church

The One True Church

It seems to me that there is an undercurrent among the more liberal “new order” Mormon bloggers in the Bloggernacle lately that try to refute or dilute the concept that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the “one true church.” While I do believe that there is much truth that is found in all religions of the world and that there are a great many people who do not belong to the Church who are doing many good things, I also am firm in the belief that this church is God’s only true church upon the Earth today, with a fulness of God’s blessings, revelation, truth, power, priesthood, direction, inspiration, doctrine, authority, and saving ordinances, to the extent which He has deemed us worthy to receive them.

My belief in this comes first because the Lord Jesus Christ has spoken it:

And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually… (D&C 1:30)

But also consider the words of God’s prophets.  President Joseph Fielding Smith once said:  [Read more…]

Promises of Calling & Election in JS Lesson 13

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Live in strict obedience to the commandments of God, and walk humbly before Him, and He will exalt thee in His own due time. -Joseph Smith  ((HC 1:408.))

Last week was the Joseph Smith manual chapter 13 lesson for Priesthood and Relief Society entitled, “Obedience: ‘When the Lord Commands, Do It.'”  This was an excellent lesson, and I particularly liked the the last section.  Unfortunately, if most wards’ lessons are like my own, you may not have got to that point in the manual by the end of class.  In my own Elder’s quorum we only made it through the first 3-4 pages of the lesson.  But I believe there are some powerful messages from Joseph in the last 5 pages that could easily be missed. I’m glad that my wife and I read the whole lesson before attending church, or we too would have missed this.  [Read more…]

Video Inside the New Twin Falls Temple

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The Church has produced a short video for the media describing the newest temple of the Church in Twin Falls, Idaho, and the open house that will be occurring there from July 11th through August 16th, 2008 (8am-8pm, except Sundays and Mondays after 6pm).

This video comes from Times-News at MagicValley.com.  It is introduced by Elder William Walker, member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, and includes some commentary from the construction company (Big D Construction), Brent Nielson (Chairman of the Twin Falls Temple Committee), and some other members of the Church.  It also includes some video of the inside of the temple.  Typically the Church publishes photos of the interior, but this is the first time I’ve seen short video clips produced in connection with the opening of a new temple, which include the celestial room, baptistery, ordinance rooms, sealing rooms, and lobby.  The temple is a beautiful sacred place.

Which is Greater – The Temple or Service to the Poor?

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Mormon Helping Hands is a priesthood-directed Church program for providing community service and disaster relief to those in need.A member of another faith asked me the following question:

In the [LDS] service that I attended, the speaker said that service to the Temple is the most important service that we can provide.  Is this opinion common across members of the LDS church?  Why is service to the Temple held in higher regard than, say, service to the poor?

This is how I replied:  [Read more…]