We are now, two days after the conclusion of a most unusual General Conference, in that short gap between hearing all of the talks delivered but not yet having transcripts to review and discuss in detail. So I’m going to do a broad recap focusing on what was said and what wasn’t said. On the whole, I thought Saturday was rather disappointing inasmuch as the talks could have been from any of the last twenty General Conferences, with hardly a single reference to the difficult and sometimes tragic situations in which so many members and missionaries suddenly find themselves. Sunday at least touched on some of the challenges we and the Church are facing.
What Was Said
We have a new Church symbol or logo, making it even trickier for non-LDS to identify and discuss the Church in the media and in casual conversations. With the Moroni image and LDS as our moniker, pretty much everyone knew who we were. With a Christ statue and the Church of Jesus Christ name, only those already clued in will know it’s the Mormons. It seems like dissimulation as much as rebranding.
We have a new Proclamation. The good news is we’ll talk about the older Proclamation a lot less now. It’s not proclaiming anything particularly new, but it’s not doing any harm either.
From my sparse notes on the talks, here are a few highlights (and some lowlights) from what was said:
- In his opening remarks, Pres. Nelson stated, in reference to his previous declaration that this would be a Conference unlike any other, that “little did I know” the particular circumstances we would be facing. This is a welcome corrective to inflated claims circulating in social media.
- Elder Ballard next set the tone for the Conference by referring to the four reliable accounts of the First Vision, then basically recapitulating the standard 1838 account that has constituted the narrative for more than a century, adding a detail or two from other accounts but ignoring all differences. Several speakers followed this template in presenting their own summarized accounts.
- James Rasband of the Seventy labelled the well known “first four principles of the gospel” as The Doctrine of Christ (with enduring to the end thrown in).
- Elder Soares emphasized the miraculous (= supernatural) aspects of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, quite clearly rejecting the standard English meaning of “translation” in favor of supernatural not-really-translation.
- Elder Renlund told some doctor stories (I like airline pilot stories a lot more) and pushed the idea of emotional testimonies (my term, not his).
- In the Saturday evening session, Pres. Nelson spent two minutes on the coronavirus pandemic and ten minutes on the new logo.
- Elder Rasband of the Twelve offered another First Vision conflation talk.
- Pres. Bonnie Cordon, YW General President, gave a fine talk on letting your light shine so as to help others along their path.
- Elder Holland saved the Conference by addressing the pandemic and its attendant suffering in the context of his talk on hope. He extended this to the hope that we can combat the virus of hunger and of want, stressing kindness, compassion, patience, and forgiveness in these turbulent times.
- Pres. Nelson spoke against people of our day who seek power, popularity, and pleasures of the flesh, before officially launching the new Church logo.
- Pres. Oaks again shared his view that some marriages are good and some marriages are bad.
- Elder Cook stated that, if you have left, the Church and its members will always welcome you back.
- Elder Uchtdorf’s evil twin stated that, if you have left the Church, you are like unruly children who stomped off to play somewhere else.
- Pres. Nelson concluded by announcing eight new temples. Which is what the world really needs at this moment when all of the Church’s temples are presently shuttered and people (including some who contracted their illness attending an LDS temple) are dying by the thousands.
What Was Not Said
What was NOT said at the Conference was almost louder than what was said.
- Not a single speaker !!! made direct reference to the thousands of young LDS missionaries who are thoroughly discouraged and confused at having their missions cut short or reassigned, or offered words of hope or consolation to them. Many of these missionaries are in lockdown at their missionary apartments or in self-isolation back home. Elder Christofferson came close, discussing missionary work in his talk on the Restoration, but offered no direct message to our missionaries.
- Pres. Nelson referred in passing to the closure of LDS temples, but there was no discussion of how LDS temple practices might change in the future. No awareness that this might be an issue for temple-attending Latter-day Saints. No assurance that the health and safety of LDS templegoers was a primary concern of the leadership.
- Likewise no reference or discussion to the problematic issue of the sacrament bread that teenage priests touch and sacrament trays that everyone touches. Maybe do it just once a month? BYOB (bring your own bread)? Let the bishop symbolically partake on behalf of the entire congregation? Something has to change.
- Almost no direct reference to the elephant in the room, that most LDS Sunday meetings have been cancelled for three weeks now and will continue that way for many more weeks. You’d think they might offer a GA fireside broadcast every Sunday evening or something to keep touch with the members.
Those are some of my observations. I’m looking forward to the transcripts to fill in a few things I missed and revisit the talks where I nodded off in the first few minutes.
What do you like or not about what was said? Was there anything else that was not said that you wish had been?
Wheat & Tares 
I didn’t listen to conference, but I must confess utter confusion at all the temple building. As I understand it, the Rome temple serves relatively few people. I would imagine temples in China and the UAE will be similarly underutilized. And, apparently, Mormons in Utah need to be within walking distance of a temple. So what gives? Why the need to build temples where members are sparse? Why not ask members to drive a little bit in Utah? Are Utah temples so fully booked that the church needs more facilities?
Many years ago while visiting a friend I was shocked to see a copy of a talk for an upcoming General Conference that was still a month away sitting on the kitchen table. My friend explained that her room mate was one of the translators for conference and they get the talks a month in advance.
I don’t know if this is still standard practice but if it is this may explain why there were so few references to our current circumstances re. the pandemic. Between correlation and getting the talks to the translators I’m thinking most of them were probably written sometime in February.
