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And so we have to kind of get back into the world.

the Old Testament, it's hundreds of years, it's varied.

As far as the way the Old Testament is structured, that everything else is prelude.

And when you get to Abraham and you get the covenant, then everything starts.

the Old Testament is sort of under the law of Moses, but the covenant promises are still there.

He's written many articles and books, including House of Glory, 10 Great Souls I Want to Meet in Heaven, Twice Blessed Finding Hope. I have one that I love right here about holding on in the latter days.

Steve Young recently wrote a book called The Law of Love and he quoted a man who studied the human genome, the DNA code and was a scientist, but had such a hard time because of the beauty and the symmetry and that design in the DNA code. He became a believer.

If you get something like the Grant Hardy Oxford edition of the Book of Mormon, he's offset some.

I know this story, Hank. And while he was on this mission, he got up in the middle of the night to sign baseball cards, and I have one of them. And it says something on the back that you will not see in any other baseball card in the world probably. It says, Christianson made a commitment prior to signing with California. Therefore, he will begin his pro baseball career when he returns from his Mormon mission to Japan in 1996.

Now, John, I know that you know that story because I got it from your book, Sports Life Lessons from Court, Field, and Gridiron.

So if anybody wants to pick that up, you can get it at your local DI. Desert Industries, because it's out of print.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in a book called However Long and Hard the Road he said we learn that there is majestic undeniable power in the love and prayer of a parent

She's the author of numerous books, including A History of Christianity in Modern China, published by Oxford University Press.

C.S. Lewis talks about in The Screwtape Letters that Satan does some of his best work keeping thoughts out of people's heads. If you can fill up things with all kinds of commotion and busyness, then you never have time to think more deeply on things.

And I know it comes up on my feet there is a podcast called Why Religion Hank I think you just recorded one with him called mourning with hope can you tell us about that yeah I was actually on the other side of the microphone which was really weird John I was like I'm not supposed to talk you're supposed to talk did you miss me during that was like where I was looking around seeing your companion a number of years ago I wrote a chapter in a book called Morning with Hope so the Why Religion team decided to highlight that article and just release that that would really be special to me if anyone wanted to listen after this episode of course you can go to YouTube and go to Why Religion the letter Why not Why Religion if I get some other videos of you type in Why Religion other post is the letter Why Religion that chapter was the culmination of a couple of years study that I did on how letter they say to deal with death it's not that we don't mourn that would be a myth that would be a mistake to say oh my testimony means I don't need to mourn so I called the chapter mourning with hope the following podcast is a supporter of the Why Religion podcast so we hope everyone will go check that out a lot of our guests that we've had on our show have been on that one as well right now I was going to tell you as you talked about mourning with those who mourn back in 2014 my mother-in-law Marlene Savage passed away we were all devastated she's this incredible grandmother and mother we were sitting there on a Saturday a couple of days after she passed away and we were kind of in shock there but not there well all of a sudden I hear my lawn mower start up and I'm like what is going on I went out on the side door and I looked out on my lawn and there is my father who was since best away mowing the lawn and he saw me and waved and I waved back I said what are you doing and he said helping he mowed the lawn he edged the lawn and then he got in his car and drove away he didn't feel like it was time for him to come inside and fix it there's nothing he could have said that would have fixed it what would Alma call that or our burden that it may be light yeah well that reminds me of the story of Jesus says to the woman she has done what she could I remember a story Hank do you remember this one right now about somebody it was repeated in general conference but somebody who came and grabbed everybody shoes and shined up all of the shoes before the funeral the kids the adults came in quietly shined the shoes and left that's beautiful to think that we can actually minister to people without saying yeah the word your dad was loud with the lawn mower right but he didn't say a lot of new work he would eat it quietly yes that is great going back to the story of Lazarus even the Savior wept because when he saw Martha and Mary's sadness they were sad because they loved their brother and the Savior cried with them he went with them he knew how to mourn that's why it is a natural thing it's a normal thing to do if someone is listening to this and they feel bad because they are mourning that shows you love that person that left and that is part of this life but there is hope because we mourn with hope and there is a difference when we have that hope that we are gonna see them again and because of the Savior I was talking with the good friend the other day and she said her father had passed away a couple of years ago and she said I should be better by now everyone else has gone on everyone else is doing great and I should be better and I like what you've said here Reina let the process take its course for you personally it's gonna look different right for everyone yes we can be certain that the Lord is willing to help us heal from that and that he has the power to help us but that doesn't mean that we are going to stop missing the person because it's a big loss they are not with us we want to have them with us but they are not here and it's hard to wait sometimes but we have that hope and that's what needs to help us that's why having all these scriptures and these witnesses that talk about this and give us that assurance it actually happened that the Lord was resurrected and because of that each of us will be resurrected I love reading the words of the prophets in the scriptures I'm always amazed to see how well they understood the plan of salvation and how well they understood the role of the Savior and how each of them are always inviting us to come to him so we can actually be also his witnesses that's fantastic the first witness of the resurrection Mary Magdalene so distraught weeping right in the first thing he says to her woman why weepest thou in the sense of what is about to happen that is such a perfect question why are you weeping and then her whole world changes our whole world changes when he calls her by name everybody's world it was a great gift that he gave us part of that work of our heavenly Father to bring about the salvation and eternal life of all of us it's just part of that perfect gift that he gave us and everybody will receive that as we read in the scriptures everybody every person will receive that gift of resurrection from the Savior coming up in part two of this episode you spent five years in a release society general presidency where you were around special witnesses the apostles it was wonderful to see the different personalities and I always tell people you would never guess who I think of course this is my personal opinion who I think is the funniest of all of them and I honestly believe that is

He author of several books such as Learning to Levize, I have my copy right here. It really has a strong Book of Mormon component to it as well.

