Out of all the evil men in the Book of Mormon, Amalickiah is one of the most terrifying. When I was a child, the simple, clear-cut wickedness of other villains like King Noah or Laban was much easier to understand. But as I grew in years and understanding, I came to appreciate why Mormon, in…
Author: nm
preventive war != righteous war
20 Now the people said unto Gidgiddoni: Pray unto the Lord, and let us go up upon the mountains and into the wilderness, that we may fall upon the robbers and destroy them in their own lands. 21 But Gidgiddoni saith unto them: The Lord forbid; for if we should go up against them the…
political things == spiritual things
Election season is a favorite season for many people to try to separate their politics from their faith. Surely, something as trivial as politics doesn’t matter to the Lord. The Savior couldn’t possibly care who you vote for, or whether you even vote at all, right? Or does He? The Lord has said: “All things…
“a breadth, depth, and intensity of experience”
Elder David A. Bednar taught that “our physical bodies make possible a breadth, depth, and intensity of experience that simply could not be obtained in our premortal estate,” and that “in this classroom of mortality we experience tenderness, kindness, happiness, sorrow, disappointment, pain, and even the challenges of physical limitations in ways that prepare us…
addiction and choice
Addiction is a disease that responds best to treatment by professionals who know what they are doing. Expecting hardcore addicts to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and “snap out of it” is like asking a cancer sufferer to snap out of it. “But I know people who did it” does not invalidate this….