Nearly two thousand years ago, Christ’s followers asked, “How can we know the way?” Christ’s reply was simple and profound: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). What happens if we take this literally, rather than merely as a metaphor? How do our questions — and our faith — change when we think of truth as a living, breathing person instead of as a set of abstract ideas? The answer to this question is explored in a new book published by Verdand Press called Who Is Truth? Reframing our Questions for a Richer Faith.

Written by Jeffrey Thayne and Ed Gantt, the book is written for Latter-day Saints who wish to re-examine their faith in a way that strengthens their faith in the Restoration of the Gospel. The book explores how Western philosophical assumptions subtly bias the questions we ask about our faith, and how this sometimes fuels the “faith crises” that some members experience. Many of our questions may not have answers because they start with the wrong premises, like looking for the corner of a round room.

In contrast, Hebrew thought offers a glimpse into a worldview that raises altogether different questions, questions which are less biased towards doubt and which lean more towards fidelity to our covenants and to Christ. The books shares insights related to how we understand prophets, the Atonement, sin and repentance, the temple, and our relationship with Christ.

James Faulconer, a professor of philosophy at Brigham Young University and currently a fellow at the Wheatley Institution, wrote a Foreword for the book, in which he said, “Thayne and Gantt give us an overview of how thinking in a more ancient way changes … our understanding. In turn, that new understanding brightens and freshens the Gospel.”

Who Is Truth? can be purchased as a paperback or as an ebook on Amazon.

In April 2005 Janet Christiansen was killed.

Janet was a tall, willowy woman, seventh of ten children in a family that even now belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ.

This Friday evening, ABC will air another special focused on how Janet, a stunning beauty, was murdered by Raven, her handsome husband. No doubt the wedding photo taken the day Janet and Raven married in the DC temple will be featured, symbol of the hope and love shattered by Janet’s death.

To you Janet and Raven are likely strangers, though perhaps you will feel some kinship because of the Church. But I had known Janet since she was born. I coached her Church basketball team. She was in the same classes at Church as my two youngest sisters.

Elder Whitney Clayton was the keynote speaker this week at an interfaith religious freedom conference series being sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, William Jessup University, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. THe Conference series is on the topic of “Preserving Our Religious Freedoms with a Civil Voice: People of Faith Working Together in the Public Square.”

Elder Clayton’s remarks were well received by a very diverse group of people of diverse faith traditions who are coming together to speak up about the important role that faith plays in the public square.

His remarks were recorded and will eventually be available online. However, his remarks were substantially similar to ones that he gave at BYU’s Religious Freedom Annual Review in June 2018. Here is a write up in Meridian on those remarks.

Elder Clayton’s central thesis was that increasingly many people in our secularizing society do not really understand the role that religion plays in the life of the believer. All too often, faith is seen “as something akin to a quirky, private belief or hobby like secretly believing in the Yeti or UFOs or belonging to a weekly bowling league.” From that premise it is easy to treat faith as something quaint or unnecessary. Accordingly, it is easy to say “You are welcome to have your own private fantasy world, but keep it private and don’t make me acknowledge it.” When push comes to shove, beliefs must yield to changing social trends.

But in reality, faith is far deeper than that. “[F]or tens of millions of Americans, faith and religious convictions are the most powerful defining sources of personal and family identity in their lives. … [T]heir faith is marrow to their very bones of who and what they are.” Faith is far more central than that: ”
“Once experienced and accepted, faith in God is life-altering. The faithful, life-changing choice to believe deeply influences ones personal, familial, and cultural identity. It defines who and what we are, how we understand our purpose for being, how we relate to others, how we deal with pain, suffering and death.”

Elder Clayton argued that we can do much more to make clear that religious plays a role at least as profound as our identifiers such as “race, color, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education, profession, wealth and so on,” and that from such a foundation we can build am ore authentic and productive dialogue with those who might disagree with us.

I really liked Elder Clayton’s focus. All too often, we believers try to minimize or downplay our faith in conversations with others. Instead, we need to be clear about where we are coming from and about those beliefs that are part of the marrow in our bones

The CNN religion editor wrote a surprisingly good article that was released today on President Nelson’s process of revelation. Some key excerpts:

When the messages come during the dark of night, Russell M. Nelson reaches for his lighted pen and takes dictation from the Lord.
“OK dear, it’s happening,” the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints tells his wife, Wendy Nelson. 
“I just remain quiet and soon he’s sitting up at the side of the bed, writing,” she said in a recent church video. 
Sometimes the spirit prompts the prophet’s wife to leave the bed, though she’d rather sleep. One such morning, Wendy Nelson told Mormon leaders, her husband emerged from the bedroom waving a yellow notebook. 
Russell Nelson has instituted several changes based on revelations since becoming church president in 2018.
“Wendy, you won’t believe what’s been happening for two hours,” she recalled Russell Nelson saying. “The Lord has given me detailed instructions on a process I am to follow.” 
Nelson’s nighttime messages have “increased exponentially,” his wife said, since last year when the 94-year-old took the helm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church. 
“One of the things the Spirit has repeatedly impressed upon my mind since my new calling as President of the Church,” Nelson said, “is how willing the Lord is to reveal His mind and will.” 
Through a spokesman, Nelson declined an interview about his revelations. But more than any Mormon president in recent memory, he speaks openly and often about his divine communications, some of which have significant consequences for the 16.6 million-member church. Last year, Nelson announced that God had told him the church should drop the moniker “Mormon,” a nickname that has stuck since the 1800s.

Check out the entire article here.