The Interpreter Foundation and Redbrick Filmworks continues to release a new episode of their not-for-profit series of mini-documentaries titled Becoming Brigham each Monday. This week, they released the following episode:

Episode 34: “Feed Them, Don’t Fight Them?”

Could the sentiments that “it’s cheaper to feed them than fight them” and “this is their home” exist at the same time in the same person who also called Native American life idle and refused to leave the lands in Utah?

This episode explores Brigham Young’s Utah Indian policy after the first bloodshed. Historian John Peterson describes how Brigham tried raising a standard of peace, with more than a hundred cattle sent to a reservation in late 1865. But Ute raids kept emptying Mormon fields and herds. When peace offerings did not stop the war, the policy shifted: villages were to “fort up,” cattle would be defended, and Captain Moroni became the model.

Brigham’s stance toward the Native Americans was complicated. He would say the Utes had as much right to call the land theirs as anyone, that they had buried their dead there, and that the Saints had taken the hunting grounds—and in the same breath insist the Saints were not intruders but were led there by providence and would not leave.

Lisa Olsen Tait’s counsel closes the moral frame: it is not the historian’s job to sort Brigham into good or evil, but to understand him in his own time and grant historical figures the charity we would all want from our own posterity.

Why this docuseries? Many people are aware of Brigham Young as a pivotal figure in American religious and frontier history, but Brigham is also often misunderstood, seen as a larger-than-life caricature rather than as a man. Who actually was Brigham as a man, a father, a husband, and a prophet? The video web series Becoming Brigham debunks fictions and provides surprising new insights into the real Brigham Young. Learn more in the article “Becoming Brigham: The Video Series Premieres.”

by Autumn Dickson

The Lord, Himself, encourages us to study the words of Isaiah. Therein, we will find messages for our day and more specifically, for ourselves. Isaiah is full of hope for the righteous and warnings for the sinner. Both types of messages are filled with love for His children.

Here is one of the warnings for His children who have gone astray. This is the Lord’s voice we’re listening to.

Isaiah 1:6, 11, 13-14

6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

The children of Israel are wounded from sin, and their wounds aren’t healing because they aren’t repenting. The word “ointment” in this verse has references to the temple. Whatever apostate practices were occurring in the temple were ineffective in healing them. From the wording in the verse, it seems as though the ointment was applied. However, it did not mollify.

11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

The Lord is still receiving sacrifices, and He is full of them. He doesn’t love these kinds of things, and it’s not blessing the people either.

13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

An oblation is a solemn offering. Incense was offered up twice a day in the temple to represent the prayers of the people reaching up to God. New moons, sabbaths, and assemblies were religious festivals that were celebrated.

It has reached the point where these things no longer please God. They simply make it worse.

I usually don’t share this many verses, but I wanted to point out a major theme throughout Isaiah. It is the idea of empty religious worship. It doesn’t please the Lord, and it doesn’t help you. It is vain. It is empty. It is worthless.

I want to draw your attention to one phrase: I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

Perhaps there are layers of meaning to this phrase, but there is one layer that stuck out to me. Christ doesn’t enjoy blood sacrifices. He doesn’t enjoy watching it. He doesn’t feast on it. It’s not doing anything for Him. When you make sacrifices, it doesn’t bless the Lord.

The only way that we can “bless” the Lord back is to give Him of ourselves. A more accurate phrasing is this: the only way we can please the Lord is to give ourselves to Him.

Think of it in this way. You live in a perfect home that’s always clean. It never gets dirty. Your child comes and sacrifices their time to vacuum the carpet. Even though you don’t need your house cleaned, you’re still teaching your child to vacuum because you want your child to grow to be good. So you watch your child vacuum like they’re supposed to. Unfortunately, then your child goes to the homes of other people and trashes them disrespectfully.

Would you be pleased with your child? Would you feel so happy over the fact that your never-dirty carpet got vacuumed?

No, you’d be mad at your kid.

The Lord doesn’t need our sacrifices. He doesn’t actually care much about the sacrifice itself. He doesn’t need us to do it. He’s got all of that covered. The only reason He gives us tasks at all is so that we change. So when we vacuum the carpet but don’t learn anything, He is not receiving any joy. He just wants a child who loves Him, loves others, and acts like a child of God.

The Israelites paraded their supposed righteousness around, celebrating festivals and giving sacrifices. But in the end, the Lord still didn’t have His children back. Watching them pretend to worship Him was a slap in the face because they would turn around and hurt the world around them. The Israelites would give the impression that the God of Israel delights in sacrifice, hypocrisy, and unloving societies. They shamed themselves, and misrepresented Him.

It is not enough to sacrifice. It is not enough to go through action of serving without an attitude of worship.

I have seen this in my own life as a mother. There have been times when I have loved being a mother, and there have been times when I have found myself in utter despair over my life choices. How much I was sacrificing was irrelevant to my happiness. What truly makes the difference between the times I’m miserable and the times I’m happy is when I choose to actually lose myself. I don’t know how that mechanism works, but it does.

When I’m caught up in myself and making sure I have enough, I’m miserable and exhausted. When I finally just let go and stop thinking about myself, I find this deep sense of fulfillment that changes everything.

So yes. Give the sacrifices. Obey His will. Celebrate the festivals, but let it change you. Otherwise, it is all for naught.

