A Christmas trivia quiz is both fun and an opportunity to learn a bit more of the Christmas story. I wrote this quiz years ago and have given it many times. It is meant to be entertaining but educational at the same time, so I add comments here and there. There are 50 questions. Good luck.

So, what do we learn from this quiz? Well, we learn that the creche displays and nativity scenes we all love… are somewhat inaccurate. There are many legends that have been written about the birth of Jesus Christ. For example, Jesus’s birth was not in December, it was in April. Mary probably did not ride a donkey to Bethlehem and the wise men apparently did not arrive in time for the manger scene. There were no little drummer boys either. But the important thing is that the birth of the Savior did happen.

This reality check can be done on Christmas hymns as well. “We Three Kings” is probably in error since we don’t know if there were really three wise men or if they were kings. “Away in a Manger” claims that cattle were lowing, which the scriptures do not mention. But there is one hymn that is accurate. The manger scene described by “Silent Night” is just how I imagine it was. In recognition of its accuracy and spiritual effect, I play an instrumental “Silent Night” as I sign off.

Not surprisingly, the human brain does not like to consider death – especially its own – which is why many people never discuss their desires with their families. As a society, we are much less comfortable than past generations in dealing with death. The reason to discuss death in this podcast is because one of the most difficult areas of overlap between Science and Religion occurs at the end of life. Today, Death is often a highly technical event – with lots of medical test results and advice from numerous doctors and specialists. But at the same time, death holds a number of spiritual questions. It is best to figure all this out during your life, not at its end. Put your desires down in writing and then come to terms with what you have written. Though they may initially object to having the discussion, share those desires with your spouse and adult children, so they too know your wishes.

In today’s episode, I start with a couple of stories about the earth when it was young. As we consider the Creation, we must recognize that we don’t know what Jesus Christ’s role was. Did He put on work gloves and plant evolving plants? Did He design animal species and create the first male and female? It appears that Lord was probably more of an Overseer of the natural process of the evolution. One may then ask, “How much does God participate in our own lives?”, but we don’t know that either. There is a saying that, to really understand something, you must go back to its beginning. I submit that understanding God’s role in the Creation may help us to understand His role in our lives as well.

In General Conference of April 2018, Pres. Russell M. Ballard, “In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.” I am not a spiritual person, and I don’t know how to increase my spiritual capacity to receive personal revelation. I propose that some of the descriptors for the Holy Ghost are a bit outdated and confusing. Does the Holy Ghost cause your bosom to burn within you? Burning hurts and the word bosom is distracting. Does the Holy Ghost cause you a stupor of thought? What does stupor really mean? Does the Holy Ghost audibly whisper? If not, what should we expect? We shall examine the answers to some of these questions in this episode.

The title of today’s podcast is “Power and Sacrifice”. We may wonder, “Is power a good thing or a bad thing?” When we speak of it in church, it is considered a good thing. We are encouraged to seek the Power of Prayer, the Power of Faith, the Power of the Priesthood, and the Power of God. On the other hand, we have all heard the phrase, “Power Corrupts; Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely”. Using the Marvel movie Thor Ragnarok as our starting example, we examine the relationship between Power and Sacrifice. Power, even when used to fight evil, requires Sacrifice. Of course, we consider other examples - Alma, the Savior, and Nephi, son of Helaman - of sacrifice and power. We consider the reasons that Power comes through true Sacrifice.

This episode will be a special podcast, a change in my planned schedule. A young man in my church ward committed suicide last week. Although I did not know the young man well, his death affected me. Through this podcast and my books, I research and write about God, the Creation, and the interaction between the two every day. I felt a need to share my belief as to why we live in a world with such difficulties that young people take their own lives. If I cannot offer some perspective on suicide and tragedy to this family and many others who have experienced such sadness, then what good am I to anyone as an author of the books and podcast I write?

In this episode, we are honored to have Tony Goodall, an attorney who served a church mission in the LDS Church Legal Department in Germany. Most members know little about our church’s legal department, but in a worldwide church, our attorneys do a lot. Tony sheds some light on the challenges faced by the Church legal teams, both in the US and especially abroad.

Faithful Christians have attacked scientific findings for centuries, claiming that they run counter to the scriptures. As it has turns out, scientific findings have, instead, cleared up multiple misinterpretations of the scriptures. In this episode, I give three examples of how latter-day technology has helped to answer latter-day scriptural questions. The first story is about Nicolas Copernicus, who, in 1530, concluded that the earth revolved around the sun. This went against all logic and the scriptures. The second and most famous story is of Charles Darwin, who in 1859 published his book on evolution. The third story is about the charge made in 2000 that DNA sequencing proved that the Book of Mormon was false. The charge was inaccurate, but it led to a better understanding of our scripture.

Most lifetimes, be they of a plant or a star, are linear. But our lives are not. Our lives are eternal – and as we go through the different phases of our lives, patterns emerge. I can see why the Lord would use the term “one eternal round” to describe our lives. I decided to see if I could find an “eternal round” within earth life – phases in our lives through which we all must pass. Just as there are three phases of Eternal Life (the Preexistence, Earth Life, and the Afterlife), I believe there are three phases within earth life that form their own round.

Earth Life - Phase One – Developing Potential in Our Youth

Earth Life - Phase Two – Making Decisions as Adults

Earth Life - Phase Three – Learning Wisdom from Reflections as Retirees

Each of these phases is examined to learn its purpose and our responsibilities during our time that we are in them.

This podcast episode is dedicated to answering the question that has plagued me for weeks. “Why are so many people NOT getting the COVID vaccine?” The FDA, the entire worldwide healthcare industry, huge and well-funded pharmaceutical corporations, the United States and other world governments, your primary doctor, and 2.33 billion people across the earth are encouraging you to be vaccinated. My son-in-law explained, "We live in a time when no one trusts anyone anymore.”

Our dollar bills may state, “In God We Trust”, but our society today teaches, “Trust No One”. I don’t think a society made up of people who trust no one is a healthy society. Can we say that we love God, but we don’t trust His church? Can we say that we love our country, yet not trust any of its political leaders? We need to recover our optimism and trust in others, so that we can be happier people. We need to become a little more dove-like and lot less serpent-like.