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Faith: The Essence of True Religion
"Faith, which is the very essence of personal conviction, has always been and always must be at the root of religious practice and endeavor." With penetrating insight and stirring conviction, Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, explains how our lives can be enriched by an abiding faith in God and his gospel. Just as faith inspired the great religious movements in history, from the Exodus to the Reformation to the Restoration, faith can play a key role in our personal lives. President Hinckley writes, "Faith can become the very wellspring of purposeful living. There is no more compelling motivation to worthwhile endeavor than the knowledge that we are children of God." This "living, vital force" is a marvelous gift available to everyone. President Hinckley imbues his discussion with the confidence that the Lord will bless with success those who seek a testimony of the four gospel the divinity of Jesus Christ, the vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the truth of the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of the priesthood. "Without certitude on the part of believers," he observes, "a religious cause becomes soft, without muscle, without the driving force that would broaden its influence and capture the hearts and affections of men and women."
132 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1989
10 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
About the author
Gordon B. Hinckley
100 books362 followersPresident Hinckley was known, even at the age of 95, as a tireless leader who always put in a full day at the office and traveled extensively around the world to mix with Church members, now numbering nearly 13 million in 171 nations.
His quick wit and humor, combined with an eloquent style at the pulpit, made him one of the most loved of modern Church leaders. A profoundly spiritual man, he had a great fondness for history and often peppered his sermons with stories from the Church’s pioneer past.
He was a popular interview subject with journalists, appearing on 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace and on CNN’s Larry King Live, as well as being quoted and featured in hundreds of newspapers and magazines over the years. During the Salt Lake Olympics of 2002, his request that the Church refrain from proselytizing visitors was credited by media with generating much of the goodwill that flowed to the Church from the international event.
In recent years, a number of major developments in the Church reflected President Hinckley’s personal drive and direction. In calling for 100 temples to be in operation before the end of the year 2000, the Church president committed the Church to a massive temple-building program.
In 1999 — 169 years after the Church was organized by its founder, Joseph Smith — the Church had 56 operating temples. Three years later that number had doubled, largely because of a smaller, highly practical temple architectural plan that delivered these sacred buildings to Church members in far-flung parts of the world. Many more Church members can now experience the sacred ceremonies that occur only in temples, including marriages for eternity and the sealing of families in eternal units.
President Hinckley was the most traveled president in the Church’s history. His duties took him around the world many times to meet with Latter-day Saints in more than 60 countries. He was the first Church president to travel to Spain, where in 1996 he broke ground for a temple in Madrid; and to the African nations of Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Cape Verde, where he met with thousands of Latter-day Saints in 1998. In 2005, he traveled nearly 25,000 miles on a seven-nation, nine-day tour to Russia, South Korea, China, Taiwan, India, Kenya, and Nigeria.
At a general conference of Church members in April 2001, President Hinckley initiated the Perpetual Education Fund — an ambitious program to help young members of the Church (mainly returning missionaries from developing countries) receive higher education and work-related training that they would otherwise likely never receive.
Closer to his Salt Lake City home, President Hinckley announced the construction of a new Conference Center in 1996 and dedicated it four years later. Seating 21,000 people, it is believed to be the largest religious and theater auditorium in the world and has become the hub for the Church’s general conference messages to the world, broadcast in 54 languages.
Even before his term as president, President Hinckley’s extensive Church service included 14 years as a counselor in the First Presidency, the highest presiding body in the government of the Church, and 20 years before that as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
President Hinckley was born 23 June 1910 in Salt Lake City, a son of Bryant Stringham and Ada Bitner Hinckley. One of his forebears, Stephen Hopkins, came to America on the Mayflower. Another, Thomas Hinckley, served as governor of the Plymouth Colony from 1680 to 1692.
President Hinckley’s first job was as a newspaper carrier for the Deseret News, a Salt Lake City daily. After attending public schools in Salt Lake City, he earned a bachelor of arts degree at the University of Utah and then served two years as a full-time missionary for the Church in Great Britain. He served with distinction and ultimately was appointed as an assistant to the Church apostle who presided over all the Europe
His quick wit and humor, combined with an eloquent style at the pulpit, made him one of the most loved of modern Church leaders. A profoundly spiritual man, he had a great fondness for history and often peppered his sermons with stories from the Church’s pioneer past.
He was a popular interview subject with journalists, appearing on 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace and on CNN’s Larry King Live, as well as being quoted and featured in hundreds of newspapers and magazines over the years. During the Salt Lake Olympics of 2002, his request that the Church refrain from proselytizing visitors was credited by media with generating much of the goodwill that flowed to the Church from the international event.
In recent years, a number of major developments in the Church reflected President Hinckley’s personal drive and direction. In calling for 100 temples to be in operation before the end of the year 2000, the Church president committed the Church to a massive temple-building program.
