BELIEFS AND STORIES FROM MEMBERS OF
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Personal Response by Bethany

Does God feel our pain?

God really does feel and understand our pain!  Jesus Christ, through the Atonement, not only suffered for our sins but also suffered our pains, sicknesses, and sorrows. He understands perfectly everything we experience here on earth. Through his love and compassion, He will and does help us with our problems and challenges we face.

When I was sixteen years old I was in an automobile accident that would have been fatal, if not for the saving graces of a truly loving Heavenly Father.  I suffered many external and internal injuries that left me in and out of the hospital for quite some time.  During my quiet moments when I was alone, I thought “Why me?” I didn’t understand why this horrible thing had happened and I felt sad and depressed.  No one I knew could relate, and I felt very alone.  However, it was also in those quiet moments at a later time as I was reading the scriptures that I knew there was one person who did know what I was going through, because He had suffered all.  It was then that I knew I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself.  What happened did happen, and there was nothing I could do to take it back.  I then knew there were things that my Heavenly Father wanted me to learn from the whole experience.  He wanted to help me grow and progress, and the only way I could have was by first changing my attitude. (more…)

In Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, he stipulates that Christ’s true church should have “One Lord, one faith, one baptism”; the particular form of baptism he is referring to is baptism by immersion. How do we know this? Well, we can infer that Paul’s instructions held a particular regard for baptism by immersion, mainly because it is the only form of baptism the gospels tell us about and the only form Christ himself participated in and subsequently approved of. Let’s take a look at Matthew 3:16 which recounts the event, and indicates immersion specifically:

“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.”(Emphasis added)

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Personal Response by Karen Merkley

The lights aren’t always green. The bread isn’t always fresh. Tires go flat. Bills mound. People take ill and die at every stage of life. People struggle. Others starve. Wars go on.

Grief is part of the human experience. Opposition is necessary for growth, according to the Mormon view of our mortal experience, revealed by the Lord through modern prophets. It can, however, be lifted through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Mormons believe that the Savior not only died to pay for our sins but also to take upon Himself our sorrow, grief, and infirmities (Alma 7:11-12). (more…)