October 2013 General Conference

Whelp... I thought that maybe I should try to make a topic about the ongoing General Conference. Maybe there would be at least a couple of people, who would like to give their two cents about this October's General Conference. The General Conference is on its second day and I finally decided to post this topic, so here we go...

This is the first General Conference I have been watching entirely. I watched the Saturday Morning Session, the LDS World Report and the Saturday Afternoon Session at my home. I just came from the church, where we watched a recording of the Priesthood Session (it was 3 am in Finland, when the Priesthood Session started, so it really was wiser to watch it on the next day). Soon I'll go back to the church, where we'll be watching the Sunday Morning Session (and after that I'll head back home to watch the Sunday Afternoon Session).

So far the speeches have been interesting. I especially found President Uchtdorf's speech interesting, because he was addressing the Mormons who have left the LDS church and those who are questioning their faith ("First doubt your doubts, before you doubt your faith" was widely quoted on the Internet). Elder D. Todd Christofferson's speech about the role of the women in the LDS faith was also fascinating. As a Non-Mormon, I'm interested in the stance of the Mormons on the women's role in the society (which seems to be, unsurprisingly, traditional) and how the Mormons view those who have rejected the Mormon faith.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's speech was highly anticipated and many Mormons didn't seem to be disappointed, when Elder Holland gave his speech. I also liked his speech about depression and other mental illnesses.

In the Priesthood Session Bishop Gérald Caussé's speech interested me the most , because I'm one of those non-Mormons, who have been welcomed to the church meetings with open arms by the members of the LDS church. I can personally testify, that all the members of the LDS chuch have been really nice and wonderful to me.

Here are my thoughts so far. If you have any thoughts about the General Conference, please do post. I'll report more about my thoughts after the Sunday's Sessions.

Alright. The General Conference just ended and today's speeches were certainly the most interesting ones during the Conference, even though I don't agree with some issues, which were raised in those speeches. For example Elder Dallin H. Oaks noted how cohabitation, gay marriage and premarital sex are no-noes, while I don't have any problems with the aforementioned things. However, he was right when he said that the birth rate in the Western countries is too low. People should start popping out more babies in the Western countries (although the Earth is undeniably getting too overcrowded).

Elder Neil L. Andersen also mentioned that pornography is also a thing, which shouldn't be consumed by a young man, but I, for one, enjoy goggling pictures of... Ahem, let's move on, shall we?

Well, summa summarum: I enjoyed the General Conference. 5/5, would watch again (in April 2014).

My friend came over on Sunday at 2:00 pm and we watched the last session on Sunday together. Overall, I liked it, and it was nice to listen to them speak. I can't say that anything jumped out at me or stuck with me, too much, but I enjoyed getting to watch it with my friend and not watching it by myself.

Ah, wait. I do remember something that stuck with me. The fact that even though we try to do better, we're not perfect. I can't put it as well as it was phrased in the talk, but I really liked that one.

Trevor_Fox wrote:Ah, wait. I do remember something that stuck with me. The fact that even though we try to do better, we're not perfect. I can't put it as well as it was phrased in the talk, but I really liked that one.

I remember Uchtdorf saying that even though the LDS church is the God's church, the restored church of the early Christianity as the Mormons say, it is run by imperfect people, thus the LDS church has made imperfect decisions in its history. This was an answer for those who criticize the LDS church for its changing doctrines and teachings and other mistakes the church has made throughout its history.

By the way, I noticed that the summaries of the General Conference speeches can be found from the website of the Deseret News: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765638753/183rd-Semiannual-General-Conference-talk-summaries.html

Amulek wrote:

Trevor_Fox wrote:Ah, wait. I do remember something that stuck with me. The fact that even though we try to do better, we're not perfect. I can't put it as well as it was phrased in the talk, but I really liked that one.

I remember Uchtdorf saying that even though the LDS church is the God's church, the restored church of the early Christianity as the Mormons say, it is run by imperfect people, thus the LDS church has made imperfect decisions in its history. This was an answer for those who criticize the LDS church for its changing doctrines and teachings and other mistakes the church has made throughout its history.

By the way, I noticed that the summaries of the General Conference speeches can be found from the website of the Deseret News: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765638753/183rd-Semiannual-General-Conference-talk-summaries.html

It is an important thing to remember that even the highest ranking members of the church are not perfect (because who can be), although I believe that may be aimed at a more localized leadership, such as bishops or elder's quorum presidents. I've known people who have fallen away from the church due to disagreements with a bishop, or even some bishops who gotten into trouble due to some issue with breaking doctrine. Plus I've known plenty of people in the church who are ignorant, arrogant in their beliefs or just plain wrong in their interpretations of the gospel, and I've seen a lot of people get pushed away from the church because of them,
Sorry if it turns out the quote is about the apostles and I'm just discussing something completely different. The important part to take away from this is that Uchtdorf is the best

The important part to take away from this is that Uchtdorf is the best

I agree 100 percent with this statement.