Listen, Learn & Love: Impmroving Latter Day Saint Culture

Book excerpt: Many faithful children of our Heavenly Parents find it difficult to stay in the Church, not because of doctrine or a lack of desire to keep the commandments, but because of Latter-day Saint culture. The good news is that we need not wait to be more welcoming and inclusive. We can all be part of the solution. In these pages, you'll find stories about improving our culture by being: - less judgmental and more loving - not measuring progress by Church callings - better hearing and valuing women - acquiring a better framework for ending pornography use - hope-filled repentance - creating better understanding of mental illness and suicide - overcoming scrupulosity (religious OCD) - embracing early-release and service missionaries - manifesting love in political differences - and compassionately ministering to those with questions. Through the power of storytelling, former YSA bishop Richard Ostler invites all of us to listen, learn, and love so we can do our part to improve Church culture. This book-which is supportive of the Church, its leaders, and doctrine-is an extension of Ostler's enormously popular podcast Listen, Learn, and Love and his earlier book, Listen, Learn, and Love: Embracing LGBTQ Latter-day Saints.