I've got a book about the Beatitudes that Brad Wilcox and his brother, Roger Wilcox, wrote.

When Roger served as a bishop, he received a call from a man who lived within the ward boundary but was not a member.

The man had just gotten out of prison and said, some of my buddies in prison told me if I needed help starting a new life, I should call a Latter-day Saint Bishop.

Roger invited the elders corn president to join him on a visit to the man's apartment. They asked how can we help with great humility?

The man said he needed a job. The elders corn president called the brother in the ward who laid brick and the brother said he would hire the man.

The ex convict was flabbergasted. He then said, I have a car but it's not running. I'm going to need it to get to my job. Roger and the elders corn president made another call to a mechanic in the ward who said he would come and look at the car later that evening.

The former prisoner could not believe it. Finally, the man looked down at his beat up jeans and tank top and said these are all the clothes I have. I don't think I should show up for work like this.

Roger called and invited the Relief Society President to join them at Desert Industries where they got the man some more suitable clothes. At that point, the man broke down in tears.

He said, I can't believe you've done all this to help me when you don't even know me. Roger responded, I couldn't have helped you on my own. Neither could the elders corn president or the Relief Society president.

It's through the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ that good and caring people can pull together to help. We trust that you want to start a new life and we want to help. Through his tears, the man said, thank you. I won't let you down.

C.S. Lewis talks about in The Screwtape Letters that Satan does some of his best work keeping thoughts out of people's heads.

I often think of my father-in-law. He said whenever someone would come to him and offer to do something for him, but later was unable to do so because of circumstances that had arisen, he said, my father-in-law would say, thank you. I will take the goodwill for the deed. And I think the Lord treats us the same way, which is, it isn't just the good works we perform. It's all the things we wish we could do but are not in a position to do that he'll bless us as well. And that to me, that's terribly comforting.

My students have asked in a book about Jesus, why are these full chapters about people like Sharon and Corahore and Gideon I who are very anti-Jesus?

Why have these chapters in there? It's so hard to engrave on plates. Why would they get any space to that guy? Yeah, here's a book that's supposed to bring you to Jesus. And here's all these people who don't want you to go to Jesus.

Probably a good moment to quote Elder Holland, the Ministry of Reconciliation, a talk given in October of 2018. Forgive and ye shall be forgiven, Christ taught in New Testament times. And in our day, I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive. But of you it is required to forgive all men. It is, however, important for some of you living in real anguish to know what he did not say. He did not say you are not allowed to feel true pain or real sorrow from the shattering experiences you have had at the hand of another. Nor did he say in order to fully forgive, you have to reenter a toxic relationship or return to an abusive, destructive circumstance. But notwithstanding even the most terrible offenses that might come to us, we can rise above our pain only when we put our feet onto the path of true healing. And it sounds like that's what Nephi was doing. That path is the forgiving one walked by Jesus of Nazareth who calls out to each of us, come follow me.

It's from The God Who Weeps by Terrell and Fiona Gibbons.

In the garden story, good and evil are found on the same tree, not in separate orchards.

Good and evil give meaning and definition to each other.

If God, and this speaks to the opposition as well that Lehi talks about, so I'm kind of overlapping here a little bit.

If God like us is susceptible to immense pain, he is like us the greater in his capacity for happiness.

The presence of such pain serves the larger purpose of God's master plan, which is to maximize the capacity for joy.

Or in other words, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

He can no more foster those ends in the absence of suffering and evil than one could find the traction to run or the breath to sing in the vacuum of space.

God does not instigate pain or suffering, but he can weave it into his purposes.

God's power rests not on totalizing omnipotence, but on his ability to alchemize suffering, tragedy and loss into wisdom, understanding and joy.

Years ago, I had a book called Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work. You know how many of those there are, right? Chicken soup for the left-handed aluminum siding installers soul, right? There's a million of them. But this one was the soul at work.

He was always happy, always in a good mood, and people would be bugged by that. What is with you? Why are you always...

And he said, well, I just every morning remind myself I have a choice. I can have a good day or a bad day, so I choose to have a good day.

If somebody yells at me, I can take it personal, or I can put it in perspective. So I put it in perspective.

He's thinking, there's nobody here. Nobody's coming. And this one thought, I choose to live. So he focuses on, I choose to live.

He said, the ambulance dudes were awesome. They were going to get you out of this. He said, but when they wheeled me into the ER, I saw the looks on the faces of the doctors and nurses. And I saw them looking and shaking their heads. And they were like, he's barely conscious. This guy isn't going to make it.

And he said, it scared me. And they're running around. And he said, a nurse was barking orders at everybody. And finally, she looked down at him and yelled at him, sir, are you allergic to anything?

And he said, yes. And he said, the whole room stopped. They all stopped. And he said, bullets. And then they all cracked up.

He looked at the doctor and he said, doctor, I am choosing to live. So operate on me as if I'm going to live.

I know it comes up on my feet there is a podcast called Why Religion Hank I think you just recorded one with him called mourning with hope can you tell us about that yeah I was actually on the other side of the microphone which was really weird John I was like I'm not supposed to talk you're supposed to talk did you miss me during that was like where I was looking around seeing your companion a number of years ago I wrote a chapter in a book called Morning with Hope so the Why Religion team decided to highlight that article and just release that that would really be special to me if anyone wanted to listen after this episode

I called the chapter mourning with hope

He's author of several books such as Learning to Levize, I have my copy right here. It really has a strong Book of Mormon component to it as well.