Ya know… I can’t think of a single symbol that other churches use in self-branding. I pay no attention and that is probably true of our church as well (outside of Utah) If I asked 100 (or a 1000) people randomly walking through my Calif neighborhood what the old symbol of the LDS church looked like, would they know? The new symbol is pretty (although reminds me eerily of the white-on-blue White House symbol in the press room ) but its the exact kind of thing that should have been announced in a press relief. Translation problems or none, it would have been a much more meaningful conference if it had been more practical when it came to the current situation and more inspirational.
I’ll start with the good to try to keep it positive but, spoiler alert, overall I felt this conference fell COMPLETELY flat. I am genuinely excited to see what people liked about conference because I would love for people to have had a different experience from me and I would love to learn from them. That said …
Good things that were said, and not said:
Loved Elder James Rasband’s talk focusing on restorative rather than retributive justice. A refreshing and beautiful view of the atonement.
Loved that Elder Holland mentioned some social justice topics (including gun violence). That said – I felt his description of 19th century Christianity was intellectually dishonest. Did Joseph Smith contribute insightful and beautiful truths to Christianity? Absolutely, and I can appreciate that. But were we living in an awful, dark time devoid of spiritual light before then? No, and I think he did non-LDS Christianity an injustice. A lot of the ideas he mentioned in his talk were in circulation at the time of Joseph Smith. I also thought his description of churches people were leaving for was amusing, and think they should probably take a harder look at what those churches are offering people that ours isn’t. Demonizing the “enemy” doesn’t help you to understand or defeat it. But it seems they are unwilling to take an honest look at why people with integrity might choose to leave.
Other than the glaring exception of President Oaks, who’s pathologically obsessed with straight-marriage, no harping on gay marriage.
I like President Nelson’s call for another worldwide fast. It was the one time in the conference where it seemed he was showing empathy for the suffering that’s going on right now. If more of conference had been like that, I think it would have been beautiful.
Not-my-favorite things that were said, and not said:
As mentioned in the OP, almost zero discussion of the pandemic other than passing references. Came across as incredibly tone-deaf. I get it, I get it, I get it that these things are prepared months in advance. But, come on, show some flexibility and adaptation! It made leadership look clueless, rigid, and set in their ways. Not a good look for them. The contrast to the October 2001 conference after 9/11 was stark for me. I recall that conference offering significant comfort and specific discussion on events (so much so that those in other countries felt it was overly-focus on the United States–whereas focusing on the pandemic here would have been relevant for most people in most places).
Zero discussion of the ways that the church is assisting in the pandemic. Is it using its vast resources to help in any way? What services and support is it trying to offer for those (including the missionaries) suffering? Literally, zero discussion. This was especially glaring in light of the $100B press earlier this year.
Zero discussion of the ways that church members can assist and service in the pandemic, EXCEPT to do indexing and family history while temples are closed. Are you kidding me? At a time when we should be in solidarity with humanity and looking for ways to support our neighbors / friends / family / the rest of humanity, we are supposed to focus more on those who have passed away than those who are sick and dying or losing loved ones or employment right in front of our faces? Insanity to me. Insanity.
An incredible literal, black-and-white, white-washed version of church history regurgitated many, many times. (Honestly, conference was so boring!!! I can read all that stuff on my own!). While I agree the new proclamation isn’t as harmful as the family proc, I think it’s unhelpful in the sense that it takes such a literal, historical view of the restoration and doesn’t leave room for nuance. The whole thing felt a bit artificial and manufactured to produce emotional experiences. Again, I realize they may have been preparing for that a long time and were excited to present — but when the entire world changes, maybe put it off another six months and focus on the pressing questions of today. How very, very unprophetic it all felt.
President Oaks. The hate he preaches from the pulpit is, in my view, the epitome of taking the Lord’s name in vain. For him to talk about “fruits” is deeply ironic given that it’s the fruits of the church’s teachings on gay marriage that have convinced me of its error, and his quotation of “all are alike unto God” was also downright disturbing given the content of his talk.
A retrenchment in the “gender complementarity” discourse. Many people expected this conference to make changes in the way women interact with priesthood power and authority, not least because this pandemic has highlighted the ways that priesthood authority as currently organized marginalizes women (who cannot, for example, take the sacrament without a male in their home). Instead of changes, it was very much “this is the way things are but guess what women have access to priesthood power too!” It is beyond a no-brainer than a male has no more access to the power of God than a female (although I recognize not all people feel that way and so I suppose for them I’m grateful for the reminder). But women do not, remotely, have equal power in the church and I hoped for the needle to move a bit. Even relatively conservative members I know expected and hoped for this. It did not happen. (I also don’t know how you talk about “complementarity” but, once again, have only 4 women speak and 1 offer a prayer in 5 sessions of conference … and 2 of those women were in more of a “youth” session. That’s not complementarity. That’s male rulership.)
My overall feeling after this conference was how utterly unprophetic it felt. I believe the men in charge are capable, well-meaning, and are doing their best — I even think Dallin H. Oaks is doing his best, despite my intense disagreement with him. But going into this conference I was really faltering on whether I considered them “prophets”. I would say today, most definitely, they are not.
After many, many years of church service, a mission, temple marriage, leadership positions (that I currently still hold), I probably won’t be renewing a temple recommend this year. I would love to continue to participate locally because my congregation is full of wonderful people trying to help and serve those around them. But I just can’t have anything more to do with the Salt Lake folks. They don’t seem to worship the same God as I do, and they don’t seem to offer any alternative pathways for people who believe differently.
