The Gospel According to Jeffrey

an AI’s rendition of George,  based on a photo of his youngest son and a written  description of  George’s physical appearance (credit:  MidjourneyFree AI ) My Great-Great-Granddad George was a trolley conductor in 1890s Brooklyn . He seems to have been a pretty good guy, but then one fateful day in 1901, another trolley came barreling down the hill and T-boned his. George lived to tell the tale, but getting thrown from the trolley doesn’t seem to have done him any favors. The newspaper articles about George start there, but don’t culminate until some two years later, when he thought his wife (Great-Great-Grandma Adelaide ) was having an affair. Sadly, George shot and killed the family friend he believed to be her lover, John Lacy . A few months later, George was in court pleading insanity. Unfortunately, the DA was apparently effective and the jury ruled him sane. He was found guilty of second-degree murder and, a few days later, sentenced to life at hard labor in...

Yesterday afternoon, I asked a few questions of my Facebook friends: specifically: If you believe that we (i.e. humans) were created for a purpose, what is that purpose? If you do not believe that we were created for a purpose, do you believe in some form of extramortal existence, i.e. that we exist in some form before and/or after our lifetime here on Earth? If you do not believe that we exist extramortally, what do you believe constitutes a person’s existence? For example, is one’s existence predicated on being alive? If so, what criteria dictate that someone has begun or ceased to be alive? etc. My friend Liana posted an amazing summary of her beliefs, one that matches the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ almost exactly. The crux of her response is as follows: I do believe we are here for a purpose. Each of us come with different lessons that we are working on while we are here. These are decided before we incarnate. Over multiple lifetimes, we work towards lear...

I just awoke from a dream. I was driving in the car with my wife, Anna, in the town where my grandparents lived. We were just about to the highway that would take us back to my parents’ house when the Spirit told me that the Christ was about to be born. Now, obviously in reality, I know that the Christ has already been born and at this point He doesn’t need to be born again (ironic though that statement be). But in the dream, He was finally coming, and the still, small voice of the Spirit was letting me know. But even beyond that knowledge, there was more: I saw Him in vision. I saw Him in that very moment, about to leave home and begin His calling on Earth, and I could see how He was feeling. We often talk about the Savior subserving His will to Father’s. We recognize that His suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross was so severe, He begged for deliverance if it be possible. The pain and agony that He suffered are beyond human comprehension, but He knew it would be that wa...

A Facebook friend asked a question about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . She has a friend who has left the Church because he feels all it does is guilt people into not doing bad things. My friend, on the other hand, remains faithful because she doesn’t see any attempt at guilt, only loving encouragement to be the best person she can be. Ultimately, these alternate foci would have the same outward results, but inwardly, the directions are obviously worlds apart. Her question, therefore, is a request for others’ opinions on the subject. As my response is characteristically verbose, I figured I’d post it here. 😊 The way I see this is as a matter of perception. Allow me to share a story from my own personal history: I joined the Church of Jesus Christ when I was 16 years old, and given my age, was introduced into a quorum of priests . Our quorum advisor, Brother Hurst, frequently taught us that despite the great power in our Priesthood office, we of ourselves were nothi...

pros·per succeed in material terms; be financially successful: “his business prospered” flourish physically; grow strong and healthy: “areas where gray squirrels cannot prosper” ARCHAIC make successful: “God has wonderfully prospered this nation” Recently, Anna derisively mentioned the “ prosperity gospel .” As I understand it, this phrase means that following God inevitably results in financial wealth and physical wellbeing. Of course, Father has never promised that following Him will always result in anything besides spiritual strength, but I can see where some would interpret passages like Alma 36:1 to so indicate. That being said, I have noticed that when I begin my day with prayer and scripture study, the day just goes better; and I’m not sure I’ve ever once lost my job during a period when my prayers for help in my work ascended beyond the occasional, surface-level petition. Certainly when I lost my job with Beezwax (last week), any semblance of regular prayer or scripture...

