These are transcriptions of my notes from General Conference with the doodling and idle doggerels left out. All quotations guaranteed to be aphoristic, if not accurate. Summaries are italicized.  The unquoted, unitalicized parts are my own additions.

 

SATURDAY MORNING

 

Brother Hales

The words of the Prophets protect us.  The proclamation on the Living Christ is a ward for problems to come.  Study conference talks early and often.

 

Ulysses Soares (pronounced Suarez)

Be perfect today.  Then try the same tomorrow.  If you fail tomorrow, you may succeed on the third day.

Attending church through the window

 

Carole Stephens

I have the right to revelation.  Expect it.

The priesthood makes covenants binding.

 

Edward Dube

Don’t look back.  You’ve made commitments; don’t second guess or doubt.

Work together in the yoke.

 

Brother Bednar

Tithing blesses us with gratitude and therefore with contentment.  With inspiration, and therefore more insight in employment opportunities.  With willpower, and therefore more ability to economize.  With determination, and therefore harder work.

Set aside money for contingencies and live within means.

 

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

 

Brother Christofferson

Women have innate power of moral teaching and moral influence.  Timothy’s faith was first found in Lois and Eunice.

Respect for the priesthood is a powerful form of moral influence.  Women teach chastity and fidelity.

Homemaking, modesty, and femininity are all ends to be sought.

Women, cultivate moral influence, moral authority, and moral force.  Don’t’ be ashamed to use them.

This talk went over big with my oldest.

 

Giff Neilson

Specifically pray to bring someone closer to God everyday.

Pray for the missionaries by name.

Small means confound the wise.

Pessimism is wise.

 

Timothy Dyches

Faith precedes the miraculous healing.

 

Brother Holland

Melancholy is normal, depression is its cancerous growth.

If we are broken vessels, we are in the hands of the divine potter.

If my Young Men can’t feel testimony or the Spirit, does that mean something is wrong with them?  Yes.  Christ fixes people who have something wrong.

Don’t worry about how you feel or query your own mental state too much when you are working to fix yourself.  Just do it.  Results are what follows later.

 

Brother Ballard

Some don’t pray for help being missionaries for fear of an answer.

 

PRIESTHOOD SESSION

 

Brother Perry

Articles of faith and primary prepare boys for the priesthood.

 

Gerald Caussie

Jean Valjean and the Bishop  – we terminate strangerhood through service.

 

Randy Funk

What a name!

Apostles and prophets call missionaries.

The best mission preparation is repentance.

 

Brother Uchtdorf

Fall down.  Get back up.

 

Brother Eyring

Parable of the Overloaded Priesthood Bearer – Parable of the Good Samaritan

The Lord will recompense.

 

President Monson

Hometeaching is an Aaronic responsibility.  “Exhort to pray vocally and in secret, and attend to all family duties.”

 

SUNDAY MORNING

 

Brother Eyring

Happiness in family life: love God, love neighbor.  So accept callings; serve Savior to help family.

Who said “Happiness in family life is the object of human existence?”

Seek the Holy Ghost to be equally yoked.

Charming story about his folks’ getting along.

Cannon—each one of us God has desired and devised to save and assigned angels

 

Brother Oaks

Jehovah is a jealous God—not an envious God.  Hebrew word translated as jealousy implies tender and deep feelings.

If you don’t consciously make God the priority, you will fall into idolatry.

He mentions Heavenly Parents.

Marriage and the bearing of children—posterity is a precious treasure.  Low birth rates, postponed marriages, careers instead of children, all are alarming.

We respect others, we demand respect for our choices.  For example, the law of chastity.

Marriage and chastity began with Adam and Eve.

Gender shall not be confused.  Sexes shall not be homogenized.  Don’t be a moral coward.

This talk was meant for legal consumption.  I can see it quoted in a brief.

 

Bonnie Oscarson

Faithfulness precedes the miracle.

 

Richard Maynes

(Righteousness)/(Eternal Destiny) = k

Not freedom from death but victory over it.

“I have fought the good fight”—most triumphant of Christian verses.

Endure like a runner

 

Brother Scott

The Ammonite fathers couldn’t fight to protect their families, because of the lingering aspects of past sin.

Really true.  Repentance doesn’t eliminate our past choices, it gives us another chance.   The much-contemned repentance metaphors about sin being a nail in the wood, leaving a mark even when pulled out, are simply hard and uncomfortable truths.   Repentance isn’t rewinding the clock, its getting back on the path.

 

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

 

Brother Cook

By the rivers of Babylon the captives wept and could not sing the songs of Zion.

Addictions can be predilections that aren’t evil but use up time.

We must work to improve the moral culture, but our own family and the rising generation come first.

Interesting point about charity beginning at home and with our youth.  If nothing else, simply because that is where we will be the most effective.  It would be strange to ignore that like Naaman because of the easiness of the way.

Something about his discussion of wives at work sounds too optimistic to me.  Probably it needs to be, given that our society increasingly leaves us no choice.  But I think there is a basic reality that valorizing or protecting women’s career accomplishments will entail and lead to devalorizing motherhood and wifeliness.

 

Brother Anderson

Priesthood is the sun.  Priesthood men only pull back the drapes.

No one is denied anything.

There is a basic tension between agency and justice that I don’t think can be squared.  If divorced women or even widows aren’t missing anything, then my actions as a man are fairly pointless.  On the other hand prophetic counsel is moral exhortation, not fine moral calculi.

Pornography is bondage.  “Repent of your secret abominations.”

Sacrament work performed unworthily takes God’s name in vain.

This kind of talk will placate those who are genuinely worried about women’s place in the kingdom, but not those who have the progressive disease.

 

David McConkie

Marion G. Romney-you know you are teaching from the Holy Ghost when your own teaching teaches and inspires you.

 

Kevin Hamilton

Attend your Sunday meetings even on trips.

Satan substitutes good for better and best.

 

Brother Nelson

Yearning for change is the divinely-instilled drive for eternal progression.

Interesting—is this where the taste for novelty and the suspicion that the grass is always greener ultimately comes from in a fallen form?

Aging-death-is a gift.  Death is only premature for the unprepared.

Fasting intensifies prayers.

Self Mastery—because God gave us strong appetites.

 

Other Good General Conference Discussions

Notes from Saturday morning and afternoon, Priesthood session, and Sunday morning and afternoon.  Probably the best summary.

Our One-Sided Openness to Continuing Revelation Just a wonderful response to the usual Godbeite jeers that occur every conference tiem

Reemphasizing Some Points from General Conference A nice discussion of some of the (unfortunately) controversial parts of conference

Responding to Heresy and Apostasy This essay discusses Uchtdorf’s gestures of fellowship to the struggling and disaffected and discusses what they do mean and what they don’t.

The Law of Chastity is not Changing The title is a good guide to the contents. Recommended.

A Mormon Woman’s General Conference Thoughts and Impressions Really extensive and worthwhile. Much more than a list of bulletpoints.

True Shepherds–President Monson on Hometeaching The title is a good guide to the contents. Nortatory in tone.

Conference Wordles, October 2013 Just a lot of fun. Conference word puzzles that actually do a pretty good job of reminding you of key points.

Studying LDS General Conference Good tips for your post-conference study of it. Conference doesn’t end when the last session’s over. It keeps going as long as we keep it going.

Video highlights Good for sharing with youth


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