A Survival Guide for General Conference: Saturday Evening Session (Oct 2021)
This series will be a cheat sheet guide for people who would prefer not to watch all of General Conference. Now you can have some points to discuss with your TBM family or friends where necessary and gives you the option to choose which talks you want to listen to (if any).
Saturday Evening Session
Session conducted by: Dallin H. Oaks - First Counselor, First Presidency
Session Choir: Combined Choir from BYU
Invocation (opening prayer): Stephen J. Lund
Benediction (closing prayer): Gerald Causse
Songs sung:
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
God loved us so he sent his Son
Guide Us, O Thou Great Jehovah
Lord, I Would Follow Thee
Behold the Wounds in Jesus’ Hands
Opening speech: Dallin H. Oaks - First Counselor, First Presidency
Key Points:
reiterated points from the morning session about General Conference taking place back in the Conference Centre (although numbers are more limited due to continued constraints of COVID-19) and that safe medical practices were put in place for the choir members who were all vaccinated and recently tested to make sure the were not infected
First Speaker: M. Russell Ballard - Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles - ‘Lovest Thou Me More Than These?’ (Skip to 12:36)
Topics: God and Jesus Christ made sacrifices for our salvation, there are many ways to show our love and devotion to Christ, we should stay faithful to christ despite adversity
Key Points:
Ballard visited the Holy Land and was standing on the beach near Galilee. It reminded him of the time that Jesus visited his apostles after his resurrection when he stood on the same shore and told Peter and the other disciples (John 21:6) to cast their net on the other side of the boat. After catching fish and dining together Jesus asked Simon Peter “loves thou me more than these”.
Ballard has pondered this question as one he might be asked someday by Jesus.
He believes that the Lord may be asking us about how busy we are and about the many positive and negative influences competing for our time. He may be asking each of us if we love him more than the things of this world. This may be a question about what we really value in life, who we follow, and how we view our relationships with family members and neighbours.
When we discover the full meaning of these questions we can become better family members, neighbours, citizens, members of the Church, and sons and daughters of God.
When we love and follow Christ we:
Have faith in him
Repent
Get baptised and receive the Holy Ghost
Stay on the covenant path
Forgive
Earnestly strive to keep God’s commandments
7. Be obedient
8. Make and keep covenants
9. Honour our fathers and mothers
10. Set aside negative worldly influences
11. Prepare ourselves for the Second Coming
Jesus loves us so much that he volunteered to be our Saviour and Redeemer so that we could return the presence of our Heavenly Father. To return to their presence we need to believe in Jesus and God’s plan of happiness, this means loving and following the Saviour, and keeping the commandments even in times of strife
We must always remember that our true happiness depends on our relationship with God, Jesus Christ, and with each other.
Quotes:
“Do the things of this world bring us the joy, happiness, and peace that the Saviour offered to his disciples, that He offers to us? Only He can bring us true joy, happiness, and peace through our loving him and following his teachings”
“I can say that knowing that Jesus is the light, the life, and the hope of the world gives me greater desire to love him more every day”.
“I pray that you may answer as Peter did so long ago, ‘Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee’ and then show it by loving and serving God and those around you.”
Personal Synopsis:
I have noticed more and more that the LDS leadership love using the word “truth”. They teach that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the “true church”, that we need to be “true” to our Saviour and Jesus Christ, and that there is such a thing a “true happiness”. To their credit, they are likely using the word “truth” to mean a belief they accept as true and not meaning a truth that is in accordance with fact or reality. This is an important distinction because their definition gives members an idea that they are living the truth. That the gospel, the restored church, and even the words spoken by modern prophets are in accordance with fact or reality - when in actuality they are not.
I feel that the idea of “true happiness” or “true joy” is just a fantasy that is peddled to members to make them feel that happiness and peace can only be found through following Jesus Christ, and if you are not happy it is because there is something you are doing wrong. In one of the earlier general conference sessions one of the speakers quoted Russell M. Nelson saying “the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives”, Nelson claims that if our focus is always on Jesus Christ and his gospel that we will always feel joy regardless of what is happening in our lives. These types of teachings are an effective method at controlling the thought and emotions of members because by suggesting that if you focus on God/Jesus/the gospel that you will feel joy no matter what it also implies that if you are facing a challenging time and you do not feel joy that it is in some way down to you not fulfilling these responsibilities. This can lead to feelings of guilt or unworthiness, and it can encourage people to become obsessed with ritualistic behaviours (e.g. fasting, scripture reading, prayer) in order to try and block out negative thoughts.