Many years ago, I was discussing doubt with a member of my stake . The member in question has a doctorate in Church history from Brigham Young University  (a university owned and operated by  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ) , and she told me a bit about her experience as a grad student in that area of study. As part of her studies, she read publications that were critical of the Savior’s Church. (I do not believe this was a requirement for her degree, but was relevant to her thesis.) At times, the things she read gave her pause and she took them to her doctoral advisor. These meetings always began and ended with a prayer, and they usually appeased her concerns. However, there was also one question that preceded every meeting: “Before you read anything else, do you study the scriptures of the Restoration for at least 30 minutes per day?” If that question were answered in the negative, the meeting never began. She was instructed to return home, study...

Once upon a time, probably about 15 years ago, a woman in our ward in Lafayette, Indiana, was preparing for baptism. One Sunday, I was speaking with her in the foyer, after Church. She mentioned how much she loved the Church of Jesus Christ because of how wonderful all the people were. She was kind of taken back by my response, which went something like this: “I’ll certainly take that as a compliment, but at the same time, I’ve got to tell you: if you’re going to get baptized because you like the people here, please don’t. It will honestly be better if you don’t get baptized at all.” (At this point, her eyes grew a bit wider, but I continued.) “Most of the people in the Church are great, but I promise you that someday, somehow, someone at church is going to really piss… you… off .” (Her eyes grew even wider, at this point. Again, I continued.) “It might be me, it might be the bishop, it might be someone you don’t even know yet, but I’m telling you: it’s going to happen. And...

I expect future readers will never have experienced this, because I don't think it will ever come back, at least not in the form in which I am about to explain, but… let me tell you a story. Once upon a time—probably for the first 22-23 years I was a member of the Church—whenever we sang hymns in General Conference, the lyrics would appear on the screen so everyone could sing along. Sometime in the last few years, this practice stopped. At first I thought it was a fluke, but it’s clear that this is now the new normal. So, I asked around online, wondering why. The answer I got was simple: in a worldwide church, it doesn't make sense to superimpose the English lyrics to a hymn that everyone is singing. (Of course, I seem to remember that when I was a full-time missionary in Spain, they superimposed Castilian subtitles over the English words, but that could just be a false memory.) Regardless, it makes sense: for people who are watching Conference in a meetinghouse, a hy...

This morning I was thinking about something that happened to me, about eleven years ago. I had been serving as the Sunday School instructor for our ward’s 14-15–year-old class, but that morning in Sacrament Meeting, I had been released from that position and was teaching my class for what I knew would be the last time. I wanted to leave my class with a sure knowledge that I know the Church is true, so I chose from my video collection one which compiled audio and/or video recordings of the Presidents of the Church, from Wilford Woodruff through Gordon B. Hinckley, sharing their testimonies. I intended to teach an abbreviated lesson, show the video, and conclude my service to the class by adding my own testimony to that of the prophets. Everything went as planned. I taught the lesson, introduced the video, and pressed Play. I was greeted with a video that, while superficially matching the description of the one I intended to share, was definitely not the same video....

The following is adapted from a talk I gave in the Gardendale Ward (Birmingham, Alabama Stake) on 10 May 2015. Enjoy! Brothers and Sisters, aloha and happy Mother’s Day! When I was first asked to speak today, I was told I could pick any topic I wanted. But of course, since it’s Mother’s Day, I’d certainly be remiss if I didn’t choose something to do with moms. And you know what? That’s actually pretty cool, because even though there are a lot of people here that have a lot more experience than I do, being a mom, I do know a few things about moms because I’ve spent most of my life living with one. And one thing I’ve learned is moms are like the greatest thing ever, and you frankly don’t get half the recognition you deserve. As a dad, I’d love to think I’m just as good as a mom, but let’s face it: there’s really no comparison. Yes, dads are important, and the world would be a really sad place if all the dads disappeared. But when you come right down to it, a mom is so much more ...

