Hi, I'm Ben

I love books. I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I'm a bookworm, writer, designer, illustrator, typographer, and coder. I was homeschooled till I was thirteen, served a mission in Thailand, and have a bachelor's degree in English linguistics. I'm a web designer by trade. I'm happily married and have a lovely daughter.

Why I am a Mormon

I'm a Mormon because living the restored gospel of Jesus Christ makes me feel good, happy, and full of light. The more I live the gospel, the more I love my family. Christ's teachings lead me to become a better man, husband, and father. The gospel gives my life my meaning. It gives me hope. It gives me strength to deal with the problems and challenges that life throws my way. It gives me understanding and peace and joy.

Personal Stories

What has helped develop greater harmony in your home?

Doing my best to forget myself and love and serve my wife with all my heart. Being quick to forgive and quick to repent. Praying and reading the scriptures together as a family every day and going to the temple as a couple as often as we can.

Which of the Savior’s teachings have influenced you?

All of them, but I particularly love His teaching that we have to lose our lives to save them -- we have to let go of our selfishness and stop focusing inward. I've found that when I do that and focus outward on the people around me, I'm so much happier. Selfishness never was happiness.

Please share your feelings/testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel.

By their fruits ye shall know them, and it's abundantly clear to me that the work of Joseph Smith has God's signature all over it. The Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price and the Church that Joseph restored are all full of light -- solid, substantial light from heaven. This is the real deal. Joseph wasn't perfect, but he was definitely a prophet of God. And so is President Monson today, along with his counselors and the Twelve Apostles. Real prophets speak truth from on high, always pointing people to Christ, and that's what these men do. This really is Christ's church.

How has the Book of Mormon brought you closer to God?

The Book of Mormon is so clear, and every part of it points straight to Christ. It's the most Christ-focused book I've ever read. I've gotten to know God better by reading about His dealings with His other children, and by reading what His prophets have written about Him. Beyond that, the more I try to apply the teachings of the Book of Mormon in my life, the holier and happier I feel, without fail. The Book of Mormon makes me want to be a better man and then helps me actually do that.

How I live my faith

I serve as president of one of the groups of men in my congregation. Most of what I do involves teaching and helping the men take care of the members of the ward. How do I live my faith? By trying hard to live the kind of life Jesus Christ lived. It means sacrifice and hard work and being different, but it's worth it. A lot of it also comes down to small and simple things like reading the scriptures and praying every day and going to church each week. And trying every day to stop being selfish and instead look outward in love to those around me, especially my wife and daughter.

What do Mormons believe about family?

Ben answered...

We believe that family is incredibly important -- that it's the fundamental unit of society not just here but in heaven, too. We believe we're part of the family of all mankind, not in some vague way but as actual children of our Heavenly Father. We believe that families need to be preserved and nurtured, because it's in families that we learn a lot of the things that help us be good people. And when families are filled with love and sacrifice, they bring us joy, too. It's hard work, sure, but it's worth it. Also, family is important enough to us that we want to share the blessings of the gospel with our ancestors, helping them find this same joy, and that's why we do family history and temple work.
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Bradley. answered...

The family is a key component to support us in God's plan for gaining immortality and eternal life. All of God's children (all the inhabitants that lived, are living, and will live on Earth) are inseperably connected to each other, both (physically) by our Earthly families and (spiritually) by our Heavenly Father.

Families help us to understand our divine heritage. In this, life takes on purpose and meaning. Our immortal spirits were created by our Heavenly Father before Earthly existance, and we are directly connected to Him in this way. As a spiritual family, our collective purpose on Earth is to follow the commandments of God that lead us to live in heaven with Him again.

Our spirits need to progress, learn, and grow. In order to achieve that, Earthly existance was created as our test. Our Heavenly Father knew that being exposed to opposing forces on Earth was the only way for us to gain knowledge and wisdom.

However, we will not always choose righteousness, and so our Savior, Jesus Christ, is that great mediator to pay the debt of our mistakes. He is the only way by which we can be saved from our sins and transgressions. He is the ultimate example by which direction we need to live our lives. With the support of our earthly kin, we can learn from each other, serve each other, and strengthen our mortal weaknesses by being disciples of Christ. Our families are a gift from God, and we can be together forever.

What do Mormons believe about the Bible? Do they regard it as Holy Scripture and the word of God?

Jonathan Richardson answered...

We believe that the Bible is the word of God, given through his Apostles and Prophets in the days of old. Through generations the bible has been translated time and time again, and now it stands with some of the simple truths of Christs teachings being either removed or complicated. That is why there are so many different views on what the scriptures teach, and so many churchs created for those views. We believe that God has restored those simple truths and clarified the complicated view through the Book of Mormon which is a record of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas.