Following the Savior at a Distance Or Up Close

Posted on by Jared

As members of the church we can follow the Savior at a distance, or up close, the choice is ours.

The scriptures provide examples of those who are close to the Lord, as well as those who follow Him, but at a distance. Those who follow at a distance can draw nearer to the Lord, maintain their distance, or fall away altogether. And of course, those who are close to the Lord can move even nearer to the Lord or sadly, move away, and follow at a distance, or even fall away.

The Book of Mormon provides examples of various kinds of followers.

Following—at a Distance

Amulek
Amulek understood enough about the Lord to recognize His hand in the preservation of the Nephites. He also testified that he had been “called many times” but would not hear. He had other things to do, and chose to resist the Spirit’s invitation to draw closer to the Lord. This is a form of rebellion against God, also known as a hardened heart (Alma 10:5-6). Continue reading →

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How to Procrastinate the Day of Our Repentance

Posted on by Jared

Most of those reading this post are enjoying prosperous times. We have been nurtured by prosperity unlike any other recent generation. Nearly all of us have have been free from hunger. Few, if any, have been without shelter. Educational opportunities have been plentiful. Some in the bloggernacle have advanced degrees. We live in good times.

So, what do the good times have to do with procrastinating the day of our repentance?

I’ll answer this question, by asking another question. Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? If you have to think about this question for very long you probably hunger and thirst after after other things.

Prosperity, especially prolonged prosperity, is the enemy of righteousness (see Helaman 12: 1-6). Even the faithful, the very elect, suffer spiritually in times like we are living in. Mormon points this out in the last chapter in the Book of Mormon. He warns us not to deny the gifts of God (Moroni 10:7-8) and says “that if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief” (Moroni 10:24). Continue reading →

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Let Us Reason Together: Is the Mormon Church Like a Pyramid Scheme?

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A former Mormon, John D. (I’m not going to give his last name, but he is now a self-employed, highly paid anti-Mormon) recently wrote the following analogy about the Mormon Church.

“Imagine that you and all of your extended family became heavily invested in a pyramid scheme, entrusting your entire life savings therein.  Then imagine one day stumbling upon a preponderance of factual evidence proving that the entire scheme was fraudulent.”

To support his oddball analogy he went on to write three reasons, after careful thought and consideration, why the Mormon church is a fraud.

  1. The LDS church was not open and honest with its history and punished people for decades for speaking openly about it;
  2. Members have given time and money to the church without having a full understanding of the church’s founding narrative — and many of them, had they been given the full and accurate narrative, might have made very different choices with their lives and money; and
  3. Precious family relationships and friendship are being destroyed over these religious differences.

To begin, I agree that the three reasons John D. provides have kernels of truth, but when closely inspected, they don’t even come close to supporting his outlandish, oddball analogy that the church is like a pyramid scheme. Continue reading →

Posted in Church History, Doubt, Trials, Unbelief | 2 Comments

Let Us Reason Together: Revelation or Emotion?

Posted on by Jared

A former Mormon, John D. (I’m not going to give his last name) recently wrote the following critique about his experience with “revelation”. 

“Did I have incredibly powerful and inspiring emotional experiences in a LDS context when I was a child, teenager, and young adult? Absolutely.  Was I explicitly instructed from a very early age — by the church — on precisely how to interpret those emotional experiences?  I believe I was…I remember very explicitly being taught in early morning seminary that if I were to feel any of these emotions in a church context, I was to interpret them as the Holy Ghost bearing witness that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the only true church on the planet. I was taught to teach my “investigators” as a missionary the same thing.  If we could ever get our investigators to feel an emotion, we would immediately say, “See!  Those are the fruits of the Holy Ghost testifying that this is the true church, and that you should be baptized!”

…And for the record, I still cannot find a believer to explain to me the meaningful difference between “emotion” and the “Holy Ghost.”  I certainly could never tell the two apart when I was a believer. This was made clear to me once when I felt as inspired by the Muppet Movie as I was by any LDS General Conference talk.  It was very confusing for me as a teen, believe it or not.”

Even though John D. is no longer Mormon, I think John brings up some good points in his critique for active, believing members to consider.