That’s been a long time coming and not just in reaction to this conference, but I did try to go into conference with an open mind and low expectations to avoid disappointment. They still managed to disappoint.
jaredsbrother:
FYI, LDS temples along the Wasatch Front are generally packed.
Sometimes we expect too much of prophets. After all, there was Balaam. “Though some sources may only describe the positive blessings he delivers upon the Israelites, he is reviled as a ‘wicked man’ in both the Torah and the New Testament.” – Wikipedia
Maybe we expect too much from [too much] conference. I like this lesson of Elder Holland’s April 2011 conference talk: “In the wide variety of sermons given is the assumption that there will be something for everyone. … If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you.”
Plenty of room in that for looking only for, and focusing only on, what speaks to us as “prophetic.” But the rest can sometimes make that hard to do. (I wonder if there is a cure for pathological obsession.) Sometimes, however, assumptions are inaccurate and one or more conditions may not be satisfied.
Amen Elisa. Elements of this conference made me so sad. I don’t understand why they hyped up this conference so much in conjunction with telling women to study the priesthood and emphasized the ongoing nature of the restoration. I honestly do not understand their motive for telling women to read scripture about the priesthood. The same illogical policies and doctrines were presented, where women’s special gifts are somehow compatible with priesthood power and authority but not with priesthood office, and men’s special gifts somehow make them the default ordinance performers and decion makers. We were reminded again that women don’t preside in their homes or lead their families unless their husband is absent. The tandem bike analogy was horrible.
Where is the scriptural justification for these gender roles? If supposedly what we fall back on is Genesis, well we also used to believe all black people were cursed descendants of Cain. So that sounds about in line with believing all women will be eternal back seat sitters on a tandem bike because of Eve. I really wish they would cut the pretense of equal partnership. Let’s be honest and say that in the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, we believe Jesus gives females laborers less than male laborers.
I don’t have an issue with people having different strengths and abilities or performing different tasks at different times. But everyone should be able to develop every strength they can and be afforded every opportunity to become like God. All are alike unto God. We supposedly learned this lesson in 1978. Yet here we are in 2020 and we still don’t understand.
“Sometimes we expect too much of prophets”
Yes, definitely, and we’re generally not allowed to lower those expectations and stay a good member of the church.
This conference was a serious disappointment for all the reasons in the OP.
I just want to ask you (my fellow readers) the following questions:
1. did you know that early Mormon women were actually feminists? Something to that effect.
2. did you know that women had a strong influence on the First Vision? For example, Joseph Smith went to the Sacred Grove to pray because that’s where his mom had gone to pray.
If you don’t believe me, read Sister Bingham’s talk when it gets transcribed.
I had the unfortunate experience of watching GC last weekend with my totally inactive daughter (who would not have been watching were it not for the fact that she had nothing better to do thanks to the Corona shut in). And boy was it awkward to listen to this talk with her, a very accomplished young woman. It was already bad enough that we were told that women in the Church have “priesthood power”. This message is NOT working.
ReTx,
Other churches use symbols. Methodists have a flame representing the holy spirit, purification, sanctification, light, knowledge, etc. Judaism has the Star of David, Talmud scrolls, etc., Islam has the crescent moon, Christianity has open crosses and crucifixes, Baptist’s have a symbol of the world a cross and scriptures. Evangelicals often use the words Ictus (fish), etc. Presbyterians have a burning cross or a burning bush, and so on.
The theme of this Conference was “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” and the key to understanding that mindset is the lately-discovered $124,000,000,000. It is very likely that the Brethren understand the successful accumulation of this astonishing sum as THE divine imprimatur on their leadership in all its various aspects. In this light Uchtdorf’s inexplicably crass throwaway comments on those who leave suddenly fit context.
@Mortimer
So now I guess we say the Church’s symbol is a Lutheran Jesus.
There’s some irony to introduce that on the same weekend as celebrating the First Vision.
And @P, I can’t help but start to believe that all of the emphasis on temple worship is because temple recommends are the church’s means of policing its population and enforcing tithing rules.
I do not doubt that church leadership sincerely love temple worship and I’m certainly not suggesting that it’s some kind of fraud. I don’t believe there’s that kind of bad intent and I do think they believe and hope temple worship will bless people. But also, it’s a unique form of social control not many other churches have and I think they are hanging on tight.
People expect too much from prophets, who by definition are supposed to reveal God’s will? I don’t know. Looks more like believers are willing to settle for WAAAAAY too little.
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
ReTx, I think you’re right this logo will do little to cue non-LDS to recognize the LDS Church. But it might give mainstream LDS a recognizable icon to know that a particular letter or page or site is offical LDS.
Elisa said, “Zero discussion of the ways that the church is assisting in the pandemic.” Yes, that is surprising. I hadn’t really noticed that, and it’s surprising they didn’t have a talk on some specific things the Church has done or is doing. Expect that talk in six months.
Wondering: “Sometimes we expect too much of prophets.” This felt more like an easy pass to an open receiver in the end zone that hits him in the hands and he drops it. If they could coreograph a half dozen talks on the Restoration, they could do the same planning to get a few talks about the pandemic, and particularly the anxiety and challenges members and missionaries are facing — as well as the several steps the Church has taken. Mabye they’re just afraid of having to explain why they won’t tap any of the $100 billion rainy day fund. They ought to drop a couple billion into the fasting fund to help unemployed members put food on the table and not get kicked out of their humble abode in coming months
bdb, re: Lutheran Jesus. Maybe we will adopt other Lutheran doctrines and practices in coming Conferences. Call it the Uchtdorf Initiative.
