Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Thoughts on Conference

After ten hours of sitting and watching conference, there's no way I could give a comprehensive assessment of my thoughts and ideas.  But here are a few randomly scattered thoughts.


I loved Elder Holland's talk about mental health.  His perspective is so valuable in the discussions within the church on this important topic.

While I wholeheartedly enjoyed and agreed with President Uchtdorf's message, I expect there to be unfortunate fallout.  He was acutely correct when he said that church leaders make mistakes.  But I fully expect a few people will take that and run with it, assuming that any doctrine taught in which they don't want to believe must just be a mistake.  Thus they can justify disregarding the counsel of God's mouthpiece on the Earth.  Of course, people who wanted to do that were already doing that, so it might actually change nothing.

By and large, my favorite talk was given by Elder Scott, about the anguish that the people of Ammon must have felt when their covenants made when repenting of past mistakes kept them from assisting with the protection of their own families.  I had never thought about their situation in quite that way before.  It was quite eye-opening for me.

The references to homosexuality in Sunday's sessions were completely in line with what I expected.  In a previous blog post I expressed why the Church was not likely to support same sex marriage, and I think the church is justified in that stance.  I also explained that individuals may have a different position and still be in good standing with the church, but we shouldn't expect the church's position to change.

Overall, there was a lot of great counsel given.  Marvin J. Ashton once entreated us to all view each other with charity -- expect the best from everyone and don't assume the worst.  If we study the talks with charity we will be greatly blessed with wisdom and knowledge.

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