What I learned from David Bednar

[Gatorbait]

Bednar's never been one of my faves and it stems around one thing and one only.

At a question and answer session he opened the meeting up with, "I'll try my best to answer the questions, but sometimes it will be 'I don't know'. That said, I won't even try to answer questions like, 'where is the sword of Laban?"

Bugged me. A lot. This sort of shallow-mindedness- it is the one thing that really turned me off about the guy.

His "my way or the highway" attitude bugs me even more.

Great post by the way. You and the others have said more than I care to add to or subtract from. Excellent....apart from the "Come to Bednar"- which was off topic but I found it very funny.

[alas]

Okay-Best. Prank. Ever.

You know how sometimes during GC talks they will show random pictures? Please someone hack into the conference center control room and put this up during his next talk!!!

That would certainly cause some excitement. I learned in conference that Elder Bednar has some rock hard abs and come hither eyes. He must do crunches during scripture study.

Someone request a meeting with the Russians. They are good at hacking.

[Red Ryder]

My apologies. Please pass the eye bleach!

Mods: if deemed to inappropriate feel free to delete David's abs!

[GoodBoy]

After listening to him, really listening to him, I realized that there are certain ideologies which cannot be penetrated, that there are some people who will not and cannot ever cooperate in that conversation to discover our commonalities. David Bednar is the pure ideal, the archetype, the very form of what it is to be a believer without any doubt. He has ascended to a place beyond reach or communication, and for me that's a very sobering thought.

I know this won't resonate with everyone, but coming face to face with the reality that some people cannot be reached is earth shattering. The fact that he's working day and night as hard as he can to make as many others just like himself is even more upsetting. Imagine that. He's out there everyday trying to wipe away every doubt and every commonality a person may have to the outside world, all while declaring his work "good". I feel powerless to confront something like this, to really engage with an effort that seems hell bent on making the world more divided and factional. It helped me really put my finger on why I never felt at home in the church, and why that feeling of alienation has grown with its increasing clannishness and gate keeping.

This is the true danger of religion. It is why suicide bombers do what they do. It is why ISIS is fighting so pationately. It is why the Conquistadors felt justified in murdering thousands of Inca and Maya. It is how Christian slave traders justified what they did. It is why the most ultra conservatives believe it is OK to hate Muslims. It is why Muslims feel it is OK to hate Christians and shoot them whenever they can.

This attitude that Bednar has is the true danger of religion. It makes people intolerant. In fact it makes people like Packer preach against tolerance.

[Give It Time]

Let's just say insomnia and E. Bednar posts just don't mix. I'll just drop this right here.

Really wish you hadn't done this...........

I think I've gone blind.

[MoPag]

Okay-Best. Prank. Ever.

You know how sometimes during GC talks they will show random pictures? Please someone hack into the conference center control room and put this up during his next talk!!!

That would certainly cause some excitement. I learned in conference that Elder Bednar has some rock hard abs and come hither eyes. He must do crunches during scripture study.

Someone request a meeting with the Russians. They are good at hacking.

YESSSS!!! And didn't we have those Russian spammers always hanging around NOM? Did anyone serve a mission in Russia and could communicate with our spammer friends?