Free Republic

I have been impressed to speak about God’s love and God’s commandments. My message is that God’s universal and perfect love is shown in all the blessings of His gospel plan, including the fact that His choicest blessings are reserved for those who obey His laws.1 These are eternal principles that should guide parents in their love and teaching of their children.I. I begin with four examples which illustrate some mortal confusion between love and law. A young adult in a cohabitation relationship tells grieving parents, “If you really loved me, you would accept me and my partner just like...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is continually growing and becoming better known throughout the world. Although there will always be those who stereotype the Church and its members in a negative way, most people think of us as honest, helpful, and hardworking. Some have images of clean-cut missionaries, loving families, and friendly neighbors who don’t smoke or drink. We might also be known as a people who attend church every Sunday for three hours, in a place where everyone is a brother or a sister, where the children sing songs about streams that talk, trees that produce...

In 1833 the Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation that contained a strong rebuke to several leading brethren of the Church to set their families in order (see D&C 93:40–50). A specific phrase from this revelation provides the theme for my message—“more diligent and concerned at home� (verse 50). I want to suggest three ways each of us can become more diligent and concerned in our homes. I invite you to listen both with ears that hear and with hearts that feel, and I pray for the Spirit of the Lord to be with all of us. Suggestion Number One:...

One day while serving as a mission president, I was talking on the phone to our oldest son. He was on his way to the hospital where he worked as a physician. When he arrived at the hospital, he said, “Nice talking to you, Dad, but now I’ve got to get out of my car and go save some lives.� Our son treats children with life-threatening illnesses. When he is able to diagnose a disease properly and give the right treatment, he can save a child’s life. I told our missionaries that their work is also to help save lives—the...

Many years ago I walked at dawn through the narrow cobblestone streets of Cusco, Peru, high in the Andes Mountains. I saw a man from a local indigenous group walking down one of the streets. He was not a big man physically, but he carried an immense load of firewood in a huge burlap sack on his back. The sack seemed to be as big as he was. The load must have weighed as much as he did. He steadied it with a rope that looped under the bottom of the sack and circled up around his forehead. He gripped...

Vicki F. Matsumori Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency We can help others become more familiar with the promptings of the Spirit when we share our testimony of the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives.At the end of the day, a pair of missionaries starts toward home when one suddenly turns to the other and says, “I feel we need to stop at this one last place.� A home teacher is prompted to call one of the families he visited just a few days before. A young woman plans on attending a school friend’s party yet feels...

Throughout the ages, many have obtained guidance helpful to resolve challenges in their lives by following the example of respected individuals who resolved similar problems. Today, world conditions change so rapidly that such a course of action is often not available to us. Personally, I rejoice in that reality because it creates a condition where we, of necessity, are more dependent upon the Spirit to guide us through the vicissitudes of life. Therefore, we are led to seek personal inspiration in life’s important decisions. What can you do to enhance your capacity to be led to correct decisions in your...

My beloved brothers and sisters, I extend my greetings to all of you as we commence this, the 179th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. How grateful I am for the age in which we live—an age of such advanced technology that we are able to address you across the world. As the General Authorities and auxiliary leaders stand here in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, our voices will be reaching you by various means, including radio, television, satellite transmission, and the Internet. Although we will be speaking to you in English,...

Video On-Demand: October 09 Gerneral Conference TalksClick on desired talk to view

Church members were encouraged to reach out and help others each day during the Sunday morning session of the 179th semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and, figuratively, lose their life, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish — and in effect save their life," President Thomas S. Monson, president of the church, said during Sunday's morning conference session. He stressed that church members should step back from the "busy-ness" of their lives and take a good look at their...

    179th Semiannual General ConferenceThe 179th Semiannual General Conference of the Church will be held in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday and Sunday, October 3-4, 2009. For information on worldwide broadcast times and options, see the broadcast schedule.For additional information about general conference, see the Events page.

Six years. In the thousand-year span of the Nephite people, that’s the time on stage for a prideful group known as the king-men. The last fourth of the book of Alma, in which the king-men story is imbedded, is a sharp break from the doctrine-laden chapters of the first three-fourths of the book, as Mormon turns to stories about war strategy and political happenings. Why did Mormon include this story of arrogance? Is it a parallel for our time, a warning, something we should learn? I think so. Because Mormon saw our time, what he decided to include in his...

