Eight Observations from #LDSConf October 2015

A lot to unpack from this October's General Conference, but first here it is in bullet-point format.

WOMEN'S SESSION

- Wixom focussed a lot on purity and virtue. Keep yourselves pure. Motherhood is the highest calling. Your divine nature is needed in this Church.
- Reeves had a similar thing. Stay away from sin and temptation. The trials in this life are worth the eternal life we'll gain in the next.
- McConkie testified about feeling God's love and urged women to remain pure and righteous.
- Uchtdorf told a story about learning to be happy in this life even when it doesn't work out the you'd hoped.

SATURDAY MORNING

- Uchtdorf told us to simplify, and he warned of people getting too curious on the internet, as there are sites out there that will ruin testimonies, and some of them are inaccurate or misleading.
- Ballard plugged "The Old Ship Zion" again, which makes me wonder if he's writing a book with that title to be on sale soon at Deseret Book. He also pointed out young children shouldn't bear their testimony in Fast & Testimony Meeting until they understand what they're really saying.
- Maynes used a story about clay on a potter's wheel to compare us to the clay and the Lord to the potter (to paraphrase Isaiah.)
- Marriott also referred to potter's clay in her talk and used the example of her daughter's death to illustrate how their family motto "It will all work out" does not mean "It will all work out now." The Lord has eternal perspective.
- Lawrence said we need to keep asking the Holy Ghost what we need to do to improve ourselves or be more righteous.
- Vinas spoke about overcoming afflictions and enduring to the end.
- Cook spoke about wickedness not being happiness, used a ship analogy, spoke about keeping the Sabbath Day holy.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

- Hales told young people to be serious about dating in their 20's, and to pay their tithing and avoid debt.
- Holland gave a tribute to mothers, especially one who prayed for her gay son and he eventually was able to finish his mission.
- Foster gave this talk about how parents need to do everything they can to make sure their children have testimonies.
- Montoya spoke about how we can lighten each other's burdens, including "smile" and "express feelings of compassion to others."
- Stanfill spoke about internet critics being part of the great and spacious building.
- Martino said we may not get answers to our prayers when we want, but they will come, even if several years later.
- Oaks spoke about suffering, how we all have trials and Jesus understands them all.

PRIESTHOOD SESSION

- Andersen spoke about choosing to have faith and how fragile faith can be, so we must protect it.
- Bennett spoke about improving ourselves one step at a time.
- Uchtdorf praised faith and dismissed skepticism.
- Eyring said the Lord will help priesthood holders in whatever calling or assignment they're given.
- Monson emphasized keeping the commandments.

SUNDAY MORNING

- Monson spoke about keeping ourselves pure and being examples to others.
- Rasband was amazed that he was chosen as an Apostle.
- Stevenson also marvelled about being called.
- Renlund relayed a message about seeing others as God sees them.
- Nelson encouraged women to speak up more in church.
- Schwitzer said to stand up for what you believe and compared church critics to "great and spacious building" dwellers.
- Costa spoke about the sacrament and meditating on its meaning.
- Eyring spoke about relying on the Holy Ghost.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

- Christofferson addressed why we have a church, and what the institutional church can do.
- Durrant plugged the word "ponderize" as a way of making scriptures stick with us.
- Keetch told us to keep the commandments.
- Stephens told us to keep the commandments.
- Haynie said we need to keep ourselves clean.
- Clark spoke about how not all recognize the Savior's voice or hear His message.
- Aoyagi spoke about trials and how they forge who we are.
- Bednar spoke about how it's a good thing to have the church led by older, wiser men.

EIGHT OBSERVATIONS:

1. The health of Pres. Monson. It's pretty clear at this point that 88 years of age have caught up to President Thomas S. Monson. There's been speculation of dementia for years, and that it seems to come and go. This is the second Conference in a row where he's only spoken twice, and this is probably the last Conference where he'll speak standing, if at all. His Sunday morning talk started out strong but by the end, he was struggling to stand and kept getting caught in his words, repeating himself. He soldiered through, and Pres. Uchtdorf and another man were ready to catch him if needed. It made me reflect on and appreciate the lifetime of service that he's given. Can you imagine getting a call at age 36 and doing that thing for the rest of your life? It also brought to mind the time Russell M. Nelson held up Joseph B. Wirthlin who struggled to keep standing during one of his last talks.

