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Christmas.lds.org features Christmas messages

LDS Media Talk - LDS.org has a page at Christmas.lds.org that includes the Christmas story, Christmas videos, Christmas traditions, Christmas ideas, and Christmas media resources, including free downloads of Christmas music. ...

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Church responds to cholera outbreak in Haiti and Papua New Guinea

Newsroom - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has joined with other nongovernmental organizations in response to a major cholera outbreak in Papua New Guinea. Local Church leaders report 75 deaths from the outbreak among Latter-day Saints. It is unclear how many total deaths there are, but some reports indicate it could be in the hundreds. “We express our deep love and concern for those who have been affected by this epidemic,” said Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Church’s Pacific Area Presidency. “We offer our sincere condolences to those who have lost family or friends.” The Church has sent 25...

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Day 9: Read a Christmas Message

<i>LDS Living</i> staff - On a more spiritual note, here are some great resources for Christmas stories, devotionals, and even a little family history. Missionary Christmas Stories Missionaries, like the wisemen of old, travel afar bearing gifts. And they find that when they’re miles away from friends and family at Christmas, they grow closer to Heavenly Father and catch a glimpse of their celestial home. The Church magazines asked readers to share with them their own experiences with Christmas in the mission field, and responses came in from all over the world. Christmas traditions, situations, and climates were different, but the overwhelming spirit of the...

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Video game based on Nephi and Book of Mormon stories

The Daily Universe - A beloved pastime for some has become a missionary opportunity. According to Nick Pasto and Jonathan Chan, the co-creators, “Nephi’s Adventure 2: Quest for the Plates,” a free online video game, is not only an entertaining pursuit, but also a method of attracting interest to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The creators said the game was inspired by 1 Nephi 4 from the Book of Mormon. The ultimate goal of the players is to seek out Laban and obtain the brass plates, all in the backdrop of Jerusalem, with some quirky twists. ...

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Movie Ratings and Content: Judging Profanity in Film

LDS Cinema Online - Series Introduction: Movie ratings are traditionally based on three primary criteria: profanity, sex, and violence, with some additional emphasis on drug use. One of the flaws of the current rating system is that each level of PSVD content is wrapped into the same rating, without considering the different categories of content individually. As such, the current rating system provides no additional information about content for viewers who might care about one category of “objectionable” content more than another. In reality, each of these four categories are fundamentally different from one another and should be considered separately when analyzing and judging movie...

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NY Times praises Utah's immigration stance

New York Times - Not all the political news this year involves the rise of partisan extremism and government by rage. There has been lots of that. But maybe there is a limit, a point when people of good sense and good will band together to say no. As they have just done in Utah. Political, business, law-enforcement and religious leaders there have endorsed what they call the Utah Compact. It is a statement of principles meant to address, with moderation and civility, “the complex challenges associated with a broken national immigration system.” What a welcome contrast it draws with the xenophobic radicalism of places...

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Lessons about Christ from C. S. Lewis' Aslan

Deseret News - Editor's note: S. Michael Wilcox, a Deseret Book author and retired Church Educational System instructor, spent three years studying C.S. Lewis' work for his dissertation at the University of Colorado. Wilcox's favorite Narnia book is "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," the film adaptation of which debuts Dec. 10. In 2008, Deseret Book released a talk where Wilcox examines Lewis' work and its relevance to Latter-day Saints. The following are lessons about Christ from "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," abridged from the text provided by Wilcox for the CD, "Of Lions, Dragons and Turkish Delight." Everything we read and learn...

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Anatomy of a real apology

Deseret News - I'm sorry, but when you look at what happened you'll see that I was completely justified. I'm sorry, but it wasn't my fault at all. All right, OK, I'm sorry. I'm so-o-o sorry. Excu-u-u-u-uze me. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I'm sorry I got you so upset. If I did anything wrong, I'm truly sorry for it. All right, whatever I did, I apologize for it. Satisfied? If you don't accept my apology by Friday, then consider it withdrawn. I'll apologize if you apologize, it's not like you were perfect. Have you ever heard these apologies? Ever used any...

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Scripture URLs on Scriptures.lds.org

LDS Media Talk - This article explains the logic of the URLs in the new Church’s scriptures program at scriptures.lds.org to assist those who reference scriptures on their websites or blogs. These URLs only apply to English, Spanish, and German which have been built in the new system. The other languages can continue to be accessed as explained previously. ...

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Finding the right person to marry at the right time

Deseret News - Although my grandparents, Don and Donna (cute, right?), knew each other for seven years before getting married, Don didn’t decide to make his move until Donna was already engaged to a fellow named Owen. Don conveniently came home on leave from the Air Force just before the allies achieved victory in Europe, so he had a leg up on getting home from the war. Uncertain about the morality of putting the moves on an engaged woman, Don asked his best friend, Derby, Donna’s brother, what he thought of the predicament. ...