Doctrinal Library

Four Lessons From One Life

There are those who profess reverence for life and at the same time argue for abortion or euthanasia. Consistency comes from self-discipline in recognizing and revering divine law.

Meeting the Challenges of Today

Your discipleship may see the time come when religious convictions are heavily discounted. M. J. Sobran also observed, “A religious conviction is now a second-class conviction, expected to step deferentially to the back of the secular bus, and not to get uppity about it” (Human Life Review, Summer 1978, p. 58). This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain of people’s opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions. Resistance to abortion will soon be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.

Principles of Sacrifice

Satan and his followers were permitted to come to earth to tempt us and to try to influence us into doing wrong, but none of them have mortal bodies. They are jealous of our mortal bodies and do everything in their power to keep us from returning to our Heavenly Father’s presence. It has struck me as I have looked at Lucifer’s plan in this day and age how much abortion carries that plan forward today. Every time there is an abortion someplace in the world there is yet another spirit child that cannot come to this mortal existence. To me it is yet an extension of Lucifer’s plan and one that we should be mindful of when we come into discussions on this controversial subject.

God Knows and Loves You

Do not misunderstand or devalue how important you are to your Father in Heaven. You are not an accidental by-product of nature, a cosmic orphan, or the result of matter plus time plus chance. Where there is design, there is a designer.
Your life has meaning and purpose. The ongoing Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ brings light and understanding regarding your divine identity. You are a beloved child of Heavenly Father.

The Art of Living

I read something one day while in a doctor’s waiting room in Germany about how some people handle one particular problem:
“The Journal of an Unborn Child”
May 1: I was called to life today because of loving parents.
May 15: My first veins took shape; my body is shaping;
May 19: I already have a mouth.
May 21: My heart has started to beat.
May 28: My arms and legs have started to grow.
June 8: Small fingers are starting to appear on my hands.
June 15: My mother learned today that I am alive.
June 20: It is evident now that I’ll be a girl.
June 24: My organs are complete. I can feel now.
July 7: I have hair and eyebrows.
July 8: My eyes are completed, but my eyelids are still closed.
July 19: My heart beats. I feel security and am very happy.
July 20: Today my mother killed me.

Obedience Brings Blessings

About this business of abortion: I presume that there will be a million of them in the United States this year; there were a million last year. It is destruction of the Lord’s children at a horrendous rate... No, abortion is not the Lord’s program. His program is to provide opportunities for his children to come to this earth. We need to help him in this.

Rejoice in Christ Jesus, and Have No Confidence in the Flesh

As we learn to be always filled with the Light and Spirit of Christ, we will always be able to see the foolishness and the disaster of the self-centeredness of men. We can then see that selfishness, if not overcome, becomes the root of all diseases of our own lives, and it is the cause for the curse of destruction that is threatening the very existence of all mankind. Selfishness inflicts the bleeding wounds in our homes, as it does in the nations of the world. Selfishness and its false ambitions are a threat to our own security and are the cause of the abuses and the destruction of a livable life. We are being surrounded by the fruits of selfishness in our own environment. The Freemen Digest reports that in America since 1960 there have been:...18 million babies killed by abortion.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, There is Liberty

When a democracy, a state, or a university collapses, it is because the individuals and families are dropping their arms. What are the usual symptoms? First, there is a feeling of fear, then resignation, then we get used to the worst. “To get used to” is a horrible phrase, to say the least—to get used to violence, to degradation, to mediocrity, to oppressions, to humiliation. Too often today, when people are confronted with these threatening situations, they begin to ask themselves if they should try to “understand” the enemy and its representations. We see that as soon as they do, they are condemned to death themselves. You don’t try to understand dictature, terrorism, abortion, homosexuality, crime, or cancer. You need to fight it. History is a great teacher if we are willing to learn. Anarchy and false freedom to believe that permissiveness is a right are always leading directly to the dictation of sin, to the submissiveness of our spirits, to the slavery of our bodies.

A New Emphasis on Priesthood

Wives and mothers do what men cannot do. Men will bow in reverence and in love before mothers who perform this great, this marvelous service.Contrast this view of woman with the current prattle that demeans motherhood and her exalted role, that even condones abortion and its attendant evils, that sets aside the role God gave to her. It would be hard to imagine a more exalted role of woman and her place in the eternal plan than is held and taught in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And yet there are some within and without the Church who would change it. I admonish you today, both young and old, to read and listen and pray, to know the will of the Lord in this important matter, for it holds the key to your eternal happiness and destiny. The family is a divine institution. The first family unit was organized by our Heavenly Father.

Charity Never Faileth

It really is time that men of charity, women of charity, and a church of charity stood up and reached their full stature. Things exist in our society that are too abominable to be allowed to remain—drugs, abortion, child abuse, and perversions of every kind. And yet, as we put on our beautiful garments and become a charitable people, I tell you that Jacob has come of age, and that we will make a profound impact on this world. But we must do it unitedly. We cannot have just a few members of the Church; we need to move four million people in that direction, and then things will really begin to happen.