Category Archives: General Conference Book Club

General Conference Book Club Week 1: Favorites

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 “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled,  Whether by mine own voice, or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”  (Doctrine and Covenants 1:38)

Easter is a time of new beginnings, a symbol of renewal.  What better than General Conference to help us shake off the “old self,”  invigorate us with the Spirit, and begin us on a path of spiritual rebirth?

With that, a new round of the General Conference Book Club begins.  Next week, we’ll begin studying one talk from this conference.  For this week, leave in the comments below some of your favorite highlights from this conference.  Favorite talk?  A stand-out quote? Most memorable moments?  Share what you loved and learned.

For those who are new to the General Conference Book Club (GCBC), we’d love to have you join us in our study and discussion.  Here’s how it works:

The goal is to read one General Conference talk a week and discuss it together as an on-line “book club.”

(If you’re not familiar with General Conference or the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, go here and here and here for more information.)

A new talk will be posted each Sunday.

You don’t have to do anything to “join” the club– You can just visit the Sunday post at any time during the week and share thoughts, findings, favorite quotes, applications, even questions from the talk of the week. Personally, I think it would be a good idea to subscribe to comments from the post so that we can read each other’s insights and have a “real book club” conversation.  (There are two ways to do this:  1. Below the actual talk post, click on Comments RSS below the “Actions” list to subscribe to an RSS feed for comments, or 2. click the little box under the “Submit Comment” button so that comments are emailed to you.)   Or of course, you can just check back often to see what folks are saying.

My own plan is to try and use the talk as a guide for my personal scripture study throughout the week.  First I’ll read the talk all the way through, then look up and read all the scripture references he quoted, and then break the talk down into segments to study them carefully and try to find other related scriptures that help me understand it better.  Feel free to share any ideas of how you plan to study or apply the talks we read.  (You’re allowed to do this however you want.  You can simply have a goal to read the talk before the week is over, and that’s good, too.)

Here’s a little button you can put on your own blog if you’d like to.  Feel free to invite friends (the real kind and bloggy kind as well) to participate.  The more the merrier.  You can link it directly to this page or to the host page at https://diapersanddivinity.com/gcbc since it has all the instructions for the Book Club challenge.

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And try to comment when you’ve read each article, even something as simple as “I did it.”  Then we have a certain motivation/accountability to each other to meet our goal of reading all the talks from the previous General Conference. The objective is to read the words of the living prophets and learn from them.  Our book club community is for sharing and encouraging, but please don’t feel pressure that you have to come around and make profound insights or write eloquent summaries.  Just show up and be counted!

General Conference Book Club Week 25: Elder Callister and Elder Nielson

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Last week, last two talks!  These two talks are seemingly unrelated, but studying them will finish off ALL of the talks from the October 2009 General Conference.  It’s been a great ride, and reading all the messages from those who are called to lead and instruct us has given me a lot of personal direction and answered many prayers along the way.  I’m so looking forward to next week, when we’re able to hear again the words of God that are specific to us at just this time.  I’m so grateful for the blessing of living prophets, seers and revelators.

The final talks:

“Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration” by Elder Tad R. Callister

Through Joseph Smith have been restored all the powers, keys, teachings, and ordinances necessary for salvation and exaltation.

In many ways the gospel of Jesus Christ is like a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. When Joseph Smith came on the scene, perhaps 100 pieces were in place. Then Joseph Smith came along and put many of the other 900 pieces in place so that people could say, “Oh, now I understand where I came from, why I am here, and where I am going.”

and “A Call to the Rising Generation” by Elder Brent H. Nielson

The Savior’s call is to you of the rising generation. He is asking for worthy, prepared, faithful young men and young women who will heed the prophet’s voice, who will step up and say, as the Savior Himself said, “Here am I, send me” (Abraham 3:27). The need has never been greater.

There is no greater call than teaching “all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

 

General Conference Book Club (round 3) will start again next Sunday, with a chance for you to share some of your favorite talks, quotes, and moments from General Conference.  So take good notes, and we’ll “see” you then!

