DevanJensen

Patty and I at the Provo Utah Temple. “No man knows my history,” Joseph Smith Jr. said, later adding, “I don’t blame any one for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I would not have believed it myself” ( http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-e-1-1-july-1843-30-april-1844/351 ). With a nod to Joseph Smith, no one knows my editing! All my jobs have been marvelous adventures. I started my career at Deseret Book, the Church Curriculum Department (now Publishing Services), and the  Ensign  magazine. Then in 2001 Richard Draper, a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, hired me as the executive editor/associate director of publications to help take the Religious Studies Center, in his words, to “a higher level of professionalism, efficiency, and organization.” We have certainly done that, and we continue to grow. Over the years, publications directors such as Richard Draper, Richard Holzapfel, R...

Religion is sometimes attacked as a source of ignorance and conflict. While, as human beings, all of us are subject to confirmation bias , perhaps the real danger is dogmatism, or the tendency to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true, without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others, especially when it leads to prejudice or violence. That condition may affect both the religious and the nonreligious. Militants in any ideology can become destructive. Is Snoopy being "dog”matic? As this article points out, people who dogmatically hold to any topic without being able to consider other perspectives "typically pay a high price for their dogmatism. Not only do they alienate many people, but they actually imprison their own egos inside their figurative fortress of conviction." The solution is keeping an open mind. Higher thinking allows us to see beyond simple black and white categories and to see the full, multicolored spectrum of human expe...

After diagnosis of a serious medical condition in a beloved family member, I began reading   Option B , by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant .   This book   shares stories of people who’ve dealt with a traumatic event, helping us face adversity, become more resilient, and find joy again  after life punches us in the face. When she was 45 years old, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO and mother of two, found her husband collapsed on the floor of the gym. He never woke again. Sheryl was devastated. Why him?   Why so young? How could she have avoided this? Two weeks later, as she prepared for what would have been a father-child activity, she cried in front of a friend,  “But I want Dave!”  Her friend replied:  “Option A is not available. So let’s make the most out of Option B.”  Sooner or later in our lives, we all lose Option A. This book is about learning to thrive with  Option B . We can develop our resilience muscles, or “strengt...

The Atonement is the sacrifice Jesus Christ offered to help humankind overcome sin and death—to make us “at one” with God. This redeeming sacrifice occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Golgotha. Jesus Christ atoned for our sins, died, and was resurrected. The Atonement is the supreme expression of the love of Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, “for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Christians around the world gratefully acknowledge the matchless gift of God’s Only Begotten Son. We rejoice that the Life and Light of the World descended from His throne divine to be born in humble circumstances in a stable in Bethlehem. As the young Jesus learned lessons under the tutelage of Joseph and Mary, He increased in favor with God and man, growing to maturity until fully prepared to work His mortal ministry. We note with gratitude that He experienced a...