Elder Ballard’s 9/13/2015 Utah South Area Talk

[Anonymous]

Here’s a link to a page that includes audio.

http://mormonstories.org/ballard-utah-south-area-talk/” class=”bbcode_url”>http://mormonstories.org/ballard-utah-south-area-talk/

This is the talk where Ballard mentions:

[Anonymous]

Deseret News published an article about the talk with a summary and some quotes here: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865636709/Elder-Ballard-speaks-to-Utah-South-Area.html?pg=all” class=”bbcode_url”>http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865636709/Elder-Ballard-speaks-to-Utah-South-Area.html?pg=all

I do like what he had to say about it being OK to question and that leaders should help answer questions (presumably instead of just telling people to pray and read more scripture). I also liked where he talked about how we should treat non-members, which perhaps can sometimes be more of an issue there than where I live. “Keeping up the the Joneses” and over programming our lives also seems to have been concerns for Elder Ballard.

[Anonymous]

I agree – some good things said, “be good neighbors even to non-members, love those that leave”, but as one of the commenters on the talk said, “well Elder Ballard, since you took at the time to get the answers for this one missionary, why don’t you share them because many people are still looking for ‘the answers’ to some of these hard questions” (even after reading the BOM every day).

[Anonymous]

Quote:

When someone comes to you with a question or concern, please don’t brush the question off — do not tell him or her to not worry about the question. Please do not doubt the person’s dedication to the Lord’s work. Instead, help the person find the answers to their questions.

Quote:

We have heard stories where someone asking honest questions about our history, doctrine, or practice were treated as though they were faithless. This is not the lord’s way.

Good. :thumbup:

Quote:

During our visit he told me he was losing his faith and testimony and that he had many questions. I asked him to write down these questions and I promised to find answers to them, certainly as many as I could. As he was about to leave, he had his hand on the doorknob of my office, I said “Elder, how long has it been since you have studied the scriptures? Specifically, how long has it been since you’ve read from the Book of Mormon?” He lowered his head and said…

I’ll stop there. :sick: I do like the attempt to reach out and help someone with their questions but almost in the same breath as the previous quote we have an example of someone doubting a person’s dedication to the lord. Oh, well of course the Elder questioned, he hadn’t been reading the BoM enough. For whatever reason the “he lowered his head” part really gets under my skin. It assigns guilt.

At one time during my crisis phase I was on the receiving end of “read your scriptures more” except my dialog went:

BP: How much are you reading the scriptures?

Me: About 6 hours per day.

BP: 😯

I was really searching for any straw to grasp at that point. I get the sense that the leaders truly want to help people, they just don’t know how. It’s hard to fault them for that.

[Anonymous]

I’m going to let this one ride without commentary because I find it humorous.

Quote:

Another concern I have is you live so close to the church headquarters that some of you have become casual in listening to the lord’s servants. Some chose to miss the sessions of Stake and General Conference because they see those special weekends as a time off from their church assignments.

[Anonymous]

nibbler wrote:

A missionary with questions that was advised to read the BoM for an hour each day and rediscovered a testimony through obedience to that counsel without needing the questions answered.

I will always struggle with the idea of questions not needing to be answered when they are fundamental. The idea of the “Glory of God is intelligence” and you “can’t be saved in ignorance” just smack this.

I sincerely wonder if the GAs have answers themselves, or simply act on faith, testifying to things they don’t know themselves. Sorry,…but this doubt often crosses my mind.

[Anonymous]

nibbler wrote:

I’m going to let this one ride without commentary because I find it humorous.

Quote:

Another concern I have is you live so close to the church headquarters that some of you have become casual in listening to the lord’s servants. Some chose to miss the sessions of Stake and General Conference because they see those special weekends as a time off from their church assignments.

Living way outside of Utah – this is NOT a Utah specific trait. I see it more of “just because you might be able to skip out on a Sunday without anyone noticing, it still isn’t good.” I think it is the same feeling no matter where you live. If you find it :lolno: you will want to skip out when you can.

[Anonymous]

Actually I enjoy sitting home on GC weekends. Saturday sessions don’t take priority over other things in our house and never have. I really, really like watching PH session in my jammies and if I doze off in my easy chair, nobody notices. Our Sunday tradition is a big breakfast (the “morning” session is at noon here) after sleeping in, and again if I doze off during a session nobody notices – at least one of us is probably dozing at any given moment after about midway through the first talk. It is sort of a Sunday off, and again, if there is a family event that day conference does not take precedence. I don’t see anything wrong with people taking a sabbatical of sorts during stake conference weekends, either.

