A Heretic Reviews General Conference, October 2023

Best hymn: “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” Saturday afternoon.
Worst hymn: “We Listen to a Prophet’s Voice,” Saturday morning. We can’t seriously claim to believe in fallible prophets while we sing this hymn.
Fastest hymn: “Arise, O God, and Shine,” Saturday evening.
Slowest hymn: “I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus,” Sunday morning.
Best tacit admission that the hymn is too long: The YA choir singing “I Believe in Christ” Saturday evening just skipped verse 2.

Longest prayer: 164 seconds, Michael T. Nelson, Saturday morning benediction
Shortest prayer: 49 seconds, Clark G. Gilbert, Saturday evening invocation

Best title: Robert M. Daines, “Sir, We Would Like to See Jesus”.
Worst title: M. Russell Ballard, “Praise to the Man”. Can we please just not with the prophet worship?
Title that sounds like a threat: Yoon Hwan Choi, “Do You Want to Be Happy?”. Well, do ya, punk?

Good patterns:

• Multiple speakers emphasized the importance of relationships and not the gospel as a list of requirements (Amy A. Wright, Robert M. Daines, Dallin H. Oaks, and especially Emily Belle Freeman).
• Multiple speakers pointed out how Jesus reached out to people at the margins (Robert M. Daines, Ulisses Soares, and Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier).
• Ulisses Soares, and Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier talked about how we’re all equal before God, and there’s no place in the Church for racism or other prejudice.

Bad patterns:

• Multiple speakers used threats to get their points across. Dallin H. Oaks and Russell M. Nelson threatened people with lesser kingdoms in the next life if we don’t shape up. Carlos A. Godoy and Valeri V. Cordón warned parents that we’ll lose our children if we’re not devoted enough.
• Joni L. Koch and Adilson de Paula Parrella felt like they still needed to make a big deal about the correct name of the Church. For Elder Kock, it felt particularly out of the blue, as he was talking about humility, and then brought the topic up as part of a “pop quiz” on humility. What?
• It’s not good news when multiple speakers (D. Todd Christofferson and Russell M. Nelson) are quoting from D&C 132. Even if they’re not talking directly about polygamy and women as interchangeable objects, you can bet they’re talking about adjacent topics.
• Two speakers (Yoon Hwan Choi and Gerrit W. Gong) talked about how Church members shouldn’t turn down callings.

Random interesting bits:

• I appreciated that when he wanted a sports example, Gary E. Stevenson not only went for a sport not popular in the US (soccer), but he talked about women’s soccer.
• Ulisses Soares compared the many groups of humanity to the Iguaçú Falls in Brazil that come from the Iguaçú River. This makes the second Conference in a row with a Brazilian river analogy, as in April, Dale G. Renlund talked about the pororoca in the Amazon, where the water flows backward under some conditions. I look forward to seeing which speaker will take up the baton and keep this topic going next April!
• In talking about the afterlife, Dallin H. Oaks gender-neutralized the description of people in the celestial kingdom, quoting D&C 76:58 with daughters added: “they are gods, even the sons [and daughters] of God,” but a few paragraphs later, he didn’t gender-neutralize people in the terrestrial (“honorable men of the earth”) or telestial kingdoms (“he who cannot abide . . . a terrestrial glory” [ellipsis in original]). Honestly, I appreciate that he tried, as it’s often not obvious when scripture writers meant men as people and when they meant it as just men. But I also think this highlights the concern so many women have that they’re really not that important in LDS thought, except as tickets.

 

Best stories:

• Gary B. Sabin told about how his son who suffered from cystic fibrosis was able to get the archery merit badge when the instructor accepted his successful bullseye in a neighbor’s target. I like the idea that what we give can be good enough even if it doesn’t match some preconceived ideal.
• Joni L. Koch told two stories about times he was humbled. In one, he wanted to show his family how he was the big man at work, but found himself turned away at the gate for not having his ID card. In another, he flipped the script on the usual story where an earnest Mormon lectures a captive audience while traveling and actually listened to advice from a non-Mormon taxi driver.
• Tamara W. Runia told of how when her adult children were coming to visit for regular Sunday dinners, she had to learn to resist the impulse to lecture them on things they should be doing.
• Adilson de Paula Parrella told of how his wife met a non-member woman in Spain who had been attending the LDS Church services for two years because she enjoyed hearing about Jesus. And that was that. There was no follow-up about how they pressured her into getting baptized, or even tried to.
• J. Kimo Esplin told of a Japanese woman who hid with her family in a cave for months, trying to avoid the battle around the US invasion during World War II. As the ranks of GAs have often been filled with veterans of World War II from the American side, I feel like Conference has been filled with stories of the war, but these stories have very rarely considered the suffering of people on the other side of the fighting.
• Gerrit W. Gong told of how he once gave his wife a locket with a double-encoded message of “I love you.” As one of my friends put it, this is delightfully nerdy.

