Mormon Conference

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twopekinguys said:
I may have to put you on my Christmas Card List. 😛
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feeling left out and discriminated against because I do not drink alcohol…

I am STILL a good Mormon…don’t smoke either

and dislike coffee…

where is my temple rec?
 
TexanKnight said:
feeling left out and discriminated against because I do not drink alcohol…

I am STILL a good Mormon…don’t smoke either

and dislike coffee…

where is my temple rec?
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Sounds like you’re so tight you squeak…LOl

I don’t like coffee, I quit smoking 9 months ago tomorrow, and sometimes a drink just tastes good.

I can’t give up everything at once. I could be very dangersous…lol
 
LivingWaters7 said:
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 :p. 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).
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What it needs is a Brigham Young lol 😃
 
LivingWaters7 said:
In today’s Sunday afternoon session, there was a speaker that talked about the Godhead. While I wasn’t paying complete attention, and will have to read it when they publish the transcript, here are a few things I noticed:

-LDS continue to not understand that the traditional Trinity doctrine is not modalism. The traditional Trinity clearly teaches the distinction of Persons, where the Father is not the Son or the Spirit, the Son is not the Father nor the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son. Yes, I know that many traditional Christians themselves fall into this error, and conflate the Persons when they try to emphasize the unity of the Persons, but it must be remembered that the Trinity teaches that the Persons are distinct from each other in a way that is different from the way they are One. Or, as many, such as Frank Sheed (Theology and Sanity) say, the Persons are the “who” and the “substance/essence/nature” is the “what”.

-LDS, perhaps in common with most, don’t understand that the word “being” is used in a technical way in the Trinity doctrine that is not the same as how we use it in everyday language (especially when we understand that the Trinity was not formalized in an English-speaking world). This causes LDS and traditional Christians to talk passed each other when talking about the number of “beings” involved in their respective beliefs.

-LDS seem to have a form of Binitarianism, where the Father and the Son are emphasized when talking about an issue, yet the Holy Ghost is not referred to within the same breath. For example, it is quite common to say that the Father and the Son are separate beings. But isn’t the Holy Ghost believed to be as well? Why not include the Holy Ghost in while you’re mentioning the other two Persons? This is very common.
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And how can the HG be God without a body? I mean is he going to get one or not, if he isn’t how can he progress, in fact how has he progressed this far??? Is he a being, or an influence, is he the third person or what?? :confused: May be they don’t talk about him because they just don’t know how hi fits into their theology, so best ignore him as much as possible, oh no, I am wrong he gives the mormons their testimony, somehow, this is a mystery as he is god/not god, spirit ?only ?for eternity, maybe, might be exalted, but wait has no body or wives:, so how can he be god and give a testimony…and so it goes on:hmmm:
BTW love Frank Sheed 🙂
 
TexanKnight said:
feeling left out and discriminated against because I do not drink alcohol…

I am STILL a good Mormon…don’t smoke either

and dislike coffee…

where is my temple rec?
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LOL. Still only drink an occasional near beer. Quit smoking two months ago, and doing fine. 18 oz. of real coffee in the morning, no caffeine for the rest of the day. Not a Mormon yet (and never will be).
 
TexanKnight said:
True.,

it is like “this is the truth!” Then when it is proven untrue “well, it does not matter because we do good things”

hard to argue that logic
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Didn’t Jesus say, word to the effect of, many will say Lord, Lord, and he will say I never knew you
 
lynnettejane said:
And how can the HG be God without a body? I mean is he going to get one or not, if he isn’t how can he progress, in fact how has he progressed this far??? Is he a being, or an influence, is he the third person or what?? :confused: May be they don’t talk about him because they just don’t know how hi fits into their theology, so best ignore him as much as possible, oh no, I am wrong he gives the mormons their testimony, somehow, this is a mystery as he is god/not god, spirit ?only ?for eternity, maybe, might be exalted, but wait has no body or wives:, so how can he be god and give a testimony…and so it goes on:hmmm:
BTW love Frank Sheed 🙂
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Wierd quoting myself, but just having a quiet time with the year of faith prayer book and read this which seems apt.