I haven’t been remembering my dreams much lately, but I just awoke from one and feel it very important that I write it down. It was Sunday morning and I went to church with my family, but instead of pews, there were long tables set up for a large meal—a feast, really. Though we were a few minutes early and no one else was at the table, I sat down, loaded my plate, and began to eat. By the time others came to sit—I remember my elders quorum president, John Anderson, sitting next to me—I was almost done with my meal. A bit embarrassed, I got up and walked out of the building. My family came with me, and we drove to the home of some friends from the ward, the Joyces. (As an aside, I’ve never actually been to the Joyce’s house, so I have no idea if my dream’s representation thereof was in any way accurate.) I didn’t actually see any of the Joyces there, which is particularly interesting since they’re a family of nine. I did, however, go into their family room, which was probably about...

Rockin’ vest, Brother Jones. A few weeks ago, there was a post on Mormon Life Hacker regarding Needs-Based Home Teaching , so I thought I’d share my experience with doing just that. Hopefully it will help someone out there. In late 2011, I was serving as elders quorum secretary in the ward with the lowest activity rate in our stake. Because of our low activity rates, there were dozens of families—literally hundreds of people—who didn’t have home teachers assigned. In many cases, no one even knew who they were! I’m not sure if the directive came down from the stake president or if a suggestion was made at the ward level and approved by the stake, but we revamped our home teaching program completely, using the following counsel from the Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 2, §7.4.2: “Quorum and group leaders assign the most effective home teachers to members who need them most. When assigning home teachers, leaders give highest priority to new members, less-active members w...

As many people know, there is currently a small but quite vocal movement that is trying to override the revelations received by prophets and Apostles, to change the doctrines and/or practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I won’t mention this group by name—their unique brand of apostasy certainly doesn’t need any more publicity—but in response to some of their recent actions, an online acquaintance of mine, Michael Davidson , recently posted the following on Facebook: “[T]he discussion point is whether there is a faithful example of an individual acting outside of the scope of their legitimate stewardship positively impacting Mormonism.” Long-time readers should know that I often post long responses to my blog, but in this case there’s another reason for responding here: it’s a really neat story, and I figured I’d like to share it with all my friends instead of just the members of the group in question. In short, I am an individual who once ...

One of the greatest, but perhaps most controversial, doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that of man’s infinite potential: our ability to become like God. Early Christians called this concept “ apotheosis ” or “deification,” but most modern Christians are ignorant thereof. Of the few non–Latter-day Saints who have even heard of it, many actually view it as hubristic, that we believe we’re going to become equal to God or even surpass Him! Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. All this being said, I came up with an idea, many years ago, that explains my personal understanding of eternal progress (apotheosis, etc.). I don’t know if it will make sense to my readers, but it certainly makes sense to me. And before I begin, a warning: if you’re not a math geek like I, you may want to bail out now, before your head starts spinning. ;-) We begin with a somewhat familiar concept, that of a pyramid scheme. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, a pyramid scheme...

adapted from a discourse given in the Lafayette 3rd Ward, Lafayette Indiana Stake, 29 June 2014 A couple of nights ago, I was sitting on my couch, computer in my lap, preparing my talk for today, and I saw that I had a new email. Surprise! Like that’s a big deal, right? It probably happens hundreds of times during the average preparation for a talk, but for some reason, this one caught my eye. It was advertising a “smart” device. Now of course, pretty much all of us have smart devices. We have smart computers and smart phones and smart TVs and smart cars and smart thermostats; the list goes on and on. But again, this one really caught my eye, because I couldn’t help but wonder what on earth would be the purpose of a smart basketball . Seriously, I’m wondering, by a show of hands, does anyone own a smart basketball? Anyone? Even my bishop, who is CEO of the local YMCA, doesn’t own one of these! But you know, it’s only $250, which is only like ten times the price of a pretty ...