Worst stories:

• Neil L. Andersen told of a Venezuelan family whose business was undamaged even when rioting harmed businesses all around them. They attributed this to having paid their tithing.
• Neil L. Andersen also told of how he heard Henry B. Eyring telling people who were getting rich in Silicon Slopes that paying tithing would help keep their greed under control. Shortly thereafter, many of these people had the blessing of losing their jobs. With blessings like these, who needs cursings?
• Yoon Hwan Choi told of a returned missionary who suffered from anxiety and depression, but then started paying his tithing and is now fine.
• Yoon Hwan Choi also told of how his wife was uncertain when he was called to be a bishop during a difficult time in their lives. She never did give her assent, but instead learned the importance of shutting up while he was called anyway and served for six years. This sounds a lot like the rule in D&C 132 where a man is supposed to ask his first wife before marrying a second, but if she says no, he can go ahead and do it anyway.
• Gary B. Sabin told about how his daughter who was about to get a risky but needed lung transplant seemed unconcerned before the procedure because either it would work, or she would wake up in a better place in the afterlife. I really don’t like this cavalier fatalism that writes off any unhappiness that comes when people die.

Good and bad story: Ulisses Soares told of how a Jewish rabbi resolved a dispute among his followers about when a new day has begun by saying that it’s when you can distinguish your brother from your sister. I like the idea that it’s the people who matter (rather than the other items the followers had proposed), but I find it depressing that it has to be gender that’s important.

Sadly relatable story: Dale G. Renlund told of how when he was eight and recently baptized, he thought it might have been better that his father not pull him out of the path of an oncoming truck, because he’d never be as clean as he was right then. I’ve blogged before about how I wanted to kill myself at age seven for the same reason, and I recently discovered that someone on Reddit has kept track of how this discussion comes up over and over because so many people felt the same. Also, Elder Renlund said that his eight-year-old self was wrong, but I don’t think he effectively refuted his reasoning at all.

Retconned stories:

• Ronald A. Rasband told of how his parents “introduced themselves as Latter-day Saint missionaries” to a woman who was later baptized. In 1979. I don’t think so. I bet they used the dreaded M word.
• Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier told of how his wife received “an unusual ministering assignment,” but that it occurred “some years ago.” Years ago? I’m guessing it was actually a visiting teaching assignment.

Story most likely to get the speaker on Russell M. Nelson’s bad side: Carlos A. Godoy told how he was riding in a taxi once when the driver asked if he was Mormon. It turned out that the driver was himself an inactive member, and Elder Godoy helped reactivate him and his family. What he did not do though, at least not as he told the story, was lovingly but firmly correct the driver after his initial question and say “I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Best lines:

• Amy A. Wright: “Abiding the day does not mean adding to an ever-increasing to-do list.”
• Robert M. Daines: “to serve in this Church is to stand in the river of God’s love for His children.”
• Robert M. Daines: “You may look heavenward and see not the face of love and mercy but a thicket of rules through which you must wend your way.”
• Gary B. Sabin: “We will never regret being too kind.”
• Tamara W. Runia: “Our job is not to teach someone who’s going through a rough patch that they are bad or disappointing.”
• Tamara W. Runia: “Let’s admit, in a fallen world there’s no way to be a perfect spouse, parent, son or daughter, grandchild, mentor, or friend—but a million ways to be a good one.”
• Ulisses Soares: “As disciples of Christ, we are invited to increase our faith in, and love for, our spiritual brother- and sisterhood by genuinely knitting our hearts together in unity and love, regardless of our differences, thereby increasing our ability to promote respect for the dignity of all the sons and daughters of God.”
• Emily Belle Freeman: “Jesus Christ will meet us where we are as we are.”
• Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier: “We may have been raised in different cultures; we may come from different socioeconomic circumstances; our mortal heritage, including our nationality, skin color, food preferences, political orientation, etc., may vary greatly. But we are His children, all of us, without exception.”

