GC Oct. 2024 Favorite/Least Favorite Talks

[LoudmouthMormon]

17 hours ago, The Nehor said:

I think my least favorite was due to bias. I recognized the voice (I was listening to conference while cleaning) and it sounded familiar. Picked up tablet and my uncharitable thought was: “They made YOU a seventy???? What???” Some history there.

I'm reminded of a story out of my wife's youth.  A guy moved into the ward, a lawyer.  Within a week, he got in a car accident with a ward member and sued them.  Apparently he was a bit of a jerk about it.  Within 2 months, he was made bishop.  Many in the ward were, for lack of a better word, challenged to raise their arm to sustain him.   Fast forward to when folk had hindsight about the whole issue, and the going opinion was he was one of the best bishops they had ever had, and the ward did more growing spiritually than they had with any other bishop in recent memory.

Then there's my other story about one of the best bishops I had, who worked spiritual miracles with plenty of people.  He and his wife moved away, and I later learned he tried to shoot himself as the cops were coming to arrest him for doing horrible things to a niece.  He did time in prison.   So yeah, people can change, and they can change in either direction.

Edited October 8, 2024 by LoudmouthMormon

[The Nehor]

35 minutes ago, Maestrophil said:

Who? 🙂

 

Probably violate a covenant to share that information.

I am already probably going to hell for all the other violations. No need to shoot for Outer Darkness.

[The Nehor]

5 minutes ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

I'm reminded of a story out of my wife's youth.  A guy moved into the ward, a lawyer.  Within a week, he got in a car accident with a ward member and sued them.  Apparently he was a bit of a jerk about it.  Within 2 months, he was made bishop.  Many in the ward were, for lack of a better word, challenged to raise their arm to sustain him.   Fast forward to when folk had hindsight about the whole issue, and the going opinion was he was one of the best bishops they had ever had, and the ward did more growing spiritually than they had with any other bishop in recent memory.

Then there's my other story about one of the best bishops I had, who worked spiritual miracles with plenty of people.  He and his wife moved away, and I later learned he tried to shoot himself as the cops were coming to arrest him for doing horrible things to a niece.  He did time in prison.   So yeah, people can change, and they can change in either direction.

Yeah, he might have changed. I don’t care much honestly. What he did hurt some people I care about which makes the loyal part of me a little angry. On the other hand neither I or nor them are likely to have to deal with him ever again so whatever.

[LoudmouthMormon]

Oh!  Also, not a talk, but the kiddos' singing Gethsemane is an immediate favorite. 

https://www.facebook.com/ChurchofJesusChrist/videos/3789922094671019

Especially the bit starting around 1:29 which resulted in the organ going silent while they belted out "This was done by Jesus!   The fight was won by Jesus!"

I'm about half convinced the conference center was created specifically for that part of that song, sung by those kids.

 

[MiserereNobis]

5 hours ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

"y'ever think that if you look for Christ hard enough, you'll find Him at the place of your greatest point of personal pain"

Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right.

[Tacenda]

12 hours ago, bluebell said:

It wasn't that I found it displeasing.  I found it odd and it didn't make any sense to me, and his delivery of it was emphatic and over the top enough to detract from the message (for me).  I think he's just really sincere and invested because he really does love the youth, but that comes through in a grating way (again, for me)

And I didn't get the cruise ship analogy at all.  It was like the cruise ship is basically the great and spacious building, but then having the members be the 'crew' of the building is weird. 

And if nonmembers are just cruisers and members are crew, then how does that make sense when the owner of the cruise ship is actively proselytizing the cruisers and trying to get them to become crew?

And finally, dividing all of the children of God up into 'cruisers' and 'crew' creates a weird us vs. them situation that I think was meant to soften the idea of God having a chosen people by making them the servers of everyone else , but instead (for me) just makes that doctrine confusing and cartoonish.  

Sounds like more of the same of his infamous talk awhile back.

[Anonymous Mormon]

23 hours ago, bluebell said:

It wasn't that I found it displeasing.  I found it odd and it didn't make any sense to me, and his delivery of it was emphatic and over the top enough to detract from the message (for me).  I think he's just really sincere and invested because he really does love the youth, but that comes through in a grating way (again, for me)

And I didn't get the cruise ship analogy at all.  It was like the cruise ship is basically the great and spacious building, but then having the members be the 'crew' of the building is weird. 

