What Is The Relationship Between Faith and Science?

Ben, thank you for this probing question. It has usually been asked in the spirit of pitting truth against science. Which one is more accurate, or to which one should we give preference?

President Boyd K. Packer

I have always valued the sagacious wisdom of President Boyd K. Packer, who noted:

“The Spirit of Christ can enlighten the inventor, the scientist, the painter, the sculptor, the composer, the performer, the architect, the author to produce great, even inspired things for the blessing and good of all mankind.

“This Spirit can prompt the farmer in his field and the fisherman on his boat. It can inspire the teacher in the classroom, the missionary in presenting his discussion. It can inspire the student who listens. And of enormous importance, it can inspire husband and wife, and father and mother.” (Boyd K. Packer, “The Light of Christ,”Ensign, April 2005, 10, emphasis mine).

The Lord declares, “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.” (D&C 93:30, emphasis mine).

President Boyd K. Packer, in the article I quoted earlier, taught:

“Every man, woman, and child of every nation, creed, or color — everyone, no matter where they live or what they believe or what they do — has within them the imperishable Light of Christ. In this respect, all men are created equally. The Light of Christ in everyone is a testimony that God is no respecter of persons (see D&C 1:35). He treats everyone equally in that endowment with the Light of Christ.” (Boyd K. Packer, ibid).

The Light of Christ, which every mortal on earth possesses, is what Lehi had in mind when he declared, “And men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil. … And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves.” (2 Nephi 2:5, 26).

Mormon urged: “Search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.” (Moroni 7:19).

The scriptures are simply the most accurate guide we may apply to Ben’s question, as well as every other question we might suggest. It’s where my mind always takes me first, in addition to the living oracles who lead and preside among us in these last days.

President Harold B. Lee

I went WAY BACK in my memory this morning to a talk none of you would have heard of because it was delivered near the end of his mortal life in 1973, by my Grandfather, President Harold B. Lee. He titled it simply “Closing Remarks.”

“And so, in the closing moments of this conference, I have been moved as I think I have never been moved before in all my life. If it were not for the assurance that I have that the Lord is near to us, guiding, directing, the burden would be almost beyond my strength, but because I know that he is there, and that he can be appealed to, and if we have ears to hear attuned to him, we will never be left alone.

“I am grateful for strong men like President Tanner and President Romney and the Twelve and all the General Authorities, who are united more so than I have ever experienced before during my lifetime. The General Authorities are united and working together and are speaking with one voice to the world.

“Follow the Brethren, listen to the Brethren. I bear you my witness as one whom the Lord has brought to this place, as Brother Gordon Hinckley has said. I thank the Lord that I may have passed some of the tests, but maybe there will have to be more before I shall have been polished to do all that the Lord would have me do.

“Sometimes when the veil has been very thin, I have thought that if the struggle had been still greater that maybe then there would have been no veil. I stand by, not asking for anything more than the Lord wants to give me, but I know that he is up there and he is guiding and directing.

“I extend my blessings to you wonderful Saints. Go back to your homes now. Take the love of the General Authorities to your people. We extend to those who are not members of the Church the hand of fellowship. May we reach out to those who have lost their sense of direction and, before it is too late, try to win them back into the fold; because they are all God’s children, and he wants us to save all of them.

“Peace be with you, not the peace that comes from the legislation in the halls of congress, but the peace that comes in the way that the Master said, by overcoming all the things of the world. That God may help us so to understand and may you know that I know with a certainty that defies all doubt that this is his work, that he is guiding us and directing us today, as he has done in every dispensation of the gospel, and I say that with all the humility of my soul, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1973/10/closing-remarks?lang=eng).
That concluding address to the Saints in October General Conference would be his final one. He would be gone by December 26, 1973, after a shockingly short administration everyone had expected would be much longer because of his 20-year age differential with President Joseph Fielding Smith. When his surprising death came, we all looked back and realized he had been saying his benediction at the end of General Conference.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. I have intentionally avoided in my answer anything that might resemble giving any credence to the notion that somehow faith and science are mutually exclusive. They are NOT!! Our enemies are fond of pitting us against each other with similarly posited “controversies.” There is eternal harmony in TRUTH, whether it comes from science or religion. We are taught in sacred precincts, “All truth may be circumscribed into one great whole.” We carry the symbol of that eternal truth in the sacred temple garments each of us wears every day.

President Russell M. Nelson

Now to put a fine point on this question, Ben, I turn to perhaps our most recent and most famous scientist/Apostle, even President Russell M. Nelson, who was a world-renowned heart surgeon. He brilliantly reconciles below what might only appear to be two competing worlds in his life:

“After graduating from medical school, I pursued advanced education in surgery. At that time there was no such thing as heart surgery. Then I teamed up with other researchers in the daunting task of making an artificial heart and lung machine. We knew that such an apparatus could possibly maintain the body’s circulation while repairs might be made on the heart. But during that early era, there was much we did not know.

“Then one day, two truths articulated in the Doctrine and Covenants spoke to my inquiring mind. These truths were, first, that all blessings are predicated upon obedience to law [see Doctrine and Covenants 130:21] and, second, that to every kingdom there is a law given [see Doctrine and Covenants 88:38].

“Well, I reasoned that if every kingdom had a law, there must be laws that govern the beating heart. I was determined to discover those laws and obey them. By doing so, blessings would come and lives could be saved.

“In medical school I had been taught that if one touched the beating heart, it would stop beating. However, one of the first laws we discovered in the lab was that we could touch the heart of an animal without losing its heartbeat. This finding opened the door later to uncovering another law that made more complex open-heart operations possible.