Mortimer – I wasn’t trying to argue that other churches don’t have/use symbols (of course they do). I was trying to say that they are all kind of irrelevant when it comes to marketing. Hold up a sign with a Nike Symbol and everyone knows what company it refers to (without me giving away the name). Hold up a drawing of the Cristus or the Angel Moroni and nobody knows or cares. It’s just not that big of a deal to anyone other than Mormons so why make it such a big deal in conference? Should have been a press release.
I know it will elicit some eyerolls, but I think the old adage “You get what you put into it” applies here. My wife thought it was one of the best conferences ever, but she spent a ton of time preparing for it in ways I wouldn’t have even thought of. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting, maybe some new Church movie productions or interactive media, but I still enjoyed it overall.
I’ll admit I get kind of annoyed of the annoyance people have of gender roles. Maybe I’m taking it the wrong way, but at some point it feels like a belittlement of the decision my wife and I made for her to stay home. How exactly does that make her less than me? When I look at all the time she spends with our kids, the influence she has on them, and the power she wields by it, there are times I get mildly jealous of it. You speak of accomplished women. My wife is one of them. I get where others are coming from, but I can’t help feel that some are totally missing the point. The idea that priesthood was given to men to make them more equal (if different) to women rings more true to me with each passing year. Early leaders may not have have gotten the message across the right way or for even the right reasons, but they knew something. I totally agree women should do whatever they like. Just don’t turn on the ones who choose to stay at home. It’s only awkward because you made it so.
Yes, Wasatch temples are generally packed. I’m looking forward to the Saratoga Temple so my kids can spend more than a few seconds in a font. And there does seem to be a thirst for temples outside the U.S. As that thirst grows I imagine we’ll see a reemergence of smaller temples or even meetinghouse/temple hybrids.
More eyerolls, I know, but a small part of me was disappointed, at least initially, that there has been no memorable mention of secret combinations the last few general conferences. It’s the third most talked about subject in the Book of Mormon and its naive to believe corruption isn’t rampant in all aspect of government(s) and across party lines. Perhaps that’s the reason it isn’t mentioned though. We’re past that point. We know the government is aware of conference enough to let the Church know George W. Bush would be interrupting it post 9/11. Are there parts of the government that take a greater interest? We start talking government corruption and I imagine we could see things start to get more difficult for the Church pretty fast–complications in passports and visas or huge slowdowns in building permits. You start making the theme to “Hear Him” and no one would bat an eye. And yet, the end result is the same isn’t it? I was inspired as I attended conference as a youth. It helped me pay attention in other conferences, form my testimony, and made me a better person, father, and voter. I don’t see myself running for office but I wouldn’t rule it out. There is no “Mormon Conspiracy,” but as more men and women of the Church seek to bless their families that love and desire spreads to the rest of humanity. We already have a disproportionate amount of members in politics. I think that will only grow with time, bringing down corruption in a largely unorganized effort my individual members who simply heeded the call to “Hear Him.”
“People expect too much from prophets, who by definition are supposed to reveal God’s will? I don’t know. Looks more like believers are willing to settle for WAAAAAY too little.”
I think church leaders are done spoon-feeding us. They gave us all the tools. They encouraged food storage for years (notice how it’s dwindled in conferences the last decade or two). We’ve been warned multiple times about multiple things. They do still encourage the reality of personal revelation. Do you need much more than that? By its own admission, more so this conference than previous ones, the Church is there to assist the family. I think Prophets now largely exist to hear the occasional promptings of administrative needs or how best to get ordinances to members. I’m not saying there aren’t more exciting things to come, but if we expect more from prophets than we do ourselves, we’re missing the point.
Dave B., Of course, that one sentence would be an easy pass by itself — however, true it may be. On the other hand, the rest of my comment leaves open the possibilities that (a) prophets can be wicked or at least pathologically obsessed (b) their assumption that there will be something for everyone in general conference may be wrong (c) they may not always be teaching by the Spirit and (d) we may not always be listening by the Spirit. There are multiple possible inferences from leaving those possibilities open.
I’m not advocating an easy pass for either the prophets or the rest of us. But I have found that for me it is helpful to lower my expectations (in some cases to zero). Then I am capable of being pleasantly surprised, even moved, by something, instead of my years of frustration and anger. That may not work for others.
@Eli, I don’t want to detract from the thread which is not really about women and the priesthood – except to say that your wife’s decision to stay home (perfectly fine decision that many families make) has zero to do with the church’s exclusion of women from meaningful decisionmaking, the lack of any situation in which a male reports to a female (and that even women’s organizations report to males), the inability of women to perform or even meaningfully participate in saving ordinances for others (except in the temple), the general lack of visibility of women in the church, and etc etc.
Most men and women who would like to see changes in the way the church treats women and women’s access to priesthood authority and offices really have no interest in taking away or belittling your wife’s ability to choose to stay at home. Many of those women at stay-at-home mothers as well.
As for secret combinations, well, agree to disagree on that. I’m quite uninterested in the church wading into politics (let alone with an incredibly conservative position).
I could be wrong but there was zero reference to Heavenly Parents and Mother in Heaven. They gave the YW “Heavenly Parents” in their theme. But to have a whole conference without any reference says to me the brethren don’t care, can’t see their bias for HF. Just screams patriarchal privilege.
Two of the woman speakers had video clips of them deferring to the prophet. Minimizing their own role as a female leader and how woman’s role is to defer to higher male authority. I highly doubt they came up with that idea themselves. Why not have the prophet drop in on a male leader talk? Not happening.
If I hear one more close quote or historic I will blow my head off!!
