General Conference Odyssey

The Opposite of Uncertainty

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This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey.

Modern man must replace uncertainties and doubt with a desire to know more of Jesus.

This statement, from Elder Haight’s talk What Does Jesus Mean to Modern Man?, has been stuck in my brain for days now. It confounds expectations. Certainty is the opposite of uncertainty, right? But we can’t manufacture certainty.

Or rather, we can, but it’s a terrible idea. Manufacturing certainty preempts faith and precludes growth. Pretending to know—when really you don’t know—is worse than blind belief, it’s like gouging out your spiritual eyes. Real conviction is not something we claim. It’s something we’re given. And—like any blessing—it’s not the kind of thing that we are necessarily given right away, the moment we ask for it.

And so if you are struggling with doubt and uncertainty, you can’t just replace them with knowledge and certainty because you want to. So, from a practical standpoint, what can you do?

I can think of no better approach than what Elder Haight suggests.

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The Paths We Walk

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This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey.

One of the most memorable of the talks I’ve read so far was Lost Battalions, which I read near the start of the General Conference Odyssey. The talk was by (then) Elder Thomas Monson. He has been serving as an apostle since 1963, when he was just 36 years old. That’s longer than I’ve been alive by almost two full decades. And yet because (to be perfectly honest) I haven’t paid such close attention to GC talks in the past, I’m only now beginning to get a real feel for his voice. And there’s more to it than just “tells stories.”

His talk for this week was called The Paths Jesus Walked, and it was filled with a lot of the same pathos as his earlier talk about the Lost Battalion. He described how Jesus walked the paths of disappointment, temptation, and pain. Not exactly cheery stuff, but definitely uplifting and encouraging when we feel our own paths are not all sunshine and roses:

Yes, each of us will walk the path of disappointment, perhaps due to an opportunity lost, a power misused, or a loved one not taught. The path of temptation, too, will be the path of each. . . Likewise shall we walk the path of pain. We cannot go to heaven in a feather bed. The Savior of the world entered after great pain and suffering. We, as servants, can expect no more than the Master. Before Easter there must be a cross.

I think I have heard somewhere—and I wish I could remember it—that because the Savior suffered, he made suffering sacred. Sometimes things just happen. Sometimes we or others make choices that inflict needless pain. And so not all the pain that we experience in life is necessary. But all of it can be made meaningful.

President Monson also laid out the paths we can walk, as disciples, to find that meaning. We can walk the paths of obedience, of service, and of prayer. Obedience and service make sense; they cover a lot of ground. Walking the path of prayer seems more interesting, but I like that it is included. “It is by walking the path of prayer that we commune with the Father.”

I was struck by two more things from the talk. First:

Jesus changed men. He changed their habits, their opinions, their ambitions. He changed their tempers, their dispositions, their natures. He changed men’s hearts.

And so we have to ask the question: in what ways is our discipleship changing us? Are our habits, opinions, or ambitions changing? Our tempers, disposition, and natures? Can you look inside at your own life and point to the specific ways in which your heart has been changed? If not: why not? After all, “The passage of time has not altered the capacity of the Redeemer to change men’s lives. As he said to the dead Lazarus, so he says to you and me: ‘… come forth.’”

Second, speaking of Paul (then Saul) in the time just before his conversion, he said of the Old Testament that “For some reason, these writings did not reach Paul’s need.” This struck me as an unusually penetrating and frank insight to make. We almost always hear that the scriptures are powerful. And they are, nothing here contradicts that. But they are not always—by themselves—sufficient. It’s a reminder of the limitations of men and of the limitations of any one aspect of the Gospel. It implies that discipleship has to be full spectrum or there is no guarantee that it works. We have to strive to be well-rounded saints, or we won’t be saints at all.

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Scattered Pearls

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Shell and Pearls. Photo by Mauro Cateb. CC SA.
Shell and Pearls. Photo by Mauro Cateb. CC SA.

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey.

