It was a bit more difficult to take notes on Sunday's Stake Conference session, since the speakers gave traditional talks. Elder Bednar's and the other speakers' words were no less powerful and inspired, though.
Our Stake President (actually, the other stake's Stake President, since we were only invited to watch via broadcast in one of the other buildings) spoke first. He quoted Elder Bednar as saying, if we engage in the work of the Lord with the arm of the flesh, we will get burnt out. There's no way to succeed in our responsibilities in the Gospel by relying on our own strength. We must seek the enabling power of the Atonement. I've definitely seen this in my life, in times when my feelings of inadequacy and anxiety kept me from knowing how to access the Atonement's strengthening power.
He also talked about the pattern of conversion established in the Book of Enos. Enos rescued himself first by repenting and seeking forgiveness of God. He knew that God could not lie, and therefore he was forgiven. In order to rescue others, we must rescue ourselves first. Next, Enos turns his thoughts and desires to others.
Finally, he reinforced what Elder Bednar said about how a witness from the Holy Ghost is stronger than the visitation of Angels or any other miracle. In Mosiah 5:2, after King Benjamin asks his people if they believe his words, they all cry out with one voice and say, "...we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts..." It was the Holy Ghost that changed their hearts, just as it did Alma's and Paul's.
After the Stake President spoke, he called up several of the youth to bear their testimonies. One young man from my class bore his testimony. I was so proud of him! He talked about how scripture study and seminary are helping him with a personal goal he has.
Then President called up Dakota, a very new convert from the Singles Ward. Now, I had just gotten to know Dakota because roomie Allison has been going out with him and he's been to our house a few times. He talked about how when the youths got up, he thought, "Man, they look so nervous. I wish they'd call me up. I'd lay down the law!" Just after that President called him up, and here he was, shaking in his boots in front of an apostle. He bore strong testimony of how much the Gospel matters, and how as lifelong members we shouldn't take it for granted, because he's seen the other side and it isn't worth it. (Later that afternoon, my home teachers came over and Allison and Dakota were hanging out in her car with the windows open because the weather was so nice. As the home teachers drove away, Dakota thumbed his nose at them and told Allison to do the same. Brother B. rolled down his window and said, "Thanks for laying down the law!")
After Dakota, the Mission President spoke. He told the story of Elisha and Naiman. Naiman thought that washing in the Jordan (a nasty river) seven times to be cleansed from leprosy was ridiculous, but he did it anyway. Seven small things added together became life changing. President asked, what are the seven small things we can do in our own homes? The ones I remember him naming are family prayer, personal prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. They may seem small and insignificant when taken on their own, but they add up to great spiritual rewards.
At last, we heard again from Elder Bednar. The first thing he said was, "It's good to be home! There are only six places in the world that I can say that about." He covered some of the same ground that he did on Friday, so I won't them. He asked the question, what would the Savior say if we could ask him, "What is most important to you?" To answer the question look in the Four Gospels and find where Jesus says, "My time is at hand." This is when he knows that his death is near. What he says next is what he wants us to know before he dies. For example, he said this at the feast of the Passover, then introduced the ordinance of the Sacrament and prayed for others. Next, look for the same phrase, "My time is at hand" in the Book of Mormon, then compare the common things between the two lists. It's the Priesthood ordinances that the Savior focuses on. They are the most important thing he wanted us to receive.
Elder Bednar went on to discuss the Tree of Life in Lehi's vision. If the tree is Christ, the fruit is the love of God and the blessings of the Atonement. The gate to get there is baptism, but the straight and narrow could be additional covenants and ordinances. Without them, we cannot access the Atonement. He added that he would have Bishops make a list with every name in the ward on one side, and on the other side the next covenant each individual should be preparing for. Even if someone is sealed in the temple, they still have the Sacrament to prepare for every single week.
We have been blessed with moral agency--not free agency, but moral agency. We are agents to act, not objects to be acted upon. However, God sets the terms and conditions of a covenant. As we accept the covenants, our agency is altered. It is enlarged. It isn't individual agency anymore, but representative agency. We represent the Savior, and to represent him should be more important than anything else. Violations of commandments are no longer individual agency, but a violation of a covenant. This is a serious business. We need to understand the spiritual significance of our ordinances and covenants.
