Love Your Enemies (Video)
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” -Matthew 5:43-48 (see also 3 Nephi 5:90-92 RAV, 12:43-48 OPV)
Love a Little More (Video)
“Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore, I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just.
Love thy LGBTQ+ Neighbor (Video)
Love everyone and let god sort it out.
American Politics: Can We Love One Another? (Video)
Some thoughts on American politics and why we should love one another and let go of worldliness.
Gun Violence (Video)
Can we trade our love of violence for a love of God’s creation?
You are not alone! (Video)
God has a place for you!
You are Worthy of God’s Love
Note: This article was originally posted August 10, 2018
“God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” -1 John 4:16b
Humanity seems to be searching for something. In general, people feel lost. As we accumulate more material wealth, it seems that the hole we are trying to fill just gets bigger. How do we fill this hole in our lives? These feelings of loss, of emptiness, of loneliness; they come from the depth of our souls.
The Son does what He sees the Father do
Then answered Jesus saying unto them: Verily, verily, I say unto you: The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. -John 5:19
This is a famous scripture in Brighamite Mormonism within the Latter Day Saint movement, I was always taught growing up that this referred to God the Father once being a human man. Jesus somehow saw the Father live His mortal life, and was doing the same. This idea never fully made sense to me for several reasons, but primarily because I was also taught that Jesus was created as a spirit baby after the Father’s mortality. Speaking to a friend this week I was enlightened to a new way of understanding this scripture, and in turn all scriptures.
Avoiding Fornication
To understand God’s view of fornication, we must understand the relationship between God and the Church. In the Scriptures, God is the Groom. The Church (all of us) is the Bride.
People Say I Should Obey God – How?
From a question on Quora.
“People tell me I should obey God. How do I do that? In what way? Are there steps or instructions somebody can give me instead of having to look for it in the Bible?”
Love Thy Neighbor
The following is based on a portion of a transcript from a sermon from November 21, 2015.
In the Torah, in Leviticus 19:18, the Lord says, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord” (Holy Bible, KJV). This is an interesting concept, love thy neighbor as thyself. Sure, it’s not unfamiliar to Jews, Christians, or really any religion. This statement reflects the point of all world religions.
The Internal Struggle
“Behold, that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof.” -3 Nephi 4:11 RAV, 4:28 OPV
I’ve seen a number of posts on social media basically stating that God murders children. The idea is that when Jesus was crucified, the cities in the New World that were destroyed meant that innocent children were killed as well. At one point another gentleman, a faithful Latter-day Saint, pointed out that the same thing happened with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in defense of the cities destroyed in the Book of Mormon. However, this really misses the point of the scripture.