Public Square Magazine: Disagreement: Three Steps toward Relationship Conservation

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 05:43:00 -0700

This is the 9th article in our Peacemaking Series. To read the previous article: You Don’t Need to Feel Forgiving to Forgive

Even small disputes can feel like an attack on the heart of a relationship. Words are twisted, intentions misread, trust frays, and bonds weaken under the weight of tension. Yet through gospel principles, even the most serious conflicts can be healed by separating the conflict from the person, practicing repair attempts, and addressing the deeper needs that fuel disagreement.

This article accompanies a short animated video from the Peacemaking series created by the Skyline Research Institute. In partnership with Public Square Magazine, each installment in the series pairs one of the short, playful videos with a companion essay, bringing together conflict resolution theory, research, and scriptural principles to provide practical tools for building stronger families, communities, and societies. None of this is to suggest that abusive cycles of domestic violence need to or should be repaired.

The accompanying video for this article portrays a symbolic “relationship heart” under attack by a crocodile, requiring expert conservation efforts to prevent its destruction. The image captures a simple truth: conflicts, if mishandled, threaten the very life of a relationship. Yet with deliberate and principled intervention, even serious disagreements can be transformed into opportunities for healing.

Conflict as a Multidimensional Phenomenon

Conflict does not emerge solely from sin. Competing desires, misunderstandings, cultural pressures, resource constraints, stress, and personality differences all play roles in producing tension. While the spirit of contention is not of Christ, contention is an attitude toward conflict, not the conflict itself. So while sin may intensify these pressures, it does not account for their entirety. This recognition matters because it opens space for understanding conflict as a natural, even necessary, dimension of human relationships, rather than an aberration to be eliminated altogether.

Scholars distinguish between task conflict and relationship conflict. Learning to distinguish the two can help people in a conflict find the appropriate resolution. Task conflict refers to disagreements about ideas, procedures, or goals, while relationship conflict involves perceived incompatibilities in values, personalities, or status. Too often, task conflict is mistaken for a relationship conflict. Task conflict requires situational creative problem-solving. Relationship conflict requires significant effort and attention. Task conflict has sometimes been considered useful for stimulating innovation, but in practice, its benefits depend heavily on trust, communication, and context. When handled poorly, even task conflict can grow into a relationship conflict.

Repair Attempts as Relational Lifelines

The research of John Gottman underscores why some relationships survive conflict (task or relationship) while others disintegrate. According to Gottman, repair attempts consist of “any statement or action … that prevents negativity from escalating out of control.” These may include humor, affection, a soft word, or an acknowledgment of responsibility. Crucially, repair attempts are less about eliminating conflict than about ensuring that conflict does not overwhelm the bond itself.

Gottman’s longitudinal studies reveal that successful relationships maintain an approximate 5:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions. This balance enables trust and affection to cushion moments of disagreement. Where positive expressions abound, repair attempts gain traction; where negativity dominates, repair attempts fail to take hold.

From this perspective, repairing a relationship requires deliberate cultivation of gratitude, appreciation, and forgiveness, ensuring that conflict remains a temporary disruption rather than a permanent rupture.

Separating the Person from the Problem

Theologically, separating the individual from the conflict echoes one popular translation of St. Augustine’s appeal to “separate the sin from the sinner.” But remember, conflict does not emerge solely from sin. This distinction affirms that identity transcends wrongdoing, allowing space for compassion alongside accountability.

Bringing together conflict resolution theory, research, and scriptural principles to provide practical tools for building stronger families, communities, and societies.

President Spencer W. Kimball further suggested that sinful behavior springs from deeper “unmet needs.” Recognizing this perspective reframes conflict: even destructive words or actions may signal pain, fear, or longing that deserve attention rather than dismissal.

President Russell M. Nelson has similarly urged believers “to end conflicts in their lives,” pointing toward deliberate choices to interrupt cycles of contention. The Family: A Proclamation to the World reinforces this ethic by affirming that “successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.” Faith and repentance thus become relational as well as personal spiritual practices, enabling bonds to endure through moments of strain.

Scripture amplifies these teachings. “A soft answer turneth away wrath” (Proverbs 15:1) highlights the power of repair attempts. Christ’s counsel to “agree with thine adversary quickly” (Matthew 5:25) affirms the urgency of reconciliation. And the Lord’s commandment, “be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:27), emphasizes the divine importance of unity.

Three Conservation Steps

The metaphor of “relationship conservation” highlights the need for careful, intentional action when bonds come under threat. These three steps help provide a structured approach.

Step One: Separate the Relationship from the Conflict

When disagreements emerge, the first task is to distinguish the conflict from the relationship itself. Emotions associated with the issue must not be allowed to contaminate perceptions of the person. In academic terms, task disagreement should not become relationship conflict. In theological terms, sin should not obscure divine worth.

Illustration: A sharp dispute over household chores does not mean affection has diminished; the issue is the task, not the person. “Sorry, I don’t mean to attack you—I’m just talking about the dishes.”

Step Two: Resuscitate the Relationship

Before addressing the substance of the disagreement, the bond itself requires renewal. Expressions of gratitude, acknowledgment of shared values, or gestures of affection resuscitate the relationship and create space for constructive dialogue. Gottman’s framework identifies such repair attempts as the decisive factor in whether conflict erodes or strengthens the bond. Within Christian practice, such moments parallel repentance and forgiveness, where humility and grace interrupt cycles of accusation.

Illustration: In the middle of an argument, a sincere “thank you for how much you do” can revive goodwill and open the way for resolution. “I know we’re both frustrated right now, but seriously, thank you for everything you’re doing—I feel grateful for you. You’re such a hard worker.”

Step Three: Address the Deeper Need

Finally, conflict resolution requires attention to underlying needs. A sharp exchange over scheduling may conceal a longing for recognition; frustration about money may mask deeper fear or insecurity. Kimball’s insight that sin reflects unmet need underscores this principle: resolution demands not only solving the surface issue but also addressing the emotional or spiritual heart.

Illustration: Anger over finances may reflect a deeper desire for security; meeting that need restores peace beyond the numbers. “I hear you about the finances. I can see why you feel that way. What can we do to help you feel more secure?”

Conserving the Heart of Relationships

Conflict in relationships is inevitable; destruction is not. When conflict emerges, whether from sin, misunderstanding, or competing needs, deliberate conservation measures can preserve the relational heart. Separating the relationship from the conflict prevents task conflicts from turning into relationship conflicts. Resuscitating the relationship through repair attempts interrupts cycles of negativity and reinforces the relational bond. Addressing deeper needs transforms conflict into an avenue for growth and intimacy.

The crocodile may attack, but the heart can be saved; relationships need not fall victim to disagreement. Instead, they may emerge stronger—evidence that even in the face of contention, peace remains possible.

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Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Reprint: “A Still Small Voice”: Three Permutations of Qôl Dĕmāmâ Daqqâ in the Book of Mormon

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 10:59:00 -0700

Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: Studies of the Book of Mormon, Bible, and Temple in Honor of Stephen D. Ricks, edited by Donald W. Parry, Gaye Strathearn, and Shon D. Hopkin. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/seek-ye-words-of-wisdom/. “Four passages in the Book of […]

The post Reprint: “A Still Small Voice”: Three Permutations of Qôl Dĕmāmâ Daqqâ in the Book of Mormon first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Six Days in August Wins Three Global Media Awards

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 09:00:00 -0700

The Interpreter Foundation and our media partner RedBrick FilmWorks announced on June 6th that we are the winners of three Telly Awards for our theatrical feature film, Six Days in August. The Telly Awards is a global award program that honors excellence in film, video and television across all media formats. They were established in […]

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Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Not by Bread Alone: Just in Time: Three Converts Return Home

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 10:59:00 -0700

For more information on the “Not by Bread Alone: Stories of the Saints in Africa” series, go to https://notbybreadalonefilm.com/en/For more information in French, go to https://notbybreadalonefilm.com/fr/To see all of our posts about The Church in Africa, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/africa/ On 13 February 1986, Mucioko and Régine BANZA and Dieudonné NKITABUNGI MBUYI, along with other Church […]

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Book of Mormon Central: What Did Early Christians Teach about the Three Degrees of Glory?

