Morning Study

I am REALLY enjoying both of these books 

by Patrick Q. Mason. 

Planted and Restoration

Planted talks about doubt and why it's imperative for a believer

to not equate doubt with sin. God welcomes questions.

(This week's CFM has Abraham questioning and pressing the Lord.)

I'm loving the chapter on prophets are not perfect. 

(God will never take away our free agency. Even the prophet's.)

Mason is a brilliant historian and scholar of religion at Utah State and has a great sense of humor too.

Description:

For all its advances, our secular age has also weakened ties to religious belief and affiliation, and Latter-day Saints have not been immune. In recent years, many faithful Church members have encountered challenging aspects of Church history, belief, or practice. Feeling isolated, alienated, or misled, some struggle to stay. Some simply leave. Many search for a reliable and faithful place to work through their questions. The abundance of information online can leave them frustrated. Planted offers those who struggle—and those who love them—practical ways to stay planted in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

"An entirely honest and entirely affirming treatment of the challenges facing LDS believer. Mason brings a historian's training and sophistication together with a disciple's compassion and sensitivity to bear on an urgent topic. The result is a provocative and inspiring framework for faith."
—Fiona and Terryl Givens, authors of The Crucible of Doubt: Reflections on the Quest for Faith

Description

The Restoration began in the spring of 1820, when Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees in upstate New York. Joseph had questions, and Jesus had answers.

That was two hundred years ago. As the Restoration enters its third century, the world has new questions. A loving God has answers. In Restoration, scholar and author Patrick Mason reflects on what it means for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to participate in the ongoing Restoration. Every generation must rediscover the gospel anew, and this book breathes new life into well-worn terms and phrases. What does it mean to restore Israel ? How can a church with less than one percent of the world's population be true ? What baggage have we picked up these past two centuries, and how do we move forward with confidence, relevance, and impact? The Restoration was intended to bless all of our Heavenly Parents children, especially the marginalized and vulnerable among us. This book will inspire and challenge you to rethink, recommit, and respond to God's call to the 21st-century world.