As I mentioned in my last post, this weekend aired the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since I can think of nothing better or more striking to say than what has already been said over the past couple of days, let me share with you some of the quotes and key points I found to be particularly inspiring. It is my hope that we can all benefit from and act upon the things we learned from conference, whether it was spoken out loud or to our hearts by the Spirit.
In providing my summary of this general conference, I have only chosen to mention about 1/3 of the talks. This does not mean that I believe these talks are more important than the others; they are not. These are simply the ones that contained principles that stood out to me. Even with this narrowed view of what was presented, this will likely be longer than most of my other blog posts. However, the beauty of the Internet is that you can read this at your leisure.
One of my favorite things about general conference is how it helps me to change my view of the world. Pres. Uchtdorf taught an important principle when he said that "Blessings will come not so much because of our abilities but because of our choices." God will reward the faithful because of their strivings, regardless of their abilities.
When we are given a list by a general authority, I always make sure to write it down. It seems that lists are a very concise way of keeping track of the principles learned in the talk. Elder John C. Pingree, Jr. quoted Pres. Kimball in saying that we were all given assignments in premortality: "In the world before we came here, faithful women were given certain assignments while faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood tasks."
How do we find out what these assignments are?
1. Focus on others
2. Discover and develop spiritual gifts
3. Make use of adversity
3. Rely on God
Be careful to not pay attention to Satan; he would like us to feel that our work is unimportant, or that we are inadequate to complete it. However, if this was true, why would God have given this task to us? He always provides a way for us to accomplish the things He commands us.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke about becoming holy. After sharing some interpretations of the symbolism of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ, he quoted and expanded on this statement: "'Most often it is the sacrifices we make to keep our covenants that sanctify us and make us holy.' And to the sacrifices we make, I would add the service we give." Consider your own situation: how have your experiences in these things, giving service and making sacrifices, helped to bring you closer to God? That is what it means to be holy, being able to stand in His presence.
Over the past few years, I have noted that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has spoken many times about the dangers of self-criticism. His talk on Saturday considered this topic once again. There are two things in which we must take care in how we balance them: the incredible holiness that is in God compared to our fallen state, and the grace of Jesus Christ manifested through His Atonement. Though we have such a long way to go to become like God, that is His desire for us (Matt 5:48). At the same time, we cannot become complacent because of His forgiveness, but must keep striving for perfection. I cannot do justice to these thoughts; you should study Elder Holland's talk for yourself.
One thing I watch for very carefully is when the same thing is said by multiple people. Because God is in charge of inspiring each person on what to speak about, if a subject is repeated, I believe that is God's way of telling us, "hey, listen up, this is extra important!" One thing that I noticed was mentioned at least 4-5 times throughout the conference weekend was the injunction to beware overuse of social media technology. They gave slightly different reasons each time, but they all basically said that social media, which can at times be used for good, is most often used as a major distraction. We should all carefully evaluate our use of this modern technology to see if we are using it for good, or if it is using us.
Another important thing that multiple people mentioned was the invitation we received last April from Pres. Monson to read & ponder the Book of Mormon. One such person who reminded us of this was Pres. Russell M. Nelson. He also asked a few piercing questions that we would all do well to consider.
1. What would my life be like without the Book of Mormon?
2. What would I not know?
3. What would I not have?
In return for our participation of this challenge, we were promised that if we read the Book of Mormon daily, we will be able to make better decisions in our lives. We will also be immunized against the evils and temptations of the world.
In the priesthood session, Elder Dale. G. Renlund spoke about the priesthood and the blessings it can bring to people, using a fantastic metaphor about rockets and payloads. Perhaps I liked this talk especially because of my engineering tendencies. A rocket is used to deliver a payload into space. Sometimes it is a satellite, or sometimes it is something else, but always the method is the rocket. Similarly, God uses those called to bear the priesthood to deliver blessings to His children. In the same way that not everyone is authorized to launch a rocket, the priesthood is controlled and governed by priesthood keys. This is another talk I would recommend watching/re-watching, since he explains very well the organization of the priesthood I wrote about a few weeks ago.
Pres. Uchtdorf in the priesthood session was the 2nd person to speak about the recent solar eclipse that passed across much of the U.S. Pres. Uchtdorf often speaks of light in the context of the gospel, and this was another one of those instances. He compared the physical darkness experienced during the solar eclipse to the spiritual darkness we can sometimes experience in our lives. Whatever it is that causes the eclipse can be overcome by the power of Jesus Christ. The physical eclipse was caused by a small object close up blocking the view of a large object far away. In the same way, when we experience spiritual darkness, it is often because we have allowed something in our lives to get too close to us that it blocks out the light of the gospel. Even good things, when taken to the extreme, can block us from God's light.
