2015 April Conference Thread

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Yep. Not surprisingly, he hit it out of the park again.

Now local leaders will have to deal with the fallout of people saying..."see, numbers don't matter!" Which, of course, they don't.

DnF you know better than this. The spin will be numbers matter even more, because they aren't our primary focus.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Lol. I must have missed this drama.
I have no idea what everyone is saying about conference outside of here--the only thing I've come across is that stupidly ironic tree of life meme over the dissenting votes. President Holland's comments stood out because I had told my kids, who were tuned out on their tablets, to pay attention for a talk because Holland is usually a good speaker. And he starts with a good story but then follows up with something even my 13 year old picked up on as something only a dodo would say in 2015. So he went back to his iPad. Thanks, Elder Holland!

Thank you, that is exactly the thing I'm talking about. Discounting the entire talk because of that one line. It's like some kind of liberal Mormon fundamentalism.

[DrumNFeather]

Numbers don't matter, which is why quarterly reports consist almost entirely of numbers. It's one thing to have an apostle say numbers don't matter, but until the church stops asking for numbers they will always matter. It's like when a GA came to our stake and told us that we needed to hold fewer meetings to allow people time to spend with their families...I guess he wanted us to just ignore the plethora of meetings that are listed in the CHoI.

Right. When I was executive secretary, we were going over the calendar for the month and there was literally something every weekend on the ward/stake calendar and in some cases multiple things. A member of our bishopric kept repeating the phrase "family first eh?"

[DrumNFeather]

DnF you know better than this. The spin will be numbers matter even more, because they aren't our primary focus.

I know, I know...

But perhaps it will make people think twice before they set out to have one convert baptisms a month in a ward that averages one convert baptism per year...or any other funny metric that we try to make a goal out of.

[Brian]

One other takeaway I had from this GC was that I think that the current presiding bishop, the french guy, will be an apostle. When I was listening to his talk, he sort of struck me as the next Uchtdorf. It seems like we've had a pretty decent run over the last few years, but with some of these brethren climbing well up into their 80s and with others having obvious health issues, I think we'll see some new blood in there soon.

I hope so, he was great.

Interesting how a lot of the rising stars are from outside the bubble.

And have a little more genetic diversity.

Actually, not so interesting, really.

[Moliere]

One other takeaway I had from this GC was that I think that the current presiding bishop, the french guy, will be an apostle. When I was listening to his talk, he sort of struck me as the next Uchtdorf. It seems like we've had a pretty decent run over the last few years, but with some of these brethren climbing well up into their 80s and with others having obvious health issues, I think we'll see some new blood in there soon.

Caussé is a treasure to the church. His talk back in Oct 2013 is still one of my all time favs.

[ERCougar]

Thank you, that is exactly the thing I'm talking about. Discounting the entire talk because of that one line. It's like some kind of liberal Mormon fundamentalism.

Dude, you didn't even hear the talk. I promise that line would have bugged you, despite what social media is telling you should and shouldn't you. You seem to be in favor of a metaphorical/mythical take on ancient scripture, something i think our church is in serous need of, and this was a weird doubling down in the opposite direction. I think santos pointed out that it was completely unnecessary to the point of his talk, which made it stand out more. So yeah...talk discounted when you say incredibly stupid things, especially when I just talked my kids into listening for a minute. I'm weirdly fundamentalist like that, I guess.

[Goatnapper'96]

I hope so, he was great.

Interesting how a lot of the rising stars are from outside the bubble.

And have a little more genetic diversity.

Actually, not so interesting, really.

I like the GA Rendell, I think. My favorite were actually the former YM General Presidency member who was fired who spoke at the P'hood session, Uchtdorf's talk on not being preoccupied with numbers, Rendell's talk and then I thought Holland's talk on the Savior was fabulous.