He then talked about how if people try to dig a pit for you, they will fall into it themselves. He told about an experience he had with reporters in another country, who asked him derisively about how we baptize dead people. He answered with true doctrine, that everyone needed to accept Christ and that billions of people didn't have the opportunity for baptism in mortality. We are allowing them that blessing. He completely turned the interview around and began directing questions at them, bearing testimony of the true doctrines of the Gospel.
Elder Bednar also talked about how there's been a lot in the news lately about how the Church has supposedly been "hiding" its history from members. This is untrue--it has always been available for those who want to seek it out. More and more information about Church history is available on the Church website now. The problem is not studying Church history, it's not studying Church history enough.
He read a short except from one of Joseph Smith's early journals. Emma Smith once said something to the effect that Joseph couldn't write a coherent sentence to save his life. We can see that from his journals. Journal entry November 27, 1832:
Finally, Elder Bednar talked about "the movie of life." A common analogy explains that repentance is like the scissors that cut out parts of the film. Every time we repent, that sin is snipped out of the film of our life. However, Elder Bednar said, the movie of life should have the content of pressing forward--it should not be a blank slate. It was interesting to hear him speak of all of this. He spoke with such force, more like we're used to hearing Elder Holland or Elder Oaks speak, rather than the gentle voice Elder Bednar usually has in General Conference.
Looking back over this now, it's interesting to me how much emphasis Elder Bednar put on covenants and ordinances. This, in addition to what I've been studying with my seminary class, has really made me think about the importance of those saving ordinances. In a society that believes in the ideas of "spiritual but not religious," or "just accept Jesus in your heart and you're saved," it's easy to forget or misunderstand the importance of ordinances from the proper authority. The proper authority to perform saving ordinances and receive God's revealed will for his kingdom on earth is the one thing we have in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that no one else has. In that context, to me Heaven is more like a kingdom behind a series of locked gates that you need the keys to get through, rather than a lovely floating mansion you can get to by frolicking through a nice pasture. God's house is a house of order, and no unclean thing can enter it. Those ordinances are how we access the cleansing power.
It's amazing how much things between last weekend and what I've studied for seminary have been coming together. I am so grateful that I had this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear an apostle speak to my local audience not once, but twice in one weekend.
Our Stake President (actually, the other stake's Stake President, since we were only invited to watch via broadcast in one of the other buildings) spoke first. He quoted Elder Bednar as saying, if we engage in the work of the Lord with the arm of the flesh, we will get burnt out. There's no way to succeed in our responsibilities in the Gospel by relying on our own strength. We must seek the enabling power of the Atonement. I've definitely seen this in my life, in times when my feelings of inadequacy and anxiety kept me from knowing how to access the Atonement's strengthening power.
He also talked about the pattern of conversion established in the Book of Enos. Enos rescued himself first by repenting and seeking forgiveness of God. He knew that God could not lie, and therefore he was forgiven. In order to rescue others, we must rescue ourselves first. Next, Enos turns his thoughts and desires to others.
Finally, he reinforced what Elder Bednar said about how a witness from the Holy Ghost is stronger than the visitation of Angels or any other miracle. In Mosiah 5:2, after King Benjamin asks his people if they believe his words, they all cry out with one voice and say, "...we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts..." It was the Holy Ghost that changed their hearts, just as it did Alma's and Paul's.
After the Stake President spoke, he called up several of the youth to bear their testimonies. One young man from my class bore his testimony. I was so proud of him! He talked about how scripture study and seminary are helping him with a personal goal he has.
Then President called up Dakota, a very new convert from the Singles Ward. Now, I had just gotten to know Dakota because roomie Allison has been going out with him and he's been to our house a few times. He talked about how when the youths got up, he thought, "Man, they look so nervous. I wish they'd call me up. I'd lay down the law!" Just after that President called him up, and here he was, shaking in his boots in front of an apostle. He bore strong testimony of how much the Gospel matters, and how as lifelong members we shouldn't take it for granted, because he's seen the other side and it isn't worth it. (Later that afternoon, my home teachers came over and Allison and Dakota were hanging out in her car with the windows open because the weather was so nice. As the home teachers drove away, Dakota thumbed his nose at them and told Allison to do the same. Brother B. rolled down his window and said, "Thanks for laying down the law!")
