Thou shalt have no other gods before me—
—but that’s not to say you should only have one God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: All one God, but at the same time three, like a three-leaf clover, or the anatomy of an egg, or Neapolitan ice cream, or whichever analogy suits your fancy. Not monotheistic, but monolatrous.
Continue reading “Ten Commandments”The good news was that they’d found a way off.
The bad news was that only one of them could leave.
Continue reading “Riddle to Ride”“Doctrine usually answers the question ‘why?’ Principles usually answer the question ‘what?’ Whenever we emphasize how to do something without reference to why we do it or what we do, we risk looking beyond the mark. At the very least, we fall into the trap Paul described to the Corinthians: ‘For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life’ (2 Cor. 3:6).”
Quentin L. Cook, “Looking Beyond the Mark,” Ensign, March 2003, 44.
The gospel is like a target. At the center are the core truths we need to be saved. Then, moving outward, there’s a ring that contains useful but nonessential truths, and finally at the outer edge are speculative truths that have no bearing on our present needs. As spiritual marksmen, we should aim for the center of the gospel target as much as possible.
Continue reading “Staying Centered on Gospel Bullseyes”NOTE: I wrote a similar essay back in 2014, but this article focuses on both the ethics and practical solutions to the issue and was originally written for a Church magazine audience. After my internship ended, I never got around to submitting it and have instead decided to publish it here!
Continue reading “Music Piracy: The “Justified” Sin—and How to Avoid It”As members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we often reference the axiom to “be in the World but not of the World.” This harks back to Christ’s prayer for his apostles, “not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:15). All too often, however, we take this principle out of context and extrapolate its meaning to an extent that can be harmful not just to our own spiritual understanding, but to our ability to exercise true Christlike love toward everyone—everyone—around us.
Continue reading “We ARE the World”“I know that if we _______, then we’ll be blessed.”
“God will bless us as long as we _______.”
“I will…open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10).
That’s all great—but what is a “blessing” exactly? And with the vagueness of its description, how do these promises help us at all? Or do they? What are general “blessings” (not of the specifically catered Priesthood blessing kind) good for if we have no idea what they are?
Continue reading “What Does It Mean to Be “Blessed”?”If I was lucky, I’d get to go to Hell.
The walk to the courtroom was nerve-wracking, I’ll admit, but it sure beat sitting in that endless void of a waiting room called Limbo for who-knows-how-many-centuries. I was ready to get this over with, and my defense attorney and I were confident that I had an infallible case.
Continue reading “Innocent Until Proven Guiltless”Apocryphal Scripture of the Week: (see Doctrine and Covenants 91)
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“And as the city was held by the Hebrews from that time, I too will here conclude my account.
“If it has been well and pointedly written, that is what I wanted; but if it is poor, mediocre work, that was all I could do.
Continue reading “Apocryphal Scripture of the Week #10: So This Will Be the End”Apocryphal Scripture of the Week: (see Doctrine and Covenants 91)
Eleazar—yet another wise old Jewish man from the scriptures—faces a dilemma. The heathens currently in control of Jerusalem are forcing the believers to violate the Law of Moses by eating pork. Like the prophet Daniel once did, however, Eleazar refuses to do so, honoring his covenant with God.
Continue reading “Apocryphal Scripture of the Week #9: I Will Prove Myself Worthy”Apocryphal Scripture of the Week: (see Doctrine and Covenants 91)
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“Success gained over one’s kindred is the greatest failure.”
(2 Maccabees 5:6)
Continue reading “Apocryphal Scripture of the Week #8: The Greatest Failure”
The Commonplace Notebook 