Review "Royal Skousen has single-handedly brought the textual analysis of the Book of Mormon to a professional level on par with the finest classical and biblical scholarship. This volume is the culmination of his labors, and it is the most textually significant edition since Joseph Smith's work was first published in 1830. It takes us back to the original manuscript (as best we can reconstruct it) and sometimes beyond, to the very words that were first spoken by Joseph Smith to his scribes."-Grant Hardy, from the Introduction (Grant Hardy ) Product Description First published in 1830, the Book of Mormon...

From a devotional address given at Brigham Young University on 9 February 1999. Diversity and choice are not the weightier matters of the law. The weightier matters are love of God, obedience to His commandments, and unity in accomplishing the work of His Church.The book of Matthew contains the Savior’s denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees: “Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matt. 23:23; emphasis added).I wish to address some “weightier...

Nephi preserves few geographic details in the rather spare narrative of his first book. He writes about Jerusalem, the Red Sea, and "the sea, which we called Irreantum" (1 Nephi 17:5). This last sea, of course, is the Indian Ocean, whose waters wash against the southern shore of Arabia. From his party's journey, Nephi also notes stopping places that received their names from his father, notably the Valley of Lemuel and Shazer (see 1 Nephi 2:10, 14; 16:13). These latter locales are more difficult to pinpoint because we have nothing to go on except Nephi's passing references to each place....

"Our translation drawing to a close, we went to Palmyra, Wayne county, New York, secured the copyright, and agreed with Mr. Egbert B. Grandin to print five thousand copies for the sum of three thousand dollars," penned Joseph Smith.[1] Much has been written on the closing days of the translation and the process of securing the copyright, but acquiring the sum of $3,000 has not received the same mention and, if mentioned, has lacked a proper description. Most accounts are like that found in Joseph Smith and the Restoration:Martin Harris mortgaged his farm to Grandin; and on August 25, 1829,...

Most readers of the Book of Mormon recognize that the Lamanites were the perennial enemies of the Nephites.[1] Shortly after Lehi's colony arrived in the New World, the Lord made clear that the Lamanites would be a "scourge" unto Nephi's seed "to stir them up in remembrance of me" (2 Nephi 5:25; compare 1 Nephi 2:24). Much of what follows in the record describes seemingly incessant Lamanite-Nephite tensions that end only with the utter destruction of Nephite civilization. The Lamanites were a threat that never went away.Recent textual studies, however, indicate that the matter of the Nephites' enemies may not...

The "promised land" for the children of Israel lay between a powerful empire to the north in the valley of the Tigris-Euphrates—Babylon—and a powerful empire to the south in the valley of the Nile—Egypt. Each empire pressured and manipulated the kingdom of Judah for its own interest. In 598 BC, Nebuchadnezzar, as crown prince of Babylon, defeated Judah and installed Zedekiah as king. Many Jews who had favored Egypt fled to the Nile valley before the final wrath of Nebuchadnezzar fell upon Jerusalem in 586 BC. One Israelite who had Egyptian connections (see 1 Nephi 1:2) and fled before the...

Over the last century several Latter-day Saint scholars have examined the geographical details in 1 Nephi in order to correlate them with specific sites in the Middle East. Propositions have varied, though not greatly since Nephi provided some fairly explicit pointers, aided by a number of other clues. Hugh Nibley opened the investigation in 1950 with a series of articles titled "Lehi in the Desert," initially published in the Improvement Era.1 In 1976 Lynn and Hope Hilton traveled across the Arabian Peninsula in an effort to determine the route of Lehi and Sariah's journey. Their conclusions were published in a...

When I was asked to write a response to studies prepared by Warren Aston, Richard Wellington and George Potter, and Kent Brown for the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, my initial reaction was reluctance. Although I have excavated and explored in the Near East for 25 years, traveling widely in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and the Sinai, most of Lehi's trail lies on the Arabian Peninsula, where I have never set foot. Analyzing and responding succinctly to the data and proposals presented by these dedicated researchers, who have spent so much time and effort in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman,...

Although most of the Book of Mormon takes place in the New World, more than 41 pages of 1 Nephi are firmly planted in an Old World setting. Linking that part of the record to actual locations in the Near East began in earnest in 1950 with the serialized publication of Hugh Nibley's "Lehi in the Desert."1 Nibley modestly called his work "little more than a general survey,"2 yet he broke new ground in correlating ancient documents, scholarly opinion, writings about life in Arabia, and even ancient Arabic poetry with the wilderness trek of Lehi and Sariah. Nibley proposed a...