Rendell came to our Stake Conference a few years ago and I really enjoyed him. Definitely not the stereotypical mormon family. They only had one daughter and his wife pursued a really successful legal career along with him being a successful physician. He told a story about visiting Adam-ahndi-Ahman in July and his wife whispering in his ear: "now I know why they were nekkid- it is miserably hot here." They met some tourists who asked about Eden/daAhman and the wife says "of course there is a rational explanation and now my husband will give it to you." I chuckled as I thought not a lot of GAs would make a joke about nekkid and there are very few who would tacitly admit some of our beliefs are downright strange.

He gets my vote for a promotion!

[The_Tick]

I think Pearson gave my favorite talk on Sunday afternoon.

Just hanging on isn't enough.

[Brian]

I like the GA Rendell, I think. My favorite were actually the former YM General Presidency member who was fired who spoke at the P'hood session, Uchtdorf's talk on not being preoccupied with numbers, Rendell's talk and then I thought Holland's talk on the Savior was fabulous.

Rendell came to our Stake Conference a few years ago and I really enjoyed him. Definitely not the stereotypical mormon family. They only had one daughter and his wife pursued a really successful legal career along with him being a successful physician. He told a story about visiting Adam-ahndi-Ahman in July and his wife whispering in his ear: "now I know why they were nekkid- it is miserably hot here." They met some tourists who asked about Eden/daAhman and the wife says "of course there is a rational explanation and now my husband will give it to you." I chuckled as I thought not a lot of GAs would make a joke about nekkid and there are very few who would tacitly admit some of our beliefs are downright strange.

He gets my vote for a promotion!

yes, rendell was great as well.
Wilford, Nielsen were as well.
I was very impressed with the women who spoke. They gave _very_ good talks. I was expecting the lame voice talks about wearing some lame-ass 'ich bin ein mormon' t-shirts, but they were very good.

Geoff is just messing with ya'll.
Holland's talk bugged him. Or will when he listens to it.
Didn't he say "requires a literal adam and eve"
nonsense.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Geoff is just messing with ya'll.
Holland's talk bugged him. Or will when he listens to it.
Didn't he say "requires a literal adam and eve"
nonsense.

I heard about 80% of the talk.
I read the part I missed.
Kind of an odd way to make the point, but meh.

[splitbamboo]

One other takeaway I had from this GC was that I think that the current presiding bishop, the french guy, will be an apostle. When I was listening to his talk, he sort of struck me as the next Uchtdorf. It seems like we've had a pretty decent run over the last few years, but with some of these brethren climbing well up into their 80s and with others having obvious health issues, I think we'll see some new blood in there soon.

And the 70 from Kenya, Elder Sitati. It is an international Church, isn't it?

[Moliere]

Hollands mention of a literal Adam and Eve isn't that weird given that probably 90% of active Mormons believe in a literal Adam and Eve.

I'd argue that he probably thinks it's an important point to make, which is why he included it. To him, without a literal Adam and Eve there was no literal fall, and thus no need for a savior.

I'd argue that the literalness of t all doesn't matter, but to him and the majority of Mormons it does.

[Brian]

Hollands mention of a literal Adam and Eve isn't that weird given that probably 90% of active Mormons believe in a literal Adam and Eve.

I'd argue that he probably thinks it's an important point to make, which is why he included it. To him, without a literal Adam and Eve there was no literal fall, and thus no need for a savior.

I'd argue that the literalness of t all doesn't matter, but to him and the majority of Mormons it does.

maybe, but it's a point that _doesn't_ need to be made. even the temple says to pretend that you are A&E.
And surely he knows it's ammo for the anti-evolution folks. Maybe he is one of them, I don't know.

if he says it's required, I'd like to know why it's required.

[wuapinmon]

Thank you, that is exactly the thing I'm talking about. Discounting the entire talk because of that one line. It's like some kind of liberal Mormon fundamentalism.

I discounted the talk because of the lame rock climbing story. The Adam and Eve thing was quaint, but understandable. The story smacks of trying to make something fit a narrative.