Temple Sermon
Last Sunday in Gospel Doctrine, we discussed Jacob chapters 1-3 in the Book of Mormon. I noticed that Jacob says that his sermon in chapters 2-3 was given “in the temple” (1:17). I looked through the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Happy Atonement Day!
“Virtually all Christian churches teach some kind of doctrine regarding the Atonement of Christ and the expiation of our sins that comes through it. But the Book of Mormon teaches that and much more....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Winter Light and the Light of Christ
This week I finally saw Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Light. What a beautiful film, in many ways. I absolutely loved it. The most striking part, though, was a scene near the end where a supporting...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A New Way to Look at the Plan of Salvation
There’s a joke that Mormons are the only people in the world who can communicate a profound spiritual sermon by drawing three circles in a row. This traditional paradigm for teaching the gospel—with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Christ’s Blood On Our Doorposts
A great article in the current Ensign makes this fantastic symbolic connection I had never seen before: An ancient Hebrew tradition held that the Messiah would be born at Passover. We know that April...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Grace: Enabling and Strengthening Power
I recently listened to a talk by David A. Bednar where he said this: “I believe we can learn much about this vital aspect of the Atonement if we will insert “enabling and strengthening power” each time...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Our Journey Back Home
I’ve been wanting to write a Pilgrim’s Progress-style allegory for young children. Here it is. Happy Easter, everybody. ***** Once upon a time there was a wonderful king. He had very many children...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Illustrating Jacob’s Definition of Easter
The prophet Jacob gives a great definition of what exactly Jesus Christ did for us and, therefore, why we celebrate Easter. The diagram below outlines the two-fold victory on our behalf: Filed under:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Visual Aid For Book of Mormon Gospel Doctrine Lesson #8
Purpose: “To help class members understand their need for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and to teach them how to receive all the blessings of the Atonement.” Filed under: Religion
View Article
