While President of BYU, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a devotional entitled, “Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments.” Within this address, he talks about the sanctity of physical intimacy. More specifically, he tells Latter-day Saints three reasons why sexual purity is so crucial to our salvation: it affects our souls, it is a sacred symbol, and it is a sacrament.

The next two weeks of Come, Follow Me focus on Matthew 16–17, Mark 8–9, and Luke 9. In Matthew 16:13-17, Christ asks His followers, "Whom say ye that I am?" The answer to this question varies based on the revelation we have received of Christ's divine identity. Receiving revelation often begins with asking questions, and in preparation for the revelations that are to come this general conference, we have provided a family home evening activity focused on asking questions and finding answers. Check out this week's Come, Follow Me study ideas on LDS Livingfor additional resources and suggestions.

“Redemption in Christ is a beginning for us all, an invitation to a new life.”

After changing my major three times in college, I was sold on journalism as my career goal. However, while I was looking at the job salary for journalists, I realized that I would not be able to save much money in my newly chosen career. My anxiety rose and my mind started spinning. “Should I change my career goal? Is it too late to become a nurse or engineer?” While my brain was filled with fearful thoughts about the future, the advice I’d received from my therapist reminded me that I need to calm down and realize that it was my fear that was creating these doubts in my mind.

It all started with the fathers. As with countless Jewish girls, Mary’s betrothal likely began when, by custom, Joseph’s father approached hers. Before Joseph’s father said more than a few words, Mary’s father likely knew what he wanted. To be brief, he wanted to discuss a possible engagement of his son with Mary. That topic would require a somewhat formal meeting.1 Whether Joseph’s father was the first parent to approach Mary’s father we cannot know. It is certainly possible that her father had been approached by other fathers of young men in Nazareth. Mary would surely have been visible to all the fathers in the small town. She may have been one of the few eligible young women that year in a settlement that sat apart, high above the surrounding plains at the top of steep hills that rose near one another and, falling precipitously toward each other, formed a bowl-like setting for Nazareth’s few inhabitants.

INTRODUCTION: Among other things, the Word of Wisdom is evidence that the relationship between our bodies and our spirits is both intimate and significant. The repeated scriptural counsel about caring for and protecting our bodies—counsel given from Old Testament times to the dispensation of the fullness of times—must in part tell us that damaging our bodies will also damage or spirits.

INTRODUCTION: Cain’s query of the Lord has echoed down the corridors of time: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Moses 5:34) And the answer has followed close at hand. Religious history is filled with tales of sacrifice made by men and women in behalf of their brothers and sisters. We have always considered that the greatest among us have been those willing to enter harm’s way in behalf of others, whether friends or strangers. It is proved conclusively by the firefighters and policemen who rushed into the towers of the World Trade Center while everyone else was rushing out. It is also exemplified by thousands of missionaries who have entered into the vineyard of the Lord to save souls and by faithful visiting and home teachers—and by a multitude of others.

"And in that day shall be heard wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion" (D&C 45:26).

Many Latter-day Saints know the Hebrew word Elohim is used frequently in the Bible to reference God. But did you know this sacred title was also used to reference the pagan gods and spirits worshipped during biblical times?

When former Utah governor Mike Leavitt got a phone call from the office of President Russell M. Nelson asking if they could meet, he of course automatically said yes.