Long haitus

I've had a number of things happen recently in my life that have kept me from posting on my blog including the birth of our third son and a move. However, I had to admit that part of me has been lazy--I hope to correct that.

When I initially started this blog, I decided that the best way to define my religion was with a statement that the first Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith, made concerning our beliefs now called "The Articles of Faith". While they do not include every doctrine of the Church (e.g., Temple work), they do include the basic tenets of our beliefs. These may be find these online, although I include them here for reference:

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THE ARTICLES OF FAITH
OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

History of the Church, Vol. 4, pp. 535—541

1 We ^abelieve in ^bGod, the Eternal Father, and in His ^cSon, Jesus Christ, and in the ^dHoly Ghost.

2 We believe that men will be ^apunished for their ^bown sins, and not for Adam’s ^ctransgression.

3 We believe that through the ^aAtonement of Christ, all ^bmankind may be ^csaved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

4 We believe that the first principles and ^aordinances of the Gospel are: first, ^bFaith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, ^cRepentance; third, ^dBaptism by ^eimmersion for the ^fremission of sins; fourth, Laying on of ^ghands for the ^hgift of the Holy Ghost.

5 We believe that a man must be ^acalled of God, by ^bprophecy, and by the laying on of ^chands by those who are in ^dauthority, to ^epreach the Gospel and administer in the ^fordinances thereof.

6 We believe in the same ^aorganization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, ^bprophets, ^cpastors, ^dteachers, ^eevangelists, and so forth.

7 We believe in the ^agift of ^btongues, ^cprophecy, ^drevelation, ^evisions, ^fhealing, ^ginterpretation of tongues, and so forth.

8 We believe the ^aBible to be the ^bword of God as far as it is translated ^ccorrectly; we also believe the ^dBook of Mormon to be the word of God.

9 We believe all that God has ^arevealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet ^breveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

10 We believe in the literal ^agathering of Israel and in the restoration of the ^bTen Tribes; that ^cZion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will ^dreign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be ^erenewed and receive its ^fparadisiacal ^gglory.

11 We claim the ^aprivilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the ^bdictates of our own ^cconscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them ^dworship how, where, or what they may.

12 We believe in being ^asubject to ^bkings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in ^cobeying, honoring, and sustaining the ^dlaw.

13 ^aWe believe in being ^bhonest, true, ^cchaste, ^dbenevolent, virtuous, and in doing ^egood to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we ^fhope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to ^gendure all things. If there is anything ^hvirtuous, ⁱlovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Joseph Smith

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I think that the beauty of these is their simplicity. I think that it dispels a lot of "man-made" doctrines and beliefs that developed over many centuries that are incorrect, such as Adam's transgression being labeled as some sort of sexual sin (C.S. Lewis also saw this in his book, "Mere Christianity", chapter 8, paragraph 6). I also think that they show one of the fundamental beliefs of the Church: that the Church was restored by Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith and that we have Prophets in our day who receive revelation. This doesn't mean that other churches do not have good things in them--just that they're not complete. We love other churches and have worked and are working more with other churches (for example, see here). However, as part of the Lord's restored church, we as Latter-day Saints have an obligation to do our best to prepare for His Second Coming by sharing the good news of His Atonement and the restoration.

First post

The motivation for this blog came mainly from two talks by Elder M. Russell Ballard, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:

1. October 2007 General Conference
   
2. December 2007 Brigham Young University-Hawaii Graduation Address (full version)

Motivation also came from the interest in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Governor Mitt Romney's recent campaign for President of the United States.

I started writing the mission statement for this blog a few months ago and felt I finally had a polished version. As I stated in the mission statement, "The purpose of this blog is to share my beliefs as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to invite others to participate meaningfully in healthy discussion regarding those beliefs. The end goal is to be one voice among many, perhaps hundreds or thousands, in defining my faith, rather than allowing others define it for me." As such, I thought it helpful to state what this blog is not:

1. This blog is not an official Church blog site. It contains my own views of my faith and I take full responsibility for its contents.
   
2. This blog is not the only blog dealing with a member's desire to define our faith. Rather, it is an effort to cumulatively define our faith. I hope to post member's blogs that I follow and/or impress me.
   
3. This blog is not intended to convert others to my faith. Although that may happen, it is not part of the mission statement.
4. This blog is not for attacking others for their faith nor for other's attacks on my faith. I feel that I have much in common with those of other faiths and hope to build bridges of understanding.
   

That said, I hope that this blog will provide a rewarding journey for all involved.