I came to the comments to say what BB said. I know people who translate for conference still and yes, the talks were likely written at least a month or more ahead of conference. That said, Elder Holland seemed to be able to handle getting additional content into his talk. Perhaps certain speakers are able to do that more than others (it’s my understanding that Elder Wirthlin toward the end rarely, if ever, had prepared content ahead of time.) Perhaps first-time speakers and not regular speakers were unable to change their content.
Taken in that context, I thought there was a good focus on Covid-19 (in most of the prayers IIRC).
I like the idea of some sort of fireside broadcast of hope.
The build up to the logo was strange. The Proclamation seemed to be canonizing an origin story. Oaks and Bingham appeared to be building up to an announcement that women could do blessings in the absence of “the ideal family situation.”
Elisa,
I too don’t wish to detract from the thread, but realize I didn’t at all explain myself too well. If my wife doesn’t feel excluded, or invisible, or that she’s somehow missing out, but feels she is equally empowered in her own way, would you not conclude she is part of the problem? I was on a forum a few weeks ago when a woman, speaking of non-feminist women (at least not feminist by their definition) said that people who live like my wife but choose to speak out just need to shut up. I feel like I’ve seen more hate toward women from other women than I have from men. I get what you mean, but I have a hard time envisioning any scenario in which my wife could correctly be considered part of a problem. Although my wife does occasionally feel other women are missing out on her experience, she doesn’t speak out against them, so maybe she’s fine in their eyes. I guess I simply don’t know.
Secret combinations go so far beyond politics. I never said the Church itself had to get into it, just that it had to do a roundabout way to encourage members to, which it does. If you believe your politics line up with the admonition to “Hear Him” then you are accomplishing just that. In the long run, this isn’t about getting more Rs or Ds in office. It’s about preventing murders, wars for gain and profit, and the collapse of freedom. It’s a point far too many members are missing despite all the encouragement to “Hear Him” and read the Book of Mormon. I have no doubt secret combinations have resulted in more eventual deaths than Covid-19, and I think that’s one of the larger looming dangers behind the current crisis. The more I think about it, the more I realize speakers were probably more on point than any of us realize. And by beyond politics, I also mean just raising good families and being good citizens and examples. I sometimes think we underestimate that.
I was most surprised (and disappointed) that there wasn’t a talk about the 1978 revelation on the priesthood as a sign of the ongoing restoration and as a means of addressing racism at the same time (i.e. the fallout from the manual problem). For all the talk about the Restoration continuing today, there was very little brought up to celebrate after the life of Joseph Smith asides from building the Salt Lake Temple and now renovating it.
For the record, I didn’t catch more than 20 minutes of conference while my wife listened.
Just came here to say somewhat tangentially, that the new logo is terrible. Jesus in a half-shell, as my wife and I have taken to calling it, is too big and the font too small. I’ve seen members already trying to use it in memes advocating for the upcoming fast. Unfortunately they leave the symbol big enough to be able to read the church’s name without a magnifying glass, but this then causes the logo to practically dwarf the rest of the announcement. Surely their $100+bn reserves could have bought better marketing advice.
Considering the uniquely frightening things the world is dealing with right now, I expected a more pastoral tone for this conference. I also expected that President Nelson would address the current situation with our missionaries and maybe even provided clarification to the tithe payers about the recently discovered $100 billion investment fund. Instead, it seems like they re-purposed the tools of control from the 70’s and 80’s, fear and guilt, in an effort to amp up their own relevance.
Here are a few observations:
1. The Q15 seemed unaware of, or indifferent to, the anxieties of its members. Additionally, President Nelson pleasantly threatening us with losing our families if we don’t obey has become triggering to me. I don’t believe that anyone on this Earth has that much authority.
2. It occurred to me that President Nelson probably exerts an elevated amount of control over the messages of the speakers. For example, Elder Uchtdorf’s talk seemed out of character for him. And phrases such as “ongoing restoration,” “gathering of Israel on both sides of the veil,” and “second coming” were overused.
3. It also seemed that the speakers felt a need to excessively validate and praise President Nelson.
4. President Jean B. Bingham’s attempt to equalize the importance of women and men’s roles in the Church seemed disingenuous. I felt bad that she was put in the position of having to deliver such a message when it’s obvious that the first prerequisite to having any authority and control in the Church is to be male.
5. President Nelson created a high level of anticipation prior to this conference. He further escalated the anticipation during the Saturday morning session when he announced the hosanna shout would be used at the end of the Sunday morning session. I actually thought something magnificent was going to be announced-something like women are to receive the priesthood or that some of the $100 billion reserve might be used to materially improve the human condition where needed. Instead he announced a restated Proclamation and then sealed it with an awkward hosanna shout. Wow, just wow!
I think this conference will go down as a squandered opportunity for the Q15.
Eli: “I’ll admit I get kind of annoyed of the annoyance people have of gender roles. Maybe I’m taking it the wrong way, but at some point it feels like a belittlement of the decision my wife and I made for her to stay home.”
Elisa: “your wife’s decision to stay home (perfectly fine decision that many families make) has zero to do with the church’s exclusion of women..”
Eli: “If my wife doesn’t feel excluded, or invisible, or that she’s somehow missing out, but feels she is equally empowered in her own way, would you not conclude she is part of the problem?”