I love to listen to Elder David A. Bednar speak because he often will present familiar principles juxtaposed in ways I had not considered before. In this conference, he talked about the companion principles of the Sabbath day and temple attendance. "On the Sabbath we worship the Father, in the name of the Son, by participating in ordinances, and learning about, receiving, remembering, and renewing covenants. On His holy day, our thoughts, actions, and demeanor are signs we give to God and an indicator of our love for Him." In contrast to this, "The principle focus of temple worship is participating in ordinances, and learning about, receiving, and remembering covenants." We should strive to combine the principles learned from God's sacred time and space and incorporate them into our homes. "A home should be the ultimate combination of time and space wherein individuals and families remember most effectively God's great and precious promises."
I really admire Elder M. Russell Ballard's forthrightness in declaring the things we need to do better. In this conference he listed a few things we as a people should improve upon:
1. The rising generation needs to develop the same strength in faith as was had by the early Latter-day Saints.
2. Too many people are being deceived into buying into fringe medical practices that promise healing or easy money schemes. Don't look beyond the mark.
3. Some sources claim to have "secret answers" not had by the leaders of the church. Do not be deceived by these people; revelation always comes through God's inspired leaders.
4. Be very careful not to use the name of Jesus Christ in vain.
5. Eliminate from yourself all feelings of racism, sexism, and nationalism.
And now, a number of brief quotations from various speakers:
Elder Stanley G. Ellis quoted Joseph Smith in saying that "a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things, never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation" (Lectures on Faith 6:7)
Having hard times in our lives is a constant; how we choose to react to this is the variable.
Elder Jose L. Alonso said that "love is a combination of actions as well as deep feelings," and that in the same way that faith without works is dead, so love without service is dead.
W. Craig Zwick, formerly of the Seventy, who came to my mission a couple of times, said "truth mandates our highest allegiance, but it should never be a barrier to others."
Pres. Eyring was one of a couple to quote the scripture "Look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not."
(D&C 6:36)
Sis. Jean B. Bingham reminded us of the challenge from last conference to memorize The Living Christ. That is something that I am going to do.
As I have felt after every conference since I started my mission, I feel extremely blessed to have been able to listen to living prophets the past couple of days. Those who were not able to listen to parts or all of conference for whatever reason, I invite you to make the talks a part of your gospel study each week. This includes the guys reading the talks from the general women's session, and the gals reading the talks from the priesthood session. I know, from personal experience, that you will be greatly blessed as you not only read the words, but follow the counsel contained in these great sermons.
In providing my summary of this general conference, I have only chosen to mention about 1/3 of the talks. This does not mean that I believe these talks are more important than the others; they are not. These are simply the ones that contained principles that stood out to me. Even with this narrowed view of what was presented, this will likely be longer than most of my other blog posts. However, the beauty of the Internet is that you can read this at your leisure.
One of my favorite things about general conference is how it helps me to change my view of the world. Pres. Uchtdorf taught an important principle when he said that "Blessings will come not so much because of our abilities but because of our choices." God will reward the faithful because of their strivings, regardless of their abilities.
When we are given a list by a general authority, I always make sure to write it down. It seems that lists are a very concise way of keeping track of the principles learned in the talk. Elder John C. Pingree, Jr. quoted Pres. Kimball in saying that we were all given assignments in premortality: "In the world before we came here, faithful women were given certain assignments while faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood tasks."
How do we find out what these assignments are?
1. Focus on others
2. Discover and develop spiritual gifts
3. Make use of adversity
3. Rely on God
Be careful to not pay attention to Satan; he would like us to feel that our work is unimportant, or that we are inadequate to complete it. However, if this was true, why would God have given this task to us? He always provides a way for us to accomplish the things He commands us.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke about becoming holy. After sharing some interpretations of the symbolism of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ, he quoted and expanded on this statement: "'Most often it is the sacrifices we make to keep our covenants that sanctify us and make us holy.' And to the sacrifices we make, I would add the service we give." Consider your own situation: how have your experiences in these things, giving service and making sacrifices, helped to bring you closer to God? That is what it means to be holy, being able to stand in His presence.
Over the past few years, I have noted that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has spoken many times about the dangers of self-criticism. His talk on Saturday considered this topic once again. There are two things in which we must take care in how we balance them: the incredible holiness that is in God compared to our fallen state, and the grace of Jesus Christ manifested through His Atonement. Though we have such a long way to go to become like God, that is His desire for us (Matt 5:48). At the same time, we cannot become complacent because of His forgiveness, but must keep striving for perfection. I cannot do justice to these thoughts; you should study Elder Holland's talk for yourself.
One thing I watch for very carefully is when the same thing is said by multiple people. Because God is in charge of inspiring each person on what to speak about, if a subject is repeated, I believe that is God's way of telling us, "hey, listen up, this is extra important!" One thing that I noticed was mentioned at least 4-5 times throughout the conference weekend was the injunction to beware overuse of social media technology. They gave slightly different reasons each time, but they all basically said that social media, which can at times be used for good, is most often used as a major distraction. We should all carefully evaluate our use of this modern technology to see if we are using it for good, or if it is using us.