I enjoyed taking a break to cover the October 2016 General Conference last week, but now we’re back on to our usually scheduled General Conference Odyssey posts, which means we’re writing about the Friday afternoon session of the April 1974 GC.

I didn’t really catch a theme in this session, and there wasn’t one talk that really grabbed me. Instead, I just want to go through a couple of lines that stuck me from several different talks.

In Three Important Questions, Elder ElRay L. Christiansen said:

True love is not earthbound. It is as eternal as our spirits, which never die.

There is no coincidence that two of Mormonism’s most unique beliefs are (1) marriage for time and all eternity and (2) the immortality of the human soul both forwards and backwards in time. There is a part of our soul that is ageless, because not only does it have no end but it also has beginning. For souls like these, nothing but eternal relationships could possibly do.

In Hanging On, Elder Loren C. Dunn told a story about a pampered tree that toppled in a storm and contrasted it with a neglected tree—that, because it was forced to drive down deep roots for water—outlasted the gale.

I see in many people this same kind of beauty. Adversity and trial have driven the roots of faith and testimony deep in order to tap the reservoir of spiritual strength that comes from such experiences. By nature they know how to stand and fight and hang on.

Elder H. Burke Peterson spoke with frankness and directness about the role of mothers in Mother, Catch the Vision of Your Call. His call for women to not work outside the home was unapologetic, but it was not unqualified. He not only indicated that single mothers had to work—and deserved our respect and help—but went farther, writing:

Fathers and mothers, before you decide you need a second income and that mother must go to work out of the home, may I plead with you: first go to the Lord in prayer and receive his divine approbation. Be sure he says yes.

This is one of those interesting verses that complicates simplistic stereotypes and reaffirm that the teachings of the Gospel are not as amenable to caricatures as some might think. What he’s saying here is a teaching that has been reiterated more plainly in more recent years: that the guidance of General Authorities in General Conference is just that: general. It is up to us to, in humility and a spirit of obedience, figure out how to apply those teachings to our individual lives. And, as a corollary, that means that we ought to get a little bit better at minding our own business when we see folks who are departing from the general course. Maybe they’re lazy, or disobedient, or apathetic. Or maybe they’re just as righteous, obedient, and passionate as we are but walking a slightly different path.

Then we have Elder William H. Bennett, in Inertia, describing some the primary reasons that people fail to live up to their potential:

some of the more important [reasons we do not reach our potential] are failure to do adequate realistic planning; lack of desire, commitment, and dedication; failure to use time effectively; and failure to correct one’s mistakes.

It’s a very practical list, and one that I think is entirely applicable to most or our lives. I also like how it fit with Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita’s call (in the most recent GC) to “be ambitious for Christ.” If you want to realize your ambitions, then you should pay attention to Elder Bennett’s cautions.

And last but not least, two more short quotes, this time from Elder Marvin J. Ashton in A Time of Urgency:

Midnight is so far and yet so close to those who have procrastinated.

and

God listens to humble prayer. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t ask us to pray.

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Back to the Future

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This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey.

I titled this post “Back to the Future” because we’re taking a break from the historic portion of the GCO to cover the October 2016 General Conference that just wrapped up. One thing I’ve definitely learned this week is that I do better with reading than listening. There are several talks that, in preparing this post, I realized that I’m going to have to read as soon as they’re available because I didn’t get everything there was to get out of them. Also, in this post I’m going to be using quotation marks even in places where I might be paraphrasing a bit. The text isn’t online yet, so I hope you’ll forgive the lack of quote-checking. I’m just going off my notes.

So, first, I want to run through some of the quotes that I liked:

Saturday Morning Session

President Uchtdorf

“One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that the Plan of Salvation is merciful, just, and true. For us: let today be that day.”

Sister Carol F. McConkie

“We pray by the power of the Holy Ghost.” This means that all members of the Godhood are united in prayer: we pray to the Father, through the Holy Ghost, in the name of the Son.

Elder Juan A. Uceda

“When you pray, are you really praying? Or just saying your prayers?”

