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Ed Pinegar by staff
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Douglas Parker Reid by staff
My Testimony of the Truthfulness of the Scriptures and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsMy wife and I are fifth generation Latter-day Saints, but although I love and respect my ancestors, I don’t consider my testimony as having come because I am emulating them or merely following in their footsteps. My knowledge of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ has come into my own heart and soul in many powerful, personal ways. I feel a strong desire to share my testimony of this process in case it may help someone else who is searching in their own life to find truth and happiness through knowing what God wants them to do with their life.
As a young boy growing up in Utah (U.S.A.), I prayed many times to have the feeling of the Holy Ghost confirm to my heart that the LDS Church was true, or to hear the “still, small voice” and thus be able to stand in testimony meeting and bear testimony that I knew the Church was true. I didn’t seem to get the answer I was seeking, but I knew that living the gospel felt right, so I was disappointed but not disillusioned. I still lived the gospel in every way.
As a young college student at Brigham Young University, I finally began to understand what it meant to feel the confirming inspiration of the Holy Ghost as I read the Book of Mormon and pondered the experiences of Nephi more deeply than I had as a high school student. What an eye-opener! I could begin to feel the truths of the gospel and the truths found in the scriptures, and it was exciting for me. Many verses from each of the standard works—the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, made indelible impressions on my heart, mind, and soul as I read them. Each time I would read them I gained new insights and felt the truth of the words I was reading.
I have come to love each of the standard works, and to know that each of them is true, and that a loving Heavenly Father grants unto each of us as His children spiritual knowledge as we seek it with pure motives and as we allow seeds of truth to grow in our hearts. It makes so much sense that He would not make the truths of the gospel be so obvious or so readily available that thinking people would not have to yearn and struggle in some way to find those truths, since one of the most important reasons for this life is to learn to understand truth versus error in a way that makes our spiritual self more mature, so we can have greater faith than when we were innocent children.
I hope that people who use the Internet in their search for spiritual knowledge in their own life will go to the primary sources—the scriptures, including both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and the Book of Mormon which is such a powerful witness of the mission of Jesus Christ and our relationship to Him; and personal prayer to Heavenly Father, who will guide their searching if they sincerely ask in faith. Why rely on the words of some who criticize the LDS Church? Why not find out for yourself through a deep and sincere study without letting someone else do your thinking for you? Many critics climb an intellectual ladder without understanding that God wants them to climb a spiritual ladder, and they get lost in intellectual arguments and entanglements just like Isaiah and the Apostle Paul prophesied that they would.
Nothing that I have read on the Internet (including some of the attempts by intellectuals to criticize the LDS Church) has made me doubt the truthfulness of the gospel, the reality that Jesus Christ lives and is our personal Savior, the divine calling of Joseph Smith, the truth of the Book of Mormon and of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I feel saddened that people could be led by critics to misunderstand if they don’t seek to sincerely find out for themselves, by humbly reading and prayerfully considering the Bible (preferably the King James Version if reading in English) and the Book of Mormon on their own. -
DMC by staff
I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but like all people, whether “born in the church” or not, I had to find out the truth for myself. I don’t ever recall really questioning what I had been taught in church or by my parents, but I will always remember one Sunday in particular. I was 12 years old, and one of my Young Women’s teachers was discussing the importance of gaining a testimony for yourself. She talked about how we couldn’t always lean on the testimony for others and how we cannot have blind faith, but that we needed to know the truth for ourselves. She challenged and pleaded with us to go home and to pray to find out the truth for ourselves. At church I thought her message was nice, but I didn’t understand the importance of it… yet. After church her face kept coming into my mind, pleading for me to find out for myself. The more I though about it, the greater the need I felt to do just that. So I went to my bedroom and thought about what I wanted to know, and I knelt down and prayed. I will never forget the amazing power that filled my entire body, how full my heart was, and how close I felt to my Heavenly Father at that moment. I knew that God was there, listening to me- and ready and waiting to answer my prayer. Since then I have never doubted.I know that my Heavenly Father lives, and that He knows me and every person individually, and that He loves me. I know that my Savior lives. I know that He lived a perfect life and that He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and again on the cross for me, that He died and was resurrected that I may not only live again, but that I may become clean and pure through the power of the atonement. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that he was an instrument in God’s hands in restoring the fullness of the gospel on the earth again. I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. I know that President Hinckley is a prophet today, that he, under the direction of the Savior who stands at the head of this church, is His spokesman for the world. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, that it is scripture, that it has the power to change lives, and as we follow the teachings of Christ and the prophets we find in all scripture, that they will work together to lead us to God. I know that there is a great plan of salvation and that plan truly is a plan of happiness, and as we follow that plan, as we follow Christ and keep the commandments, we will find peace and joy in this life and in the life to come.