Another important thing that multiple people mentioned was the invitation we received last April from Pres. Monson to read & ponder the Book of Mormon. One such person who reminded us of this was Pres. Russell M. Nelson. He also asked a few piercing questions that we would all do well to consider.
1. What would my life be like without the Book of Mormon?
2. What would I not know?
3. What would I not have?
In return for our participation of this challenge, we were promised that if we read the Book of Mormon daily, we will be able to make better decisions in our lives. We will also be immunized against the evils and temptations of the world.
In the priesthood session, Elder Dale. G. Renlund spoke about the priesthood and the blessings it can bring to people, using a fantastic metaphor about rockets and payloads. Perhaps I liked this talk especially because of my engineering tendencies. A rocket is used to deliver a payload into space. Sometimes it is a satellite, or sometimes it is something else, but always the method is the rocket. Similarly, God uses those called to bear the priesthood to deliver blessings to His children. In the same way that not everyone is authorized to launch a rocket, the priesthood is controlled and governed by priesthood keys. This is another talk I would recommend watching/re-watching, since he explains very well the organization of the priesthood I wrote about a few weeks ago.
Pres. Uchtdorf in the priesthood session was the 2nd person to speak about the recent solar eclipse that passed across much of the U.S. Pres. Uchtdorf often speaks of light in the context of the gospel, and this was another one of those instances. He compared the physical darkness experienced during the solar eclipse to the spiritual darkness we can sometimes experience in our lives. Whatever it is that causes the eclipse can be overcome by the power of Jesus Christ. The physical eclipse was caused by a small object close up blocking the view of a large object far away. In the same way, when we experience spiritual darkness, it is often because we have allowed something in our lives to get too close to us that it blocks out the light of the gospel. Even good things, when taken to the extreme, can block us from God's light.
I love to listen to Elder David A. Bednar speak because he often will present familiar principles juxtaposed in ways I had not considered before. In this conference, he talked about the companion principles of the Sabbath day and temple attendance. "On the Sabbath we worship the Father, in the name of the Son, by participating in ordinances, and learning about, receiving, remembering, and renewing covenants. On His holy day, our thoughts, actions, and demeanor are signs we give to God and an indicator of our love for Him." In contrast to this, "The principle focus of temple worship is participating in ordinances, and learning about, receiving, and remembering covenants." We should strive to combine the principles learned from God's sacred time and space and incorporate them into our homes. "A home should be the ultimate combination of time and space wherein individuals and families remember most effectively God's great and precious promises."
I really admire Elder M. Russell Ballard's forthrightness in declaring the things we need to do better. In this conference he listed a few things we as a people should improve upon:
1. The rising generation needs to develop the same strength in faith as was had by the early Latter-day Saints.
2. Too many people are being deceived into buying into fringe medical practices that promise healing or easy money schemes. Don't look beyond the mark.
3. Some sources claim to have "secret answers" not had by the leaders of the church. Do not be deceived by these people; revelation always comes through God's inspired leaders.
4. Be very careful not to use the name of Jesus Christ in vain.
5. Eliminate from yourself all feelings of racism, sexism, and nationalism.
And now, a number of brief quotations from various speakers:
Elder Stanley G. Ellis quoted Joseph Smith in saying that "a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things, never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation" (Lectures on Faith 6:7)
Having hard times in our lives is a constant; how we choose to react to this is the variable.
Elder Jose L. Alonso said that "love is a combination of actions as well as deep feelings," and that in the same way that faith without works is dead, so love without service is dead.
W. Craig Zwick, formerly of the Seventy, who came to my mission a couple of times, said "truth mandates our highest allegiance, but it should never be a barrier to others."
Pres. Eyring was one of a couple to quote the scripture "Look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not."
(D&C 6:36)
Sis. Jean B. Bingham reminded us of the challenge from last conference to memorize The Living Christ. That is something that I am going to do.
As I have felt after every conference since I started my mission, I feel extremely blessed to have been able to listen to living prophets the past couple of days. Those who were not able to listen to parts or all of conference for whatever reason, I invite you to make the talks a part of your gospel study each week. This includes the guys reading the talks from the general women's session, and the gals reading the talks from the priesthood session. I know, from personal experience, that you will be greatly blessed as you not only read the words, but follow the counsel contained in these great sermons.
Some people like to draw parallels between Pres. Uchtdorf and Albus Dumbledore, from the Harry Potter book series. In keeping with that, here is the companion quote: "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
ReplyDelete(https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/12415-it-is-our-choices-harry-that-show-what-we-truly)
Also, in contrast to the story of the three brothers in Harry Potter, Pres. Uchtdorf in his talk in the women's session told a tale of three sisters. :)