The God who weeps : how Mormonism makes sense of life

Authors Terryl and Fiona Givens share five fundamental truths about the universe that the Mormon faith has taught them. "Woven together into a coherent tapestry, we find these fundamental truths a compelling, inspiring, and reasonable picture suggesting who presides over this universe, where we came from, why we are here, and what might await us." Gospel Teachings "Whether by design or by chance," Terryl and Fiona Givens write, "we find ourselves in a universe filled with mystery. We encounter appealing arguments for a Divinity that is a childish projection, for prophets as scheming or deluded imposters, and for scripture as so much fabulous fiction. But there is also compelling evidence that a glorious Divinity presides over the cosmos, that His angels are strangers we have entertained unawares, and that His word and will are made manifest through a sacred canon that is never definitively closed. What we choose to embrace, to be responsive to, is the purest reflection of who we are and what we love. That is why faith, the choice to believe, is in the final analysis, an action that is positively laden with moral significance." As humans, we are, like the poet John Keats, "straining at particles of light in the midst of a great darkness." And yet, the authors describe a version of life's meaning that is reasonableand radically resonant. It tells of a God whose heart beats in sympathy with ours, who set His heart upon us before the world was formed, who fashioned the earth as a place of human ascent, not exile, and who has the desire and the capacity to bring the entire human family home again. Introduction : the longing soul God is a personal entity, having a heart that beats in sympathy with human hearts, feeling our joy and sorrowing over our pain We lived as spirit beings in the presence of God before we were born into this mortal life Mortality is an ascent, not a fall, and we carry infinite potential into a world of sin and sorrow God has the desire and the power to unite and exalt the entire human family in a kingdom of heaven, and except for the most stubbornly unwilling, that will be our destiny Heaven will consist of those relationships that matter most to us now.