{"id":43927,"date":"2022-11-13T07:01:29","date_gmt":"2022-11-13T13:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?page_id=43927"},"modified":"2022-11-13T07:17:32","modified_gmt":"2022-11-13T13:17:32","slug":"recent-comments","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/recent-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Comments"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul id=\"better-recent-comments\" class=\"recent-comments-list\"><li class=\"recentcomments recent-comment\"><div class=\"comment-wrap\"><span class=\"comment-author-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\" class=\"url\" rel=\"ugc\">Gary Bergera<\/a><\/span> on <span class=\"comment-post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/a-review-educating-zion-the-diaries-of-byu-president-ernest-l-wilkinson-1952-1971\/#comment-562816\">A Review: Educating Zion: The Diaries of BYU President Ernest L. Wilkinson, 1952\u20131971<\/a><\/span>: &ldquo;<span class=\"comment-excerpt\">It&#8217;s tempting.<\/span>&rdquo; <span class=\"comment-date\">Jul 15, 10:05<\/span><\/div><\/li><li class=\"recentcomments recent-comment\"><div class=\"comment-wrap\"><span class=\"comment-author-link\">RL<\/span> on <span class=\"comment-post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/a-review-educating-zion-the-diaries-of-byu-president-ernest-l-wilkinson-1952-1971\/#comment-562815\">A Review: Educating Zion: The Diaries of BYU President Ernest L. Wilkinson, 1952\u20131971<\/a><\/span>: &ldquo;<span class=\"comment-excerpt\">Will this lead to a biography?<\/span>&rdquo; <span class=\"comment-date\">Jul 15, 09:15<\/span><\/div><\/li><li class=\"recentcomments recent-comment\"><div class=\"comment-wrap\"><span class=\"comment-author-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.motleyvision.org\" class=\"url\" rel=\"ugc external nofollow\">Kent Larsen<\/a><\/span> on <span class=\"comment-post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/what-you-should-talk-about-in-the-foyer-or-what-did-church-lead-you-to-think-about-yesterday-7-12\/#comment-562814\">What You Should Talk About in the Foyer (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 7\/12<\/a><\/span>: &ldquo;<span class=\"comment-excerpt\">SVbob:  I like how you have approached this. I think it borders on the question of agency vs. God\u2019s control. I suspect that many of the challenges in life come because of the agency of others, and not God\u2019s specific attempt to give us trials. That whole question is a big can of worms that seems quite mixed up in LDS thought.    Raymond Winn:   Meeting your friend in the foyer is a great story. As I\u2019ve aged I\u2019ve realized that relationships need to be maintained \u2014 they require constant investment (which seems to be something few people do outside of family). I hope that relationship is reciprocated. As I\u2019m trying to suggest with Church meetings, how you see and react to the other person determines what you will get out of it.    John Mansfield:  Yes, fascinating! Looking at these meetings both spatially and temporally is very perceptive. And like any way of looking at meetings, they can even end up a source of conflict \u2014 I remember a news item years ago about someone firing a gun at an Idaho LDS building because someone sat in \u201chis\u201d row in the chapel. We can easily end up unnecessarily in a rut or fixed on a particular spatial or temporal relationship to church. Maybe we should try some kind of rotation to mix things up.    As for your timing coming to class, you remind me that it isn\u2019t so much what we do as how open we are to the experiences we end up with. I think that when you go to a class (early, late, on time, whenever) is more about your relationships with others than it is about how much you receive from the class. I\u2019m glad that you are noticing what you are doing. That\u2019s the only way you can decide whether or not to make a change.<\/span>&rdquo; <span class=\"comment-date\">Jul 14, 23:07<\/span><\/div><\/li><li class=\"recentcomments recent-comment\"><div class=\"comment-wrap\"><span class=\"comment-author-link\">John Mansfield<\/span> on <span class=\"comment-post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/what-you-should-talk-about-in-the-foyer-or-what-did-church-lead-you-to-think-about-yesterday-7-12\/#comment-562813\">What You Should Talk About in the Foyer (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 7\/12<\/a><\/span>: &ldquo;<span class=\"comment-excerpt\">With the coming shift to a shorter priesthood meeting and a shorter Sunday school class in quick sequence, I have been thinking a lot about the various preferences people in my ward have for gathering. Spatially, many will usually choose left, right, center, front, middle, or back. The last row is strongly desired by many. Some will pick up a chair and place it well behind the back row. Some stick to the foyer. Temporally, some arrive early, some on time, and others always 20 minutes after things have started. I was once told that giant flocks of hundreds of birds wheeling through the sky maintain there structure because each bird has its preference for where it wants to be: in the middle surrounded by other birds in every direction, closer to the edge, on the edge, a bit past the edge.    