“We learned that if we added potassium chloride to blood flowing into the coronary arteries, thereby altering the normal sodium/potassium ratio, the heart would stop beating instantly. Then, when we nourished the heart with blood that had a normal sodium/potassium ratio, the heart would spring back to its normal beating pattern. Literally we could turn the heart off long enough to repair it and then turn it back on again.

“Decades later, when I explained this to a group of medical students, one prominent professor asked, ‘But what if it doesn’t work?’ My answer? It always works, because it is based on divine law.” (“The Love and Laws of God,” Brigham Young University devotional, Sept. 17, 2019, 2–3, speeches.byu.edu, emphasis mine).

Now, to all of you, my beloved posterity reading these poor words of mine, compiled with generous quotes from prophets, ancient and modern, I conclude with my witness. I know by the revelations to my heart and soul that ALL truth, whether it originates in the halls of scientific academia or the sacred precincts of temples now dotting the globe, that I have the witness of the Holy Ghost who speaks to me here and now as I write that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true.

When I think of the careful tutoring and mentoring received by the boy prophet Joseph Smith in the years between 1820 and 1830, including the publication of the Book of Mormon, that ALL I know compiled over my 78 years, has been revealed to me by my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ through the ministrations of the Holy Ghost. It is consistent, comprehensive, and exhaustive in its volume which I will never have in its fulness until I move ahead into the spirit world someday.

In the meantime, I am content to bear this sure witness.

Comment:

Hey Grandpa! This is Ben, thanks for your answer to my question!
It’s a topic that’s come up a few times at BYU in my classes and I wanted to hear your perspective. Very enlightening!

The Winds of Change

We live in a world of ever-changing circumstances. Temperatures fall, then they rise again. One day the sun is shining brightly, the next day brings snow and blizzards. 

I have observed over a lifetime that includes 78 trips around the sun that people change too. Some are rock solid and steadfast in their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, come what may to discourage or dissuade them. Some are prone to being tossed about with every wind of doctrine that blows this way or that. 

In Ephesians 4:14-15, the Apostle Paul pleads:

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today, we are patiently waiting for the next change in our leadership to occur. President Russell M. Nelson died recently on September 27, 2025, at the age of 101 years young. That's the definition of "venerable" if there ever was one.

His death has given rise to a host of those inside and outside the Church who are prone and more than willing to offer their "sagacious" range of opinions on what should be done. (I use the quotes intentionally). So many want to rise up and be heard on what should or should not happen. I find this tumult of opinion on the one hand almost comical, and on the other hand disheartening that so many would presume so much. They are speculators and prognosticators, but they are NOT prophets.

This is The Church of Jesus Christ I belong to, and it is not a church of men. It is governed by the Savior Himself. He has raised up living Apostles in the Restoration of His Church that began with the formal organization of the Church on April 6, 1830, preceded by the translation and publication of The Book of Mormon. Because He alone stands at the head of this Church, it is my belief that He who knows the beginning to the end holds the timetable. He does not make mistakes if we believe He is the perfect Son of God, and that is what I believe.

Grave Marker for President Harold B. Lee

I was the oldest grandson of President Harold B. Lee. He was the 11th President of the Church. He was called on April 10, 1941, as the junior Apostle. Over time he rose in seniority in the Twelve until he became the senior Apostle and presided over the Church. He was an eyewitness to many transitions in leadership in the Church, and he taught us all about it in a family home evening he convened in his home. He outlined for us step by step and day by day what would happen during the "Apostolic Interregnum" like the one we are currently in. That is the period of time that elapses between the death of the Prophet, and the succession of the next one. That period will soon come to a close and the orderly transition to the new Church administration will begin shortly, perhaps as early as this next week.

I testify on these poor pages that there is nothing to speculate about here. We are in the hands of the Lord and His living Apostles. And because that is true, I can certify we are in good hands. Changing winds are indeed blowing, as I learned overnight last night. One picture is showing resplendent fall leaves against a backdrop of blue skies shrouded in luminous while clouds, and the other is the sight that greeted me this morning when I awakened. Those weather changes where I live are to be expected and welcomed, not dreaded and feared. 

Yesterday

Today

Changes continue to occur not only in the Church today, but in the world at large. For instance, who would have predicted even a month ago that President Donald J. Trump, brokering for a peace settlement in the Middle East, would have been able to announce that an agreement between all the disparate parties had been achieved? That's a BIG CHANGE on the world stage that has seen nothing but war in that part of the world for generations. I am praying in earnest that the settlement of hostilities will become permanent and stable as conditions on the ground play out going forward. PEACEMAKERS must be applauded and sustained in my humble opinion.

President Donald J. Trump, Jr.

I no longer have much fear left in me. I have lived through a host of changes in my life. My testimony in the Savior Jesus Christ is what anchors me today. I have become the grandfather and the great-grandfather of an astounding posterity of warriors for Christ and His Church. They have enlisted in the cause of truth that will continue to spread across this planet. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will continue to be our prophetic guides in that uncertain future up ahead.

And yes, they are aged, sagacious and well-suited for the tasks ahead. I will assist them in whatever capacity I can. 

Apostles at President Nelson's Gravesite

It's a New Year!!

We have turned the page in our calendars and we have welcomed 2025. The election results were certified by Congress this week in the Electoral College, setting up the January 20th inauguration of our 47th POTUS, Donald J. Trump. He returns after a four-year exile, and already the surge in energy politically is resounding throughout the world.

Trump is no minimalist thinker. He is proposing buying Greenland (yes, the country), taking back control of the Panama Canal from China, annexing Canada as the 51st state (yes, the whole country apparently), putting an end to the unnecessary war between Ukraine and Russia, downsizing the Washington D.C. swamp of excessive governmental agencies, and oh yes, shutting down the borders and exporting the criminals that have been allowed to enter America illegally. Did I miss anything? Probably, because no matter how you describe it "Make America Great Again" is going to involve a lot of agenda items. 