Elder J. Devin Cornish

“The answers to Am I good enough? And Will I make it? Are yes” as long as you don’t rationalize, rebel, or fail to repent.”

“Please take comfort from this truth: our Heavenly Father intends for us to make it.

Saturday Afternoon Session

Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita

“Be ambitious for Christ.”

Sunday Morning Session

President Russel M. Nelson

At first I didn’t like this talk because it seemed like a stretch to tell me that we could experience joy and suffering simultaneously. But Elder Nelson pressed the point home, saying that Christ focused on joy in order to endure the trials of the Atonement, and citing a friend who said, “I have learned to suffer with joy. My suffering was swallowed up in the joy of Christ.” Now the concepts are germinating in me, and I’m waiting to see what realizations eventually grow out of them.

Elder Dean M. Davies

“Spiritual experiences have less to do with what is happening around us, and everything to do with what is in our hearts.”

I loved this talk because it went to one of my favorite themes–the idea of finding the sacred and sublime in every day experiences–but I also cracked up when my wife commented that, “Some of us just hope for ordinary meetings, and not weird ones.” There’s truth to that, too!

Elder Lynn G. Robbins

“Unkind things are not usually spoken under the influence of the spirit.”

Sunday Afternoon

Elder Brian K. Ashton

Repentance is not a backup plan.

Elder K. Brett Nattress

“If all that your children knew of the Gospel is what they had learned from you, how much would they know?”

Elder Dale G. Renlund

“Repentance is not only possible, but also joyful because of our Savior. . . I invite you to feel more joy in your life. Joy in the knowledge that the atonement of Jesus Christ is real… and joy in choosing to repent.”

Now, there’s one more thing that I want to talk about. There were a ton of talks about questioning, doubt, and faith crises. Elder Craig C. Christensen said “Joseph Smith had questions, but luckily he did not let his questions overwhelm his faith.” Elder Basset said:

“The Church is making great efforts to be transparent. Even after that, the members are unsatisfied with some things that can’t be understood through study. That is because some things can only be understood through faith.”

Elder Ballard said:

“Before you make the spiritually perilous decision to leave, stop and think about what you have felt here and why you have felt it. Where will you to go find others who believe in personal, loving Heavenly Parents? . . . Where will you to go find people who live by the values you share?”

And he made this incredibly powerful statement that I’m sure will have echoes and reverberations in my mind for many, many years to come: “Jesus understand our infirmities, including the loss of faith.”

He also said:

“My heartfelt plea is that we will encourage, accept, and understand those who are struggling on the path. We need to minister to one another. Just as we should open our arms in a spirit of welcoming a new convert, so should we embrace and support those who have questions and are faltering in their faith.”

Elder Rasband was perhaps the most direct about it, stating at the outset that a friend’s faith crisis had led to his talk, and making memory his theme:

“Recall, especially in times of crisis, when you felt the Spirit and your testimony was strong. I promise that if you avoid things that do not build your testimony or that mock your beliefs, your testimony will come back. You will once again feel the safety and warmth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

He concluded: “Do not forget. Please, do not forget.”

But in some ways the most powerful of all these talks was the one given by Elder Quentin L. Cook, who talked about stumbling blocks, including “the philosophies of men.” What struck me most–and I only picked up on this as I want back through his talk–was that he cited President Heber C. Kimball from back in 1856:

We think we are secure here in the chambers of the everlasting hills, where we can close those few doors of the canyons against mobs and persecutors, the wicked and the vile, who have always beset us with violence and robbery, but I want to say to you, my brethren, the time is coming when we will be mixed up in these peaceful valleys to the extent that it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God. Then, brethren, look out for the great sieve, for there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall; for I say unto you there is a test, a TEST, a TEST coming, and who will be able to stand? This church has before it many close places through which it will have to pass before the work of God is crowned with victory.

