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I made a few notes as the tone was wonderful. It was based on his considerations and responses to the opening temple recommend questions. He started by describing his foundational belief in God as something he has had since being a young man, which has strengthened as he has gained a deeper understanding of the biology of life. He then said the following (slightly paraphrased):
“Was Joseph a perfect man? I didn’t know him, but I have to presume he was not. But I firmly believe he was an inspired man. I appreciate the words he gave us through the Doctrine and Covenants. I am also inspired and guided by the simple gospel doctrine found in the Book of Mormon and consider the principles within it among the foundations of my testimony.
I love and respect our church leaders for their wisdom and service. God guides his children through different ways and means, I believe their are many places to find truth throughout the world.
I don’t know everything, but I think that’s alright, and I think that’s quite natural.
This is what I believe.
And so what? What is the value of believing all of this? Jesus said, if we believe and have faith, we should feed his sheep and serve each other.”
He also taught Priesthood and focused it around the scripture in John with the new commandment “As I have loved you, love one another.”
As mentioned – it was a relief and uplifting. No ‘I know with every fibre’ statements, just a reasonable expression of belief, experience and appreciation.
fantastic talk! we need more like it Wonderful message. It is quite similar to what our Bishop shared in his talk today. He focused on missionary work, but he addressed it in terms of service rather than proselyting. I was pleasently surprised today also. I rode up to delivers talks with another HC to a smalll branch about an hour away from our SC. In HC we talked about the new material for teaching the youth and on the drive we discussed this in great depth. I came to find out that he has many of the same concerns about The BOM, blacks and the priesthood, JS, masterbation etc that I do and how we will need good solid opened minded teachers to instruct the youth. It made me feel pretty good and kind of hopeful. Good Sunday so far. these kind of messages and talks give me hope… the key element of faith. i see such potential in the church…if it can come clean, and start focusing on service in christ, it can make a huge difference, i have seen the potential…in the wake of the teton dam disaster, the church fills a vital communitarian role. this SP certainly had is NOMish tendencies…perhaps many more are, if they only could speak freely.
wayfarer wrote:these kind of messages and talks give me
hope… the key element of faith. i see such potential in the church…if it can come clean, and start focusing on service in christ, it can make a huge difference, i have seen the potential…in the wake of the teton dam disaster, the church fills a vital communitarian role. this SP certainly had is NOMish tendencies…perhaps many more are, if they only could speak freely.
I’d imagine he’d recoil at being labelled a NOM… But you’re right, his language was less ‘absolute.’
It was certainly a contrast to the ‘you’re not good enough’ lecture from the speaker before him.
mackay11, Thanks for sharing. Those types of speakers and meetings are refreshing and they help renew my hope.
Just a few weeks ago my stake had a visiting GA as the final speaker. He spent 30 minutes talking about living a life that is dedicated to what’s important. He spoke about family and loving and supporting others. We should love and teach our children. Develop and strengthen relationships with our spouses. The ‘deepest’ he got was talking about how great personal sacrifice is sometimes required to dedicate our life to family. Literally not once did he mention JS, BofM, Restoration. In his closing testimony he talked about a loving Savior and Heavenly Father, nothing more doctrinal than that.
My wife and I both left feeling renewed and hopeful. Those are the kind of talks I yearn for.
There are many hints of the church trying to modernise (see their newsroom response on ‘getting a planet’). A few months ago I was furious about the ‘whitewashing’ they were doing. Nowadays I find it refreshing.
When I was serving in a branch presidency last year, we had a mantra: “let’s help our members move from being active mormons to devoted christians.”
mackay11 wrote:There are many hints of the church trying to modernise (see their newsroom response on ‘getting a planet’). ….”
Dude…you can’t say stuff like that and not post a link for us to follow…….slacker…
johnh wrote:mackay11 wrote:
There are many hints of the church trying to modernize (see their newsroom response on ‘getting a planet’). ….”