There are razor-thin majorities in both the House and the Senate this year, and it appears that majority is ready to take on the world at the jump when Trump officially is sworn in. No matter whether you believe the MAGA hype or not, it has the feel of a BIG DEAL about to be unleashed. If even a small percentage of his agenda gets enacted it will no doubt affect the lives of Americans here at home and potentially the lives of nations elsewhere.

The gloating over the election victory is getting a little tiresome, if you ask me. I am weary to the point of exhaustion over all the hyperbole on display. The partisanship is frankly disturbing. It has extended in the extremity to Trump roundly and squarely placing ALL the blame on Governor Newsom (D-CA) for the raging wildfires exploding in Los Angeles County. Trump says he warned Newsom repeatedly about his ill-conceived policies that shrunk the water supplies, and now California is suffering because of the unheeded cautions Trump raised. Politicizing EVERYTHING must end, I pray.

It appears Trump has selected a team of cabinet members from among the ranks of the best and brightest to kick off his last hurrah. This slate of party faithful will be turned loose to tackle some big issues, and one can only hope they will be successful, regardless of your leanings politically. Can we really unite behind this new leader? He is signaling early his proclivity to speak his mind. He has no further political aspirations - this is his final shot to fulfill his MAGA promise, and so far he is withholding nothing in his verbal arsenal. He's already held more news conferences than his predecessor did for four years. My counsel to my family recently was "Buckle Up." Change is coming.

I was reminded the other day about something Joseph Smith said. Lorenzo Snow reported a day when someone came and asked Joseph Smith, “Who are you?” To which he replied, “Noah came before the flood. I have come before the fire.” (See this report of President Snow under entry of January 1, 1892, in diary of Abraham H. Cannon, vol. 16, p. 30). What could he have meant by that answer? 

Truman Madsen offers this: 

That leads to a probing question: How much did Joseph Smith know about himself and his own calling? Clearly his knowledge grew and expanded from the initial encounters of the Sacred Grove. But what really was implicated in that tantalizing phrase picked up by enemies and friends, “You do not know me”? Or, in his turning to people on the stand (this happened at least three times in Nauvoo) and saying, “If I revealed all that has been made known to me, scarcely a man on this stand would stay with me”? (“The Prophet said to me [Brigham Young] about sixteen years ago [at Kirtland], ‘If I was to show the Latter-day Saints all the revelations that the Lord has shown unto me, there is scarce a man that would stay with me, they could not bear it’” (MS 13 [September 1, 1851]: 257). 

In another case he said, “If the Church knew all the commandments, one-half they would condemn through prejudice and ignorance.” (HC 2:477. Compare George Q. Cannon, in Conference Report, April 6, 1900, p. 57).

Some readers of this page may not know about Joseph Smith. Search deeper into this blog and others to resolve your curiosity. Suffice it to say he opened this last dispensation of the fulness of times. He sought guidance from his Father in Heaven in a humble prayer in the spring of 1820, and was answered in a glorious vision from both the Father and the Beloved Son Jesus Christ. He organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 6, 1830, in Palmyra, New York. I revere him as a mighty prophet of God, who was followed in succession until the 17th President Russell M. Nelson, who now presides in his 101st year in mortality.

We have seen "the fire" now in Los Angeles County with no end in sight. Legion are the Biblical prophecies about fire in the latter days that will threaten to consume the whole earth before the Second Coming of our Lord. 

We will yet see many horrific scenes before that day comes, and we can do all that we can do to forestall it through all the political machinations the mind of man can conceive. However, the building of modern-day temples will predominate our work as Latter-day Saints to ensure the gathering of Israel on both sides of the veil. Those sacred ordinances performed within the temples will seal our progenitors to their families as fervently as we know how to do that work. 

I was asked recently what I do when my loneliness overtakes me from time to time since the death of my beloved wife Patsy. My simple response was, "I don't stay at home; instead I go to a nearby temple and perform an ordinance." It's never been easier to do temple work than it is right now, and I pray I may be independent enough to go and accomplish that angelic mission for as along as I am able.

I look forward with great anticipation for the events of 2025 yet to unfold. I am a born optimist by nature. In saying that, I recognize the gravity of the Machiavellian contrivances in which the world finds itself today. Those who seek for power to work their plots through subtlety and deception always seem to come to a deadly end, however. Eventually the truth will out.

So what is my prediction for 2025? That the day will come in the not too distant future when Joseph Smith and his successors will yet shine forth when all other solutions fail on the grand stage of political intrigues. President Russell M. Nelson has unleashed an era of temple building worldwide that will continue to accelerate around the world. That eternal work of providing ordinances to our kindred dead who now reside in the spirit world will go forward without ceasing from this year onward.

I claim no special gift of prophecy here, but that's about as safe a bet on the future as I can conceive of making. 

Oh, and I AM NOT given to hyperbole.

Stop Trying? Really?

 “You’re Number One today, so you can stop trying.” That was the greeting I received yesterday in the brothers dressing room at the Mount Timpanogos Temple from one of the ordinance workers who was assigning the lockers. (I got assigned to locker F-1). I went there for an endowment session with my daughter Emily, then later we went to her home so she could trim my silver locks.

That greeting has stayed trapped at the frontal lobe of my brain for the last twenty-four hours. I haven’t been able to shake its implications since I heard it.

Of course, he was simply using an analogy (if that’s what it was), but I can’t help wondering if we ever reach a point in our eternal progression where we “can stop trying.”

Since it’s timely, and the World Series starts tonight (it’s October 25, 2024), think about what’s going through the brains of the players on the field for the Dodgers and the Yankees. Each won their respective NLCS and ALCS championships as the Number One teams in their respective National and American Leagues, but don’t think for one minute that anyone on that field tonight is thinking their work is done. Each is still trying to win the World Series, because finishing second just isn’t an option.