General Conference Book Club Week 23: Elder Clayton and Elder Renlund

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THREE weeks left until General Conference!!  Only two more GCBC weeks to go, and then we’ll start all over again.  Woo hoo!

(Is anybody up for that?)

We have five talks left to read, so we’ll look at two of them this week so that we can finish up on time.

Both of these talks address trials:  the first focuses on the why of burdens and suffering, and the second discusses how to endure well.

Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke at the Saturday morning session of conference.  His message was “That Your Burdens May Be Light.”

“Burdens provide opportunities to practice virtues that contribute to eventual perfection.”

“No matter the burdens we face in life as a consequence of natural conditions, the misconduct of others, or our own mistakes and shortcomings, we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father, who sent us to earth as part of His eternal plan for our growth and progress. Our unique individual experiences can help us prepare to return to Him.”

Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Seventy spoke during the Sunday afternoon session of conference, and he taught how preserving our faith and maintaining our obedience is the best way to endure our challenges well.  He also cautions us against complacency.  His talk was “Preserving the Heart’s Mighty Change.“

“Enduring to the end can be challenging because the tendency of the natural man is to reject the spiritually changed heart and allow it to harden.”

“To endure to the end, we need to be eager to please God and worship Him with fervor.”

So, enjoy these talks.  Just share some of your thoughts and insights as you read and study them.  I always love to hear what stands out to you and how it is meaningful in the circumstances of your lives.

You can go here to find the links to watch, or listen to these talks.  And here you will find more information about the GCBC if you’re curious how it works.

General Conference Book Club Week 21: Elder Oaks

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(Countdown to General Conference:  5 weeks!  Yay.)

Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke during the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference.  His talk was called “Love and Law.” Elder Oaks was a lawyer by profession and eventually a Supreme Court Judge at the state level.  His entire career was dependent upon the understanding of and the application of law.

Although I had been taught about the Atonement my entire life, and had even served a mission and taught Gospel Doctrine in several wards, I did not realize that I grossly misunderstood the role of the Atonement until I attended a seminar in which the teacher carefully laid out the delicate balance between justice and mercy.  As I begin to understand the demands of each, and the urgent need for a perfect mediator, the Atonement came into focus for me.  The Atonement of Jesus Christ answers the demands of law and satisfies the requests of mercy.  In this talk by Elder Oaks, he outlines how important the role of law is in the gospel of Jesus Christ and how His love gives us access to mercy at a cost far less than its real worth.

The love of God does not supersede His laws and His commandments, and the effect of God’s laws and commandments does not diminish the purpose and effect of His love.

You can read the talk here, or watch it here, or listen to it here.  I invite you to study the talk with me and share what you learn about law and love and justice and mercy and you.  Elder Oaks declares that these principles can guide us in the teaching of our children;  What helpful patterns do you see that you can apply as a parent?

(If this is your first visit to the General Conference Book club, click here to learn more.)

General Conference Book Club Week 19: Elder Scott and President Packer

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To ensure we get through all the talks before the next General Conference (which, by the way, is in SEVEN weeks!), I decided to double up some of the messages.  These two seemed like a good pairing to study together, with a common theme of receiving spiritual answers and direction.

Elder Richard G. Scott gave a talk in the Saturday morning session called “To Acquire Spiritual Guidance,” where he teaches that guidance will be gained “by careful practice, through the application of correct principles, and by being sensitive to the feelings that come.”

In President Boyd K. Packer’s talk from the Saturday afternoon session, “Prayer and Promptings,” he asserts that both these communications are still available to all of God’s children.  He says, “You can know the things you need to know. Pray that you will learn to receive that inspiration and remain worthy to receive it.”

I’m looking forward to studying the two talks together and finding the common threads.  Simply the fact that two talks on a very similar topic were given in Conference on the same day is an alert that it was a principle worth addressing.  What do you think the “action items” for these talks are?  What are these brethren both trying to encourage us to do more/do better?

You can find both the audio and video versions of these talks here.