In 1999 — 169 years after the Church was organized by its founder, Joseph Smith — the Church had 56 operating temples. Three years later that number had doubled, largely because of a smaller, highly practical temple architectural plan that delivered these sacred buildings to Church members in far-flung parts of the world. Many more Church members can now experience the sacred ceremonies that occur only in temples, including marriages for eternity and the sealing of families in eternal units.
President Hinckley was the most traveled president in the Church’s history. His duties took him around the world many times to meet with Latter-day Saints in more than 60 countries. He was the first Church president to travel to Spain, where in 1996 he broke ground for a temple in Madrid; and to the African nations of Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Cape Verde, where he met with thousands of Latter-day Saints in 1998. In 2005, he traveled nearly 25,000 miles on a seven-nation, nine-day tour to Russia, South Korea, China, Taiwan, India, Kenya, and Nigeria.
At a general conference of Church members in April 2001, President Hinckley initiated the Perpetual Education Fund — an ambitious program to help young members of the Church (mainly returning missionaries from developing countries) receive higher education and work-related training that they would otherwise likely never receive.
Closer to his Salt Lake City home, President Hinckley announced the construction of a new Conference Center in 1996 and dedicated it four years later. Seating 21,000 people, it is believed to be the largest religious and theater auditorium in the world and has become the hub for the Church’s general conference messages to the world, broadcast in 54 languages.
Even before his term as president, President Hinckley’s extensive Church service included 14 years as a counselor in the First Presidency, the highest presiding body in the government of the Church, and 20 years before that as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
President Hinckley was born 23 June 1910 in Salt Lake City, a son of Bryant Stringham and Ada Bitner Hinckley. One of his forebears, Stephen Hopkins, came to America on the Mayflower. Another, Thomas Hinckley, served as governor of the Plymouth Colony from 1680 to 1692.
President Hinckley’s first job was as a newspaper carrier for the Deseret News, a Salt Lake City daily. After attending public schools in Salt Lake City, he earned a bachelor of arts degree at the University of Utah and then served two years as a full-time missionary for the Church in Great Britain. He served with distinction and ultimately was appointed as an assistant to the Church apostle who presided over all the Europe
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 9, 2008
This was a wonderful book. I read it immediately following General Conference weekend, so I guess it was a continuation of a spiritual high. :) It was written by President Gordon B. Hinckley, who passed away in January, which was very sad but you have to know how happy he is to be home. Reading this book was like hearing his voice again - excited and optimistic about the world we live in, despite its many problems; grateful and sincere in his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ; and completely encouraging anyone who reads it to do a little better and try a little harder.
Included in this book are some amazing pioneer stories. I've heard prophets and apostles say that our trials today are no less challenging - only different - than those of our pioneer ancestors. Sometimes, I wonder about that. How many thousands of people gave up everything - possessions, homes - and even buried loved ones on the way to an unknown land to follow the prophet? What kind of faith must that have taken? Reading these stories causes some serious introspection. Do I have that kind of faith? Would I be the kind to keep moving forward if things became unbearably hard? It's a question I don't know the answer to - one I'm not sure I want to know the answer to - but I think I know what I'd like the answer to be.
Great book, well written, and very uplifting.
Included in this book are some amazing pioneer stories. I've heard prophets and apostles say that our trials today are no less challenging - only different - than those of our pioneer ancestors. Sometimes, I wonder about that. How many thousands of people gave up everything - possessions, homes - and even buried loved ones on the way to an unknown land to follow the prophet? What kind of faith must that have taken? Reading these stories causes some serious introspection. Do I have that kind of faith? Would I be the kind to keep moving forward if things became unbearably hard? It's a question I don't know the answer to - one I'm not sure I want to know the answer to - but I think I know what I'd like the answer to be.
Great book, well written, and very uplifting.
August 23, 2015
Read 2nd time 8/23/2015
Read 1st time Aug. 2010. Review from 2010:
Not about this book specifically, but the author and my hero:
Gosh, I love President Hinckley. We all will have "our" prophet...the one who touched us at a pivotal point in our lives...Gordon Bitner Hinckley is mine. I love and admire him and Marjorie, and miss them both immensely. I still love to read their words and hear their optimism, and feel their calming influence, and admire their depth of wisdom. They were far from ignorant, yet chose simplicity and radiate a goodness and dignity that is exceptionally rare, in my opinion. I'm excited to have found a book by his father among my Dad's books, and love the legacy of learning that my parents and my religion have "devolved upon me".
I'll always read President Hinckley's words with fondness.
