By common consent at bycommonconsent.com
Let’s get ready for the releases and sustainings…
After the annual report, Elder Richard G. Scott is on deck.
We’re By Common Consenting as we speak!
The YW Presidency is released.
The new one YW Presidency information is here. And the YW president loves Pinterest.
Also notable was Grant Bennett, who introduced Mitt Romney at the RNC, called as an Area Authority Seventy. And former football player Gifford Nielsen is not in the 1st quorum of the Seventy.
“For Peace at Home” by Elder Richard G. Scott
“Regardless of your (home) circumstances, you can center our home and your life on the Lord, Jesus Christ.”
“Who could have imagined not very many years ago that the full standard works and years of general conference would fit in your pocket? Just having them in your pocket will not protect you, but studying, pondering, and listening to them during quiet moments each day will enhance communication though the Spirit.”
“Recognize the good in others, not their stains. At times a stain needs appropriate attention to be cleansed, but always build on his or her virtues.”
The Reward of Righteousness by Elder Quentin L. Cook
“I have been impressed with the doctrinal difference between universal or world peace and personal peace.”
“The heavenly aspiration of good people everywhere, has and always will be for peace in the world. We must never give up on achieving this goal.”
“Emma Lou Thayne’s beloved hymn asks the appropriate questions ‘Where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace when other sources cease to make me whole.'”
Eliza R. Snow penned this concept beautifully: Lift up you hearts in praise to God: Let your rejoicings never cease, Though tribulations rage abroad, Christ says, “In me ye shall have peace.”
The Lord’s Way by Elder Stanley G. Ellis
Lessons learned as a farm boy.
“The Lord has taught us the need to promote self-reliance. Even if we are able to help, we should not give or provide what they can and should do for themselves. Everywhere it is tried, the world learns the evils of the dole. Truly God knows best.”
“The Lord has His, or the way, to love. Those of the world say that what really matters is that two people love each other. Our Father In Heaven teaches that this is important, but He teaches us more: that there is an authorized way and time to express that love.”
The Gospel to All the World by Elder John B. Dickson
“During the early days of the Church in the Meridian of time the gospel was taken to the House of Israel only, then revelation came to Peter, the Senior Apostle, that the time had come to take the gospel beyond Israel and unto the Gentiles.”
“Then in 1978 following the established pattern of revelation through the Senior Apostle, this time President Spencer W. Kimball, came the Revelation on Priesthood allowing all worthy males across the world to receive the priesthood and every blessing of the restored gospel. This time, not only more, but all of Heavenly Father’s children worldwide could partake of all of the blessings of the gospel. How appropriate to the kingdom of God on earth in the days approaching Christ’s second coming.”
“How I wish you could join the Saints in the temple in Aba, Nigeria, or Accra, Ghana where you would sense the commitment of the saints, and come to know the all Africa Temple Presidencies or introduce you to the African Area Seventy…are are attorneys, professors, and business managers, or have you become acquainted with the African stake and ward leaders and their families.”
We Believe in Being…Chaste by Elder David A. Bednar
“The man and the woman are intended to learn from, strengthen, bless, complete, and perfect each other.”
“The power of procreation is spiritually significant. Misuse of thise power subverts the purposes of the Father’s plan and or our mortal existence. Our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son are creators and have entrusted each of us with a portion of their creative power.”
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a single, undeviating standard of sexual morality: intimate relations are proper only between a man and woman in the marriage relationship prescribed in God’s plan. Such relations are not merely a curiosity to be explored, an appetite to be satisfied or a type of recreation or entertainment to be pursued selfishly. They are not a conquest to be achieved or simply an act to be performed. Rather, they are in mortality one of the most ultimate expressions of our divine nature and potential and a way of strengthening emotional and spiritual bonds between husband and wife.”
“We are here on the earth to develop God-like qualities and to bridle all passions of the flesh.”