The 1899 "Articles of Faith" laid out how a prophet could be released if he no longer had the physical or mental capacity to lead. It has yet to happen and likely never will. Presidents McKay, Kimball and Benson spent their final years unable to lead, so their counselors ran the Church. If this was the last time Pres. Monson speaks in public, he's gone out on a special note.

2. President Russell M. Nelson. Nelson is now the President of the Quorum of the Twelve. This is actually a big change. Boyd K. Packer had been President or Acting President of the Q12 for 21 years. Pres. Hunter kept Hinckley and Monson in the First Presidency when he became the new President of the Church in 1994.

In Nelson's first General Conference talk acting in this capacity, he addressed the women of the Church and how much the Church needs their voices, their examples and their participation. It seemed to foreshadow future possibilities of working women into more and more leadership roles. It was also the most sober talk I can remember Nelson giving when he thought about his three friends (Perry, Packer, Scott) who'd all passed away over the past six months.

3. "It is the same." More than one Apostle emphasized that they are speaking for Christ, so heed their words the same way you'd heed Christ's. Ballard quoted the scripture: "He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me" and then he added, "We cannot separate Christ from His servants." More than one speaker (Bednar was one) quoted the scripture where the Lord says: "Whether by mine own voice, or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." (D&C 1:38)

That's three General Conferences in a row that someone has used that verse in their talks, and there's a danger to it, an easy way for leaders to abuse it. No person has ever been able to take the Lord's agency, and there have been prophets and apostles past and present who have done or said things that I doubt the Lord agrees with. Each person the Lord calls to whatever position has their own agency; this is one reason why the LDS Church is to be led by common consent (though I'd argue it hasn't been for a long time.)

For example, more than once, Apostle George F. Richards gave talks in General Conference where he said that Negroes were less valiant in the pre-existence, and this is why black men couldn't hold the priesthood or African people get sealed in temples. Was this the voice of the Lord? No. But Richards was his servant. And yet his voice and the Lord's voice were not the same. We sustain the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as Prophets, Seers, and Revelators, but it's still up to them to qualify for the Lord's guidance and do everything they can to in order to do His will. If Jesus has appeared to any of the FP/Q12, He hasn't spelled things out for them. They still have to work it out in their own minds. This may be why they haven't Prophesied, Seen, and Revealed much, or why we haven't had a new section in the D&C for almost a hundred years. They want to be absolutely sure.

4. The three new Apostles. Rasband and Stevenson were understandably overwhelmed and their talks sounded like thank-you speeches at award shows, but Renlund managed to work in a really touching story about a surgery where he failed to save a boy's life and how that affected him. I look forward to hearing more from these three and I think they're good additions to the Quorum. Are they the only three that the Lord wanted called? I don't believe so.

Studying how each Apostle has been called in this dispensation has taught me just how much personal relationships factor into a call. I do not believe that every man who's ever been called into the First Presidency or Quorum of the Twelve was God's will. Joseph Smith was quite naive when it came to certain leaders, most glaringly John C. Bennett.  He called other Apostles that wound up becoming bitter enemies of the Church like William McLellin. When Smith commissioned the Three Witnesses to call the original 12, they chose Phineas Young, Brigham's older brother, to be an Apostle, but Smith vetoed him in favor of his brother William. William wound up being a sore spot for the Church and his brother.

Did the Lord really want Brigham Young ordain so many of his own sons as Apostles, including one to be ordained at age 11? Did the Lord really want John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Joseph F. Smith to call their own sons too?

So when Pres. Monson called these three men, I believe he only extended the call after much prayer and contemplation, and after he had it confirmed to him that these would be good Apostles. I also believe that if he'd spent more time and prayer on some non-white and/or non-American candidates, we wouldn't have wound up with three more white guys from Utah. Again, I like all of them and sustain them, but FP/Q12 is still made up of fifteen white men, fourteen being American, and eleven being Utah born. This is a global church but it doesn't look like it at the top. Yes, it matters.

5. Faith v. Doubt. There has been increased rhetoric about how faith and doubt are incompatible. This was a Church started by a 14-year-old boy who had doubts and went to pray about them. When talking about questions, they're usually couched with modifiers. It's "honest questions" or "sincere questions." Many members have had honest or sincere questions that led to unresolved doubts or even oblitherations of testimony. But faith is what we believe in without proof, but is true. What happens if you have faith in something that is not true? For example, what if you believed that it was a trial of faith that it was God's will that blacks not receive the priesthood until 1978, and now the Church has admitted that it was never God's will? It's a conundrum for every member to face.

