A Heretic Reviews General Conference, October 2024

Fastest hymn: “On This Day of Joy and Gladness” (Sunday morning) and “Praise the Lord with Heart and Voice” (Sunday afternoon).
Slowest hymn: “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” (Sunday morning), at least at the beginning and end.
Best hymn: “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need” (Sunday morning), “And the Glory of the Lord” (Sunday afternoon), and “Holding Hands Around the World” (Saturday afternoon).
Worst hymn: “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet” (Sunday afternoon). This was just a usual congregational hymn, but I really don’t like it because it sounds like something that would be sung from a Rameumptom.

Longest prayer: 108 seconds, J. Kimo Esplin, Saturday morning invocation.
Shortest prayer: 51 seconds, Ciro Schmeil, Saturday afternoon opening.

Best title: “God’s Favourite,” Karl B. Hirst.
Phoning-it-in title: “Following Christ,” Dallin H. Oaks.

Best laugh:

• Gerrit W. Gong and two of his grandchildren came up with the following dad joke: “What do you call a dinosaur who crashes his car? Tyrannosaurus Wrecks.”
• David L. Buckner: “My father often reminded me that simply sitting in a pew on Sunday doesn’t make you a good Christian any more than sleeping in a garage makes you a car.”

Best image: I really like Yongsung Kim’s painting The Hand of God that Juan Pablo Villar showed in his talk. I appreciate how Jesus looks happy, rather than annoyed, to be reaching into the water to retrieve Peter (or us).

Most troublesome image: While talking about contention, Dallin H. Oaks showed a picture of two men arguing. When I first looked at the talk, it was included, but now it appears to be gone. (You can still see it on the video of the talk on YouTube if you’re curious.) I’m assuming this means someone decided it wasn’t correlated enough.

Best lines:

• Karl D. Hirst: “If you do feel filled with love in this season of your life, please try and hold on to it as effectively as a sieve holds water. Splash it everywhere you go.”
• Dale G. Renlund: “The Savior yearns to forgive our sins, help us access His power, and transform us.”
• Gregorio E. Casillas: “We have the privilege to watch over people who need a helping hand, an embrace, a feeling of comfort, or for us simply to be with them in silence. If we can help lighten their burdens, even if only for a moment, then we will be able to see the great manifestations of the Savior’s power in their lives.”
• Gerrit W. Gong: “All around us are opportunities to laugh, delight, see with grateful eyes.”
• Kristin M. Yee: “[T]he Lord is not done with us when we make a mistake, nor does He flee when we falter. Our need for healing and help is not a burden to Him, but the very reason He came.”
• Brook P. Hales: “I hope that as a result of the sum of my life’s experiences—good and bad—I have compassion for innocent victims of another’s actions and empathy for the downtrodden.”

Worst lines:

• Dallin H. Oaks: “The Lord’s commandments are of two types: permanent, like the doctrine of Christ, and temporary.”
  • Fascinating! And I assume there’s a reliable way to tell which is which at the time it’s issued, right? Or is it just post-hoc categorization?
• D. Todd Christofferson: “Certainly in life there is plenty of room for personal preference and individual choice, but when it comes to matters of salvation and eternal life, our theme song ought to be “I did it God’s way,” because truly there is no other way.”
  • I don’t appreciate this call for homogeneity. He gestures at “room for personal preference,” but when he follows it up with telling us we can’t deviate from the true way, it sounds pretty empty. With the idea of Boyd K. Packer’s unwritten order of things still alive and well, it’s easy for this type of pressure to extend to all kinds of things that aren’t core to the gospel, like dress and politics.
• D. Todd Christofferson: “It would be a mark of rebellion to deface or defile one’s body, or abuse it, or fail to do what one can to pursue a healthy lifestyle.”
  • Speaking of things not core to the gospel, this thinly-veiled scolding over tattoos and piercings seems way out of place.
• David L. Buckner: “Admittedly, as a teenager, I remember dreaded conversations when I heard those painful words ‘Hey, can we just be friends?’ or ‘Let’s just stay in the friend zone.'”
  • The friend zone is mostly a made-up space that men and boys complain about when they’re unable to imagine women and girls as actual people worth being friends with. I wish he hadn’t brought it up.
• Bradley R. Wilcox: “When you look around on this cruise ship called earth, you might see other people sitting in lounge chairs drinking, gambling in casinos, wearing clothing that is too revealing, scrolling endlessly on cell phones, and wasting too much time playing electronic games.”
  • This is an utterly awful list of sins because they’re so trivial, not to mention that worrying about “revealing clothing” is something our male leadership only ever directs at women. Why not for once warn people about being radicalized by white supremacists, blaming all your problems on immigrants, and calling for mass deportations to satisfy your xenophobia? That’s a million times worse than scrolling too much on your phone.
• Henry B. Eyring: “We should seize every opportunity to share the teachings of Jesus Christ with children. . . . Some of you may wonder whether it might be better to draw your children closer to you through having fun, or you may ask whether the child may start to feel overwhelmed by your teachings. Instead, we should consider, ‘With so little time and so few opportunities, what words of doctrine can I share that will strengthen them against the inevitable challenges to their faith?'”
  • I don’t think encouraging parents to preach at their children more and have less fun with them is going to be successful. What happened to “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”?
• I. Raymond Egbo: “Instead of wondering why an angel does not come to help your child repent, know that the Lord has placed a mortal angel in his or her path: the bishop, another Church leader, or a ministering brother or sister. If you keep fasting and praying, if you do not set a timetable or a deadline for God, and if you trust that He is stretching forth His hand to help, then—sooner or later—you find God touching the heart of your child when your child chooses to listen.”
  • Clearly, this doesn’t always happen. It’s cruel of him to set parents up to doubt themselves or their commitment when they aren’t able to pray their kids back to church.