I testify that the Lord delights in us doing what’s right. He just wants us to be happy and choose goodness and see eternity for what it offers. All of the structure and commandments and offerings are simply meant to point us to Christ. They will not serve you if you can’t find Christ in them and change accordingly. I testify that repentance is such a gift. I testify that the Lord has set us up for success and then paid for our success.

Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Isaiah 1–12 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

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“The Family: A Proclamation to the World” contains only one direct quote from scripture:  “Children are an heritage of the Lord.” 

The word “heritage” stands out as somewhat unusual in current usage. Some translations use “gift,” while others use “inheritance.” The children themselves are the gift. Although the opportunity and responsibility of parenthood can feel daunting, the understanding of children as gifts from the Lord emphasizes both their divine origin and the blessings of bearing and raising them. 

As I have written previously, our society often emphasizes the challenges of rearing children. I can hardly consider myself an exception, since I am the author of an article on the challenges of raising a child with special needs. However, even as I acknowledge the challenges of parenthood, I believe that faith in the Lord and His teachings about the family calls us to recognize its blessings. I hope that such a focus can help change the narrative about raising children, giving those considering parenthood a fuller understanding of its rewards and demands. 

Not every interaction with children is pleasant. At times, children disobey, demand a great deal just when parents have no energy, and make it clear, both visibly and vocally, that they have not yet mastered basic manners and etiquette. It seems that whenever I start an in-depth or important conversation with my wife, at least two other voices immediately begin begging for our attention. These instances are trying, but they also provide important teaching opportunities. Finding the most effective way to teach my children is a rewarding challenge, like finishing an elaborate puzzle, but more satisfying. 

I recently read Psalm 127 to my sons, and I was struck by the final verses: “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” The language here is figurative. The image of arrows speaking with enemies could mean driving enemies away by force or threat—or, as my son said, “Speaking with them in ways they understand.” But I also see the enemies at the gate as more than rivals or thieves: they can represent the struggles of mortality. They include the perceived meaninglessness of life and frailty of human efforts that lead the writer of Ecclesiastes to remark that “all is vanity.” Children help us defeat these enemies because they are an eternal legacy. Our work with them extends beyond our lifetimes into the lives of our children and their descendants, and into eternity. The gospel gives us the promise of an eternal family, meaning that when we treasure our children, we are choosing “treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:20). 

Another indirect blessing of raising children is an increased ability to prioritize. This clearer sense of priorities stems partly from the fact that raising children requires significant time. There simply isn’t as much time for other things. Although having less free time can be inconvenient, it also brings the compensatory blessing of a change in perspective that makes minutes and hours more valuable. 

Furthermore, raising children has led me to reflect on what is most meaningful. These reflections have given me the clarity I need to live deliberately. The changes I have made have been so meaningful that I ended a poem about my oldest son’s birth with the line “I have to wonder who gave life to whom.” At the same conference, I heard similar comments about prioritizing from my colleagues with children. They said that raising children has helped them eliminate less important things that previously used up their time. They expressed gratitude for the increased focus that comes with parenthood. 

One of the most important lessons I have learned from raising children is how much my spiritual growth depends on relationships. The growth, attributes, and strength that I seek spiritually do not come solely through personal effort or even solitary communion with God. It is in growing together that we follow the Savior. When challenges have pushed me to my limits, I have often found sustaining strength in family members. And increasingly, I find it in my children. Sometimes simply knowing that they trust in and depend on me is enough to sustain me. At other times, their pure faith and willingness to learn inspire me. 

The blessings of parenthood deserve more airtime. For me, paying attention to those blessings is not merely a matter of optimism but of faith in God, whose children we are raising. When we speak honestly about what raising children has given us, we offer those considering parenthood a fuller picture of the life they might choose. These blessings deserve a place in our public conversation as well as our private gratitude. 

The post What Children Give Us appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

President Dallin H. Oaks of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will deliver a keynote address at the Washington National Cathedral on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, in Washington, D.C.

The event is titled “Faith, Freedom and the Common Good,” a national program that explores the relationship between religious faith and American democracy. President Oaks will speak on faith, religious liberty, and the United States Constitution on the eve of Constitution Day.

President Oaks has spoken and written extensively on religious freedom, the United States Constitution, and the importance of faith in civic life. President Oaks previously served as a justice on the Utah Supreme Court, a professor of law at the University of Chicago, and president of Brigham Young University.

In addition to his teachings on religious liberty and constitutional principles, President Oaks has frequently encouraged greater civility and understanding across differences. Earlier this year, he invited followers of Jesus Christ to be peacemakers in their homes, communities, and public discourse. He taught, “Let us follow Christ by forgoing contention and by using the language and methods of peacemakers.”

How to Watch

The event begins at 6:00 p.m. EDT in the cathedral’s nave and will be available online via livestream. You can also watch in the link below.

In his April 2026 General Conference address, Elder Dale G. Renlund taught that modern life can leave us overwhelmed by competing concerns. Like his little dog Lady trying unsuccessfully to retrieve two balls at once, we may find ourselves running back and forth between questions, problems, responsibilities, and uncertainties until we become confused and discouraged.

