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I thought the recent events from Elder Rasband were interesting. His message to BYU students on Sept 22 2015 (see
hereHis main points were:
1. View Others Through a Lense of Fairness
2. Let Fairness Guide Your Treatment of Others:
Quote:“Do not judge people or treat them unfairly because they sin differently than you… You too can be unyielding in right and truth, yet still reach out in kindness.”
3. Stand Up for Fairness if You See Another Person’s Rights Being ImpededHe also invited students to get involved in the discussion of “complex social issues” of our day by getting on his facebook page and tell him about their respectful conversations on issues like gay rights.
Students responded eagerly and there were dozens of comments within hours of the devotional.
Elder Rasband says
Quote:We need you to engage in dialogue reflecting the complexities of this issue and find solutions for how to best extend fairness to everyone.
Using facebook so people can talk about LGBT issues, encouraging fairness and dialogue…all these things are good things for the younger generation to know whey can be a part of this church and have opinions and talk about them.
I think with our social media, the church knows this needs to happen or members will feel too disconnected. Perhaps it is 10 years late in coming…but eventually the ship turns.
Do you think this is promising to you about your church?
I do think it’s positive, Heber, and this talk is one reason I don’t think I would mind if Rasband got the call to the Twelve. It would be REALLY great if Elder Rasband is called and in his talk he encourages people to give him feedback on his facebook page. I have often wondered just how sheltered the top leaders are. When they visit in person they often are worshiped. Those that might want to give some feedback are not quite so forthcoming face to face.
It sure would go a long way to help some people feel more connected with the leaders and less 100% top down leadership.
I know I work in a very large tech company, but the higher ups often have someone that help with their email inbox, but for most reasonable requests or feedback are handled by the executives – sometimes in person or on the phone so that people know they are being listened to.
From what I know of Elder Rasband, I think he would be a positive presence. I also think Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf have had a major impact on the top leadership levels – probably as much as (and as important as) their impact on the general membership.
Generally speaking, I like E. Rasband. On the downside, I disagreed with his false equivalence in that talk in which he compared a gay man who is subjected to a hostile work environment, then fired with a Mormon woman who is asked why she hates gay people and proselytizes about the church’s stance on homosexuality being sinful, then she quits because people are mad at her. Those two things aren’t equivalent. The gay man is being discriminated against. The Mormon woman shows poor social skills and doesn’t want to have any consequences for her lack of tact. But I am still overall a fan of E. Rasband.
I agree, HG. The talk preaches some good ideas aroubd fairness and Christ – like love. But the examples and how it is done shows that some don’t know how to do it, or they still lack it. hawkgrrrl wrote:Generally speaking, I like E. Rasband. On the downside, I disagreed with his false equivalence in that talk in which he compared a gay man who is subjected to a hostile work environment, then fired with a Mormon woman who is asked why she hates gay people and proselytizes about the church’s stance on homosexuality being sinful, then she quits because people are mad at her. Those two things aren’t equivalent. The gay man is being discriminated against. The Mormon woman shows poor social skills and doesn’t want to have any consequences for her lack of tact.
But I am still overall a fan of E. Rasband.
Heber13 wrote:I agree, HG. The talk preaches some good ideas aroubd fairness and Christ – like love. But the examples and how it is done shows that some don’t know how to do it, or they still lack it.
That was my reaction as well. I think the message would have been so much better as: “We hope that people will respect us and not treat us poorly because of our religious convictions. Yet, Jesus taught us to treat others the way we hope to be treated. So, let us all treat people who are different from us with the same type of respect and accommodation we hope to receive and then let the chips fall where they may.”
But though I wasn’t a fan of how the message was presented, I still appreciate that at least RAR is talking about this stuff. I believe that RAR would be fairly progressive compared to others in the Q12, and hope he is one of the three. I think he has a sincerity about the treatment of others.
I agree. At least they are getting people talking. That is what needs to happen. There will always be tension between conservative views from standards that lift and have worked over time, and progressive views of compassion that work now for individuals.
Dialogue needs to happen somewhere. To keep the younger generation connected with leaders…the church can find tools to meet needs.
How many of your bishops text youth activities or use facebook or online tools to communicate with parents and youth activities?
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