And that’s true across the board in every sport. Being Number One is always the goal, and nothing less will satisfy. 

I can’t help reflecting on why we learn so little about the Telestial and the Terrestrial Kingdoms in the scriptures. Instead, our Father in Heaven reveals A LOT about Celestial Glory, particularly the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. Why? Because He’s interested in showering upon us ALL that He has upon conditions of repentance. Nothing less will satisfy His hopes for each of us.

It’s why President Russell M. Nelson seems so fixated upon the temples these days. He is preparing a kingdom of mortal people for the Celestial glory that awaits the faithful in these latter days. He teaches about the atonement of Jesus Christ as the key to obtaining those glorious blessings. The Savior died for us in a voluntary sacrifice for our sins, and when we repent of our sins He saves us and qualifies us for eternal life. President Nelson is ignoring EVERYTHING else. If he were a gambling man, we would say he is “ALL IN” on his bet on the Savior. 

He invites us to keep trying to obtain eternal life. I can’t imagine him ever saying to any of us, “You’re Number One now, so quit trying.” I envision him as Number One among us mortals, certainly, but do I think President Nelson is done trying? He’s 100 years old now, and he continues trying to expand our faith, our vision for the future and our eternal prospects. And I suspect he will continue doing so until he draws his last breath on this planet.

Yesterday I was drawn to the story of Amulek. I reflected on this prophet’s life as I read in the Book of Mormon in the chapel while I was waiting for the session to begin. He became Alma’s missionary companion (start reading about him in Alma 8). An angel stopped Amulek along the road one day, and instructed him to return to his home where he would meet a prophet of God who was hungry and needed Amulek’s sustenance. He was told Alma would bless him and his whole posterity if he would be obedient.

Amulek proved to be a blessing for Alma, and together they had much success among an extremely wicked population of the city of Ammonihah in those days, not unlike what we are witnessing in the world today. They kept trying, nevertheless, even though the record gives little doubt Alma was rejected - the scripture states they “reviled him, and spit upon him, and caused that he should be cast out of their city” - so he was abused and imprisoned for his efforts. Alma had given up the position of chief judge among the people so he could become a full-time missionary. Because he no longer held the “title” he was rejected by his tormentors, but still he kept trying to bring as many souls to Christ as he could.

And that’s just one example from scripture - there are scores more. 

I will be forever grateful to living prophets among whom I have lived. I have a testimony of the priesthood authority and the power that goes with it if we are true and faithful. 

Just this week I witnessed it in my brother, who was initially diagnosed with acute occlusions in two of his heart arteries and was scheduled for an installation of stents. He asked for a priesthood blessing from his two brothers and his son-in-law. He asked me to be voice, but I was merely a conduit to the heavenly throne of our Father in Heaven. 

An angiogram is a scan that uses X-rays, CT scans, or MRIs to examine blood vessels and blood flow in the body. A contrast dye is injected into a blood vessel to make the blood vessels visible on the scan. When my brother's angiogram was performed, the doctors were surprised by the finding. The occlusions, instead of being in the 90% category as originally diagnosed, were found to be in the 20-30% range and did not qualify for insertion of stents. The minimum threshold protocol calls for 50% occlusion. What’s the explanation for such a wide dichotomy on the findings?

My brother was blessed by priesthood power. He will be the first to tell you he received a miracle from his Heavenly Father. If he continues to be mindful of his ongoing genetic tendency toward heart disease and takes precautions, his life will be extended. His faith in God will also be a companion to his medical care taking.

These principles I have written about this morning are real, and they are as efficacious in our year of 2024 as they were in the year 62 B.C. when Amulek and Alma were trying to bless their people with the gifts of the gospel.

I love each of you, and I encourage you to never stop trying in all your righteous endeavors. Heavenly Father is the epitome of good in our lives, and is the True Number One in our universe. 

He will never stop trying to bless us with everything that is good for our blessing and the blessing of those we serve. It’s what He does, and He has always done it. So must we as His emissaries across the globe wherever we are called to go and minister.

Like Amulek, if we remain true and faithful our entire posterity will be blessed.

Baptism of Fire

This past weekend we witnessed the 194th Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The culmination of the weekend came in the closing remarks of President Russell M. Nelson as he announced fifteen more new temples. That brings the total number of temples either in planning, announced, under construction and actively operating to 350 worldwide. It is a remarkable temple building era in which we find ourselves, and we are witnessing the fulfillment of these promised blessings in a dramatic demonstration of the power of the covenant of the gospel's restoration. 

In discussing my impressions of the weekend with others in my family, I have been struck with the memory of three significant teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith:

Teaching1: “Baptism is a holy ordinance preparatory to the reception of the Holy Ghost; it is the channel and key by which the Holy Ghost will be administered.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 95-96).

Teaching 2: “You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half — that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 95).

Teaching 3: “The baptism of water, without the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost attending it, is of no use. They are necessarily and inseparably connected.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 90).

The scriptures from which Joseph no doubt reached his conclusions include:

Nephi declared, “For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Nephi 31:27).

The Savior Himself proclaimed, “Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.” (3 Nephi 27:20).

As I discussed my impressions with one member of the family, they made the comment that they didn't think they had ever had the "baptism of fire" in their life, and asked me if I had. I responded that I had, and I believed he had too. It is the natural outgrowth of a life lived in the path of discipleship if we are true and faithful to our covenants. 

I remembered this poignant scripture to illustrate my point: 

"As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints." (Doctrine and Covenants 121:33). 

"And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not." (3 Nephi 9:20).