With steady, measured steps, students of the Book of Mormon have been pacing off a tangible framework for the journey of Lehi and Sariah through the Arabian Peninsula. Framed against endless white sands and dark craggy mountains, the spare yet sometimes vivid account of these two people leading their small group through one of the harshest climes on earth—Lehi as prophet-leader, Sariah as director of the camp1—invites efforts to probe more deeply their world saturated by heat, dust, and seas of patinated rocks. Because some anchoring geographical details from their journey have emerged through recent study (the locations of their...

While George Potter and Craig Thorsted were exploring the northeast corner of Saudi Arabia in 1995, the local captain of the coast guard introduced them to a spectacular valley called Wadi Tayyib al-Ism, which contains a river that flows continually throughout the year and empties into the Gulf of Aqaba.* With the discovery of Wadi Tayyib al-Ism there was finally a fully qualified candidate for the Valley of Lemuel.1 The discovery of the valley provided a focal point from which the authors were able to develop a new model for the route Lehi took through Arabia. Over the course of...

Thousands of years ago the prophet Enoch saw that in the last days truth would be sent forth "out of the earth" (Moses 7:62). Joseph of Egypt foretold that a latter-day seer bearing his name would bring forth the words of his posterity "from the dust" (see 2 Nephi 3:19—20), and Isaiah later prophesied of a sealed book in the last days that would "whisper out of the dust" (Isaiah 29:4). Finally, the Psalmist predicted that "truth shall spring out of the earth" (Psalm 85:11). Latter-day Saints, of course, see the coming forth of the Book of Mormon—a record literally...

During the almost 30 years since my late wife Hope and I published the results of our investigations on the trek of Lehi and Sariah, which we titled In Search of Lehi's Trail,1 a growing number of studies have appeared that have continued both to refine and broaden our understanding of that remarkable journey into the heated landscape of the Arabian desert. It is now possible to say that certain results are assured while others are virtually assured. Let us review some fixed points from Nephi's narrative.First, of course, we know where the Jerusalem of Lehi's day stood—in the same...

What excites me most about Royal Skousen's Analysis of Textual Variants, Part One: 1 Nephi 1 — 2 Nephi 10 (hereafter Analysis) is what it says about Latter-day Saints' commitment to the scriptures in general and to the Book of Mormon specifically. This volume, like others in the series published to date, bespeaks our desire to know, as accurately as possible, what the text actually says. We understand that even those with the best intentions sometimes introduce mistakes into the most sacred and important texts. Skousen demonstrates that he and others value the Book of Mormon so much that meticulous...

I suspect that I was invited to participate in reviewing and commenting on the first volume of the commentary phase of Royal Skousen's Book of Mormon critical text project in part because I am in print as having some different views regarding Book of Mormon translation theory than Skousen does. Skousen is on record as preferring what he calls a "tight control" model of the translation, namely, that the English text of the Book of Mormon is a rather literal translation that closely follows its original language exemplar written on the gold plates. In contrast, I prefer what I call...

English-speaking Latter-day Saints who desire a thorough understanding of the Book of Mormon face a considerable challenge—the text is written in English. As a result, it is too easy to read. That is to say, it is too easy to get the gist of what is being communicated without actually taking the time to analyze every verb form, every pronoun, and every conjunction to determine exactly how the words fit together and the ideas unfold. We grasp the general message, but we also miss many of the details. In fact, the people who know the Book of Mormon best may...

It was forty years ago, on Wednesday, August 16, 1967, that the discovery of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon occurred. As I have looked back over the intervening four decades, I have enjoyed seeing how far this idea has come and how many people have contributed to its development. To document the events of 1967, I have gone back through my missionary letters, notes, and records, and I have reminisced with my missionary companions to relive that extraordinary experience. I still remember it vividly. I am grateful for each opportunity to share the story of that discovery.To set the...

The talk on Death and Resurrection: Gifts from a Loving Heavenly Father can be heard or watched

Mughsayl: Another Candidate for Land BountifulFor the past ten years I have been associated in some capacity with the search for Lehi's trail from Jerusalem to Land Bountiful, where Nephi was commanded to build a ship and sail to a promised land in the New World. I have never been to Saudi Arabia or to Yemen and have never received permission to go there, so I will leave that part of Lehi's journey to those who have. I have traveled most of Oman from the Yemen border to Musandam, on the Straits of Hormuz, and have traveled the south...