Of course, not every person is the same, and some may find comfort in prayer. I don’t take issue with people using their own coping mechanisms to get through life as long as they do not interfere with the lives of others. Unfortunately, the LDS Church has no problem in using the same manipulative tactics used in other high control religious groups and the leadership have no interest in actual truth.
Second Speaker: Sharon Eubank - First Counselor Relief Society General President - ‘I Pray He’ll Use Us’ (Skip to 25:34)
Topics: personal thanks for aid given, examples of how the church helps people, the importance of helping the less fortunate
Key Points:
Eubank speaks about receiving a box of cookies from a family from Syria who received help from Latter-Day Said Charities and Rahma Worldwide to survive when the war cause a devastating food shortage.
She reminds members that their thanks go out to all who donated time, money, and resources to the humanitarian aid project
What was true during Alma’s day is true in ours “and thus in their prosperous circumstances they did not send away any who were naked, or that were hungry, or that were athirst, or that were sick, or that had not been nourished, and they did not set their hearts upon riches. Therefore they were liberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no respect as the persons who stood in need”.
Eubank lists some of the ways the Church supports the community e.g. outreach programmes, welfare farms and canneries, and welcome centres for immigrants. She says “these are all ways, organised thought the priesthood, where small efforts collectively make a big impact and magnify the many individual things that we do as disciples of Christ”.
Prophets have a charge for the whole earth, not just for the members of the Church. The first presidency takes this charge very seriously
Gives several examples of the Church providing humanitarian aid to people
Mentions the same story that M. Russell Ballard just did with Jesus asking if his disciples love him. Eubank believes that the essence of the gospel is contained in how we answer this question.
Quotes:
“As baptised members of the Church, we’re under covenant to care for those in need. Or individual efforts don#t necessarily require money or far away locations, but they do require the guidance of the Holy Spirit and a willing heart to say to the Lord ‘Here I am. Send me’”.
“ I testify that Jesus Christ is come to heal the brokenhearted. His gospel is to recover sight to the blind. His Church is to preach deliverance to the captives, and His disciples across the world are striving to set at liberty them that are bruised”.
Personal Synopsis:
There are two points to this talk that I find annoying. Firstly women already don’t get enough airtime in these things because they are only women so what could they possibly offer *insert eye roll*. So with the very limited time they get to talk it really did annoys me that she had to cover the same scripture content of the man who just spoke before her. Most people know that the Church reviews all of the talks in advance so they would know full well that much of her quotes would have been the exact same things covered in the talk just before hers, so it makes it look like she is just copying what he was teaching - it didn’t really offer any further information on the topics. So I feel it would have been nice for her to get a topic of her own to cover (really they could have just told M. Russell Ballard to pick a different scripture to talk about).
The second point I have is more about the topic of the LDS Humanitarian aid. Compared to other (less well off) religions you could say that they do a lot of humanitarian work, but the reality is that to a church that is literally worth billions of dollars it is a drop in the ocean. There is so much more that they could be doing for people in need.
Some of this talk had some personal meaning to me because Eubank speaks about how the LDS church is under “divine mandate” to care for the poor, she says it is one of the pillars of the work of salvation and exhalation. However in my experience (and I know I am not alone in this) when this responsibility is carried out it is often done so with judgement and scorn. When my father died we were in a rough spot and we were on the verge of homelessness. My mother contacted our local bishop and explained what was going on. He came to visit with a sister from the ward and basically explained that the “support life and not lifestyle”, so while he would help and bring some food he was not willing to help out with the rent. the whole experience was demanding and humiliating, he of course quoted scripture about Job and going through challenging times, he made us pray with him, and made my mother agree if they helped out with food that she would pay the church back by doing some ironing for them. He was so condescending and made us feel like we were unworthy of what he was offering us. He and the sister showed up for 2 more weeks to order food and then we never saw them again.