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 23:00:00 -0700

“I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. … How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”

2 Corinthians 12:2, 4

The Know

On February 16, 1832, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had a wondrous vision while they were engaged in the inspired translation of the Bible in Hiram, Ohio. That vision, since canonized as Doctrine and Covenants 76, dramatically revealed that there were multiple levels of heaven, each with their own glory.1 This system of heaven was completely at odds with modern conceptions of heaven and hell; however, while it may have been new to nineteenth-century Christians, one might wonder if such a doctrine was present in the earliest teachings of the Christian church. Significantly, as scholars have studied ancient texts, particularly those relating to ancient Judaism and Christianity, a picture similar to the one revealed to Joseph Smith emerges.

Hugh Nibley was perhaps the first Latter-day Saint scholar to seriously demonstrate how ancient texts pointed to this tiered view of heaven. For example, he observed how Christian texts such as the Pistis Sophia describe how the multiple heavens are “beyond the veil.” Furthermore, “only the qualified can pass by one of these veils” until finally they enter the presence of God.2 This doctrine was also closely connected to the pre-mortality of man, and entailed our return to our heavenly home from whence we came to earth.3

Comparisons between Joseph Smith’s revelations on the three degrees of glory and early Christian teachings likewise show considerable similarities. The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith, for example, that the three levels of heaven were comparable in glory to the sun, moon, and stars each relating to the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial kingdoms, respectively (see Doctrine and Covenants 76:96–98). These three kingdoms of glory would be inhabited by those who had lived the laws required to enter therein (see Doctrine and Covenants 88:22–24), with the greatest of all blessings being available in the Celestial Kingdom, where God dwells.

A similar picture is found in Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians. In his defense of the Resurrection, Paul states that “There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another” (1 Corinthians 15:40). In other words, “Just as there are differences in the physical bodies of mortal humans and animals [as discussed in verse 39], there are also differences between mortal bodies and resurrected bodies.”4

Furthermore, Paul taught that just as there are differences between mortal and resurrected bodies, not everybody would be filled with the same glory in the resurrection: “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:41–42). Many early Christians commented upon this verse, viewing it in terms of multiple glories in the resurrection. For example, John Chrysostom noted that “although there is only one resurrection, there will be great differences of honor from one body to another” and that “although they be all in God’s kingdom, all shall not enjoy the same reward.”5 Similarly, Origen taught that this verse referred to “the great difference among those who rise again in glory.”6

Origen likewise taught that the differing levels of heavenly glories related to one’s ability to dwell with God. The first two groups consisted of saints and other righteous individuals. The most righteous “are connected with the Father, being part of Him, and next to these [are] those who have come to the Saviour and take their stand entirely in Him.” A third group of resurrected people would consist of those who never repented of idolatry in their lives, and yet a fourth would be reserved for those who “have fallen away, not only from the good itself, but from the very traces of it.”7

This description matches what was revealed to Joseph Smith: those in the Celestial Kingdom would “dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:62), those in the Terrestrial Kingdom would “receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:77), while those in the Telestial Kingdom would not be able to receive either blessing. A fourth group who committed the unpardonable sin are also seen by Joseph Smith, who had “denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father, having crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:35).

Likewise, in Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians, he mentions a time when he was “caught up to the third heaven,” where he “heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Corinthians 12:2, 4).8 Scholars have long noted that this vision is consistent with a wide variety of early Jewish and Christian sources which note a visionary’s ascent to multiple levels of heaven where they are taught things never to be shared with those who were not initiated into the same ordinances they had experienced.9 As such, Paul’s reference to at least three heavens fits neatly into both an ancient Christian theology and the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.10

Other New Testament texts were likewise influential in the early Christians’ views of heaven. For example, hearkening back to the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, Irenaeus taught that “there is this distinction between the habitation of those who produce an hundred-fold, and that of those who produce sixty-fold, and that of those who produce thirty-fold: for the first will be taken up into the heavens, the second will dwell in paradise, the last will inhabit the city; and that was on this account the Lord declared, In My Father's house are many mansions.”11 The spatial divisions of heaven into three distinct places based upon one’s righteousness is likewise found in other early Christian texts, such as the Shepherd of Hermas or Apocryphon of John.12

The Why

While early Christians taught extensively about three levels of heaven, which Hugh Nibley observed was often connected with the doctrines of baptism for the dead and Christ’s preaching in the world of spirits, later generations of Christians came to reject such a robust plan of salvation. As Nibley observed, “the whole doctrine, certainly an important one, has no place in the teachings of the later churches, ignorant as they were of the great plan of universal salvation.”13

The Lord would not leave such an important doctrine lost to history, however. As He revealed His great plan of salvation to ancient prophets, He restored that knowledge to Joseph Smith in a dramatic vision. Similarly, all Latter-day Saints can experience a similar vision retold through the Temple Endowment, as we symbolically and ritually pass through the three heavens, are taught “unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” outside of the temple, and finally symbolically enter the presence of God, just as was experienced by ancient prophets and disciples of Christ.14

Thus We See…: No One is Mourning the Loss of the Three Bean Salad

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Sun, 04 Dec 2022 06:19:00 -0800

That would be my siblings, my dad and me, circa late ’60s, early ’70s. I’m the stylish one with the sweet hat and suit. Check it out close-up: Why am I posting these? For one, I could tell from the lights on the balcony and the snow on the ground that these were taken around Christmastime. The other reason is that I am chock full of nostalgia lately, which is normal for the holiday season. This year I find myself drifting back to...
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Public Square Magazine: Our First Three Years

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 14:58:00 -0700

At a symposium on Religious Liberty and the Law held in Los Angeles in November, 2017, Elder Quentin L. Cook, a member of The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke of the urgent need for more positive voices in American discourse today. He then explained how adding a new perspective to the conversation “creates a pause in the discourse and allows people to evaluate where they stand on a particular matter.” By contrast, “Silence allows the rhythm of negativity to continue uninterrupted and unchallenged.”

Three years ago this month, we highlighted this inspired insight as central to our motivation in launching a new magazine—one that would be welcoming to voices of committed faith speaking on all important matters in our world today … including difficult ones. We wrote at the time:

The body of believers must now more than ever put pen to paper; click conviction into every keystroke; stand athwart history, and belt “come, come, ye saints” until, in fact, all is well.

Three years later, none of us can say “all is well”—but we’ve done what we can to raise our voices to reach for that beautiful peace to soon come. Thanks to 204 wonderful people who wrote 876 articles across a variety of important topics, we’ve been able to reach millions of people together. We’ve had a lot of fun and learned so much. But it’s been hard to keep up—even for us.

So, as our birthday present today, we include an index of every article we’ve published to date. Our special thanks go to the authors themselves, who have trusted us to share their thoughts and work. We hope you’ll enjoy this reference list!

FAITH

IDENTITY, SEXUALITY & FAMILY

Identity

Expressive Individualism and the Restored Gospel

Is Sexuality Who We Are or What We Do?

Visible Identities & Invisible People

Our Deepening Divide Over Identity

Sexuality and Truth in Harmony

Sexuality in the Age of “If It Feels Good, Do It”

The Value-Responsive Self: Authenticity as Alignment With Truth

The Expressive Self: Identity Above Truth

Our Highest Identity

If You Want to Love Yourself, Love the Truth

Living in This Strange New World

A Conversation with Carl R. Trueman

The Only True Love of Self

How Modern Freedom Turned Into Slavery

Coming Out & Walking Away. Why?

A Love Note to Diamond Marriages and Sapphire Singles

Women

So, Are You For Women . . . Or Not?

Feminists should ask tough questions about ERA

Equal Partnership Marriage in an Individualistic America

The Witness of Women

Emma Smith: A Case Study for Women in Worship

How Christ Includes and Empowers Women

International Women’s Day: Let’s Do More Than Just Celebrate

The Eternal Nature of Motherhood for All Women

How Jordan Peterson Made Me a Better Mother

When Motherhood Devours

Envy, The Wall Between Women

Losing and Finding Myself in Motherhood

When Women Perpetrate Domestic Violence

Don’t You Dare Say “Woman”

Heavenly Mother

Heavenly Mother Should Be Joyful, Not Another Cultural Battle

Is Our Heavenly Mother Conversation Drawing People To Christ?

Taking the Name of Heavenly Mother in Vain

Visualizing Heavenly Mother

Body Image & Modesty

How Modesty Empowers

Why Modesty Still Matters

Do Utahns Struggle with Body Image More Than Others?

