I’ve read through the New Testament from beginning to end a handful of times before and am doing it again right now. I’ve always been aware that the various Herods (who I kept confusing with each other) and Pilate obviously held positions of power during their time and Jesus’s time, but I didn’t know what exactly their roles were. Well, I did some research, and now I know.

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It’s not uncommon for us to ask visitors to stand up and introduce themselves in second or third hour of our church meetings. We say hi, smile at them, and maybe shake their hands when they sit back down if we’re sitting nearby.

And then we never talk to them again. Continue reading →

The Lord has said “that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language” [via]. We usually think of this promise in the context of missionary work; that is, that every person will hear the gospel preached in his or her native language. As a native English speaker, that box was checked for me a long time ago, right? But here’s the problem: I don’t speak, think in, or very well relate to the archaic and cumbersome language that comprises the Book of Mormon. That is not my “own language.”

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Mormonspeak is a handy catch-all word for the unique vocabulary and phraseology that we have in the LDS Church. It is not inherently bad, but much of it confuses or alienates people unfamiliar with our faith and obscures more relatable and understandable meanings for those of us who are longtime Church members. Most Mormonspeak falls into three categories: jargon, stock phrases, and antiquated language.

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