I don’t have an issue with them asking for participation in cleaning the church or doing “chores” for them, but then the assistance they give is more of barter/trade than it is something charitable. Additionally, the help they were offering came with heaps of judgement, some of which I believe stemmed from our not being active members (also if the bishop choose to check the membership status of the family before he came over he would have seen that my father had been excommunicated and my mother had her name removed). My story is not unique and I have seen many others telling similar stories when they were in such desperation that they turned back to the church, so they do not live up to this “divine mandate” which they claim is so important.
Third Speaker: Brent H. Nielson - Presidency of the Seventy - ‘Is There No Balm in Gilead- (Skip to 36:10)
Topics: faith, miracles, how the Lord blesses us
Key Points:
spoke of when his father was diagnosed with cancer. He says that his father was a sobering moment for him and the future appeared bleak but the family fasted and prayed for a miracle, and he felt that they had sufficient faith for one to occur
Sadly this was not to be the case and a short time later his father passed away
Nielson wondered if his faith was not strong enough to receive a miracle and he turned to the scriptures for answers
He speaks of the Bible and the “Balm of Gilead” and how this was a name given to Jesus for his ability to heal. Nielson advised he came to realise that there is more than physical ailments that the Saviour can heal, but that he can “heal our hearts as He cleanses us from sin and lifts us through difficult times”.
As we repent with full purpose of heart, the Saviour cleanses us from sin.
Nielson says the biggest mistake he made was believing that the Saviours healing power had not worked for his family, but he has since realised that this power was evident in the lives of each family member. that he was so focused on the physical healing that he failed to see the miracles that occurred.
The Lord blessed him and his siblings with “love, unity, faith, and resilience that became an import part of their lives” and his father was blessed to receive a remission of his sins and now awaits the miracle of the Resurrection
Quotes:
“Through literature, music and art, the Savior Jesus Christ has often been referred to as the Balm of Gilead because of His remarkable healing power.”
“He [the Saviour] could touch the eyes of those who are blind and they could see. He could touch the ears of those who are dead, and they could hear. He could touch the legs of those who could not walk, and they could walk. He can heal our eyes, and our ears, and our legs, but most importantly He can heal our hearts as He cleanses us from sin and lifts us through difficult trials”
“As we repent with full purpose of heart, the Saviour cleanses us from sin. As we cheerfully submit our will to the Father, even in the most difficult of circumstances, the Savior will lift our burdens and make them light.”
“The Saviours redeeming and healing power can over any sin, wound, or trial, no matter how large or how difficult - and there are leftovers. His grace is sufficient”
Personal Synopsis:
This talk is probably one of the most common I have heard over the years, one where a person expresses how much the death of a loved one has helped to increase their faith. I struggle listening to these now because I know the appeal of believing that the death of someone close to you has meaning and that somehow “god” was trying to teach you a lesson, or help you on a path, or help you in his own way.
The reality is that none of this is provable, and it can cause long term emotional damage when a person begins to deconstruct their faith. It also can really affect the devout member who does not feel the same way. If you can imagine having just lost a loved one and being devastated and questioning your faith…if you hear someone telling you how they simply saw a similar experience as a blessing, or as a challenge that can be overcome if you have enough faith and devotion in Christ it implies that if you do not feel the same way you are somehow lacking in these areas.
Nielson says that when he gives a blessing he knows now that “a person can and will be physically healed if it is expedient in Christ”. So in order for the power of the priesthood to work, you just have to hope that it is a convenient and appropriate time for God, or the answer will be no.
I hope that anyone who is struggling with this same predicament realises that they are not at fault, and have nothing to feel guilty for. Everyone processes grief and hardships differently and how you overcome these difficulties has nothing to do with your faith or the healing powers of God. I would encourage anyone that is struggling with loss, grief, trauma or any difficult situation that impacts their life to reach out and get a qualified professional to help you through it. Having therapy can really help you put healthy coping mechanisms in place, and can help you work through the very real feelings you are experiencing.
Fourth Speaker: Arnulfo Valenzuela - of the Seventy - ‘Deepening Our Conversion to Jesus Christ’ (Skip to 46:26)
Topics: the importance of the scriptures, the benefit that following the teaching of the scriptures, the prophet will bring to our lives,
Key Points:
Quotes Russell M. Nelson speaking in April general conference where he says that doing anything well requires effort, and being a disciple of Christ is no exception
Reminds us to become “engaged learners” by studying the scriptures as they reveal much to us.