This is a pretty apocalyptic-sounding prophecy, and so it’s no coincidence that Elder Cook specifically erected a barrier against overcorrection. It’s pretty clear, from his talk and from President Kimball’s quote, that the chief danger comes from what is popular and what is intellectually favored today. And so it is that Elder Cook says we should avoid people who put too much emphasis on particular aspects of the Word of Wisdom or spend extravagant amounts of time and money prepping for the end times. It seems pretty clear that Hollywood and the Ivory Tower are the source of greatest confusion, but that our response has to be to stand our ground, not overcorrect in the opposite direction.

When I looked up President Kimball’s quote, I found it’s been used in many places. (It was new to me, however.) One of those was a 1990 Ensign article by President Hinckley[ref]A City Upon A Hill[/ref] who–after citing just the last parts of the quote–wrote:

I do not know precisely the nature of that test. But I am inclined to think the time is here and that the test lies in our capacity to live the gospel rather than adopt the ways of the world.

President Hinckley also said, “I do not advocate a retreat from society.”

I am eager for transcripts of these talks to be released. I especially want to re-read all the talks in this section carefully.

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Guidelines for Voting

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First 1960 Presidential Debate. (Wikimedia commons)
First 1960 Presidential Debate. (Wikimedia commons)

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey.

The first talk of the first session of the April 1974 session was Guidelines to Carry Forth the Work of God in Cleanliness by President Spencer W. Kimball, and it had some interesting counsel, given that last night I was up later than I would have liked to be in order to watch the first presidential debate. President Kimball “reaffirm[ed] some vital members which concern us.”

One is our civil obligations. We are approaching election time, when we must choose again those persons who will represent us in positions of responsibility in our civil government—federal, state, and local.

I had to look up the 1974 elections. It was a midterm year, following just a few months after President Nixon’s resignation. What struck me the most about the counsel that followed, was how it called on us to be active participants in our nation’s politics. President Kimball quoted the twelfth article of faith:

We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.[ref]Emphasis added.[/ref]

Then he cited from the 1835 “Declaration of Believe regarding Governments and Laws in general,”

We believe that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the laws of the same; and that such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people if a republic, or the will of the sovereign. [ref]Emphasis added.[/ref]

And then a 1951 First Presidency Statement:

A threat to our unity derives from unseemly personal antagonisms developed in partisan political controversy. The Church, while reserving the right to advocate principles of good government underlying equity, justice, and liberty, the political integrity of officials, and the active participation of its members, and the fulfillment of their obligations in civic affairs, exercises no constraint on the freedom of individuals to make their own choices and affiliations … any man who makes representation to the contrary does so without authority and justification in fact. [ref]Emphasis added.[/ref]

Of course, in addition to the call to active participation in politics, there were two more things that stuck out to me. First: the emphasis on the moral caliber of our representatives. (That’s not as clear in these quotes, but it’s a consistent theme.) Second: the concern about “partisan political controversy.”

People have to make up their minds how to vote this year as in all years, and I’m not going to try and sway anyone directly. I just wanted to remind people of those three basic facts:

  1. Mormons have an obligation to actively participate.
  2. We should support representatives of high moral caliber.
  3. We should avoid “partisan political controversy.”

And, as a final thought, in the end I think it matters a lot less who we vote for than why. And that is because the fabric of society—the individual lives of citizens and their relationships with each other that is based on personal values and culture—will always be more important for the fate of a nation than the particular legal system or leadership that it happens to have at any point in time. Laws can be reformed or changed with a pen stroke. Society goes deeper, is harder to corrupt when it is healthy, and harder to heal when it is broken.

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Deep Commitment

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Underwater World, vai Wikimedia Commons
Underwater World, vai Wikimedia Commons

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey.

First, an update. Today we’re covering the Sunday Afternoon session of the October 1973 General Conference, and that means we’re wrapping up our sixth GC since starting on this Odyssey. Next week—on September 27th—we’ll start with the Friday Morning Session of the April 1974 GC. Then the week after that—on October 4th—we’re going to be putting the GCO on a one-week hiatus. We’ll be posting that week, but our posts will be in reaction to the October 2016 GC. We’ll pick up again on October 11th with the Friday Afternoon session of April 1974 GC.