After Dakota, the Mission President spoke. He told the story of Elisha and Naiman. Naiman thought that washing in the Jordan (a nasty river) seven times to be cleansed from leprosy was ridiculous, but he did it anyway. Seven small things added together became life changing. President asked, what are the seven small things we can do in our own homes? The ones I remember him naming are family prayer, personal prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. They may seem small and insignificant when taken on their own, but they add up to great spiritual rewards.
At last, we heard again from Elder Bednar. The first thing he said was, "It's good to be home! There are only six places in the world that I can say that about." He covered some of the same ground that he did on Friday, so I won't them. He asked the question, what would the Savior say if we could ask him, "What is most important to you?" To answer the question look in the Four Gospels and find where Jesus says, "My time is at hand." This is when he knows that his death is near. What he says next is what he wants us to know before he dies. For example, he said this at the feast of the Passover, then introduced the ordinance of the Sacrament and prayed for others. Next, look for the same phrase, "My time is at hand" in the Book of Mormon, then compare the common things between the two lists. It's the Priesthood ordinances that the Savior focuses on. They are the most important thing he wanted us to receive.
Elder Bednar went on to discuss the Tree of Life in Lehi's vision. If the tree is Christ, the fruit is the love of God and the blessings of the Atonement. The gate to get there is baptism, but the straight and narrow could be additional covenants and ordinances. Without them, we cannot access the Atonement. He added that he would have Bishops make a list with every name in the ward on one side, and on the other side the next covenant each individual should be preparing for. Even if someone is sealed in the temple, they still have the Sacrament to prepare for every single week.
We have been blessed with moral agency--not free agency, but moral agency. We are agents to act, not objects to be acted upon. However, God sets the terms and conditions of a covenant. As we accept the covenants, our agency is altered. It is enlarged. It isn't individual agency anymore, but representative agency. We represent the Savior, and to represent him should be more important than anything else. Violations of commandments are no longer individual agency, but a violation of a covenant. This is a serious business. We need to understand the spiritual significance of our ordinances and covenants.
He then talked about how if people try to dig a pit for you, they will fall into it themselves. He told about an experience he had with reporters in another country, who asked him derisively about how we baptize dead people. He answered with true doctrine, that everyone needed to accept Christ and that billions of people didn't have the opportunity for baptism in mortality. We are allowing them that blessing. He completely turned the interview around and began directing questions at them, bearing testimony of the true doctrines of the Gospel.
Elder Bednar also talked about how there's been a lot in the news lately about how the Church has supposedly been "hiding" its history from members. This is untrue--it has always been available for those who want to seek it out. More and more information about Church history is available on the Church website now. The problem is not studying Church history, it's not studying Church history enough.
He read a short except from one of Joseph Smith's early journals. Emma Smith once said something to the effect that Joseph couldn't write a coherent sentence to save his life. We can see that from his journals. Journal entry November 27, 1832:
Joseph Smith Jrs Book for Record Baught on the 27th of November 1832 for the purpose to keep a minute acount of all things that come under my obsevation &c-- oh may God grant that I may be directed in all my thaughts O bless thy Servent Amen.And we're supposed to think that this guy made up The Book of Mormon?
Finally, Elder Bednar talked about "the movie of life." A common analogy explains that repentance is like the scissors that cut out parts of the film. Every time we repent, that sin is snipped out of the film of our life. However, Elder Bednar said, the movie of life should have the content of pressing forward--it should not be a blank slate. It was interesting to hear him speak of all of this. He spoke with such force, more like we're used to hearing Elder Holland or Elder Oaks speak, rather than the gentle voice Elder Bednar usually has in General Conference.
Looking back over this now, it's interesting to me how much emphasis Elder Bednar put on covenants and ordinances. This, in addition to what I've been studying with my seminary class, has really made me think about the importance of those saving ordinances. In a society that believes in the ideas of "spiritual but not religious," or "just accept Jesus in your heart and you're saved," it's easy to forget or misunderstand the importance of ordinances from the proper authority. The proper authority to perform saving ordinances and receive God's revealed will for his kingdom on earth is the one thing we have in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that no one else has. In that context, to me Heaven is more like a kingdom behind a series of locked gates that you need the keys to get through, rather than a lovely floating mansion you can get to by frolicking through a nice pasture. God's house is a house of order, and no unclean thing can enter it. Those ordinances are how we access the cleansing power.
It's amazing how much things between last weekend and what I've studied for seminary have been coming together. I am so grateful that I had this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear an apostle speak to my local audience not once, but twice in one weekend.
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