Thoughts and stories, by Pal

  Jacob’s Answer to Parental Despair: The Olive Tree and the Antichrist  By  Joseph Grenny  · July 7, 2022 In the past seven years I have loved and lost hundreds of precious sons and daughters. And I have seen inexplicable miracles in the lives of hundreds more. I know what it means to have “joy and great hopes… that they would walk in the paths of righteousness” on one day, and to feel the searing agony of seeing them throw it all away on the next. Through it all I’ve learned that almost all losses are temporary, and that much of my parental misery comes from my misunderstanding of redemptive labor. My extended family lives at an unusual school called The Other Side Academy. Adult men and women come to us after decades of homelessness, scores of arrests and after perpetrating innumerable acts of evil. They live with us for 2-4 years. We labor with them as they struggle through confronting monstrous demons. I’ve watched them find rewarding careers, reunite with aband...

 This is so appropriate and pertinent to our world today!  We love all people, but it won't help them or us to stoop and not aspire to what we all can become! Are We More or Less Compassionate When We Lower Our Nation’s Expectations? By  Tad R. Callister  · December 17, 2021 There seems to be a concerted movement among some to lower national expectations under the guise of compassion and equity. These sentiments often affect educational standards, welfare qualifications, consequences of crime, and various character traits. Of course, we do need to be loving, patient, and understanding, and when needed to provide special help. But that raises the following questions: “How should compassion influence our expectations? And what constitutes true compassion in these circumstances?” For the answer to these questions there is no better starting point than the scriptures—the ultimate guide for determining correct moral values and responses. In other words, how did the Savior...

  Don't we learn the most from the adversity we go through?  It seems so after!  There are those who are suffering all over the world right now!  Let's pray for them.  Especially Afghanistan!  Could a Loving God Allow Such Suffering? By  Daniel C. Peterson  · August 19, 2021 A reader of my blog “ Sic et Non ” has raised the venerable problem of evil.    Philosophers term it the question of “theodicy,” which focuses on whether and (if so) how, given the existence of evil, a belief in God’s goodness and in divine providence can be justified.  For the faithful, this is often one of the thorniest and most difficult of challenges.  And it seems, at least temporarily, to have cost my reader his faith in a benevolent God. In a recent blog entry titled “ On a Disagreeable God ”, I had written that “the God who revealed himself through the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Restoration” is a kind and benevolent Father who wants to give us eve...

This is so powerful, we ALL should read it! How should we respond if we think a former prophet said something wrong? By  Mark A. Mathews  · July 9, 2020 Cover image via history.churchofjesuschrist.org. In the current climate of historical figures being attacked, some have taken their aim at some of our early prophets and sought to vilify them for their perceived mistakes or weaknesses. But, how should faithful saints today look at possible mistakes of these inspired prophets of the past? Many years ago, I was studying a doctrinal topic in the BYU Library when I came across an old discourse from an early church leader. As I read the talk, I quickly recognized that what I was reading was not doctrinally correct. I knew it was wrong because it contradicted the standard works and the teachings of living prophets. I was confused how this early Apostle, who was usually so inspired and instructive, could have taught something that was wrong. As I refl...