Welcome to our live discussion thread of the Saturday morning session of the 184th General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This weekend at Approaching Justice, we will be joined by a number of guests.
This morning, I want to introduce to you Kirk Caudle. Kirk is a scholar of religion and the host of The Mormon Book Review Podcast. He also posts insights at the blog Feast Upon The Word.
We will have an array of regular contributors who I will introduce throughout the weekend.
Most importantly, I welcome you to this discussion!
Please leave your thoughts, comments, or observations about the session in the comments below. Disagreement is welcome. Agreement is welcome. As is humor, joy, and the occasional snark…but in moderation. Also, feel free to respond to the other comments on the thread. If you disagree, explain why.
Welcome and thanks! If you are looking for an online feed of the session, it can be found here.
We will be updating highlights from the session speakers here in the main post.
Discuss!
Session
President Uchtdorf is conducting.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir started us off with Lead Kindly Light (Actually…not the opening hymn, but the first hymn after the invocation).
The first speaker is President Thomas S. Monson. (Elder Holland is up next)
Gilbert Arizona Temple is the 142nd Working Temple. Will have 170 when those underway are completed. No new temples announced today.
Elder Holland
Speaking of servant of the lord being rejected by the world.
Sometime we cheer on the cause, other times we worry and weep.
Messengers of the Lord today are no different than those in past.
Hate for the prophet’s honesty cost Abinadi his life.
We sometimes want a comfortable God. Elder Holland reject such a conception of God.
“It is characteristic of our age that if people want gods they want gods that don’t demand much.”
“What would Jesus Do?” will not also bring a popular response.
Christlike love is the greatest need we have on this planet. That love goes along with obedience.
“Pure Christlike love flowing through righteousness can change the world”
Elder Ronald A. Rasband-Presidency of the Seventy.
Speaking of visiting recent tornado victims and the instructions he received from Pres. Monson.
Love, prayers, and appreciation for helping hands are what Pres. Monson recommends. Elder Rasband said these are things we can all do.
We have a mandate to life His Children.
Will we respond with love when the opportunity is before us?
He asks us to take up the mighty burden of discipleship.
Elder Carlos H. Amado-Seventy
New Testament accounts of the Savior showing mercy and healing the sick and dying. Such instances are signs of his power over death.
“Lazarus, come forth!”
The charges were changed from blasphemy to sedition so that he could be crucified.
Congregational Hymn: Choose The Right
Pres. Linda S. Reeves-2nd Counselor in Relief Society
Pornography.
“We are here to learn how to manage our passions and feelings.”
A growing number of both men and women are getting draw into pornography/addiction.
We should not respond with shock or rejection. Instead, we should help them find help.
The is also help for spouses.
The most important filter is ourselves.
We can begin practices like prayer and scripture study now.
Elder Neil A. Anderson-Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
“Sin has been, and always will be, a part of this world” -Neal L. Anderson
A “wide chasm” between the standards of the Church and the standards of the world.
Family Proclamation and law of chastity.
Standard gay marriage talk.
President Henry B. Eyring
Righteousness must be chosen.
God wants the best for us.
Thank you, everyone. See you this afternoon!
Feel free to look over the comments below and respond or add to them.
approachingjustice.net 
Testing
The test worked!
It is great to be with everyone today here at Approaching Justice. Conference is always a good time and I’d like to give a shout out to Chris for inviting me!
Also testing…
I get good feelings everytime I hear the voice of President Uchtdorf.
Took me a while to find BYU TV….I should go there more often 🙂
…Aaaand they’re off!
Hey, the wordpress login is better than the Disqus format we have before.
Yeah—it’s improved greatly. I just stuck myself with this one back in the day.
(Disclaimer: I will not be responsible if any youth Sunday School teachers are reading this and come up with a tattoo object lesson from it.)
Some more-interesting-than-usual key changes in this arrangement.
I am watching BYUTV. The ads on before/after conference are like the SuperBowl commercials of the Mormon world.
Looks like they are bringing out Holland early on today.
Bringing out the heavy hitter early.
My son and the YM/YW from our ward here in Vegas went out to the Gilbert Temple Open House.
No new Temples? wow…
I’m trying to imagine swearing and throwing food at a nun, or at a Buddhist priest, and not managing it. I guess i just don’t get the motivation, you know?
