{"id":47032,"date":"2024-04-26T11:17:54","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T17:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.timesandseasons.org\/?p=47032"},"modified":"2024-04-26T11:17:54","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T17:17:54","slug":"thoughts-on-david-a-bednar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2024\/04\/thoughts-on-david-a-bednar\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on David A. Bednar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I recently worked on reviewing the addresses of Elder David A. Bednar to put together a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fromthedesk.org\/the-best-david-a-bednar-quotes-2024-edition\/\">David A. Bednar quotes<\/a> page over at <em>From the Desk<\/em>. As I worked on it, I noticed some interesting patterns and other observations that I thought I would share. These include a standardized structure he seems to follow, some core concepts that he reiterates over and over, and his sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Structural Patterns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Elder Bednar seems to have created a ritualized format that he uses in creating his general conference talks. If I had to summarize the basic idea, I would put it as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Scripture quote as title<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Introduction\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Short story or scripture reference as a hook<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Asking for the assistance of the Holy Ghost for both himself and the audience to learn together about [short summary of topics in address]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Main Body\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Story or parable<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Doctrinal exposition\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This usually builds on the story or parable and revolves around scriptures, statements of Joseph Smith, or other prophets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Testimony and Promise\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is the conclusion section, but it is always titled as &#8220;Testimony and Promise&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Another pattern to his talks is that he seems to gather together a lot of major ideas in his BYU Speeches first (which are generally longer than his general conference addresses), and then pulls them into his general conference talks, though usually in an altered way. For example, his 2001 address \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/speeches.byu.edu\/talks\/david-a-bednar\/strength-lord\/\">In the Strength of the Lord<\/a>\u201d (given while he was still president of BYU-I) contains a lot of his core doctrinal emphasis around the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This later resurfaced in his general conference addresses in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/general-conference\/2004\/10\/in-the-strength-of-the-lord?lang=eng\">October 2004<\/a> (his first), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/general-conference\/2007\/10\/clean-hands-and-a-pure-heart?lang=eng\">October 2007<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/general-conference\/2012\/10\/converted-unto-the-lord?lang=eng\">October 2012<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/general-conference\/2015\/04\/therefore-they-hushed-their-fears?lang=eng\">April 2015<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/general-conference\/2016\/10\/if-ye-had-known-me?lang=eng\">October 2016<\/a>. His 2009 address at BYU-I entitled &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/ensign\/2010\/06\/things-as-they-really-are?lang=eng\">Things as They\u00a0Really Are<\/a>&#8221; resurface in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/general-conference\/2013\/04\/we-believe-in-being-chaste?lang=eng\">April 2013<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/general-conference\/2019\/10\/22bednar?lang=eng\">October 2019<\/a> general conference addresses. His <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/general-conference\/2022\/04\/14bednar?lang=eng\">April 2022<\/a> general conference address makes more sense when read after his 2007 BYU Speech, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/speeches.byu.edu\/talks\/david-a-bednar\/reservoir-living-water\/\">A Reservoir of Living Water<\/a>.&#8221; His BYU speeches are important backdrops for his general conference talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Core Concepts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Part of why his BYU Speeches form connections with multiple general conference addresses is that he is reiterating a core message over the course of his apostolic career. My paraphrase of that repeated message would be as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The purpose of our existence is to become like God and Christ<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mortality is a test of our willingness to submit to God (through obedience to ancient and modern prophets) and an opportunity to experience things that we could not in an incorporeal pre-mortal state<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The effect of the Atonement of Jesus Christ on us during mortal life is to make bad humans good (allow repentance and remission of sins) and good humans better (through giving strength to become better and more Christlike)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The strength to go from good to better drawn from the Atonement of Jesus Christ is called the &#8220;enabling power&#8221; of the Atonement, &#8220;grace,&#8221; and should be talked about more frequently<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We access this &#8220;enabling power&#8221; of the Atonement of Jesus Christ through ordinances and covenants \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ordinances connect us to the Atonement as official channels of grace, allowing access to the &#8220;power of Godliness&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Covenants that are honored provide purpose and the assurance of blessings in both mortality and for eternity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Holy Ghost is the agent of purification from sin and we should consistently focus on obeying the command to &#8220;receive the Holy Ghost&#8221; through living the Gospel of Jesus Christ<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Satan opposes our progress in the Gospel, particularly through the misuse of our bodies and needs to be guarded against constantly<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The goal of all of these is for us to <em>become<\/em> more like God and Christ rather than going through ritual motions and checklists<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>While much of this falls within the traditional Plan of Salvation narrative we are familiar with in the Church, there are aspects that are expressed in unique ways by David A. Bednar. The &#8220;enabling power&#8221; of the Atonement is something that seems to have been coined by Bednar, and the emphasis that the Holy Ghost is the purifying agent rather than the ordinances (e.g., the sacrament) is something that is more salient in his addresses than elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>David A. Bednar seems to be committed to articulating a view of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is deeply rooted in the works of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. I pointed out a couple years ago, when analyzing <a href=\"http:\/\/archive.timesandseasons.org\/2020\/11\/president-nelsons-sources\/index.html\">Russell M. Nelson&#8217;s general conference addresses<\/a>, that Elder Bednar&#8217;s scripture citations rely heavily on the Book of Mormon (back then, 42% of his scripture citations were Book of Mormon, putting him in the top three living apostles for frequency of citing that volume of scriptures). Another observation I made while working through his general conference addresses is that while the Doctrine and Covenants isn&#8217;t cited as frequently as the Book of Mormon, it does seem to have an outsized significant impact in framing his discussions. Outside of the scriptures, Elder Bednar frequently refers to Joseph Smith&#8217;s teachings, particularly around the time that the 2007 <em>Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith<\/em> book was published by the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Those are the major observations I have about David A. Bednar&#8217;s general conference addresses after reading through all 40 of them in two weeks. Hope you enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently worked on reviewing the addresses of Elder David A. Bednar to put together a David A. Bednar quotes page over at From the Desk. As I worked on it, I noticed some interesting patterns and other observations that I thought I would share. These include a standardized structure he seems to follow, some core concepts that he reiterates over and over, and his sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":47034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2890,1284],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-desk","category-general-conference-features"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/David-A.-Bednar-quotes-gospel.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47032"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47074,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47032\/revisions\/47074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}