What NOT to Say (and what TO say) to a Loved One Leaving the Church

[Scott Lloyd]

On January 20, 2017 at 8:15 AM, hope_for_things said:

The importance of critical analysis of all forms of media is an essential skill that is needed not just in your profession, but everyone in society ought to understand these concepts for the public good.  We form so many opinions through our exposure to information through all mediums, that thinking uncritically about the information presented, not presented, and crafted in calculated ways for our consumption is to our own detriment both individually and as a society.  There is a good article about the importance of this topic that I would recommend.  In it the authors state:

https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/2007_Kellner-Share_CML-is-not-Option.pdf

I try to apply these concepts to messages communicated in all settings including religious ones.  Its not cynicism, its critical analysis.   

It's not "participatory democracy" that is under discussion here. It is a personal experience shared in a sermon by a respected and trusted General Authority, given in good faith. A default position to automatically mistrust anything said by a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ is, by definition, cynicism, and I pray that such an environment never becomes pervasive within the Church of Jesus Christ. Of all the people I know of who merit trust in the things they say, the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are at the top of my list.

Edited January 22, 2017 by Scott Lloyd

[hope_for_things]

On 1/20/2017 at 5:35 PM, Scott Lloyd said:

It's not "participatory democracy" that is under discussion here. It is a personal experience shared in a sermon by a respected and trusted General Authority, given in good faith. A default position to automatically mistrust anything said by a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ is, by definition, cynicism, and I pray that such an environment never becomes pervasive within the Church of Jesus Christ. Of all the people I know of who merit trust in the things they say, the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are at the top of my list.

Critical analysis and cynicism are different things and I'm sure you know the difference.  Also, it wasn't an intimate personal conversation where Elder Ballard expressed this experience. General conference is not a small group of friends sitting by the campfire sharing anecdotes and roasting marshmallows.  We know GC talks are correlated and highly crafted in today's environment. If you want to call critical thinking mistrust, then thats your right.  I call it pragmatism and just good old common sense, and I think its highly compatible with the principles of the gospel, study things out in your mind and heart, Alma 32 testing the fruit, etc.