6. "Simplify." This is a much-needed message. We've set ourselves up a very busy church. Meetings and callings and home-teaching and visiting teaching and weekly activities and more meetings. The Church is set up so that if you wanted to, you could set up your entire social life to only involve other church members. But how can we proclaim the gospel or care for the needy if this is how we organize our lives?

7. Running times. The Priesthood Session keep ending earlier and earlier, I think to make it more like the Women's Session.

8. Talks by the Numbers. There were 39 talks over the six sessions. Now there are 15 of the FP/Q12, 7 of the Presidency of Seventy, 84 from the 1st & 2nd Quorums of Seventy, 3 from Presiding Bishopric, and 9 women and 6 men from the General Auxiliaries. How the talks were distributed:

- 7 by the First Presidency
- 12 by the Quorum of the Twelve
- 1 from Presidency of the Seventy
- 12 from the 1st or 2nd Quorum of Seventy
- 1 Emeritus Seventy
- 0 from Presiding Bishopric
- 5 women in General Auxiliary leadership
- 1 man in General Auxiliary leadership

Now usually there will be one talk from someone in the Presiding Bishopric and two from the Presidency of the Seventy, but Rasband and Stevenson both spoke, so there was an overlap. All five men who were called to the 1st Quorum of Seventy at last Conference spoke at this one.

#LDSConf October 2015: Sunday Afternoon Session

D. TODD CHRISTOFFERSON - "Why the Church?"

I realize that there are those who consider themselves religious or spiritual and yet reject participation in a church or even the need for such an institution. Religious practice is for them purely personal. Yet the Church is the creation of Him in whom our spirituality is centered—Jesus Christ. It is worth pausing to consider why He chooses to use a church, His Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to carry out His and His Father’s work “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

Beginning with Adam, the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached, and the essential ordinances of salvation, such as baptism, were administered through a family-based priesthood order. As societies grew more complex than simply extended families, God also called other prophets, messengers, and teachers. In Moses’s time, we read of a more formal structure, including elders, priests, and judges...

Following the apostasy and disintegration of the Church He had organized while on the earth, the Lord reestablished the Church of Jesus Christ once again through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The ancient purpose remains: that is, to preach the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and administer the ordinances of salvation—in other words, to bring people to Christ. And now, through the instrumentality of this restored Church, the promise of redemption is placed within reach even of the spirits of the dead who in their mortal lifetime knew little or nothing of the Savior’s grace.

How does His Church accomplish the Lord’s purposes? It is important to recognize that God’s ultimate purpose is our progress. His desire is that we continue “from grace to grace, until [we receive] a fulness” of all He can give. That requires more than simply being nice or feeling spiritual. It requires faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism of water and of the Spirit, and enduring in faith to the end. One cannot fully achieve this in isolation, so a major reason the Lord has a church is to create a community of Saints that will sustain one another in the “strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life.”...

The wards and branches of the Church offer a weekly gathering of respite and renewal, a time and place to leave the world behind—the Sabbath. It is a day to “delight thyself in the Lord,” to experience the spiritual healing that comes with the sacrament, and to receive the renewed promise of His Spirit to be with us.

One of the greatest blessings of being part of the body of Christ, though it may not seem like a blessing in the moment, is being reproved of sin and error. We are prone to excuse and rationalize our faults, and sometimes we simply do not know where we should improve or how to do it. Without those who can reprove us “betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost,” we might lack the courage to change and more perfectly follow the Master. Repentance is individual, but fellowship on that sometimes painful path is in the Church....

With the keys of the kingdom, the Lord’s servants can identify both truth and falsehood and once again authoritatively state, “Thus saith the Lord.” Regrettably, some resent the Church because they want to define their own truth, but in reality it is a surpassing blessing to receive a “knowledge of things as they [truly] are, and as they were, and as they are to come” insofar as the Lord wills to reveal it. The Church safeguards and publishes God’s revelations—the canon of scripture.

DEVIN G. DURRANT - "My Heart Pondereth Them Continually"
of the Seventy

I invite you to “ponderize” one verse of scripture each week. The word ponderize is not found in the dictionary, but it has found a place in my heart. So what does it mean to ponderize? I like to say it’s a combination of 80 percent extended pondering and 20 percent memorization.