Elder Renlund does not suggest that our concerns are imaginary or unimportant. Instead, he teaches us to put them into eternal perspective:

Not all matters are of equal value, and maintaining an eternal perspective helps us prioritize the things that are of greatest value.

For disciples of Jesus Christ, nothing is of greater value than the Savior Himself. His Resurrection, His infinite Atonement, His power to forgive, and His perfect understanding of our mortal circumstances give us an anchor when other questions remain unresolved.

Common Criticism: Focusing on Christ Avoids Difficult Questions

When members encounter difficult questions about Church history, doctrine, culture, personal revelation, unanswered prayers, or painful experiences, they may hear counsel to “focus on Jesus Christ.”

To some, that can sound dismissive: Are we just supposed to ignore everything that troubles us?

Fallacy at Work: Attentional Bias

Attentional Bias is the tendency to give certain concerns disproportionate attention, allowing them to shape how we interpret everything else.

A troubling question can be legitimate and still become disproportionately influential. One historical concern, negative experience, or unanswered question can gradually become the lens through which every doctrine, spiritual experience, Church leader, or claim of faith is evaluated.

Elder Renlund’s Correction: Keep Christ at the Center

Elder Renlund’s answer is not to pretend the other “balls” do not exist. It is to recognize which one matters most.

Jesus Christ accomplished something no historical explanation, intellectual argument, personal achievement, or mortal institution can accomplish:

Jesus, who leads us to salvation, has the power to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves because He completed His Atonement.

Elder Renlund identifies three reasons this matters. Christ conquered death, making resurrection universal. He has the power and desire to save us from sin. And because He took upon Himself our griefs, sicknesses, and frailties, He perfectly understands the challenges and circumstances of mortality.

This is why focusing on Christ is not an attempt to avoid difficult questions. It is an act of prioritizing the greatest truth while continuing to work through lesser ones.

Solution: Remember What Only Christ Can Do

Some questions may take years to understand. Some wounds may not fully heal in mortality. Some injustices cannot be undone by better explanations.

But Christianity does not ultimately promise that we will personally solve every problem. It promises a Savior who can accomplish what we cannot.

That promise is universal—and deeply personal. Elder Renlund declared:

All means everyone. If everyone, then anyone. If anyone, then even one. And if even one, then even you.

Through sincere repentance, Christ does not merely reduce our spiritual debt. Elder Renlund teaches that “the entirety of our sin, not just a part,” is figuratively nailed to the cross. Repented-of sins leave “no spiritual scar, track, or trace.” We are not required to wear an eternal scarlet letter for something Christ has forgiven.

And His power reaches beyond sin.

Christ understands factors that no mortal observer could ever perfectly measure—our abilities, traditions, experiences, mental and emotional circumstances, desires, and everything else that has shaped us. Because His understanding is perfect, His judgment can be perfect too.

Living Apologetics: Questions in Their Proper Place

Faithful discipleship does not require being afraid of questions.

We can study Church history. We can wrestle with difficult doctrine. We can acknowledge mistakes, unfairness, disappointment, and pain. We can seek better understanding without pretending that every concern has an easy answer.

But Elder Renlund invites us to ask another question along the way:

How much weight am I giving this concern compared with what I know about Jesus Christ?

When every concern receives equal weight, we can become like Lady—running from one thing to another until confusion turns into discouragement. Eternal perspective helps us distinguish between a question that deserves investigation and a question that has unintentionally become the center of our faith.

Practical Apologetic Use 

If someone says: “Telling people to focus on Jesus is just a way to avoid difficult questions about the Church.”

You might respond: “Focusing on Christ doesn’t mean pretending difficult questions don’t exist. It means keeping those questions in perspective. Christianity ultimately stands or falls on Jesus Christ, and unresolved secondary questions shouldn’t automatically outweigh what we know about His Resurrection, Atonement, forgiveness, and power to redeem.”

Ways to Apply Today

1️⃣ Identify your competing “balls.” Write down the questions, responsibilities, worries, or disappointments occupying your attention. Then ask which ones deserve the greatest spiritual weight.

2️⃣ Return one concern to Christ. Instead of asking only, “How do I solve this?” also ask, “What does the Atonement of Jesus Christ change about how I see this?”

3️⃣ Remember what Christ has already promised. When guilt, unfairness, grief, or uncertainty feels overwhelming, deliberately return to one truth Elder Renlund taught: Christ forgives completely, understands perfectly, and will ultimately make things right.

Keep This Talk With You

Elder Renlund’s message does not make mortality less complicated. There will still be more balls than we can comfortably juggle. There will still be questions without immediate answers, mistakes we wish we could undo, suffering we did not choose, and circumstances we cannot change.

But we do not need to give every concern equal authority over our faith.

At the center stands Jesus Christ.

Because of Him, death is not permanent. Because of Him, sincere repentance can result in complete forgiveness. Because of Him, we will be judged by Someone who perfectly understands every circumstance that shaped us. And because of Him, the injustices and wounds that remain unresolved in mortality do not remain unresolved forever.

Elder Renlund promises:

Because of Jesus Christ, all that is unfair in life can and will be made right.

That does not mean every painful thing was supposed to happen. It means pain does not get the final word.

Christ does.

And as we keep our focus on Him, Elder Renlund gives one more reassuring promise:

He will dependably and consistently make us whole.