How is it possible that we can receive the supernal gift of the Holy Ghost "and they knew it not?" I fear it may happen more than we realize. I wonder how many tuned in to General Conference and failed to recognize the powerful spiritual outpouring that was happening. Could it be we "knew it not?" The gift was poured out upon the congregation, both those in attendance in the Conference Center, and those tuning in across the world via satellite transmission. 

President Nelson mentioned this was the 40th year anniversary since he and President Dallin H. Oaks were called to serve as Apostles. Think of the hundreds of addresses they have given since that day!! I am in awe of their longevity and their steadfast discipleship!

In prescribing the duties of elders in his latter-day church, the Lord said, among other things, that they were “to confirm those who are baptized into the church, by the laying on of hands for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, according to the scriptures.” (D&C 20:41).

We have all been made partakers of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sometimes we forget just how fragile the gift is because we are told it is a "still, small voice" that whispers truth to our souls. It confirms what we believe with an eye of faith. It gives us assurance when we are faltering, wondering if we will ever measure up to our potential as sons and daughters of God. 

The image of likening the Holy Ghost to a baptism of fire is apt. Ask yourselves as you read this entry, "Have I ever felt the all-consuming influence of the Holy Ghost in my life? How did it make me feel? Did it feel like fire? Did my whole soul feel consumed by power? Did I feel a rush of confirming truth in an instant? Did it persist as I listened to a powerful speaker?

One such speaker last weekend for me was President Susan H. Porter, Primary General President, as she spoke to the children about the principles involved in learning how to pray. Her teachings were simple, straight from her heart, and powerful in her conviction. Even the least of the children could feel the power of the Spirit as she taught.

We live in a time of remarkable ongoing revelation from God to us. We witnessed it in rich abundance this past weekend. I felt an unmistakable outpouring of goodness from our leaders. It went down into my heart like fire.

Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. (Jeremiah 20:9).

I invite you to rejoice with me in the reality of our collective baptism of fire in these last days. It is an unmistakable gift of the Father to each of us. I pray we may accept it and embrace it universally.

Dystopian or Utopian

“The standard of truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

— Joseph Smith, 1842

How audacious can one person be? Toward the end of his mortal life, Joseph Smith made the foregoing utterance. This is the boy prophet who humbly knelt in a grove of trees in upper state New York in the year 1820, and was answered by a visitation from the Father and the Son. His inquiry was which of all the churches was right, and which should he join? He was told to join none, and that he would be the instrument of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. By 1842, he had traversed through a myriad of extremities, any one of which could have destroyed the work he was chosen to do. But he persisted in faith until he could make such a bold declaration. 

Contrasted to that vision of futurity, there has been a parallel track developing that runs in the opposite direction. While Joseph’s vision was utopian in every way, Satan’s vision is dystopian and gains traction among his adherents. A word of definition from the dictionary might be in order here:

dystopian

adjective

dys·to·pi·an (ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pē-ən 

variants or less commonly dystopic 

(ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pik 

-ˈtä- 

Synonyms of dystopian

: of, relating to, or being an imagined world or society in which people lead dehumanized, fearful lives: relating to or characteristic of a dystopia

A twisted romantic haunted by dystopian visions, Gibson borrows the language of science fiction and crafts doomed love stories with high-tech trappings.

—Maitland McDonagh

Dystopian visions are in a sense mythopoeic: depicting a creation myth in a future world of darkness and silence.

—Sarah Lefanu

Biotechnology is a force for good, but without adherence to the ideal of universal human equality, it opens the door to the soft tyranny of Gattaca and, ultimately the dystopian nightmare of Brave New World.

—Wesley J. Smith

Like many advances in science and technology, the dystopian implications of data mining have been described best by science-fiction writers.

—John Markoff

… Orwellian has become a word itself: an adjective denoting a dystopic world where language is cut adrift from meaning.

—Harvey A. Daniels

Letter by letter, we read of a society that seems to move from one dystopic nightmare to another …

—Simon Winchester

George Orwell wrote the infamous novel “1984,” describing a dystopian existence that gratefully did not materialize in its time. However, Orwell saw political leaders in Germany, Spain and the Soviet Union who had absolute power, and he realized the danger that this presented. He illustrated that danger with the world in his book, where everyone is monitored and must conform to the views of the elite.

The Tehran Conference was a meeting between Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Orwell thought the three could plan to divide the world amongst each other. In “1984,” Orwell uses this idea with the three super-states of Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. The three sides control the world and are in a never-ending war.

Orwell lived in England with his family during World War II, when acts of violence could occur at any time. This atmosphere is replicated in the book.

In a letter, Orwell mentions that he felt totalitarian regimes were on the rise in many parts of the world. He said the United States and Great Britain were exceptions, but neither nation had known defeat or suffering. He also brought up several ideas that would later be a part of “1984,” including that history could be rewritten by whoever was in charge.

I am among the millions for whom “1984” was mandatory reading in high school. It was chilling and a cautionary tale for freedom-loving people everywhere. It seems there is a steady drumbeat always and forever that runs counter to Joseph Smith’s optimistic vision of the future.

President Russell M. Nelson

President Russell M. Nelson has put the Church in position to fulfill that vision. We are determined to move forward with faith in its realization despite all the dystopian voices out there in the world.

We are in the midst of yet another runup to a presidential election in America. There are those who would have us believe the two major candidates vying for the hearts and minds of Americans will surely produce a meltdown of all we hold sacred. Either one being elected in 2024 will undoubtedly bring our representative republic to ruin. 

And yet, it seems there is no alternative that suggests itself at this writing in February 2024. Time will tell if a new “savior” is yet to appear on our horizon, but don’t hold your breath. My experience as an observer of politics for many years is that politicians can neither save nor destroy the nation. They simply do not have the power because our system of government was designed to divide power to prevent the type of totalitarian regimes Orwell warned about. 

