QA with a GA

[Duncan]

We had Stake Conference this weekend and we had a General Authority and his wife in attendance yet again (it's rare not to have one for some reason) Anyways the youth had a QA session with him. My 16 yr old was there and so was I. The first question off the bat was about abortion, the Authority's wife fielded it as she had 3 DNC's and she talked about that. Someone asked about the name change, instead of using "Mormon" and the GA said they talked about the name of the Church and how to promote it and websites for several years but it came before Pres. Nelson became the prophet. Apparently they had some member of the Church who worked for a huge US Ad agency and he gave a presentation and they asked him how much it would cost if they hired the firm  about all this name business and he said it would run into the millions and the GA said that when Pres. Nelson gave the talk about stop using Mormon he gave a "300 million dollar talk" I doubt it would be that much but changing the name instead of Mormon would cost a few bucks-if they went that route. At another meeting he said they talked about combining the EQ and HP together for about 9 years and he had to give a doctrinal basis for it. Someone asked about vaping and he said that he would be surprised it the Church got involved in it and all the nuances, medical marijuana and he said a licensed physician is the only person you should talk to about using it in dosage form, they don't want people using recreational drugs. Someone asked about homosexuality and he said they have a niece in their extended family who is gay married and he said don't think the brethren don't have gay relatives or know gay people and they really do care about them and we don't want gay bashing or violence. Just love them, sometimes people come into meetings to disrupt and you have to deal with it accordingly. he said we don't want PDA in Church for anybody, gay or not. 

All in all it was a good meeting and I think the kids were happy with the responses

[Jeanne]

18 hours ago, Duncan said:

We had Stake Conference this weekend and we had a General Authority and his wife in attendance yet again (it's rare not to have one for some reason) Anyways the youth had a QA session with him. My 16 yr old was there and so was I. The first question off the bat was about abortion, the Authority's wife fielded it as she had 3 DNC's and she talked about that. Someone asked about the name change, instead of using "Mormon" and the GA said they talked about the name of the Church and how to promote it and websites for several years but it came before Pres. Nelson became the prophet. Apparently they had some member of the Church who worked for a huge US Ad agency and he gave a presentation and they asked him how much it would cost if they hired the firm  about all this name business and he said it would run into the millions and the GA said that when Pres. Nelson gave the talk about stop using Mormon he gave a "300 million dollar talk" I doubt it would be that much but changing the name instead of Mormon would cost a few bucks-if they went that route. At another meeting he said they talked about combining the EQ and HP together for about 9 years and he had to give a doctrinal basis for it. Someone asked about vaping and he said that he would be surprised it the Church got involved in it and all the nuances, medical marijuana and he said a licensed physician is the only person you should talk to about using it in dosage form, they don't want people using recreational drugs. Someone asked about homosexuality and he said they have a niece in their extended family who is gay married and he said don't think the brethren don't have gay relatives or know gay people and they really do care about them and we don't want gay bashing or violence. Just love them, sometimes people come into meetings to disrupt and you have to deal with it accordingly. he said we don't want PDA in Church for anybody, gay or not. 

All in all it was a good meeting and I think the kids were happy with the responses

Duncan...can't believe the little boy you introduced on threads is 16!!!  I am glad it was enjoyable and that you are close to your son.

[bluebell]

Nothing has convinced me more of the wisdom of Pres. Nelson's "name change" than watching The Expanse on Prime.  Weirdly, the church is sort of featured on the sci-fy show, and not in a bad way, but because on the show we are known only as 'the mormons' and the symbol of the church is the angel Moroni, we come off like a really weird group of mostly nice people who are slightly odd, and focused on building a temple/starship/colony (it's all one structure) as the most important aspect of the church.  There is nothing in any of the many mentions (including scenes with a few missionaries) to tell the audience that we have any belief in Jesus Christ whatsoever.  

It's noticeably uncomfortable because the nickname of the church (the show is a couple years old so it was created before the name re-emphasis) really makes it so easy for the showrunners to include us in a show without ever needing to actually deal with who we are as a church.

[Duncan]

16 minutes ago, bluebell said:

Nothing has convinced me more of the wisdom of Pres. Nelson's "name change" than watching The Expanse on Prime.  Weirdly, the church is sort of featured on the sci-fy show, and not in a bad way, but because on the show we are known only as 'the mormons' and the symbol of the church is the angel Moroni, we come off like a really weird group of mostly nice people who are slightly odd, and focused on building a temple/starship/colony (it's all one structure) as the most important aspect of the church.  There is nothing in any of the many mentions (including scenes with a few missionaries) to tell the audience that we have any belief in Jesus Christ whatsoever.  

It's noticeably uncomfortable because the nickname of the church (the show is a couple years old so it was created before the name re-emphasis) really makes it so easy for the showrunners to include us in a show without ever needing to actually deal with who we are as a church.

ah! i've never even heard of this show, well I need to watch it now!

[bluebell]

Just now, Duncan said:

ah! i've never even heard of this show, well I need to watch it now!

Do it!  It's awesome.  But be prepared for some weird 'mormon' stuff.   

[Calm]

2 hours ago, Duncan said:

ah! i've never even heard of this show, well I need to watch it now!

I think it is on Amazon Prime.

[Stargazer]

On 6/3/2019 at 3:29 AM, Duncan said:

<snip />

...PDA in Church for anybody, gay or not. 

All in all it was a good meeting and I think the kids were happy with the responses

PDA?  Personal Digital Assistant?  Periodic Direct Anguish?  Sorry, not family with this initialism...

[Calm]

Public display of affection