There are two simple steps:

First, choose a verse of scripture each week and place it where you will see it every day.

Second, read or think of the verse several times each day and ponder the meaning of its words and key phrases throughout the week.

Imagine the uplifting results of doing this weekly for six months, a year, 10 years, or more.

As you make this effort, you will feel an increase in spirituality. You will also be able to teach and lift those you love in more meaningful ways.

VON G. KEETCH - "Happy Are Those Who Keep the Commandments"
of the Seventy

As you and I walk the paths of life and pursue our dreams, God’s commands and standards—like the barrier—can sometimes be difficult to understand. They may appear rigid and unyielding, blocking a path that looks fun and exciting and that is being followed by so many others. As the Apostle Paul described, “We see through a glass, darkly,” with such a limited perspective that we often cannot comprehend the great dangers hidden just below the surface.

But He who “comprehend[s] all things” knows exactly where those dangers lie. He gives us divine direction, through His commands and loving guidance, so that we may avoid the dangers—so that we may set a course in our lives that is protected from spiritual predators and the gaping jaws of sin.

We show our love for God—and our faith in Him—by doing our very best every day to follow the course that He has laid out for us and by keeping the commandments that He has given to us. We especially manifest that faith and love in situations where we don’t fully understand the reason for God’s commands or the particular path He is telling us to take.

CAROLE M. STEPHENS - "If Ye Love Me, Keep My Commandments"
1st Counselor, Relief Society General Presidency

we can choose to see commandments as limitations. We may feel at times that God’s laws restrict our personal freedom, take from us our agency, and limit our growth. But as we seek for greater understanding, as we allow our Father to teach us, we will begin to see that His laws are a manifestation of His love for us and obedience to His laws is an expression of our love for Him...

First, trust God. Trust in His eternal plan for you. Each of us is “a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents.” Their love for us is apparent in commandments. Commandments are vital instructions to teach, guide, and protect us as we “gain earthly experience.”..

Second, trust Jesus. The ultimate expression of obedience and love is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Submitting Himself to the Father’s will, He gave His life for us. He said, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”

Jesus also taught:

“Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
“This is the first and great commandment.
“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”...

Third, trust the whisperings of the Spirit... It is in John 14:15: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” And these important verses follow:

“I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
“Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”

Every worthy, confirmed member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the right to the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Fasting, prayer, scripture study, and obedience greatly enhance our ability to hear and feel the promptings of the Spirit...

Fourth, trust the counsel of living prophets. Our Father has provided a way for us to hear His word and know His law through His prophets. The Lord declared, “My word shall … all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”

ALLEN D. HAYNIE - "Remembering in Whom We Have Trusted"
of the Seventy

We should not deceive ourselves about what it takes to return and remain in the presence of our Father in Heaven. We have to be clean.

Before we came to this earth, we participated as spirit sons and daughters of God in a grand council. Each of us was paying attention, and none of us fell asleep. In that council our Father in Heaven presented a plan. Because the plan preserved our agency and required that we learn from our own experience and not just from His, He knew we would commit sin. He also knew that sin would cause us to become unclean and unable to return to His presence, because where He lives is even cleaner than a house cleaned by my grandmother.

Because our Father in Heaven loves us and has as His purpose “to bring to pass [our] immortality and eternal life,”3 His plan included the role of a Savior—someone who could help us become clean no matter how dirty we have become. When our Father in Heaven announced the need for a Savior, I believe all of us turned and looked at Jesus Christ, the Firstborn in the Spirit, the one who had progressed to the point of becoming like the Father. I believe all of us knew it had to be Him, that none of the rest of us could do it, but that He could and that He would.

KIM B. CLARK - "Eyes to See and Ears to Hear"
of the Seventy

The Lord Jesus Christ was there in front of them, but they did not see who He really was. They were blind, and they chose to turn away. Of them, Jesus said:

“I came unto my own, and my own received me not.”
“Their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed.”

However, there were many men and women, including His faithful Apostles, who centered their lives on Him. Though they struggled with worldly distractions, with confusion about what He taught, and even with fear, they believed in Him, loved Him, and followed Him.

Of them, Jesus said, “Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.”

Just before His suffering in Gethsemane and on Calvary, Jesus made His disciples this remarkable promise: “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”

Jesus fulfilled that promise: beginning with the day of Pentecost, the disciples were blessed with the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost. Through their faith in Christ, repentance, and obedience, the Holy Ghost became their companion, changed their hearts, and blessed them with an abiding witness of the truth.

