I have to say how much I've loved General Conference!
All of it was great.
Starting form the Relief Society and President Monson's amazing talk on CHARITY!
Just the day before I had been pondering ( after watching the show "The Apprentice") on how much the world promotes looking for the weaknesses of people, on how much we put people down because of the things they do wrong...etc. And then I hear this talk and I can't but desire to be better and to follow his counsel.
The same inspiration I've found throughout all the sessions in General Conference.
E. Holland is always one my favorites... it just didn;t help that he started me crying from the very first talk!
One of my favorites is E. Christofferson. I loved his talk.
Everyone's, really.... this time is hard for me to pick a favorite.
Apparently some people have some issues with E. Packer's talk.
I was surprise to hear from criticism from members!
And I couldn't help myself and had to make some comments.
All this happened while I was in the middle of reading "The miracle of Forgiveness" right in the chapter where President Kimball addresses rebellion... even more, he later calls them traitors.
I want to share some parts:
"Among Church members rebellion frequently takes the form of criticism of authorities and leaders. They "speak evil of dignities" and " of the things that they understand not" (2 Peter 2:10, 12)... In a word, they have the spirit of apostasy, which is almost always the harvest of the seeds of criticism...
One would wish the rebellious would stop and ask themselves questions such as: " Do my philosophy and my critical efforts bring me closer to Christ, to God, to virtue, to prayer, to exaltation?..."
"What shall be said of those members who press so hard and publicize their criticisms of the Church that they give encouragement to its enemies and embarrass its leadership and the other faithful members?...
What could be more despicable than a traitor to a friend, a church, a nation, or a cause?..."
( The Miracle of Forgiveness pages 42-46)
There is nothing that makes my blood boil more than hearing members publishing openly critics on God's chosen. Like would you hear Jesus talk speak and say it wasn't a good talk?
There are things I don't get. There are people who willingly walk on thin ice.
I know how Alma must have felt when he said he wished to be an angel and preach repentance unto ALL people!... I do sin in my wish too.
It is not a new thing to twist the Prophet's words to satisfy one's own will.
It's been done from the beginning of time... it appears it will go on forever... but it will have an end. We'll see eye to eye.... and there will be no confusion no more.
Can't wait for that day.
But for now... My Church, my leaders have my full support!
You don't mess with E. Packer if you don't want to have a piece of my mind.
5 comments:
Elder Packer's talk was one of my favourites. He spoke so boldly and bluntly. I thought it was a wonderful talk. Those people that criticize it aren't 'in the world but not of the world'. They adopt the world's values instead of the church's.
Yo tengo unos cuantos amigos q ya no son miembros y se quejaron publicamente de su discurso y d como atacaba a la comunidad gay. Mientras que no estoy deacuerdo con sus quejas, a mi personalmente e es muy dificil aceptar toda la doctrina de la Iglesia sobre este tema. Y hasta cierto punto entiendo (aunque no estoy deacuerdo) porque la gente habla.
No todos tenemos el don de fe/testimonio sobre todas las verdades del Evangelio y ello no quita que nuestro testimonio de la Iglesia sea debil, sino que sabesmos que hay cosas que no llegaremos a entender del todo (incluso a "agree 100%")en esta vida...
Esther, para mi es un discuro difícil de digerir por muchas razones diferentes. Y no sabes lo que duele que un discurso de un apóstol te choque con todo lo que he aprendido a través del Evangelio sobre el amor, la tolerancia, y la aceptación (enseñanzas del Salvador) de una manera tan flagrante. Puedes decir que soy traidora o que mi testimonio está fallando. Puede ser... no soy invulnerable. Yo sólo soy una mujer normal y el un apóstol, pero no consigo, en conciencia, conciliar sus palabras con mi corazón.
