The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Ames Institute of Religion

01/18/2026

Our new Ames, Iowa institute class starts next week! We'll be studying the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In preparation for class, please read Elder Neil L. Andersen's excellent April 2015 talk, "Thy Kingdom Come." Here's a link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/04/thy-kingdom-come?lang=eng
Classes are Tuesdays at 6:00pm in the Ames, Iowa stake center. Hope to see you there!

Elder Neil L. Andersen discusses the role Church members have to help build the kingdom of God and prepare for the Second Coming of the Lord.

11/06/2025

In institute next week we'll be discussing Judaism! In preparation for class I invite you to check out this old but good article that will help you understand how the Jewish religion has evolved since the times of the Bible and how their current practices and beliefs relate to our own: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1971/03/judaism?lang=eng
I hope you can make it to class!

Judaism

10/29/2025

In institute next week we'll be talking about a couple of African religions: Yoruba and Vodun. I couldn't find a single article written about these religions from the perspective of our Church, so I'm sending an article instead that is about why it's good to study other religions generally. It works not only for this week, but for the whole course. Enjoy!

The World Village

10/22/2025

For class next week, we'll be discussing Islam, the second largest religion in the world! In preparation for class, I invite you to check out this excellent article, written for the Ensign in the year 2000: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2000/08/a-latter-day-saint-perspective-on-muhammad?lang=eng
Hope to see you in class!

A Latter-day Saint Perspective on Muhammad

10/16/2025

In institute next week we will be getting a feel for a number of Asian religions that we don't have time to take an entire class on: Zoroastrianism (which has some striking similarities to our faith), Sikhism, Jainism, Confucianism, and Mu-ism. The reading for this week is an article about building bridges between our faith and Asian religions, which you can find here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/1975/10/latter-day-saints-and-eastern-religions-a-few-thoughts-on-bridge-building?lang=eng
Alternatively, if you'd like to choose one of these religions to dive into in greater depth, you could go to this site, which has links to some articles about these religions that you might find interesting: https://rsc.byu.edu/book/light-truth
See you next week!

Do we as Latter-day Saint Christians really need to know about other faiths? Do we not know all we need to know? Sometimes we create our own skewed version of other faiths. If we are to be a world church, it is helpful to understand and appreciate all the good that God has given to persons beyond th...

10/02/2025

Hi, everyone! In institute next week we'll be discussing Taoism, and how it relates to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Here's a link to a great article you can check out:

Taoism has in its philosophical form profound similarities with the Spirit-guided life which Latter-day Saints seek to live. Chi Nan Temple, Muzha, Taiwan. A temple may be dedicated to one god, in this case Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals, but also include figures of the Yellow Emperor, Conf...

09/25/2025

In our institute class next week we'll be discussing Buddhism and how it compares with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Here's an article about it (which is easier to understand than last week's article): https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1972/06/buddhism?lang=eng
Hope to see you there!

Buddhism

09/17/2025

Next week we get to start our study of world religions! We'll start with Hinduism. With over one billion followers, Hinduism is the third largest religion on earth, behind only Christianity and Islam. Here's our reading for the week: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1971/02/hinduism?lang=eng
Enjoy!

Hinduism

09/11/2025

In institute next week we'll be discussing religious freedom and religious tolerance. In preparation for class, would you please read this conference talk from Elder Robert D. Hales about religious freedom: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/04/preserving-agency-protecting-religious-freedom?lang=eng
See you next week!

Elder Robert D. Hales explains why religious freedom is necessary for us to exercise agency and fulfill Heavenly Father’s plan.

09/05/2025

In institute next week we’re discussing the reformation and the restoration of the gospel.

I have two readings for our next class that are both good. First is an article by President Ballard called “How the Lord Prepared the World for the Restoration.” It’s an interesting article that gets into some of the technological, cultural, and religious changes that took place during the great apostasy that paved the way for the restoration. Here’s a link:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2020/01/how-the-lord-prepared-the-world-for-the-restoration?lang=eng&id=p34

The second reading for next week is Elder Bednar’s most recent conference talk, “The Times of Restitution of All Things.” It is an excellent talk about the restoration. Here’s a link for that: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/04/41bednar?lang=eng

Hope to see you there!

Elder Bednar summarizes elements of the Restoration of Jesus Christ’s gospel and Church, including the First Vision, the Book of Mormon, and the priesthood.

09/01/2025

We haven't been great at updating our page, lately. Sorry! For institute this week, as part of our Restored Gospel and World Religions class, we're discussing the Great Apostasy. Here's the reading for this week. Enjoy! Hello! In institute this week in Ames we'll be discussing the Great Apostasy. For our reading, we're going to borrow the readings from a different institute course, the Doctrines of the Gospel Course. It's the best thing I could find on the apostasy. I hope you like it! Here's the link (which actually comes from a different institute course, but it's a great resource):

Chapter 22: The Apostasy

04/13/2025

Our next institute class is about adjusting to married life. Here's a link to the readings: