Following are some links about the open house, both news stories and personal stories. (Have a story to share? Include the link in a comment or send us an email at ‘mormonwoman’ AT ‘gmail’ DOT ‘com’)

News Stories

• Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder Quentin L. Cook in 30-second World News Tonight story

8+ minute segment on ABC’s Nightline (text of the Nightline story here)

(Proposition 8 was also discussed briefly in the story. More information about the Church’s involvement can be found here and here.)

People often wonder what goes on in temples. Temple worship begins by what we wear.

Elder Ballard explains: “When we come to the temple…we take off our street clothes and dress in white. I would have on a white shirt, white tie, white trousers, white socks and white slippers. … And everybody then is on a wonderful, equal basis.”

Elder Cook adds that as we enter the temple, we are reminded that “the workaday world isn’t nearly as important as your family.” Ordinances in the temples are both focused on our relationships with God, and on the eternal nature of family relationships in God’s plan for His children. For more information about the types of ordinances that occur in the temples, see here.

One of the ordinances for which the Church is fairly well-known is baptisms for the dead, where members of the Church are baptized for people (representing them, on their behalf) who have passed on. In the ABC story, Elder Cook explains that the ordinance “isn’t binding on them.” As we believe that life exists after this mortal life, we believe that people are able to hear the gospel message, and choose whether to receive it and the ordinances. “We, in a loving manner,” Elder Cook says, “make that available to them and they choose whether or not they want to have it.”

Although we are not official authorities of the Church, we loved how the news story ended, and echo Elder Ballard’s words: “Yes, it [the story of our faith] is a big story, it is a big message, but it’s true. We get beat up out there telling it, but so what? We’ll keep doing it the best we know how.”

Personal Stories

Some experiences from people who have attended the Draper Temple Open House:

Anna’s experience

Bethany’s experience

Mayne family’s experience

V H Family

The post News Stories, Posts about Draper Temple Open House appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Here’s a glimpse of what you will read in the article:

Fortunately, the Supreme Court has never held that citizens could not join together to translate their moral beliefs into laws or public policies even when those beliefs are derived from religious doctrine. Indeed, there are many sophisticated and articulate spokesmen for the proposition that the separation of church and state never intended to exclude religiously grounded values from the public square. For example, I offer the words of Richard John Neuhaus:

“In a democracy that is free and robust, an opinion is no more disqualified for being ‘religious’ than for being atheistic, or psychoanalytic, or Marxist, or just plain dumb. There is no legal or constitutional question about the admission of religion to the public square; there is only a question about the free and equal participation of citizens in our public business. Religion is not a reified ‘thing’ that threatens to intrude upon our common life. Religion in public is but the public opinion of those citizens who are religious.

(This article was written in 1992, but the principles may still be of interest, even as some of the specifics of recent important public policy issues are not included.)

As an FYI, Leaders of our Church attended the inaguration of Barack Obama. You can read more about that here and here.

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We welcome your thoughts, but we do moderate comments. Please keep your comments respectful.

The post <i>Review, Reflect, and Report</i>: “Religious Values and Public Policy” appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Do you know of good content about the Church on YouTube? Have you uploaded a video you would like to share? We can include uplifting videos, including conversion stories (in various languages!), creative slideshows, and other ways of sharing your voice through YouTube in our new MormonWomen account at YouTube and/or link to it in our library. See what we have tagged so far in our favorites section already here.

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“We are all the sons and daughters of God….‘Let’s work together and try to solve some of the really tremendous social problems that…every country is facing,” he said.

If you would like to hear the interview in its entirety, it will be rebroadcast on BYU Television several times in the next few weeks. For more information, see here.

The post Elder Ballard on Bloomberg Television: “Let’s work together” (Rebroadcast to come) appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

You can watch Elder Nelson talking about the new website about the Savior here.

Watch Elder Ballard addressing the question, “Are Mormons Christian?”

Elder Cook talks about the need to make a clear distinction between our Church, and the FLDS group that practices polygamy here.

And here’s one about the Church’s recent efforts to help in Myanmar.

There are many others, under the username LDSPublicAffairs

The post The Church on YouTube appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Share your experiences – those from your own life – that show how your values and your faith intersect….

Clearly, in this context I am not talking about declaring your testimony of faith in the traditional sense. Naturally, you can and should do that where the setting is appropriate and the audience is receptive, such as a church meeting. Rather, I am talking about taking part in everyday conversations in an unforced way, where your values and your religious beliefs will arise naturally. No one likes to have religion thrust down their throats.

Instead, allow people to see how your beliefs lift and shape your life for the better. How does the gospel help you as a parent engage with your teens? How do your values encourage you to participate in civic affairs? How has your experience as a home or visiting teacher enlarged your compassion or care for the sick and needy? How has your Church life helped you to avoid such things as pornography and immorality? How have family councils or home evenings helped you resolve differences of opinion with members of your family? How has your experience in speaking in church helped you address large public groups? Where did you learn to respect and not to criticize other faiths? And so on.

Elder Ballard’s invitation to share the gospel on the Internet was printed in the July 2008 Ensign, and is now translated into many languages.

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