Lines missing an asterisk:

• Karl D. Hirst: “Maybe there is a chorus of voices of discouragement and darkness that weighs into your thoughts, messages telling you that you are too wounded and confused, too weak and overlooked, too different or disoriented to warrant heavenly love in any real way.”
  • *Maybe many of these messages of discouragement come over this very pulpit.
• Quentin L. Cook (in his note 17): “Some of the issues [raised to create doubt] are simply untrue. Some take historical facts out of context. Some are advocating for social issues that are inconsistent with both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Some are on issues that the Lord has not yet provided revelation.”
  • *Many of the issues with the Church fall into none of these categories. Polygamy, for example? It’s true. It’s not taken out of context. It’s not an issue where there’s a lack of revelation. It’s an issue where it seems we have revelation, and that revelation is deeply disturbing.

Citation needed:

• Dallin H. Oaks: “This year millions have been inspired by the gospel study plan known by the Savior’s invitation ‘Come, follow me.'”
• José A. Teixeira: “While serving [in the Church] is not always convenient, it is always rewarding.”
• Gary E. Stevenson: “We just witnessed the power of a truly historic moment as we celebrated with tens of millions the 100th birthday of President Russell M. Nelson.”

Lines from speakers gunning to take Neal A. Maxwell’s position as the alliterative apostle:

• David L. Buckner: “[The Savior’s] watchcare is not trivial or insignificant. Rather, it is exalting, elevating, and eternal.”
• Gerrit W. Gong: “You [Church members] live seven Cs: communion with God, community and compassion with each other, commitment and covenant with God, family, and friends—centered in Jesus Christ.” [bold in original]
• Kristin M. Yee: “the spiritual parasite of pride”
• David A. Bednar: “destructive detours”
• Jeffrey R. Holland: “divine DNA”

Best lines to get on Russell M. Nelson’s bad side:

• Patrick Kearon referred to him as “the Lord’s senior Apostle,” which seems fine, but also is maybe damning with faint praise. What ever happened to “our beloved prophet, preserved by the hand of the Lord for these latter days, even Russell M. Nelson”?
• Gary E. Stevenson gave Satan a major victory when he quoted a New York Times story about President Nelson’s birthday that was titled “The Leader of the Mormon Church Turns 100.” At least he was smart enough to relegate the story title to a footnote.

Best line to get on Dallin H. Oaks’s bad side: Kyle S. McKay talked about Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery’s vision recorded in D&C 110, but then went on to say “In the months and years after this experience, Joseph and Oliver would sin again. And again.”

Best quote: Tracy Y. Browning quoted Elder Uchtdorf: “Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf has taught that ‘asking questions isn’t a sign of weakness,’ but rather ‘it’s a precursor of growth.'”