A Tale of Three Communities: Jerusalem, Elephantine, and Lehi-NephiBefore the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Babylonians in 586 BC, inhabitants of Judah, or the Jews, as they came to be known, centered their religious life around the priestly activities of the Jerusalem temple. Their temple-centered religion changed, however, with the invasion and takeover by the Babylonian Empire. In advance of the looming crisis, many prophets exhorted the citizens of Judah to repent and be preserved from possible destruction. Jere-miah (see Jeremiah 7:1—15; 11:1—17) and Lehi (see 1 Nephi 1:4, 13) were among them. Both Lehi and...

Scholars often categorize texts as being either didactic or literary. The didactic text features exhortation, narrator insertions, moral summaries, stark contrasts between good and evil, and plot lines with obvious ethical significance. The literary text, in contrast, is characterized by reticence, metaphor, ambiguity, and indirection; by suggesting rather than telling. The literary text, when done well, is deemed worthy of sustained attention and repeated readings, while the didactic is generally disparaged and dismissed as either simplistic, moralistic, or both.At first glance, there is little doubt which category the Book of Mormon occupies. It is, undeniably, a remarkably didactic text, and...

The possible location of the Valley of Lemuel has captured the attention of students of the Book of Mormon, particularly following the publication of an attractive site in northwestern Arabia whose characteristics include canyon walls that rise more than 2,000 feet above the valley floor and a stream that runs year around. The canyon, called Wadi Tayyib al-Ism, appears to fit snugly with Nephi's description of a "valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable" featuring a "river, continually running" (1 Nephi 2:9—10).1 This find is set into profile all the more because surveys have concluded that "the Red Sea . ....

The visit last month of two Spanish government officials to Madrid's Temple Square capped the Church's celebration of the 40th anniversary of Spain being dedicated to the preaching of the gospel. Nearly 40 years to the day after Elder Marion G. Romney -- then of the Quorum of the Twelve -- dedicated Spain to the preaching of the gospel, the Church hosted Jose Maria Contreras and Jose Manuel Lopez from the Spanish Ministry of Justice on May 19 during a tour of Madrid's Temple Square. The visits of Mr. Contreras, Director of Relations with Religious Organizations, and Mr. Lopez, Director...

Publication of issue 15/2 of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies was a landmark event in Old World studies of the Book of Mormon. Encouragingly, it illustrates what Daniel McKinlay's article calls the "brightening light" being shed on Lehi and Sariah's odyssey. Just thirty years ago the most optimistic of us could not have imagined how much of that journey can now be plausibly situated in the real world. Researchers generally agree that Nephi's Bountiful must lie somewhere on the fertile southern coast of Oman, which stretches a short distance into Yemen. Wellington and Potter discuss the most promising...

TAIPEI, TAIWAN Sultry weather failed to dampen the spirits of hundreds of Church members and full-time missionaries gathered on Saturday, June 13, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Taiwan's dedication for the preaching of the gospel. The Taiwan Latter-day Saints were assembled on the hillside overlooking Taipei where Elder Mark E. Petersen of the Quorum of the Twelve gave the dedicatory prayer on June 1, 1959. He was surrounded by a small group of Taiwanese converts and some of the earliest missionaries called to serve on the island. In his dedicatory prayer, Elder Petersen said, "Let Thy Spirit bear testimony...

Elder D. Todd Christofferson's six-country tour included a visit with Albania President Bamir Topi. Elder D. Todd Christofferson greets those who attended ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new school in Albania. Elder Christofferson and his wife, Katherine, Elder Johann Wondra, Area Seventy, and his wife, Ursula, and President J. Martin Neil of the Albania Tirana Mission and his wife, Elizabeth, and senior missionaries Peter and Ruth Lynne Snow attended the opening of a school created to educate the Roma ethnic minority in Tirana. The school is designed to teach the Albanian language to the local Roma children. Once they learn Albanian,...

During the tour of the five countries of the former Yugoslavia, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve dedicated a meetinghouse in Zagreb, Croatia, the first in the country and the second meetinghouse in these South Eastern Europe countries. The meetinghouse was dedicated on May 24, during a two-day district conference in Zagreb. During the conference, Elder Christofferson read a letter from President Thomas S. Monson, who dedicated the land for the preaching of the gospel in 1985. In the letter, President Monson recounted his experience of 24 years ago and expressed his love and appreciation for...