We should savour the scriptures by studying them in a spirit of delightful discovery and faithful obedience. If our souls delighteth in the scriptures:
Our desire to be part of the gathering of Israel on both sides of the veil will increase
It will become normal and natural for us to invite family and friends to listen to the missionaries
We will be worthy and will have a current temple recommend in order to go to the temple as often as possible
We will work to find, prepare, and submit the makes of our ancestors to the temple
We will observe the Sabbath day, attending church every Sunday to renew our covenants with the Lord as we partake worthily in taking the sacrament
We will resolve to remain not the covenant path
Valenzuela recounts a story where he visited a friend and told their 7-year-old son (called David) of the story of David and Goliath. The child had never heard this Bible story before and after sharing it with the boy he told him that “ the scriptures are the word of God and in them, you will find beautiful stories that will help him to better know God”. He asked the Childs mother to use the Bible she had at home and not let David go to sleep without reading the whole story to him.
Valenzuela invites everyone to have a permanent plan to study the scriptures. When we study the gospel we are not simply seeking new information; rather we are seeking to become a new creature.
The Holy Ghost purifies our hearts. He inspires in us the desire to live according to the truth and whispers to us ways to do so. We must seek everything that invites the influence of the Spirit and rejects anything that deviates from this influence.
Quotes:
The scriptures and our knowledge of God are gifts. Gifts that we too often take for granted. Let us cherish these blessings.”
“As we study the scriptures we will better understand God’s plan of salvation and exhalation, and we will trust in the promises that He has made to us as well as in the premisses and blessings of modern prophets”
“ We must seek everything that invites the influence of the Spirit and rejects anything that deviates from this influence.”
Personal Synopsis:
So there is quite a large part of this talk that is either just quoting Russell M. Nelson, or stories from the Book of Mormon, with the message that reading the scriptures and abiding by their words is just fantastic. As someone who has read the scriptures (and while I was active maybe even a little selectively), I can say that they are not all hope, love, and joy. There are some truly dark and horrible stories in the Bible, many in the Old testament proving that the God of the Bible is a horrible, twisted being who has no regard for human life.
I laughed when Valenzuela spoke about prompting a 7-year-old reading the bible to learn more about God. The first reason this was funny to me was because of a book I had seen called “Awkward Moments (Not Found In Your Average) Children’s Bible”, which takes some of the more gruesome and terrible moments in the Bible and shows them in cartoon form e.g. one is a cartoon David collecting foreskins. This is the picture that came into my head as soon as he started saying about all the wonderful stories contained in the Bible.
There was a lot I never really thought about or addressed when I was an active member myself, and there were many terrible Bible stories that I dismissed because I “knew” that the church was true and assumed that anything that may look bad in the Bible would have a reasonable explanation. Cognitive dissonance was a very real thing for me and I will never forget the first time I realised that the Bible may not be the “word of God” was when someone was complaining that their child had been told in school that Jesus was just a poet. It was a lightbulb moment for me because I realised that there could be alternate explanations for the Bible rather than it being supernatural.
Fifth Speaker: Brad R. Wilcox - Second Counselor Young Men General Presidency - ‘Worthiness is Not Flawlessness’ (Skip to 59.45)
Topics: Repentance, perseverance, salvation, hard work, faith, importance of repentance
Key Points:
Some mistakenly believe that repentance and change are unnecessary. god’s message is that they are essential
God loves us as we are, but he also loves us too much to leave us this way. He can transform us to become more like Him
Some mistakenly believe that repentance is a one-time event (presumably he is speaking of the idea that some Christian faiths have on once-saved, always saved). God’s message is that repentance is a process
Taking the sacrament is vital to repent and renew our covenants - and it pledges our willingness to keep the commandments
Some mistakenly believe that they are not worthy to participate fully in the gospel because they are not completely free of bad happiest. God’s message is that worthiness is not flawlessness.
Wilcox tells a story of a young men who was struggling with pornography, and he felt ashamed that he could not “get things right”. This young man became ashamed and guilty. He felt unworthy of second chances and thought that God must hate him, he wanted to stop attending church as he felt like a hypocrite.
