LDS General Conference 2025 What Say Ye ?

[Anakin7]

 Any Thoughts?. Let the thoughts flow out.

[ZealouslyStriving]

* Pres. Nelson is really being inspired to try and help us avoid the societal breakdown found in 3rd Nephi prior to the Savior's first appearance when hateful, angry political rhetoric caused governmental collapse. If we are not peacemakers we are not going to be prepared for His 2nd appearing, no matter how much we go to church.

* We need to elevate our relationship with and worship of the Lord with more intentionality.

Edited April 7 by ZealouslyStriving

[Calm]

Just now, ZealouslyStriving said:

we are going to be prepared

I think you are missing a “not” there….

[ZealouslyStriving]

1 hour ago, Calm said:

I think you are missing a “not” there….

I fixed it. 🙂

[Chum]

Sister Tamara W. Runia gave a particularly heartfelt talk and this bit of counsel caught me right away.

She shared how shame is effectively used by Satan to keep us from repentance. 

Quote

We don't stay on the covenant path by never making a mistake. We stay on the path by repenting every day.
And when we're repenting, God forgives without shaming us, comparing us to anyone else, or scolding us because this is the same thing we were repenting of last week. 
He's excited every time he sees us on our knees.
He delights to forgive us because to him we are delightful. 
Don't you just feel that's true? 
Then why is it so hard for us to believe?! 
Satan, the great accuser and deceiver, uses shame to keep us from God. 
Shame is a darkness so heavy it feels that if you took it out of your body, it would have an actual weight or heft to it. 
Shame is the voice that beats you up, saying, "what were you thinking?" "Do you ever get anything right?" 
Shame doesn't tell us we made a mistake; it tells us we are our mistakes.
You may even hear "hide."
The adversary does everything in his power to keep the heaviness inside, telling us the cost is too high, that it will be easier if this stays in darkness, removing all hope. 
Satan is the thief of hope.

Speaking broadly, I am no fan of shame. I believe we are more comfortable and accepting of it, than is good for us.  To seek shame for others is to apply a bludgeon. It lacks nuance. It is never precise. It can't convey love.

Nurturing it in ourselves is no better. To seek shame is to make punishment the point.  To live with shame is to live apart from redemption. 

And I have come to realize that denying redemption is about the most worldly thing we can do.

[The Nehor]

I am on new medication so my emotions have been numb and weird for the last few days so I might be way off. No real spiritual insights since I think the medication knocked out my Holy Ghost receiving thing.

- Things that irked me:

Elder Anderson annoyed me a little by at least implying if not outright saying that the position of the gospel has never shifted on abortion. I don’t see that as true at all. Especially if you go beyond this dispensation. Also I found his story about the wife offering to raise her husband’s affair partner’s baby to be a good story in isolation but if it is aspirational I worry that others less well equipped may try to imitate it with regrettable results. That might be the cynic in me though.

Elder Renlund’s talk was pretty good but towards the beginning someone said the Second Coming was scary because bad things would happen before the Second Coming. Maybe I missed it but the rest of the talk was about how great the Second Coming itself would be which didn’t address the concern. Maybe I missed it though. Also I am not longer sure what to expect before the Second Coming in any case so maybe it won’t be that bad. Then I remember that it is supposed to be that bad. So…..no idea.

President Oak’s talk Sunday morning annoyed me and I remember tidbits that annoyed but I think I might have just been grumpy.

Elder Whiting’s talk said that the forbidden fruit partaking was a lesser temptation compared to the temptation to hide? Really? I think the first one had much more far-reaching consequences.

- Things I liked:

Elder Gong’s talk but don’t remember much of why. Maybe his voice was soothing.

Sister Runia’s talk was really good though for some of her rhetorical questions the answers I had are probably not as good as the ones she was trying to evoke.

I am always wary of messianic fervor but liked President Nelson’s ending. Lots of Second Coming stuff in general. Historically messianic fervor believing it is imminent leads to bad decision making. I don’t see this as anywhere near that though. Orthodox Judaism Jews has an end date by which the Messiah has to come and it is in (or close to) the year 2240.

[Calm]

1 hour ago, The Nehor said:

No real spiritual insights since I think the medication knocked out my Holy Ghost receiving thing.

Been there, hope it doesn’t last too long for you. 

Edited April 8 by Calm

[Calm]

1 hour ago, The Nehor said:

by which the Messiah has to come and it is in (or close to) the year 2240.

