Thoughts and stories, by Pal

“To whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” By  Brant Bishop  · November 30, 2022 Shortly after his beautiful bread of life sermon, many of the Savior’s disciples murmured and turned away from following him. (John 6:60-66) To most of us—born and raised in a cultural tradition that understands Jesus in light of his completed life, miracles, sacrifice, and resurrection—that sermon is a wonderful testimony of Jesus’s divine nature and saving power. But those words challenged the cultural traditions of Jesus’s day, and were a very real stumbling block to those who first heard them. After all, in asserting that he was the true and living bread sent down from heaven, Jesus was explicitly claiming to surpass in importance Moses and the miracles wrought through him. And in teaching his disciples that his flesh and blood offered them eternal life in him, just as he had life in the Father, Jesus offended the finely-honed Jewish sensibilities against blasphemy. “Many ther...

Dear Readers,  During this pandemic I have read and watched many inspiring stories.  Yesterday I spent almost the entire day reading through several journals I have written since I was 16.  I haven't been an avid journal writer, and while raising 9 children, there were periods of time I didn't write at all.  So I have been able to get a quick view of my life during many busy, happy and sometimes sad years.  I had forgotten many of the problems we faced, and many of my children are now facing as they are raising their own children.   At this time I am 85 and a half years old.  I have 29 grandchildren, and 23 great grandchildren, with numbers 24 and 25 great grandchildren on the way.  We have experienced most of the problems that come with those numbers and that many lives, and I have seen most types of situations.  In one video I watched this morning, the word "Remember" came up a lot.  I realized that my reading of these past jo...

I wondered what this article was about, after reading the title.  It is very interesting to see how we can "rewrite" our history in our own minds! The Fallacy of Rewriting Your Personal History By  Ted Gibbons  · April 15, 2020 Editor’s Note: Beloved author Ted Gibbons recently passed away after a battle with cancer. We will continue to share his wonderful insights here periodically. One of the members of my church congregation came to see me in my office a while ago. I had not seen him in a meeting for some time. He is a very nice person, but he has lost his commitment to Christ and His gospel, or else it has been watered down like a soft drink full of ice on a hot day. But we are friends and he came to visit me. He talked about his disenchantment with the Church in general and with the members specifically, and about how hard it was to sit through meetings and listen to hypocrisy and platitudes instead of the things that really matter. ...

Doesn't this apply to all of us in some way? 6 Tips for Parents of Adult Children Who Don't Believe in the Church by David Ostler  | Jun. 08, 2019 Makes You Think Mormon Life If you are a believing Latter-day Saint parent, your greatest hope is that you and your children will all be together in eternity. But—with increased disaffiliation from the Church—many parents, maybe even most, have or will have adult children who no longer believe.  The phrase “No empty chairs” is a part of the Latter-day Saint lexicon and is used to describe parents’ desires to have all their children with them in the eternities. It’s powerful imagery that reflects the beautiful doctrine of eternal families found in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Like you, I love my children and I want all of them to have the blessings of eternal families. Some even apply it to having all their children together at one time with them in the temple.  I googled the history ...

This is one of the best talks I have ever read, on finding truth, amid doubting! What Elder and Sister Renlund Felt Prompted to Tell the YSA’s in Worldwide Broadcast By Maurine Proctor  · January 13, 2019 “We felt prompted to discuss a topic that has been on our minds for many months,” Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife told young adults in a worldwide broadcast originating on the Brigham Young University-Hawaii campus, Sunday, January 13, 2019. Speaking side-by-side, their topic was faith and doubt and they began with a parable. They said: “Imagine having capsized in a boat while sailing in the middle of the ocean. You are wearing a life preserver and have been swimming for hours toward what you believe is the nearest shore, but you can’t be sure. You have become extremely dehydrated, so that every time you start swimming, you become light-headed. By our best estimates, the shore is 30 kilometers, or 18 miles, a...

I have always believed the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon being exactly what he said it was.  This article will help anyone who has doubts ! Why I Can’t Manage to Disbelieve Joseph Smith By Maurine Proctor  · December 20, 2018 beliSign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please  CLICK HERE Daniel C. Peterson gave this talk we are excerpting at the FAIRMormon conference in August of 2016, and  it can be read in its entirety here . We are rerunning it here in honor of the prophet Joseph Smith’s birthday on December 23.  Sometimes people say “All right, name your single best evidence for the Book of Mormon” or “Name the three absolute proofs for the Book of Mormon.” Peterson said, “I don’t believe there are any such things. I think that what Latter-day Saint scholars – apologists, if you want to use that term – have thought they were doing with the Book of Mormon…is constructing a cumulative case, no one element of which...