Wilcox quotes the young man's priesthood leader saying “you’re more a hypocrite because you have a and habit you are trying to break. You are a hypocrite if you hide it, lie about it, or try to convince yourself the Church has the problem for maintaining such high standards. Being honest about your actions and taking steps to move forward is not being a hypocrite. It is being a disciple.”
“The Lord sees weakness differently than he does rebellion…when the Lord sleeps of weakness it is always with mercy”. The young man in his story was helped by his leaders focusing with him on incremental growth so that he could achieve small successes in order to reach his goal.
Some mistakenly believe that God is waiting to help until after we repent. God’s message is that he will help us as we repent.
Remember that when you feel like you have failed too many times to keep trying, remember Christ’s Atonement and the grace it makes possible are real"
Quotes:
“God loves us as we are, but he also loves us too much to leave us this way…He can transform us to become more like Him”
“Repentance and recovery may take time, so forsaking sin and having no more disposition to do evil but do good continually are lifetime pursuits”.
“ So many have been hurt by broken and strained relationships that it is difficult for them to believe in God’s compassion and long-suffering. The struggle to see God for who He is - a loving Father who meets us in our need and knows how to give good things to them that ask him”.
Personal Synopsis:
This talk by Wilcox gets off on the wrong footing pretty much straight away, He mentions a story of him sending a text message using the voice-to-text app, and his message changes from “Hey, you two. Sure love you”, to “Hate you two. Should love you”. Wilcox compares this to when people misunderstand Gods message of repentance and worthiness as something other than positive and well-intentioned. The problem is that these two situations are not analogues, on one hand you have a message that is clear and concise, and while the message may have been sent in error it in itself was not being misinterpreted. However, the LDS church does not see any issue with the message they preach on worthiness and repentance, they think it is the person who is at fault and not what is being taught.
this may seem like a small thing to pick on, but it is important. Church leaders have a habit of using these types of stories to try and relate to members and try and Fram a particular teaching/message in the way they want it to be understood - but if you look past what they say and dig a little deeper you start to see the inconsistencies in what they are trying to say.
In this example, the two situations are not comparable because the recipient of such a message can directly contact the sender and ask for clarification. The sender can fully explain what happened and what their message was actually supposed to say. This is not the same for messages from God because even if they could prove God existed, that it was the god of the bible and that this God relayed his message through the LDS Prophet we would still not be able to know if this message was truly from God. Historically LDS leaders have admitted that so-called messages from God were actually the Prophet “speaking as a man”, so there is no way to discern what is God’s word and what is him speaking his own beliefs. In addition to this there is no way for an individual to question or fully understand any teaching that is supposed to have come from God because they can only rely on what the Prophet says and their own feelings telling them something is true, which is totally different to being able to speak to someone directly for a full explanation.
The second major issue that I take with this talk is when Wilcox claims that worthiness is not flawlessness it almost could lead a person to believe that he has never encountered a worthiness interview, or known someone who was struggling financially being denied a temple recommend because they were not able to pay a full tithe. he claims that worthiness is not about perfection, but about being honest and trying, yet this very statement goes against the very purpose of a “worthiness” interview. The questions set out in this and other similar interviews are not about helping members to progress, but assessing how worthy they are and removing privileges until they do meet the selected criteria for “worthiness”.
Sixth Speaker: Alfred Kyungu - of the Seventy - ‘To Be a Follower of Christ’ (Skip to 46:26)
Topics: Strive to be like Jesus, Be humble, have courage, forgive, make sacrifices
Key Points:
Kyungu says that during his study of the scriptures that he has been impressed by the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, who later became known as Paul. Because of the power of heaven and the Atonement of Jesus Christ he was changed completely.
In one of Paul’s teachings to the Corinthians, he invited them to follow Jesus Christ as he did. Kyungu began to reflect on what it means to become a follower of Christ, and more importantly he began to ask himself the ways he could imitate Him.
There are four qualities of Jesus Christ that Kyungu tries to imitate
Humility: even in the premarital life he recognised and allowed the will of God to prevail in the plan of salvation for mankind.