“Some of you who receive this message need to repent of sexual or other sins. THE Savior is often referred to as the Great Physician, and this title has both symbolic and literal significance….consider sin as a spiritual wound that causes guilt….Guilt is to our spirit what pain is to our body—a warning or danger and a protection from additional damage.”
Catch the Wave by Elder Russell M. Nelson
“Now we get questions like ‘What are we going to do with all these missionaries?’ The answer is simple. They will do what missionaries have always done. They will preach the gospel.”
“Where feasible, if you wish to attend a college or university after your mission, we encourage you to apply to your institution of choice before beginning your mission.”
“Our inquiring friends and neighbors not of our faith can also catch the wave. We encourage them to keep all that is good and true in their lives. And we invite them to receive more.”
“I cannot speak of the Restoration in tempered tones. This fact of history is absolutely stunning! It is incredible! It is breathtaking!”
“The Book of Mormon is the centerpiece of the Restoration. It was written, preserved, and transmitted under the Lord’s direction.”
Joseph Smith to the Saints in Nauvoo: “I never told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught.”
And signing off.
By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog 
Are Conference M&M’s a “dole”?
First!! The sandwiches are just coming off the grill. Here we go. Round 2. THis time, will they let a woman say the invocation?
Well shucks, guess I got too longwinded and got beat.
Candy bowl word of the session is SPIRIT.
This is my first GC on BCC, and I must say, it’s much more entertaining this way. I think it’s helping me stay awake as well, though the real test will be this post-lunch session.
Yes! Take that Rob.
Ate lunch, made it out of SLC alive (traffic was a little gross), and ready for another session. If I stay awake.
Not loving the black…don’t they know it’s Spring?!
“Vacuum” was a poor choice for Word of the Session last time, so we’re going with SPIRIT this time.
But beautiful voices, I do like this choir.
But black is such a slimming color! (And it makes it easier to see fidgeting, so there’s some entertainment value for the folks who are in the Conference Center.)
…and then there’s the one dude with the bright, bright yellow tie.
Russell T. Osguthorpe isn’t a general authority (he’s a general officer), but he spoke in the last general conference and is praying in this one. Interesting, that’s all.
“We thank thee that all the priesthood keys have been restored…” *All* of them? Is that true? Or does God reserve some of them? (Serious questions—i’m asking ’cause i don’t really know the answers.)
Double sealing keys?
Really a very good choir.
In my ward we give thanks that the “meetinghouse library keys have been found”. Is that kind of the same thing?
On Monday, did someone tell this choir that they were singing at a funeral, and they didn’t realize it was April Fool’s Day?
Beautiful choir, but I sort of want to take a bunch of pastel paints and Pollock them to get some color in there. The men are funner to look at because of their ties.
@Mandy: Agreed. A lot of these student choirs aren’t fully balanced between the parts, but they are, and this sounds like more than four parts, even.
Library keys aren’t near as important as nursery treat cabinet keys. We lost them recently and thought the world was ending.
I’m going to go turn on my robot vacuum. That way I can be extra righteous by listening to Conference and vacuuming at the same time.
Anyone else see the one guy with tears rolling down his face? Too sweet.
lol Rob
@loathing,
I am thinking that he misspoke. I don’t think the keys of resurrection or of creation have been restored. However, I don’t even know if those are keys.
Sweet Mary Jane that is the slowest singing ever! Someone break out a metronome!!
Quite a few of the men have colorful ties (several read and I even saw an orange one). The women should have worn colorful necklaces so they didn’t look so drab.
I think it’s also likely that Enoch possessed keys that JSJ never received.
PAcker and Hales appear to be AWOL.
Rob, they could be presiding over in the Tabernacle or Assembly Hall.
One of the important people seats didn’t have a man in it… just what looked like a rug or the skin on an animal. So sad…
Why so many Area Seventies being released?
President Uchtdorf always gets this job. We should be grateful, too, or else nobody would pronounce President Uchtdorf’s name right the entire conference. ;)
I think they just released everyone lol
TABER — Because their time to serve has ended and it is time for someone else to have a turn.
