The Wonders of Eternity

A fundamental truth taught in the Book of Mormon says that there must be opposition in all things. If this were not the case then what would we be? We would be mere pawns in a neutral playground, not growing or learning by making choices and experiencing the consequences. All things have some type of opposite or opposition otherwise we would not have any choice in the matters we face. Good things have opposition to them. Good and evil exist in an eternal state of opposition to each other.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has been opposed by many critical individuals since it was founded. The misnomer of Mormonism has been attached to the teachings and theology of the Latter-day prophets in Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  There is really no such thing as a "Mormon church". It is a nickname initially meant to be a slur against the organization and its members. For almost 200 years Joseph Smith has been the Prophet of the Restoration to mill...

My parents were good people and I had a pretty good childhood. They would have referred to themselves as Christians but I don't remember a prominent display of their faith, other than attending church as a family from time to time. They valued family life, honesty, and work. They taught my brothers and me good values and to consider the existence of a God. I wasn't overly concerned whether God had any role in my life, or in the world for that matter. I became curious and desirous to know about eternal things after my mother died when I was 8. I believed but didn't know who or what God was. Our family attended Methodist and non-denominational churches on a sporadic basis when I was growing up. My mother's death caused me to wonder more intensely about God and family relationships. My earliest recollection of the concept of God was a picture at the Methodist church showing a face representing Christ without a body, but with a trail of dust and light behind it. I r...

What is the nature of our soul and does it endure beyond death?  Can a purposeful life be established without knowing something about the eternal principles or laws by which we exist? As we look at the endless creations in a vast cosmos do we ponder our place? Are we eternal beings with great potential or temporary flashes of electrochemical or cosmic energy without any significance at all? What are the human soul and the eternal aspect of our existence? With what theological understanding can we define the soul? When studying our world don't we generally try to adhere to sound scientific advice? What about sound theological or philosophical teachings? Many prefer their own notions that falsely soothe their mortal temporality with illusions of their own devising. From a Latter-Day Saint perspective, the soul is the spirit united with a body. It is the union of our spirit with this physical mortal body. Unique to LDS theology we understand that the spirits of all men and wom...

What do we think love is?  If we are going to identify something as the most elevated of emotions, we should have some idea of what we are talking about.  It is a feeling that manifests in our lives in varying intensity. We like to think or say that love is in our hearts but in reality, love develops in our mind. It is cultivated and stored in the cells of our brains and our bodies in ways we hardly comprehend. Neuroscience has revealed to us how neurochemicals, receptors, and electrochemical functions operate.  This emotion can and does act on our whole body. We know our heart is affected in a physical way at the sight or thought of a special person we love. T hese feelings seem to extend to all of the nerves in our body at times. Don't some refer to the depression that sets in when love or a loved one is lost as a broken heart? Like words, emotions are recorded and stored as electrochemical light and energy in a format more powerful than any computer...