Sunday, 1 October 2006
The Spinozist Take from General Conference, October 2006, Day Two
by Christian Y. Cardall
Here are brief first impressions of talks from the second day of General Conference, to be updated throughout the day.
Sunday Morning Session
President Monson: If we do not have a deep foundation of faith, we will have difficulty withstanding the storms of adversity that will surely come in a life whose purpose is to test us. Obtain the foundation of faith through prayer, meditation on the scriptures, and service.
Elder Perry: In the premortal life we accepted Heavenly Father’s plan; we are here in mortality (thanks to the literal happenings in Eden) to receive a body and be tested; and after death we will be resurrected and judged. We need not be confused about the purpose of life because the answers have been given through the Restoration, and there is ample documentation.
Bishop Edgley: 
Three towels from Jackson Lake Lodge (a spectacular location where I’ve attended a conference) and a broken-down Hudson. And a 25 cent newspaper. Dishonesty is rampant, spawned by greed, arrogance, and disrespect.
Sister Lifferth: To enter the kingdom of God we must become as a little child. Children face many challenges from which we should protect them. Protected childhood is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to teach the gospel. As we do so we will also acquire the necessary childlike attributes.
Elder Perkins: Satan deceives even the very elect with Adult Onset Pessimism (feelings of inadequacy, imperfection, and needless guilt). We can think and act in ways that allow the mercy and love of God to overcome this and restore us to a state of Childlike Optimism.
Elder Nelson: Following the scattering of ancient Israel and the great apostasy after the ancient apostles—and indeed after all previous dispensations, which were limited in time and space—we are part of the gathering of Israel, the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, the establishment of Zion. This dispensation of the fulness of times will not end in apostasy, is for the entire world, and proceeds on both sides of the veil.
President Hinckley: In a few months he will be the oldest president of the Church ever. It is a stressful job as nothing in the Church escapes the attention of the First Presidency. Faith has moved this Church from the beginning, manifest in Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and each of the presidents of the Church, who have all faced various forms of opposition and challenges. Faith was manifest in the handcart companies 150 years ago. We are the benefactors of their faith and sacrifice, manifest also in small events and our trust and activity in the work of the Lord.
Sunday Afternoon Session
President Packer: As the early brethren on Ensign Peak understood, the stakes of Zion are to be for a defense against the time when the wrath of God will be poured out without mixture. This refuge comes from living the standards, which we are not free to ignore, but are bound by covenant to keep. Some suppose high standards will reduce growth, but in fact they are a magnet.
Elder Bednar: The Church is a learning laboratory in which we constitute each others’ clinical material, and in such a circumstance we can all expect that others will behave in ways that in principle could offend us. But we can choose to not be offended, and not separate ourselves and our posterity from the ordinances.
Elder Merrill: We must receive by the Spirit as well as teach by the Spirit. We are commanded to receive the Holy Ghost, receive the Savior, receive the gifts of God.
Elder ???: There are recorded instances of the priesthood moving mountains. But the priesthood can also move men and women to God through the ordinances, which have the power to seal families and change hearts.
Elder Clark: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. By following promptings of the Spirit we can be an instrument in the Lord’s hands and the answer to others’ prayers.
Elder Edwards: Our suffering can help us come to know Christ. Observing his own son’s suffering he accidentally caused, he begins to glimpse the love of the Father for us in allowing his Son to suffer on our behalf.
Elder Gibbons: As a physician he believes God created us. And if he created us, it would make sense for him to not leave us alone, but give us commandments to draw us to him. Too many of us, rather than bidding farewell to Babylon, like to keep a summer cottage there.
Elder Holland: General Conference shows that there are modern prophets and leaders called by God. This group of men and women is not out of touch, but looks deeply into the old, openly considers the new, and carefully weighs everything in between. General Conference is also a call to action to help the 21st-century equivalent of those trapped in Martin’s Cove and Devil’s Gate. Finally, General Conference is a declaration that Jesus is the Christ.
President Hinckley: We leave you with our love and blessing.
(4 votes, average: 3.25 out of 5)
Loading ...
Exploratory deployment of two Mormon imperatives—“prove all things; hold fast that which is good,” and “awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words”—from perspectives unfamiliar: secular, scientific, humanistic, and cultural (high and low).
[…] Spinozist (summaries of all sessions). […]
Christian,
Glad to see you are back and blogging.
