It's Conference time, brothers and sisters! By which I mean General Conference time! What is General Conference? It's one of the best things to happen twice a year, in my opinion (for a news release about conference, check out the Mormon Newsroom. Also, check out this nifty infographic )
General Conference is held twice a year. It consists of a series of talks and sermons by the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The words of the speakers are powerful, and more importantly, they're for our day (we'll talk about that in a later post).
While all of the speakers (and I mean all) give powerful messages, you tend to see some crowd favorites. One is President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (see his bio on lds.org), well known for his accent and stories about Aviation. Another is President Thomas S. Monson, (his bio), who draws masterfully upon his 50 years of service as an Apostle to tell engaging stories.
And then there's Jeffrey R. Holland, or as some have called him, "The Bulldog of the Lord."
I could talk about what makes Elder Holland an engaging speaker, but I figured I'd show you instead.
We'll first examine a well-known talk of Elder Holland's, entitled "Safety for the Soul." (If you have time, I highly recommend watching the whole talk. If not, watch from around 5:50 until 13:20 (again, you might as well watch the whole thing)) (Full Text Here)
Let that version of Elder Holland settle for a bit in your consciousness, then watch this next clip, from a later conference address entitled "Because of Your Faith." (Again; you might as well watch the whole talk. But, the part we'll focus on runs from 7:03-12:20). (Full Text Here)
That's quite the difference, isn't it? In one talk, Elder Holland is raising his voice and spitting fire, defending the truth of the Book of Mormon (which I also know to be true). In the other, he's calm and quiet, as he humbly thanks his parents for the sacrifices they made to help him have the life he has (which I would also like to do at this time. I'd be nowhere without my two parents. Keep Being Amazing, Mom and Dad. Keep Moving Forward).
Both talks may bring the listener to tears, but here's the question of the day; which one is better? Or, in other words: Elder Holland is an Apostle, a Special Witness of Jesus Christ. It is his duty to teach in a Christlike manner; in which talk did he do a better job of fulfilling this purpose?
To decide, let's examine two examples from the Savior's life depicted in the Bible Videos produced by the church. (Bible Video Home Page) These two incidents, recorded in the Gospel of John, take place one after the other.
First,
Then,
So, let's review. In one of the videos, Jesus tenderly forgives a woman who has committed adultery, a sin that the Book of Mormon prophet Alma says is "an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea, most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost." (Alma 39:5)
In the other, he severely chastises a group of Pharisees, calling them children of the devil (if you don't feel that's harsh enough, look no further than this video [Jesus Cleanses the Temple]). So, like Elder Holland, at times he was gentle, at others he was more forceful.
So what do we do? Though we're not Apostles or Prophets, almost all of us find ourselves in teaching moments where we need to instruct or correct someone else. Do we do it gently or forcefully?
As I've discussed this with my current missionary companion, Elder Pope (check out Elder Pope's Mormon.org profile here) we've found two guiding principles for the way in which we teach. Whenever we find ourselves in one of these situations, we must teach:
1) Out of love
and
2) By the Spirit,
As both Jesus and Elder Holland did. There's no one-size-fits-all solution to teaching. Just as we're all individuals, we all learn differently, and we all need to hear the message of the Gospel in our own way. Some of us will respond to a gentle nudge or mild reproof. Others will only listen as they feel the heat of a fiery sermon. No matter what, so long as the teacher seeks to teach his listeners in a loving, Spirit-guided way, the learners will hear what they need to hear and how they need to hear it.
In the end, I have no idea what Elder Holland is going to do this Conference. That goes for him and all of the other Prophets and Apostles. But what I do know is that they have spent countless hours preparing for this occasion, and if we're willing to listen to them and the Spirit, we'll come away edified, with a better idea of what God wants us to do.
I know that God lives and loves us. I know that He has called Prophets and Apostles in our days, and I know that they teach us in His way. I eagerly look forward to hearing their words this weekend, and I invite you all to do so as well (watch it online here, on BYUTV, or at a chapel near you). I say these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Happy Conference watching!
-Elder Richmond
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