Speeches by Topic Topics | Eternal Life
Thank you, President Samuelson. Thank you, choir, for that beautiful interpretation of “My Little Welsh Home.” Thank you, Professor Hall. Professor Rosalind Hall is one of my oldest friends. She is a great British export and an almost impossible act to follow.
As you’ve gathered, I am not from around these parts. I was born in the United Kingdom, specifically in South Wales. That makes me a Welshman. The words Welsh and Wales are exonyms of Anglo-Saxon origin. An exonym is a name given to one nation by another. In other words, it’s not what a nation or people call thems
My brothers and sisters, I am honored to have been invited to speak to you today. The topic that I have been assigned to speak on may seem a little strange to some of you for a setting like Campus Education Week, but I hope and pray that it will be both interesting and inspiring. The subject is death.
Someone once said that life is a terminal illness; no one gets out of it alive. Death is both fascinating and somewhat frightening—frightening in that there is normal apprehension about it. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “the Lord in his wisdom had implanted the fear of death in
Elder Bateman: We welcome you to the first, official devotional of the 2001–2002 school year. We welcome a television audience that stretches across the United States and around the earth via satellite. One week ago Sister Bateman and I were prepared to address this same forum when tragedy struck New York City and the Pentagon. The events of that day have had an impact not only on the United States but on the entire world. Most governments now realize that no one is safe if terrorists are allowed free rein to develop secret networks and plan strikes against innocent people. It remind
I am honored to be asked to speak at the devotional assembly this morning. Because the weekly devotionals at Brigham Young University have been such a significant part of my life, I have taken this invitation very seriously. My topic is “What We Believe.”
Sooner or later you and I will be approached by men and women not of our faith—persons either sincerely interested in what we believe or else opposed to much of what we stand for. This is particularly true as the Church grows and as our influence spreads throughout the world. Perhaps it would be worthwhile for us to entertain a few
Sister Nelson and I extend greetings for a happy New Year to all of you. At this fireside for college-age youth, thousands are with us on the campus of Brigham Young University. Elsewhere, many are participating via satellite transmission, including congregations assembled in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and other locations in the Caribbean area. Having recently visited Saints in those islands, we are grateful to greet you once again. In Santo Domingo, we stood on the site where a new temple will be built. There we envisioned the day when you may enter that holy house and receive al
Finding Our Way Back
I want to talk with you about going home. This is the time of year when all of us feel a tug at our hearts. Many of you will be thinking about being home for the holidays. But all of us know, perhaps more than at any other time of year, that happiness in some way centers on a family—both in this world and the next.
Only as I’ve grown older have I come to understand what my parents did for me. Of all the influences they had on me perhaps the most powerful was the desire to somehow be worthy to be home again with my Heavenly Father, forever. And by
My dear brothers and sisters, I am happy to be with you this beautiful Sabbath evening. I pray that my message may be helpful and uplifting to you.
At some time in everyone’s life, these questions arise: “Who am I? Where did I come from? And where am I going?” The answers are found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The latter question, “Where am I going?” is the one I would wish to address tonight. My prayer is that this may influence each of you to gain a greater desire than you presently have to live worthy of achieving eternal life. For this is where you may go—where you may g
This has been a glorious Easter for us. For three and one-half hours the Council of the Twelve met in the temple this morning in our semiannual testimony meeting. Following that my wife and I went to our ward fast and testimony meeting, then visited Elder Stapley in the hospital. I am happy to report that he looks better and is better. Now we have come here tonight to conclude this glorious Easter day we shall long remember.
It is always a personal thrill and honor for me to be in the presence of you, the youth of Zion—“the rising generation,” as the Book of Mormon calls you (see Mos
As I was getting up to address you, Sister Tanner said, “You have a large audience tonight. Be sure you speak loudly enough.” This reminded me of President McKay when he was standing before an audience. Someone in the back said, “Speak up. We can’t hear you.” Someone near the stand said, “Sit down and be glad you can’t.” So you take your choice.
As I saw my family here, I realized I had my own cheering section. I’ll signal to them when I want them to cheer.
It’s near enough to Christmastime that I am reminded of two little stories I would like to tell you. While our youngest d
Thank you, President Oaks. One is honored to be asked to speak to a devotional assembly, especially when his journey has left most of his footprints in the sands of time. I appreciate the prayer that was offered by Brother Skousen, the son of Karl Skousen, an outstanding scholar and a wonderful man, and I pray that the Lord will respond to that prayer in this period that we have together. If you will join with me, if you will give me your faith and prayers, and if we can think together as if we were in a small classroom, this should prove to be a very worthwhile period for you. I want it to
Wouldn’t that be wonderful if it were true that I was a marvelous work and a wonder. It’s a great honor, brothers and sisters, to have the invitation to talk to you here today. I feel mighty frightened right at this moment when I think that you are all college students and professors and I am just a country boy who milked the cows and didn’t even have a high school in his town. To come here I feel embarrassed. But I am grateful for this great university, and I am grateful to be one of the Board of Trustees.
I think of the experience of the Prophet Joseph when he was only eighteen yea