Worst quotes:

• David P. Homer quoted Elder Uchtdorf: “Please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.”
• Kyle S. McKay mentioned being saved by grace, but made sure to remind us from 2 Nephi 25:23 that it’s “after all we can do.”
• Tracy Y. Browning quoted the story from Moses 5 of Adam and Eve offering sacrifices just because they were told to, without knowing why, where Adam explains his reason is “I know not, save the Lord commanded me.” Church leaders quoting this are pretty clear that they want members to stop thinking, shut up, and obey.

Football? What’s a football?

• D. Martin Goury began a story as follows: “When I was about five years old, I was playing football with my friends behind the church in my small village in Côte d’Ivoire.” He made no indication either in the text or the footnotes that the sport he was talking about is known to Americans as soccer. I liked this, as a small push toward the Church becoming less US-centric.
• Along similar lines, I. Raymond Egbo told a story about the 1996 Nigerian men’s football team that won the gold medal in the Olympics.
• Quentin L. Cook wasn’t having it, though. He mentioned “Andy Reid, head football coach of the Kansas City Chiefs” without any indication in the text or the footnotes that the sport he coaches is mostly known as American football.

You don’t know what you don’t know: Gary E. Stevenson said “As I visit temples around the world, I marvel at the standing-room-only crowds of youth waiting at the baptistry and the increased numbers of young adults serving as ordinance workers.” I assume these visits are planned well in advance. Who wants to tell him about Potemkin villages? Maybe Elder Uchdorf can. I’m not saying I have any better information than Elder Stevenson does, but I think he underestimates how much things could be thrown together to look nice for his brief visits.

Most footnotes: 46, Kristin M. Yee.
Fewest footnotes: 3, José A. Teixeira
Longest footnote: Gerrit W. Gong (note 6) and Ronald A. Rasband (note 17) each had a footnote of 208 words.
Tersest footnote: Takashi Wada (note 13) told a story in which he first received a copy of the New Testament, and in a note, says only “Gideon Bible,” without further explanation.
Funniest footnote: Kyle S. McKay (note 5) referred to a podcast called “The Fist Vision,” which I suspect is a typo, but I really hope is not.
Almost funniest footnote: Gary E. Stevenson (note 7) referred to The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, by James Strong. At first I read the author as James Strang, and I just couldn’t wait to discover why Elder Stevenson would be quoting him!
Most interesting footnote: Gerrit W. Gong (note 10) explained that about 60% of Church members live within 50 miles of a temple. When currently-announced temples are completed, this is expected to increase to 75%. This is the first I’ve heard of any analysis more than a vague “if you build it, they will come” behind the Church’s temple-building spree.
Most interesting footnote source: Tracy Y. Browning (note 1-4) referred to NASA’s website when talking about Pluto and the edge of the solar system.

Please don’t relegate this to a footnote:

• Neil L. Andersen, in discussing hope, had a footnote (note 6) where he quoted Dieter F. Uchtdorf about the reality of depression.
• Dale G. Renlund said in one footnote (note 35), “If you receive what the Lord’s Church offers, you can be perfected in Christ before His Church is perfected, if it ever is.” If it ever is? I feel like it’s going against the orthodox grain to say the Church isn’t perfect now, and to acknowledge that it might not ever be is a huge step toward reality and away from the fantasy of prophetic infallibility. I wish he had spoken these words over the pulpit.

Book recommendations:

• In talking about nitroglycerin and dynamite, Dale G. Renlund referred to Steven Johnson’s book The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective. I found this interesting because the book was published this year, so it’s fun to get a little almost-real-time glimpse into what one Q15 member is reading.
• L. Todd Budge included a picture of his office including a bookshelf, so of course I was interested to see if there were any non-Church books on it. The only one I (think) I can identify is Robert Arnett’s India Unveiled.