Men

The Case for Heroic Masculinity

In Defense of Men

“I’m Not Going Anywhere.” A Tribute to Godly Men

The Church Was My Escape from Misogyny and Violence

Exalting Love & Marriage

Yearning for Greater Fulfillment? Relish Your Most Precious Promises

A Love Note to Diamond Marriages and Sapphire Singles

Some Straight Talk about Polyamory

What’s Hijacking So Many Beautiful Relationships?

What Love Isn’t

Can Mindful Sex Help You Navigate the Pandemic?

Emotional Closeness in Desperate Times

A Mindfulness Journey to “Happily Ever After”

Tying a Stronger Knot: Overcoming Contemporary Marital Myths

Sexual Intimacy

Youth Are Inundated by Sexualized Talk. But Don’t Ask Them about It!

We Need More Than Sexual Desire to Guide Us

Consent is Good, But Not Enough

Sexuality & Happiness

Are Religious LGBT Youth in Utah More (or Less) Prone to Suicidality?

The Well-Being of Youth Shouldn’t Become a Zero-Sum Battle

Is Latter-day Saint Theology Responsible for LGBT+ Suicides?

Yearning for Greater Fulfillment? Relish Your Most Precious Promises

Sexuality & Faith

The Elder Holland I Know

Coming Out & Walking Away. Why?

Anything But the Cross

A Path to Unity, Mr. President: The Fairness for All Act

Douglas Laycock: How Will New LGBT+ Rules Affect Religious Liberty?

Can Religious Freedom Heal the LGBT+ and Faith Divide?

Sexuality, Love & Compassion

Holding the Tension of Truth and Love (and Where We All Get It a Little Wrong)

Why Is It “Big News” That Believers Are Motivated by Love?

Disagreement Doesn’t Equal Hate. Even on BYU’s LGBT Policy

Comparing Allyship and Discipleship

You Are Safe in My Classroom: Truth, Belonging, and Pride Flags

A New Kind of LGBT+ Advocacy?

The Motte, the Bailey, and Gospel of Instagram

Competing Views of “Inclusivity”

On Symbols and Identities

It’s Not Loving to Mislead People About Reality

Draping Yourself in a Rainbow Flag Doesn’t Help Me Feel Loved

A Love Note to Diamond Marriages and Sapphire Singles

The Elder Holland I Know

Exclude Not Thyself

Why “All-in” LGBT+/SSA Saints Are So Reluctant to Speak Up

Sexuality & Truth

Seven Ways Latter-day Saint Teaching about Sexuality Have Been Misrepresented

Why “All-in” LGBT+/SSA Saints Are So Reluctant to Speak Up

Holding the Tension of Truth and Love (and Where We All Get It a Little Wrong)

Exclude Not Thyself

Faithful Answers to Common LGBT+ Questions

Catching a Vision of the Doctrine of the Family

The Philosophical Basis of Biblical Marriage

Treasuring All That God Has Revealed

No Comparison Between Latter-day Saint Race and Sex Teachings

It’s Not Loving to Mislead People About Reality

A Few Questions Before You Try to Change the Church

Challenging the Stories We Tell Ourselves

Gender Identity

To the Parent of a Teen Identifying as Transgender

Separating Fact from Fiction with Gender Identity

Preferred Pronouns: At What Cost?

What I Mean May Not Be What Others Hear

A Better Conversation about HB 11

A Conversation with Rep. Kera Birkeland

Don’t You Dare Say “Woman”

Every Body Matters

Parenting

Poly-Parenting: Is This The Brave New World We Want?

Teach It Freely Unto Your Children

Will My Kids Keep the Faith? Parents’ Hopes and Children’s Choices

The Healing Power of Humility in Parent-Child Relationships

Talking to Kids (and Adults) About the Culture War

Abortion as a Parenting Issue

To the Parent of a Teen Identifying as Transgender

A Message to Parents Overwhelmed about Screen Time

Collaboration Amid Controversy: A Hopeful Report from Loudoun County

Protecting Kids From Explicit Material Shouldn’t Be Controversial

Stop Calling Concerned Parents Haters

Will My Kids Keep the Faith? Parents’ Hopes and Children’s Choices

Better Protecting Children of All Faiths

Some Thoughts on Helping Vulnerable Children

One Overlooked Reason Sexual Abuse Continues

Abortion

A Latter-day Saint Defense of the Unborn

Abortion, the Courts, and Compromise

The Moral Foundation of the Pro-life Position

Beyond Roe v. Wade

A Latter-day Saint Feminist Case Against Abortion

The Perilous Power of Hidden Assumptions in the Abortion Debate

Don’t Call it Abortion

Abortion as a Parenting Issue

The Consistency of Prophetic Abortion Teaching

Roe Ending and My Baby Beginning

Yes, the Church of Jesus Christ is Pro-Life

Right on Roe: Celebrating a Restoration of Constitutional Principles

The Dawn of a Significant Shift Towards Life

Overturning Roe v. Wade Did Not Impose Religion on America

To What Source They May Look

POLITICS & LAW

Culture War

Is it Time for Culture Warriors to Lay Down Their Swords?

Pastors on Politics: A Sermon for America

When Does the Poison of Our National Suspicion Become Lethal?

Dear America, We Can Still Do This!

Monsters Among Us

The Parable of the Lenses

Must Everything Be Political?

Understanding the Latter-day Saint Experience in American Politics

How Partisan Passions Are Undermining Christian Community

Dehumanizing QAnon Supporters

The Mobs Now Come from Both Sides

Has Half the Country Gone Mad?

What Contention Takes From Us

The Mobs Now Come from Both Sides

Assuming the Worst

How Jesus Can Cure Our Hatred

The 2020 Election

An Agonizing Choice for Lovers of Liberalism

#NeverTrump; #AlwaysLiberalism

A Complicated Relationship: Latter-day Saints and Trump

Donald Trump is not Brigham Young

This Is How It Begins to End

Latter-day Saints for Trump

Latter-day Saints for Biden-Harris

Unhappy with Your Options? Vote Libertarian

Unhappy with Your Options? Vote Constitution Party

What Do Marxists Think of Joe Biden and America Right Now?

Choosing a Path, Not Merely a Person

The How Still Matters

When Trust Dies

A Book of Mormon Missive for the 2020 Election

What A Latter-day Saint Learned about Mr. Joe Biden Through Decades of Working on Capitol Hill

Would the Left Accept Four More Years?

Election Aftermath

Why Mitt’s Vote Invoked So Much Emotion

The Problem with Demanding Trust

What Was Really the Choice in the 2020 Election?

More Thoughts on the Capitol Breach

Balm for America’s Wounds

It’s Time To Move On

Not Who We Are…Right?

Mapping Public Disagreements about Election Challenges

A Farewell To Political Arms

Disagreement is Not Disunion

Personal Reconciliation: A Pathway to Peace

What About Whataboutism is Hurting American Democracy?

The Ghost of John McCain: Globalist Apathy vs. Populist Rage

Kingmen on January 6th

What Else Happened January 6th

The January 6 Hearings Are Not Just a Political Stunt

Upholding Wise Leaders

Where Are Our Wise Advisors?

Building Zion by Choosing Righteous Leader

Knowing Less Than We Think

Good Reasons for Knowing Little

Forgetting the Connection Between Law and Morality

Prophets on Politics: Ten Messages to an Agitated, Aggrieved America

The Warnings of Most Worth

The Steep Price of Hypocrisy in Christian Witness

Breaking the Seal of Confession

The Wisdom of the Aged

Donald Trump is not Brigham Young

The 2022 Election

A Latter-day Saint Case for Evan McMullin

A Latter-day Saint Case for Mike Lee

Religious Freedom

That Big Religious Freedom Case Is Not What You Think

Why Do Two Liberal Justices Keep Defending Religious Freedom?

Ancestral Lessons in Religious Freedom

Can Religious Freedom Heal the LGBT+ and Faith Divide?

