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Truth

During the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about Easter. I've been thinking about how Christ's ministry and message can affect us right here, right now.

President Russell M. Nelson taught in April 2017, "There is no amorphous entity called 'the Atonement' upon which we may call for succor, healing, forgiveness, or power. Jesus Christ is the source." What that means to me is that to understand the Atonement, to understand Who and What we are to become "at one" with, we need to pay attention to Christ's life and ministry. As I have sat and thought on several topics, various scriptures have come to mind. Over this Holy Week, I will share some of these thoughts.

1. "I am the Way, the Truth, the Life." -- John 14:6

 Because of Him, we do not need any false idols. Truth is enough.

In so many political debates these days, I feel like everyone is so attached to their little corner of facts that it's hard to reconcile all the ideas. For example:
"It's not about the guns. It's about bullying."
"There's no such thing as a good guy with a gun."
and so forth.

I have seen how people's beliefs become what they worship -- what they cling to, what they adore, what they will sacrifice everything for.

And frankly, it seems silly. I have realized that if we are built upon the rock of our Redeemer (Helaman 5:12), then we don't need to become attached to any set of ideas. When we no longer have allegiance to ideologies, we have freedom to look at facts without bias and search for truth. The question no longer becomes "Who is right about gun control?" but rather "Assuming everyone has a little bit of truth about mass shootings (it's about bullying AND about access to weapons AND mental illness AND secularism AND insufficient training and background checks AND even FBI dropping the ball), what can we all do? How can we carve out a solution taking all of these into account?" 

Truth is hard. Truth is uncomfortable, especially when an opposite political party has been the one saying it all along. But truth is the only thing that unites us. And it is through our faith in Jesus Christ that we can take all our bits and pieces of truth and start to reconcile what we have. We can work together with a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and all men, and ultimately find truth.

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