Courage: Jesus showed his courage early in life when he at 12 years old was teaching divine things to doctors of the law. Kyungu tells a story from his mission where it became dangerous to travel the road to visit the missionaries and hold zone conferences. Kyungu sent a report to the Area President who advised that they not knowingly put themselves in harm's way, but at the same time they must go forward in faith for “God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”.
Forgiveness: The atonement of Jesus Christ means that we can forgive those who have hurt us even if they may never accept responsibility for their cruelty. It is usually easy to forgive someone who asks sincerely for it, but the Saviour will grant us the ability to forgive anyone who has mistreated you in any way. Forgiveness sets us free and makes us worthy to partake of the sacrament every Sunday. Forgiveness is required of us to be true disciples of Jesus Christ.
Sacrifice: The Saviour gave the supreme sacrifice of his life for us sot act we will e redeemed. We can sacrifice our time, money, fast offerings, and other donations to build the kingdom of God on Earth
Quotes:
“Humility proceeds glory, and it brings God’s favour upon us…Humility brings genteel answers. it is the source of a righteous character.”
“Let us have the courage to do what is right, even when it is unpopular; the courage to defend our faith and to act by faith.”
“Forgiveness sets us free and makes us worthy to partake of the sacrament every Sunday. Forgiveness is required of us to be truly disciples of Jesus Christ”.
Personal Synopsis:
The beginning of this talk was a pretty standard talk about following Jesus Christ and the benefits of this. however, Kyungu soon begins to talk about imitating the courage of Jesus Christ and following the direction of an Area President who advised to continue to travel a dangerous road (one where Kyungu admits that missionaries had been attacked and robbed in the past) without fear. The scariest thing about this is that once upon a time I would have believed that this was the right thing to do, I would have willingly died for my belief in God and Jesus Christ.
One of the strongest memories I have when it comes to martyrdom and belief in God is the rumours associated with the Columbine High School massacre. I was 9 when this shooting took place and I remember it being all over the news, it was all that people could talk about. At the time it was reported (falsely) that one of the students killed had been asked if they believed in God, and when they answered “yes” they were shot and killed. I remember a talk where the speaker asked if any of us could be that brave and that a true disciple of Christ would be willing to lay their life on the line for their belief in God. He basically said that if we were willing to turn our back on God at that moment that we could not be a true believers. this talk stayed with me for a long time, and I genuinely believed that it would be the right and noble thing to do….which looking back is pretty messed up.
Unfortunately things really only go downhill with this talk. Kyungu next talks about forgiveness and says that “The atonement of Jesus Christ means that we can forgive those who have hurt us even if they may never accept responsibility for their cruelty…the Saviour will grant us the ability to forgive anyone who has mistreated you in any way. Forgiveness sets us free and makes us worthy to partake of the sacrament every Sunday. Forgiveness is required of us to be truly disciples of Jesus Christ”. This is one teaching I will always stand vehemently against! No one is ever obligated to forgive someone for what they have done, and no one should ever be made to feel like they are a lesser person for not forgiving. Everyone is different, and while it may be healthy and a part of healing to forgive there should never be any obligation. Healing is definitely possible without having to forgive the wrong or hurtful actions of others. To anyone who has been hurt by another I would recommend reaching out to recovering from religion and/or the secular therapy project, both of these links can be helpful in processing what you are going through (even if you are still a TBM). If this is not something you are comfortable doing you can always look at Reddit or Twitter for a community to help you through what you are experiencing. You are not alone.
Seventh Speaker: Marcus B. Nash - of the Seventy - ‘Hold Up Your Light’ (Skip to 1:20:14)
Topics: sharing the gospel
Key Points:
Recalls a story of being on a plane seated next to a “self-proclaimed atheist”. This atheist asked him why he believed in God, and Nash answered that he believes in God because Joseph Smith saw Him, and also added his own personal experience of God. He asked the atheist to read the Book of Mormon and he said he would
Nash recounts another story of sharing the joy of the gospel with another random person in an airport. Years later he saw this same man again and he was an active member of the church and was working with the missionaries to teach his girlfriend about the church
For both of these stories Nash advises he took the opportunity to “hold up the gospel light. To love, share, and invite each of them in a normal, natural way”.