Continued Restoration of Religious Freedom: Tanzin v. Tanvir and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Upcoming Religious Liberty Cases

The Rainbow and the Cross at the Supreme Court

China’s Disturbing Disregard for Religious Freedom in Xinjiang—and Beyond

Fulton v. Philadelphia’s potential impact on religious liberty

The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court’s Textualist Temptation

Can the Supreme Court Bring Us Together, Rather than Drive Us Apart? Part I

Can the Supreme Court Bring Us Together, Rather than Drive Us Apart? Part 2

The Supreme Court is Right to Be Cautious

Another Big Lie, This Time About the Supreme Court

The Prospects for Religious Liberty in President Biden’s Supreme Court Pick

Expanding the Supreme Court is Authoritarian

U.S. Supreme Court Clarifies the Ministerial Exception to Employment Laws—Sort Of

Who is Amy Coney Barrett really?

Loving America

Why I Believe America is Exceptional

The America I Once Knew

“Thank Him for the liberty you will hereafter enjoy”

Then They Came for Jefferson

In Defense of America

Is America Really Rotten to the Core?

The Big and Beautiful Idea Behind America That We’re Forgetting

White. Christian. Nationalism.

The Constitution Should Be Defended, Not Discarded

Americans Once More?

What Does it Mean to Love America?

America, Land of Promise and Destiny

A Day to Remember

Protecting Freedom of Association: Americans for Prosperity v. Bonta

Money & the Economy

Not a Handout, But a Tax Credit

Preparing for Zion: Extending the Increased Child Tax Credit

What is Wrong With the Housing Market?

The $100 Billion ‘Mormon Church’ story: A Contextual Analysis

Turning Something Very Good Into Something Very Bad

You Can’t Spend Your Way Out of Poverty

MEDIA & EDUCATION

Healthy Media Boundaries

Latter-day Saints and the problem of “performative objectivity”

Making Peeping Toms of Us All

A Message to Parents Overwhelmed about Screen Time

Teaching Yourself to Read (Again)

How to Use Media Before (or After) an Election

It’s Okay to Turn It Off

Social Media

The Real Social Dilemma

How Social Media has Changed the Religious Experience

Breathtaking Facebook Posts Don’t Make You a Good Person

Happy Rejoining Twitter Day

Stop Deleting Your Facebook

The Gospel of Facebook

The Motte, the Bailey, and Gospel of Instagram

Discerning the Impact of Influencers

Saying Goodbye to Faith-Toxic Influencers

To What Source They May Look

A Short History of Social Media Bans

Section 230 and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Grace of the Open Movement

Pop Culture

Religious Resonances in The Weeknd’s Super Bowl Halftime Show

For Mature Audiences Only: Relabeling Crass Media

Public Square Magazine Film of the Year: Corpus Christi

Saving Meghan’s Fairytale

Soul and pre-existence in pop culture

WandaVision, Relativism, and the “New Orthodoxy”

Rock and Religion: The Pursuit of Everlasting Love

Degrading Music is Everywhere. Let’s Enjoy Something Better

Make The Good Times Stop: Pop Culture’s Fixation on Eternal Oblivion

Encanto, The Anti–Superhero Movie

Happy Star Wars Day

Social Science Fiction and the Quest for a New Morality

Leisurely Consecration

Pursuing Progress Patiently: The Lessons of Sport

Pornography

Who Can Turn Away from the Sea of Seduction Around Us?

Whose Body Will Save Us from The Pain Inside?

Is Pornography Use a Fantasy of Transcendence?

Are Utahns Uniquely Drawn to Pornography?

Pornography: An Aphrodisiac or Cold Shower?

Child exploitation on Pornhub is just another reason Section 230 needs an overhaul

Untying the Gordian Knot of Addiction

How Modern Freedom Turned Into Slavery

The Paradox of Porn Concealment

Now’s Not the Time to Downplay Sexual Addiction

How Could Avoiding ‘Sexual Soloing’ Be a Good Thing?

Protecting Kids From Explicit Material Shouldn’t Be Controversial

Stop Calling Concerned Parents Haters

Primary Education

Collaboration Amid Controversy: A Hopeful Report from Loudoun County

The Book Banning Brouhaha

Protecting Kids From Explicit Material Shouldn’t Be Controversial

Stop Calling Concerned Parents Haters

Higher Education

Christian Love, Secular Progress, and Holistic Higher Education

Questioning the Certainties of a Secular World

The Indoctrination Nobody Talks About

What is the Christian Core of a Classical Christian Liberal Arts Education?

The Pressing Need for a Genuinely Christian Liberal Arts Education

Three Public Takes on the BYU Racial Equity Report

A Fourth Take on The BYU Racial Equity Report

BYU-Duke Volleyball: More Healing or More Culture War?

BYU, Racism, and the Road to Social Ruin

Disagreement Doesn’t Equal Hate. Even on BYU’s LGBT Policy

Belonging at the BYU’s: Advice to a College Freshman

Truth, Justice, and the BYU Way

The Beauty at the Heart of the Academy Worth Fighting For

Independent Thinking, Conformity, and Democracy in Education

The Constitutionality of Laws Prohibiting State Scholarships to Religious Schools

Responsible Reform: Elder Cook’s Caution About “Persistent Bouts of Christianity.”

Amazing Literature

Bites of the Best Books: March 2020

Bites of the Best Books: April 2020

Bites of the Best books: May 2020

Bites of the Best books: June 2020

Bites of the Best Books: July 2020

Bites of the Best Books: August 2020

Bites of the Best Books: September 2020

Bites of the Best Books: October 2020

Bites of the Best Books: November 2020

Bites of the Best Books: December 2020

Bites of the Best Books: January 2021

Bites of the Best Books: February 2021

Bites of the Best Books: March 2021

Bites of the Best Books: April 2021

DIALOGUE

Tolerance, Free Inquiry & Free Speech

Don’t Underestimate Cancel Culture

Is “Cancel Culture” a Myth?

The Mobs Now Come from Both Sides

Understanding Demons

Our Return to the Persecution of the Pre-Christian World

Honor the Pilgrims by Cultivating Tolerance

We Are Hypatia

Being a Witness is Not Contention

Thank Heaven for Apologetics

What You Said Makes Me Uncomfortable. Why Are You So Mean?

Outrage Masquerading as Virtue

What It’s Like to Be Cyberbullied

Truth teller vs. Propagandist: How to Tell the Difference

Dismissing Dismissal Strategies

Section 230 and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

A Short History of Social Media Bans

What’s the Greatest Threat to Public Discourse?

The Fantasy Story Americans Love to Tell about Science

Do You ‘Believe in Science’…or Not?

Is Modern Journalism Aiming for the Full Truth, or Something Else?

Honesty is Hard. Let’s Not Give Up On It.

Interrupting the Rhythm of Negativity: Announcing a New Venue

Being Nice(r) Won’t Fix America’s Discursive Woes

Disagreeing Without Death Threats

Why We Need Joseph Smith’s Ecumenical Spirit

Truth and the Rough Road of Reconciliation

A Tale of Two Tolerances

Tolerance for Me But Not for Thee

Weaponizing Tolerance

Honor the Pilgrims by Cultivating Tolerance

Anger and the Modern Prophetic Voice

Why is Bernie Winning? Maybe Because He’s Angry

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Creating Communities, Not Tribes

Is Ideology Dividing Us — or Something Else?

Kumbaya Without Holding Hands

Why You (Too) Should Listen Deeply to Those Driving You Nuts

Are We Pursuing Impossible Conversations?

Is it Okay to Disagree about THAT?!

How We Heal

10 Lessons on the Beauty of Interfaith Harmony

Assuming the Worst

The Curious Conversation: Connecting with Less Tech, More Talk

Truth and the Rough Road of Reconciliation

What Being Zoom-Bombed by Extremists Taught Me

How Jesus Can Cure Our Hatred

Why A National Museum of American Religion Might Help Heal Our National Divide

The 2020 Vision of Joseph Smith and George Orwell

Disunity & Polarization

How Partisan Passions Are Undermining Christian Community

Dehumanizing QAnon Supporters

The Mobs Now Come from Both Sides

Has Half the Country Gone Mad?

What Contention Takes From Us

The Mobs Now Come from Both Sides

Assuming the Worst

How Jesus Can Cure Our Hatred

Conservative & Liberal Religion

Has Politics Become Your New Religion?