I’ve been an active member for 50 years. During this time I have pondered the points John makes many times. I’ll give an answer to John’s question based on my understanding, and more importantly, my experience. Continue reading →

Posted in Holy Ghost, Member Testimony, Testimony | 10 Comments

Five Question Book of Mormon Quiz

Posted on by Jared

1. True or False
Nephi, being led by the Spirit, knew exactly what to do to obtain the Brass plates when he and his brothers tried for the third time? 

______________________________________________________________

2. Fill in the Blank
“And it came to pass that I was _______by the Spirit that I should kill Laban.”

______________________________________________________________ Continue reading →

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Lord, Increase our Faith

Posted on by Jared

Those who follow Christ with real intent understand the importance of faith. The scripture teach “without faith no man pleaseth God” (D&C 63:11). Why? “For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them” (Ether 12:12). In other words, God cannot intervene in our lives without faith being present.

The apostles said to the Savior, “Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). The Savior’s answer came in two parts. First he said: “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you” (Luke 17:6). This is a straightforward answer. He taught that even with the smallest amount of faith a man can do mighty works. This parable also teaches that faith being compared to a seed can grow and increase if properly nourished (Matthew 13:32).

In the second part, the Savior used another parable to explain how faith is increased. It isn’t as straightforward, and easy to understand as the parable of the mustard seed. In this parable there is interaction between a servant and his master.

7 But who of you, having a servant plowing, or feeding cattle, will say unto him when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? Continue reading →

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What is the Great Destroyer of Mormon Faith?

Posted on by Jared

Hardly a week goes by without hearing of another church member losing their faith. There is even a lawyer who, for no legal fee, will help members remove their names from church records. He may even think of himself as a good Samaritan.

“The internet era is taking a toll on the faith of many church members”. This is a frequent explanation for what’s happening. Meanwhile, the Tribune and Mormon Stories increase revenue with each account of lost faith they publish.

Question: is the internet really the primary cause for loss of faith? Or is there something else at the heart of the internet generation’s dissent? I think there is.

Here’s how I see it. The Lord set up a way for his people to acquire a testimony. This is taught in Moroni 10:4-5. Those who have paid the price to gain a testimony in the Lord’s way are not the one’s dissenting from the church. They have built their faith on the rock of their redeemer (Helaman 5:12). Continue reading →

Posted in Member Testimony | 10 Comments

Gifts of the Spirit Are Awesome

Posted on by Jared

  From beginning to end, the Book of Mormon testifies of the gifts of the Spirit. It would be interesting to know the number of times the concept of gifts of the Spirit is portrayed in the Book of Mormon. A computer search of the word “spirit” shows it appears 234 times in the Book of Mormon, and 880 times in the Standard Works. Without doubt Heavenly Father wants church members to be informed about things of the Spirit.

  Whenever a manifestation of the Spirit occurs it can be considered a gift from God. We’re taught that the gifts of the Spirit come through the Holy Ghost to men and women as they seek to follow Christ.

  The following verses explain how the four sons of Mosiah were able to acquire the gifts of the Spirit:

 “They had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God.” Alma 17:2-3 Continue reading →

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Satan Desireth to Have Thee

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Note:  All of the scriptural references below are active links.

Who is satan?

He is a son of God, and one of his names is Lucifer. D&C 76:26

Where does he come from?

He lived in the pre-mortal world before being cast down to earth.   D&C 29:36-37, Revelations 12:4

Why was he cast down? Continue reading →

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A Miraculous Conversion to the Mormon Church

Posted on by Jared

The following account was written by Bobby Van Rooy. It details why Bobby decided to join the Mormon church after studying, pondering, and praying for nearly two years.    

My conversion took about two years, but I’ll take it from the last 8 months. I was 27 years old and divorced already. Living in Hawaii and a professional musician/entertainer.

While performing in San Diego I decided to go to the LDS church in Mission Bay where I was staying. I was very depressed and feeling guilty about things in my life. I was a bit late and the church service was packed. I noticed the front pew was open, so I walked down to the front and sat down. I didn’t realize I came in on what they called their once a month “fast & testimony” meeting.

I had not slept much lately and was a bit exhausted, I was listening to an attractive young woman talking and, to tell you the truth, can’t remember one word she said. But as I listened, something funny happened; I started seeing an aura, a golden aura around her. Continue reading →

Posted in Book of Mormon, Example of Faith | 1 Comment