And if nonmembers are just cruisers and members are crew, then how does that make sense when the owner of the cruise ship is actively proselytizing the cruisers and trying to get them to become crew?

And finally, dividing all of the children of God up into 'cruisers' and 'crew' creates a weird us vs. them situation that I think was meant to soften the idea of God having a chosen people by making them the servers of everyone else , but instead (for me) just makes that doctrine confusing and cartoonish.  

While I too don't love his tone and I really wished he more specifically called out how the birthright portion of his talk applies equally to girls (since I am not sure my daughters caught his reference to 'old testament gender roles'), I actually really liked the cruise ship analogy.

It resonated deeply with me because I at times feel resentment at having to obey God's commands. I feel like I am supposed to be kind & nice, turn the other cheek, and love my enemies while my friends & family who don't try to follow Christ can just be relaxed and be mean about and to those who are mean to them. I am always supposed to try to serve my fellow men while others just worry about earning money and spending it on having fun. I spend my time going to church while others watch sports all day. I choose not to see certain movies / tv shows that sound cool and others see them and talk about them while I feel left out. As some of my family members have left the church recently, this has felt more pronounced for me, because I am secretly jealous at how much 'easier' it is for them to only focus on themselves and their lives and not have to feel obligated to be concerned about God's will for them.

So I liked this analogy. I liked it because of the idea that we are all sailing to the same destination. I liked it that my job IS to help and serve the people on this voyage with me and that even though we are not taking the same actions while on the voyage, we are all going to the same place (to try to become like God). I like the idea of compensation - I am compensated with the Holy Ghost and with joy for serving the higher law and striving to do God's will. I feel the Holy Ghost which is why I continue to follow Christ. And Christ called me to be a servant to all, salt of the earth, and the light of the world. As a 'crew-member' for God, my sole job is to serve the people around me and help them to make their journey back to God easier and more rewarding (to help them become the best they can).

While if we extend it too far the parable breaks down, that is true for all parables, including all of Christ's. But if we look at the concept being taught, it can help us better understand the situation we are facing, just like Christ's parables.

 

10 hours ago, Tacenda said:

Sounds like more of the same of his infamous talk awhile back.

@Tacenda - The only talk I can think of is when the ex-mo crowd (who are always looking for a reason to be offended) chose to be offended by his explanation of the Priesthood ban. While I don't think his explanation was ideal, I didn't think it was worth the vicious attacks he got. I also think it's okay to let someone move past a mistake.  I am not sure how that instance relates to this talk - maybe you can clarify why this is 'more of the same'?

[bluebell]

11 minutes ago, Anonymous Mormon said:

While I too don't love his tone and I really wished he more specifically called out how the birthright portion of his talk applies equally to girls (since I am not sure my daughters caught his reference to 'old testament gender roles'), I actually really liked the cruise ship analogy.

It resonated deeply with me because I at times feel resentment at having to obey God's commands. I feel like I am supposed to be kind & nice, turn the other cheek, and love my enemies while my friends & family who don't try to follow Christ can just be relaxed and be mean about and to those who are mean to them. I am always supposed to try to serve my fellow men while others just worry about earning money and spending it on having fun. I spend my time going to church while others watch sports all day. I choose not to see certain movies / tv shows that sound cool and others see them and talk about them while I feel left out. As some of my family members have left the church recently, this has felt more pronounced for me, because I am secretly jealous at how much 'easier' it is for them to only focus on themselves and their lives and not have to feel obligated to be concerned about God's will for them.

So I liked this analogy. I liked it because of the idea that we are all sailing to the same destination. I liked it that my job IS to help and serve the people on this voyage with me and that even though we are not taking the same actions while on the voyage, we are all going to the same place (to try to become like God). I like the idea of compensation - I am compensated with the Holy Ghost and with joy for serving the higher law and striving to do God's will. I feel the Holy Ghost which is why I continue to follow Christ. And Christ called me to be a servant to all, salt of the earth, and the light of the world. As a 'crew-member' for God, my sole job is to serve the people around me and help them to make their journey back to God easier and more rewarding (to help them become the best they can).

While if we extend it too far the parable breaks down, that is true for all parables, including all of Christ's. But if we look at the concept being taught, it can help us better understand the situation we are facing, just like Christ's parables.