Hablas de la rebelión y no me considero rebelde por esto ¿Acaso no tengo permiso para pensar por mi misma? ¿Debo acallar toda voz dentro de mi misma y acatar los pensamientos ajenos sin procesar? ¿Sugieres que no piense, que no opine, que no sienta? Dices que no estar de acuerdo con lo que dice una GA supone estar en terreno resbaladizo (thin ice) ya que es no estar de acuerdo con lo que dice Jesus. ¿Tu crees? Yo creo que basar un testimonio en una deglucción instantánea de conceptos sin digerir sí que es peligroso. Yo creo que no se puede juzgar el testimonio de nadie ni condenarlo de antemano a la apostasia por decir lo que siente. Y creo que quien disiente tiene todo el derecho a expresarlo. La Iglesia es verdadera, y como lo es, no tengo miedo a expresar libremente mi tristeza por un discurso que considero muy poco afortunado.
Un amigo traidor no es el que te dice que te estas equivocando, un amigo traidor es el que calla cuando cree que te diriges al abismo.
Tu citas "Do my philosophy and my critical efforts bring me closer to Christ, to God, to virtue, to prayer, to exaltation?" Bueno, para mi la compasión y la tolerancia SI me acercan a Cristo, a Dios, a la virtud y a la exaltación... por eso exactamente No comparto la visión de E. Packer en este tema.
Te digo todo esto porque sé que eres sensible y porque decías que había cosas que no entendías. Espero que, tal vez, aunque no entiendas las razones de mi discrepancia, entiendas cómo se sienten esas personas de las que tu hablas, porque yo soy una de ellas.
Ah,y estoy profundamente orgullosa de que mi país haya sido pionero en el mundo en legalizar el matrimonio entre homosexuales.
Do my philosophy and my critical efforts bring me closer to Christ, to God, to virtue, to prayer, to exaltation?..."
Well, tolerance and love does bring me closer to all that, that's why I deffend gay rights (as I would have done with black's and women's, which, in time, were deemd to destroy civilization also) and that's exacly why I'm at odds with E. Packer speech.
thank you for commenting on my blog, it is nice to get to know better personally the people angel grew up with :) and thanks for sharing your feelings on this talk, that can be hard to do when there are opposing opinions out there... i loved the talk and didn't think twice about it.. he is such a good man and doesn't have anything malicious about him in his character, and that is how you can judge the things we were told by him are good and true... plus heavenly father would never let us be taught by a prophet anything contrary to his gospel... he mentions in the beginning of his talk that confusion for those of us in the church and out of the church on common values is becoming ever stronger and is a sign of the times.. and i think this is true...
the churches ways and the worlds ways are showing more and more contrast each day... it is becoming harder and harder to "walk the fence"... and i think that is where some people may be becoming outraged... they are now having to choose and that can be a bold and uncomfortable action... when i was younger i used to think i could support the ways of the world to a degree and the ways of the church but the more i work with the young women in my ward as well as think of my little daughter and the influences i want for her, the more i realize the importance in fully following and supporting the church and it's principles, even if they may be hard to swallow... if we as the adults in the church don't do this then what are we teaching the younger generation on church counsel from our examples... i have gay relatives and i love them very much and respect them as individuals but that doesn't make church principles and the things taught to us in the scriptures invalid... the same way you might have a family member doing other things contrary to the gospel... is it offensive to say to a family member i don't support you in your life style of drinking, even though you are a good person and drink in moderation and don't get drunk really? regardless, it is still contrary to the churches principles... why is love any different with lifestyle choices and church principles and their importance.. the difference with women's and civil rights movements is that those had to do with races and genders being oppressed and only the white male being entitled... and the scriptures doesn't have any doctrine saying that there is anything wrong with being a woman or being a different nationality or skin tone then "white", that had more to do with cultures and changing times... it does however speak clearly of men and women and their roles as mothers and fathers, husbands and wives... that is very clear and that is the different between those scenarios... the beauty of the gospel is that we have the right to express free agency and choose who we support. it is up to us to decided what influences we want for ourselves and our children and we will be held accountable personally and no one else... how wonderful that our actions and influences are ours to own up to... when you think of it in that context, there really doesn't seem to be anymore grey areas anymore just merely black and white... he shared the saying “The Lord is voting for me, and Lucifer is voting against me, but it is my vote that counts”... that is so true... and i liked when he said "when the revelations speak in such blunt terms, such as “thou shalt not,” we had better pay attention." sorry for the novel, i have a tendency to ramble ;) and thanks again for your thoughts...
Post a Comment