The Middle Ground is Disappearing

Moderate, But Not Lukewarm

A Call For Countercultural Christianity

Doing Good in Conservative and Liberal Religion

Belonging and Believing in Conservative and Liberal Religion

Exploring Conservative and Liberal Religion

Elusive Reasoning Among Expansive Latter-day Saints

Prophets Can’t Win

A Deeper Unity of Heart

A Unity of Heart Transcending Differences of Mind

On Hard Hearts and Soft Minds

Reaching for a Zion Beyond Partisan Warfare

Unity Under Siege

Abuse is Something We Should Be Able to Fight Together

An Anti-Racism That Unites Us

We Can’t Even Agree on Vladimir Putin?

Moderate, But Not Lukewarm

Fostering Peaceful Holiday Gatherings in a Time of Fear and Anger

Our Opus for Unity on Earth Day

A Path to Unity, Mr. President: The Fairness for All Act

Not Giving Up on a Shared Vision of Truth

The Value of Persuasion

Why Persuasion Should Be a Sweet (Not a Dirty) Word

The Threat of Persuasion

My truth? Your truth? No truth?

The Virtues of Strong Disagreement

Our Judgement Against Judgement

Why Bother Engaging with Stupid, Duped, or Evil People?

Are We Pursuing Impossible Conversations?

Why should I believe you? Why should you believe me?

Conflict Resolution & Peacemaking

Learning from Intense Conflict

Good Questions as a Pathway to Peace

A Few Questions Before You Try to Change the Church

Honest Questions about Race for Fellow Disciples

Bridging The Narrative Divide

The Curious Conversation: Connecting with Less Tech, More Talk

Forgiving Grandpa

Peacemaking & Violence

Unique Contributions from Latter-day Saint Theology to Peacebuilding

Beating Ploughshares Into Swords

The Christian Obligation to Support Ukraine

Loving Neighbors by Standing Up to Their Slaughter

Sometimes God Really Does Want Us to Fight

Policing, Gun Rights & Gun Violence

Policing Across the Pond

A Plea to Gun Owners: Have Compassion and Support Common-Sense Regulations

Narrating Violence: Stories We Tell (and Don’t Tell)

Processing the Unthinkable

The Faith to Act on Gun Reform

Racial History

Is America Really Rotten to the Core?

Four Chaplains and a Black Man

The 1965 Salt Lake City Race Riot that Never Happened

The Beginning and End of Slavery in America

Is Latter-day Saint History More (or Less) Racist Than Other Communities’?

Juneteenth and the Liberal Tradition

Piecing Together Scripture’s Puzzling Profile of Race

No Comparison Between Latter-day Saint Race and Sex Teachings

Critical Race Theory

Critical Race Theory and the Gospel of Jesus

A Rhetoric of Racial Despair

Are There Good Reasons to Opt Out of the BLM Movement?

Honest Questions about Race for Fellow Disciples

Critical Race Theory, Plus Faith, Hope, & Charity

How Critical Race Theory Helps Us Follow Jesus

A Latina’s Response to ‘Honest Questions about CRT’

Yes, We Really Do Need to Talk About Race

How CRT and Classical Liberalism Collide

White. Christian. Nationalism.

Five Ways to Explain Away Black Conservatives

Redemptive Approaches to Racial Conflict

An Anti-Racism That Unites Us

The Doctrine of Christ is Not Racist

Celebrating Black Pioneers, Then and Now

Injustice, Civil Unrest, and Finding Peace in the Book of Mormon

BYU-Duke Volleyball: More Healing or More Culture War?

Is America Really Interested in Racial Healing?

BYU, Racism, and the Road to Social Ruin

What I Hope You Mean When You Say “I Don’t See Color.”

Racial Healing

How Collective Healing Happens

George Floyd, Derek Chauvin, and Enmity

Cold War Strategies for America’s Racial Divide

Lord, Is It I?

What Can We Learn from Hearing Heartfelt Concerns?

On Costly Grace and the Space to Grow

Counting the Cost of Zion

Deepening Empathy, Compassion, and Understanding Through Reading, Part 1

Deepening Empathy, Compassion, and Understanding Through Reading, Part 2

Three Public Takes on the BYU Racial Equity Report

A Fourth Take on The BYU Racial Equity Report

Race and Representation in Latter-day Saint Art

Why Aren’t We There Yet as a Society? A Latter-day Saint Case for Hope

History

Then They Came for Jefferson

Is America Really Rotten to the Core?

Is Latter-day Saint History More (or Less) Racist Than Other Communities’?

The 1965 Salt Lake City Race Riot that Never Happened

The Beginning and End of Slavery in America

Don’t Flip Your Whig

“Thank Him for the liberty you will hereafter enjoy”

The Falling Berlin Wall Matters (Or Should Matter) Today

Building Israel: The First Few Millennia Are Always Hardest

Conspiracy as History: “Who Killed Joseph Smith?” As a Case Study

The Falling Berlin Wall Matters (Or Should Matter) Today

The Temptation of Prince Salim

The Wisdom of the Aged

Honoring the Wisdom of The Generations Who Came Before

Our Worship of the New

International Relations & Immigration

The Charity Most of Us Lack

Immigration is a Latter-day Saint Heritage

The Iranian Protests Are More Than What You’re Seeing

Here’s How You Can Help Afghan Refugees in Utah

The Christian Obligation to Support Ukraine

Loving Neighbors by Standing Up to Their Slaughter

Social Justice

Does Social Justice Really Have to Divide Us?

Social Justice and Christmas

Intersectional Anger on the Left and Right

America’s Impending Acid Test

Injustice, Outrage, and the Problem of Atheodicy

And Not One Soul Shall Feel Excluded

Competing Views of “Inclusivity”

Whose Image Are You Seeking In Your Countenance?

Competing Narratives of American Redemption

Competing Narratives of Danger in America

Competing Plans For The Redemption of the World

Are You Woke or Awake?

A Gospel Foundation for Common Ground on Social Justice

The Expanding Language of Revolution in America

What Does a Marxist Think of Bernie? Q&A with Arthur Peña

Why is Bernie Winning? Maybe Because He’s Angry

Marxism, Satanism, and the Worship of Self

Karate, Currents, and Christian Dissidents A Review of Rod Dreher’s Live Not By Lies

What We Love & Trust in Modernity

Has Politics Become Your New Religion?

The Other Religion

Unraveling Trust in the North American Church

Talking to Kids (and Adults) About the Culture War

Faith, Facts, and Freedom

A “Me Too” Faith?

Is the Gospel of Jesus Too Boring for America?

Whose Body Will Save Us from The Pain Inside?

AstraZeneca and Pfizer Will Save Us

Do You ‘Believe in Science’…or Not?

The Fantasy Story Americans Love to Tell about Science

Deciding Who to Trust

Our Worship of the New

HEALTH

Pandemic Pragmatics

Working from Home? Let Me Show You the Ropes

Emotional Closeness in Desperate Times

Can Mindful Sex Help You Navigate the Pandemic?

Five Steps Towards More Confidence Against Coronavirus

Pandemic Faith

Prophets on Pandemic: Ten Messages to a Weary, Wary World

What’s the Point of a Prophet Who Already Agrees With You?

COVID-19 Vaccination as an Abrahamic Test

Faith and the Long Uncertainties of COVID

Tolerating the Unprecedented

How the Pandemic Impacted Faith

Pandemic Grief & Growth

Making Meaning of COVID Loss

Mourning Together as Morning Dawns

The Coronavirus Choice We’re Not Talking About

Recognizing Our Need for Rebirth

Seeing the Faces Behind Our Costly Covid-19 Blessings

Learning in a Time of Plague

Pandemic Policy & Peacemaking

Covid Peacemaking for Latter-day Saint Families

Reckoning with the Generational Estrangement of the Covid Age

Can Thoughtful People Disagree about the Coronavirus Response?

Mapping Public Disagreements about Covid-19 Response

Mapping Public Disagreements about Vaccine Mandates

Is Vaccine Dialogue Even Possible?

The Most Reviled Minority in America?

Let’s Forgive 2020

What’s the Greatest Threat to Public Discourse?

What Does It Mean to Be “Effective”?

Do You ‘Believe in Science’…or Not?

The Fantasy Story Americans Love to Tell about Science

AstraZeneca and Pfizer Will Save Us

Long-term, Short-term

Pandemic Politics

Politicizing the Pandemic

Pitting Christian Ministry and Devotion Against Each Other

Is COVID-19 Shifting the Fault lines in America?