What wasn’t said:

• Dale G. Renlund talked about the gospel and the Church, saying at one point “the gospel is perfect,” but never commenting on whether the Church is or not. Clearly he doesn’t think it is, but he couldn’t bring himself to say that out loud.
• Dallin H. Oaks brought up a problem with political hostility: “This atmosphere of enmity sometimes even paralyzes capacities for lawmaking on matters of importance where most citizens see an urgent need for some action in the public interest.” I found this interesting because even though he was speaking in general terms, I can’t think of any specific issue it fits better than gun control in the US. Of course I’m on the political left and he’s on the right, so I doubt he meant this issue, but the fit does seem really good.
• Bradley R. Wilcox talked about birthrights, but then said “Today we are not talking about your birth order in earthly families or Old Testament gender roles.” Wait! The existence of Old Testament gender roles implies the existence of more modern gender roles, and more importantly, that gender roles are not eternal. Did he really mean to suggest this?
• L. Todd Budge talked about taking the opportunity to return to Jesus often, and then said “You may be thinking, ‘I do not have time for that.'” I was expecting him to follow this up with a scold about how of course we have time for it, if only we’ll be less wicked. But instead I was happily surprised when he talked about being more mindful with the time we do have rather than going for the scold.

Mixed messages:

• Patrick Kearon made what I thought was an excellent point: “[F]or many, reverence only means this: folding our arms tightly around our chests, bowing our heads, closing our eyes, and holding still—indefinitely! This might be a helpful way to teach energetic young children, but as we grow and learn, let us see that reverence is so much more than this.” At the end of Conference, when Russell M. Nelson was about to announce the locations of new temples, he pre-scolded his audience into silence: “Please listen reverently as I announce the locations.”
• Gerrit W. Gong said “Holiness to the Lord says . . . yes to our becoming our freest, happiest, most authentic, best selves,” but earlier Ulisses Soares pooh-poohed the idea of being authentic, even putting the word in scare quotes.

We don’t talk about Heavenly Mother:

• Neil L. Andersen lists all the people we could live with in the afterlife: “our Heavenly Father, His Beloved Son, our faithful family and precious friends, and the righteous men and women from every continent and every century.” I feel like someone is obviously missing there.
• Rubén V. Alliaud talks about how “we truly believe that we are all literally the children of God,” but of course didn’t get into what that might imply about God or male and female or anything like that.

Best parts of stories:

I felt like there was a dearth of good stories this Conference, so I’m going to note parts of stories I liked rather than full stories.

• I liked that Kristin M. Yee showed us both an early draft and the final version of a painting of Jesus she created.
• David L. Buckner told of being part of an interfaith group in New York that met online during the pandemic. I appreciated that he sounded respectful of the other members, and that he didn’t engage in any Bednar-like whining about lockdowns.
• In a story of a family getting baptized into his ward while he was bishop, I appreciated that Quentin L. Cook encouraged them to go ahead and go through with the pledge they had made to support their previous church’s building fund.
• D. Martin Goury told of being five years old and hearing a preacher say that Jesus was coming back soon, so he ran home to get his clothes washed, and was ready the next morning. I appreciated that he framed it as a story of his misunderstanding, rather than a chance to critique a preacher of another faith.

Worst stories:

• Neil L. Andersen told of his great nephew, who had heart problems from birth, and then when he finally got a heart transplant when he was hoping to serve a mission, he passed away after it. Elder Andersen quoted both parents as feeling joyful the next day. I think this is an awful norm to preach, and it will only lead listeners to beat themselves up when they find that they actually grieve the deaths of loved ones for more than a single day.
• Neil L. Andersen also told a contrasting story of a couple who “decided to discard their belief” and “found pleasure in their intellect and the rejection of their faith.” I find his tone of triumph nauseating as he reported that the wife “felt disoriented, painfully unprepared, unable to comfort her children” when her husband died young.
• Ulisses Soares told a story of a young woman who was asked to dress in a more revealing way to fit in at her fashion company job. She refused, but was able to keep her job. I hate the message stories like this convey about women’s primary worth being in their willingness to cover up their wicked, wicked bodies.
• Gregorio E. Casillas and D. Martin Goury told similar stories about visiting members with a local stake president while in town for a meeting. In both cases, the stake presidents were inspired to select someone at the last minute who dearly needed the visit. I know these are supposed to be faith-promoting stories, but I find them faith destroying, as far, far more people who need help don’t get it than do.
• Henry B. Eyring told of an ancestor of his who was arrested for illegally preaching about the Church after she had converted. She then wrote a letter to the judge and shamed him for being so worldly, and this secured her release. I certainly think laws like the one used to arrest her are unjust, but I think it’s wrong to hold her pushy shaming as an example of how to respond, regardless of how it worked out for her.
• Dieter F. Uchtdorf framed his talk around his memories of a chapel in Zwickau where he attended as a child. When he went back to visit it years later, he realized it had been torn down. His point was to discuss eternal and non-eternal things, but I feel like a strong subtext is also to tell members to quit our whining over historic buildings that might need to be smashed in the name of Church progress.

