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Two thoughts: 1) I have read quite a few comments from moderate-liberal / heterdox friends who know Elder Gong in one way or another. Every one of them is ecstatic. They all say he is one of the most intelligent (Rhodes Scholar at Oxford), compassionate, gentle, understanding people they have met in their entire lives. Many of them said they cried for joy when they heard the announcement.
2) He has an openly gay son attending BYU. His extended family is from the San Francisco Bay area. He has seen personally a lot of the suffering inflicted by how we have treated LGBTQ people in the past, including youth being kicked out of homes and dying of AIDS.
I am not trying to put pressure on him to be some kind of revolutionary in the Q12, but I can’t express properly how excited I am that he is one of the new apostles.
A friend of mine shared that Elder Gong’s son had a showing of his art at a gallery. Elder Gong attended the opening, asked intelligent questions, and thanked my friend for helping his son get broader exposure for his art. The art was about explicitly queer issues, and the central topic was families rejecting queer youth.
Wow. Just wow. This is exciting to hear! I gain a lot of hope from his appointment! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Now there is 2 on the top chairs who are directly connected to openly gay family members. May it and other doors of inclusion open because of this. I know I have liked many of his addresses. I am grateful that RMN thought this was a good choice.
The second is interesting… not sure about the first. Rhodes scholarships were founded by a man who wished to influence international politics and I believe they still are set up that way, to cherry pick future leaders and groom them to conform to the expectations of the corporate elite. I’m more interested in his compassion than IQ. Intellectualism doesn’t tend to win out in this church, but kindness might just do so.
Sam, what the people whom I know are saying is that he is a unique combination of the characteristics listed in the post: high intelligence, compassion, gentleness, and sincere understanding. Everything I have heard of him makes me hope we just got a 2nd Elder Uchtdorf, although I don’t want to put pressure on him. I go back to the film “Harvey”: Quote:Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, “In this world, Elwood, you must be,” — she always called me Elwood — “In this world, you must be oh so smart, or oh so pleasant.” Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me
I agree with this sentiment. I actually admire intelligence and education (of the right sort), but without an element of kindness it is cold. I hope Elder Wong manifests both intelligence and kindness.
Would I rather associate with someone intelligent and nasty or unintelligent and kind? Probably the latter. In fact I have been recently, and she’s been helping out a friend of mine in their hour of need.
Agreed. I am happy that the people I know say he is exceptionally both. Old Timer wrote:
Two thoughts:1) I have read quite a few comments from moderate-liberal / heterdox friends who know Elder Gong in one way or another. Every one of them is ecstatic. They all say he is one of the most intelligent (Rhodes Scholar at Oxford), compassionate, gentle, understanding people they have met in their entire lives. Many of them said they cried for joy when they heard the announcement.
2) He has an openly gay son attending BYU. His extended family is from the San Francisco Bay area. He has seen personally a lot of the suffering inflicted by how we have treated LGBTQ people in the past, including youth being kicked out of homes and dying of AIDS.
I am not trying to put pressure on him to be some kind of revolutionary in the Q12, but I can’t express properly how excited I am that he is one of the new apostles.
Wow! This is wonderful news!
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