The Gospel Doctrine lesson #26 manual objective is “To encourage class members to strengthen their conversion and increase their desire to help others become converted.”

To begin our Sunday School supplement for Doctrine and Covenants and Church History, I want to address two central difficulties I see with focusing on women and the gospel specifically in our study material for this year. Firstly, it is the Doctrine and Covenants itself. In comparison with the biblical text and the Book of Mormon text, even a smaller percentage of the new revelations recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants directly involve women.

The Gospel of John begins with a reminder of the strangeness of its story. The hellenized world in which it was written already had frightening tales of gods who ventured down from Mount Olympus and into the mortal world. Their encounters were sometimes benevolent but more often dangerously capricious: Helpless humans ended up lured across the sea by lustful Zeus disguised as a bull, transformed into hunter’s quarry by vengeful Artemis, goaded into war by raging Ares, and on

Our first lesson of the Old Testament concentrates on Moses 1 found in the Pearl of Great Price. A lot happens in this chapter: Moses speaks with God face-to-face. He learns that he is a son of God and the majesty of the Almighty. God shows Moses the creation of the world and humanity throughout the ages. Moses refutes Satan’s temptations. God declares the salvation and exaltation of humanity to be the Divine’s work and glory.

I truly believe that being divine means you have a transformative power to make all things be good. No matter what happens, it can lead to goodness. The story of Joseph being falsely imprisoned is one of these prime examples in the scriptures. Because he still chose to be a believer, the circumstances provided him a way to do good beyond what his previous scope of life had offered. The Doctrine and Covenant repeatedly promises that if we walk upright, then “all things shall w

My husband is not a person who shares my faith. However, there is one key thing we both agree on— we both feel that the most important aspect of spirituality is staying connected to the divine. For me, the divine is my Heavenly Parents and Christ. As my husband always says, if you are connected to the divine, you don’t have to worry about any other decision.

Elizabeth Perry’s evangelical upbringing caused her to loathe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. An eating disorder she developed in college helped soften her heart. An LDS boy from her high school introduced her to the Church; she later embraced the gospel, then married that boy.

Over the past 18 months, as the MWP volunteers and I have asked over a hundred women to tell us the stories of their lives, we’ve been repeatedly surprised by how often childhood sexual abuse has been a part of their pasts. Because many interviews at the MWP examine women’s reactions to challenging circumstances in their lives — from disease to infertility to family losses — we felt that examining faithful LDS responses to childhood sexual abuse would be in keeping with our m

Elaine Bradley is the drummer for the rock band Neon Trees, which released their first full length album, Habits, in 2010. Their first single “Animal” has climbed to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Alternative Rock Chart. Elaine discusses her journey towards spiritual honesty as a rebellious child and then as a missionary in Germany and now as a musician fulfilling her life’s artistic passions.