Weirdest story: Aroldo B. Cavalcante told a story about a man he called to be one of his counselors when he was made bishop, who it turned out couldn’t read, didn’t have a car, and always wore sunglasses to church. Elder Cavalcante asked if he was wearing them for a medical reason, and when he said no, he encouraged him not to wear them at church anymore. So he didn’t. The point of this story escaped me. Was it to show that insufficiently conformist people can be fixed more easily than you’d think?

Stories that would have been better with a little more detail:

• Brook P. Hales said “As a youth, I personally experienced great emotional pain and shame that came as the result of the unrighteous actions of another, which for many years affected my self-worth and my sense of worthiness before the Lord.” He goes on to talk a little more about it, but in extremely vague terms. This is a place where I wonder if more detail might not be very helpful to listeners who have had similar experiences, and wonder whether they can go on.
• I. Raymond Egbo told about the dramatic victory of the 1996 Nigerian men’s football team in the Olympics, but he skipped over the drama rather than building it up at all: “At one point, they were minutes away from being eliminated from competition, but the Nigerian team triumphed against all odds.” I wanted to hear how they were minutes away from elimination, and what exactly happened to keep them in!

On the road to apostasy?

• Kyle S. McKay said “I believe and am sure that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He believes? This is only a little repaired by following it up with being sure. In this church, we don’t believe, we know!
• Dale G. Renlund talked about the Church and the gospel as two separate things. His point was that the Church is necessary, not just the gospel, for organization and ordinances. While this seems like a very orthodox, mainstream point, I feel like once you acknowledge a separation between the gospel and the Church, you’re on the path that got Ronald E. Poelman into trouble back in 1984. Just like how GAs would generally prefer that members conflate Christ and the Church (If you love Jesus, you’ll follow what we say), they would also prefer that members assume the Church and the gospel are one.

Best name, dad joke edition: Kristin M. Yee. I dearly hope that her fellow Church leaders take every opportunity to remind her “Yee are the light of the world,” and “except Yee repent, Yee can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God” and the like.
Best name, sounds like a Count of Monte Cristo character edition: Aroldo B. Cavalcante.

Best names for Jesus:

• “Master Potter” (Jorge M. Alvarado).
• “Refuge from the Storm” (Jeffrey R. Holland).

Best admission of human weakness:

• Karl D. Hirst asked a rhetorical question (“So if God’s love does not leave us, why don’t we always feel it?”) and then warned “Just to manage your expectations: I don’t know.” Clearly he neglected to attend the Bruce R. McConkie school of if-you-sound-certain-enough-they’ll-believe-you.
• I appreciated that David P. Homer included himself among people who might feel like both staying and walking away: “Perhaps you, like me, sometimes find yourself on both sides of this decision.”
• I loved that Kristin M. Yee talked about having difficulty with particular relationships even over a period of time:
  

  There have been difficult and complex relationships in my life that I have struggled with and sincerely sought to improve. At times I felt like I was failing more often than not. I wondered, “Did I not fix things the last time? Did I not truly overcome my weakness?” I’ve learned over time that I am not necessarily defective; rather, there is often more to work on and more healing that is needed.

• Jorge M. Alvarado admitted feeling inadequate even while giving his talk:
  

  The common feeling of inadequacy, weakness, or even unworthiness is something with which many of us sometimes struggle. I still struggle with this; I felt it the day I was called. I have felt it many times, and I still feel it right now speaking to you.

Thanks for gender-neutralizing:

• Kristin M. Yee quoted C. S. Lewis’s novel The Magician’s Nephew as follows: “Oh [humankind], how cleverly you defend yourselves [from] all that might do you good!” The brackets are hers. In the original, “humankind” is “Adam’s sons.”
• Jorge M. Alvarado modified 2 Nephi 31:21 to say in part “there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man [and woman] can be saved.”
• Gary E. Stevenson modified 2 Nephi 2:25 to say “”Men [and women] are, that they might have joy.”
• Quentin L. Cook modified Joseph Smith’s famous statement about the Book of Mormon to say in part “A man [or woman] would get nearer to God by abiding by [the book’s] precepts.”