@john, normal annual changes
Lots and lots of names today. Also, Uchtdorf changed his tie. Does he do that every session?
GIfford Nielsen a Seventy?? As in the Quarterback?
Brooke must be new… Uchtdorf always changes his tie. He is awesome like that
“they could be presiding over in the Tabernacle or Assembly Hall.”
You mean “presiding _in an equal relationship_ in the Tabernacle or Assembly Hall.”
One advantage of being Dieter F. Uchtdorf, as a native speaker of German presenting non-English, non-German names in an English-language broadcast is that nobody expects him to pronounce them “right”. (Of course, he gets to—i think it was—Manfred Schütze, and there were no questions about it.)
I know there are always plenty, but this time it seems like more so.
Wow….First Tie comment of the day goes to Brooke?
Hugo Montoya? I would have been *so* tempted to call him Inigo.
LOATHING — I was wondering if that was who he really meant to say too. Or at least wanted to.
Uchtdorf makes sexy what would otherwise be terribly boring.
A McConkie. They’re coming back!
I wonder how long before they move the area seventies out of the general conference sustainings, so as to save time.
ANyone know if Nielson is the football player??
“It’s a long walk.” My wife says it’s probably a scary walk, too.
“It’s a long walk.”
That joke kills on an annual basis. .
Yes, Elder Nielsen did play for BYU.
Seriously, why do they even do the auditing report like this? It made sense back before the church closed its books, but now? No point now that i can see.
Kids were squabbling- I missed who the new YW presidency is… anyone?
I am honored to hold first tie comment of the day… @StillConfused, I’m not new, I think this is my 5th liveblog at BCC–but as a woman I generally suck at paying attention to the ties.
In other news, this purple paisley tie is great.
Yay Auditing! Ok, I’m an accountant, and work for the Church, so I like this.
“It’s a long walk.”
I can imagine if it (ha!) happened to me—i’d just be saying to myself the whole way, “Please don’t trip. Please don’t trip. Please don’t trip…”
ANyone know if Nielson is the football player?? — According to my spousal unit, yes. He also played for Provo High and Annapolis tried to recruit him.
Pres. Uchtdorf’s ties have not been all that impressive today; maybe that’s why not so many comments.
Brad, I’m ignoring your “presiding” comment.
Over 22,000 church service missionaries—cool to hear that number reported separately.
No “prominent members who passed away since last April”?
Gifford Nielsen is the football player. He was released as an Area Seventy and called as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.
Guess my brother in law is speaking today.
Since the church has seen fit to not release its financial data to the members that contribute to it, just once I’m waiting for the accounting guy to announce: “the church accounting department has uncovered surprising amounts activity that isn’t in accordance with church policies and good accounting practices. Thank you.”
Edward Dube is from Zimbabwe
My kids just watched “Wreck It Ralph” last week. They noticed our computer is skipping during the auditing reports. They were all excited saying “the auditor is a glitch!”
I told them that glitches aren’t allowed to leave the Conference Center.
We make Conference fun!
Nap time.
“Don’t trip”: see https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1993/04/i-know-in-whom-i-have-trusted?lang=eng
How appropriate that the slowest speaking apostle talks about slowing our lives down.
Sister Oscarson is the wife of my cool new bishop.
@John Taber: Yeah, i know—i mean, the former presiding patriarch’s death was on the front of lds.org when i went there this morning, so you’d think he’d’ve merited a mention, right?
Elder Scott’s voice is so unbelievably soothing.
So, did I hear right that the new YW president is Bonnie Oscarson? The only thing I can find on her online is her Pinterest page: http://pinterest.com/mormor20/
Anybody have better information? (Though, I have to say, the Pinterest page is sort of interesting.)
I believe Elder Scott is the first to read his own remarks in Spanish thusfar. In Portuguese also, as is his custom. No Italian, though.