KOICHI AOYAGI - "Hold on Thy Way"
Emeritus Seventy

We are warned that disasters, wars, and countless difficulties in the world will occur. When trials such as these suddenly come upon us, we may question, “Why do these things happen to me?” or “Why do I have to suffer?”

For a long period after I converted to the gospel, I didn’t have a clear answer to the question “Why am I given trials?” I understood the part of the plan of salvation that says we will be tested. However, in reality, when it came to this question, I did not have a conviction that was powerful enough to adequately answer it...

In Abraham, the Lord God declared, “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.”

The principle is that the God who created the heavens and the earth knows the grand design of this earth, that He has dominion over all things in the heavens and the earth, and that in order to bring to pass the plan of salvation, He provides us with many different experiences—including some trials—while we are on this earth.

And the Lord said the following to Joseph Smith:

“Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. …
“Therefore, hold on thy way … , for God shall be with you forever and ever.”

The trials of this earth—including illness and death—are a part of the plan of salvation and are inevitable experiences. It is necessary for us to “hold on [our] way” and accept our trials with faith.

However, the purpose of our lives is not merely to endure trials. Heavenly Father sent His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior and Redeemer so we could overcome the trials we face on this earth; in other words, He makes our weak things become strong, He atones for our sins and our imperfections, and He makes it possible for us to obtain immortality and eternal life.

DAVID A. BEDNAR - "Chosen to Bear Testimony of My Name"

My purpose is to explain why indeed it is wonderful to have older men of great spiritual maturity and judgment serving in the senior leadership positions of the restored Church of Jesus Christ—and why we should “hear” and “hearken” (Mosiah 2:9) to the teachings of these men whom the Lord has “chosen to bear testimony of [His] name … among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people” (D&C 112:1).

I pray we may all be instructed by the Holy Ghost as we consider together this significant subject.

I speak about this topic from a decidedly distinctive perspective. For the last 11 years, I have been the youngest member of the Twelve in terms of chronological age. During my years of service, the average age of the men serving in the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has been 77 years—the oldest average age of the Apostles over an 11-year interval in this dispensation...

The limitations that are the natural consequence of advancing age can in fact become remarkable sources of spiritual learning and insight. The very factors many may believe limit the effectiveness of these servants can become some of their greatest strengths. Physical restrictions can expand vision. Limited stamina can clarify priorities. Inability to do many things can direct focus to a few things of greatest importance.

Some people have suggested younger, more vigorous leaders are needed in the Church to address effectively the serious challenges of our modern world. But the Lord does not use contemporary philosophies and practices of leadership to accomplish His purposes (see Isaiah 55:8–9). We can expect the President and other senior leaders of the Church will be older and spiritually seasoned men.

The Lord’s revealed pattern of governance by councils in His Church provides for and attenuates the impact of human frailties. Interestingly, the mortal limitations of these men actually affirm the divine source of the revelations that come to and through them...

Serving with these representatives of the Lord, I have come to know their greatest desire is to discern and do the will of our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son. As we counsel together, inspiration has been received and decisions have been made that reflect a degree of light and truth far beyond human intelligence, reasoning, and experience. As we work together in unity on perplexing problems, our collective understanding of an issue has been enlarged in marvelous ways by the power of the Holy Ghost.

I am blessed to observe on a daily basis the individual personalities, capacities, and noble characters of these leaders. Some people find the human shortcomings of the Brethren troubling and faith diminishing. For me those imperfections are encouraging and faith promoting.

I have now witnessed six of my Brethren receive a transfer through physical death to new responsibilities in the spirit world: President James E. Faust, President Gordon B. Hinckley, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, Elder L. Tom Perry, President Boyd K. Packer, and Elder Richard G. Scott.

These valiant Brethren devoted their “whole souls” (Omni 1:26) to testifying of the name of Jesus Christ in all the world. The totality of their teachings is priceless...

The Savior declared, “Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (D&C 1:38). May we hear and heed the eternal truths taught by the Lord’s authorized representatives. As we do so, I promise our faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will be fortified, and we will receive spiritual guidance and protection for our specific circumstances and needs.

With all the energy of my soul, I witness the resurrected and living Christ directs the affairs of His restored and living Church through His servants who have been chosen to bear testimony of His name.