So, at risk of continuing this thread. First, I guess I am one of the more vocal opponents of the gender complementarian stance here. I am in fact an SAHM of 22 years and counting. I have a fantastic husband. Eli, if your wife feels empowered, and that the opportunities for church service play to her strengths all power to her. Really, truly. What I am asking for is recognition that all women do not have the same strengths, talents, attributes, simply by virtue of our being women. My experience is that I simply do not have those strengths commonly attributed to women. I long ago had to face the fact that our leaders do not know what they are talking about on this subject. I just do not fit in the frame provided.
General observations with the caveat that I have yet to hear the Sunday afternoon session, it’s just too late in the evening here by then, and I’d already sat through three sessions on Sunday (Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening and Sunday morning).
1. This has to be one of the more repetitive conferences I’ve seen. I guess there’s only so much to say about the restoration.., but it got to be a tad tedious, and my brain doesn’t tolerate repetition very well. So many of the speakers using the same scripture references, and saying the same few things.
2. So few references to the global crisis – I appreciated Elder Holland’s remarks, which came closest perhaps to examining what we need to be learning from the crisis, but was all too brief on the topic. A call for another fast – but that seemed to be asking for a return to how things were… Can we expect that from God? Don’t we need to learn the lessons, make changes?
3. I appreciated Elder Gong’s talk. I learned something. It gave a different sense of the Hosanna shout as a cry for God to save us. I’m not sure the way it is performed carries much of that sense. I mean maybe the white handkerchief is more of a symbol of surrender than a celebratory waving. But it always seems to be used as a celebration, so maybe we’re using the wrong word.. maybe we should be shouting Hallelujah, if it’s a celebration we’re having, not a cry for the saving of our souls and recognition of our nothingness without Jesus.
So, I made notes, but it mostly left me cold.
I thought conference was Ok. Not great, not bad, just OK. With all the hype leading up to it andthe combined 3rd Saturday session, I was expecting more. Yes all we got was a new trademark (which is Christ focues, so big plus) and a kind of awkward proclamation. The Hosanna Shout seemed kind of pointless given the deminimus nature of the “changes”. So overall, meh territory.
The Hosanna Shout seemed kinda awkward for me, and I imagined what it would have felt like had a neighbor or friend been there with us. (Can you say “cult”?) We had agreed to give Pres. Oaks the benefit of the doubt with any message he would deliver – and he needed it. What was missing of course, has been mentioned above: more comfort in tough times. More Jesus. More “Love God and Love each other”. It did strike me for the very first time, that the audience was being looked at as the one with the resources to give, instead of an institution that is sitting on a rather large pile of assets that could really really be used in a time like this to lighten the burdens that so many face. We all new going in that there would be no announcement that the Church was going to donate some of that $100+ Billion to alleviate current suffering and anxiety. In that regard, they stayed the course.
“The Hosanna Shout seemed kinda awkward for me, and I imagined what it would have felt like had a neighbor or friend been there with us. (Can you say “cult”?)”
I’ve seen the ritual performed a few times now in various temple dedication broadcasts. It is never not awkward and strange. It does not fill me with peace and joy, but a lot of self-consciousness. I could have done without it in General Conference.
DKF, 100% agreement with your #3, “It also seemed that the speakers felt a need to excessively validate and praise President Nelson.”
I was tired of the excessive quoting and praising of RMN by the end of the first Saturday session, it was too much. Maybe with all of my free time now I’ll take a look at past conferences and see if other prophets were also continually referred to, quoted, and praised, or if this is something new.
Agree with DKF … all of it, esp the point about threats of losing our families if we aren’t righteous. Come to think of it, that’s been in many of Pres Nelson’a recent conference talks and other talks (recent BYU devotional) lately. 100% fear-based and manipulative.
As for the new logo, I have mixed feelings. I love the Thorvaldsen sculpture (the original marble version in Denmark, not the plaster copies in all the visitor centers) but I find it odd that the Church is anchoring itself on the image of a white Scandinavian Jesus, especially when the Church’s center of gravity is shifting towards the Global South as much of its growth is in developing countries. I also wonder if Thorvaldsen’s descendants are aware of his masterwork being co-opted by an American restorationist sect that has a very small (and shrinking) footprint in the sculptor’s native land, and whether they approve.
I like the blue tones in the new logo. I never though of the Church as having an official color, but I could get behind blue.
They also changed the wordmark, setting the top line (“The Church of”) at a larger size than it used to be. It used to match the bottom line in size. I liked it better that way; it had more top-to-bottom symmetry.
I wonder if this is part of a long-term plan to deemphasize the image of Moroni holding a trumpet as a time-honored symbol of the Church, in favor of emphasizing Christ. I’m fine with that intent, but that can get very expensive and become very awkward. Will a gilded likeness of Christ adorn the tallest spires of our temples, becoming the Church’s new “hood ornament”? Also, lots of churches carry the name and/or image of Christ, but no one else has the angel blowing the horn. It’s a unique and distinctive identifier. I also wonder if they will be changing the official VA symbol for our church that is engraved on the gravestones of LDS servicemen. It’s been a simple outline of horn-blowing Moroni for generations.
The introduction of a new church-brand logo felt inappropriate to me (for a conference setting). An Ensign article or press-release would suffice.
The proclamation on the First Vision is premature; there is so much more to be learned and revealed about Joseph Smith’s first vision(s); dogmatization will be a stumbling block where flexibility and interpretation might otherwise open understanding.
The logo seems like a hobby horse of Nelson gone awry. It’s vertical and too detailed, so it doesn’t work well in footers. There’s nothing uniquely Mormon about it as the Christus is an iconic Danish Lutheran statue, not an LDS statue at all. But clearly one of his top priorities was to get rid of the “LDS” and “Mormon” nicknames and to get the Church solely linked to Jesus Christ. That’s not great from a branding standpoint, but it reveals ideological purity. He also took the D&C very literally about the bishop heading the YM. Whatever. Now we’ve got a very literal view of the first vision (which we already had) that pretends to nod toward the other accounts, but really just ignores their content. That’s nothing new either.
Eli: feminists are all different people. I’m sorry if your wife felt shouted down in some group she was in. I think we’ve all been there. Some feminists (just like everybody) are angry or specifically upset by specific things. I seldom see current groups of feminists who deride the choice to stay home (that’s in fact the kind of thinking that will usually get you shouted down now–second wave feminism). Having said that, to pretend that women experience equality is risable. The problems the Church has with women didn’t arise in a vacuum. Our current leaders were mostly marrying in the wake of WW2 when men were returning from a soul-shattering war, often with serious emotional scars, and women were being deliberately forced out of the workplace to make room for them. Wages for women fell by 26%. For women of color, they fell by much more. The nation told women that they were responsible for the emotional healing of these war-scarred men, that they had to prop them up and defer to them as part of that healing process. It didn’t have to go that way, but that’s what the US chose to do. That’s a long time ago, and having been born in the late 60s, it feels nearly unrelated to my life experience, but for those who are in their 80s and 90s, that’s a narrative they bought, hook, line and sinker. It was in movies. It was in advertising. It was the water they were swimming in. It’s easy to choose to stay home with the kids when you can’t earn enough anyway, the workplace is rife with harassment and discrimination, and you’ve been given a Very Important Mission by the government to support these brave, bruised men.
Would the government, workplaces, and the Church be better off if we had something closer to 50% men and women, working side by side, making decisions together? Than it is today, for sure. The more diversity in our decision making bodies, the better the decisions.
I didn’t watch all of conference, but one of the themes it seemed to emphasize that is coming up a lot lately is “Ongoing Restoration”.
As a missionary, I naively taught that the LDS church is organized and administered exactly the way Jesus set up the church in his day. Of course, that is absurd as Jesus did not organize a church. Christianity was a sect of Judaism for 70+ years before the Christians were excommunicated and Jewish Christians quickly ceased to exist going forward. Now the Q15 are saying that we are restoring the “New Testament” church. Much of that restoration is tenuous at best. Restoring doctrines that were rejected as heresy are probably the most factual/historical restorations (I’m not commenting on the “heresies” themselves).
Other than some select details, it seems to me that a lot of changes and new policies are being labeled a part of the ongoing restoration of the New Testament church when there is little or no evidence they are a restoration of something that we can document as having been lost. Some are completely anachronistic.
Phrases such as “God has revealed”, “It’s part of the ongoing restoration”, and “God’s Law is” cannot be proven nor is there sufficient evidence to disprove them. It falls back to “Trust the Lord’s mouthpiece here on earth.” It’s a grownup version of “because I said so”. In the New Testament church, the bishop was in charge of the young women’s program – seriously. And previous church administrations strayed from the formula and we now have to get in closer compliance to the revealed restoration.
“Ongoing Restoration”, to me anyway, has become code for we made up something new and we feel sure that this is the way it was done about 2,000 years ago so we are going have you start doing it that way. Nah – not really. It’s code for “because we say so”.
Been There, I have thought that “Restoration” had become a Mormon-speak word for the Church, so that “Ongoing Restoration” simply meant the Church continues to make changes and has nothing to do with what was done 2,000 years ago. That would be consistent with the multiple references in the last 2 or 3 decades to “hymns of the Restoration” which clearly meant whatever hymns are in our hymnbook and not hymns written by people who were members of our restorationist Church or hymns about the restoration. But, yes, the phrase is designed to mislead or accidentally misleads. I think a lot of it is accidental because many simply pick up catchy locutions originated by some GA and use them repeatedly without clear thought about what they mean or might mean or might miscommunicate.
Wondering, I think you are right when looking back over the decades. What I see new are the terms “ongoing Restoration” and “restoration of the New Testament church”
Thinking of them in the historical context you presented is benign. But they have become new buzz words. To me that signals a unified new spin or approach. There has to be an objective behind it.
I could be reading more into this than it deserves, but recent church history also suggests there are long-term themes developing and we seeing the first stages of reframing existing concepts or introducing new ones.
Been There, Could be. I suspect you may credit our leaders with more thoughtfulness and long-term planning than I am accustomed to doing.
Nothing new to report. Same old, same old.
Rather than hype a new logo, (and another Proclamation) maybe we ought to actually focus on and speak of Christ and his teachings.
Too often I come away with the feeling that, instead of worshipping God and His Son, we worship Prophets. We worship male Priesthood holders. We worship the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Is this the best we can do?
Maybe the church really is being led by profits.
Sad that it was so underwhelming at exactly the time when the need for insight and pastoral care is so great.
Wondering
Well, there is certainly a lot of Ready, Fire, Aim going on. But the church does extensive research and testing on many positions, practices, and policies. They do make long-term plans for rolling out certain core changes.
A current example is in recasting “translation” of the BOM to the “BOM was revealed to/by Joseph”. This started a few years ago with historians slipping it in now and then in publications and Face-to-Face fireside events. We are seeing the “revealed” language more often and even some GA talks using it. It won’t be too many years before “translated by the gift and power of God” is completely replaced by “revealed by the gift and power of God”. This following BOM historicity difficulties.
The Book of Abraham is the poster child for “it wasn’t done they way Joseph said it was” and we got the Gospel Topics Essay and “apologetics” being worked into the curriculum and Ensign articles.
