Comments on: Halloween Devotional

By: queuno

queuno — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 23:59:23 +0000

Could it be that he is against war in general – and wants to hammer home that point, but feels that he shouldn’t explicitly speak out for or against this one?

By: “Terrible Cost of War” at Johnsenclan

“Terrible Cost of War” at Johnsenclan — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:25:09 +0000

[...] Gordon B.Â Hinckley (President ofÂ the LDS church)Â recently spoke at a BYU devotional.Â There is a nice write-up of the even here at By Common Consent. [...]

By: jjohnsen

jjohnsen — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:07:17 +0000

Aaah, thanks.

By: Steve Evans

Steve Evans — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:35:54 +0000

jjohnsen, see the BCC sidebar on the left side.

By: jjohnsen

jjohnsen — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:33:30 +0000

I couldn’t find Stack’s summary on the Tribune site. Does anyne have a link to it?

By: Matt W.

Matt W. — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 15:33:47 +0000

In related news, Today President Hinckley tied DOM as the oldest LDS president.

By: HP

HP — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 14:04:18 +0000

cj,
I think that Pres. Hinckley is, generally speaking, against war (unless, of course, God commands otherwise). Speaking out against this war would be either redundant or explicitly political. So of course I can understand why he doesn’t do it.

m&m,
I also didn’t really notice the anti-war vibe until someone else pointed it out to me.

By: m&m

m&m — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 06:36:58 +0000

If you download the Move Media (or whatever it’s called) player at byutv.org, you can watch the replay anytime you want. I watched it again today.

Nice summary, by the way.

I was struck by how he mentioned that whether his change of style for this talk was a good thing would be up to the listener. I sensed that there is more than meets the eye and that we should ponder his words to learn from them. He said that these events affected him in a significant way, but I think he leaves it to us to consider why that is so.

One of the messages I got from the talk was what a blessing the gospel is. Life is hard, but the gospel light breaks through, especially when it is lived in love. Love seems like a theme that can run through many of the stories.

I was interested to read Stack’s summary in the Trib — I thought the war thing was actually a little overstated, but I can see why such an assertion could be made. I think it’s less a political statement anyway and more just a deep desire for peace in every way. Pres. Hinckley has spoken about that desire both in a world sense and also in a personal sense (that we have peace in our homes and in our lives). I think he’d be down on ANY war, not just one that is politically charged.

Therefore, I don’t necessarily see a need for him to come out with a “position” on this specific war. His position is a general one, IMO.

By: cj douglass

cj douglass — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 05:30:37 +0000

Thanks JDC for the info. It brings a question to mind. Why can’t Pres. Hinckley speak out against the war? Without favoring a political party, the FP finds it suitable to speak out against gay marriage and I don’t see how the war is any less a moral issue. Ofcourse if the Prophet does divulge to Mike Wallace that he’s against the war I guess that doesn’t mean that the rest of the brethren are of the same opinion. Still, my partisan side wonders why the FP won’t give us democrats an inch.

By: MRB

MRB — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 02:36:57 +0000

Elder Maxwell used a similar approach when he offered some vignettes from his life in his last conference talk (Oct 2004). That talk has become one of my favorites. I enjoy hearing any of the Brethren move away a bit from the usual format and do something different.

Regarding the possible (but understated) war theme: Last year at the time of President Hinckley’s 95th birthday, the following was reported:

From: Peggy Fletcher Stack, “Mike Wallace: CBS icon visits his friend” in The Salt Lake Tribune, 23 July 2005 (http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2883951; viewed 23 July 2005):

LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley “was not and is not happy with the war in Iraq,” CBS newsman Mike Wallace said Friday. “He deplores what’s going on there.”

The longtime reporter, who interviewed Hinckley for “60 Minutes” in 1995, was in Utah to participate in Hinckley’s 95th birthday gala at the LDS Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City.

“It wasn’t an interview situation, so I didn’t press” Hinckley, Wallace told a half-dozen or so reporters. “But I was sorry I didn’t have a camera.”

LDS spokesman Dale Bills was quick to say the church “has no position on the war in Iraq” and that Wallace’s comments were “his own characterization of a private conversation.”

President Hinckley probably has not felt it appropriate to say more than he has said.

This report caused not so much as a ripple in the water. It was, for all intents, ignored by the populace.