“Yes, from time to time our lives may seem to be touched by, or even wrapped in, darkness. Sometimes the night that surrounds us will appear oppressive, disheartening, and frightening.
“My heart grieves for the many sorrows some of you face, for the painful loneliness and wearisome fears you may be experiencing. Nevertheless, I bear witness that our living hope is in Christ Jesus! He is the true, pure, and powerful entrance to divine enlightenment.
“I testify that with Christ, darkness cannot succeed. Darkness will not gain victory over the light of Christ. I bear witness that darkness cannot stand before the brilliant light of the Son of the living God!”
President Dieter F Uchtdorf, The Hope of God’s Light, April 2013 LDS General Conference
“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3). The need for spiritual rebirth is a well-known and oft-used analogy in the scriptures. In the passage above, Jesus is teaching the Jewish leader, Nicodemus, and goes on to teach that two rebirths are necessary – one of the water (baptism) and another of the spirit. Such an analogy Continue reading →
Today is Blue Monday – in the UK statistically the most depressing day of the year. The poem below briefly explores some of the reasons for this, and then explains our answer to those issues. Continue reading →
In the October 2012 LDS General Conference Elder Shayne Bowen spoke of the tragic death of one of his children. At the end of his talk he gave a beautiful testimony Continue reading →
In the first post on this topic I looked at examples of several good “righteous” people, who have suffered from Depression, including I believe the great Old Testament prophet Moses, as well as the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob. In this post I’ll discuss another example from Moses’ life that I think helps us to understand how we can be supported through such feelings ourselves, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Continue reading →
In the final part of this series of posts I’m going to share some of my thoughts on how the Atonement of Christ enables us to overcome our physical shortcomings. The previous posts in the series have included an introduction, and then my thoughts on how Christ helps us overcome our Spiritual, Emotional, and Intellectual shortcomings.
My email inbox has been bombarded over the last couple of days with messages wishing me a Happy New Year. The messages haven’t come from friends, though, who almost exclusively send their messages via Facebook nowadays. No, these email well-wishing messages Continue reading →
Today is the 5th day of Christmas. In our culture and in our day the Christmas celebrations are largely finished by the end of Boxing Day, but that is not the case in many parts of the world. In parts of Central America, for example, rather than Father Christmas bringing presents on Christmas Eve, it is the Three Wise Men Continue reading →
The talks in our Church meetings today were on the subject of charity. They were all excellent, and gave me the opportunity to again consider this important quality I need to better develop. A couple of months ago I was asked to speak on this topic at Church too, and have posted that talk below.
It is interesting I think to note that “the Pure Love of Christ” could refer to the love which Christ shows for me (its ultimate expression being through the Atonement), the love which Christ shows to all people (which I need to attempt to emulate), and the love which Christ enables me to show to others (again through His atonement). Continue reading →