Saturday AM Session Open Thread: The Philosophies of Men mingled with Conference

I personally think that the best way to watch General Conference is with good friends, good food, and good commentary.  Since we are low on good food and I do not have any friends (conference-watching, at least) in the area, I thought that maybe I could go for some good commentary at FPR with some of my ‘nacle friends.

I realize that other blogs are going to be doing this on a bigger and better scale. However, I am not trying to compete with anyone. This is about enjoying conference at home…at Faith-Promoting Rumor.

152 Replies to “Saturday AM Session Open Thread: The Philosophies of Men mingled with Conference”

  1. My predictions: they will pretty much say the same thing they said last GC, and the GC before that, and the GC before that, and the GC before that, and the GC before that, and the GC before that…

    This will not be because the members haven’t been following adequately following their directives, but because of a lack of imagination (with perhaps the exception of Holland, who I don’t always agree with but at least appreciate for usually trying do give something new).

  2. I should be fair. He is praising members for Christian living, which I would far rather hear than praising members for dutifully attending church meetings and temple rites.

  3. I don’t recall exactly how Bushman handles it, but I think it probably has something to do with the over all theme (shared by Vogel’s bio) of Joseph’s relationship with his father.

  4. The Primary talk seems to be a little more solid than is sometimes the case, but since it’s so far outside my present life (it’s been months since I’ve even *seen* a child larger than an infant) it’s hard to get into.

    Leaves me more time to think about Elder Holland’s wonderful talk.

  5. I thought it was weird that when her baby holds her finger she can tell that it is telling her that if she just held on that they would help her return to the lord. She must be a baby whisperer.

  6. If Lucy’s account is true, I think it had more to do with Joe Sr’s alcoholism than a childhood testimony of the WofW. And yes, Joseph loved the drink when he was older.

  7. I actually think it is more about trusting in God. All he needed was his father. That type of thing. My second son once had to have blood taken. They normally restrain them. I told them that he would be calm if I held him. He was. It helped me have a more personal connection with that story.

  8. I commented with my mom who is watching with me at my house. That I didn’t know why the kept telling that time when Joseph Smith refused the drink because I’ve heard many a drunk-Joseph story from President Jack Christensen.

  9. My little brother once had to have his tongue sewed (he fell while climbing a chain link fence and hung himself by his tongue) and they couldn’t give anesthetic for some reason. He held perfectly still with his tongue stuck out as long as our dad would hold him. I know it was harder on Dad than on Bro.

    IOW, I think Chris’s #45 is spot on.

  10. J, I just do not think that it why the story was originally shared. Of course, we seem to make everything about the WofW sometimes. That is why we needed Elder Holland’s talk.

  11. I love that they have protected themselves this way–The lord will never let the leader of this church lead you astray.

  12. One of my best friend likes to connect the idea that God will remove prophets who do not agree with God’s will. He said that is why President Joseph Fielding Smith and H B Lee lived so short in office.

  13. loyd, you know that I caught that reinforcement of womanly roles in the church. This guy may be the first not to do it–only because he is talking about something that women have no part in.

  14. narrator, biblical prophets were cool like that. I think they also did much to point to unrighteousness in general. However, the mistreatment of the poor and oppressed was the glearing sign of evil.

  15. narrator

    I like Wendell Berry’s comment on prophets

    “If change is to come… it will have to come from the outside. It will have to come from the margins… this sort of change is a dominant theme of our tradition, whose “central figures” have often worked their way inward from the margins. It was the desert, not the temple, that gave us the prophets.”

  16. Emerged ourselves in the scriptures! We too often ignore them in Sunday School. We totally ignored Amos, but instead talked about modern day prophets. Give me scripture!

  17. Go the Scriptures! I like it because we need to seach and ponder rather than always waiting for a letter from the First Presidency. We have the tools.

  18. Yes, Chris, scripture! I alternate with a man who never uses scripture, at all. He says it is more important to talk about doctrine than scripture. Really. My best classes are always ones where we go through the scriptures themselves, even if it’s only a few verses and tends toward the superficial. (I’m not sure where he thinks we get doctrine from.)

  19. Ardis, I concur. I think if our GD classes kept to the scriptures, we would get far more out of them. It’s just too bad that the GP manuals usually don’t stay too close to the scriptures.

  20. Jenni–

    A World Expo is currently being held in Shanghai. I think it’s basically the same thing as the World’s Fair.

  21. My father just texted me

    President Kimball was bothered by Pres. Benson’s “Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet” talk given at BYU in that espoused an “unthinking follow the leader” mentality. Pres. Kimball required that he apologize for parts of that talk to the Q12 and then seeing it was not a sufficient apology he was a week later required to apologize to the rest of the General Authorities. Camilla described her husband’s “displeasure with the speech.”

  22. Ok. I think that an evolutionary approach to life and humanity is the problem. Social Darwinism and not biology is the problem which he is really addressing.

  23. Chris,

    really? I didnt take you for a masochist. I guess he is the most relevant figure if you want to understand the modern western mormon political mind

  24. as opposed to his reptilian V side? I kid. seriously I kid. His talk on pride, I mean his daughters, was one of my fav talks as well as his I testify. Although Im not sure we would agree on who the secret combinations are.

  25. Oh, fer cryin’ out loud, Loyd! He isn’t vilifying non-theists; he’s acknowledging that because we know our real origins and real destinies, we understand more than those who don’t have that knowledge.

    You need to watch conference with a seven-year-old believer at your side to explain the hard parts.

  26. “no tattoos, but re-constructive surgery is just fine.”

    Well, in principle they are the same problem. We should not need the leaders to spell out every detail.

  27. Narrator,

    I think that when your whole life is lived as a tribute to god as being the cause and the reason, then you can’t understand that someone without god could have anything worth meaning in their life.

  28. And you’re grossly overstating the case, Jenni. I think that when your whole life is lived in cynicism and unbelief, you can’t understand that someone WITH God has something more than someone without God.

  29. I agree that the better should be prioritized above the good, I don’t know that it should always be with that single purpose in mind.

  30. My father-in-law was called as an early morning seminary teacher, but was not released from his calling as Stake clerk. He works 60 hours a week as an electrician for AT&T and is on call most other hours of the day. My wife is worried that his schedule is going to kill him. Mother-in-law is angry that Stake pres hasn’t released him from stake calling. FiL dutifully does it all.

  31. “Some people cannot get along with themselves.” My wife has been telling me to stop putting myself down in public. She is wise….and she loves me a lot.

  32. Just stumbled upon your website while doing a Google search. Great info BTW.. Your blog is so informative keep up the good work!!!! tremendous pleasing pleasing.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *