Faith is a Gift

My ward recently had a Stake Conference, and a member of the Stake Presidency said something that really impressed me.  He said that "faith is a gift from God bestowed as a reward for obedience.  The greater the degree of righteousness, the greater the bestowal of faith."  I don't think we often think about it that way.  We sometimes act as though having faith were a deliberate act; that we can consciously choose to have faith.  But that's not the case.  We can't force ourselves to have faith any more than we can force a seed to grow.  But what we can do is plant that seed (Alma 32:28).  We plant the seed and then Heavenly Father promises us that if we nurture the seed, it will grow.  Taking the parable even further, the more we nurture and take care of a plant, the more healthy it will be and the more fruit it will produce.  So if we ever feel weak in our faith, perhaps we should try increasing our obedience to God's commandments.  We may be doing a pretty good job already, but we can always improve in some aspect of our lives.  And if we humbly ask God to help us to improve in the areas in which we are weak, we will not only see improvements, but also an increase in our faith.

Metal Plates

I just started listening to a talk by Brenton G. Yorgason entitled Little-Known Evidences of the Book of Mormon.  In it he mentions Franklin S. Harris Jr. who conducted a study called "Old World Writing on Metal Plates."  According to this study, there have been 62 different sets of metal plates unearthed since the time that Joseph Smith claimed to have found the gold plates upon which the Book of Mormon was originally written.  Of these 62 sets of plates, 19 were written on plates of gold or gold alloy; the rest were silver, copper, or bronze.  Many of these sets of plates were found in large stone boxes that had been cemented together, just as the box in which the Book of Mormon was hidden was described by Joseph Smith in Joseph Smith--History 1:52.

Mormons are Christians!

It seems there will always be those who are not in any way affiliated with our faith, and yet will attempt to define our beliefs.  On "Fox and Friends," the host, Ainsley Earhardt, was talking politics and claimed that Mitt Romney, "obviously not being a Christian," wouldn't appeal to Christian voters.  I honestly don't know why he thinks it's so obvious that Romney isn't a Christian, but if it is simply because he is a Mormon, then perhaps Earhardt just isn't that familiar with our faith.
Whatever Earhardt's motives for saying what he did however, I think it's important to make it very clear what we believe to anyone who has any doubt.  We do not have to attempt to convert everyone we meet, but there should be no question to them concerning our Christianity.  Yes, we are Christians! We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. We believe that there is "no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent" (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3:17).