Read 1st time Aug. 2010. Review from 2010:
Not about this book specifically, but the author and my hero:
Gosh, I love President Hinckley. We all will have "our" prophet...the one who touched us at a pivotal point in our lives...Gordon Bitner Hinckley is mine. I love and admire him and Marjorie, and miss them both immensely. I still love to read their words and hear their optimism, and feel their calming influence, and admire their depth of wisdom. They were far from ignorant, yet chose simplicity and radiate a goodness and dignity that is exceptionally rare, in my opinion. I'm excited to have found a book by his father among my Dad's books, and love the legacy of learning that my parents and my religion have "devolved upon me".
I'll always read President Hinckley's words with fondness.
Want to read
September 2, 2011I found this be a quite easy read, with the topics addressed simply yet powerfully. While the title of book has to do with Faith, how President Hinckley weaves the story of faith into a cloth of testimony is the real message.
There is a sense of optimism that accompanies the warnings and admonitions. As always, he focuses on characteristics of gratitude, virtue and faith as underlying principles of understanding while at the same time bringing to the heart of the reader a true belief in the love of the Savior and our charge to love as He does.
Ultimately the faith that is the essence of true religion is understood to be faith in ourselves, faith in others and faith in God.
Well done.
There is a sense of optimism that accompanies the warnings and admonitions. As always, he focuses on characteristics of gratitude, virtue and faith as underlying principles of understanding while at the same time bringing to the heart of the reader a true belief in the love of the Savior and our charge to love as He does.
Ultimately the faith that is the essence of true religion is understood to be faith in ourselves, faith in others and faith in God.
Well done.
July 13, 2008
I guess I should have known what this book was when I picked it up, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I was hoping for an in-depth study on faith and how we excercise it in our lives, but instead got a collection of talks given at various times in Gordon B. Hinckley's life. Don't get me wrong, they were fine talks and I gleaned much wisdom from them--hence the four star rating--but I come away from it still feeling like I wasn't quite satisfied, because I want to hear more of what he has to say specifically about faith.
May 20, 2009
This book is full of stories from President Hinkley's personal life experiences, as well as numerous addresses he gave throughout his service in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I enjoy his insight and his frankness of the counsel he shares, and the testimony that he has, of Jesus Christ.
April 3, 2009
I was surprised to read at the end of that book that each chapter is actually from different Ensign articles from President Hinckley. My favorite was Chapter 10 from a talk entitled, "The Environment of Our Homes" from the June 1985 Ensign. I can't wait for Conference!!!!!
123 pages, 2009 total: 6618
123 pages, 2009 total: 6618
January 4, 2011
I only wish I'd read this book with a pencil in hand. One can't help but be inspired by this man's optimism and solid faith in the Savior. A great pick me up for those days when you wonder what the future can hold--and a great reinforcer for when you feel full of hope. Overall a relatively easy read that is full of meat.
January 11, 2016
Like other reviewers, I would have given this five stars, but I did not understand the nature of this book from the outset. I had expected an in depth discussion on faith. instead, this is a collection of excerpts from talks given by Pres. Hinckley. Each excerpt is wonderful and reminds me of how much I miss listening to this man, but it just wasn't what I was expecting.
October 17, 2008
I started reading this book in response to the Catholic copy of Fulton Sheen's A Preface to religion. I am really enjoying it's powerful message and how I can increase my own spirituality through faith and living the gospel through morality and good choices.
March 26, 2009
I love reading anything that President Hinckley has written. His wisdom and divine inspiration inspire me and make me want to do better and be better. His books are among my most treasured possessions.
June 15, 2012
awesome read. it's adapted from several talks and ensign articles from before he was prophet. each chapter stands alone, and so it's easy to pick up and just read a bit at a time. a great short read for anyone in need of a quick pick me up. and who doesn't love president hinckley? :)
March 10, 2008
Gordon B. What more is there to say?
September 16, 2008
I used this book as a 1 month devotional.......and journaled its finer points. A quick easy read.
January 14, 2009
There is a simplicity and pure quality in President Hinckley's writing. It can be felt in the heart as well as understood by the mind. I love it!
September 8, 2012
Hinckley's messages are overflowing with practical guidance for Christians.
February 25, 2016
I didn't realize how much I admired and loved President Hinckley until he died. Truely a giant among us, as seen clearly in this book.
December 21, 2016
"Pois, de modo geral, as pessoas mais infelizes que conheço são as obcecadas por si mesmas."
August 11, 2022
There is so much good in this that I feel I will need to read it again and again just to remember it all even though it is a short book. Has great information on how to have a happy life and become the best version of you.
May 2, 2017
Standing at a crossroads in my faith, I found this book to be simplicity in describing the ideals of faith and the ways to apply it.
The various stories and personal experiences of the author allow us all to connect to him without the feeling of isolation.
Faith is a worldly constant, each of us displays it differently. However this book helps us to achieve a greater potential from holding onto a faith.
The various stories and personal experiences of the author allow us all to connect to him without the feeling of isolation.
Faith is a worldly constant, each of us displays it differently. However this book helps us to achieve a greater potential from holding onto a faith.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews