- JB on Dieter F. Uchtdorf, [Probable Future] President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “There’s also the fact that Uchtdorf clearly donated money to the Biden campaign in 2020—which he then tried to play off like it was a relative who did it when he got some conservative backlash, but come on, it was clearly him. (Of course as a German born during WWII, as you’ve noted, it makes perfect sense why he’d oppose a wannabe-dictator in the first place; he’d know the warning signs better than anyone.) Even if a donation for Biden only indicates that he is merely a moderate liberal at best, that still puts him to the left of at least 60% of the active U.S. church membership. Hence why I think the church’s liberals are still not completely out of line to hope he’d be a more progressive church president, at least comparatively (though you’re probably right that an Uchtdorf presidency still wouldn’t result in, say, gay sealings or female ordination—though that’s partly cause he’d be outnumbered in the Q15 anyways).” Jan 13, 07:45
- on Dieter F. Uchtdorf, [Probable Future] President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “I think he’s the most well known current apostle and he seems to come from a place that resonates with many-where he was not part of the religious majority. Excellent modern speaker. During COVID I was living in Germany and we tuned in for a meeting with him and his wife where he spoke in German and it was translated. 2 things I remember. 1. He talked about how bad American chocolate was and that he brings back suitcases of his favorite chocolate from the grocery story. He didn’t say the name but showed a piece and it was the Lindt brand. 2. His wife said something I think about regularly, “The Church is a place where we practice being Christians.” Simple and profound. I want more Oaks time to learn and see where he helps steer the ship but look forward to future leadership and input by others..” Jan 13, 06:31
- on Dieter F. Uchtdorf, [Probable Future] President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “German – Pilot – Pres = Love it! I met him shortly after he was called and is as nice as you would think. I just like his positive and uplifting attitude in his conference talks.” Jan 13, 06:15
- on Weekly Calls as a Safeguard Against Mission Abuses: “IMO the church has an unhealthy obsession with baptism #s and hoarding money. Let me add temple building in there too. The three-fold obsession of the church. Bless their hearts. Being “dressed down” for “low numbers” is all the proof you need. Six months before baptism? I guess that is a byproduct of prior days of huge numbers of converts with little to no teaching….” Jan 12, 20:00
- on Weekly Calls as a Safeguard Against Mission Abuses: “I served in the early 70’s, a period when number-chasing by mission leaders was rampant throughout the world. I was blessed beyond measure to have, for most of my mission, a president with a background in the humanities (BYU Spanish professor), who had served in Mexico in an era when they were required to teach people for 6 months before they could be baptized. When I worked in the mission office, this president (and his wife and children) became a second family to me and I had talks with him that were that were comparable to that of a warm, caring father with his son. He even helped guide me into my future career (translation and language services). Yes, we had rules and were expected to follow them. We had numerical goals and had to report on them every week. This was not an “anything goes” warm-and-fuzzy mission. But our baptism levels were not “up there” with other missions, and my mission president was dressed down afterwards by the authority who gave him his exit interview. His wife was bitter about it for years afterwards. Some of the countries that had spectacular baptism rates during that era later had to have Elder Oaks or Elder Holland come and administer the work there to try to clean up the chaotic situation created by tens or even hundreds of thousands of members of record who had essentially no connection with the Church. By the time my own sons served, also in Latin America, some 20 to 25 years ago, the situation had already greatly improved. Due to the sheer number of mission leaders now being called, there will still be an occasional abusive or fanatical leader, but overall I think we are doing much, much better.” Jan 12, 16:26
- on Dirt, Divinity, and DNA: Avram Shannon on the Two Creation Stories of Genesis: “Seems to me that Joseph Smith mostly dealt with that in the 2nd Article of Faith: we need to be saved from our own sins, not Adam’s transgression. I see the garden as a type story, if not a straight-up parable (with real historical figures cast as characters–something that’s familiar from the temple). The garden represents our premortal existence with God, Adam and Eve represent all of us, and the choice to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil represents the choice we made to enter mortality and learn about good and evil from our own experience. “The fall” is thus being born into a mortal body on a flawed world. Adam and Eve eating the fruit and being cast out of the garden is a type of the real fall. It seems to me that God is happy to let us try to figure out “why” and “how” questions on our own—and sometimes get them wrong, and sometimes disagree with each other—as long as we accept the fundamentals and are willing to act on them. He wants us to learn to think for ourselves. That everyone sins and everyone dies is an obvious empirical fact, and our need to be saved from them does not depend on why we think that is. Rest assured I feel the need for a Savior very strongly even though I don’t think it was Adam and Eve who put me in that state.” Jan 12, 12:52
- on Weekly Calls as a Safeguard Against Mission Abuses: “A few years ago a young man in my ward was a missionary called to a very poor nation. He father told me that his son could not share with the family at this time all the various privations that went with living in that nation, and the father understood this. We can’t have missionaries sending e-mails weekly detailing the ways Haiti doesn’t measure up to Norway, documenting that the missionaries look down on their hosts.” Jan 12, 07:34
- on Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 1/11: “Here are my reactions to my Church meetings yesterday (1/11): In Elders Quorum, in a discussion about new beginnings, one brother said that his new beginning didn’t start with a sickness (like in an example given), but with thinking wrong. The beginning was when he started thinking differently. Another brother suggested “God never counts the cost of providing comfort.” While I get the idea behind this, I think the intention was about God counting the cost to Him. I suspect he does count the cost to each of us, so that any damage or cost isn’t more than what we can bear. At the end of the class, the teacher thanked the class for “also teaching the lesson.” I agree completely. We learn in the conversation, and contributing to the conversation makes the lesson. I wish more members understood this. ” Jan 11, 18:23
- on Weekly Calls as a Safeguard Against Mission Abuses: ““*(And it was quite silly; the missionaries simply started saying ‘y’all’ instead of ‘guys.’)” You’re kidding! You mean, the apostasy actually deepened?!! What? Oh. Sorry. Never mind, don’t mind me. Yes, I had to be the one to do it. (Not to trivialize a serious issue, but if my three choices are: (1) laugh, (2) cry, and (3) scream, whenever possible, I try to do the first over the other two …)” Jan 11, 15:14
- on Spiritual Experiences Going off the Rails: “Yes, thanks for those additional insights, Ross and BJ. Blessings on you, BJ, for all that you’ve gone through. To me, though, your child’s condition sounds different that Daybell and Hildebrandt who were able to function a long time and attract followers.” Jan 11, 13:49
