Parents, please take a minute to read this article at CNN.com: The Demise of Guys: How video games and porn are ruining a generation. Research continues to show that the pleasure center in the brain is seriously affected by pornography and excessive video game use. While young women are not immune to the problems of what are sometimes called arousal addictions, pornography and video games are having a measurable affect on young men.

Psychologists Dr. Philip Zimbardo and Nikita Duncanshow report research hat the trap of pornography and video gaming is seriously affecting young men’s school performance, life skill development, and ability to build and maintain healthy relationships.

The excessive use of video games and online porn in pursuit of the next thing is creating a generation of risk-averse guys who are unable (and unwilling) to navigate the complexities and risks inherent to real-life relationships, school and employment.

Lest you think that only mild exposure or involvement with video games or pornography is not something to be overly concerned about, the authors report:

Less extreme cases of arousal addiction may go unnoticed or be diagnosed as an attention or mood disorder. But we are in a national, and perhaps global, Guy Disaster Mode that needs to be noticed and solutions advanced to fix a totally novel phenomenon, which will only increase in intensity and breadth without the concerted efforts of educators, gamemakers, parents, guys and gals.

We invite you to reflect as individuals, parents, grandparents, community members, church members…whatever your roles or responsibilities are, consider what you can do to help stem the tide of this growing problem. Hear more from Dr. Zimbardo in this TED Talk.

Image shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. [block]0[/block]

The website Prophets and Apostles Speak Today (prophets.lds.org) released a new video titled “We Need Living Prophets,” highlighting a talk given by Elder D. Todd Christofferson on the importance of prophets. The video also includes testimonies of members from all over the world.

By guest blogger: Fernando Camilo

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Jerusalem Movie Set, the newest addition to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ film production sets. The set is located about 70 miles south of Salt Lake City, literally in the middle of nowhere. It was built to be the new filming spot for The Life of Jesus Christ: Bible Videos, a gift from the First Presidency of the Church to the world.

The Church-owned farm was carefully chosen by Media Services Department producers and approved by the First Presidency to be the home of the remarkable movie set. Initially, the production team had considered filming locations as far as Morocco, but after extensive search, Goshen turned out to be the ideal spot for the production.

The large set feels more like a miniature Jerusalem than an actual movie set. Everything in it was so carefully designed and crafted that at times I felt like I had not only been transported to the ancient land but also traveled 2,000 years back in time. Although the set was not dressed for shooting, it was still impressive. The unmistakable scent of manure was a constant reminder that you were certainly not in Jerusalem, but it definitely didn’t detract from the experience. Everything from doorknobs to staircases was masterfully built to reproduce the Holy Land perfectly. Wood columns made of Styrofoam and fiberglass-covered props easily fooled the eye. In fact, much of the set didn’t seem fake to the touch either. Everywhere you looked was picture perfect and undoubtedly a cinematographer’s dream.

Perhaps the most spiritually enlightening part of our tour was the walk down to “Gethsemane” and later on to “Golgotha” where the three infamous crosses still stood from last year’s filming of the Savior’s crucifixion. Although the grove wasn’t made of real olive trees and the crosses weren’t consecrated by the Master’s blood, the sense of reverence still permeated the spot.

Visiting that incredible movie set has been one of the highlights of my Church employment so far. Being a part of this project has been an incredible blessing and I sincerely hope more and more people will take advantage of these beautiful videos.

Shooting will resume this summer and Bible Videos will eventually become a large collection of vignettes about the life of the Savior, containing over 100 videos relating the story of his birth, ministry, death, and resurrection.

Below are pictures I took during my visit to the set, as well as pictures from the actual videos available at BibleVideos.org.

Note: The Church is looking for background actors for additional New Testament stories to be filmed during July and August of 2012.

A new Mormon Message for Youth titled Dare to Stand Alone has been released. In this video, President Thomas S. Monson shares an experience he had in the Navy in which he had to stand alone and reminds us that “we are never alone when we stand with our Father in Heaven.”

The video is available through the Youth website or on YouTube.

Has there been a time when you have needed to stand alone in doing what you know is right? Who can you share your experience with?

Read, watch, or listen to President Monson’s address “Dare to Stand Alone” from the October 2011 LDS General Conference.

A new Bible Video called Mary, the Mother of Jesus was just released in a continuing efford to create a comprehensive library of videos based on Bible stories and the life of Jesus Christ. The purpose of this new video is to honor the Savior’s mother in a compilation of important New Testament scenes of which she was a major part. Although the video is meant to be a tribute to Mary, it was intentionally released during Mother’s Day weekend, while people in many countries around the world are celebrating motherhood. The video is also available in Spanish and Portuguese.

How can a father raise a happy, well-adjusted daughter in today’s increasingly toxic world? Read the full text from Sister Dalton’s address “Love Her Mother.”

Please share this video with your friends and family. You can also download the video at MormonMessages.org. Just click the Download icon (a down arrow) below the video. It’s not located below the large window where you watch the video, but in the small thumbnail of the video in the lower portion of the screen.  

