Okay, now you're just looking for a reason to be offended

I just have one more post based on thoughts from conference for now.

I have mentioned before that I am in this online group for left-leaning members, and that I kind of hate it, so I don't look at it much. If anything interesting comes up, my sister will usually ask me if I have seen it, and that is why I stay in.

The first thing she mentioned for conference was how upset people were by Elder Christofferson's talk about takers and the 47%.

I didn't remember the talk being about that. For one thing, I am really sensitive to the 47% thing (see http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/10/100-wrong-about-47.html for more on that), so I think it would have stood out if he had said that. I remembered the focus as being on how you need to repent to take advantage of the Atonement, and that keeps agency as a part of the process of forgiveness. That was what stuck out to me.

I decided the example of the really lazy man was pretty ludicrous, though, and maybe that was where they felt he was making it more about the temporal. It still seemed like an overreaction, but I had not read their actual comments. Maybe the comments had looked worse to my sister, who had not actually listened to the talk.

But I still saw the comments about Elder Scott's talk.

I feel like it would be inappropriate to copy the main person's comments here, though I have them handy, so I totally could. I am also concerned that by only summarizing the complaint, it will be open to misinterpretation, and sound worse, or maybe I have misconstrued it. So, I will probably do a kind of a mix.

First of all, the talk did admit that life can be hard. Here is one quote from Elder Scott:

"We live in trying times. I need not list all of the sources of evil in the world. It is not necessary to describe all of the possible challenges and heartaches that are a part of mortality. Each of us is intimately aware of our own struggles with temptation, pain, and sadness."

However, he does not focus so much on that but on the various tools we have to help with that. The complaint was centered on his comment on prayer. Again, from Elder Scott:

"The first tool is prayer. Choose to converse with your Father in Heaven often. Make time every day to share your thoughts and feelings with Him. Tell Him everything that concerns you. He is interested in the most important as well as the most mundane facets of your life. Share with Him your full range of feelings and experiences.

Because He respects your agency, Father in Heaven will never force you to pray to Him. But as you exercise that agency and include Him in every aspect of your daily life, your heart will begin to fill with peace, buoyant peace. That peace will focus an eternal light on your struggles. It will help you to manage those challenges from an eternal perspective.

Parents, help safeguard your children by arming them morning and night with the power of family prayer. Children are bombarded every day with the evils of lust, greed, pride, and a host of other sinful behaviors. Protect your children from daily worldly influences by fortifying them with the powerful blessings that result from family prayer. Family prayer should be a nonnegotiable priority in your daily life."

The negative comment that started a long discussion, and to be fair it was not all agreement, took this as looking at the world as full of evil people, plus Satan and his minions, ready to pounce on you, and she was bothered by that because she likes to think of the world as beautiful. If we are going to love our neighbors, isn't it counterproductive to view them as evil? Why is he being a fear-monger?

And I know there is a whole talk that was given, and I have only referenced three paragraphs, but seriously, he never said to fear non-members. The church has some anti-bullying information out there, because LDS kids bully too. Maybe you are praying for protection from the people at church, or from depression, or for help in dealing with all of the personal things that make life difficult that everyone has. It's not saying that life isn't beautiful because it's hard; a lot of the beauty comes through the hard parts!

I think at this point, she was projecting. Now, I absolutely know it is possible, especially living in Utah or Idaho, that there might be a lot of people talking about the wickedness of everyone outside of the church, and that would be frustrating, but don't inject things into the talks that aren't there! For one thing, if you are listening for what other people need to hear, you will not hear what you need to hear. There could have been something that would comfort you in there.

It's interesting because we have friends who have told us that 91% of conference is because of what people do in Utah, and I think we are moving away from that. Various speakers spoke in their native languages, and that was exciting. We are a worldwide church, and the Gospel has value for every citizen of the globe.

This is something else that has become clear to me though. The conservatism that is associated with the Church in the States is not worldwide. I suspect part of the reason for those who feel that Republican is the only way to be is because of the political climate that the GOP has been working very hard to build, which associates their cause with righteousness and which is based on lots of lies. So, that's something worth thinking about.

And for someone who is very satisfied with both their political and religious affiliation, a message that repentance is necessary, when they have not thought of themselves as needing to repent, can be very valuable, if they will hear it. A reminder for daily prayer, which can, if the prayer is sincere, soften the heart, and become a conduit for personal revelation, can be very useful.

The question really becomes what are you looking for? Because you will find it.

http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2009/05/may-2009-on-not-being-offended.html