Worst lines, scolding:

• Joaquin E. Costa: “When I wake up, instead of looking at my phone, I say a prayer.”
• Gary B. Sabin: “How our awareness would change if every morning we awoke with only the blessings we were grateful for the night before.”
  • Yes, definitely. Let’s layer on the guilt for inadequate gratitude while we already have a million other things to do and worry about.
• Dale G. Renlund: “our spiritual foundation is weakened when we voluntarily skip sacrament meeting or when we do not focus on the Savior during the sacrament.”

Worst lines, effective prophetic infallibility:

• Carlos A. Godoy: “Some may think, . . . ‘I will not support the Church leaders in this subject.’ . . . .
  Those with thoughts like these do not realize the negative impact this “lukewarm” type of membership will have on their lives and on the lives of their posterity.”
• Joni L. Koch: “During this conference we’ve heard and will yet hear the unfailing counsel of our prophets and apostles. It’s a perfect occasion to develop humility and let our strong opinions be swallowed by an even stronger conviction that the Lord does speak through these chosen leaders.”

Worst lines, minimizing others’ suffering:

• Quentin L. Cook: “Many do not appreciate that under His loving and comprehensive plan, those who appear to be disadvantaged, through no fault of their own, are not ultimately impacted.”
  • This is condescending and cold comfort.
• Russell M. Nelson: “When someone lingers with a devastating illness, think celestial. When the pressures of life crowd in upon you, think celestial! As you recover from an accident or injury, as I am doing now, think celestial!”
  • What utterly unhelpful comments! Thinking of this latest little tagline does not erase or alleviate suffering at all.

Worst lines, putting down other Christians:

• Dallin H. Oaks: “From modern revelation we know that the ultimate destiny of all who live on the earth is not the inadequate idea of heaven for the righteous and the eternal sufferings of hell for the rest.”
• Dallin H. Oaks: “In contrast to other preaching, which teaches us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.” [emphasis in original]
  • This sounds like he’s not very familiar with other preaching.

Worst lines, afraid of information:

• John C. Pingree: “We are constantly bombarded with strong opinions, biased reporting, and incomplete data.”
• Valeri V. Cordón: “The great and spacious building advertises its membership daily using the most current media channels.”
• Russell M. Nelson: “Never take counsel from those who do not believe.”

Funniest line: Gary E. Stevenson: “Even those gifts received and unwrapped are often accompanied by the dreaded language “some assembly required.”

Lines missing an asterisk:

• Robert M. Daines explained how earlier in his life, he saw rules rather than the love of God, but he explained “I knew it wasn’t the Church’s fault.”
  • *This is a disclaimer required given the setting of Conference, but of course it was the Church’s fault because Mormon Doctrine and The Miracle of Forgiveness and “To Young Men Only” didn’t just randomly happen.
• Neil L. Andersen: “last year more than a billion US dollars were used to bless those in need.”
  • *Like when Dallin H. Oaks raised this point a year ago, it seems clear that the Church isn’t actually giving this much, but rather mostly rebrading donations going through it as though they were coming from it.
• John C. Pingree: “While doctrine never changes, policy adjusts from time to time.”
  • *The distinction between doctrine and policy is useless except as a post-hoc explanation. Policy is just what we call doctrine when we’ve decided to change it.
• Russell M. Nelson: “if we unwisely choose to live telestial laws now . . . We are choosing not to live with our families forever.” [emphasis in original]
  • *Doesn’t whether we’ll be with our family depend on whether our afterlife kingdoms match? What if my family members are all telestial?

Interesting lines mildly criticizing Church policies:

• Dale G. Renlund: “Paradoxically, as temples become more accessible, it may be easier for us to become more casual about temple attendance.”
  • I think he’s spot on with this, and I think it could be a serious unintended consequence of Russell M. Nelson’s push to make temples as accessible as possible.
• Gerrit W. Gong: “For some time I have felt that, in many places in the Church, a few more ward activities, of course planned and implemented with gospel purpose, could knit us together with even greater belonging and unity.”
  • I wonder if he’ll get a talking to about “home-centered, church-supported.”

Line missing a “so-called”: Quentin L. Cook: “those serving in the Mormon Battalion”.