This week, try one small step:

• Put one question in perspective. Give an unresolved concern the honest attention it deserves without allowing it to outweigh everything else you know about the Savior.
• Study one gift of the Atonement. Choose resurrection, forgiveness, Christ’s perfect understanding, or His power to heal, and spend a few minutes studying what scripture teaches about it.
• Reflect on Christ daily. Elder Renlund specifically invites us to reflect every day on the blessings we receive because of Jesus Christ. Make that reflection part of prayer, scripture study, or a quiet moment this week.

What might change if, instead of allowing your biggest question or concern to define your faith, you allowed Jesus Christ to define how you see that concern?

The Consider Conference series by FAIR offers an in-depth look at recent General Conference talks to help members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints navigate common questions, misunderstandings, and criticisms. Each post provides doctrinal insights, historical context, and practical ways to apply gospel principles in everyday conversations. Through this series, we hope to equip readers with faith-promoting resources that encourage thoughtful reflection, respectful dialogue, and a stronger foundation in gospel truths, fostering both personal conviction and meaningful discussions with others.

The post Because of Jesus Christ appeared first on FAIR.

by Autumn Dickson

I really like Ecclesiastes. It’s like the Eeyore of books of wisdom in the bible. Where Proverbs encourages man to follow after wisdom and do well; Ecclesiastes starts its lecture on wisdom by pointing out futility and vanity of life. Where Proverbs expresses the idea that it’s worth following wisdom; Ecclesiastes likes to show us how useless it is to follow anything else. Proverbs liked to show how good patterns of living often bring good results. Ecclesiastes likes to point out that this is not always the case; sometimes you live well but find bad ends. While Proverbs holds a lot of truth, Ecclesiastes likes to question the oversimplification found therein.

And though Ecclesiastes often takes a more pragmatic (and sometimes, bitter) route to get there, it teaches the same great truth: purpose in life is found in following after God no matter what happens. After going through the rounds of discussing the nothingness of man (even when does follow after wisdom), it comes to this great conclusion.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

As members of the church, we are taught to do good. We are taught to be leaders but then get released and follow after someone else’s leadership. We are taught to keep spiritual records that may never be enjoyed by posterity after us (or, in the very least, never be read past the first one or two generations). We are taught to try and make the world a better place, even though we know the end of the world is not known for being righteous.

We are taught to show up day after day, year after year, contributing and giving and striving, without any guarantee of visible progress.

The only guarantee is God’s.

Conner and I recently had a conversation about this. We were discussing what it looks like to be truly successful. At the end of our lives, what is going to really matter to us? At what point, do we look at our lives and feel that we’ve “made it?”

This conversation was a result of my husband working really hard on projects only for them to completely fall apart and amount to nothing. I’ve watched him build incredible things and spend countless hours developing machines that could be a blessing to people, only to hit a dead end and watch those hours fade away into a resounding halt. This has happened more than once despite his incredible inventions. Even great products need more than just good engineering and material.

A lot of these projects were starting to eat away at him. Despite his great success in the most important parts of life and despite his success in being able to provide for our family, I could see the feelings of futility. Why even bother anymore? He constantly jokes of being jaded. He often encourages entrepreneurs to turn back and try a different path; he does this as a joke but also with some truthfulness. You can work forever on something only for it to completely fall apart because of random bad luck. We often love to espouse that working hard can bring success, and I do believe that in a lot of ways. However, it’s never guaranteed.

So after watching these feelings of futility spring up in Conner, I wanted to try and get him to see where he had done well. I wanted to try and shift his perspective to a goal that he could be successful in regardless of anyone else in the world making decisions. I wanted him to see the work he had put in and celebrate how much he had learned and grown instead of only viewing failure.

In the midst of this conversation, I learned that success in life meant two things: an actual ability to make something happen and joy. Let’s look at a couple of different measures of success that Conner and I talked about.

Having a product take off and do well: Even with the best tools and materials, there is no guarantee that we can force this kind of success to happen. Even if this kind of success happens, it doesn’t automatically turn on joy.

Being able to provide for the family: There is no guarantee of this. Everything could explode tomorrow. No matter how we save or prepare or build, we cannot guarantee the ability to provide for our families. Not to mention, it doesn’t automatically turn on joy.

Having a happy, healthy, whole family: There is no guarantee of a happy family. You can’t force others to do what’s right or find happiness. Heavenly Father was a perfect parent, and yet, a good portion of His children decided to follow Satan instead. You can’t force this outcome. However, despite the fact that you can’t force this measure of success, we are getting closer to the overall principle of Ecclesiastes. We may not be able to guarantee a happy family, but having a happy family is much closer to ensuring joy. I suppose there are exceptions, but I know of no other lot in life that brings more five star reviews. A happy family really does bring joy.

Talking through each of these success measurements led us to the same conclusion as Ecclesiastes. Nothing is guaranteed in life. We can work hard to build something good, and we may find it, but there are no promises in that regard. This led us to finally discuss our true measure of success.

We simply try to follow God, love Him, and change.

Interestingly enough, part of the Plan of Salvation was that we didn’t even have to be perfect at it. We just had to try. We had to be diligent in our days at trying to build something worthwhile, but at the end of the day, the true measure of success is whether we let that diligence change us into something worthwhile. We are our end product. Our character is the final project that we turn in.

