LDS General Conference, Apr 2016

[JFFR]

Why was it powerful? Are they saying things or raising insights that nobody else has? I believe that there have been plenty of others in both the religious and secular communities who have expressed similar sentiments and have been doing so for some time now. Did you feel the same sense of 'wow' when they spoke? Or is what made it a 'wow' moment is that it was coming from people or an organization to whom you would not normally attribute such sentiments?

I'm not asking to be snarky, but more to understand aspects of LDS culture in that LDS leaders rarely, if ever raise 'moral' issues that others have not also raised prior to that moment. Yet, when the same sentiments expressed by so many others are expressed by an LDS Leader from the pulpit, suddenly the words have moral import and LDS leaders are credited by the faithful with deep moral insights. If the moral insights they speak are so powerful, why does it require them to be uttered by an LDS general authority for the LDS faithful to perceive them as such?

Thanks for the thought jimmy eat jazz.

Just as a clarification, it was powerful because Elder Kearon shared first hand stories which were extremely emotional. After he finished, Pres. Uchtdorf had the responsibility to announce the rest of the meeting. Pres. Uchtdorf was himself a WWII refugee as a child and was overcome with emotion. He could barely speak. We all love and respect Pres. Uchtdorf, he's the only non-American in the first presidency that most of us have seen in our lifetime, and he is an incredible man. To see his reaction was extremely powerful.

Hopefully it was able to get through to the crowd that jazzgal described.

 

[Boris]

To me, it sounds like you are using the Church to justify your bigotry.

What bigotry would that be? [MENTION=14]colton[/MENTION] already accused me of this and ran off without wanting to explain anything beyond his anti-LDS paranoia.

 

[colton]

Why was it powerful? Are they saying things or raising insights that nobody else has? I believe that there have been plenty of others in both the religious and secular communities who have expressed similar sentiments and have been doing so for some time now. Did you feel the same sense of 'wow' when they spoke? Or is what made it a 'wow' moment is that it was coming from people or an organization to whom you would not normally attribute such sentiments?

I'm not asking to be snarky, but more to understand aspects of LDS culture in that LDS leaders rarely, if ever raise 'moral' issues that others have not also raised prior to that moment. Yet, when the same sentiments expressed by so many others are expressed by an LDS Leader from the pulpit, suddenly the words have moral import and LDS leaders are credited by the faithful with deep moral insights. If the moral insights they speak are so powerful, why does it require them to be uttered by an LDS general authority for the LDS faithful to perceive them as such?

I was specifically talking about the reaction of Pres. Uchtdorf as being powerful. He came to the stand after the talk and could barely speak. For those who don't know, Pres. Uchtdorf was a refugee himself in the aftermath of WW2.

But the talk itself was powerful as well. As Jazzgal said, many LDS--especially in Utah--are pretty right-wing. And many/most right-wingers seem to be pretty against helping out the Syrian refugees. Elder Kearon essentially reminded all church members of our responsibilities to help our fellow man. Yes, it's sad that that had to be said, but it was said in a powerful and moving way. He pointed out that not only were the LDS ourselves refugees not too long ago, but Jesus was as well.

Here's a link to the talk: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/refuge-from-the-storm?lang=eng

Sadly they don't post the stuff in between the talks, so you can't see Pres. Uchtdorf's reaction.

 

[The Thriller]

I was specifically talking about the reaction of Pres. Uchtdorf as being powerful. He came to the stand after the talk and could barely speak. For those who don't know, Pres. Uchtdorf was a refugee himself in the aftermath of WW2.

But the talk itself was powerful as well. As Jazzgal said, many LDS--especially in Utah--are pretty right-wing. And many/most right-wingers seem to be pretty against helping out the Syrian refugees. Elder Kearon essentially reminded all church members of our responsibilities to help our fellow man. Yes, it's sad that that had to be said, but it was said in a powerful and moving way. He pointed out that not only were the LDS ourselves refugees not too long ago, but Jesus was as well.

Here's a link to the talk: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/refuge-from-the-storm?lang=eng

Sadly they don't post the stuff in between the talks, so you can't see Pres. Uchtdorf's reaction.

One of the problems facing Mormon (Utah) families today is the popularity of right wingers (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity) and progressive talks like the one given in women's conference and Sunday afternoon.

For 6 months all many of these families do is watch/listen far right wingers and their hate.

Then, for one weekend every 6 months, they hear a few talks that reminds them that:

Muslim refugees aren't the anti-Christ
The poor aren't all lazy

It must be confusing to many of these families.

 

[JazzGal]

One of the problems facing Mormon (Utah) families today is the popularity of right wingers (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity) and progressive talks like the one given in women's conference and Sunday afternoon.

For 6 months all many of these families do is watch/listen far right wingers and their hate.

Then, for one weekend every 6 months, they hear a few talks that reminds them that:

Muslim refugees aren't the anti-Christ
The poor aren't all lazy

It must be confusing to many of these families.

That's the perfect explanation for what happens.

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using JazzFanz mobile app

 

[jimmy eat jazz]

One of the problems facing Mormon (Utah) families today is the popularity of right wingers (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity) and progressive talks like the one given in women's conference and Sunday afternoon.

For 6 months all many of these families do is watch/listen far right wingers and their hate.

Then, for one weekend every 6 months, they hear a few talks that reminds them that:

Muslim refugees aren't the anti-Christ
The poor aren't all lazy

It must be confusing to many of these families.

One of the problems facing Mormon (Utah) families today is the popularity of right wingers (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity) and progressive talks like the one given in women's conference and Sunday afternoon.

For 6 months all many of these families do is watch/listen far right wingers and their hate.

Then, for one weekend every 6 months, they hear a few talks that reminds them that:

Muslim refugees aren't the anti-Christ
The poor aren't all lazy

It must be confusing to many of these families.

That's certainly true of my siblings, who spend most days immersed in right wing talk radio and Fox News. I guarantee, a few talks from the pulpit isn't a strong enough antidote for the large quantities poison they ingest every day.

Add to that decades of anti-gay messages from LDS pulpits, it will take much more than a few conference talks to even begin to turn the homophobic culture that has been nurtured for so long. I do, however, give LDS Leaders credit for moderating their messages and appealing for greater tolerance and understanding towards 'out' groups. I am glad they are doing it. I would ask them, however, "what took you so long?" That said, they continue to send mixed messages, as I've noted above, appeals for greater tolerance towards gays, for example, are wholly inconsistent with the Church's recent policy done behind the scenes. My stated hypothesis is that a primary motivating factor for these greater appeals to tolerance is alarm at that rates at which millennials are leaving the Church. But I'm only speculating.

Far be it for me to generalize from a sample size of 1, but at least a couple of my children have left the Church citing the Church's stance toward women and gays as a primary reason. I'm aware that I'm surrounded by an extended family replete with missionaries and temple weddings, so I don't draw any conclusions from my own experience other than awareness that my children are illustrative of their generation, which is much more progressive on social issues than previous generations. A Church that denies women the same opportunities to minister as men and which implements punitive policies toward children of same-sex parents, among other things, is going to alienate a large number of millennials to whom such things matter.