Line maybe calling out disciples of Tim Ballard: Dale G. Renlund: “Nor need we seek counsel from exotic sources, prizing the novelty of the source and thinking such counsel will be more enlightened than that which we can receive from a humble prophet of God.”

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

• Robert M. Daines: “[Covenants] are not rules to earn [God’s] love; He already loves you perfectly.”
• Tamara W. Runia: “While our families aren’t perfect, we can perfect our love for others until it becomes a constant, unchanging, no-matter-what kind of love” [emphasis in original]

Best line to get on Dallin H. Oaks’s bad side: Tamara W. Runia: “On rare occasions we may feel prompted to correct, but most often let’s tell our loved ones in spoken and unspoken ways the messages they long to hear: ‘Our family feels whole and complete because you are in it.’ ‘You will be loved for the rest of your life—no matter what.'”
Best line to get on Bruce R. McConkie’s bad side: Robert M. Daines: “we worship our Father, not a formula”
Best line to get on the bad side of every racist GA from Brigham Young to Ezra Taft Benson: Ulisses Soares: “it is not uncommon to see people characterizing the way of thinking, acting, and speaking of other cultures, races, and ethnicities as inferior, making use of preconceived, mistaken, and often sarcastic ideas, generating attitudes of contempt, indifference, disrespect, and even prejudice against them. Such attitudes have their roots in pride, arrogance, envy, and jealousy, characteristics of a carnal nature, which are totally contrary to Christlike attributes.”
Best line to get on most GAs’ bad side: Emily Belle Freeman: “I was reminded of the strength of the rising generation. We can learn from you.”

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

• David A. Bednar: “Coming unto Christ . . . is . . . righteously rigorous.”
• Joaquin E. Costa: “Our covenants are not merely transactional; they are transformational.”

Please let’s not normalize this:

• David A. Bednar praised rank-and-file members for many things we do, including “married men and women who honor their covenant to multiply and replenish the earth.” I had hoped that Neil L. Andersen would be left alone to bang the drum of fertility scolding.
• Gary E. Stevenson told of a father whispering into a young child’s ear while they “bear their testimony” in fast and testimony meeting. And ten thousand bishops cringed, thinking we had moved away from this.
• Yoon Hwan Choi explained that we should always accept callings: “when we think it is not a good time for us to receive a calling, it may be the time we need that calling the most.” He noted that when we get a calling, the Lord knows our needs, carefully overlooking, of course, the fact that local leaders are not in fact Jesus.
• Gerrit W. Gong told about a woman who joined the Church and “was told her skirts were too short.” He had no comment on who did this scolding, or whether it was kind or welcoming. Instead, he carefully sidestepped the question of who it was by using the passive voice. Instead, he focused on the woman, who he noted didn’t take offense, but instead changed her ways. The last thing we need in the Church is more busybody policing of women’s dress.
• Russell M. Nelson made a point of saying that our behavior in this life determines not only where we’ll end up in the next life, but what kind of body we’ll have, breathing new life into the long-dormant idea of the TK smoothie.

Thanks for admitting to human weakness:

• Robert M. Daines said that he had been spiritually face blind and not felt God’s love.
• Alan T. Phillips told a story where he and his family accidentally left one of their sons behind at a service station while on a drive.
• Tamara W. Runia said she “wasn’t making great choices” at one point when she was in high school.
• Russell M. Nelson said that at one point he wasn’t paying tithing on his meager salary until his wife prodded him into doing so. This is particularly striking since I feel like President Nelson is so often prone to projecting an image of himself as endlessly infallible.

We get it. You’re a Republican: Neil L. Andersen: “The only permanent solution to the poverty of this world is the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
We get it. You’re a creationist: Alan T. Phillips: “You are not an accidental by-product of nature, a cosmic orphan, or the result of matter plus time plus chance. Where there is design, there is a designer.”

The dictionary defines ___ as

• Dallin H. Oaks: “That word abide, so common in the scriptures, means a secure placement.” [emphasis in original]
• Dallin H. Oaks: “As used here, this word of many meanings [conversion] signifies a profound change of nature.”

Best atypical footnote sources:

• Robert M. Daines (note 1) cited the journal Cognitive Neuropsychology in discussing face blindness.
• Tania W. Runia (note 1) cited Anousheh Ansari, who’s not only not Mormon, but a woman who’s an engineer who’s been to space and is a high-powered businessperson. Unfortunately, she dampened the impact of her unusual source by not naming Ansari in the text of her talk.