The Laser and the Lightbulb

A Contagion of Comfort and Security

God, Caesar, and the Coronavirus

Discerning True from False Conspiracy

The Mark of the Beast is More Than a Punchline

Senior Care

Reckoning with the Generational Estrangement of the Covid Age

Reducing the Risk of Cognitive Impairment in Aging Adults

Mental Health

How I’m Finding Deeper Healing from Depression

Living Well with Depression—My Personal Journey

Are Utahns More Depressed Than Everyone Else?

Are Religious LGBT Youth in Utah More (or Less) Prone to Suicidality?

Is It Time for a Paradigm Shift in Mental Health?

If More Treatment Is the Answer, Why Haven’t the Numbers Gone Down?

Towards a Less Depressing Story about Depression

Does Your Depression Keep Getting Worse? This Might Be Why

Imagining a Mental Health System Centered on Learning & Growth

Hope Sometimes Hurts. Hopelessness Hurts More.

Long-term, Short-term

Trauma Healing

Trauma Healing as a Sacred Gospel Practice

The Urgent Need to Console the Wounded

The Meaning of Suffering

Difficult by Design

The Sanctity of Suffering

Why Bad Things Must Happen to Good People

Life as an Experience in Contrast

Therapy & Counseling

Are Latter-day Saint Therapists Meeting Client Expectations?

How Therapists are Failing the Faithful

Therapists Aren’t Neutral. Let’s Stop Pretending They Are

Aspiring for a Redemptive Psychology

Towards a Latter-day Saint Perspective in Psychology

Encouraging Disciple-Scholars in the Social Sciences

Is Life Ruthlessly Determined or Full of Possibility?

The post Our First Three Years appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

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Posts - Steven C. Harper: Three Lines from Hymn 26: Joseph Smith’s First Prayer

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 15:53:00 -0700

Required Reading: First Vision Accounts

Optional Reading: Richard L. Bushman, “What Can We Learn from the First Vision”

Memorize and internalize concepts in bold typeface.

When the powers of sin assailing filled his soul with deep despair, Joseph Smith sought the God of love. His humble prayer was answered. He found the living, loving, God. So can you.

George Manwaring, a British convert and self-taught composer, was inspired by a painting of Joseph Smith’s first vision by the Danish artist C.C.A. Christensen. So Manwaring composed a hymn about it that begins like this:

Oh, how lovely was the morning!

Radiant beamed the sun above.

Bees were humming, sweet birds singing

Music ringing thru the grove,

When within the shady woodland

Joseph sought the God of love. . .

Humbly kneeling, sweet appleaing—

‘Twas the boy’s first uttered prayer—

We will read the accounts of Joseph Smith’s first vision together in class, and later lessons will introduce source criticism (how we know what we know) of them. This lesson shows how three lines from George Manwaring’s hymn go right to the heart of Joseph’s experience.

The powers of sin filled Joseph with deep despair

In 1832, Joseph wrote a brief autobiography including this passage about his early teens

“At about the age of twelve years my mind become seriously imprest with regard to the all importent concerns of for the well fare of my immortal Soul which led me to search ing the scriptures believeing as I was taught, that they contained the word of God thus applying myself to them and my intimate acquaintance with those of differant denominations led me to marvel excedingly for I discovered that <they did not adorn>instead of adorning their profession by a holy walk and Godly conversation agreeable to what I found contained in that sacred depository this was a grief to my Soul thus from the age of twelve years to fifteen I pondered many things in my heart concerning the sittuation of the world of mankind the contentions and divi[si]ons the wicke[d]ness and abominations and the darkness which pervaded the of the minds of mankind my mind become excedingly distressed for I become convicted of my sins . . . “

Have you ever wondered why Joseph Smith said that his “mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them” (Joseph Smith-History 1:8)

Or why he told his mother after his first vision, “I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true” (Joseph Smith-History 1:20)

Until I studied other Christian theologies and histories, Joseph’s words meant nothing to me. Now I realize that those two lines are enormously meaningful. They say so much about what Joseph was looking for. They reveal the terrible dilemma Joseph struggled to resolve. The nature of God is at stake in that dilemma. So is salvation. To get a sense of Joseph’s dilemma we will need a sampling of both Presbyterianism and of Methodism

As we learned in our last lesson, the Presbyterian God is sovereign. That’s the most important thing about Him. He is in control. He might decide to save you but he is much more likely to damn you. And there is nothing you, in your totally depraved fallenness, can do about it. His will is mysterious, arbitrary, sovereign. And he abhors you….

Remember the haunting line from the famous Jonathan Edwards sermon, “The God that holds you over the Pit of Hell, much as one holds a Spider, or some loathsome Insect, over the Fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his Wrath towards you burns like Fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the Fire . . . “

It’s overly simple to say that the Presbyterian God abhorred people and the Methodist God didn’t, but the contrast helps us see a difference that meant a lot to Joseph. Methodists emphasized that God so loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son, and people could choose to come to Christ and receive a gift of His grace. When they did they would be born again. A few would see visions, more would feel pure joy, and many would shout for joy. That’s what this image depicts:

Joseph Sought the God of Love

Now try to imagine what it was like to be Joseph. He knows he is sinful and needs Jesus Christ. He does not know whether (the Presbyterian) God had already damned him to eternal hell by his arbitrary sovereign will. As the heir of Adam’s fall, Joseph somehow deserved hell, though he did nothing to cause his own fall and there was nothing he could do to change it. Joseph didn’t like Presbyterianism but his teenage sinfulness lead him to think–even fear– it was probably true.

Joseph attended Methodist revival meetings where he was called to come to Christ. Everyone around him felt the power of God and Joseph said he “wanted to get Religion too wanted to feel & shout like the Rest but could feel nothing.”[1]

His family tradition told him that the scriptures and sound reason led to truth, but he faced a terrible conflict between his head and his heart. His heart had him hoping that Methodism (Arminian theology) was right, but he tried and tried and couldn’t produce any evidence to support that hope. He wanted to feel and shout, but felt nothing.

So his head led him to believe that Presbyterianism (Calvinist theology) must be right—but that’s an awful possibility and he didn’t want to conclude it was true if any better option was open.

He tells himself over and over that maybe they’re all wrong, but he doesn’t dare let that thought sink into his heart because he’s convicted of his sins and desperately in need of the Savior’s forgiveness (Joseph Smith-History 1:10, 18). He can’t figure out this dilemma. Then he experiences the epiphany that comes from reading James 1:5.

He realizes that he can ask of God, and he makes an early morning trip to the woods to ask in faith. In his 1838/39 Manuscript History, Joseph described it this way:

“In the midst of this war of words, and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself, what is to be done? Who of all these parties are right? Or are they all wrong together? and if any one of them be right which is it? And how shall I know it? While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, First Chapter and fifth verse which reads, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.[”] Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man that this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did, for how to act I did not know and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had [I] would never know, for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same [p. 2] passage of Scripture so differently as destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion or else I must do as James directs, that is, Ask of God. I at last came to the determination to ask of God, concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally and not upbraid, I might venture.”

Joseph’s Humble Prayer was Answered: He Saw the Living (Loving) God

In a November 1835 journal entry, Joseph’s scribe recorded this telling:

“being wrought up in my mind, respecting the subject of religion and looking upon <at> the different systems taught the children of men, I knew not who was right or who was wrong and concidering it of the first importance that I should be right, in matters that involved eternal consequences; being thus perplexed in mind I retired to the silent grove and bowd down before the Lord, under a realising sense that he had said (if the bible be true) ask and you shall receive knock and it shall be opened seek and you shall find and again, if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men libarally and upbradeth not; information was what I most desired at this time, and with a fixed determination I to obtain it, I called upon the Lord for the first time, in the place above stated or in other words I made a fruitless attempt to pray, my toung seemed to be swolen in my mouth, so that I could not utter, I heard a noise behind me like some person walking towards me, <I> strove again to pray, but could not, the noise of walking seemed to draw nearer, I sprung up on my feet, and [p. 23] and looked around, but saw no person or thing that was calculated to produce the noise of walking, I kneeled again my mouth was opened and my toung liberated, and I called on the Lord in mighty prayer, a pillar of fire appeared above my head, it presently rested down upon my <me> head, and filled me with joy unspeakable, a personage appeard in the midst, of this pillar of flame which was spread all around, and yet nothing consumed, another personage soon appeard like unto the first, he said unto me thy sins are forgiven thee, he testifyed unto me that Jesus Christ is the son of God . . . “

When the powers of sin assailing filled his soul with deep despair, Joseph sought the God of love. His humble prayer was answered. He found the living, loving God.

