Doxercising? Other irrelevant words.
Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 11:07 am
tl;dr - I can't stand listening to Wendy Nelson speak, and I made my wife cry, again.
Mild doxing and background...
My family and I recently trekked to the Alamodome in San Antonio Texas where we were Blessed (tm)(C) to hear from President Nelson, Elder Bednar, and Elder Ochoa... oh, and their wives. We missed out on a lot of what was actually said becuase we have several small children who missed out on naps due to the weird schedule, and had to keep them in a very confined space for 3+ hours during what should have been dinner time. It really sucked. But here is my summary of the event.
Sister Ochoa: Generic, though sincere testimony, also in spanish.
Elder Ochoa: Generic, though sincere testimony, partly in spanish, and a little longer.
Sister Bednar: Funny anecdotes... her talk was actually pretty enjoyable. I think she said something about we sacrifice thing we could otherwise do on Sunday as a sign of our faith. Maybe I'm getting talks mixed up since I heard a lot of talks this weekend, but I think that was her.
Elder Bednar: We should be "All In." The law of sacrifice is the lesser law to the law of consecration. Definition of consecration. I was happy to to hear him say we should consecrate ourselves to Heavenly Father. He did NOT say to the church. During parts of the talk is almost like he was going to commit us to living the law of consecration right there on the spot.
Sister Nelson: (I really struggled with this, so excuse my sarcasm, these are not exact quotes.) "I'm married to the prophet!" "I didn't get married for a long time and you all judged me, but now I'm married to the prophet!" "He's finally the prophet!" "He wakes up at night with revelation!" "He talks with God constantly!" "My husband is the prophet of God!" "He's 30 years younger!"
President Nelson: Honestly, kids were breaking down big-time and I really didn't hear anything he said. Something about gathering Israel and I think I heard him say "Book of Mormon."
Last night my wife asked me what I got out of the whole thing. She admitted to not really remembering anything because kids are honest and hated being there. I re-capped what I could remember, but when I brought up Wendy Nelson's talk, I hesitated. She probed, I dodged. She asked again, and I finally answered.
If, as she says, her husband talks with God every day, why can't he shed some light on all of the problematic questions that we have? Why doesn't God see that there are literally dozens of us (haha?) suffering with real questions, and I honestly would LOVE an answer either way, even if it means I am somehow wrong?
I talked about the apostles occasionally alluding to their super special relationship with Christ without ever actually stating that they've seen him. Maybe it's too sacred? Fine, I get that. But then at least tell us something meaningful that comes out of those conversations! Instead, all we get is that Home Teaching is now Ministering.
She asked what questions I'd like answered. We talked about race and priesthood, doctrine vs. theory. We talked about polygamy and polyandry.
She mentioned that in early church, they were building Zion and that failed multiple times. Those saints questioned too, but chose to continue with faith. I argued that was different. If you lived the gospel but died outside of Zion you were still saved. Being in Zion is not necessary for salvation. But holding the priesthood for men, and going through the temple for everyone IS required and was denied to a large group of people. So the question I want answered? How did you/we get that SO wrong, and how do we know whether we've got ANYTHING right today? If I base the answer to that question off the historical track record, it doesn't look good for the church.
In the end, she walked away crying. I took a long shower myself, while she listened to MoTab... er... TabCaTS. There was some more unrelated conversation which ended the night on a slightly better note, but this is what we're given to deal with in this life. God's house may be a house of order, but he sure has left the church here on Earth a scrambled mess of confusion.
Mild doxing and background...
My family and I recently trekked to the Alamodome in San Antonio Texas where we were Blessed (tm)(C) to hear from President Nelson, Elder Bednar, and Elder Ochoa... oh, and their wives. We missed out on a lot of what was actually said becuase we have several small children who missed out on naps due to the weird schedule, and had to keep them in a very confined space for 3+ hours during what should have been dinner time. It really sucked. But here is my summary of the event.
Sister Ochoa: Generic, though sincere testimony, also in spanish.
Elder Ochoa: Generic, though sincere testimony, partly in spanish, and a little longer.
Sister Bednar: Funny anecdotes... her talk was actually pretty enjoyable. I think she said something about we sacrifice thing we could otherwise do on Sunday as a sign of our faith. Maybe I'm getting talks mixed up since I heard a lot of talks this weekend, but I think that was her.
Elder Bednar: We should be "All In." The law of sacrifice is the lesser law to the law of consecration. Definition of consecration. I was happy to to hear him say we should consecrate ourselves to Heavenly Father. He did NOT say to the church. During parts of the talk is almost like he was going to commit us to living the law of consecration right there on the spot.
Sister Nelson: (I really struggled with this, so excuse my sarcasm, these are not exact quotes.) "I'm married to the prophet!" "I didn't get married for a long time and you all judged me, but now I'm married to the prophet!" "He's finally the prophet!" "He wakes up at night with revelation!" "He talks with God constantly!" "My husband is the prophet of God!" "He's 30 years younger!"
President Nelson: Honestly, kids were breaking down big-time and I really didn't hear anything he said. Something about gathering Israel and I think I heard him say "Book of Mormon."
Last night my wife asked me what I got out of the whole thing. She admitted to not really remembering anything because kids are honest and hated being there. I re-capped what I could remember, but when I brought up Wendy Nelson's talk, I hesitated. She probed, I dodged. She asked again, and I finally answered.
If, as she says, her husband talks with God every day, why can't he shed some light on all of the problematic questions that we have? Why doesn't God see that there are literally dozens of us (haha?) suffering with real questions, and I honestly would LOVE an answer either way, even if it means I am somehow wrong?
I talked about the apostles occasionally alluding to their super special relationship with Christ without ever actually stating that they've seen him. Maybe it's too sacred? Fine, I get that. But then at least tell us something meaningful that comes out of those conversations! Instead, all we get is that Home Teaching is now Ministering.
She asked what questions I'd like answered. We talked about race and priesthood, doctrine vs. theory. We talked about polygamy and polyandry.
She mentioned that in early church, they were building Zion and that failed multiple times. Those saints questioned too, but chose to continue with faith. I argued that was different. If you lived the gospel but died outside of Zion you were still saved. Being in Zion is not necessary for salvation. But holding the priesthood for men, and going through the temple for everyone IS required and was denied to a large group of people. So the question I want answered? How did you/we get that SO wrong, and how do we know whether we've got ANYTHING right today? If I base the answer to that question off the historical track record, it doesn't look good for the church.
In the end, she walked away crying. I took a long shower myself, while she listened to MoTab... er... TabCaTS. There was some more unrelated conversation which ended the night on a slightly better note, but this is what we're given to deal with in this life. God's house may be a house of order, but he sure has left the church here on Earth a scrambled mess of confusion.