Funnest footnote: Ronald A. Rasband (note 14) had to explain who the Osmonds were because they were an important part of the conversion story he was telling.
Best sneaking of the word moisture into a footnote: Amy A. Wright (note 8) managed this in a comment on the dews of Mount Carmel.
Worst use of the passive voice in a footnote: Neil L. Andersen (note 11) quoted the Handbook on tithing as saying “interest is understood to mean income,” a line that is not only buried in a footnote but further in parentheses. It’s quite clear that GAs don’t want to be questioned on precisely who is making this interpretation.
Most defensive footnote: Neil L. Andersen (note 4) said in his talk that the promised blessings of tithing are “so certain,” but then added a defensive footnote to make clear that people who actually expect these blessings are probably being greedy.
Longest footnote: Neil L. Andersen (note 8) used a 283-word comment to remind us that “the logic of man does not always align with the wisdom of God” and to praise his in-laws for paying tithing even while inactive.

Mixed messages:

• Joaquin E. Costa said “One of the mistakes we often make is to think that keeping covenants, or the promises we make to God, is somehow a transaction we make with Him.” But just two talks previously, Neil L. Andersen headlined his talk on tithing with a story of a tithe-paying family who had been miraculously blessed as a result. And two talks after, Yoon Hwan Choi told of a returned missionary whose anxiety and depression were resolved when he started paying tithing. And in the closing talk of Conference, Russell M. Nelson didn’t hesitate to say “I attribute several subsequent professional opportunities to our faithful payment of tithes.” Clearly, the pull of the idea of God as divine vending machine is strong.
• Quentin L. Cook said of Church members that “We are warm, engaged members of the communities where we live.” But Gary E. Stevenson advised that we “stand with holy people” and Russell M. Nelson reminded us to “Never take counsel from those who do not believe.” It’s hard to be engaged with non-Mormons when we are so often advised to be wary of them.
• Tamara W. Runia spent the bulk of her talk explaining how we should focus more on loving family members than judging them. The next session, Henry B. Eyring approvingly told a story of a woman who contacted him so he could send her adult daughter’s home teachers to harangue her back into activity.
• Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier told scripture stories where people unfortunately judged each other on “appearance and hearsay.” In the talk right before his, Gerrit W. Gong told a story of a newly baptized woman who was judged for her skirt length, and he seemed unconcerned with the passers of judgment, but rather praised her for being willing to change.

Best quotes:

• Alan T. Phillips quoted Russell M. Nelson saying “The Savior’s message is clear: His true disciples build, lift, encourage, persuade, and inspire.” [emphasis in original]
• Tamara W. Runia quoted CES instructor Wayne E. Brickey saying “We have neither [God’s] authority to condemn nor His power to redeem, but we have been authorized to exercise His love.” [brackets in original]
• Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier quoted C.S. Lewis saying, in part “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.”
• Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier also quoted Carol Lynn Pearson’s lovely song “I’ll Walk with You.”

Worst quotes:

• Carlos A. Godoy quoted M. Russell Ballard saying “Some disciples struggle to understand a specific Church policy or teaching. Others find concerns in our history or in the imperfections of some members and leaders, past and present.”
  • Sorry, President Ballard, these aren’t struggles and they aren’t peccadilloes we’re concerned about. They’re foundational issues and they’re obvious wrongs.
• Valeri V. Cordón quoted Russell M. Nelson saying “Families deserve guidance from heaven. Parents cannot counsel children adequately from personal experience, fear, or sympathy.”
  • Seriously? Every non-LDS parent is failing because they don’t have the right guidance from heaven? This is hyperbolic and obviously nonsense.
• Gerrit W. Gong quoted J. Reuben Clark on callings in the Church, “which place one neither seeks nor declines.”

Most quotes of Russell M. Nelson: 5, by Valeri V. Cordón (plus he added 2 more footnote references for paraphrases).
Fewest quotes of Russell M. Nelson: 0, by David A. Bednar, Amy A. Wright, M. Russell Ballard (blame the lack of teleprompter), Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Dale G. Renlund, John C. Pingree, Jr., and Gerrit W. Gong.

