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My wife sent this blog post to me this morning. It’s a talk by Russell Hancock, 1st counsellor in the Menlo Park stake presidency where he talks about never having received a witness of the church, and mentions the D&C scripture that says faith is a gift of the spirit. Very interesting talk. What do you all think? http://geoffsn.blogspot.com/2012/08/russell-hancock-on-testimony-and-church.html?m=1 I wonder if he knows he’s being quoted? I like his discussion about Alma 32. It’s the message that Richard Bushman is an advocate of. If it works, it’s worth keeping on doing it.
I’ve a feeling this will become a more prominent idea in the church over time. Partly because we’re moving into a more secular world, the idea of ‘heavenly witnesses’ might become more difficult to convince people to have confidence in.
I love the idea of, at some distant day, the missionaries saying: “Here are some principles, we’d like you to try living them for a few months. If at the end of that you’ve found that these principles bring more goodness into your life we’ll help you learn about some more principles to test out.” That’s a conversion that has sustainability.
Truth is I think there are lots more out there like him who don’t have the ba -er- guts to admit it. I hope this keeps making the rounds on sites like this. Someone I really respect in our stake gave a talk very similar to this in a Saturday night session of conference once. He was (I am assuming) “invited” to give a follow-up talk the next day. Sad. I think a lot of people need to hear this.
I like this talk. I had a spiritual experience when I investigated the church and it served me well for 35 of the last 40 years but the last 5 years have taken a toll on me and my faith. I wish that the fruits were still as sweet but they are not. Now I worry that I can not endure to the end. I see this trend the Brother Russel talks about happening more and more but I see people not praying with their feet but voting with their feet and leaving the church. I don’t think that the church really wants it members to question everything. I am not even sure if they are happy with the results of the first 4 essays that they have published. I hope this does make the rounds in the church but from my experience I think that this councilor will probably get released in the very near future. I sencerely hope I am wrong.
This talk is almost two years old. I would really like to see what has happened in this stake over that time and find out how this councilor is doing. He was highlighted last fall, if I remember correctly, on BYUtv, so I assume he still is active. I don’t see negative reactions to things like this happening in the San Francisco area. In some ways, that area is leading the changing nature of the LDS Church.
This talk is AMAZING. I have been thinking the past few months about asking my Bishop if I can give a talk in Sacrament about testimony. I think I have learned from these boards (yeah, been lurking around for a WHILE. . finally joined to write this!) and mormonstories and other “middle way” sites that I DO have a testimony, it just isn’t the kind you hear about in Testimony meeting! I just really think that everyone should hear stuff like this, over the pulpit! How much easier my life would have been the past 10 years if I had heard this ONCE.
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