Thanks for saying this:

• Gregorio E. Casillas: “Let us be good neighbors, good employers, good workers.” I feel like GAs often remind us to be good employees, but rarely do they remind employers that they should be good too.
• Bradley R. Wilcox: “There are many valiant disciples of Christ who are not members of this Church.”
• D. Todd Christofferson: “Few of us will reach the peak of performance we have seen recently in the achievements of Olympic and Paralympic athletes.” I appreciated that he mentioned both.
• Patrick Kearon: “Now, for parents of children who are young or have special needs, there is often no such thing as a time of stillness and quiet reflection during the sacrament.”
• Gary E. Stevenson: “Your generation [young people] is unusually mindful of the less fortunate.” I appreciate that he noticed and commented on this rather than scolding young people for being too worldly.

Best/worst sucking up to Russell M. Nelson:

• Ronald A. Rasband mentioned him 17 times (!) in his talk, and a further 12 times in his footnotes.
• Seven speakers didn’t mention him by name in either their talks or their footnotes (although they might have said “our beloved prophet” or things like that—I just searched for his name).

Bad patterns:

• Two speakers—David P. Homer and D. Todd Christofferson—mentioned the three great anti-Christs of the Book of Mormon: Sherem, Nehor, and Korihor. A third, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, also mentioned Korihor. I’m not sure who I first saw say this, but it does seem clear that GAs have pivoted away from seeing other churches as the enemy and now seem to want to ally with at least some of them against the wicked secularists. This seems consistent with more discussion of these “there is no God” anti-Christs.
• 12 of 34 speakers referred to Satan or the adversary. I feel like this is a lot. I also don’t like it. There are plenty of huge problems in the world caused by ordinary humans. Imagining Satan whispering in every ear, especially when people dare to doubt the Church, just seems silly.
• Tracy Y. Browning and Dieter F. Uchtdorf each repeated some version of the GA trope that people have issues with the Church because of a lack of knowledge. The reality is that people have issues with the Church because of things we do know that are disturbing.

Random patterns carried over from last Conference:

• In April, Jeffrey R. Holland joked about having been away, and said he was still at risk, “positioned on a trapdoor” while giving his talk. This Conference, Karl D. Hirst said that two of his kids have passed out while giving talks and “I’ve got more on my mind than just the trapdoor.” I like that by calling it the trapdoor, he’s kind of matter-of-factly assuming we all know of its existence and function.
• Juan Pablo Villar told of being pushed under by large waves as a child visiting the beach before his brother taught him how to face them. This makes two Conferences in a row with speakers talking about being humbled by water, as in April, Dale G. Renlund told a story where relatively small waves kept knocking him off his kayak.

Interesting non-church things to learn:

• Dale G. Renlund talked about the invention of dynamite.
• José A. Teixeira explained how salt is harvested.
• Aroldo B. Cavalcante (note 3) explained the term pro bono.

Most scattered talk: Aroldo B. Cavalcante mixed together a story of how he and his wife were part of a group giving legal assistance to nursing homes with the story of the Jaredite barges and then about halfway through, suddenly decided to urge young people to serve a mission. None of these on their own would be strange, but I really had a hard time seeing why he thought they went together.

Best talks:

• Karl D. Hirst. I so appreciate his message of love, of God’s love for us, and how we should love one another.
• Patrick Kearon. I think his idea of the Church being the “church of joy” is more aspirational than descriptive, but it’s such a great direction to push us. At least my experience of the Church has often been anti-fun and suspicious of happiness, so I’m glad to see that he’s more in favor of them.
• Kristin M. Yee. I like her hopeful perspective on repentance.

Worst talks:

• David P. Homer. I’m so tired of these Seventies who seem to be showing off for the Q15 by demonstrating what harsh fundamentalists they can be.
• D. Todd Christofferson. I also don’t care to hear from Q15 members who are frustrated with Church members being insufficiently submissive to their wishes. He can say it’s submission to Jesus all he wants, but so long as he’s sure they’re the infallible conduits of Jesus’s will, it boils down to submission to the Q15.
• Ronald A. Rasband. Hagiography, I am doing it, my hagiography!

My heretical reviews of past General Conferences:

April 2024
October 2023
April 2023
October 2022
April 2022
October 2021
April 2021
October 2020
April 2020
October 2019