{"quotes":[{"text":"If you are there for the Lord, He will be there for you. If you love Him and keep His commandments, you will have His Spirit to be with you and guide you.","author":"Robert D. Hales","tags":["commandments","god","holy-ghost","lds","lord","love","mormon","spirit"],"id":1361,"author_id":"Robert+D.+Hales"},{"text":"The Lord needs us. He needs us to be knowledgeable, dependable, and competent disciples. We need to know not only that the gospel is true but we need to know the gospel, better than we do right now. We need to be in the right place at the right time. We will thereby become the right person.","author":"Robert L. Millet","tags":["christ","disciples","faith","god","gospel","jesus","lds","lord","mormon"],"id":2815,"author_id":"Robert+L.+Millet"},{"text":"We can follow a steady upward course in a world of change without fear, welcoming opportunities.","author":"Henry B. Eyring","tags":["faith","inspirational","lds","mormon"],"id":11221,"author_id":"Henry+B.+Eyring"},{"text":"Sin acts as if God's original plan was for us to bootstrap ourselves into holiness by way of the law and then, when this didn't quite pan out, God offered his grace--but only the bare minimum--to make good the difference. This is exactly backwards. God's boundless grace comes first and sin is what follows.","author":"Adam S. Miller","tags":["god","grace","jesus-christ","lds","mormon","sin"],"id":42461,"author_id":"Adam+S.+Miller"},{"text":"My knowledge is, if you will follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, as recorded in the New Testament, every man and woman will be put in possession of the Holy Ghost; every person will become a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and an expounder of truth. They will know things that are, that will be, and that have been. They will understand things in heaven, things on the earth, and things under the earth, things of time, and things of eternity, according to their several callings and capacities.","author":"Brigham Young","tags":["jesus-christ","lds","mormon","new-testament","prophet","revelator","seer","truth"],"id":59279,"author_id":"Brigham+Young"},{"text":"The laughter of the world is merely loneliness pathetically trying to reassure itself.","author":"Neal A. Maxwell","tags":["inspiration","latter-day-saints","lds","maxwell","mormon","neal","righteousness","truth"],"id":63892,"author_id":"Neal+A.+Maxwell"},{"text":"The English word Atonement comes from the ancient Hebrew word kaphar, which means to cover. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit and discovered their nakedness in the Garden of Eden, God sent Jesus to make coats of skins to cover them. Coats of skins don’t grow on trees. They had to be made from an animal, which meant an animal had to be killed. Perhaps that was the very first animal sacrifice. Because of that sacrifice, Adam and Eve were covered physically. In the same way, through Jesus’ sacrifice we are also covered emotionally and spiritually. When Adam and Eve left the garden, the only things they could take to remind them of Eden were the coats of skins. The one physical thing we take with us out of the temple to remind us of that heavenly place is a similar covering. The garment reminds us of our covenants, protects us, and even promotes modesty. However, it is also a powerful and personal symbol of the Atonement—a continuous reminder both night and day that because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we are covered. (I am indebted to Guinevere Woolstenhulme, a religion teacher at BYU, for insights about kaphar.)Jesus covers us (see Alma 7) when we feel worthless and inadequate. Christ referred to himself as “Alpha and Omega” (3 Nephi 9:18). Alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Christ is surely the beginning and the end. Those who study statistics learn that the letter alpha is used to represent the level of significance in a research study. Jesus is also the one who gives value and significance to everything. Robert L. Millet writes, “In a world that offers flimsy and fleeting remedies for mortal despair, Jesus comes to us in our moments of need with a ‘more excellent hope’ (Ether 12:32)” (Grace Works, 62).Jesus covers us when we feel lost and discouraged. Christ referred to Himself as the “light” (3 Nephi 18:16). He doesn’t always clear the path, but He does illuminate it. Along with being the light, He also lightens our loads. “For my yoke is easy,” He said, “and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). He doesn’t always take burdens away from us, but He strengthens us for the task of carrying them and promises they will be for our good.Jesus covers us when we feel abused and hurt. Joseph Smith taught that because Christ met the demands of justice, all injustices will be made right for the faithful in the eternal scheme of things (see Teachings, 296). Marie K. Hafen has said, “The gospel of Jesus Christ was not given us to prevent our pain. The gospel was given us to heal our pain” (“Eve Heard All These Things,” 27).Jesus covers us when we feel defenseless and abandoned. Christ referred to Himself as our “advocate” (D\u0026C 29:5): one who believes in us and stands up to defend us. We read, “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler” (Psalm 18:2). A buckler is a shield used to divert blows. Jesus doesn’t always protect us from unpleasant consequences of illness or the choices of others, since they are all part of what we are here on earth to experience. However, He does shield us from fear in those dark times and delivers us from having to face those difficulties alone. …We’ve already learned that the Hebrew word that is translated into English as Atonement means “to cover.” In Arabic or Aramaic, the verb meaning to atone is kafat, which means “to embrace.” Not only can we be covered, helped, and comforted by the Savior, but we can be “encircled about eternally in the arms of his love” (2 Nephi 1:15). We can be “clasped in the arms of Jesus” (Mormon 5:11). In our day the Savior has said, “Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love” (D\u0026C 6:20).(Brad Wilcox, The Continuous Atonement, pp. 47-49, 60).","author":"Brad Wilcox","tags":["atonement","atonement-of-christ","jesus","jesus-christ","lds","mormon","religion","religion-christianity","temple"],"id":73367,"author_id":"Brad+Wilcox"},{"text":"I suggest that the representation of women deserves a much higher consideration in our religious discourse. When words are presented as if they come directly from God, they can have monumental impact on our psyches, our spirits, our hearts, and our relationships. Women are given, in story at least, first place in the lifeboats, but often in more common circumstances we are consigned to the back of the bus.","author":"Carol Lynn Pearson","tags":["god","lds","mormon","women"],"id":102161,"author_id":"Carol+Lynn+Pearson"},{"text":"They left their encampment with dirt-covered linen strewn about the abandoned grounds amongst clothes, shoes, children’s toys and other discarded belongings. The handcart wheels crunched over them, and the dry wheels screamed as the Willie Company started for Zion.","author":"Sage Steadman","tags":["mormon","pioneers","religious-freedom","sacrifice","willie-handcart","zion"],"id":107871,"author_id":"Sage+Steadman"},{"text":"To understand why I jumped from the Mormon wagon train requires an understanding of what Mormons are and how they think. While Mormons have some quaint, quirky and fanatical ideas, they really aren't much different from millions of poor, guilt-ridden souls who, throughout the march of human history, have hitched their hopes to mass movements of one sort or another. Eric Hoffer, in his brilliant treatise, 'The True Believer,' explains the attraction of joining a cause: 'A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following 'by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness and meaninglessness of an individual existence. It cures the poignantly frustrated by freeing them from their ineffectual selves--and it does this by enfolding and absorbing them into a closely knit and exultant corporate whole'. 'Of all the cults and philosophies that competed in the Graeco-Roman world, Christianity alone developed from its inception a compact organization.'Once I realized this, it wasn't much of a leap out of religion altogether once I flew the Mormon coop. I simply wanted to be free from organizational groupthink. I escaped from the stuffy attic of religion's 'pray, pay and obey' mentality into journalism's open laboratory of 'who, what, where, when and why.","author":"Steve Benson","tags":["atheism","atheist","brainwashing","cult","freethinking","indoctrination","mormon","mormonism"],"id":125196,"author_id":"Steve+Benson"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":39,"pages":4,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}