A Thought on Peace

“Humanity towards all, reason and refinement to enforce virtue, and good for evil are … eminently designed to cure more disorders of society than an appeal to arms, or even argument untempered with friendship. … Our motto, then, is Peace with all! If we have joy in the love of God, let us try to give a reason of that joy, which all the world cannot gainsay or resist.”

 

--Joseph Smith  (History of the Church, 6:219–20)

Faith

Below are a few highlights of my faith as a Latter-day Saint.

• I “believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.”(1^st Article of Faith.)

• I believe in the eternity of the soul, that God is the Father of our spirits, and that we can return to Him after death.

• Jesus Christ is the center of my faith. He is Jehovah of the Old Testament and the Messiah of the New Testament.  I try to model my life after Him and His teachings.  I also believe that “through the Atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”   (3^rd Article of Faith). 

• In the New Testament we learn that Jesus Christ established His Church and gave the apostles authority to act in His name. After His crucifixion and resurrection He guided the apostle through revelation. Following the death of the apostles, the fullness of Church as establish by Jesus Christ was lost. However, the fullness of Christ’s Church has been restored again in our day through Joseph Smith. This restoration included the authority given to man to act in the name of God, with apostles and a prophet to lead us, along with all necessary ordinances of salvation.

• I revere Joseph Smith as a prophet like Moses or John the Baptist. I do not worship Joseph Smith. I worship Jesus Christ.

• I believe the Holy Bible is God’s word and I regularly study both the Old and New Testaments.

• I also believe in the Book of Mormon and other books of scripture which support and authenticate the Bible and testify of the ministry and divinity of Christ and of God’s ongoing revelation to man. The Book of Mormon is “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.” 
  

Facts

         •   The Church is called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The term “Saint” means “member”.  Members of the Church are often referred to as “Latter-day Saints”,  “LDS” and are commonly nicknamed “Mormons”.          

         •   The Church was restored in 1830 in upstate New York with Joseph Smith as its first prophet and president.  Today it is headquartered in Salt Lake City, with President Thomas S. Monson as the present prophet.

         •   There are now over 13 million members worldwide. About 6 million of these are in the United States, making the Church the fourth largest Christian denomination in America.

         •   Local congregations are led by volunteer, unpaid members.  Both men and women serve in leadership positions. 

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ( "I have a dream" Delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. )

"the Lord . . . inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile." -2 Nephi 26:33.