Now, back to the last session of the October 1973 GC. I found a definite theme in this section. In The Need for Total Commitment, Elder Burton defined a saint as “not necessarily a person who is perfect” (thank goodness!), “but a person who strives for perfection.”

I believe we must become so immersed in the gospel of Jesus Christ that we become physically as well as mentally more and more like the Lord himself. We must yield our whole hearts to him. What we then do is done not because we are asked to, nor because we are forced to, but because we want to. Neither pressure nor force can be exerted upon us from outside, when what we do is done because it is our own choice and desire. It then makes no difference to us what other men may think, or say, or do. Our hearts being committed wholly to God, what we do is done out of our love for and our trust in him. We then serve God in every way we can because we have been converted.[ref]I don’t understand the “physically as well as mentally” aspect of the quote, and I’m setting that aside for now.[/ref]

In God’s Way to Eternal Life, Elder Brockbank continued that theme:

We can attain perfection by knowing and loving God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind; and by loving our neighbors as ourselves. This leaves no love for the devil or for the darkness of the world.

I particularly liked the end of his statement. One of the things I’ve been thinking about a lot over the past few years—although I haven’t managed to turn it into a post yet—is the importance of negative space. Of not doing something. Of not acting. Of simply being unmoved. I try so hard every day and every week to squeeze more of out of my time, to get closer to accomplishing every item on my list. I never make it, but—as I’m slowly starting to get closer—I’m learning again and again that what I don’t do is sometimes the only way to get to what I do want to do.

In any case, both of these statements brought a fresh understand to something (then) Elder Kimball said in the first talk of the session, The Rewards, the Blessings, the Promises. He said,

There are depths in the sea which the storms that lash the surface into fury never reach. They who reach down into the depths of life where, in the stillness, the voice of God is heard, have the stabilizing power which carries them poised and serene through the hurricane of difficulties.

It takes a great deal of commitment to “reach down into the depths of life,” but that is indeed where we can find “the stillness.”

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Man in the Mirror

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This is part of the General Conference Odyssey:

Mormons often talk about being in the world, but not of the world. Furthermore, it becomes The World™ in Mormon discourse. In the Gospel of John, there is a cosmic struggle between Jesus and Satan for “the world” (see John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Spiritual warfare is a prominent theme not only in John, but throughout the biblical narrative. The Christian life is to “struggle…not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12, NRSV). But, asks Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve James Cullimore, “[w]hat do we mean by the “world”? President McKay refers to it as those “… alienated from the Saints of God. They are aliens to the Church, and it is the spirit of this alienation that we should keep ourselves free from.” (Conference Report, October 1911, p. 58.) Elder Bruce R. McConkie defines the “world” as “the social conditions created by such of the inhabitants of the earth as live carnal, sensuous, lustful lives, and who have not put off the natural man by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.” (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966], p. 847.) John, in his epistle, describes the “world” as “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” (1 Jn. 2:16.)” In short, it “does not mean the sphere on which we live, but an environment created by individuals who live contrary to his teachings.” But Cullimore’s counsel is not to detach from the world, to leave it behind. “We would not want to be free of our responsibility of being in the world by being taken out of the world…” We “are to be a leaven wherever you are” according to Cullimore. Our best bet of overcoming evil in the world is–in the words of Elder Theodore Burton–to “seek to change [our] manner of living to conform more closely to the ways of the Lord.” Burton says,

A person’s attitude is perhaps the hardest of all personal attributes to change. If your attitude is right, then your life is made right. If your heart is touched, your mind and way of thinking will change and your life will change for the better accordingly. I believe we must become so immersed in the gospel of Jesus Christ that we become physically as well as mentally more and more like the Lord himself. We must yield our whole hearts to him. What we then do is done not because we are asked to, nor because we are forced to, but because we want to. Neither pressure nor force can be exerted upon us from outside, when what we do is done because it is our own choice and desire. It then makes no difference to us what other men may think, or say, or do. Our hearts being committed wholly to God, what we do is done out of our love for and our trust in him. We then serve God in every way we can because we have been converted, our attitude has been changed and we now desire to become like him both spiritually and physically.

