Contents

Articles/Essays

Self-Blame and the Manifesto



Dialogue 24.3 (Fall 1991): 43–57
Before the Manifesto was first read in conference, members and church leaders fully believed in plural marriage as being a commandment from God. Once the Manifesto was read, over time members started wondering if it was because of their own actions that polygamy was no longer a commandment.



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A Mormon View of Life



There are many vantage points from which to view a religion. In distinguishing one Christian religion from another, we might study its concept of God, the mission of Jesus Christ, or the role of the…



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Fiction

Bird of Paradise



A drum was beating that night as my family and I entered the elementary school gymnasium. Animal skins were stretched across a portion of hollowed-out tree, two flat brown hands pounding on their surface. Instantly…



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Letters to the Editor

Notes

Personal Voices

My Mother’s House



I spent the thirteenth of December 1985 traveling by automobile from Ogden, Utah, to Snowflake, Arizona, to attend my mother’s funeral. It was my fifty-second birthday. My wife, daughter, and I commandeered a bedroom in…



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My Liberty Jail



This dialogue of anguished questioning and consolation has an intensely personal meaning to me. The 1980s were a decade that severely tested my faith in Heavenly Father and my commitment to the Church. Whatever others will remember of these ten years, I will remember suffering: personally, professionally, and spiritually.



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Counting the Cost



It wasn’t the silver balance scale the teacher used for a centerpiece. Initially I thought it attractive, effective as a visual aid. It wasn’t her manner or her voice, all appealing, that offended me. It…



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Poetry

Reviews