The Blessed and Happy State
Elder Quentin L. Cook began his most recent address in general conference with these words, “Charles Dickens famously began his classic novel A Tale of Two Cities with the assertion that ‘it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’ In a sense, this is true in our day.” It is easy to see why we might call it the worst of times given the wickedness, wars, contention, and incredible suffering worldwide; indeed, “the whole world [is] in commotion” (Doctrine and Covenants 45:26). One estimate suggests that there are 56 wars going on right now, and “92 countries are currently involved in conflicts beyond their borders.” Another site reports that 117 million people right now have been forcibly displaced from their homes “due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order.” In addition, 318 million people in the world face acute hunger. Surely many other sobering statistics like this could be cited—there are...