Basically, as the King of Pop sang, start with the man in the mirror.

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Surprising Resonances

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This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey.

Instead of focusing on one talk from the Sunday morning session of the October 1973 General Conference, I’m going to cherry pick a series of quotes from different talks, all of which struck me with surprising resonance. These were statements I didn’t really expect to hear, but that resonated with me when I read them.

“It is unchristianlike, unfair, and displeasing to God for any husband or father to assume the role of dictatorship and adopt the attitude that he is superior in any way to his wife.” – N. Eldon Tanner in No Greater Honor: The Woman’s Role

Most of Elder Tanner’s talk reads as quite regressive by modern standards, and so his explicit disavowal of any kind of male superiority struck me as noteworthy. We often try to map the statements of Church leaders onto the political issues of our day (no matter which side we’re on). Sometimes—perhaps often—this gets in the way of hearing what they actually have to say.

“I was uncertain and ye lifted me to paths of security.” This is part of the series of statement that Elder Marvin J. Ashton suggested could be added to Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:35-36 in He Took Him by the Hand. Uncertainty and doubt are hot topics and have been for quite a while. One common thread is the idea that everyone saying, “I know” when they bear their testimonies is alienating to people who can only say, “I believe.” I think that’s right. But Elder Ashton suggests we shouldn’t let the pendulum swing too far the other direction. Those who do have the blessing of certain knowledge on specific matters can offer support to those who need it.

“Being led by the Spirit is vitally important because this is the Lord’s church and he runs it. Those who are called to serve must let the Lord run his church.” – Hartman Rector, Jr. in You Shall Receive the Spirit

I’m not entirely sure what to make of this one. It seems interesting because it seems more like a leader addressing other leaders rather than members. I’m also not sure what it means to “let the Lord run his church,” but it suggests that those with leadership callings ought to keep in mind that they didn’t necessarily get there on personal merit or latent talent. Definitely an interesting perspective.

“The Church in no way intends to take the place of the family. Its entire effort is to strengthen the family.” – Victor L. Brown in Our Youth: Modern Sons of Helaman

I’ve made the case before that one important thing to understand the role of the Church is to understand that it is ultimately a means to an end, and family is that end. In a real sense, the Church is subservient to the family. I’ve had people say this is a good idea, but they don’t know where I’m getting it. While I think it’s implied throughout the Gospel, it’s nice to have such a clear statement as this one.

“[S]alvation is not a free gift. The offer is free indeed, through the atonement of the Savior. But its enjoyment must be earned, not with any halfhearted effort, but with wholesouled, undivided, concentrated application to a program of development which is called the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.” – Mark E. Petersen in “What Will a Man Give?”

There’s a resurgence of interest in the idea of grace and mercy—as opposed to works and accomplishment—within the Mormon community. Again, I think this is a good thing. And yet again, it can be taken too far. The Mormon faith has always had a peculiarly stubborn streak when it comes to many of the eternal theological debates. As often as not, when confronted with an apparent either/or, our response is to dig in our heels and say, “Both.” This is one of those times, I believe.

Here is how I look at it. Good parents don’t really care very much about the accomplishments of their very young children. Grades and evaluations and test scores in elementary school shouldn’t really count for much in themselves. But what every good parent does are about is whether their child strives. Whether they work and play hard, apply themselves, learn and grow. That is the position we find ourselves in with respect to our Heavenly Parents. Precisely what we accomplish in this life means nothing. And it means everything. Depending on your point of view, these are both true statements.

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Lifting Others Up

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This is part of the General Conference Odyssey.

I’m going to keep this short.