When it comes to gaslighting, the church knows how to play the long game.
Hedgehog and Angela C
Still don’t want to detract too much, but just want to say thank you for your thoughtful responses. I can’t honestly say I agree with everything, but my main reason for frequenting W & T (despite my frequent commenting) is to understand others, and I appreciate you helping me with that.
Been There, I expect I don’t notice the same things you do. Perhaps because it has been obvious to me for decades that neither the BoM nor the BoA was a translation of their source materials in the sense “translation” is most commonly used. That is, JS did not learn either Reformed Egyptian or Egyptian and then express the content of the plates or the papyrus in his version of King James Bible English. So I haven’t paid attention to when those ideas popped up in firesides or GA talks. On the other hand perhaps those changes are delayed Church responses to what happened in historical and/or apologetic circles and not because of any long-term, Church-leader-led conspiracy to gaslight (whatever that means in current popular usage divorced from the origin of the term). Maybe I’m just incorrigibly skeptical of conspiracy theories, having felt somewhat burned by Ezra Taft Benson’s and Cleon Skousen’s. So, maybe you’re right.
I’m so glad that I just happened upon this blog! I was definitely underwhelmed by conference this past weekend and wondered if I was alone. It seems many of my family members were so excited about the temple announcements that they didn’t feel the same disappointment with the talks that I felt.
I feel I am suffering, being stuck at home with young kids and trying to manage everything alone. I would have loved some compassion in the talks for our current situation and advice as well as inspiration that I could pull up and listen to again and again. I didn’t feel the need to hear more history of Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon.
The talks missed the mark for me. For example, I think the Primary president should have shared practical ideas to the children of ways they could learn and serve at home during the pandemic rather than some blah blah on women’s roles. Love the idea of a GA doing a fireside every once in a while. Doing church from home is hard.
I don’t want to be critical, but that’s how I feel. Thanks for your other validating comments. I now know that I am not alone in my feelings.
Thanks for the continuing comments, everyone.
ReTx, I think you’re right — the logo isn’t to tell the world “Hey, we’re the church formerly known as Mormon,” it’s just for the inside audience. Maybe the message is to insiders: “We’re the Jesus church, not the Moroni church.” So they ought to be quoting the New Testament more and the Book of Mormon less in Conference.
Latam girl said, “The Proclamation seemed to be canonizing an origin story.” Which is a little odd, because JS-History in the Pearl of Great Price is already there, canonized, and the story in the new Proclamation and as summarized in half a dozen talks in Conference is hardly any different. Maybe they think the JS-History account is tainted because of the other FV accounts that have received so much attention lately.
DKF, I agree with all your points. Yes, the leaders did not seem to recognize the level of anxiety in the membership. Yes, it sure seemed like there were talking points or key phrases circulated to the speakers beforehand. The degree of praise given to Pres. Nelson was just short of fawning. Try again next Conference.
Angela said, “The logo seems like a hobby horse of Nelson gone awry. It’s vertical and too detailed, so it doesn’t work well in footers.” Yeah, it will be interesting to see how they actually use the logo. The Lutheran roots do present something of a conundrum. I’m thinking for my next Sacrament talk, I’m going to note the Lutheran heritage of our new logo, then mention five other things about Lutheranism the Church might consider adopting. Elsewhere, I have called this idea “the Uchtdorf Initiative.” Kind of like the Avengers Initiative.
As for Lutheranism, we already have “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” in our hymnal. A healthy dose of “Solo Scriptura” would do us some good 🙂
The white statue at the Oakland temple is an aesthetic disaster. It looks cheap and awkward. Those feet…I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true of the other copies.
Many here have commented on the lack of addressing the current pandemic. I really feel that the speakers should have been given a bit of a pass on having to present pre-prepared talks and be able to be more spontaneous and more fully address people’s anxiety and give comfort. I’m sure having to present it the way they did too, without an audience and the ambiance that that provides may have something to do with it but it felt very flat. There was a lot of repetition on topics. Even the hosanna shout felt flat and awkward. Ten hours is also just too much.
I wonder if the reason they don’t specifically call out conspiracy theories is because there’s too much false belief by members in them. If they don’t address something, it can’t be important. Might be their thinking.
The Hosanna Shout is very moving when you understand the background. It is something we can do in seriously petitioning the Lord
“Hosanna ” was shouted by the crowd in Jerusalem when Jesus made his entry that 1st Palm Sunday and long before then. The word means, “save us now, we beseech thee”.
To do it in unison world-wide was a plea to God that we acknowledge our dependency on Him for everything, our thankfulness ,and now we implore His help to stop this virus. It’s never done outside a sacred setting which indicates how seriously Pres. Nelson took this.
We raise and wave a white “flag” to show
God we humbly submit before Him.
When Pres. Nelson indicated “little did I know” it validated what I’ve come to realize. That they’re watchmen on the tower for the Church as an institution to survive whatever threatens it. For us, they teach correct principles and their job is done. We are in charge of us.
That’s just how I see it.
The temples are supposedly going to be open round the clock in the Millennium. Many, many are needed because there’s billions of deceased people who will have their ordinances done at that time and need to before the 1,000 years ends.
“ Many, many are needed because there’s billions of deceased people who will have their ordinances done at that time and need to before the 1,000 years ends.”
It is estimated that the number of people who’ve ever lived on earth is around 105 billion.
Mez, enjoy doing temple work for 1k years. As for me and my wife. We will sit by the pool, sunning our celestial bodies with a library of books behind, 1k years of delightful reading!