Best names for Jesus:

• Amy A. Wright: “Shepherd and Bishop of [our] souls” (1 Peter 2:25)
• Alan T. Phillips: “our rescuer and the healer of our souls”
• Emily Belle Freeman: “the One who was bruised and broken for us”
• Quentin L. Cook: “the author of eternal salvation” (Hebrews 5:9)
• W. Christopher Waddell: “The hero—our hero, now and always” [emphasis in original]

Best scripture quotes:

• Gary B. Sabin: “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.” (Proverbs 3:27)
• Quentin L. Cook: “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

Worst scripture quote: Dallin H. Oaks: “These [telestial people] are they who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.” (D&C 76:103)

Both the original and President Oaks’s decision to quote it just seem to me like people relishing recounting the sins of all the bad people, because they’re sure they aren’t one of them.

Your name will be assimilated into standard GA format: The benediction in the Saturday afternoon session was given by the second counselor in the YW General Presidency, Andrea M. Spannaus. At least that’s how Dallin H. Oaks, who was conducting, introduced her. But if you look on the Church website, she’s listed as Andrea Muñoz Spannaus on her current page, and as Andrea Veronica Muñoz Spannaus on her older page when she was on the Relief Society Advisory Council.

Longest talk: Gary B. Sabin, 2037 words. I’m surprised that it was a Seventy and not a Q15 member giving the longest talk. The second-longest was Tamara W. Runia at 2019 words. Only at number three does a Q15 member appear in the person of D. Todd Christofferson, at 2007 words.

Shortest talk: M. Russell Ballard, 1066 words.

Favorite talks that I would be happy to see lessons based on:

• Robert M. Daines, “Sir, We Would Like to See Jesus.” I so relate to his experience of seeing a “thicket of rules” rather than a loving God. And I love his hopeful image of a river of God’s love. Both of these are far better phrases than Russell M. Nelson’s sad tagline “Think celestial.”
• Tamara W. Runia, “Seeing God’s Family through the Overview Lens.” I love her emphasis on the importance of loving and accepting family members rather than judging and scolding them.
• Ulisses Soares, “Brothers and Sisters in Christ.” I appreciate how he makes the point that we’re all equal children of God, and that it’s wrong to put down groups over our differences.
• Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier, “We Are His Children.” Like Elder Soares, he made good points about how all of us are a single human family.

Least favorite talks that I would be disappointed to see lessons based on:

• Russell M. Nelson, “Think Celestial!” His new tagline seems to amount to telling people to shut up about our concerns. Also, I find his resurrection of the idea of different bodies in the resurrection distasteful. It feels like a smug celebration of how he’s going to be among the chosen in the afterlife, and we might not.
• Dallin H. Oaks, “Kingdoms of Glory.” Like President Nelson, his careful recounting of who’s going where in the afterlife sounds like he’s smugly congratulating himself for being on the right path.
• Yoon Hwan Choi, “Do You Want to Be Happy?” With his heartbreaking story of his wife who was never on board when he was called to be a bishop at a hard time, but who was run over and ignored, and his admonition to always take callings even when we don’t want to, I feel like he has a harsh view of God.
• Carlos A. Gody, “For the Sake of Your Posterity.” He spends his talk trying to scare parents straight by threatening us with the loss of our children if we aren’t sufficiently faithful. I think this is a counterproductive and needlessly mean approach.
• Neil L. Andersen, “Tithing: Opening the Windows of Heaven.” I think it’s abhorrent that Church leaders to continue to demand so much money from members, when the Church has unimaginable wealth, and the GAs now not only know it, but know that members know it. To continue to require this makes them utterly shameless. It’s even worse given that the demand is built on such a flimsy justification (the footnote as noted above where the word interest in the D&C is interpreted by GAs to mean income, when they are clearly not equivalent concepts).

Talks I feel mixed on:

• Emily Belle Freeman, “Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ.” I have never liked the covenant path language, which has always sounded to me like it’s carefully separating the faithful from the great unwashed. This is the best framing of it I’ve ever heard, though, as a way of being in relationship with God.
• Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “The Prodigal and the Road That Leads Home.”  If someone like Dallin H. Oaks gave a talk like this, where he explained how the Church will be happily waiting whenever we lost sheep come back, I would be really encouraged. I expect more of Elder Uchtdorf, though. Coming from him, it seems unnecessarily condescending.

My heretical reviews of past General Conferences:

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