[Anonymous]

nibbler wrote:

I’m going to let this one ride without commentary because I find it humorous.

Quote:

Another concern I have is you live so close to the church headquarters that some of you have become casual in listening to the lord’s servants. Some chose to miss the sessions of Stake and General Conference because they see those special weekends as a time off from their church assignments.

As someone with small children I must say that Stake conference is insufferably long with no child care. If DW and I are going to be more involved in keeping our children occupied then listening to the messages then what is the purpose of attending? I understand that the primary instructors need a break and do not begrudge them this. Usually DW will attend and I will stay home with the kids. She then relays the highlights to me when she comes home. It is a personal solution to our personal situation.

[Anonymous]

Roy wrote:

nibbler wrote:

I’m going to let this one ride without commentary because I find it humorous.

Quote:

Another concern I have is you live so close to the church headquarters that some of you have become casual in listening to the lord’s servants. Some chose to miss the sessions of Stake and General Conference because they see those special weekends as a time off from their church assignments.

As someone with small children I must say that Stake conference is insufferably long with no child care. If DW and I are going to be more involved in keeping our children occupied then listening to the messages then what is the purpose of attending? I understand that the primary instructors need a break and do not begrudge them this. Usually DW will attend and I will stay home with the kids. She then relays the highlights to me when she comes home. It is a personal solution to our personal situation.

The audio on this talk was a perfect example of this. Noisy! I personally loved being a kid at stake conference with the junior whatever they called it, but I totally understand moving away from that. It’s a hard problem.

DarkJedi wrote:

I really, really like watching PH session in my jammies ….

My husband calls it “the way God intended it.”

nibbler wrote:

Quote:

During our visit he told me he was losing his faith and testimony and that he had many questions. I asked him to write down these questions and I promised to find answers to them, certainly as many as I could. As he was about to leave, he had his hand on the doorknob of my office, I said “Elder, how long has it been since you have studied the scriptures? Specifically, how long has it been since you’ve read from the Book of Mormon?” He lowered his head and said…

I’ll stop there. :sick: I do like the attempt to reach out and help someone with their questions but almost in the same breath as the previous quote we have an example of someone doubting a person’s dedication to the lord. Oh, well of course the Elder questioned, he hadn’t been reading the BoM enough. For whatever reason the “he lowered his head” part really gets under my skin. It assigns guilt.

At one time during my crisis phase I was on the receiving end of “read your scriptures more” except my dialog went:

BP: How much are you reading the scriptures?

Me: About 6 hours per day.

BP: 😯

I was really searching for any straw to grasp at that point. I get the sense that the leaders truly want to help people, they just don’t know how. It’s hard to fault them for that.

Wow. I wish he hadn’t dwelled on that example so much. It was his experience, but putting it up there as the only example in his talk focuses people again on the doubter-as-stumbler mindset that we say we’re trying to get away from.

[Anonymous]

Ann wrote:

I wish he hadn’t dwelled on that example so much. It was his experience, but putting it up there as the only example in his talk focuses people again on the doubter-as-stumbler mindset that we say we’re trying to get away from.

I agree. He says that the missionary lowered his head, leading us to believe that the missionary was feeling guilty, knowing that his doubts were directly related to him slacking off in his BoM reading. However, when I hear that the missionary lowered his head (if that’s really how it happened), I can sympathize with that missionary. When you share your doubts and questions with somebody, you put yourself out on a limb. You’re hoping for a supportive and understanding response, but you’re expecting and bracing for rejection. I’ve shared my doubts with many of my friends and family. When I receive a supportive response, I feel encouraged and closer to that person. But, the more typical response is for the person to ask if I’m still reading the scriptures, praying, paying tithing, etc. And I feel frustrated. I can imagine that is what the missionary in the story would have felt. He put himself out on the limb, and then the accusation that he was the cause of his own doubts led to frustration. He could have been lowering his head because he was disappointed and frustrated with Ballard’s response, rather than guilt.