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David Buchanan: my testimony of the Mormon Church by staff
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Cynthia Butcher by staff
My name is Cynthia(Errickson)Butcher.This is my experience and testimony of Jesus Christ.
I was going to Brigham Young University the Fall of 1981. I was also working from 3am to 7am at the Fine Arts building cleaning crew on campus. I took a class this semester called “The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ“.
After working that morning, I went to my classes I remember our teacher challenged us to ask for a testimony of Jesus Christ in our prayers. I thought about it, I had been raised most of my life in the Church, but I had also gone to church with my cousins at times to their Bible school and knew they believed Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost were one being. I knew that we believed that Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost were 3 distinct beings, but I hadn’t made a concerted effort to know. I was relying on my parents and leaders testimonies. I hadn’t been real faithful in my praying up to then, I wondered to whom was I praying. It was a kind of fuzzy area in my mind.
On the way to my campus apartment I pictured a place that I could use to pray for this challenge. There was a large patio area and across the path a little one where our ward had had barbeques, there is a building there now. It had large bushes surrounding most of one side. There were cement seats on the sides of the patio; they were almost like shelves. I went to the smaller patio but a couple was there talking so I went to the larger patio and found this secluded spot where the bushes covered most of it from view. I sat down and poured out my heart to Heavenly Father. I knew that I could ask in faith with real intent, like I’d learned Joseph Smith did in the Sacred Grove, and I believed I would receive an answer. I asked Heavenly Father, “Who was I praying to?” I felt such a strong, crisp, and clear answer to my prayer testify that God was real, that Jesus Christ lived here on earth, He is the Son of the Father; that I was praying to Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. That Jesus was my advocate to the Father, that He brought our prayers unto God. That Jesus Christ was my Savior, and Redeemer of the world. It was so clear so sharp it was if a knife had cut through all the fuzzy mist, I knew! I knew for myself that God lives, that Jesus lives, that He is my Savior, and They loved me, the Holy Ghost testified of this to me. They work together as a team; a Godhead. I cried with such gratitude in my heart for this sacred witness. It all made sense now; it was all clear. It changed me; I wanted to live for and serve Them.
I want you to know knowing this didn’t make me perfect all at once. I’m still working on it but, it gives me strength and joy and hope and peace to keep on going to keep on building myself and the kingdom of God on this earth. I write this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. -
Conviction wrought within my soul by staff
I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the hope, love and happiness it brings into my life. Even when I am having the worst day ever, I can always rejoice in the fact that my Father in heaven loved me enough to send His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to suffer and die for me and even more so that He rose again, overcoming death so that I can too return to my Heavenly Father. I know that He loves us. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ paid the debt we could not pay for ourselves. I know that Joseph Smith restored the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth so that we can all know of this wonderful news. Heavenly Father is the literal father of our spirits. Jesus Christ is truly Jehovah, Savior and Redeemer. Joseph Smith truly was a prophet. The Book of Mormon is truly the word of God. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is truly God’s church once again established and organized on the earth. This is my testimony, deeply embedded in the fleshy tables of my heart and within my soul, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. -
Clayton M. Christensen by staff
Why I Belong, and Why I Believe
by Clayton M. Christensen
Professor, Harvard Business School
As I have progressed through my life, my commitment to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has deepened for two reasons. The first is my reason for belonging to the church as an organized institution: because of the way the church is organized, it puts opportunities to help others in my path every day. It facilitates my efforts – and in some instances almost compels me – to practice Christianity, not just believe in it. The second is my reason for believing that the doctrines taught in the church are true. As I have studied the Bible and the Book of Mormon, I have come to know through the power of the Spirit of God, that these books contain the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. My conviction has deepened as I have continued to study these books and have tried to do the will of my Father in Heaven.Why do I choose to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an organized religion, rather than attempt as an individual to live a good life? It is because the church helps me understand and practice the essence of Christianity. The mechanism by which the organization achieves this is to have no professional clergy. We don’t hire ministers or priests to teach and care for us. This forces us to teach and care for each other – and in my view, this is the core of Christian living as Christ taught it. I actually have come to feel badly for my friends who belong to faiths in which professional clergy are employed – because they don’t know how much joy they miss when they “outsource” the teaching and care of the members of their church to specially trained professionals.