That brings to mind another popular “Mormon myth” about the Constitution someday “hanging by a thread” and the country in its ultimate peril being rescued by the elders of Israel. First impressions of “the White Horse Prophecy” might be alarming. Did Joseph give this “apocalyptic” prophecy? Has it been used to support “American-centric” or militant ideals? Is there some weird secret doctrine that tells Mormons to take over the world?

It turns out, Joseph Smith probably didn’t give the “White Horse Prophecy” or at the very least, not the version which was recorded decades later by Edwin Rushton. That account was recorded in 1898, 54 years after Joseph’s death, and has been condemned by multiple Church leaders.

But the Constitution “hanging by a thread” idea can still feel uncomfortable, especially when coupled with it being saved by the “Elders of Israel” — and the historical record indicates that Joseph Smith taught those ideas. At the time, the Saints had been driven from their homes and experienced government-sponsored persecution, which may have impacted their views on religious freedoms as protected by the Constitution.

Today, the Church encourages civic engagement from its members, supports democracy and the peaceful transfer of power, and denounces riots and usurpations. While making sense of the political history of our religion, we can remember the gospel teaches a message of peace.

Think about the trajectory the Church is on today. We are building temples around the world at an accelerated pace. Each time a temple is dedicated the kingdom of God on the earth reclaims territory that might otherwise have been the domain of wickedness. We consecrate and make holy those environs. We do it “boldly, nobly and independently,” above all the competition that would claim it otherwise. 

Each of us individually has a stake in the work of salvation. A little twelve-year-old girl who goes to the temple to do baptisms for the dead, an elderly widow who serves as an ordinance worker, an unpaid harried and overwhelmed young bishop with a family and a career, a mother who nurtures and cares for her small brood of children, a missionary who goes into the world wherever he or she is called to serve, and an old man who sits at his computer early in the morning to encourage his posterity in the course of their marvelous destiny as I do this morning - all these in their path of discipleship are advancing the work toward the ultimate fulfillment Joseph described in 1842. 

I want you all to know these words were given to me sometime around 4:30 a.m. this morning as I lay awake after a completely restful and heavy night of sleep (a blessed outcome for me these days). I hope none of you is dissuaded in the least by the dystopian voices that bombard your consciousness, either from the written word, news reports, movies or whatever worldly source you encounter. 

Mortality has always been about your choices, your moral agency, and your Heavenly Father providing living prophets coupled with the words of the dead prophets to point the way unerringly back to Him. 

I would encourage all of you to read 2 Nephi 31, as I did this morning. It lays out “the doctrine of Christ” and is a sure and certain witness of the path we are to follow as disciples. As you all know, I am a great admirer of Elder Bruce R. McConkie. I will conclude with his words that describe a utopian plan for each of us:

“…everyone in the Church who is on the straight and narrow path, who is striving and struggling and desiring to do what is right, though is far from perfect in this life; if he passes out of this life while he’s on the straight and narrow, he’s going to go on to eternal reward in his Father’s kingdom.

“We don’t need to get a complex or get a feeling that you have to be perfect to be saved. You don’t. There’s only been one perfect person, and that’s the Lord Jesus, but in order to be saved in the Kingdom of God and in order to pass the test of mortality, what you have to do is get on the straight and narrow path — thus charting a course leading to eternal life — and then, being on that path, pass out of this life in full fellowship. I’m not saying that you don’t have to keep the commandments. I’m saying you don’t have to be perfect to be saved. If you did, no one would be saved. The way it operates is this: you get on the path that’s named the ‘straight and narrow.’ You do it by entering the gate of repentance and baptism. The straight and narrow path leads from the gate of repentance and baptism, a very great distance, to a reward that’s called eternal life. If you’re on that path and pressing forward, and you die, you’ll never get off the path. There is no such thing as falling off the straight and narrow path in the life to come, and the reason is that this life is the time that is given to men to prepare for eternity. Now is the time and the day of your salvation, so if you’re working zealously in this life — though you haven’t fully overcome the world and you haven’t done all you hoped you might do — you’re still going to be saved. You don’t have to do what Jacob said, ‘Go beyond the mark.’ You don’t have to live a life that’s truer than true. You don’t have to have an excessive zeal that becomes fanatical and becomes unbalancing. What you have to do is stay in the mainstream of the Church and live as upright and decent people live in the Church — keeping the commandments, paying your tithing, serving in the organizations of the Church, loving the Lord, staying on the straight and narrow path. If you’re on that path when death comes — because this is the time and the day appointed, this the probationary estate — you’ll never fall off from it, and, for all practical purposes, your calling and election is made sure. Now, that isn’t the definition of that term, but the end result will be the same.

“There’s great hope for Latter-day Saints. There’s great hope for anyone who will repent, believe, obey, strive, struggle and seek to work out his salvation. There isn’t hope for anyone who will not. Our revelation says, ‘Surely every man must repent or suffer; for I, God, am Endless.’ Well, either we suffer for our sins, according to the law of justice, or we repent, and through the atoning sacrifice, the Lord Jesus bears our sins and we become inheritors of mercy. Now we can go forward. We can have every reward that the scriptures speak of. We’re not an austere people. We don’t remove ourselves from the world. We’re deliberately in the world so that we’ll have opportunity to overcome the world. We can have in the Church every association and felicity and good feeling that anyone can have. Anything that’s wholesome and good is available to us. We’re denied nothing, and that’s good. In addition to that, we can have the hope of glorious immortality — meaning eternal life — in the realms and the worlds that are ahead.” (Elder Bruce R. McConkie, “The Probationary Test of Mortality,” address given at the University of Utah Institute of Religion January 10, 1982).