Joseph recorded his testimony of this experience often. His earliest accounts emphasize his successful quest for God’s forgiveness.

When the power of sin has assailed my soul, I have also sought the living, loving God. My prayers have been answered less dramatically than Joseph’s but with the same redeeming love. I testify that Joseph sought and found the God of love. So can you.

So much is at stake over whether his testimony of this experience is true or not. Seekers should become the best informed analysts of Joseph’s vision accounts. So in class we will introduce the known accounts of Joseph Smith’s first vision and practice source criticism.

The post Three Lines from Hymn 26: Joseph Smith’s First Prayer appeared first on Steven C. Harper.

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Nauvoo Neighbor: Three Writing Samples

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 14:00:00 -0800

When scholars talk about authorship of scripture, sometimes they look at changes in tone, genre, setting, or perspective as evidence of multiple authorship.

Below are three samples of my own writing that inform my thinking about this. The total time span of these samples is roughly 25-30 years. If you didn’t know it was me, is there any way you would guess that these are the same author?

Scholars often describe a big problem in the field of Biblical Studies, a lack of external controls. In other words, they make judgment calls about shifts in genre, tone, perspective, setting, etc. indicating multiple authorship, without looking at known examples of these things in other places. Well, here’s a personal example. We could also do this exercise with restoration scripture, or with artistic materials like poetry and music. For example, U2’s October sounds nothing like Zooropa, but it’s exactly the same band, just 12 years apart. As people evolve, their communications evolve.

The first is from my mission in 1994, and there are a hundred letters I wrote home that read just like this one:

Dears,

This week has been extremely interesting. Monday night, we preached in a Pentecostal church, and afterwards we chatted a bit with the pastor. This past week I got a ton of letters from a ton of people, and that was great. I got a great letter from ______ , an entertaining one from ______, and several ______ from ______, ______, and ______. I got an awesome letter from Elder ______ in Porto Alegre down South. Sounds like my MTC district is doing beautifully. This past week it has been extremely difficult for me to keep concentrated because some of my best friends in the mission are taking off. They’re all being interviewed today and tomorrow, and then they’re outta here. I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on post-mission life these past few days, and to be honest it scares me to death. Girls, work, school- so much unknown.

… (section about marriage, redacted- too cringe to reprint)…

______, check up on your plans for your anniversary in October and see if it wouldn’t be cheaper to pay a visit to Foz do Iguacu here in the state of Parana. If you can’t, ask ______ if he can. Or better yet, I’ll ask him right now. ______, why don’t you come down to pick me up in October, and we’ll check out Foz do Iguacu? I tried. The past 3 weeks here, I’ve had some big ol’ stomach pains, and the past couple of days they’ve gotten extremely worse, so Monday I called doc way over there in Sao Carlos. He prescribed a little bottle of medicine I was to take every hour, and then I woke up just fine. Miracles never cease. Listen to this- I’ve been working in my suit pants for 2 weeks because my other pants have all ripped except my polyester/wool slacks. There aren’t any dry cleaners around. That’s unfortunate, because my suit pants are turning a slight hue of brown. This is a very dusty climate. Tell ______ to write me again; I could use a laugh now and then. Hey ______, that preacher at BYU should have seen me at the Pentecostal church Monday night. It ROCKED!!! I would tell you to exhort ______ and ______ to diligence in writing, but I think I’ve already given up on them. (Yeah!!!) P.S. Could somebody send me peanut butter?

The second is from about 5 years later when I was doing political science coursework in college:

The third is a collection of things I have written 20 years after college, in my forties:

Blogging and Media:

Jesus Had a Religion

Does Revelation Need To Be Original?

What Do We Know, And How? A Look At Orthodox Latter-Day Saint Epistemology

Revelation as Remembering

Marvin J Ashton and Spencer W. Kimball

Thomas Keating, C. S. Lewis, Russell M. Nelson on Christian Healing

President Russell M. Nelson and Identity

Why I Signed the Radical Orthodoxy Manifesto – By Common Consent

Follow The Prophets

The Book of Mormon, Cover to Cover again

Before we discuss LGBT and the Church…

Seeking Revelation

Faith Crisis and Choices

You can have exactly what you want, forever.

President Nelson on Gospel Learning

A Love Note to the Universalists

Responding to Jaxon Washburn’s New Critique of RO

What is Discernment?

Church History and the Present

Do You Understand The Plan?

Is Politics Your New Religion?

Spiritual Experiences, Motivated Reasoning, and Objectivity

3 Nephi and The Revealed Christ

Positively Biased for Conference

We’re all biased. Let’s explore how.

Types of Latter-day Saint Spiritual Experiences

What Does It Mean That the Church is True?

Learning to Think…About Faith

Is Politics Your New Religion? – CWIC

The War in Heaven – CWIC

Understanding Demons – CWIC

Public Square Magazine:

And Not One Soul Shall Feel Excluded – Public Square Magazine

Anger and the Modern Prophetic Voice – Public Square Magazine

Creating Jesus in Our Image – Public Square Magazine

Trauma in The Family of Abraham – Public Square Magazine

Intersectional Anger on the Left and Right – Public Square Magazine

Thou Shalt Not Whine – Public Square Magazine

Easter is Reality – Public Square Magazine

The Middle Ground is Disappearing – Public Square Magazine

Our Deepening Divide Over Identity – Public Square Magazine

Understanding Demons – Public Square Magazine

Covid Peacemaking for Latter – Day Saint Families

Exploring Conservative and Liberal Religion – Public Square Magazine

Interpreter Journal:

Their Imperfect Best: Isaianic Authorship from an LDS Perspective | The Interpreter

Ministering across Fault Lines of Belief and Community | The Interpreter

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FAIR: Three Important FAIR Conference Presentations to Help Parents, Leaders, and Other Teachers of Children and Youth

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 13:31:00 -0700

These three presentations are important to families and Church leaders of all faiths. We hope you will watch them and share them with your Latter-day Saint, and non-Latter-day Saint, friends.

Jeffrey Thayne – “Worldview Apologetics: Revealing the Waters in Which We Swim” (transcript)

Carl Trueman – “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution”

Ed Gantt – “Agentic Sexuality: How a Latter-day Saint Perspective Can Rescue Humanity from the Tyranny of the Abstract”

Jeffrey Thayne is from BYUI, Carl Trueman is with Grove City College and is an Orthodox Presbyterian, and Ed Gantt is from BYU.

This is a reposting from a previous blog to highlight the conference presentations.

The post Three Important FAIR Conference Presentations to Help Parents, Leaders, and Other Teachers of Children and Youth appeared first on FAIR.

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Posts on NothingWavering.org that link to this one:

Public Square Magazine: Thank Heaven for Apologetics

FAIR: Three Conference Presentations Now Available to Help Parents, Leaders, and Other Teachers of Children and Youth

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Sun, 05 Sep 2021 04:00:00 -0700

by Cassandra Hedelius

Late last year, I started brainstorming suggestions for who we could invite to present at the 2021 FAIR conference. We usually look for presenters to counter criticisms of the church on issues like polygamy, Book of Mormon translation, and race. But in addition to these, I wanted this conference to provide more immediately vital resources for parents, building on John Gee’s excellent presentation in 2020. Children are bombarded with not only explicit arguments, but very subtle messages that shape their imaginations and moral judgment in ways that make it very difficult to accept divine authority and parental guidance. I’m the mother of three young children, and my dearest hope is to succeed at building their faith in the Lord, His church, and the prophets and other leaders He calls. I was determined to find speakers that would significantly help me and other parents like me.

Around that time, I started reading a new book by Carl Trueman: The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution. I was instantly captivated by Trueman’s skill at naming and explaining cultural forces that I had dimly intuited but never fully grasped. His bracing exposition gave me the consciousness and competence I need to shape my childrens’ worldviews instead of allowing them to be shaped by the world’s philosophies.

