Discovering Truth

Growing up as a Mormon, I was taught that LDS temples were extremely important because of the ordinances performed within them. These ritual ordinances are done for people living and via proxy for people who have died and are considered essential for salvation and exaltation in the life hereafter. The importance of the LDS temples to members of the LDS religion is expressed by it’s leaders over and over again in worldwide and local conferences, through weekly church meetings, and through books and magazine articles. Temples are considered vital to salvation, therefore, the LDS Church has accelerated it’s efforts over the past few decades, to building as many temples as…

When it comes to life or death most people would choose life. As humans, we naturally have instilled in us a will to survive and live. Spiritually speaking, there also is a choice between life and death. Everlasting life is obtained by following God and His Son, Yeshua and spiritual death comes as a result of not following God and His Son. This important decision of which path to follow is portrayed in so many ways in the Bible. Life Death Tree of Life Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Death) Light Darkness Wise Foolish Wheat Tares Sheep Goats Right Hand Left Hand Mount Gerazim Mount Ebal Church of…

The heart. It is the source of what makes us human. From it springs forth diverse thoughts which translate into feelings and emotions such as love, hate, envy, joy, fear, compassion, anxiety, peace, etc. Matters of the heart have been the object of poetry, song, music, literature, oration, conversation, and have been the catalyst for the rising and falling of nations. How can such a small beating organ yield so much power for good or bad? It can be explained by a simple line in the scripture verse of Proverbs 23:7 which states, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” This simple yet powerful statement contains a…

Most of my life, I’ve seen the word Hanukkah on my calendars and heard it talked about occasionally on television or have seen it mentioned in various publications but I never really understood what it was all about. I thought it was similar to Christmas but for Jewish people who didn’t celebrate Christmas. It wasn’t until about two years ago that I came to learn about and understand why Hanukkah is celebrated and some amazing symbolism in it’s observance. Hanukkah means dedication in Hebrew and is called the Feast of Dedication. It is also called the Festival of Lights. It is not a feast commanded by God to keep, however,…

Any relationship first begins by coming to know someone’s name. If I meet someone and he tells me his name and from then on I continually call him by some other name, then pretty soon he will become annoyed and begin to believe that I do not truly care about him. Learning and remembering someone’s name shows true interest in that person. Even speaking that person’s name while having a conversation with that person show’s him/her that you have a higher level of interest in that person. The first step to knowing the Father and the Son is to know their true names. God’s name is important because He said…

Too often scripture reading is like zooming along the ocean in a boat, trying to get from point A to point B as fast as possible. We often skim over the surface just to check it off our list so we can go to sleep or get on with our day. However, it is so much more meaningful if we stop the boat, put on our diving suits and dive down to explore and search. When we do this we find beautiful treasures of knowledge and precious pearls of wisdom. I love studying the scriptures not just reading them! It used to be a duty for me, something to check…

Is the Bible a trustworthy source of truth today? Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He commanded His disciples to go into the world to make more disciples by proclaiming His gospel. What was His gospel? It was what Jesus taught while He was here, which was to obey God’s law written in the Old Testament. He was constantly pointing the people back to the law of God which was what was written in the Old Testament. He never gave new laws but only reminded the people of what they needed to turn back to instead of following the man-made religion of the Pharisees and Sadducees. He also taught that He…

In a world full of lies and deception, we need a way to discern between truth and error. God did not leave us alone to figure out what truth is and what it isn’t, after all, we’ve already established that He is the Truth. He is the source of all truth and He desires us to come to a knowledge of His truth. He desires us to come back into a relationship with Him, so He gave us His written word, which is truth, which points us to His Living Word, Jesus Christ, who is also Truth. It is through His written word that we can discover truth from error…

What better way to begin a blog about discovering truth than to discuss what truth is and how to discover it. First and foremost, what is truth? It is that famous question that Pilate asked Jesus in John 18:33-38. Pilate unfortunately did not wait around for an answer from the one who taught truth, testified of truth, walked in truth and was the very living embodiment of truth. Hopefully we are more patient and desirous of an answer than Pilate was. Truth is something that I crave. From my youth until adulthood, I was afraid of being deceived, so I was very careful to follow what my religious leaders told…