So a little late to the program, but that was my mission president that said the opening prayer. Such a Christlike man!
The Gilbert Arizona temple is the 142nd temple of the church. Showing my age, but i remember back when you could reasonably plan to travel and visit all of the temples.
Holland is the man. No pressure!
I had an experience on my mission similiar to this sister. Definitely requires restraint.
I am not as good at it now. :
My 8-year-old daughter has decided the “temple” and “duty” are here M&M words that she is listening for during #ldsconf.
I think that Elder Holland understands that persecution can come from within & without
“You wonder if it is worth it to take a courageous moral stand…yes it is worth it because the alternative is to have our houses left unto us desolate.”
As long as the folks listening understands that your friends being mad at you because of your religion isn’t persecution in the same sense that what happened to the church in Missouri in the 1830s (or what other groups, like the Huguenots, went through), i’m totally happy with this address.
I think we can be inspired by the martyrs without making ourselves out to be one.
Oh, i agree. I just think about comments in church classes, and i wonder if that’s what we’re doing, you know?
Indeed.
I was waiting for the “b” word.
Discipleship=missionary work, a constant theme in the past few conferences.
“WWJD will not always bring a popular response.”
“It is characteristic of our age that if people want gods they want gods that don’t demand much.” -Holland
“The bumper stick question, ‘what would Jesus do?’ will not always bring a popular response.” -Holland
“Pure Christlike love flowing through righteousness can change the world” -Holland
Elder Holland is clearly the true general-conference-speaker heir of Elder Maxwell, if alliteration is any gauge.
People need, “love, prayers, and appreciation” -Rashand
A sustaining vote is also an agreement to share the burdens of our leaders. Interesting thought.
I really like that
“Take up the joyful burden of discipleship”
Holland: Jesus wasn’t some hippie. He was all about hat in’ the gehys and letting women know their subordinant place.
“hat in’ the gehys” huh?
I agree with Elder Holland in that I reject the new age Jesus, but you are right that there is context to this.
“Reaching out to rescue one another, under any condition, is an eternal measure of love.”
I really do wish speakers could speak in their native languages in general conferences, with subtitles or simultaneous dubbing or somesuch.
Me, too!
Chris said just that a couple weeks ago.
I am really confused why they can’t. Especially since Spanish is now spoken more by members than English is.
Kind of off topic, but this year I read “Killing Jesus”. It really opened my eyes to the political and religious circumstances surrounding the judgment and crucifixion of Christ. I definitely recommend it.
There is a lot of great literature out there about the political context of his times and the crucifixion.
Anything else you specifically recommend?
Remind me and I will get back with you about specific during the week.
John Dominic Crosson’s Jesus: A Revolutionary.
His and Borg’s Last Week is also good and a great Easter read.
The charges were changed from blasphemy to sedition so that he could be crucified. (Note to self: Write a paper about that some time)
I saw a comment regarding Holland’s talk elsewhere that said it could be taken as a response to the legal case brought against the church in the UK. I thought that is worthy thinking about.
I suspect Elder Oaks will have something to say about that case.
Memes from Elder Holland’s talk are already spreading like a wildfire.
Oh, dear. Memes suck.
Except when they don’t.
(Well, and i also have enough of one particular sort of sociological/anthropological training that i view, e.g., religion as a type of meme.)
Facebook image memes. To be more specific. 🙂
“We are here to learn how to manage our passions and feelings”-Reeves
This may just be the first woman to speak about pornography in General Conference.
That is what I was just thinking
“The intimate relationship that brings children into the world…”
Couldn’t she just have said “sex”?
The S-E-X word is never uses in GC. Instead we misuse ‘gender’ and use ‘procreation’ and ‘banging.’
I prefer the term ‘banging.” It seems to work best when I am teaching Deacon’s quorum.
She is wrong about one thing. NO ONE can overcome pornography on their own.
I wish I could have quoted how she just described what that girl saw on TV. That was very descriptive!
So glad that she is plugging the Church’s ARP program. I have seen this program change lives.
I agree, but not all people who watch porn are “addicted” to it. I am not condoning the use of pornography, but talking about it as we do sometimes is not entirely helpful.
I think there can be varying degrees of addiction, but I would seriously like to meet someone who says they watch porn and aren’t addicted.