Dude…you can’t say stuff like that and not post a link for us to follow…….slacker…
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=LDS+Newsroom+planets I like it! We believe that life is a time to progress. We believe that all sins can be washed away by the atonement and everyone can live with God and their families forever. We do not pretend to know the details about the afterlife or secret meanings to cryptic scriptures. We do know that JS “taught” certain things about Missouri, but that is not certain nor central to our faith. We believe that revelation exists today and is employed in the direction of the church, BTW that revelation takes the form of prayer, careful consideration, and being led to a satisfactory answer in our “heart and mind.”
The church presented here sounds like a very pleasant place. If this is indicative of the direction for the future, I have cause to celebrate!
:clap: johnh wrote:mackay11 wrote:There are many hints of the church trying to modernise (see their newsroom response on ‘getting a planet’). ….”
Dude…you can’t say stuff like that and not post a link for us to follow…….slacker…
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=LDS+Newsroom+planets Lol
Here you go:
Do Latter-day Saints believe that they will “get their own planet”?
No. This idea is not taught in Latter-day Saint scripture, nor is it a doctrine of the Church. This misunderstanding stems from speculative comments unreflective of scriptural doctrine. Mormons believe that we are all sons and daughters of God and that all of us have the potential to grow during and after this life to become like our Heavenly Father (see Romans 8:16-17). The Church does not and has never purported to fully understand the specifics of Christ’s statement that “in my Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2).
Roy wrote:johnh wrote:mackay11 wrote:
There are many hints of the church trying to modernize (see their newsroom response on ‘getting a planet’). ….”
Dude…you can’t say stuff like that and not post a link for us to follow…….slacker…
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=LDS+Newsroom+planets I like it! We believe that life is a time to progress. We believe that all sins can be washed away by the atonement and everyone can live with God and their families forever. We do not pretend to know the details about the afterlife or secret meanings to cryptic scriptures. We do know that JS “taught” certain things about Missouri, but that is not certain nor central to our faith. We believe that revelation exists today and is employed in the direction of the church, BTW that revelation takes the form of prayer, careful consideration, and being led to a satisfactory answer in our “heart and mind.”
The church presented here sounds like a very pleasant place. If this is indicative of the direction for the future, I have cause to celebrate!
:clap: Agreed, but it is also the very cause of faith crises in other members. They see it as a mainstreaming/white-washing process that is taking out special (elitist?) aspects that make us unique.
“What? I’m going through all this hassle and won’t get a planet to populate?”
I’d have to admit to a reaction like that when I first read it month ago. As I dug further and realised so much of the ‘peculiar’ stuff is figurative/speculative I became more grateful that there seems to be a soft process to move away from the ‘out-there’ stuff.
mackay11 wrote:Agreed, but it is also the very cause of faith crises in other members. They see it as a mainstreaming/white-washing process that is taking out special (elitist?) aspects that make us unique.
“What? I’m going through all this hassle and won’t get a planet to populate?”
I’d have to admit to a reaction like that when I first read it month ago. As I dug further and realised so much of the ‘peculiar’ stuff is figurative/speculative I became more grateful that there seems to be a soft process to move away from the ‘out-there’ stuff.
Yup, and this helps to explain why GBH might say to Larry King about the Man-God couplet, “I don’t know that we teach that…I don’t know that we emphasize that”. And then later when his in-box starts to fill with emphatic responses from 5th generation seminary insrtuctors that are all adamant that this concept has a central role in our theology, he might say something in GC like: “There are some of you that may be concerned that I don’t understand our theology. I want to assure you that I understand it very well. ::wink-wink::” Wouldn’t that make sense if he was trying to balance the needs of different audiences?
Just to repeat, Pres. Hinckley didn’t address exaltation at all in that interview. He was asked about the first part of that couplet and not the second. Also, his phrasing was classically Utah idiomatic for his generation to mean, “I wouldn’t say . . .” – not “I don’t understand if . . .” /Back to the regularly scheduled conversation
Another thread…perfect example of why I am so cynical. I pray to God you folks at the stake level are following all this. Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2
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