My 17-year old son, Mitchell, and I have recently completed a book together called Perfect in Christ: The Good News of God’s Grace. I believe this book is the most important book I have worked on to date. The Kindle and Audible editions are available now for purchase. The print book, which will be available at Deseret Book and other book sellers, will be released this fall.

This year BYU released the results of a study that examined the effects of legalism and grace on mental health. (https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/grace-legalism-and-mental-health-among-latter-day-saints) What is legalism, you may ask? “Legalism happens when we substitute our rules and rituals for our relationship with Christ. It’s a subtle trap that takes the focus off of what God has done for you and slowly turns it to what you have done for God.” (https://pastors.com/legalism-in-ministry/) BYU’s study found that many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held legalistic beliefs and had a limited understanding of Christ’s grace.

The BYU study found that individuals with legalistic thinking experienced greater depression, anxiety, shame, negative perfectionism, and self-loathing. The higher the legalistic beliefs, the less individuals reported experiencing God’s grace, and, in turn, the poorer the mental-health outcomes. Higher scores on experiencing grace were consistently linked to lower levels of depression, anxiety, negative perfectionism, and shame.

Mitchell and I hope that Perfect in Christ: The Good News of God’s Grace will help readers embrace Christ’s grace resulting in greater peace, hope, love, and joy. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BKW6WFL/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i5