In my psychology practice, there are times I’m able to work with members of the Church. They come with the same types of problems that non-LDS clients do: anxiety, depression, relationship challenges, parenting issues, etc. However, because of our shared faith I am often able to use a different approach with the Latter-day Saints than with other clients. I remember one particular client I met with years ago. He was having daily panic attacks and had come in to seek help. Among other things, I inquired regarding his personal spiritual practices, including prayer and scripture study. He said he prayed most days but rarely read from the scriptures. We talked about many other things that day, but I left him with the assignment to study the scriptures daily, focusing on those passages that promised peace.

While considering serving a mission as a young adult, I enrolled in a BYU class called Mormon Issues. I thought it would prepare me to answer historical questions regarding The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As a lifelong member of the Church who’s lived in a few different geographic regions, I thought I’d heard it all. I’ve fielded questions about polygamy, pioneers, dancing and Donny Osmond. (Have I also mentioned that I’m not Amish?) But then we asked you, our readers, about misunderstandings you’ve encountered about your faith.

SANDRA RAST

Books, articles, and numerous Internet websites work to undermine faith in Joseph Smith’s first vision, but historically there have been just three main arguments against it. The minister to whom Joseph reported the event responded that there were no such things these days. More than a century later and in a literary style that masked her weakness in following the historical method, Fawn Brodie wrote that Joseph invented the vision years after he said it happened. A generation later, Wesley Walters charged Joseph with inventing revivalism when, Walters claimed, a lack of historical evidence proved that there was none and therefore there was no subsequent vision as a result. By now it has become a foregone conclusion for some that there are no such things as visions, that Joseph failed to mention his experience for years, and that he then gave conflicting accounts that failed to match historical facts. 1 But these three claims assume much more than they prove.

Editor's note: These responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Whimsical. Endearing. Magical. Mysterious. These are a few among a host of words that can describe the famous Albus Dumbledore, but among the most accurate is wise. Like many children born in the '90s, I was raised on the Harry Potter books and the words of Albus Dumbledore, who taught me what true bravery and power look like.

It was a ridiculous question for David Butler's son to ask.

Acts 18:23-20:38; Galatians

Have you ever squinted your eyes to see something more clearly? Sometimes it works. Other times, however, we squint too tight and end up blurring our vision even more.