Given the changes to society due to tech in just my lifetime, it makes me wonder how much more change there will be in 200 years.  Seems like the world will look very different by then due to more communication advances, medical advances and hopefully food and energy production. 
 

I can see things easily getting bad though if we don’t have remarkable energy advances  (not only to power what we currently use, but to clean up the messes we have made in the past).

Edited April 8 by Calm

[MustardSeed]

5 hours ago, The Nehor said:

husband’s affair partner’s baby to be a good story in isolation but if it is aspirational I worry that others less well equipped may try to imitate it with regrettable results. That might be the cynic in me though.

I’ve only personally talked to three people about this and all three people agreed with me and felt the same during the talk. I didn’t like it at all. Very unreasonable expectation to hold up as the example.  
 

[Kenngo1969]

6 hours ago, Chum said:

Sister Tamara W. Runia gave a particularly heartfelt talk and this bit of counsel caught me right away.

She shared how shame is effectively used by Satan to keep us from repentance. 

Speaking broadly, I am no fan of shame. I believe we are more comfortable and accepting of it, than is good for us.  To seek shame for others is to apply a bludgeon. It lacks nuance. It is never precise. It can't convey love.

Nurturing it in ourselves is no better. To seek shame is to make punishment the point.  To live with shame is to live apart from redemption. 

And I have come to realize that denying redemption is about the most worldly thing we can do.

It's nice to know you can actually make a productive comment about General Conference.  Would that you had done the same in my thread, Sir.

[Kenngo1969]

25 minutes ago, MustardSeed said:

I’ve only personally talked to three people about this and all three people agreed with me and felt the same during the talk. I didn’t like it at all. Very unreasonable expectation to hold up as the example.  
 

I don't think he was holding it up as "the example."  Very few people would be able or willing to do what that woman did, and I think that was precisely the point.  I think he shared that account in the hopes that fewer people would put themselves in a position where, potentially, abortion would be seen as a necessary or needed option.

[ZealouslyStriving]

The fact that Conference is being received as too soft by some on the conservative side and too harsh on the liberal side shows me it was a great Conference!

Edited April 8 by ZealouslyStriving

[MustardSeed]

2 hours ago, Kenngo1969 said:

I don't think he was holding it up as "the example."  Very few people would be able or willing to do what that woman did, and I think that was precisely the point.  I think he shared that account in the hopes that fewer people would put themselves in a position where, potentially, abortion would be seen as a necessary or needed option.

Maybe my reaction has more to do with the fact that I’m the therapist and I specialize working with folks who have had affairs. I know this would be a very hard talk for partners to hear. And none of them have had to deal with pregnancy. 
I’m just more sensitive on that topic than most I believe due to my circumstances.

[bluebell]

I loved conference this time.  It felt more personal to me for some reason, even though I didn't try very hard to connect to it (we were in Utah for our oldest's wedding and drove home on Saturday after three very long but amazing days).

I really liked Elder Anderson's talk.  I think I'm at a stage right now where I appreciate leaders who just say things how they are (and by that I of course me how church doctrine believes they are).  I'm in a space where equivocation annoys me and over the last few years it seems like we don't get many lines in the sand anymore in General conference.

I liked Elder Bednar's talk, and the one on 'hiding' a lot (I don't remember who gave it).  And the sister's talk on Sunday was awesome (I also don't remember her name).  Pres. Eyring's talk was really good and Elder Uchtdorf's, but I don't remember exactly why I liked them anymore.   

[MustardSeed]

12 minutes ago, bluebell said:

And the sister's ta

Young women’s first counselor Tamara Runia not confident on my spelling there. A lot of people are saying that hers was the best talk of the entire conference. I would not disagree.

Edited April 8 by MustardSeed

[ZealouslyStriving]

17 minutes ago, bluebell said:

I loved conference this time.  It felt more personal to me for some reason, even though I didn't try very hard to connect to it (we were in Utah for our oldest's wedding and drove home on Saturday after three very long but amazing days).

I really liked Elder Anderson's talk.  I think I'm at a stage right now where I appreciate leaders who just say things how they are (and by that I of course me how church doctrine believes they are).  I'm in a space where equivocation annoys me and over the last few years it seems like we don't get many lines in the sand anymore in General conference.