‘This is contemplation: the simple gaze of God upon His Word, of the Word upon His Father. From this contemplation is born mutual wonder and love of the Divine Nature, the love of two Persons… It is an act of infinite Love, the third Person of the Blessed Trinity. The two Persons are forever united in the common breathing forth of the one Love which flows between them and fills them with joy.
He is given to us; it is He who breathes in us. He sighs toward the Infinite from whence He comes. The Spirit makes us sigh for the Infinite One. The filial Spirit within us aspires to the Father and aspires also, so the saints tell us, to our Mother the Virgin Mary. He wishes to raise us to this infinite One whence we came, this Father whose children we are through grace. It is the Spirit who carries us, who leads us.
This is what God is!’

St Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus
Where the Spirit Breathes
 
I agree on the assessment of Elder Holland’s talk. Here’s a quote from it:

**"Now brothers and sisters, this is a divine work in process, with the manifestations and blessings of it abounding in every direction, so please do not hyperventilate if from time to time issues arise that need to be examined, understood, and resolved. They do and they will. In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith.

So be kind regarding human frailty—your own as well as those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work."**

Clearly they’re well aware of the various difficulties people have with various issues, like the priesthood restriction (I was talking to a friend about that this last weekend), plural marriage, BoM archaeology, etc). I also thought his comments were interesting in light of teaching an apostasy of the original Church, ya know, with imperfect people, and I guess He wasn’t able to “deal with it” anciently, but He does now.
 
LivingWaters7 said:
I agree on the assessment of Elder Holland’s talk. Here’s a quote from it:

**"Now brothers and sisters, this is a divine work in process, with the manifestations and blessings of it abounding in every direction, so please do not hyperventilate if from time to time issues arise that need to be examined, understood, and resolved. They do and they will. In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith.

So be kind regarding human frailty—your own as well as those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work."**

Clearly they’re well aware of the various difficulties people have with various issues, like the priesthood restriction (I was talking to a friend about that this last weekend), plural marriage, BoM archaeology, etc). I also thought his comments were interesting in light of teaching an apostasy of the original Church, ya know, with imperfect people, and I guess He wasn’t able to “deal with it” anciently, but He does now.
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where did you find the transcript…there were other statements I wanted to post
 
LivingWaters7 said:
I agree on the assessment of Elder Holland’s talk. Here’s a quote from it:

**"Now brothers and sisters, this is a divine work in process, with the manifestations and blessings of it abounding in every direction, so please do not hyperventilate if from time to time issues arise that need to be examined, understood, and resolved. They do and they will. In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith.

So be kind regarding human frailty—your own as well as those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work."**

Clearly they’re well aware of the various difficulties people have with various issues, like the priesthood restriction (I was talking to a friend about that this last weekend), plural marriage, BoM archaeology, etc). I also thought his comments were interesting in light of teaching an apostasy of the original Church, ya know, with imperfect people, and I guess He wasn’t able to “deal with it” anciently, but He does now.
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The cog dis he must be experience has got to be tough…
 
Livingwaters, the compassion shown by the Mormon elder was first said by Jesus in that His yoke was light, and His burden easy

…and St. Paul asked us to respect those whose faith was weak that they had to avoid certain foods, etc.

The Catholic Church has asked us in times of its history to abstain from meat on Friday’s and I wish that discipline were to be returned. It is being discussed right now by English bishops.

A religion that loses disciplines makes it easy and Christ also said the road to heaven is very difficult and many are called, but few are chosen. But I think He is meaning to be detached from all material things and pleasure and to embrace the Cross and be in union with Him.

I think of St. Francis of Assisi who lived this out most profoundly, and likewise was mostly inimitable. We have to be free of things so we can better serve Him and experience His life in us.
 
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