Mormon Musings

Near the end of his ministry, with so much betrayal about him, the Prophet Joseph said to the members, "I never told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [Salt LakeCity: Deseret Book Company, 1976], p. 368). His summational statement includes the marvelous Book of Mormon. Though it was not his book, Joseph was its remarkable translator. It was actually the book of prophets who had long preceded him. His intensive labors of translation let these prophets speak so eloquently for themselves-to millions of us!  In fact, more printed pages of scripture have come through Joseph Smith than from anyother human.  Elder Neal A. Maxwell (Ensign, January 1997, p. 41)

Our religion is simply the truth. It is all said in this one expression--it embraces all truth, wherever found, in all the works of God and man that are visible and invisible to mortal eye. Brigham Young, J.D. 10:251

If the devil says you cannot pray when you are angry, tell him it is none of his business, and pray until serenity is restored to the mind. Brigham Young

The storm fronts that come into our lives will not last forever.  We can surmount the drifts of difficulties and we can hold out if we maintain our perspective and faith.  Just as we know there is sun just beyond today's cloud cover, so we must not doubt the continued, watchful, and tutoring presence of The Son in spite of the stormy seasons in our lives. Elder Neal A. Maxwell (Even As I Am, pp. 102-03)

Hell may pour forth its rage like the burning lava of Mount Vesuvius . . . and yet shall "Mormonism" stand. . . . God is the author of it. He is our shield. . . . It was by Him we received the Book of Mormon; and it is by Him that we remain unto this day; and by Him we shall remain, if it shall be for our glory; and in His Almighty name we are determined to endure tribulation as good soldiers unto the end. Joseph Smith,  Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,  sel. Joseph Fielding Smith (1976), 139.

My beloved brothers and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what  Christ  asked Peter: “Did you love me?” I think He will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did we at least understand  one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.” 13  And if at such a moment we can stammer out, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,” then He may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty. “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” 14  Jesus said. So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, w...

Now may I speak . . . to those buffeted by false insecurity, who, though laboring devotedly in the Kingdom, have recurring feelings of falling forever short. . . . . . . This feeling of inadequacy is . . . normal. There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance. . . . . . . This is a Gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us.   Elder Neal A. Maxwell [ CR , October 1976, 14, 16; “Notwithstanding My Weakness,”  Ensign,  November 1976, 12, 14]

When we first cross the border of belief and enter the territory of testimony, that is a highly significant moment. We come through, as it were, a port of entry. The Spirit has borne witness to us that Jesus is the Christ, that God lives, that other truths related to these are accepted by us. Our later experiences do not really represent the recrossing of that border again and again, but are reminders and reassurances of the earlier resolve.  Elder Maxwell (Deposition of a Disciple, p. 51.)