Staring Down the Barrel of 2024

I went to the Provo City Center Temple the other day an hour before the start of an endowment session. I was all alone amidst a full session. I read the opening pages of The Book of Mormon, including this last verse of the first chapter. He made a quick departure from his historical account to make this editorial insert in the record:

I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance. (1 Nephi 1:20).

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced recently that there have been 200,000,000 copies of that inspired book of scripture published since the first press run of 5,000 copies in 1830. The coming forth of the Church and the publication of the book are themselves miracles that conventional wisdom would suggest never should have happened. The fact that makes conversion of each individual soul a miracle is the power of the spiritual blessings that accompany each conversion. 

I was asked for my birthdate the other day by a banker to confirm my identity. As the numbers rolled off my tongue, I commented, "That just seems like it was so long ago!"

And, indeed, as I stare down the barrel of a looming 2024, the gap between birth and death only grows larger. Someone wrote a poem about "the dash" years ago. I looked her up this morning and give her full attribution here:

The Dash by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on the tombstone
from the beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came the date of birth
and spoke the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that they spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved them
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own --
the cars...the house...the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So, think about this long and hard.
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what's true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger
and show appreciation more,
and love the people in our lives
like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect
and more often wear a smile,
remembering this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read
with your life's actions to rehash,
would you be proud of the things they say
about how you spent YOUR dash? 

As one who has recently entered the realm of widowerhood (is that even a word?), I find myself wondering what the date beyond my dash will be. I have the headstone for Patsy in the works in a quarry somewhere in Georgia as I write this. My name is inscribed on the granite block next to hers, but all that is missing now is that final date. So I'm still spending my dash. I wonder how I will be remembered. 

We have a large and wonderful posterity we created during our dash together here in mortality. At the threshold of this New Year, the slate is clean. What will I write upon it this year? It begins with this post to my blog. It has been said you can only wish people a "Happy New Year" for one week. I am within bounds here. 

We are embarking on a revision of my estate plan now. I am sponsoring an open forum among the children and their families to discuss their wishes for how I spend the rest of my dash. I welcome their input in the process. 

It sometimes seems like a daunting task with so many of us, all possessed of strong opinions and individual concerns. And, I would quickly add, really smart people. I have heard two words a lot recently - "impossible" and "unsustainable." Those two words have been weighing on my mind this morning as I write. Without context they are meaningless. I need more definition around the substance of WHAT seems so impossible, and HOW is whatever we are going to do unsustainable? 

The conventional wisdom from mental health experts suggests that we wait for at least a year before undertaking (see what I did there?) this task. No sudden moves, no major decisions, no lifelong ramifications just yet. We're still grieving Patsy's death. We are emotional beings. We are fragile. We can wait, we can assemble facts, we can posit solutions, and we can consult with estate planners. But let's go slow through the fact gathering stage.

I'm on board with all that. I love a deliberative approach. I want to do only those things that will bless and strengthen my posterity. Can a "one size fits all" solution be crafted? Probably not. Can we love one another when financial disparity enters the discussion? Can the "Pollyanna" high-level strategic vision be made to conform with a tactical plan that works? Can our feelings be held inviolate as we debate the merits of this or that? Can we make the impossible possible? Can we sustain the unsustainable? All these topics and more will be uncovered as we move ahead, ready or not, into a new year in 2024.

I wonder if anyone else "out there" might offer some perspective. I'm living what's left of my dash and I so want to get this right.

President Russell M. Nelson

I often turn to President Russell M. Nelson, now in his 100th year on earth, for his inspired insights. The man has experience - lots of it. He said:

"When you are confronted with a dilemma, think celestial! When tested by temptation, think celestial! When life or loved ones let you down, think celestial! When someone dies prematurely, think celestial. When someone lingers with a devastating illness, think celestial. When the pressures of life crowd in upon you, think celestial!" 

So, while I muddle along here in mortality I am attempting to do the "impossible" and the "unsustainable." I want to "think celestial."

Saving Souls at Christmastime

As a Church, we are engaged in the all-inclusive work of the salvation of souls on both sides of the veil. We send tens of thousands of missionaries throughout the world to teach and baptize the willing in this world. We gather them out, welcome them into our congregations and set their feet on what we have come to call "the covenant path." 

As they progress along that path they are increasingly blessed by making and keeping sacred covenants. Eventually, they enter a temple somewhere in the world (there are now 355 in various stages of completion), and are sealed to an eternal companion of their choosing. These are the ordinances of salvation, and they bind couples and posterity together, linking them to ancestors who have gone before them.

The other night, our family who were nearby gathered in a sealing session at the Mount Timpanogos Temple to perform proxy sealing ordinances for many of our deceased ancestors. Most of those ancestors were in the family of our dear daughter and sister, Kim Goates. She is a native of Brisbane, Australia, who emigrated many years ago to the United States where she met and married our oldest son Jeff. 

The picture shown here is all of us assembling for dinner after the session, and doesn't include Jake and Rich who returned home without eating with us. 

The date December 19th is significant in two ways - it's our original sealing date in 1969, when I married Patsy, and it's also the birthday of son Steve. 

Since her conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Kim has been instrumental in her search for all her extended family in Australia. Those names have been compiled and the other night we all participated as a family in procuring those sealing ordinances for each deceased member of her family, a work they could not perform for themselves. We were blessed in that session to be assigned to a sealer whose first mission was in. . . wait for it. . . Brisbane, Australia. Truly, the "divine coincidences" we routinely encounter in this work of salvation cannot be overstated. Someday I hope to learn more about how all those intersections seem to collide in such marvelous ways. 

From the Church's website, we glean this explanation:

What Is the Work of Salvation?

