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Showing posts from November, 2017

Authority and Revelation

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How many times have you heard "believe, because I told you so?" Or how many times have you heard "stop questioning and just have faith?" Such authoritarian commands paint religion into a corner of ignorant obedience without question. But we actually want to know God! We want to actually feel His love. So, how do we actually build a personal relationship with God? Is it possible? Yes! And here is how to do it. There is an element of religion called revelation. This revelation can come down the ranks of ecclesiastical authority, but more impactive to us is that God can speak to us directly. Have you ever felt that God was speaking to you? We call this personal revelation. It can be obtained through doing some simple, yet important things: 1. Start by being humble enough to pray and open up to God 2. Study as much as you can about God. Read out of the scriptures, but also read other books about God. Gather as much information as you can. Many peop...

How To Teach The Gospel To Non-Member Friends, A Letter

Hi Brother,  Thanks for having us over for dinner yesterday. The food was great. I think it is awesome that you are speaking about preaching the gospel by living it. That is one of the most important principles of member missionary work there is. There are a few suggestions that I have in regards to this subject. I apologize for the length of them, but this has been something I have been thinking about a lot recently. Preach the gospel by being yourself Every member referral I have received on mission has come from members who are wiling to be themselves around people. They are not reserved or aloof, but are willing to bond with others. A great deal of self confidence is detected in a person who is willing to talk candidly about their passions or interests as well as their religious sentiments. In fact for a really deep relationship to occur, religion and beliefs are an essential element to the recipe because those kind of topics are really only reserved for peop...

Where Did Religion Come From: Everyone's Story

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Let's take a moment and consider the origin of what is called religion. Despite humanity's differences we all found our origins in the same place, in some cave or tent 10,000 years ago. We were just one family then. Our grandfather was the patriarch of the tribe. Our father was the heroic leader: first in hunting, first in war. We had cousins and relatives not a few. At night we would tell stories. Usually the glorified histories of our ancestors. "Consider," grandfather would say, "the story of the tribe." We would all listen intently for what we knew would come next.  Grandfather would lay open the genealogy of our parents. The battle of the gods. how the earth came to be. Adam, first of all men and Eve his wife. Noah and the flood. The formation of the tribe and the genealogy of the fathers. They would make us memorize on our fingers the names of our progenitors: God, Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah,...