This is a beautiful Mother’s Day tribute, a song written by Mormon women songwriter/musician, Calee Reed. Calee’s mom passed away recently from cancer. She wrote this song as a tribute to her mother.

Will you help Calee share this message, in honor of her mother and as a tribute to mothers everywhere, and to help those suffering from cancer?  (At Mormon Women, we don’t do commercial sponsorships, but because 100% of the proceeds from this single will be donated to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, we felt it was appropriate to share.)

“She Put the Music in Me,” by Calee Reed on YouTube.

If you live close to Utah, you may be interested in the following message from the Church’s media department:

Currently casting background actors for additional New Testament stories to be filmed during July & August of 2012. Check out our Facebook page for details – facebook.com/LDSCasting

Need:

• Disciples, Townsmen: 20+ years old, Middle Eastern or Semitic looking men, beards (longer is better), average or slender build
• Roman soldiers: 20-50 years old, muscular build, at least 6′ tall, weather-worn, shorter cropped beard, some facial hair is a must
• African townspeople (16+ years old, average to slender build)
• Women: Middle Eastern or Semitic looking, average or slender build, no permanent makeup please
• Infirm, Lepers: Middle Eastern or Semitic looking, slender to frail, faces and bodies with lots of character (missing teeth, weathered, wrinkled, missing limbs, etc.

Men, are you willing and able to grow a beard? Do you look like you could fit in the New Testament times? Are you interested in participating in the additional Church New Testament scenes that will be filmed this summer? Do you know others who have a Middle Eastern, Semitic or Mediterranean look and would also like to participate? If you are interested, please apply and begin growing your beards now. As your beard grows longer, please update your online photos.

For all interested please go to casting.lds.org and fill out your profile to be entered into our talent database. Make sure you click on the New Testament project and indicate you are interested in participating in this production.

Thank you!

Below is a video tour of the Bible Videos app that was released last Christmas. The mobile app now has about 20 videos, new storybooks, hotspots, and other features.

The Bible Videos mobile app provides a rich, interactive experience where you can navigate 3D models of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Sychar to explore scenes from the life of Jesus Christ. When you select the city, the app zooms in and shows information and videos from the city.

Learn more about the mobile app in the article “New Bible Video Apps Tour screencast.”

Religious Freedom: “Test of Fire” Catholic Video is a post from: Believe All Things

As a missionary one criticism I heard from some individuals who were not friendly towards The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was that there were four accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision. Because the versions all differ to some degree, these individuals believed that this proved that Joseph Smith made up his experience.

I always thought this was a strange argument to make, particularly because the Gospels cover the Savior’s ministry but do not tell all the same stories and in the same way. There are repeats (with significant differences) of stories in the Old Testament. What individual recounts a story in exactly the same way on subsequent retellings?

I know why certain individuals brought up the existence of multiple versions of the First Vision – they were trying to use it as justification for their own disbelief or they were trying to instill doubt in the minds of us missionaries. There is nothing inherently wrong with doubts but sometimes people let doubts become stumbling blocks to their faith. The best way to overcome doubts is to seek the Lord earnestly in prayer. We can also study what others have written about matters or discuss the issues with others, preferably people we trust, but the Lord is the source of truth and seeking His inspiration should not be neglected.

I view the multiple accounts of Joseph’s vision as great resources to better understand Joseph’s experience. He spent more than a year contemplating the nature of Christ’s gospel, his need for repentance, the nature of God and the universe, and many other things. He did not simply decide to pray one day, he worked toward that time for more than a year. We are richly blessed by the different accounts of his vision.

If you want to know more about the First Vision and the various accounts, Jeff Lindsay’s post is a great place to start.

Related posts:

1. Blessings of the Aaronic Priesthood, Part 5
2. For Anti-Mormons It’s All About Joseph Smith
3. Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration Online

Visit my blog: By Study and Faith

In addition to expanding the online conference archives back 40 years, the Church is also enhancing the offerings by adding music archives and making past conference materials available through other channels.

Video and Audio

• By April 2012, you will be able to access video and audio of several conferences from the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s in English.
• By June 2012, video and audio of every conference from April 1971 in English and video back to 2008 in more than 70 languages.
• Previously, text-only versions of conferences dating back to 1971 were available on conference.lds.org. English video only dated back to 2002.

Conference Music

• Currently, you can listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir songs back to 2008 by clicking on “Show Music” at the top of each page in the conference section on LDS.org.
• The new general conference music archive (GCmusic.lds.org) lets you search across multiple archives and conferences. The music can be streamed or downloaded. The collection includes songs sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and other choirs at general conference. Currently songs up to October 2008 have been published, but more will continue to be added.

Other Channels

Access archives both online and offline using the Church’s Gospel Library mobile app and the Mormon Channel on Roku, YouTube, etc.

Learn more in the article “Church Publishing 40 Years of Conference Audio and Video” in Church News and Events on LDS.org.