Image result for helping someone upMarvin J. Ashton’s talk had a few quotes that I think help remind us how to view others as Christ does. “Brothers and sisters,” he says, “we must learn to look beyond the flesh and see the spirit, the soul, the attitude, the real human being.” This was followed up with a short story about a recently engaged amputee and a happily married partially paralyzed woman. Seeing “the real human being” is what should inspire us to lift others up: the subject of Ashton’s talk: “In this great Church we must try to lift those who need us economically, socially, physically, and spiritually as we earnestly link hands with the Lord in “this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39.)” Toward the end of the Book of Mormon, Moroni proclaims, “And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles. And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles” (Mormon 9:18-19). According to Ashton, “Certainly the greatest miracles of our day are the lifting and healing of troubled souls. Spiritual strength is a priceless possession available to those who will endure in righteousness. The healing of the troubled soul gives health and strength to those dead in things righteous. Purity, faith, hope, and charity are restored, making the once spiritually sick whole.” He states,

Certainly the day is here when, if we are to follow in [Christ’s] paths, we must take the weary, lonely, depressed, the troubled soul, and the gospel-hungry by the hand and lift and help. Yes, we also need to lift the dishonest, the self-condemning, and those who have chosen expediency over correct principles. Countless numbers today will be able to take their first steps in the right direction when we are willing to provide the lift of confidence and encouragement and give them back that self-respect spoken of by President Lee in the opening session of this conference and to help others retain that self-respect.

“How beautiful,” Ashton says, “in the eyes of the Lord are those who take the time to lift the needy hand.” There are plenty who need lifting. We need to see “the real human being” in all of them.

The Gospel in Everyday Life

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This is part of the General Conference Odyssey.

I’ve been out of town the last couple weeks, so I’ve missed the past two sessions. From the looks of it, I missed an excellent one last week. This week’s session yielded some great insights and few…well, we’ll get to that.

Marion G. Romney discussed how the “Church welfare is an approach to the law of consecration—the Lord’s perfect economic program.” He notes, “In light of these teachings [from the scriptures] it seems to me that every Church member, and particularly every priesthood bearer who wishes peace and joy here and eternal life hereafter, would give bounteously of his sustenance to the poor.” Yet, he made this important point: “The basis of God’s perfect economic program is labor.”[ref]He includes this quote from Brigham Young:  “My experience has taught me and it has become a principle with me, that it is never any benefit to give, out and out, to man or woman, money, food, clothing, or anything else, if they are able-bodied, and can work and earn what they need, … This is my principle and I try to act upon it. To pursue a contrary course would ruin any community in the world and make them idlers.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, 1925 edition, p. 422.)[/ref] Why? Because “[t]he dignity and self-respect of the receiver must be preserved.” This attitude toward work is something I touch on in my article for BYU Studies Quarterly:

In their book Wellbeing, Gallup researchers Tom Rath and Jim Harter point to evidence that shows, given a few years, people recover from tragic events (like the death of a spouse) to the same level of well-being prior to the tragedy. “But this was not the case for those who were unemployed for a prolonged period of time—particularly not for men. Our wellbeing actually recovers more rapidly from the death of a spouse than it does from a sustained period of unemployment.” Based on data from the General Social Survey, economist Arthur Brooks also found that one of the key elements for achieving happiness and self-fulfillment is work. This is due to its connection to what Brooks calls “earned success”: the ability to create value in our lives and in the lives of others (pg. 173).

 

Unfortunately, Romney attempts to use the cursing of the ground following Adam’s disobedience to make his point:

[Adam’s] was not a vindictive decree. The Lord was not retaliating against Adam. He was simply placing Adam in a situation where he would have to work to live. The ground was cursed in the manner prescribed for Adam’s sake, not to his disadvantage. Had Adam and his posterity been able to live without working, the human race would never have survived. Idleness is pernicious.

