Listen, Learn, and Love I really enjoyed this talk with Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, who I have followed for years. She is a Mormon therapist who focuses on the connections between sex and spirituality and our society – but this episode is really not about her specialty. Here she is interviewed about her faith journey and how her ideas and testimony has been shaped over the years, in a way that resonates with me and has something to offer to anyone who has spent thought about their own journey.

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Fission, divisiveness, contention Leonard McMahon1, as a guest on the Faith & Imagination podcast2, had great thoughts and was a pleasure to hear. In particularly he uses the word “fission” to describe a great evil in the world. My understanding is that word “fission” could also be described as division, devisiveness, or, in the parlance of Latter-day Saints, “contention.” The term “fission” is richer, though, and really gives emphases the point.

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O Come All Ye Faithful Listening to Christmas with The Tabernacle Choir, in the 2015 rendition of “O Come All Ye Faithful"1 (Laura Osnes as soloist) there is an added verse. Upon looking in to it, the hymnbook also omits a doctrinally incorrect verse2 that other versions have. The arrangement was by Sam Cardon, who has arranged many Tabernacle Choir pieces. Hymnbook Lyrics 202 Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful

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Biase of friends Nephi writes 1st and 2nd Nephi with clear bias, and if you are aware of the authorship the leanings are evident throughout the auto-biographic work. But that isn’t cause for bold-faced rejection of what he has said; we have the opportunity to recognize his voice and some of his bias and yet still value what he chooses to teach us; we can have friends who exhibit faults and yet are still our friends, and still bring value to our lives.

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Intro This [2022-11-29 Tue] presentation is available for rewatching on BYU-TV1 Presenter Bio Katharine Hayhoe November 29, Forum Katharine Anne Scott Hayhoe is a Canadian climate scientist and chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy. The daughter of Christian missionaries to Colombia, Hayhoe teaches at Texas Tech University, where she holds the Endowed Chair in Public Policy and Public Law in the university’s public administration program. She has researched widely on climate change and has earned degrees from the University of Toronto and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

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Alma 32:13 And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved. There can be great blessings that flow from hardship, particularly when that hardship produces humility. However, what about a life in which the hardship seems unceasing, and the humility itself lapses into depression as a person seems to face extinction?

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“procrastinating preparation leads to unsuccessful proving.” - David A. Bednar, General Conference, October 2020 In his analogy to school work, Elder Bednar reminds us of the importance of preparation. This calls to my mind the fact that preparation is an antidote to fear in all its forms, a principle taught in the Doctrine and Covenants: DC 38:30 I tell you these things because of your prayers; wherefore, treasure up wisdom in your bosoms, lest the wickedness of men reveal these things unto you by their wickedness, in a manner which shall speak in your ears with a voice louder than that which shall shake the earth; but if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.

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My personal study time is vital to my mental health, a key part of gaining my focus and orientation for the day. I learned this long ago, perhaps even before my mission, but it’s been a sacred time ever since then. Do you have a time of your own? Improving Personal Study Find a time that works for you. It is often easiest to learn when you can study the scriptures without being interrupted.

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From Come Follow Me this week is a solid explanation of a passage that caused us difficulty on the mission. I remember Elder Davis explaining (in one of the more Catholic areas of our mission) how he would NEVER teach with these passages because it was too hard to deal with entrenched Trinity-believers. Come Follow Me seems to do a good job untangling this issue. These passages are sometimes confusing because it can seem that Abinadi is teaching that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are the same Being, yet we know that they are separate Beings.

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This week’s Come Follow Me lesson includes the story of King Limhi trying to obtain a translation of records they found in the ruins of a perished society. Ammon teaches him about prophets, revelators, and seers. This reminds of Joseph Smith’s significant role in the eternal plan to bringing forth lost scriptures. This sort of coming forth is far more than archeological entertainment; cultures are changed and individual spirits fortified with the results.

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