The great conclusion is to follow God; this is the whole duty of man.

It’s the only way we can have a goal that is 100% within our ability to reach. Our ability to follow and love God rests on us alone regardless of circumstances. We can reach that goal with opposition, but no absolute roadblocks that stop our progress forever. That goal is completely in our hands.

This goal of following God is also the only way we can guarantee a happy ending, even if not in this mortal life. He has promised joy, and He can deliver. Learning to find happiness in Him is not a fruitless endeavor.

I testify that Ecclesiastes knows what it’s talking about. The philosophy found therein is sound and true. Life passes away. The things we build will one day crumble. The work we put in can get undone so quickly in the next generation. The bellies we fill become empty again. The fields we sow will need to be sown again. It can be argued that it all comes to naught. Even immense fame and legacy doesn’t benefit the person who died. It doesn’t even necessarily dramatically affect tons of people from here on out.

I testify that following God is worth it no matter what circumstances you find yourself in. I testify that joy is found therein even when everything else is falling apart miserably. I testify that the gospel of Jesus Christ takes all of your earthly success and failures and turns it into something eternal. When it comes together or when it falls apart, it has the ability to change you if you turn to Christ and therein, you find true success.

Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Proverbs 1–4; 15–16; 22; 31; Ecclesiastes 1–3; 11–12 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

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Before he bravely gave his life helping people escape the World Trade Center, Welles Crowther helped his father clean the fire truck. 

Welles’ mother remembered him going to the station on weekends with his father. Welles was small enough that he could get to parts of the truck that the adults could not. 

So he would come help shine up the truck for parades. The adults gave him meaningful work. And as a teenager, he trained to fight fires. 

Welles chose a career in equities trading. But on September 11, 2001, when the South Tower of the World Trade Center, where he worked, was hit, he got to work. He led strangers out of the building and helped the injured down the stairs. He carried one injured woman down several flights of stairs, then ran back upstairs to help others. 

He died when the tower collapsed on top of him. 

Those he helped rescue remembered that he carried a red bandanna, a habit he learned from his father.

Today marks the 25th anniversary of Welles Crowther’s sacrifice, and the sacrifices of hundreds of other heroes like him. His courage still moves me. But perhaps just as important as the hero he would become was that little boy at the firehouse.

A Person of Character

We usually discover heroes at the crucial moment of their heroic action. The danger arrives, they act, and we marvel. 

Who raised these kids, and how did they do it?

Talat Hamdani remembered her son Salman Hamdani as a 12-year-old. He brought sick pigeons home to nurse them back to health. As he grew older, that instinct turned into capability. He was trained as a New York City Police Department cadet, then decided to try to attend medical school. He began work as an EMT while he studied. Salman developed a habit of following up with the patients he brought to the hospital. 

On September 11, he was likely traveling to work on the elevated No. 7 train when he saw the burning towers. He never reported to work that day. Because he was a Pakistani Muslim, suspicions began to grow after he disappeared that morning. But those who knew him never wondered. Officials identified Salman’s body months later. He had gone to the North Tower, and he was found clutching his medical bag. 

A Child Who Has Something to Contribute

There is something important about children being given useful jobs among adults. The children can admire the work of the adults. They can discover that their contributions matter, that other people depend on them, and that becoming more capable will allow them to do more good. 

Each of these seemingly ordinary moments gives children an opportunity to care for others. 

But as parents, we can accidentally ignore or undermine those opportunities.

It is often faster to just do the job ourselves. Teaching a child how to do the dishes is, in my experience, more difficult than doing the dishes by several orders of magnitude. 

We may prioritize our children’s individual pursuits to a degree that leaves little room for the people and communities that need them. We may not ask a teenager to help us cook dinner for a neighbor recovering from surgery when doing so would upend the entire schedule. 

Or we may reach for rewards, giving children an answer to “What’s in it for me?” before they even ask, in turn denying children the opportunity simply to serve those around them. In a small experiment with 20-month-olds, children given material rewards for helping subsequently helped less when rewards stopped than did children who had received praise or no reward. Our incentives can sometimes interfere with a willingness already present. 

Heroism and Personal Fulfillment

So, with this in mind, how can we create a family and a culture (or perhaps even a society) that produces self-sacrificing heroes in an environment seemingly obsessed with personal fulfillment at the expense of everything else?

Even when we explain the reasons for sacrifice and service, we can keep the attention on the self. Volunteering can strengthen a college application. Generosity makes us feel better. Church will provide a good social environment. God will reward sacrifice with greater blessings.

Instead, we can cultivate the belief that another person’s need is itself a sufficient reason to act. We can explain to them why the tasks we give them matter, and they can watch us work alongside them. They can observe us keep our commitments when it is no longer in our own narrow self-interest.

Religious life is a particularly rich arena for children to learn this lesson. King Benjamin teaches that parents should teach children “to love one another, and to serve one another.” A congregation gives them people to practice with, including those who are inconvenient. It provides them with a community and obligations they can show up for. And it provides a structure for putting these lessons into practice.

We should expect our service to bring us joy. We should believe that God will bless us for our sacrifice. And we should learn to act for others without making those benefits the reason we act. “What do I get out of it?” cannot be the organizing question of a life that we hope could lead to the kind of heroism displayed by Welles and Salman. 

