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“No, we don’t worship Joseph Smith,” I explained to the investigator. “We respect him as a prophet.” “You mean, like Mohamed?” he asked. “No, more like Moses, or John the Baptist.” It was a standard comparison that I had used repeatedly on my mission. Joseph Smith is just a prophet. He’s just like John the Baptist, or Moses, or Peter, James, and John. Of course, there are a few problems with that characterization, aren’t there? Chief among them — if Joseph Smith is really just like John the Baptist, then why don’t we treat the two similarly? And despite doctrinal...

For the most part, I enjoy sacrament meeting. I like that it’s always been the final meeting in every ward I’ve been in. It’s cool to sit close together with the family, even if our four-year-old is bending my shoe back trying to boost out of the pew and the eight-year-old is begging to go sit with Meghan, or Brittany, etc. I like the songs, the once-monthly testimonies and the wide variety, and quality, of the talks. Maybe the comfort of sacrament meeting never really changing as long as I remember, satisfies this believing Latter-day Saint. But, every December around...