[Anonymous]

nibbler wrote:

At one time during my crisis phase I was on the receiving end of “read your scriptures more” except my dialog went:

BP: How much are you reading the scriptures?

Me: About 6 hours per day.

BP: 😯

I was really searching for any straw to grasp at that point. I get the sense that the leaders truly want to help people, they just don’t know how. It’s hard to fault them for that.

I love this. BP doesn’t really know what to do with an answer that wasn’t along the script he was expecting.

I had a similar discussion with one bishop who tried so very hard, just seriously didn’t understand me and what I was going through.

He would ask me these questions, when I said yes, he would go on the to next…it must be something…

tithing? Yep.

Word of Wisdom? Yep.

Chastity? Yep.

Reading? Yep.

Attending 3 hours of church? Yep.

FHE? Yep.

Attending the temple? Yep.

Praying morning and night? Well…I guess not mornings…just at night and during the day.

Ahhh..that’s it…you stopped praying…this is where you can increase your faith…

They’ll drill down until they find something that makes sense to them. Which I can tell really has nothing to do with my situation or I would be doing it. I was also wearing my anti-guilt cloak +3 and rolled a 18 on my 20-sided die, which was saving me from his guilt attempts. :wtf:

Not all bishops are like this. My next bishop was a true friend, a true shepherd. He wanted to know how I was…not my list of things. Made all the difference.

[Anonymous]

Holy Cow wrote:

Ann wrote:

I wish he hadn’t dwelled on that example so much. It was his experience, but putting it up there as the only example in his talk focuses people again on the doubter-as-stumbler mindset that we say we’re trying to get away from.

I agree. He says that the missionary lowered his head, leading us to believe that the missionary was feeling guilty, knowing that his doubts were directly related to him slacking off in his BoM reading. However, when I hear that the missionary lowered his head (if that’s really how it happened), I can sympathize with that missionary. When you share your doubts and questions with somebody, you put yourself out on a limb. You’re hoping for a supportive and understanding response, but you’re expecting and bracing for rejection. I’ve shared my doubts with many of my friends and family. When I receive a supportive response, I feel encouraged and closer to that person. But, the more typical response is for the person to ask if I’m still reading the scriptures, praying, paying tithing, etc. And I feel frustrated. I can imagine that is what the missionary in the story would have felt. He put himself out on the limb, and then the accusation that he was the cause of his own doubts led to frustration. He could have been lowering his head because he was disappointed and frustrated with Ballard’s response, rather than guilt.

That thought occurred to me as well. A “thanks… I guess” head hang. But reading the BoM worked in that case so a shame head hang was my lasting impression.

Heber13 wrote:

They’ll drill down until they find something that makes sense to them. Which I can tell really has nothing to do with my situation or I would be doing it. I was also wearing my anti-guilt cloak +3 and rolled a 18 on my 20-sided die, which was saving me from his guilt attempts. :wtf:

🙂

You a cleric? I need a healer for my party.

[Anonymous]

Heber13 wrote:

They’ll drill down until they find something that makes sense to them. Which I can tell really has nothing to do with my situation or I would be doing it.

I relate to this. I often push back. When asked if I read the BoM, I say yes,…and they will inevitably say: “See, you keep doing that and your faith will increase.” My response is: “I’ve been doing that for a long time, and my knowledge of the BoM is increasing, not my faith.” They don’t like to hear that. To them, the end is always more faith.

Heber13 wrote:

Not all bishops are like this. My next bishop was a true friend, a true shepherd. He wanted to know how I was…not my list of things. Made all the difference.

I had one of those as well. I would ask my questions, and his response was: “I understand what you are saying. I have had the same questions, and the truth is I don’t know the answer. I wish I did, but I don’t.” That level of integrity is astonishing to me.

[Anonymous]

What does the Book of Mormon say about Heavenly Mother?

What does the Book of Mormon say about Joseph Smith marrying 14-year-olds?

What does the Book of Mormon say about City Creek Mall?

What does the Book of Mormon say about wives hearkening to their husbands?

What does the Book of Mormon say about Photoshopping cap sleeves onto 4-year-olds?

These are all factors that have played into my FC, and the BoM is remarkably silent on all of them. The truth is that the BoM says almost nothing applicable to the modern LDS church. Telling a person in a faith crisis to read the BoM more is like throwing a life preserver to someone having a heart attack.

[Author]

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