Talking to my wife about this, I realized that for Gospel Doctrine, I have a srong tendency to walk into the room 3 minutes or so after it starts, preferring to skip the teacher&#8217;s carefully thought out preamble and arrive with motion underway, like hopping on a train already pulling out of the station. (When did that become a prohibited safety violation?) My wife, who sits in the classroom waiting for things to start said, &#8220;I&#8217;ve noticed that habit. I figured you had something you need to do.&#8221; &#8220;I can also find something useful to do instead of coming in and waiting.&#8221;<\/span>&rdquo; <span class=\"comment-date\">Jul 14, 14:30<\/span><\/div><\/li><li class=\"recentcomments recent-comment\"><div class=\"comment-wrap\"><span class=\"comment-author-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.motleyvision.org\" class=\"url\" rel=\"ugc external nofollow\">Kent Larsen<\/a><\/span> on <span class=\"comment-post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/cfm-7-20-7-26-thoughts-and-poetry-for-our-eyes-are-upon-thee\/#comment-562812\">CFM 7\/20-7\/26: Thoughts and Poetry for <i>&#8220;Our Eyes Are upon Thee\u201d<\/i><\/a><\/span>: &ldquo;<span class=\"comment-excerpt\">Apostle Orson F. Whitney taught that poets are prophets. The poems above along with many, many more all demonstrate a tradition of Mormons seeking peace. I wish that tradition was more apparent today among church members.<\/span>&rdquo; <span class=\"comment-date\">Jul 14, 11:55<\/span><\/div><\/li><li class=\"recentcomments recent-comment\"><div class=\"comment-wrap\"><span class=\"comment-author-link\">rogerdhansen<\/span> on <span class=\"comment-post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/cfm-7-20-7-26-thoughts-and-poetry-for-our-eyes-are-upon-thee\/#comment-562811\">CFM 7\/20-7\/26: Thoughts and Poetry for <i>&#8220;Our Eyes Are upon Thee\u201d<\/i><\/a><\/span>: &ldquo;<span class=\"comment-excerpt\">\u201cOne of the reasons we need peace is that it allows us to hear both God and His prophets. When we don\u2019t have peace, we need a prophetic voice to tell us how to obtain the peace that the Lord wants to provide us.    I\u2019m 81, the USA has been at war (or armed conflict) for most of my life.  From Korea to Iran and Ukraine. I have heard no prophetic voice advocating for peace.  And all the Mormon\u2019s in Congress are hawks.  The one action that Church leaders did take was to come out against the MX missile deployment in Utah\u2019s West Desert.     To further complicate the issue, the P3 refused to meet with the world\u2019s foremost advocate for peace:  the Dali Lama.  Instead they met with then president Trump.  Even the Pope has taken a strong against the war in Iran.     Unfortunately our prayers will not bring peace.  The Lord helps those who help themselves.<\/span>&rdquo; <span class=\"comment-date\">Jul 14, 02:04<\/span><\/div><\/li><li class=\"recentcomments recent-comment\"><div class=\"comment-wrap\"><span class=\"comment-author-link\">Raymond Winn<\/span> on <span class=\"comment-post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/what-you-should-talk-about-in-the-foyer-or-what-did-church-lead-you-to-think-about-yesterday-7-12\/#comment-562810\">What You Should Talk About in the Foyer (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 7\/12<\/a><\/span>: &ldquo;<span class=\"comment-excerpt\">Thx to Kent Larson&#8217;s entry above, I just had a vivid memory of my own encounter w Elder Perry. He addressed a Saturday session of our stake conference (in E Utah), and I also recall that he got right next to us in the benches to make his talk. Because of that talk, I was motivated to memorize the Elizabeth Barrett poem &#8220;How Do I Love Thee?&#8221;, which came in handy 18 yrs later during an impromptu sermon to a non-denominational church group on a military base on New Year&#8217;s Eve.    The &#8220;foyer&#8221; in this post is pertinent to me, because my strongest impression from my latest Sunday&#8217;s session came from our foyer. Due to circumstances, I was enjoying our Sac Mtg from the foyer thru the overhead speaker, when an old friend from another ward (their mtg was just letting out) recognized me and stopped to visit. We were wardmates decades before, until our suburb&#8217;s density increased and the inevitable ward divisions had placed us in different groups.    