Ordinary Courage

Children need adults in their lives who model useful service that they can admire. Adults who have learned skills and use them to fulfill their responsibilities and to serve others. Welles had firefighting experience. Salman had medical training. They both had compassion, cultivated by thoughtful, purposeful, and loving parents, that caused them to put those skills to work.

Every single parent reading this article wishes that those two young men had come home that day. And thankfully, most of the service and sacrifice our children and we perform will go quietly, leave no public record, and end with us back with our families. 

On this anniversary, we can tell the stories of those who didn’t. Then we can turn to our own children and invite them into the work waiting around us, so that they can grow into the same kinds of people. 

Long before anyone knew that Welles Crowther was a hero, a boy went with his father to the firehouse, and the men there found a job for him to do. 

The post How Heroes Are Raised appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

In July, ward and stake leaders were encouraged to plan musical experiences to bring youth together in worship and celebration of their faith. Resources for youth music experiences are now available at youth.ChurchofJesusChrist.org under the heading “Walk with Me Music Experiences.”

• Youth music devotional: music, lyric videos and a suggested program.
• Youth concert: best practices, tips, a playlist, music tracks and lyric videos.
• Faith walk: guidelines, materials needed, a playlist and recorded audio tracks or scripts for each station.

Learn more about these youth music experiences in the article “Youth Music Experiences for 2026.”

Additional ticket reservations for the Salt Lake Temple Tour will become available on September 15 and October 1, both at 6 p.m. MDT. These upcoming reservation releases are part of the planned approach to accommodate as many visitors as possible.

More tickets mean more opportunities for people around the world to enter this house of the Lord and learn about Jesus Christ. The first wave of 1 million reservations was claimed in less than 24 hours on September 1.

Visitors are encouraged to visit TempleSquare.org, download the Temple Square app (available for Apple and Android) and subscribe to the Temple Square email list for updates about the Salt Lake Temple Celebration, including reservation opportunities on September 15 and October 1 and additional ways to participate in person and online.

Learn more in the article “Additional Salt Lake Temple Open House Tour Reservations Available September 15 and October 1.”

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In Disney’s “Up,” the quiet love story of Carl and Ellie captures the essence of fidelity and integrity within marriage. Their journey—from childhood friendship to lifelong partnership—is a testament to enduring love, mutual commitment, and shared values.

Integrity and fidelity are central to flourishing marriages. In fact, the virtues of integrity and fidelity were recently described by one research team as the “twin virtues” of marital commitment that represent not only sexual exclusivity but also emotional devotion, honesty, and accountability. The American Families of Faith project—a qualitative study exploring exemplary Christian, Jewish, and Muslim married couples across diverse races—sheds light on how these values are cultivated, sustained, and lived out in everyday life. 

Drawing on findings from this study, the present article explores how these racially and religiously diverse couples define and practice integrity and fidelity, offering four insights into how these principles strengthen their marriages.   

Integrity and Fidelity Matter in Marriage

For many American Families of Faith participants, fidelity involved more than refraining from extramarital relationships—it included emotional and spiritual unity. In “Up,” Carl and Ellie’s life together showed that fidelity encompasses more than sexual exclusivity—it also includes emotional devotion, honesty, and alignment in life’s core vision and goals. Their shared dream of visiting Paradise Falls, while never realized in the way they envisioned, symbolized their mutual commitment to one another.

 Similarly, Ron (pseudonyms are used to protect participant’s identity), a white Jewish husband from the American Families of Faith study, reflected on how honesty shaped his marriage:

I don’t hide anything from her, and that means that I can’t do anything that I need to hide from her, ’cause I won’t hide anything from her. … That influences every moment of my marriage. How many times a day [do I think], “Is this something I would not want to tell her?” … It’s really part of my consciousness all the time.

Sebastian, a Hispanic Christian husband, similarly emphasized the ripple effect of fidelity:

[One] thing that is very important in marriage is fidelity. When you’re not faithful, it doesn’t matter what [else] you can do or how sweet you can be or how loving you can be. … [If you are] cheating on your wife or vice versa, no matter what you do, it’s hard to put the pieces back together. For me, I have to know how to be faithful [while I’m] … at home and [when I am] not … at home. So, fidelity, integrity has a lot to do in the relationship of the couple. Also, in the relationship of the children, if they see [your faithfulness to each other], they will want to emulate the example, they will want to live it—because they will see that regardless of the challenges and problems, there was fidelity.

Integrity as a Core Marital Value

In their in-depth interviews, American Families of Faith participants repeatedly described integrity as essential to the health of their marriages. Beatriz, a Hispanic Christian wife, succinctly stated, “Loyalty, fidelity, integrity are key.”

Couples discussed a wide array of challenges related to stress in their work or personal lives, in-laws, conflict, parenting, illness, and even family deaths. However, their ability to navigate these hardships together demonstrated the resilience that fidelity helps foster. Idris, an African American Christian husband, said:

Character and integrity in a marriage is everything. [They are] … the most important source of strength [to our marriage]. ’Cause if you really don’t have that, you don’t really have a relationship. … You [could] just be an aimless wanderer [and] be blown in the wind anywhere when something comes along. When you have character and integrity in a relationship, then you’re trustworthy. Then your mate, your spouse, has no worries, no hang-ups about where you’re at, what you’re doing. …[T]rust is crucial in a relationship.

