A person might conclude that anyone who had three generations of grandparents plus parents with strong personal testimonies of the gospel would automatically inherit a strong testimony. But it doesn’t work that way. …[more]
I have enjoyed my almost thirty years of membership in the Church and have never regretted a second of it. My life has been influenced both temporally and spiritually for good by the teachings of the Church. I bless the day I met the missionaries. …[more]
I know personally that one who works in secular ways can be spiritually attuned also. It goes back to what Henry Eyring said sixty-five years ago. We believe in truth and must pursue it wherever it can be found. But we do not set the Gospel aside during that pursuit. …[more]
As Christians, every believing Mormon subscribes to Paul’s testimony: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). …[more]
I grew up imbued with the belief that my church is led by inspired prophets of God who, at the same time, are men, and therefore are not perfect. It was somehow drilled into my psyche that God works through men (and women) despite their weaknesses. …[more]
My testimony is who I am. I am the accumulation of what my parents and their parents passed down to me, and the understanding I have gained from experiences in all aspects of my life. …[more]
I cannot forget how I picked up a perfect, intact snakeskin, about fourteen inches long, on top of the Hill Cumorah in New York state half my life ago. The memory of it is still brilliant, a treasure! …[more]
On a cold February day in 1964, when I was 14 years old, two LDS missionaries knocked on the door of our home in western Pennsylvania, a few miles north of Pittsburgh. Because of the bitter cold, my mother felt sorry for them and invited them into the house. …[more]
My conviction that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ’s restored Church is centered in Joseph Smith and his calling and work as a prophet. …[more]
There have been several points at which I’ve had to make deliberate and conscious choices about my spiritual life—about whether I actually believe, first of all, that there is any such thing as a “spiritual life” at all and, if so, what it really means to pursue it. …[more]
I have been blessed to have seen the hand of the Lord in my life, sometimes in very startling ways. Time and time again I witnessed the hand of the Lord as He blessed the lives of pageant participants, often for reasons that remain private and personal to them. …[more]
How is it that I, trained in the academic profession at one of the finest graduate schools in the country, turned out to be a believer rather than a nonbeliever? Among some academicians there is the notion that scholars are supposed to be religious skeptics, even cynics. …[more]
全米でも有数な大学院で学術的な仕事につくための教育を受けた私が，不信者ではなく信者になったというのはどういうことなのでしょうか。学問に携わる人々の中には，学者というものは宗教的には懐疑論者であると考える人やそう皮肉る人もいます。…[more]
There are many challenges in writing religious history. On the one hand the historian must convey the facts of history in an honest and straightforward manner. On the other hand, many religious historians wish also to bear testimony of the reality of spiritual experience. …[more]
I have come to know through the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ and that He is the Savior and Redeemer of mankind. I know that I along with all mankind will be lifted up to stand before Him to be judged of our works because He was lifted up by men upon the cross. …[more]
One of the things I have experienced in particular is the reality of the gifts of the spirit. By this I mean that God is always near to us and knows of our situation. He is willing to bless, inspire and guide us as we diligently seek Him and endeavor to obey His will. …[more]
One of the challenging things about being a Mormon is explaining to people why I joined the Church. Indeed, this is one of the Church’s unique aspects: its constant insistence of having you look inside yourself, identify, and vocalize what you believe in your heart. …[more]
I have had to square my existence and my beliefs with the fact that the world is wide and varied; that the happiness and well-being (here and hereafter) of every other person who has, or does, or will live on it means as much to my Heavenly Father as my own. …[more]
One of my goals is to study things carefully and find the truth. Many times what is perceived as true is influenced more by popular opinion rather than by factual information. …[more]
Isn’t it remarkable how elegant the laws governing the universe are? And isn’t it particularly remarkable that we humans can comprehend these laws? Why does the fact that we have been able to discover these laws detract from our sense of wonder? …[more]
