My husband is a former mormon. Watching the conference always reminds him why he left. I find it so devoid of any meaningful content; some trite personal anecdote followed by some general Mormon style scripture for emphasis. Any former Mormons still watch it?
Well I’m not a former Mormon (at least not yet), though I am strongly questioning everything at the moment, and I watch General Conference. Today I saw the first session, then went to the NY Auto Show after
. I’ll watch the second session probably later tonight, then I’ll probably watch some of the Sunday sessions tomorrow when they broadcast, and the rest of it later on.
Firstly, I think that GC is sometimes hard to watch all the way through. It is a very long conference! I don’t think that most people can sit and watch it all at once. I’m usually doing something else while it’s on in the background, and I think that’s a common practice. Last year, I went over to a friend’s place, and we were all making brunch, and had GC on at the same time. I think that this is a common practice. Most people probably end up watching it later on (they archive it online), or reading the addresses given in the Ensign (a Church magazine) the following month, or reading the addresses online. They then take notes in their journals or whatever on how they can apply the principles taught to their lives. Like I mentioned, I’ll usually have it airing in the background while I’m doing something else, will tune in/start fully paying attention when a hymn I like comes on or an address on a topic of interest to me comes up, and that’s about it. When the magazine with all of the addresses comes out, I highlight the titles of the talks that are of interest to me, and I read them periodically. Again, I think that’s a common practice, since it honestly is hard to pay attention for 4-6 hours a day, whatever the topic may be (this isn’t LDS specific, IMO).
As for General Conference itself, again, in my opinion, and without talking about actual doctrinal matters that may be brought up (today, I was somewhat amused when a speaker, I forgot who, started saying something about us being children of the Father, stopped when he said “Fa…”, then said “Heavenly Parents”, which was amusing and interesting to me), I do appreciate the concept of General Conference. I enjoy having this type of gathering of the worldwide church, wherever it may be, the music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and other choirs that perform, and I do appreciate the leadership of the church, and others, giving talks/addresses on various gospel-related topics (usually the same topics in different ways, such as marriage, repentance, the priesthood, the gospel, temples, personal revelation, prayer, the atonement of Jesus Christ, etc) and issues (again, I’m not saying I appreciate hearing specifically about LDS-related topics, I just appreciate hearing leadership of a church talking about such things in this sort of setting), especially how it relates to life (which is the typical LDS approach to such things, whether it’s in class, Sacrament Meeting, in a manual, etc). I think that the sort of addresses given fall into the category of “inspiration”, like when you go to the bookstore and see the Christian Inspiration section. There won’t be anything hardcore, scriptural exegesis, college level, etc (i.e the “meat”).
So, without commenting on doctrinal matters or the truthfulness (or lack thereof) of the LDS Church, I do appreciate the concept of General Conference, and think that most take the approach that I outlined above when they get into GC. There is nothing ground-breaking to GC each Conference (there are 2 a year). They talk about the same topics, just in a different way. So when a friend of mine asked how it was (he only saw part of it), I just said “meh, just more of the same”.
Oh and I tend to agree with Marie when she says they are “pep talks”, at least in a sense. The addresses usually remind everyone about repentance, the [alleged] truthfulness of the restored church and the gospel, the blessings that come from “choosing the right”/following Christ, families forever, etc, things that we should be doing anyway, but tend to forget or have a hard time with, so lots of people will talk about how they feel “renewed” after GC, even though again, nothing fundamentally new is revealed or talked about (this isn’t like the “old days” with profound revelations and such…and yes, the 15 will be sustained as “prophets, seers, and revelators” tomorrow, yet we all await to see the exercising of such gifts).
