What I’ve learned working with great historians is that they’re never afraid to really wrestle with the very human complexities that these stories offer. And for me, as a member of the Church, that complexity is actually what boosts my testimony.

William T. Bruner represented most religions’ take on the fall of Adam and Eve when he wrote, “There was nothing fortunate about the fall of man. It was a total tragedy for God and man.” However, as Latter-day Saints, our doctrinal beliefs surrounding the fall are quite different. Daniel K. Judd outlined that difference in his piece, “The Fortunate Fall of Adam and Eve”:

Fatima Dedrickson still remembers her first day on the campus of Brigham Young University. Every person she passed was staring at her.

I will never have a “normal” life, but I have found a way to live a happy life by relying on the Lord, and looking to the narratives in the scriptures that continue to guide my journey to this day.

As Americans wait to see what Donald Trump will say to the nation on Inauguration Day, here is a look back to see what every past U.S. president has said about God in their own inaugural addresses. With only two exceptions, every president acknowledged our Heavenly Father. And two presidents—Dwight D. Eisenhower and George H.W. Bush—even began their inaugural addresses with prayers. What did your favorite presidents say about the divine? See below to read related excerpts from their speeches.

Last Wednesday, the LDS Living Book Club and Deseret Book hosted a fireside and Q&A with BYU English professor and author Spencer Hyde. Spencer has lived with severe OCD his entire life and based the book Waiting for Fitzroughly on his own experiences.

“In one way or another, divorce touches most families in the church,” said President Oaks, and isn’t that the hard truth?

Meaningful family traditions, like making tamales, can add light and love to your holiday celebrations in unexpected ways.

“If the Book of Mormon came into the hands of the "Mormon" people through their own ingenuity, then men and women ought to investigate it and prove it. If they prove that it did not, then they must acknowledge that it is inspired and came from God, for it is a direct evidence that the Lord has spoken in this dispensation. No man can read the Book of Mormon with a desire to learn the truth and deny the things that are in it. No man can read the Book of Mormon with a desire to know the truth and be honest in his heart without becoming convinced that it is real and that it does come from God. Joseph Smith said that he received it from an angel and that he translated the records into this present book by the gift and power of God. I know of no greater evidence that the Lord has revealed himself in this dispensation or in the latter days than the Book of Mormon” (Samuel O. Bennion, Conference Report, April 1918, p.44).

Helaman 13-16