Comments on: Thoughts on Conference

By: Antonio Parr

Antonio Parr — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:57:18 +0000

(Not that I have any say as to who gets to debate what. And although I do not understand fully what constitutes a threadjack, my guess is that my furthering this discussion is probably helping to lead this topic somewhere outside the original focus of the most General Conference address.)

By: Antonio Parr

Antonio Parr — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:54:36 +0000

I fear that Eric’s sentiments are not uncommon amongst Latter-Day Saints, and reflect an area of weakness that must become a strength in order for Latter-Day Saints to realize their full spiritual potentials.

Psalms 150 commands as follows:

1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

Alma 26 provides

8 Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever.
• • •
12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.
• • •
14 Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell.
• • •
16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

Sorry, but this topic isn’t even open for debate.

By: J. Nelson-Seawright

J. Nelson-Seawright — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:34:37 +0000

Eric, if you have a narrow sense in mind, that probably accounts for your comments above. If you have a cultural distaste for demonstrative modes of religious worship, that’s a very different thing from not favoring worship in general. My guess is that you’ll be more successful in communicating on this topic if you choose other language.

By: Eric Russell

Eric Russell — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:57:03 +0000

JNS, either you misunderstand me or I misunderstand you, because I don’t totally follow. In any case, I agree that there’s room for improvement with regards to teaching in the church.

Before moving any further, we probably ought to have a clearer definition of “praise and worship.” I mean it in a rather narrow sense.

By: J. Nelson-Seawright

J. Nelson-Seawright — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:42:25 +0000

Eric, really? In that case, we don’t particularly need church at all. We could replace church almost entirely with a collection of generically theistic mutual self-improvement associations, like Alcoholics Anonymous. We could have Prideful People Anonymous, and Liars Anonymous, and Lustful People Anonymous, and Selfish People Anonymous, etc. All of these could acknowledge a Higher Power without additional details, and the improvements which we carry out would be the highest good of all.

If, on the other hand, we think with Alma that preaching the Gospel is the best way to bring about change, we might want to rethink your position.

In any case, I’d think that your position had a lot more to offer if (a) we didn’t have vast stretches of teaching time in our Sunday services, and (b) that teaching time is largely not used to teach, instead being used primarily for mutual affirmation — not an unworthy purpose, but not instructive.

By: Ian M. Work

Ian M. Work — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:25:40 +0000

As far as worshiping at church, I think that, if all wards followed the example of General Conference, then I think the “worshiping” would be a pretty good amount. As it stands, I see a lot of talks in the ward that either never mention Christ, or they are only loosely related to the gospel. I think Bishops could do a little better job in that department. As for commenting on this last conference, it was good, at least what I saw.

By: Eric Russell

Eric Russell — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:24:35 +0000

I am indeed serious. I don’t think God needs to be praised. To the extent that we do praise him, I think its only purpose is to humble us and remind us of our obligation towards him. It’s a good thing and valuable, but time is finite, and an excess of it comes at the cost of actual teaching. And I think teaching is a generally more effective means of helping one another become like Christ – which is the goal.

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:18:20 +0000

The final post is:

http://mormonmatters.org/2009/04/17/lds-worship-part-iii/

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:17:21 +0000

The second post is:

http://mormonmatters.org/2009/04/13/lds-worship-part-ii/

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:16:45 +0000

There is a fascinating (and very respectful) series of three posts on Mormon Matters by a Disciples of Christ minister about his impressions of a Sacrament Meeting he attended with his Mormon girlfriend. He referenced General Conference in his posts. The discussion in the threads is very interesting.

The first post is “LDS Worship” – http://mormonmatters.org/2009/04/07/lds-worship/