Conference Notes - Sunday

The whole tone of this Conference surprised me: it was quiet, reassuring, and encouraging. There were no "tough love" talks and precious little about The Passion or same-sex marriages. Instead, several speakers went out of their way to actually make members feel good!!! about being LDS despite life's challenges and imperfections. The highlight of the day was definitely Elder Packer repeating a grandchild's "Gwampa" and talking about the benefits of having a sense of humor. Oh, and the Brazilian diva was a real show-stopper too. I thought the best talks of the day were by three 70s:

Dennis E. Simmons gave the "But If Not" talk. By halfway through it I had the kids chiming in with the punch line, "but if not . . ." And what a voice! This guy should be on television (well, I guess he was). This one's a keeper.

Clate W. Mask, Jr. gave the "Missionaries in the Mud" talk. Fun guy, big smile, radiates happiness. Will probably be responsible for setting off a "painting scriptures on the wall of the family room" craze among the Utah faithful.

Bruce C. Hafen, one of my favorites, gave probably the sharpest talk of the conference, on the Atonement and grace. I think that I may disagree with some of his detailed detailed comments on grace and the Fall when I get a chance to read a hardcopy, but it was nice to hear a doctrinal talk that treated a doctrinal topic head-on, with no tearful pseudo-weeping to enhance the message.

I first ran across Hafen's name some years ago when I was leafing through a large stack of old Ensigns in the corner of a missionary apartment (there isn't much you can read as a missionary). I came across an article he wrote called Dealing With Uncertainty (Ensign, August 1979--available at LDS.org, but I can't get a link). It taught me to not be a bubble-popper. Here's the paragraph I remember, surprisingly relevant even now:

I found myself wanting to tell our third-year law students that those who take too much delight in their finely honed tools of skepticism and dispassionate analysis will limit their effectiveness, in the church and elsewhere, because they can become contentious, standoffish, arrogant, and unwilling to commit themselves. I have seen some of these try out their new intellectual tools in some context like a priesthood quorum or a Sunday School class. A well-meaning teacher will make a point they think is a little silly, and they will feel an irresistible urge to leap to their feet and pop the teacher’s bubble. If they are successful, they begin looking for other opportunities to point out the exception to any rule anybody can state. They begin to delight in cross-examination of the unsuspecting, just looking for somebody’s bubble up there floating around so that they can pop it with their shiny new pin of skepticism. And in all that, they fail to realize that when some of those bubbles pop, out goes the air, and with it goes much of the feeling of trust, loyalty, harmony, and sincerity so essential to preserving the Spirit of the Lord.

Comments

[Ben]

I posted his book version of this talk several weeks ago at http://home.uchicago.edu/~spackman/hafen

It really is a good one, especially for those in graduate programs learning to think and analyze critically.

[David Sundwall]

Here's the nasty Ensign link it you want:
http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1979.htm/ensign%20august%201979%20.htm/on%20dealing%20with%20uncertainty.htm

And thanks for pointing me to the talk.

I think your summary is dead on. More uplifting and not the all out condemnation of gay marriage that many (of us) expected.

Having three little ones at three or under I didn't get to hear as much as I had hoped but I did enjoy what I could hear.

Elder Hafen has three well regarded books on the Atonement that I have bought but have yet to get to.

http://deseretbook.com/store/product?product_id=100028873

He's always very thoughtful.

[Dave]

Ben and David, thanks for the comments. I had not realized he followed up his talk with a book version or that he had a "Trilogy of the Heart" series. Some of my favorite books are trilogies! I'll have to give this a look next time I drop by Deseret Book.

[Kathy]

New to the site. Thanks for a lot of interesting thought here.

Dave, there might not have been talks that directly addressed same-sex marriage, but there were quite a few who quoted or made reference to these days of peril we are in from 2 Timothy 3, which details our day's iniquities, including SSA. Elder Oaks's talk, IIRC, was in many ways similar to Paul's discourse.

Also, the church doesn't like to fight against anything. We are FOR the sacred sacrament of marriage and the preservation of the family. This is how the church speaks out indirectly against same-sex marriage, etc. There's a quote that explains this focus on light rather than darkness: "There is a reason why we in the Church do not talk more openly about this subject. Some matters are best handled very privately. With many things it is easy-very easy-to cause the very things we are trying to avoid." (Boyd K. Packer, quoted in "Homosexuality and the Church of Jesus Christ," By A. Dean Byrd, Ph.D., http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/byrd.html)