The problem is that’s not what the phrase means. As the NET Bible Commentary explains, “The Hebrew phrase בַּעֲבוּרֶךָ (ba’avurekha) [“for your sake”] is more literally translated “on your account” or “because of you.”” For example, the NRSV translates it “because of you.” This is not done for Adam’s benefit, but is done because of his transgression. While I dig Romney’s point, his exegesis here is flawed. Nonetheless, it reminds of me this quote from Elder Christofferson a few years back:

By work we sustain and enrich life. It enables us to survive the disappointments and tragedies of the mortal experience. Hard-earned achievement brings a sense of self-worth. Work builds and refines character, creates beauty, and is the instrument of our service to one another and to God. A consecrated life is filled with work, sometimes repetitive, sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated but always work that improves, orders, sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires.

Moving along, Elder Featherstone offered bishops some practical financial advise when it came to the welfare system:

Brethren, that is a great principle in welfare. Our home food bill is no more than it was six months ago or a year ago. We had to change the mix. We feel, bishops, you might well change the mix on those who are eating out of your bishops storehouse. When potatoes are $1.69 for ten pounds, let’s switch to rice. When meat is as high as it is, let’s not do as one bishop did, continue to give one family 67 pounds of beef each month. I don’t know that there are too many families here that are eating 67 pounds of beef each month. Those Saints receiving commodities through the bishops storehouse should not be receiving more than you are using in your homes. I hope this is a principle that we will remember and use very wisely…We are trying to spend the Lord’s sacred funds in the best possible way.

I don’t have much to say about this. I just thought it was an interesting topic to be addressed in General Conference. Church leadership isn’t just about abstract concepts and otherwordly concerns. It’s about the here-and-now. It’s about costs and benefits. It’s–in many cases–about economics. In other words, respond to with enlightened self-interest to the price system as any other consumer would.

N. Eldon Tanner talked about everyone’s favorite topic: obedience. “Obedience is the first law of heaven,” he says, “and it is obedience to the laws of God that I should like to talk about particularly, because these laws affect not only our happiness and well-being here upon the earth, but are essential to our eternal life.” I’ve mentioned multiple times the connection of the commandments to happiness and well-being and I’m always glad to see it discussed in General Conference. Some of his other comments cover familiar ground regarding self-discipline (which could be ultimately seen as the shaping of habits):

Self-discipline is the basis of our success. Man has been given a mind to think, to ponder, and to understand and decide what he wants to do and whether or not the sacrifice and discipline is worth it; and, in the Church, whether or not he can stand the ridicule and pressure of those with whom he associates. You have been called. You have been given the priesthood. You have been given the gospel. You are an example to the world. Be a good one. The measure of our success depends on our decision, our determination, discipline, and dependability.

Finally, President Lee urges the men the to take marriage more seriously. He states,

[Marriage] has lost its sanctity in the eyes of the great majority. It is at best a civil contract, but more than often an accident, or a whim, or a means of gratifying the passions; and when the sacredness of the covenant is ignored or lost sight of, then a disregard of the marriage vows under the present moral training of the masses is a mere triviality, a trifling indiscretion.

I think there is ample evidence to support President Lee’s claims. However, I’m always bummed when concerns I share are undermined by terrible advice. For example:

Teach those [married couples] who are having problems to go to the father of the ward, their bishop, for counsel. No psychiatrist in the world, no marriage counselor, can give to those who are faithful members of the Church the counsel from one any better than the bishop of the ward. Now, you bishops don’t hesitate to say, marriage is the law of God, and is ordained by him and man and wife are not without each other in the Lord, as the apostle Paul declared.

Um, no. This is why so many in the Church go to the bishop instead of a professional and never receive the counsel and tools they actually need. Thankfully, we’re seeing more and more bishops outsource these problems to professionals with the help of Church funds when necessary. A bishop can be useful, but authority and occasional inspiration doesn’t make you a therapist. We will likely do more harm than good if we encourage struggling couples to seek unlicensed and unprofessional help.

All in all, a mixed bag of a session. But when we look at the topics–work, finances, discipline, marriage–we see that the gospel is about everyday life. Let’s not forget that.