The Role of Religion in Teaching Fidelity and Integrity

For most of the wives and husbands interviewed, religious faith reportedly played a critical role in shaping their understanding of fidelity and integrity. Many couples, for example, emphasized that their religious beliefs and practices motivated them to remain faithful and honest with each other. Tanner, a white Orthodox Christian husband, explained how his faith helped him resist temptation. Discussing his job, he said, “I spend two weeks a month on the road. There are temptations out there that I’ve never succumbed to, and one of the reasons is my faith gives me the strength not to do that.”

Enoch, a white Presbyterian husband, elaborated on the promises he made with his wife:

We made vows to be a couple, to be true to each other, so I have a commitment to monogamy and fidelity. I think it would be easy to rationalize out of that if a person didn’t have some beliefs to base that on.

For other participants, fidelity was tied directly to accountability to God. Fu, a Chinese Christian husband, shared, “To keep your marriage holy is your responsibility to God; otherwise you are ashamed to face God. Betray[ing] your spouse is betraying God.”​

One white Latter-day Saint couple described the role of a covenant with God and each other as follows:

Evan: When we were married, we covenanted with each other that we would be faithful to each other and that we would also look to God … and remember Him, and so a covenant is a very vital part of our relationship.

Tara: It’s … a three-way partnership, with God being … a party to making this marriage work.

Coming together by remembering the promises that they made to each other before God reportedly put fidelity and integrity at the forefront of these couples’ relationships. 

Challenges to Integrity and Fidelity

While the majority of participants described fidelity as a source of strength, some acknowledged challenges. Orlando, an African American Christian husband, noted the pressures of living up to marital vows in a world filled with distractions and said:

This world … has a way of testing if you mean what you said [when you got married] or were you just sitting up there ’cause everything was rosy that day … Are you going to hold your sacred vows [when it gets hard]?

The question posed by Orlando does stimulate reflection within marriage—including (and especially) when the challenges come. If marital fidelity is defined by one question, perhaps Orlando nails it with Are you going to hold to your sacred vows when it gets hard?

Imperfect But Striving

The animated story of Carl and Ellie in “Up” illustrates how integrity and fidelity create a foundation for enduring love. However, the American Families of Faith project documents the experience of hundreds of couples who view these virtues as essential for marital stability and satisfaction in their own marriages. These couples have been married for an average of more than 20 years.

In a touching moment from the film, Carl says, “You’re my best friend, Ellie.” Similarly, a father in our project said of his wife’s integrity and fidelity, “She was married to marriage long before she was married to me.” The same father also wrote of his wife of more than four decades, “I can imagine no heaven without her … and with her, even hell would be tolerable.” 

The insights from the imperfect but exemplary marriages studied in the American Families of Faith project reveal that fidelity and integrity are not just ideals but lived virtues that sustain many strong marriages through a sacred sense of shared purpose. For many couples, these virtues are deeply intertwined with their religious beliefs and practices, which provide both motivation and practical tools for navigating challenges.

 The imperfect but striving women and men in the American Families of Faith project underscore that fidelity and integrity are more than individual actions; they are the cornerstone of enduring, meaningful partnerships. By striving to live out these ideals, couples create relationships that not only withstand life’s trials but thrive in their shared commitment to each other.

The post The Virtues That Sustain Marriage appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

The Interpreter Foundation and Redbrick Filmworks continues to release a new episode of their not-for-profit series of mini-documentaries titled Becoming Brigham each Monday. This week, they released the following episode:

Episode 33: “From Stolen Shirt To Open War?”

• How did a stolen shirt turn a mission to the Native Americans into two decades of war?
• What would Utah history have looked like if the Saints and the Utes had treated sharing and consecration as a conversation instead of a one-way religious task?

A relatively peaceful first two years in the Salt Lake Valley—which at the time was a buffer zone between Native American tribes—gave way to armed conflict as settlement pushed into Utah Valley. Fort Utah was built near the religious and economic heart of the Native lands. A clash over a stolen shirt ended with the killing of a Native American man. The Utes demanded the perpetrator be handed over. Brigham Young, unaware of the shirt incident, consulted non-Mormon officers from the Stansbury expedition and sent Daniel H. Wells and a few hundred Nauvoo Legion men south. He later said the Spirit had told him to be patient, but he yielded to a “show of force.” Historian John Peterson calls that decision nearly fatal to Mormon–Ute relations; serious fighting continued for about twenty years in Utah and longer across the West. Peterson quotes the John Turner line that Mormons paradoxically saw Indians as both religious kindred and savage enemies.

Why this docuseries? Many people are aware of Brigham Young as a pivotal figure in American religious and frontier history, but Brigham is also often misunderstood, seen as a larger-than-life caricature rather than as a man. Who actually was Brigham as a man, a father, a husband, and a prophet? The video web series Becoming Brigham debunks fictions and provides surprising new insights into the real Brigham Young. Learn more in the article “Becoming Brigham: The Video Series Premieres.”

Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. She was the 2023 recipient of the John Taylor Defender of the Faith award.