“In a few months he will be the oldest president of the Church ever.” From the way he looks, if he breaks the record, it won’t be by much.
And where is Pres Packer?
I may slow down for awhile, but I wanted at least to continue the conference posts I’ve done the last three conferences.
President Hinckley definitely sounds weaker this time around.
Presumably the apostles we haven’t heard from will be in the last session—or has Pres. Packer not been on the stand the whole time?
I don’t think I’ve seen Packer the whole time, although i did miss Priesthood last night…was he there?
It’s too bad you’re busy. Your site is one of the few I visit daily.
I didn’t notice during Priesthood meeting. At least one of them is always at another site, such as the Assembly Hall or in times past even the Marriott Center I think.
Congratulations on moving your site to WordPress!
Thanks Christian,
Feel free to visit when you have time. It’s nice to have another science oriented person in the bloggernacle in addition to the ever-present lawyers. I myself am only an pseudo-scientist, i.e. an engineer.
I’ve looked through your professional papers and have noted your experience with quantum theory. Perhaps when you have time your could share your thoughts on the implications of the theory on certain Mormon theological tenets?
I know what you mean. I feel like a pseudo-doctor, i.e., the kind that doesn’t make any money.
I’ve added the feed of your new site to my reader, but I couldn’t find you on LDSelect—if you contact DKL I’m pretty sure he’ll add you.
Do you have more specific questions about quantum mechanics and Mormonism? I do think there are issues in physics that are in tension with Mormon theology, but I haven’t ever thought that quantum mechanics itself raises any devastating problems.
I’ve tried to contact DKL, but my email always gets bounced back.
I’ll draw up some questions on quantum mechanics and Mormonism and get back to you.
First you cross “feminist” off your profile, then you are too busy to blog?? The bloggernacle is about to become boring.
You’re going underground? First Plastic Porcupine breaks up, now this? Will the horrors never end? Must all that is pure and true eventually turn to dust?
Suggestion for future Conference Blog Post… Pick a talk with which you disagree and tell us why. And for balance, pick a talk with which you agree and tell us why. Balanced, respectful conference criticism is a rare, rare bird.
As for adding blogs to your feeder, how about a little love for SunstoneBlog?
I crossed “feminist” off my agenda on the sidebar after various things said at Times and Seasons led me to wonder whether a male can ever be a convincing feminist. As it so happens, however, the next two posts I wrote after crossing it off (here and here) were arguably the most ‘feminist’ I’ve produced to date… Go figure.
Look, I’m not planning to leave blogging completely. Traveling last month broke me out of the blogging habit for a few weeks (as happened once last year for about six weeks as well), and some things happening at work require greater focus on my part, and it’s probably healthy that I spend less time blogging than I was, but I’m not planning to disappear or anything.
Matt, SunstoneBlog was already added to my reader and moved to my Box One at LDSelect as soon as you became an author there. (Note I said “reader,” not “feeder,” above… If you’re thinking of the blogroll, I do this by reciprocity.)
By the way Matt, even if I didn’t take on any of the talks here, if it makes you feel any better you must have read enough of me by now to know that providing summaries does not imply endorsement.
Good point on the reciprocity factor… I’m trying to influence the powers-that-be at Sunstone to start a Blogroll.
Obviously, I know that you did not necessarily endorse all of the conference talks. I’m not suggesting that I disliked your conference review. On the contrary, it has helped me remember who said what. My point is that you are one of the few sympathetic critics of Mormonism in the Bloggernacle. That is a compliment — angry critics and fawning sycophants are a dime a dozen.
No comments, save to say it’s good to know you are still alive and blogging.
Quiero decirles primeramente que Cristian fue un excelente misionero, yo fui compañero de el y puedo dar fe de ello.
La conferencia General fue extraordinaria una vez mas, las impresiones del Espíritu no se borraran jamas.
Yo y mi familia ayer en la noche de hogar renovamos nuestro compromiso ferviente de seguir mas que nunca unidos y sirviendo de la mejor manera posible al Señor y a nuestro prójimo.
Claudio, ¡que sorpresa feliz escuchar de tí! Tenemos tantas memorias buenas de la isla bienaventurada de Chiloé. Estoy contento que todo parece ser bien contigo y con tu familia.
Very late comment - don’t know if you’ll make it down here to read or not. I enjoyed this cliff’s notes version of GC very much. Thank you.
Glad you got something out of it!