 

@Tacenda - The only talk I can think of is when the ex-mo crowd (who are always looking for a reason to be offended) chose to be offended by his explanation of the Priesthood ban. While I don't think his explanation was ideal, I didn't think it was worth the vicious attacks he got. I also think it's okay to let someone move past a mistake.  I am not sure how that instance relates to this talk - maybe you can clarify why this is 'more of the same'?

I'm glad it was meaningful to you.  I can understand your perspective about it.  

I assumed Tacenda was talking about the fireside he gave where he said that nonmembers were just "playing church" when they went to church.  It might have been the same fireside where he answered the question about why blacks had to wait so long to receive the priesthood by saying that the better question was why did white people have to wait so long, but I'm not sure.  There were a lot of members that had real problems with those things too, though I completely agree that all of us need to be given room to grow past our worst mistakes.

 

 

[JAHS]

21 hours ago, JVW said:

I'm pretty sure nobody gets assigned topics for general conference. My wife was in a meeting with an apostle and a seventy (a couple months ago) and the apostle was asked what it's like to prepare a talk for conference. He deferred to the seventy for the answer who replied (not a direct quote), "I wasn't given a topic, I could talk about whatever I wanted to. I wrote 5 different talks before settling on the one that I gave in General Conference." Take this with a grain of salt, I'm just a stranger on the internet, but I heard it from my wife and I trust her, so that's what I believe.

There may be a few that are assigned. There seems to always be someone who talks about Joseph Smith and the first vision and restoration, directed at non-members who might be watching.

[Tacenda]

53 minutes ago, Anonymous Mormon said:

While I too don't love his tone and I really wished he more specifically called out how the birthright portion of his talk applies equally to girls (since I am not sure my daughters caught his reference to 'old testament gender roles'), I actually really liked the cruise ship analogy.

It resonated deeply with me because I at times feel resentment at having to obey God's commands. I feel like I am supposed to be kind & nice, turn the other cheek, and love my enemies while my friends & family who don't try to follow Christ can just be relaxed and be mean about and to those who are mean to them. I am always supposed to try to serve my fellow men while others just worry about earning money and spending it on having fun. I spend my time going to church while others watch sports all day. I choose not to see certain movies / tv shows that sound cool and others see them and talk about them while I feel left out. As some of my family members have left the church recently, this has felt more pronounced for me, because I am secretly jealous at how much 'easier' it is for them to only focus on themselves and their lives and not have to feel obligated to be concerned about God's will for them.

So I liked this analogy. I liked it because of the idea that we are all sailing to the same destination. I liked it that my job IS to help and serve the people on this voyage with me and that even though we are not taking the same actions while on the voyage, we are all going to the same place (to try to become like God). I like the idea of compensation - I am compensated with the Holy Ghost and with joy for serving the higher law and striving to do God's will. I feel the Holy Ghost which is why I continue to follow Christ. And Christ called me to be a servant to all, salt of the earth, and the light of the world. As a 'crew-member' for God, my sole job is to serve the people around me and help them to make their journey back to God easier and more rewarding (to help them become the best they can).

While if we extend it too far the parable breaks down, that is true for all parables, including all of Christ's. But if we look at the concept being taught, it can help us better understand the situation we are facing, just like Christ's parables.

 

@Tacenda - The only talk I can think of is when the ex-mo crowd (who are always looking for a reason to be offended) chose to be offended by his explanation of the Priesthood ban. While I don't think his explanation was ideal, I didn't think it was worth the vicious attacks he got. I also think it's okay to let someone move past a mistake.  I am not sure how that instance relates to this talk - maybe you can clarify why this is 'more of the same'?

The differing of our religion compared to others perhaps? Or we're better than them, but he of course doesn't use those words. He mentions birthright. Doesn't say we're better but mentions birthright shows God's love. I was bad and jumped to the conclusion of him saying the same talk as the one as I mentioned was infamous. I was going by what was described on the cruise ship, as being set apart. That notion made it difficult for me as a member. I'm somehow special because of the covenants I've made. But other people make their own covenants of a different nature perhaps maybe even better than the LDS. And the huge burden of making mention of the obligations we have that others do not. That's a problem and can cause great guilt or that of never doing enough. Just my thoughts. I just don't believe our religion is the only one to God I guess.