I liked Elder Bednar's talk, and the one on 'hiding' a lot (I don't remember who gave it).  And the sister's talk on Sunday was awesome (I also don't remember her name).  Pres. Eyring's talk was really good and Elder Uchtdorf's, but I don't remember exactly why I liked them anymore.   

Elder Whiting

[Amulek]

1 hour ago, MustardSeed said:

Young women’s first counselor Tamara Runia not confident on my spelling there. A lot of people are saying that hers was the best talk of the entire conference. I would not disagree.

I found the persistent hand gestures a little distracting, but not so much that it took me out of her message.

I believe she made a comment about heaven not being filled with people who have been perfect, but with people who have been forgiven. While perhaps not a completely original idea, I really liked the expression. 

Also, I seem to recall her saying something about the straight and narrow path going uphill (like on a hike). I have always envisioned the iron rod as going alongside an uphill climb - glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

 

[The Nehor]

32 minutes ago, Amulek said:

Also, I seem to recall her saying something about the straight and narrow path going uphill (like on a hike). I have always envisioned the iron rod as going alongside an uphill climb - glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

I wasn’t sure how to take that. A hike to me suggests a mostly pleasant and not high exhaustion excursion. I couldn’t figure out if she meant it would be really hard or pleasantly challenging or something else.

[The Nehor]

On 4/7/2025 at 1:14 AM, ZealouslyStriving said:

* Pres. Nelson is really being inspired to try and help us avoid the societal breakdown found in 3rd Nephi prior to the Savior's first appearance when hateful, angry political rhetoric caused governmental collapse. If we are not peacemakers we are not going to be prepared for His 2nd appearing, no matter how much we go to church.

I might be being pedantic but the reason for the governmental collapse was given as massive inequalities in wealth and access to education within the society leading to the formation of a more strict system of ranks followed by government officials extrajudicially killing people (prophets who were probably pointing out all the corruption) and covering it up. Then when the conspiracy was starting to be unveiled they murdered the Chief Judge to shut down the prosecution with the intent to put a king in charge but the plot failed on the last bit and the ‘federal’ government collapsed and older tribal hierarchies took over.

I suspect there was probably some angry and hateful rhetoric in there but that is not given as the reason things went wrong.

[bluebell]

1 hour ago, Amulek said:

I found the persistent hand gestures a little distracting, but not so much that it took me out of her message.

I believe she made a comment about heaven not being filled with people who have been perfect, but with people who have been forgiven. While perhaps not a completely original idea, I really liked the expression. 

Also, I seem to recall her saying something about the straight and narrow path going uphill (like on a hike). I have always envisioned the iron rod as going alongside an uphill climb - glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

 

My husband found her gestures distracting as well but I didn’t really notice. Probably because I’m a gesturer myself. Even when I’m talking on the phone. 

[bluebell]

1 hour ago, The Nehor said:

I wasn’t sure how to take that. A hike to me suggests a mostly pleasant and not high exhaustion excursion. I couldn’t figure out if she meant it would be really hard or pleasantly challenging or something else.

We have been on different Hikes I think. 😆

[The Nehor]

2 hours ago, bluebell said:

My husband found her gestures distracting as well but I didn’t really notice. Probably because I’m a gesturer myself. Even when I’m talking on the phone. 

I just listened to Conference so missed this. I find with Conference that seeing the speaker makes it harder for me to focus. Plus I try to do some of the mindless chores through sessions of conference so I don’t doze off or start reading something or whatever.

[bluebell]

1 hour ago, The Nehor said:

I just listened to Conference so missed this. I find with Conference that seeing the speaker makes it harder for me to focus. Plus I try to do some of the mindless chores through sessions of conference so I don’t doze off or start reading something or whatever.

I do the same. I find that driving, cleaning, or putting together a puzzle are my best distractions that keep me focused on conference without my mind wandering. Having to just sit and listen to it is definitely the least effective way for me.

Edit to add: for anyone who figured out what I said before I edited all the mistakes, bravo. 

Edited April 8 by bluebell

[Peacefully]

46 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

I just listened to Conference so missed this. I find with Conference that seeing the speaker makes it harder for me to focus. Plus I try to do some of the mindless chores through sessions of conference so I don’t doze off or start reading something or whatever.

Easier for me to concentrate if I do something mindless like playing Candy Crush. 

[let’s roll]

Lima, Peru gets its third temple. 🙂