Welcome to our live discussion thread of the Saturday afternoon session of the 184th General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This morning, my son Shem (12) turned to me during Pres. Henry B. Eyrings talk and said, “He reminds me of Sheldon!”
Yes, he was comparing Pres. Eyring to Sheldon Cooper of the Big Bang Theory. Hence, the title of this thread.
This weekend at Approaching Justice, we will be joined by a number of guests.
This morning, I was very happy to be joined by Blake Surerus and Sarah Cruse. Both are former students of mine from my time teaching at BYU-Idaho.
Blake is a recovering lawyer. I appreciate his conservative insights and feedback. Blake will be joining us for much of the weekend.
Sarah, is a political professional. She was my TA in the political science department at BYU-I in 2006-2007. Back then, she was hoping that Hilary Clinton would be the next president. Today, that is still her hope. 🙂
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!
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approachingjustice.net 
Logging in a little late due to having to clear lunch dishes (Alaska time zone—it just turned noon), but i want to say that “Gloyr to God on High” is one of my two favorite songs in the hymnal. (The other contender is “All Creatures of Our God and King”.)
I am running late, too. Shhh, don’t tell anyone 🙂
I sorta wonder if they’ve had President Uchtdorf present the church officers and authorities the last couple times so that he pronounces his own name right.
Pres. Utchdorf is like “hey I have a monopoly on plane stories”.
Is Elder Scott talking against my love of the Portland TrailBlazers?
*nelson
My 9-year-old just expressed confusion about Russell M. Nelson and M. Russell Ballard. So i’m at least as advanced mentally as a 9-year-old, so i’ve got that going for me.
This talk makes me think that someone needs to make a “Don’t Tread on My Religion” meme.
Seriously. I’m getting annoyed at the repetition of the claim (not even remotely exclusive to Mormons) that criticism of one’s religion is identical to suppressing the freedom of religion.
So what is the biblical cure for childbirth fever?
Yeah—i kind of did a “did i miss something?” double take on that bit. Did he skip a paragraph or something?
Is there any point to the very generic auditing report that has been word for word the same for decades? Just ONCE I would like to hear them say, “We caught some guy in the Church Carpool siphoning gas” or “One Bishop was absconding with funds, but he is gone now.” Something to break up the sameness.
I’d like to hear someone tell a story about repenting after siphoning gas. Nobody would see that coming!
Kirk, do you need to talk to your bishop about something?
They *both* served missions! I think that’s an important bit of the story, and wish it had been foregrounded more—she wasn’t just trying to get him to go, she was modeling something that was part of her own life, too.
Wow! Elder Hales has lost a LOT of weight.
Too much it seems. Wow, indeed.
The Perversion of Obedience…sounds like a cool band name.
Am i hearing right that it’s okay to not want to obey, but not to not obey?
Obedience seems to be the theme of the day. What others are you noticing?
The supremacy of God’s law
Even the unborn.
Yeah—first time i’ve heard a full-on direct denunciation of abortion in general conference in a while, it feels like.
There were 3 abortion references last general conference. I am pro-life. It may be the only conservative position I still have.
Oh, they’re always there—but something that direct and long(ish) seems unusual to me. Or am i just having a short memory?
Elder Oaks Oct 2012: “One cause of the diminishing birthrate is the practice of abortion. Worldwide, there are estimated to be more than 40 million abortions per year.3 Many laws permit or even promote abortion, but to us this is a great evil. Other abuses of children that occur during pregnancy are the fetal impairments that result from the mother’s inadequate nutrition or drug use.”
Well, i suppose that that’s what comes of having radically (and i do mean radically) pro-life extended family members—you develop a bit of a filter and miss some of the obvious ones, i guess.
Elder Christofferson Oct 2013: “Attitudes toward human sexuality threaten the moral authority of women on several fronts. Abortion for personal or social convenience strikes at the heart of a woman’s most sacred powers and destroys her moral authority. The same is true of sexual immorality and of revealing dress that not only debases women but reinforces the lie that a woman’s sexuality is what defines her worth.”
Endure to the end, even unto Golgatha.
Where is the current speaker from?
Argentina
Agentina
But currently reside in Santo Domingo, Domincan Republic.
I looked it up: Argentina. (Which i wouldn’t have guessed, given the accent, and i tend to be pretty good at identifying accents.)
You are a linguist, right?
Yep.
I don’t like abortion either Chris. I would never participate in an abortion or suggest that anyone have one. However, I don’t believe that making it illegal will stop people from having them. If people are going to have them then they should at least be safe legal and rare. If rare means none that’s fine with me.
I understand. I was pro-choice most of my adult life (I am only 37). I am more interested in doing away with the causes than banning it. It is one of the reason that I reject and loathe both of the major American political parties. Anyways, one of my future books will be on abortion. Fun! 🙂
Was Elder Callister released/made emeritus?
He was sustained as the Sunday School President.
Oh, okay (my grocery shopping went long between sessions). 🙂
I am sure that is the G-rated version of what he said to his wife.
Elder Callister was released as a GA and then called to the Sunday school (IIRC) general presidency.
Memo to the kids watching this address: Don’t ever jump out of a moving vehicle, even if it’s to try to save your kid.
Ministering grace sounds like a very Evangelical term. Has anyone heard that before?
Very Protestant maybe. Though we share more vocabulary than we might think.
Google Ngrams shows it as having been a relatively common 19th century term, but not very common in the 20th century.
We have pretty hardcore 19th century roots. I notice it a lot in Book of Mormon English.
WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!
(Wait, that was probably delivered badly.)
51% of adults don’t have one of their parents in their family tree, 65% don’t have all 4 grandparents. Those are staggering figures.
AP already has an article out on how the Church reaffirms their stance on gay marriage. Were they expecting it to change?
Yeah, that is not news. But little from conference is “news.”
Exactly.
I will have my iPad at priesthood session. See y’all later!