The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Proverbs 1–4; 15–16; 22; 31; Ecclesiastes 1–3; 11–12 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

The Church has announced that the youth theme for 2027 is “Rejoice in Christ” (see Philippians 4:4). This is also the theme of the Salt Lake Temple Celebration, creating a unified invitation for members around the world to focus on Jesus Christ and the blessings of His holy house.

To support the 2027 youth theme, resources including artwork, music, videos, activities, and invitation materials will be available by the end of October 2026 at youth.ChurchofJesusChrist.org and in the Gospel Library.

The Church encourages parents and leaders to use these resources throughout the year in lessons, devotionals, youth conferences, camps, activities, family discussions, personal study, and other opportunities to help youth deepen their faith in Jesus Christ.

by Autumn Dickson

Proverbs is full of little bits of wisdom that push us on to paths that can make life easier. Mortal life was never meant to be externally easy, but taking heed of some of these proverbs can help you to escape more difficulty than you would otherwise meet. It likewise puts your heart in a state where you recognize the reality of both your mortality and the eternities ahead.

One of those bits of wisdom is found here.

Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

When you respond with a soft answer, it can turn away the wrath that approached you.

There is wisdom here, but I want to discuss what it truly means to have a soft answer. I think sometimes people get mixed up in what it means to be Christlike. So before I delve into the definition of a soft answer, I want to give a disclaimer. There is truth in the promises offered by this verse, but it is not absolute. Sometimes we give soft answers and are still scorned and treated poorly. One needs only look at Christ to realize that the wisdom here does not always hold true. Sometimes, even when we’re perfect in our attitude and response, others will still give back hatred.

That doesn’t mean we failed.

I give this disclaimer because the soft answer that I want to talk about really only functions within a healthy relationship. Sometimes the righteous answer is to walk away from a relationship especially when it’s abusive, but only God can give you the answer as to whether that is your situation. So when we discuss these principles, it’s important to weigh them against your own situation and act accordingly. These are words of wisdom, not absolutes.

So what is a soft answer?

I want to look at a soft answer in the same light as a soft heart.

The Lord asks us to have a soft heart. This means that He wants us to be teachable, humble, willing to hear Him and learn about His choices. He wants us to be vulnerable with Him and lean on Him and trust Him and reach out to Him. He wants us to be willing to change. A hard heart is closed off, bitter, prideful, and insensitive to sin and others.

There are many applications for this. There are so many ways that we could look at examples of how to react when we’re in the heat of the moment. However, I rather teach a guiding principle that can be applied wisely rather than hard fast rules.

Soft answers begin with soft hearts.

When you are faced with an opportunity to give an answer, it’s not about artfully crafting the right response. It’s not about choosing positive words or putting a criticism in the middle of two compliments. It’s not about blunting the edge of correction. It’s about stepping back and asking yourself where your heart is.

Do you really love this person you’re about to respond to?

Do you recognize them as a child of God?

Do you want them to have a happy life?

Do you recognize that you would potentially make the same choices and have the same values if you grew up in their position?

If you can answer those questions correctly, you are much more prepared to give a soft answer even if that soft answer includes correction or standing by your beliefs.

Soft answers are not necessarily manifested in a specific volume; it’s manifested in your attitude towards another person who may be wrongfully accusing you, attacking your character, or spreading misinformation about you. It’s manifested in how you feel about someone you love when you feel betrayed or unloved by them in return. It’s manifested in your generosity with someone who makes your life harder.

I did not understand this when I was younger. I felt like I gave “nice” responses, but I often found myself in broken relationships or with frustrated friends.

I remember getting older and going on my mission. Missions are interesting for a lot of reasons but one of those reasons is the fact that you get put into leadership positions very young and are expected to help people reach their full potential. Sometimes that includes correcting others. I remember watching a couple of elders on my mission who could correct other elders without repercussion for the most part. People liked them and listened to them and could be corrected by them without growing defensive.

I remember thinking that I would never be able to do that.

These principles changed that. When you change your focus, you can often turn away wrath. It’s not about changing your words; it’s about changing your focus.

You stop focusing on how you are being perceived. You stop focusing on how to convince them to do better. You stop focusing on how much they’re making your life harder.

And you focus on them.

It’s that simple. People can feel when you’re just tolerating them and being polite to their face. They can feel your intentions. They can feel when you’re simply focused on yourself. Even if it’s not consciously recognized, they will still feel it and start putting up defenses.

It’s easy to get hyperfocused on handling your conversations well. It’s easy to hyperfocus on trying to get it right. But honestly, in the end, all that really does is signal to the other person that you’re focused on yourself and it starts you off on the wrong foot immediately.

If you can train yourself to focus on the good of the other person (as Christ teaches), it goes a lot farther in turning away wrath than any artfully crafted words you can possibly string together.

I love Proverbs because they’re full of the wisdom that stems from the teachings of Christ. Christ teaches us to love our fellow brothers and sisters. He is the One who teaches us to focus outward and forget ourselves. The exact application of these teachings brings results, and Proverbs often highlight those results and wisdom. I testify that Christ knows what He’s talking about when He instructs us on how to build happy lives. I testify that forgetting yourself softens others in turn and brings more joy, connection, and happiness into your life.

Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Proverbs 1–4; 15–16; 22; 31; Ecclesiastes 1–3; 11–12 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.