I remembered this man as a strong, intellectually-driven caring person, a man who had made a fair living selling encyclopedias (before home computers, of course). But this week I realized that 4 decades brings changes, some uplifting, some grinding. He now has a debilitating condition which makes him dependent on his wife. In the few moments I was able to talk to him before the wife whisked him home (so she could return to the chapel and take care of more church-related stuff), I realized that he was seeking somebody to talk to, to review and catalog his challenges, and to be interested in his past.    I realize that I should find an opportunity to rekindle our friendship on a more regular basis.   Our friendship of 4 decades ago was merely based on monthly home-teacher calls, but I think we all enjoyed the church-driven excuse to spend time together back then. Now, I think this lovely man needs an ear and an interest.<\/span>&rdquo; <span class=\"comment-date\">Jul 14, 00:00<\/span><\/div><\/li><li class=\"recentcomments recent-comment\"><div class=\"comment-wrap\"><span class=\"comment-author-link\">SVbob<\/span> on <span class=\"comment-post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/what-you-should-talk-about-in-the-foyer-or-what-did-church-lead-you-to-think-about-yesterday-7-12\/#comment-562809\">What You Should Talk About in the Foyer (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 7\/12<\/a><\/span>: &ldquo;<span class=\"comment-excerpt\">We talked about the &#8220;testing&#8221; that we undergo in this life. This was about a conference talk. The discussion was about how testing proves how good we are. Some people talked about automobile proving grounds, testing how good the engineering was.     I proposed that testing is necessary for learning. You test the auto on the proving ground. If there is a failure, you learn and re-engineer the produce. Likewise, if we are tested  in life, it is so we can learn, not to measure our worth.     I pointed out that life can deliver horrid &#8220;tests.&#8221; A few years ago we visited the mass graves in St. Petersburg, Russia, caused by the Germans starving the population. Think of being a father watching you children starving to death and praying to God for help. What a test.     Afterward a friend asked it God tests us so harshly, should we not be testing our physical children as well with harsh tests? This is what God does.    I suggested to him that much of what God subjects us to is for contrast. So that we can really appreciate the celestial realms without death and suffering. We are here to learn what evil really is. This is not a test, but an education.<\/span>&rdquo; <span class=\"comment-date\">Jul 13, 17:07<\/span><\/div><\/li><li class=\"recentcomments recent-comment\"><div class=\"comment-wrap\"><span class=\"comment-author-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/chadlawrencenielsen.wordpress.com\/\" class=\"url\" rel=\"ugc external nofollow\">Chad Nielsen<\/a><\/span> on <span class=\"comment-post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/being-man-and-woman-both-the-unfiltered-voice-of-a-pioneer-missionary-wife\/#comment-562808\">&#8220;Being Man and Woman Both&#8221;: The Unfiltered Voice of a Pioneer Missionary Wife<\/a><\/span>: &ldquo;<span class=\"comment-excerpt\">It is definitely hard on families. In some ways, the emphasis on strong, &#8220;forever&#8221; families was more a mid-twentieth-century missionary tactic that then looped back into making the Church more deeply focused on the idea. Back then, the millennial emphasis on converting people before Jesus returned took precedence. But it definitely left a lot of scars on families. While we put a lot of emphasis on the trek west in our storytelling in the Church, the most difficult things were often what came after.    Not a cougar, I am a strong believer in candid discussion of what is both going well and what is wrong or difficult in the Church. But it does go against a lot of the culture to do so, particularly in Church settings. There is also the opposite end of things to balance against &#8211; i.e., becoming exculsively focused on what is wrong to the point that we distort reality. But, again, I personally find it to be healthy to be able to openly discuss issues and concerns.<\/span>&rdquo; <span class=\"comment-date\">Jul 13, 10:44<\/span><\/div><\/li><li class=\"recentcomments recent-comment\"><div class=\"comment-wrap\"><span class=\"comment-author-link\">rogerdhansen<\/span> on <span class=\"comment-post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/the-gospel-and-entropy\/#comment-562807\">The Gospel and Entropy<\/a><\/span>: &ldquo;<span class=\"comment-excerpt\">\u201cSo yes, the fact that God can overcome thermodynamics is huge, and glorious.\u201d It\u2019s not clear that God can overcome thermodynamics.<\/span>&rdquo; <span class=\"comment-date\">Jul 13, 03:42<\/span><\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-43927","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43927"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43936,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43927\/revisions\/43936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}