The work of salvation is Heavenly Father’s work “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). This important work includes member missionary work, convert retention, activation of less-active members, temple and family history work, and teaching the gospel. Too often, we think these aspects of the gospel are unrelated. But in The Work of Salvation: Worldwide Leadership Broadcast on June 23, 2013, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that “the work really is indivisible. These efforts are not separate; they’re all part of the work of salvation.”

The phrase “Hastening the Work of Salvation” - the name of the broadcast’s companion website (hasteningthework.lds.org) - refers to the Lord’s promise: “Behold, I will hasten my work in its time” (D&C 88:73).

Essential priesthood ordinances - baptism, confirmation, ordination to the priesthood for men, and temple ordinances - stand as milestones along our path to return to our Heavenly Father. As we participate in the work of salvation, we follow and inspire others to follow this covenant path.

I couldn't help thinking about the gathering that was surely taking place in the spirit world among Kim's ancestors as those ordinances were being performed. Some, who look in on this "impossible" work of salvation for the dead simply cannot digest the math. There are so many more dead people than living people, they reason, how can you possibly think you will even make a dent in those daunting numbers. I know, it truly does seem impossible. The odds are never in our favor as disciples of Jesus Christ. And it has ever been thus. Christ was only ONE. We are only 17 million against a living population of 8 billion, and multiples more who are dead. What are we thinking?

I wrote about the impossible gospel years ago, and we are undeterred against all the insurmountable odds. Having lived my lifetime of experiences, and with the perspective gained from hindsight, the onward and upward momentum of the work of salvation is something truly breathtaking to behold in these latter days. 

President Russell M. Nelson is leading the armies of Israel in all parts of the world today. His priesthood keys are being shared now in an exponential way I never could have envisioned in my younger days. The Kingdom of God on earth is expanding. The world of spirits is actively "recruiting" among those of us who have seen our loved ones graduate to a higher and holier place. They are engaged in the same way we are. 

In fact, the other night as I performed proxy sealings I was kneeling across the altar in turn from three of my daughters, Dianne, Tina and Allie. I could remember all those times it was Patsy kneeling across from me, and I was invigorated and energized by those memories. It was truly a joyful and wondrous work we were doing. Can we really refer to it as "work" when it is so much fun?

That's what the temple experience is designed to do for us. We bless others and are blessed by them. 

And at Christmastime the work of salvation is just that much more delicious.

How Can One Man Be So Blessed?

Allie, Dianne, Dad, Emily

Yesterday, I was in the Mount Timpanogos Temple with three of my daughters. We are pictured in front of a manger scene on a blustery day after our endowment session. It was the "warm before the storm," a fitting analogy when the sky was blue overhead and the temperature was warmer than normal for a winter day.

Today, in Pine Valley where I live up in the mountains, I awoke to blowing snow. The temperature had plunged to 20 degrees. 

I am always in awe of weather patterns here in Utah. A few years ago for the first time I learned about "atmospheric rivers." That's where the upper level wind patterns set up in a direct path that points directly at us originating somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. In the winter those winds aloft bring prodigious amounts of weather, usually snowstorms, with them. Like the phrase implies, the weather flows like a river with little or nothing to stop it.

Some have asked me if I intended to stay alone in my home this winter since the passing of my wife, Patsy, earlier this summer. I hadn't thought, really, about doing anything else. This is where I built my wooden "palace" in the mountains all those years ago, and it's where I thrive the most. It's familiar. 

I know every nuance of this little shack. I am astounded at its appraised value today. How did that happen? At night I hear the rippling of the flag that flies just outside my bedroom window. I actually had to take it down recently to aid my ability to fall asleep. I hear the coyotes sing their lullabies. 

I hear the propane boiler cycling on and off in the crawl space that heats the water circulating in the baseboard heating system. I love the sound of the crackling firewood in the wood burning stove in the other side of the house where I installed it when all I used it for was to generate heat in cool summer mornings. 

And now I live here year-around and fight off the cold winter blasts that come barreling down upon me when the atmospheric river does its best to discourage me, especially when it sets up directly north in the Polar region.

Once in awhile, I hear my faithful snowplow guy outside my window when he comes early in the morning to clear the road for us. That was a steep learning curve for cousin Steve Smoot and me when we had to learn how to do it all those years ago. We managed through record-breaking 100-year winters like last year, and years when we only plowed four or five times. 

Through it all, here we are, still standing as it were on a rock in the middle of the atmospheric river flowing all around us. 

Now, I have a Starlink satellite internet system to link me to the outside world. It is astoundingly more robust and reliable than anything I could have ever envisioned when I put this plan in place all those years ago to live here. But new revelation was given. What did we ever do before Elon Musk?

When the wind is howling outside late at night and in the early morning hours, I can hear the wooden members that hold the structure together. I hear the wood shifting and creaking slightly. Am I ever worried about it crashing down around my head? Nope. I built it. I know why I hear what I hear, and I am seldom alarmed. I am the creator, and I know my creation. Therefore, I do not wring my hands in anxiety over what will happen to it. 

I find a spiritually analogous meaning in it all. Our Father in Heaven is our Creator. He knows us all - every one of us. He has made ample provision for us. 

He vouched safe our moral agency before the foundations of this Mother Earth were laid. 

He knew exactly the number of His children who would come here to inhabit it. 

He made the provisions for the amount of natural resources we would need to sustain ourselves. 

He anticipated there would be some "bad actors" among us who would reject Him. 

He also knows there are many of His children who would triumph over all their enemies and honor and serve Him. 

He has raised up prophets from the beginning who would give guidance to all His children. 

He gave them inspiration and revelation, and made revelation a possibility for all of us who would obey and value their writings in the scriptures. 

He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to atone for all our sins.

He promised and delivered the Holy Ghost to guide us in all we do while we live here.

To which I add my humble amen, and amen, and amen.