20 And now, my brethren, I have spoken plainly that ye cannot err. And as the Lord God liveth that brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and gave unto Moses power that he should heal the nations after they had been bitten by the poisonous serpents, if they would cast their eyes unto the serpent which he did raise up before them, and also gave him power that he should smite the rock and the water should come forth; yea, behold I say unto you, that as these things are true, and as the Lord God liveth,...

Published: 2009-06-18 11:56:10 Author and emeritus LDS Church general authority Gerald N. Lund says he will not write a 10th and concluding novel to his "The Work and the Glory" series. There have been nine volumes published in the popular fictional series, which follows the Steed Family through the early growth of Mormonism. The family converts to the faith in the 1800s, then travels west with the saints. In a YouTube.com , Lund explains that although he intended to write a book which followed the Steed Family into modern times, the story just wasn't coming together. In the preface to...

23 Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life. 24 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved. 25 Wherefore, may God raise you from death by the power of the resurrection, and also from everlasting death by the power of the atonement, that...

Many years ago I was driving along University Avenue near the mouth of Provo Canyon when I saw ahead of me the traffic slowing down. Up ahead there were police cars with their lights flashing, a fire truck, and several search and rescue vehicles all huddled together, blocking the road into Provo Canyon. At first I was annoyed since it seemed like we might be there for a long time. I was also curious—what was causing all the commotion? As I looked up the rock face along the east side of the entrance to Provo Canyon, I saw some men...

NEWSROOM: Official resource for news media, opinion leaders and the publicThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints“ SALT LAKE CITY 11 June 2009 From the earliest moments of the Church’s founding, Latter-day Saints have kept a record of their history. The principle behind this practice stems from a scriptural mandate: “There shall be a record kept among you” (D&C 21:1), intended for the “good of the church” and “the rising generations” (D&C 69:8). Maintaining a perspective on the past, while fixing an eye toward the future, is nothing new in religious history. Accounts of God’s intervention in the affairs...

The Book of Mormon and Freedom click to listen The Book of Mormon and Freedom. Including messages relating to Freedom and the Book of Mormon by Latter-day Saint apostles and prophets: Gordon B. Hinckley, Ezra Taft Benson and L. Tom Perry. You do not need to be LDS to understand the warning!

During my growing-up years in the small farming community of Spring City, Utah, an opportunity afforded itself each summer to be with my father alone for two weeks herding sheep in the mountain range of the Manti-La Sal. On one occasion the fog rested heavily in the area to the extent that you could not see your outstretched hand in front of you, and the evening was drawing nigh. My father suggested that I return to camp, and he would soon follow. I remember questioning how I would be able to find the camp amidst the fog. My father simply...

Mongolian students from the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, studying at BYU-Hawaii, just received exciting news about the growth of the church in their homeland. Through forwarded e-mails and telephone calls they found out that the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have approved the creation of Mongolia’s first stake, which will take place in a matter of weeks. Gombo Chuluun, freshman in international business management, said, “I cannot tell you how happy I was when I heard the news. Now we will have a patriarch, bishops, and wards in Mongolia and all the blessings that come with the...

Our Heavenly Father has a plan for us, a plan of happiness. His plan is centered on the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Following the teachings and example of Jesus Christ will enable us to understand more fully our part in that plan. In the first chapter of the book of Moses, we find a short but precious statement that simply outlines God's work—namely, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."1 In our life's journey to return to and become more like our Father, we are not left alone. God has given us the necessary...

  1 The time shall come when all shall see the asalvation of the Lord; when bevery nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall see eye to eye and shall cconfess before God that his djudgments are just.   2 And then shall the awicked be bcast out, and they shall have cause to howl, and cweep, and wail, and gnash their teeth; and this because they would not dhearken unto the voice of the Lord; therefore the Lord redeemeth them not.   3 For they are acarnal and devilish, and the devil has power over them; yea, even that old serpent that...

Decription President Dieter F. Uchtdorf and Elder Neil L. Andersen visit the Russian Union of the Gospel Christians Baptist church in Moscow Apostles Recall Historic Sermon by Ezra Taft Benson at a Moscow Baptist Church MOSCOW 5 June 2009 Amid their meetings with members and missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia and Ukraine this week, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency and Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles paused for a tour of a historic Baptist church in Moscow that hosted another senior Church leader nearly 50...