Jan

27

We have been recently challenged as members of the Mormon Church by Elder Ballard to raise our voices and tell honestly what we really believe.

With all the falsehoods and misconceptions about the Church found online, Elder Ballard urged the graduates to use their knowledge and testimony of the gospel to influence seekers of truth. “Today I want to encourage you to reach out to others in the world to help change the perception and even the hearts of millions of our Heavenly Father’s children by correcting misunderstandings by sharing with them the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.” (LDS Newsroom)

The following video is a few years old, and shows former Apostle, Elder Bruce R. McConkie, talking about the same problem while denouncing the unfair attacks of those who oppose the Mormon Church. We know that their opposition will not prevail, but we need to do our part, explaining our true beliefs, in humility but not in shyness. We cannot let other people define what we do believe.

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Jan

15

Mormon LDS Leader, M Russell Ballard spoke about the limited practice of polygamy some 117 years ago in the Mormon Church. He then speaks about Mormon families and how important the family unit is to Mormons.

How important is the family unit? Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) believe that families are the most important and foundational unit of our lives. In fact, as one modern-day apostle aptly declared, “No success can ever compensate for failure in the home.”

Perhaps you’ve wondered how you can improve the quality of life in your family. Perhaps you’ve wondered if the God-given roles of the family are still alive and well. With conflicting voices about the value of the traditional family, where can you turn for guidance about strengthening the bonds between parents and children or about the nature and purpose of the family, motherhood, fatherhood, parenting, and gender roles?

God has not left us directionless. He has answered your questions about the nature of families in ancient and modern scripture. He has made clear the eternal nature of gender and sexuality and instructed us on the complimentary roles of men and women.

Today, a living prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, and his twelve apostles–oracles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the world–have spelled out in a compelling Proclamation to the World the significance and eternal nature of the family.

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Jul

11

Elder Ballard suggested that members of the Church of Jesus Christ (Mormon Church) should write a blog and express their feelings about being a member of the Church to invite others to share of the blessing of the Gospel.

But what is a Blog?

Blog is short for “web log.” A blog is a Web site, maintained by an individual or organization, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other media such as graphics and video. You can start a blog about anything that interests you. For example, blog.giuseppemartinengo.com is my blog in English, and giuseppemartinengo.org is my blog in Italian, while giuseppemartinengo.net is my blog in Portuguese.

There are many other great blogs on the internet about the Mormon Church (or LDS Church), such as LDSblogs.com, mormanity.org, blog.moregoodfoundation.org and so on.  You can create a blog that is open to anyone to read, or you can restrict who can read your blog.

Why should you start a blog?
You should start a blog to share your ideas, beliefs, and insights. You don’t have to be an expert on a topic to blog. Blogging is also a great way to share your own personal testimony and to teach people about the Church by telling them what it’s like on the inside. It’s also a lot of fun. When speaking to students at BYU-Hawaii, Elder Ballard said, “Most of you already know that if you have access to the Internet you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true.”

Is blogging difficult?
It can be as easy or hard as you want to make it. Setting up a blog is very easy. Writing regular blog posts is the tough part. It you really want a high-quality blog, you need to be committed to post often to keep people reading. If you decide to begin a blog about the gospel, schedule regular times each week.

Where do I begin?
You can sign up for a free blog at LDS.net or on blogging sites like WordPress.com and Blogger.com. If you’re interested in starting a blog using your own domain name (your own Web address), you can get one at those sites, or contact the More Good Foundation for help.

Below is a short video in plain English about blogs. I really like this simple video and I used it for the first time last January when I was teaching a marriage preparation class at BYU, a few weeks after Elder Ballard gave his now “famous” talk at BYU-Hawaii.

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