Well, Sr. Reeves herself talked about people who are presented with porn despite not seeking it out on their own. Not what you’re talking about, i know, but it’s still a counterexample.
I’d like to meet any adult who has never seen porn in his/her life. I am sure that there are a few, but not many. I do not think they are all addicted, even if they liked it.
Keeping your house clean is less important than family prayer, scripture study, and home evening.
Oh, good…because my house is a mess and my kids are still in their pajamas.
I cheered for the first two and then went “doh!” for the regular family scripture study part
I like this reminder. I too often find myself consumed with needing to keep the house clean, kids fed,etc. that I neglect those things that are important to my spiritual growth.
The primary voice in this one is very strong.
“Sin has been, and always will be, a part of this world” -Neal L. Anderson
Okay, i totally realize it’s totally petty, but that was a cheesy animation.
Serious question, not snarky, i promise: If changes in civil law don’t change divine law, then why do so many of us care so deeply whether civil and divine law match?
My sentiments exactly.
Looks like Elder Andersen will be the one to take the all the outside criticism this conference.
Looks like it is getting buried early in the weekend. It was pretty standard and mild.
It took longer than I thought to get a reference to homosexuality.
I don’t participate in Facebook fights about the definition of marriage, but a lot of my friends do—and the vitriol is pretty vicious in both directions, actually.
I will just give a “no comment” to this talk by Elder Anderson.
Besides making a great case against the Church’s geriatric hierarchy, Anderson’s talk is crap.
I am in such a bad mood right now.
I just grabbed my first Diet Coke…though 10:30 is late for me. 🙂
Chris, I assume your daughter is going hog wild with M&M’s right now.
She didn’t last long enough into the session. 🙂
You know, it occurs to me that now is a pretty great time to be Mormon and bi—you get to be attracted to folks of the same sex without feeling guilty about it, but you’ve also got a church-approved outlet for your sexual desires.
Makes you wonder how the Lord will judge those situations.
Nobody has actually said “catch up with the times” in decades. FYI 🙂
Unless those were fake texts? lol
Yeah, no. I’ve seen people do exactly that in recent times and about marriage reform.
Really? Well, we do know a lot of uncool people.
I posted about this a while back, this type of talk will be a standard feature of GC for years and decades to come.
I wouldn’t mind reading that—link?
Here you go:
https://approachingjustice.net/2014/02/20/gay-marriage-is-the-mormon-birth-control-new-featured-image/
Elder Anderson just smacked down all the Mormon teenagers who support gay marriage. Which he eluded to might be the majority.
Usually smack downs are reserved for the adults (well…male adults)
I’m thinking of my kids, and i’m wondering whether they’re going to feel pushed away from the church—and it makes me sad that they might feel that way, even if they don’t let themselves actually be pushed out.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the choir, but those dresses are flattering on no one.
Uchtdorf looks tired, as if he feels that all the good he is trying to do has been set back a century by Holland and Anderson.
“He reminds me of Sheldon [Cooper]!” –Shem, my new deacon son, speaking of Pres. Eyring.
How cool would it be to be baptized in a pool of rain water?
Sounds not cool but cold to me, to be honest.
For Eyring, the gospel is the Church.
I don’t know that that’s accurate—more that the gospel is embodied in the church. It’s a subtle but important difference, i’d argue.
Agreed
This is a really standard talk by President Eyring. Not controversial at all and nothing to gawk at.
Yay! I am behind in my notes. My internet is slow.
“They never forced righteousness because righteousness must be chosen”
-Henry B Eyring
Pres. Eyring’s promise of children remembering words to hymns and scriptures is true.
Closing song! I’ve gotta run a little early to take my oldest to voice lessons. See y’all this afternoon.
See ya later! Thanks for hanging out.
Deep thought for the day…..If I and a group of my guy friends wanted to go to the woman’s meeting, do you think the Church would refuse us entrance?
I don’t know about a group, but single men have gone before who were not presiding/speaking. They were just listening.
Blake, I think you would be refused. You’ve gotta have a ticket. But, like the Priesthood Session, you can still watch at home. 🙂
I’ve noticed this many times, they make the brethren and sisters wear suits on the stand.
2 hours down, 8 hours to go. Good talking with you all.
Thank you, everyone. See you this afternoon!