Sharing the gospel protects us from temptation. Choosing to not hold up the gospel light moves us to the shadows where we are susceptible to temptation.
The converse is true. Choosing to hold up the gospel light brings us more fully into that light and the protection it provides against temptation
The gathering of Israel is the greatest cause on earth and is our covenant responsibility.
Quotes:
“When a person learns of the glorious purpose of life, comes to understand that Christ forgives and succours this who follow Him, and then chooses to follow Christ into the waters of baptism, life changes for the better, even when the external circumstances of life do not”
“There are Manu among all parties, sects, and denominations who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. The need to hold up our light has never been greater in all human history. and the truth has never been more accessible”.
“While surveys report that Gen Z is turning away from God, our stripling warrior elders and sisters are turning people to God.”
Personal Synopsis:
This is a pretty standard talk on sharing the gospel. I am sure that you could find a ton of talks with similar content, and no matter the year they always like to say that there has never been a more important time.
Eighth Speaker: Henry B. Eyring - Second Counselor, First Presidency ‘The Faith to Ask and Then to Act’ (Skip to 1:37:30)
Topics: revelation, the importance of faith, the first vision,
Key Points:
Eyring states that he has an earnest prayer that we all may receive revelation from God. The way to receive this revelation has been the same since the time of Adam and Eve, it is always done by exercising faith.
Joseph Smith taught for revelation and answers to his questions with faith, and these were answered.
If you need an answer that is important to your eternal welfare or that of others, the answer is more likely to come.
If your faith in Jesus Christ has led to a heart softened through the effects of His Atonement, you will be more able to Geel the whisperings of the Spirit in answer to your prayers
the more we have the doctrine of Christ in our lives and hearts, the more we feel greater love and sympathy for those who have never had the blessings of faith in Jesus Christ or are struggling to maintain it
As some lose their faith in the Savior they may even attack His counsel, calling good evil and evil good.
Quotes:
“I know from experience that answers will come to fit your needs and your spiritual preparation”
“Revelation comes to us in proportion to the degree to which we have sought to take the doctrine of Christ into our hearts and implement it in our lives”
“The still, small voice is clear and discernable in my mind when I feel an internal quiet and submission to the Lord’s will.”
Personal Synopsis:
Eyring begins the talk by discussing revelation and the requirement to exercise faith for this to occur. He speaks about Joseph Smith and his asking a heartfelt question of God believing that He would answer. He is of course speaking of the events of the first vision, or at least the popular version of these events. It always makes me eye-roll when they speak of this event now as I have seen for myself just how many accounts Joseph gave of this event over the years, each of these vastly different from the official version. In the earlier version of events Joseph Smith was not going to pray to find out what church he should join, he went to ask God to forgive mankind for straying from what he believed to be the truth. He had already decided that there was no true church on earth. So when leaders speak of the first vision as though it was true, and that there was only one story it is a bit incredulous.
I feel like this talk then delves into another example of virtue signalling. Eyring states that “answers will come to fit your needs and your spiritual preparation”, which implies the if you do not receive answers then you either do not need them, or you have done something wrong in your spiritual preparation. This can lead to questions of worthiness and means that someone who is earnestly seeking answers and not receiving them (for argument's sake let's say its because God doesn’t exist), it can lead them to feel unworthy of answers and mean they become obsessed with becoming more “spiritually prepared”. The whole idea of being “worthy” is a huge factor of control. Not only does it keep members striving for the feelings and answers that are supposed to come with being worthy, but it means that people can spend so much time chasing these feelings that they never stop to question if anything is really true.
Eyring says that as some lose faith they may attack the council of Jesus Christ, calling “good evil and evil good”. However, I would still maintain that we do not have any evidence even if a God existed that the prophets of the LDS church are receiving revelation from Him. This is not something that should be taken lightly because there are many teachings that are doing long-lasting harm to people, and even may cause someone to take their own life because they do not feel able to comply with these standards. Eyring says that any personal revelation that we feel we should receive should be consonant with the teaching of the Lord, yet they seem to forget this sort of logic when it comes to the many times their prophets have given revelation as though it was from God. if they really believed in this reasoning then they should remember that the Bible clearly states what should happen for those who falsely claim to speak for Him.
