Gospel Topics Essays

With the announcement of more Gospel Topics essays I wanted to ask when they will be available on the Gospel Library for mobile devices. There are many gospel topics essays which are different and distinct from what is available in the Bible Dictionary. For example the definition and explanation of the gospel topic of "Grace" or the "Fall of Adam" is different in the lds.org/topics than it is in the bible dictionary. A number of essays have relevance to sunday school lessons and missionary work. For example it would be crucial for missionaries and teachers to have access on their mobile devices to the "Book of Mormon translation" topic essay, the essay on "Becoming Like God", "Race and the Priesthood", etc.

I agree! It would be great to have the Gospel Topics found on lds.org available in the Gospel Library. That would make it easier to access them.

For example the Bible Dictionary (BD) definition of grace says that grace is an enabling power that only works until "after they have expended their own best efforts". It also says that "grace cannot suffice without total effort on the part of the recipient", "after all we can do". The Gospel Topics (GT) definition of grace refers to "spiritual healing", that we can receive by "trying to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ for the rest of our lives". This grace of God "helps us every day", "strengthens us to do good works we could not do on our own", and says that "His grace will help us overcome all our personal weaknesses".

Has there been any response on adding Gospel Topics Essays and Gospel Topics to the lds gospel library apps?

No response yet. Elder Ballard's talk to CES should help move this forward. Elder Ballard recently said at the CES broadcast from Feb26, 2016 that "we should be the first (outside of student families) to introduce topics that will be less well-known or controversial." Ballard says, "I'm talking about polygamy. of seer stones, different accounts of the first vision. the process of translation of the book of mormon, the book of abraham, gender issues. Race and the priesthood. Heavenly Mother." He then says we need to know the gospel topics essays like the "back of your hand". If I have my smart phone in my left hand, and it has the installed LDS Gospel Library, it should have the Gospel Topics essays available for installation. Hopefully soon! Not sure where my comments here are going? Is anyone reading this?

Falasha wrote:Not sure where my comments here are going? Is anyone reading this?

This is just a community forum; the people who read these posts are people like you who have an interest in LDS technology. Your points are interesting, but if you want your suggestion read by someone who has influence on what happens, you need to use the Feedback link on LDS.org.

The Gospel Topics essays are now available in the Gospel Library app in the Church History collection.

crazymatt wrote:The Gospel Topics essays are now available in the Gospel Library app in the Church History collection.

Good news, thanks! Most of them do fit well under Church History. There are a few, like "Are Mormons Christian" or "Becoming Like God," that are more doctrinal than historical, but I appreciate having them all grouped together anyway.

I don't see a Church History collection in the Android version of the Gospel Library app, even after doing a catalog refresh under Catalog Options.

danpass wrote:I don't see a Church History collection in the Android version of the Gospel Library app, even after doing a catalog refresh under Catalog Options.

Same here - no sign of it.

Liz

lmcguire wrote:

danpass wrote:I don't see a Church History collection in the Android version of the Gospel Library app, even after doing a catalog refresh under Catalog Options.

Same here - no sign of it.

Liz

After doing another catalog refresh this morning, the Church History collection is now available in Gospel Library for Android.

danpass wrote:After doing another catalog refresh this morning, the Church History collection is now available in Gospel Library for Android.

Glad to hear it. I'll keep trying. Nothing at lunchtime on Android. Perhaps suppertime.

This is where it shows up on my device.

lajackson wrote:Perhaps suppertime.

It has appeared.

It seems as if they have moved all of the Church History stuff from Institute under this collection, as well. Or maybe they are just duplicate links to the teacher and student manuals that are also under the Institute collection. They do that in a few other places.

In any event, it is nice to have the Gospel Topics Essays now.

Finally showed up for me yesterday evening.

Liz