Several years ago I read a story in a news magazine about flooding in several western states that resulted from the rapid spring melting of a heavy accumulation of snow. One photo showed thousands of Mormon citizens in Salt Lake City who had been mobilized with only a few hours’ notice through a call from their local church leaders. They were shown filling sandbags that would channel the flow of run-off water. The article marveled at the command-and-control precision – almost military in character – through which the LDS church was able to put its people onto the front lines of this civil crisis. Another photo in an article the next week showed a thirty-something resident of a town along a flooding stream in another state, sitting in a lawn chair reading while national guardsmen filled sandbags nearby. The author of the article attributed what he saw to the “organizational efficiency” of the LDS church, but he completely missed the point. Thousands of people instinctively showed up and went to work because they do this sort of thing all the time, week after week, in over a hundred countries around the world, as part of being Mormon. This was not an unusual event – just another week in the life of a typical Mormon.
To illustrate, let me review some of the things that I was able to do in the normal course of being a member of this church in a recent year. Because graduate students and young families move into and out of apartments with regularity in the Boston area, a list gets passed around at church every few weeks, asking for men to show up the next Saturday to help some family load or unload their rented moving truck. My children and I signed up every time, and worked shoulder to shoulder with five to fifteen other men and their children for two or three hours, helping the family move. At least once each month and more often when needed, I visited by assignment an elderly Hispanic couple – a woman who was in poor health, whose husband was struggling to overcome his addiction to alcohol. They lived in a dilapidated apartment in a rough part of the city. Over the course of the year the men in our congregation re-plastered, re-wired, painted and re-carpeted their apartment. We contributed money to fly their grown children, who were struggling financially and living in other parts of the country, to a special family reunion we helped them organize in Washington, D.C. Every Sunday for two hours, I cared for about 14 children aged 18-36 months in the church’s nursery, so that their parents could attend Sunday School class in peace. My wife Christine was similarly engaged. In the assignment she had at that time, when she learned that a mother had a new baby or someone was otherwise ill, with just a few phone calls she would enlist people to appear on their doorstep for a day, a week or for months. They would bring meals ready to eat, or hands ready to clean their homes and do the family’s laundry.
The important point about the prior paragraph is that our experience was not unusual. Everyone in the congregation was similarly serving, not just accepting assignments to help, but seeking opportunities to help. We gave often, and received often. For example, a short time later our family had out-grown our small home, so we found a larger one and put the word out that we would appreciate any help in loading and unloading our rented moving truck. Among those who showed up that morning was Mitt Romney, now the governor of Massachusetts, who had just completed his unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Mitt had a broken collarbone, but for two hours traipsed between our home and the truck, carrying out whatever he could manage with his one good arm. That spirit is just in the air in the Mormon Church, week after week, year after year. The strong help the weak, and the weak help the strong, and nobody thinks about who is weak and who is strong. It creates an extraordinary spirit of mutual love, because as we work to help others who are in need, our love and respect for those we help intensifies.My children have been raised not just by their parents, but by an entire community of remarkable people. One of the world’s foremost materials scientists, the dean of the Harvard Business School, a podiatrist, and the executive vice president of American Express Corporation were our sons’ boy scoutmasters. These men of substance and position selflessly taught my sons first aid and citizenship, and camped with them in the snow. Each of our children during their high school years went to “early morning seminary” – scripture study classes that met in the home of a church member every school day morning from 6:30 until 7:15. The women who taught these classes had degrees not in religion or theology, but in art, law, nursing and literature. They had spent several hours the day before, preparing and searching for a way to help the sleepy high school students the next morning learn an element of the gospel more deeply, and to send them off to school with a firmer resolve to do what is right. Christine and I haven’t raised our children. A whole community of selfless Christians has contributed to helping them become faithful, competent adults. Whenever we have thanked these men and women for what they have done for us, without exception they have expressed gratitude for having the chance to help – because they grew as they served.
Because we employ no professional preachers, it means that every sermon or lesson in church is given by a regular member – women and men, children and grandparents. This means that we have the chance to learn from everyone – people in all walks of life who are struggling in their own ways to follow God. I have found, in fact, that some of the most profound things I have learned about the gospel of Jesus Christ have come from people from whom, if judged by the standards of the world, you would not have expected such profundities to come. For example, about a decade ago I was serving as the bishop, or lay minister, of the congregation of college students in the Boston area. We had assigned a college sophomore to give a sermon about repentance in our service on a particular Sunday. I still remember his key point: “We often view repentance as a slow process. It isn’t. Change is instantaneous. It is not changing that takes so much time.” I had been struggling to overcome a particular bad habit; and I resolved that I would change my behavior right then and there – to quit “not changing.” Where else but in this church could a young, inexperienced student have taught a bishop such a profound lesson?
I believe very strongly that these Mormons that I have described are not more loving or more selfless or more competent than many, many individuals in other faiths. What is different, however, is that we live and serve within a context that causes us to use those attributes – to serve, rather than to be served. And as we use them, they become an even more powerful part of us.
One of the curses that afflicts successful, prosperous people – many of whom have extraordinary talents and good hearts – is that they tend to live and work amongst similarly successful, prosperous people. They thereby become isolated from those who need their help. What I appreciate about the Mormon Church as an infrastructure for Christian living is that it puts me in touch with people I can help. I told a friend once, “If you truly want to live your life as Christ taught, then start coming to the Mormon Church. You don’t even have to believe what we believe. But if you want to practice Christianity, this is where the state-of-the-art is practiced.” This is why I choose to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The second topic I want to address is why I believe in the doctrines of the church. I was born into a wonderful Mormon family, and as I grew up I found few reasons to disbelieve the teachings of the church. My parents had deep faith in its precepts, and their example and encouragement were powerful – I believed in my parents, and I knew that they believed the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was not until I was 24, however, that I came to know these things for myself.I had been given a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University in England. After I had lived there for a few weeks, far away from the supportive environment in which I had been raised, it became clear that adhering to Mormonism in that environment was going to be very inconvenient. In fact, doing the sorts of things I described in the first part of this essay within the Mormon congregation in Oxford would preclude my participation in many of the things that had made Oxford such a rich experience for prior recipients of my scholarship. I decided, as a result, that the time had come for me to learn for certain and for myself whether Mormonism was true.
I had read the Book of Mormon before – seven times, to be exact. But in each of those instances I had read it by assignment – from my parents or a teacher – and my objective in reading it was to finish the book. This time, however, my objective was to find out if it was a true book or a fabrication. Accordingly, I reserved the time from 11:00 until midnight, every night, to read the Book of Mormon next to the fireplace in my chilly room at the Queen’s College. I began each of those sessions by kneeling in verbal prayer. I told God, every night, that I was reading this to know if it was His truth. I told Him that I needed an answer to this question – because if it was not true I did not want to waste my time with this church and would search for something else. But if it was true, then I promised that I would devote my life to following its teachings, and to helping others do the same.
I then would sit in the chair and read a page in the Book of Mormon. I would stop at the bottom of the page and think about it. I would ask myself what the material on that page meant for the way I needed to conduct my life. I would then get on my knees and pray aloud again, asking the Lord to tell me if the book was true. I would then get back in the chair, turn the page, and repeat the process, for the remainder of the hour. I did this every evening.
After I had done this for several weeks, one evening in October, 1975, as I sat in the chair and opened the book following my prayer, I felt a marvelous spirit come into the room and envelop my body. I had never before felt such an intense feeling of peace and love. I started to cry, and did not want to stop. I knew then, from a source of understanding more powerful than anything I had ever felt in my life, that the book I was holding in my hands was true. It was hard to see through the tears. But as I opened it and began again to read, I saw in the words of the book a clarity and magnitude of God’s plan for us that I had never conceived before. The spirit stayed with me for that entire hour. And each night thereafter, as I prayed and then sat in that chair with the Book of Mormon, that same spirit returned. It changed my heart and my life forever.
