Harder to Discern Truth

 

Safety in the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ

By Sister J. Anette Dennis

First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency

There are great blessings in having modern-day prophets. President Hugh B. Brown (1883–1975), a former counselor in the First Presidency, told of a discussion he had with a member of the British House of Commons who had previously been a judge. This man said he thought God had not spoken to people on earth since the first century, and President Brown responded by explaining to him about Joseph Smith and the Restoration.

“The judge sat and listened intently,” President Brown recalled. “He asked some very pointed and searching questions, and at the end of the interview he said, ‘Mr. Brown, I wonder if your people appreciate the import of your message. Do you? … If what you have told me is true, it is the greatest message that has come to earth since the angels announced the birth of Christ.’”...

It is getting much harder to discern what is truth in our world today. There are so many voices coming from so many directions—Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, podcasts, cable news, and on and on. And now with artificial intelligence, or AI, on the scene, it is even harder to discern what is true and what is not—or even what is real! Deceitful deep-fake videos can make it appear that someone has said or done something that they haven’t. It is going to be extremely hard to discern truth from falsehood in years to come.

Truths of the Book of Mormon have the Power to...

 In our own day, President Russell M. Nelson has said, “The truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console, and cheer our souls.”

Liahona, Nov. 2017, 62.

The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like without It?

October 2017 general conference

The Best Source of Truth

Hearing His Voice

By Elder David P. Homer

Of the Seventy

Sometimes we crowdsource guidance in our lives, thinking the majority will provide the best source of truth. Other times we “halt … between two opinions,”¹ choosing to be “neither cold nor hot.”² Still other times we follow what is convenient, focus on a single voice or issue to guide us, or rely exclusively upon our own ability to think.

While each of these approaches can be helpful, experience teaches that they are not always reliable. What is popular is not always what is best. Halting between two opinions brings no direction. Convenience rarely leads to things that matter. Fixation on a single voice or issue can impair our ability to see. And relying solely upon our own thinking can lead us into a hyperintellectual stupor of thought. If we are not careful, the wrong voices can draw us away from the gospel center to places where faith is difficult to sustain, and we find little more than emptiness, bitterness, and dissatisfaction....

If we spend too much time in faithless places, seemingly well-intended voices deprive us of the spiritual oxygen we need....

We will find our Father’s voice in many places. We will find it when we pray, study the scriptures, attend church, engage in faithful discussions, or go to the temple. Surely, we will find it in conference this very weekend.

Social Media Channels

"As disciples, our purpose should be to use social media channels as a means of projecting the light and truth of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.”


Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said during an address at Education Week at Brigham Young University on August 19, 2014.

Sweep the Earth as with a Flood

“Beginning at this place on this day, I exhort you to sweep the earth with messages filled with righteousness and truth, messages that are authentic, edifying, and praiseworthy, and literally to sweep the earth as with a flood,” Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said during an address at Education Week at Brigham Young University on August 19, 2014.

“I pray we will not simply participate in a flash flood that rises swiftly and then recedes just as rapidly."