Scott Lloyd Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Good conference talk by President Henry B. Eyring.After his call to the apostleship, he was invited to give a speech at a university. An event organizer, finding out about his duty as an apostle to testify of Christ, phoned him to instruct him that he must not do that in his speech.He thought of the boldness of Book of Mormon prophets. To his credit, he ignored her directive, and in his speech, spoke of the humanitarian service of the university and the Church and declared that the blessings of that service come from Christ.He got a standing ovation and, at a reception that evening, the university president said he had heard in Elder Eyring's speech the words of God.Good job, President Eyring!But the story left me reflecting on the demand by the woman and how secularists, in the name of inclusiveness, become repressive on their own.
KevinG Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Prior to his calling as an Apostle I was priveleged to hear from him at a dinner for my department at BYU (I was a grad student). His secular career was in a field similar to what I was studying. The question the professors asked is how we could be more useful to Church leadership (as Organizational Behavior experts).Elder Eyring turned the question around and said he could almost detect in that question someone asking "why doesn't Church leadership ask us to help more?" He was spot on and some of the professors who framed the invitation were quite bent out of shape over it. Elder Eyring then proceeded to teach a wonderful lesson on drawing on the powers of heaven, and how the spirit of God is much more expert and informed than we could ever be in our greatest educated wisdom (my paraphrase). He even used his own shortcomings as examples. I walked away with a great respect for him and was not surprised when he was called as an Apostle.
bu11fr0g Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Which university was this? It strikes me strange that this university would ask for Hinckley then be happy with Eyring as the key speaker.Good conference talk by President Henry B. Eyring.After his call to the apostleship, he was invited to give a speech at a university. An event organizer, finding out about his duty as an apostle to testify of Christ, phoned him to instruct him that he must not do that in his speech.He thought of the boldness of Book of Mormon prophets. To his credit, he ignored her directive, and in his speech, spoke of the humanitarian service of the university and the Church and declared that the blessings of that service come from Christ.He got a standing ovation and, at a reception that evening, the university president said he had heard in Elder Eyring's speech the words of God.Good job, President Eyring!But the story left me reflecting on the demand by the woman and how secularists, in the name of inclusiveness, become repressive on their own.
Scott Lloyd Posted October 2, 2011 Author Posted October 2, 2011 Which university was this? It strikes me strange that this university would ask for Hinckley then be happy with Eyring as the key speaker.I only caught a snippet of the talk. Apparently I even missed the point about the university having first asked for President Hinckley.But a member of the Quorum of the Twelve is a high enough dignitary in the Church with enough prestige that a university ought not feel disappointed, even if they had first asked for the Church president.And at any rate, it seems odd to me that any entity would ask for a speech from a high official representing a Christian faith and then expect him not to mention Christ.
Reinforced-Shelf Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 And at any rate, it seems odd to me that any entity would ask for a speech from a high official representing a Christian faith and then expect him not to mention Christ.I thought the same thing: what would they expect Pres. Hinckley to talk about had they actually gotten him to come? But I wish there was a transcript of that talk to read somewhere. Sounds like a good one to merit a standing O.
cinepro Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 And at any rate, it seems odd to me that any entity would ask for a speech from a high official representing a Christian faith and then expect him not to mention Christ.It was my impression that the woman was worried his remarks would be more "testimony" or proselyting in nature.Years ago, a friend of mine gave me tickets to a dinner at the "World Affairs Council". I'm not sure what this group is or does, but they have expensive dinners where they invite notable thinkers to come and speak. President Hinckley was the guest of honor that night, and so my wife and I enjoyed a rubber-chicken dinner and a very entertaining talk by President Hinckley. It was filled with humor and heart (with lots of emphasis on the need for morality and values in society), but precious little doctrine or proselyting. The non-LDS people at our table thoroughly enjoyed themselves (as did we), and as far as I can tell no one was offended or bothered by anything President Hinckley said. I still remember thinking President Hinckley had hit a home-run that night. He was obviously a master at public speaking and relating to an audience, regardless of who it was.While there may be some apostles that don't quite have that same gift, I would expect most of them are able to address almost any crowd with sensitivity and tact while still honoring their apostolic responsibilities, so I suspect this woman's comment was probably unnecessary (and I was a little mystified by Elder Eyring's reported anxiety.)
Dancing Daffodil Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 @Cinepro,My husband and I went to the World Affairs Council too! Even though I am not LDS, I really enjoyed President Hinckley's talk! He had amazing energy, seems like he talked for close to 2 hours. He was funny, inspirational, well-read, well spoken, and I was sorry he sat down. I thought he did an excellent job! The rubber-chicken dinner - not so much....Looong time lurker - first time poster!
Reinforced-Shelf Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 @Cinepro,My husband and I went to the World Affairs Council too! Even though I am not LDS, I really enjoyed President Hinckley's talk! He had amazing energy, seems like he talked for close to 2 hours. He was funny, inspirational, well-read, well spoken, and I was sorry he sat down. I thought he did an excellent job! The rubber-chicken dinner - not so much....Looong time lurker - first time poster!You came out of lurk-land because of cinepro?? J/K -- I think a lot of people have come out of lurk-land because of something cinepro said and they had to comment on it. 1
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