It was as if I had been looking out as far as I could see toward the horizon, and had been quite satisfied that I could see everything that there was to see. When I undertook to read the Book of Mormon in that manner, however, I discovered that so much more beauty and truth about who we are and what God has in store for us, lies beyond that old horizon. I did not know what I did not know.I love to go back to Oxford. As the beautiful, historic home of the world’s oldest university, the town is filled with students and tourists. To me, however, it is a sacred place. It is there that I learned that the fundamental message of the Book of Mormon is in fact true – that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. It is there that I learned that God is indeed my Father in Heaven. I am His son. He loves me, and even knows my name. And I learned that Joseph Smith, the man who translated the Book of Mormon and organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was a prophet of God in the same sense that Peter and Moses were prophets. I love to return to Oxford to remember the beautiful, powerful spirit that came to my heart and conveyed these messages to me.
During my adult life I have been blessed to witness or participate in many miracles – events that the scriptures term “gifts of the Spirit.” I have healed the sick by the power of the God. I have spoken with the gift of tongues. I have been blessed to see visions of eternity; and events in my future that have been important for me to foresee, have been revealed to me. These truly have been gifts, and have been great blessings in my life. But when I assess the collective impact that they have had on my faith, my heart, and my motivation to follow Jesus Christ, they pale in significance and power to those evenings I spent with the Book of Mormon in Oxford.
This happened to me a quarter of a century ago. I am grateful to be able to say that in the years since, I have continued systematically to study the Book of Mormon and Bible to understand even more deeply what God expects of me and my family while on this earth. I have spent thousands of hours doing my best to share what I am learning with others, and to serve others in the way that Christ wants. And I am grateful to say that, from time to time, that same spirit that permeated my heart in Oxford has returned – reconfirming that the path I am trying so hard to follow is in fact the one that God my Father and His Son Jesus Christ want me to pursue. It has brought me deep happiness. This is why I belong, and why I believe. I commend to all this same search for happiness and for the truth.
Originally published at Clayton Christensen
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Ben Crowder by staff
My testimony, recorded with my Canon PowerShot A430 camera on Sunday, 24 June 2007.
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Beatrice Tew by staff
I’m so excited about this blog spot! It is a great opportunity to share the most important thing I have to offer — my testimony.I love the gospel of Jesus Christ! I love my Heavenly Father, my Savior, and the Holy Ghost. I know that they live and love me. I am so grateful to know that my Heavenly Father is truly the father of my spirit and that I lived with Him and was loved before I ever left my heavenly home to come to earth. I’m grateful for this opportunity He has given me to come to earth to learn to be obedient to His commandments and to love and serve others.
I know that Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God in the flesh, and I am so grateful that He lived and died for me, that I might have life and “have it more abundantly”. I know that because of his sacrifice, I will be resurrected and be able to rejoice again to be in the presence of my Heavenly Father in His mansions on high. I thank my Savior every day for this precious gift He has given to me.
I know that the Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead, and that if I live worthily I can have the privilege of His spirit to help, guide, and comfort me through the tests, adversities, and learning experiences of this life. I have felt His presence in my life and strive with all my heart to live worthy of His constant companionship.
I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church, and that if I adhere to the principles that are taught therein and the covenants I have made I will have the privilege to return home with honor after I leave this life.
This is my testimony which I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, AMEN
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Annie Mead by staff
I am so blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. There have been so many times in my life that I have thought “there is no way I could have made that choice without the guidance that comes from prayer”. I am so greatful for our Father in Heaven who loves us so much and has provided us a way to commuicate with him. It is hard for me to comprehend that Someone that has formed worlds without number and people without number still cares about me and wants to hear from me.I am so thankful that our Father sent his son Jesus Christ down to this earth and provided a way that we can return to live with him again. I testify that Jesus is the Christ that he came down to this earth and lived a perfect life, then he attoned for our sins. He has felt all our pain, all our heartache and more importantly he knows how to help us overcome that pain and heartache. I further testify that he lives! He rose from the garden tomb on the third day. I know he still lives today and he guides this church through a living prophet.
It is so wonderful that we all can gain a personal knowledge of this. He will answer out prayers! The promise is true, if you ask God if these things are true he will testify to the truth of all things. I bare testimony that these things are true and I have gained a personal witness of them.
I love my Savior Jesus Christ, I love this church, and I bare witness to these things in the name of my Savior, My Lord, My King and most importantly my Friend, Jesus Christ Amen