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self explains how, from Rousseau’s romanticization of nature, to Freud’s centering of sex as the vital center of human identity, to our unwitting acceptance of therapeutic affirmation as the only legitimate expression of love, we’ve become a society whose actual religious basis is expressive individualism. Despite some lingering echoes of Judeo-Christian observance, we by and large worship personal identity, no matter how outlandishly defined and sometimes more worshipful when more outlandish. We shun any moral code that subjects personal identity (or behavior defined as a direct outgrowth of identity) to even the slightest constraint of norms or commandments or criticism. Even those of us sincerely faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ are often more susceptible to this identity worship than we realize. We instinctively shrink from criticism of, or anything short of enthusiastic affirmation of, anyone’s sexual choices or identifiers. And we raise our children on stories of protagonists who defy their parents in order to follow their hearts, which primes them to feel ashamed of the doctrine of their faith when it encourages others to change their hearts in order to follow God.

Everyone I know who has read The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self agrees it’s an extraordinary book, and zealously recommends it to everyone they know. If a dense (but wonderfully written) 432-page tome seems too difficult, a shorter version will go on sale in February 2022. I hope it is widely read and discussed among Latter-day Saint parents, teachers, grandparents, and anyone who wants to be grounded in eternal truth amid the world’s toxic philosophies.

Trueman was exactly the conference speaker I was looking for to help parents. But I didn’t think he was likely to accept–how many Reformed Presbyterian professors of biblical and religious studies would accept an invitation to speak at a Latter-day Saint apologetics conference? Especially when he’s just written a best-selling book and is the toast of every Christian conference and podcast? So I made the suggestion but started thinking about other options.

My friend Jeffrey Thayne is a psychology professor at BYU-Idaho and a brilliant writer and thinker. I knew he was interested in Trueman’s book and had done his own thinking and writing on the same topics. Thayne’s frequent co-author, BYU psychology professor Ed Gantt, was also working on relevant material. I was excited when they both agreed to speak at the FAIR conference, covering much of the ground that I had found so enlightening in Trueman’s book.

Then to my delighted surprise, Carl Trueman accepted our invitation to speak! Hosting Carl and his delightful wife Catriona at the FAIR conference was a joy; they are both gracious, kind, brilliant, and generously interested in better understanding our faith. Carl’s conference address was a tour de force of clarity, faith, courage, and practical wisdom. I hope it gets shared widely and leads many more people to read his book, so that it can lead many more people to successfully raise their children to be dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ instead of spiritually barren devotees of expressive individualism.

Jeffrey Thayne’s presentation was every bit as illuminating as Trueman’s. Several people told me it changed their lives by helping them to understand for the first time how a loved one thinks when rejecting the church, and thereby making it possible to repair the relationship. I learned several strategies for educating my children’s imaginations and worldviews so that the gospel will always be just and logical to them, instead of stifling and irrational as so many now claim to find it.

Ed Gantt’s presentation is a little more difficult for the layman non-psychology-professor to digest, but we hope to soon provide additional materials that will make it more accessible. I was grateful to learn from it how to counter some of the world’s notions about identity that groom children and teenagers to see themselves as misfits in the gospel. We’ve recently seen high-profile cases of psychologists speaking against the church and its doctrine, claiming our standards are psychologically harmful. Professor Gantt reminds us that psychology can also support gospel living.

It is FAIR’s usual practice to publish transcripts of conference presentations quickly but to wait a few years before making the videos publicly available. We’re making an exception in the case of the Trueman and Thayne presentations because the subject matter is so crucially important and almost universally applicable to families and church leaders right now. The transcript of Professor Gantt’s presentation is also available now.

We’re providing these presentations right away so that parents, grandparents, bishops, youth leaders, and any others can help those they care for accept the gospel in spite of cultural trends making it increasingly difficult. These presentations will help you intentionally shape how your children see and analyze the world and society. Our culture wants them to accept premises that lead to the rejection of chastity, the atonement, and priesthood authority. You can help them to build their foundation on scripture and the words of living prophets instead.

Thanks so much to everyone who attended our conference, in person or remotely, and to everyone who will watch, read, and listen to these presentations. We hope they equip you with truth and strength, to build your faith, your children’s, and everyone else’s that you minister to. God bless you in your work of building Zion and sharing the gospel.

Ed Gantt – “Agentic Sexuality: How a Latter-day Saint Perspective Can Rescue Humanity from the Tyranny of the Abstract”

Jeffrey Thayne – “Worldview Apologetics: Revealing the Waters in Which We Swim” (transcript)

Carl Trueman – “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution”

Cassandra Hedelius studied Political Science in Oklahoma and Law in Colorado. She currently lives in Aurora, Colorado and cares full time for her three young children and cat.

The post Three Conference Presentations Now Available to Help Parents, Leaders, and Other Teachers of Children and Youth appeared first on FAIR.

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Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Estimating the Evidence, Episode 7: On Three Consonants and a Turn

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 10:59:00 -0700

It seems unlikely that Joseph could guess the name Nahom by chance alone, or that he could've gotten that location from a map. The site of Nahom has been touted as solid archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon, but it’s hard to know exactly how strong that evidence actually is. Could Joseph have guessed the name by chance?

The post Estimating the Evidence, Episode 7: On Three Consonants and a Turn first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.
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The Millennial Star: Three Other COVID-19 Matters That Could Unite All Believers

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 08:40:00 -0700

Even if we continued to disagree on the reality of what was happening, I proposed last week that the attempt to better hear each other’s fears might be a way to draw our hearts together. By comparison, the vast majority … Continue reading →

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LDS365: WITNESSES: New Movie About The Three Witnesses to The Book of Mormon

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0700

WITNESSES is a new Latter-day Saint movie that tells the powerful true story of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon. For nearly 200 years, skeptics and critics have been tried to explain away what the witnesses stated—that they saw angels and held the golden plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. To their dying days, they defended their testimonies even when faced with threatening mobs, ridicule, and betrayal by friends and family.

I attended the premier last night at the Megaplex at Thanksgiving Point. I had seen the trailers on social media and I personally know the director, some of the producers, and several others involved in making and distributing the film. I knew they had rounded up a world-class cast. I hoped that it would be good. And it was. The cinematography was beautiful. The acting was superb. The storyline was compelling. It is the most ambitious film yet that tells the story of the translation of the Book of Mormon, the human relationships among early leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and, especially, the remarkable stories of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon.

This film helps you get to know David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris as real people who had real struggles. They were imperfect, but they were remarkable men who did the best they could in unimaginably difficult times. For nearly 200 years, their testimony of what occurred has been published with every copy of the Book of Mormon.

It may be easy to look back 200 years and judge people based on what little historical evidence we have today. This film helps us see them as real people who at times found it hard to believe in themselves and to have faith when it appeared that everyone around them turned against them. I appreciate what they did and the witness they left of the Book of Mormon.

The film opens this weekend, beginning Friday, June 4, 2021. I encourage you to attend opening weekend. The success of independent films is often dependent on how good opening weekend is.

Watch a trailer for the movie Witnesses:

To find a theatre near you, visit WitnessesFilm.com. If it isn’t playing in your city, click “Bring Witnesses to Your City This Summer” to request it.
Learn more about the backstory in the article “The Making of ‘Witnesses’: The Fulfillment of a Persistent Dream“
“New movie about witnesses to the Book of Mormon shows a raw, human side to early Church leaders“

The post WITNESSES: New Movie About The Three Witnesses to The Book of Mormon first appeared on LDS365: Resources from the Church & Latter-day Saints worldwide.
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LDS365: WITNESSES: Powerful New Movie About The Three Witnesses to The Book of Mormon

noreply@nothingwavering.org (No Reply) — Mon, 31 May 2021 05:23:00 -0700

WITNESSES is a new Latter-day Saint movie that tells the powerful true story of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon — David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris. For nearly 200 years, their statement of what occurred has been published with every copy of the Book of Mormon.

While many people know the story contained in their statement, not many know the full story of how they became witnesses to the gold plates from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. To their dying days, they defended their testimonies even when faced with threatening mobs, ridicule, and betrayal by friends and family.

Tickets for WITNESSES are now on sale for the film’s opening weekend, exclusively in theatres beginning Friday, June 4, 2021.

Watch a trailer for the movie Witnesses:

For more information, visit witnessesfilm.com.

The post WITNESSES: Powerful New Movie About The Three Witnesses to The Book of Mormon first appeared on LDS365: Resources from the Church & Latter-day Saints worldwide.
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