He wasn’t former presiding patriarch, he was the Patriarch to the Church who happened to be an emeritus General Authority. But he wasn’t the only one – Lorna Call Alder (my brother-in-law’s grandfather’s stepmother) comes to mind too.
All three women in the new YW presidency seem to be using their given name, middle name, maiden name, and married name together–no initials, no dropped names. http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/new-young-women-general-presidency-april-2013
“Depending on how technology is used it can either be a blessing or a deterrent.” Elder Scott
Technological advances can be improperly used, but they can also be a great help for spirituality if “used with discipline”.
Has Elder Scott been peeking in my pocket?
Too much texting during conference and not enough memorizing scripture mastery verses! haha
“Just having them [cell phones, technology] in your pocket will not protect you…” Drat, I’ve been counting on my LDS Scriptures app to guard against temptation even though I only open it every other Sunday.
@John Taber: The title of the patriarch to the church has varied over time. I do know that he was sustained in general conference as presiding patriarch at least once.
Press release with YW Presidency bios here:
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/new-young-women-general-presidency-april-2013
I think they stopped sustaining the “Patriarch of the church” in the late 1970s.
No mention of gender when discussing family roles from Scott.
“Reach out to those living in adverse circumstances. Be a true friend.” I like that, and especially the linkage he makes between the two thoughts.
“Be a true friend”-Elder Scott. Simple, but powerful.
He still held the position of Patriarch to the Church, which is why no one was called to replace him. It’s just that he was an emeritus General Authority after 1979; his basic responsibilities didn’t change.
This is a beautiful talk.
“We can’t simultaneously do all the things the Lord has counseled us to do.” There’s some comforting words right there.
Elder Scott’s talk was just fantastic.
Second that, kirkcaudle. So healing and hopeful in so many ways.
I wish I could have caught more of it. My wife had ankle surgery yesterday so I’m helping to take care of her and something came up.
Wait, doesn’t Elder Cook realize that Robbie Parker is a part of the conspiracy to confiscate our guns?!?
Yes gifford nielaen played for byu and for the houston oilers. He is in my ward in houston he was a sports reporter in houston for the nbc affiliate here for a very long time and quit about 4 years ago. Not long after he was calked as an area president for the texas-oklahoma-louisiana area. Elder nielsen is pretty awesome. He and his wife gave very good talks last easter sunday.
Brad, go eat another cinnamon roll.
Sorry for my typos. My phone is dumb.
Wow, 25 kids amongst the new YW Presidency.
Scott’s talk was just great… thanks @loathing for sharing that, probably the best quote ever.
Just 25?
Very cool Hillary. Thanks for that info.
Kristine–We’re having some mighty tasty cinnamon rolls tomorrow. At least that’s the plan at this point.
“As I pondered the horrific events of September 11, I began to wonder…What isn’t the government telling us?”
I hope all of the Mormons on my FB who were buying into the Newtown conspiracy theories will now STOP since a GA spoke at the funeral of the little LDS girl.
Cinnamon rolls tomorrow.
Lolz, Casey.
@Jennifer in GA: Amen, and amen!
I actually like this talk a lot so far.
Compensation theory! JS scores one.
Cook offers a free-will theodicy coupled with eschatological justification.
Not a fan.
Feeling spiritual, even uncoupled from active religiosity, is “a good first step”. Yes, he says it’s incomplete, but that’s one of the few times i’ve heard someone say in conference that the value of half-steps are still worth appreciating.
Dissolved in tears?! that sounds like a horrible torture technique.
I like Elder Cook’s talk. I think his point of being able to find peace when there isn’t peace in the world is great.
While I loved that talk, Cook really needs to work on his meter and rhythm when reading poetry.
Another good talk for me. So far so good this session.
Haver there been issues with overzealous music conductors stepping forward and falling off the platform?
Virtue tie? Where can I get me one of those.
OSHA, Rob, OSHA.
He grew up as a farmboy in Burley, Idaho. Hasn’t that town produced a few other general authorities? Seems to me like Burley may be overrepresented.
Dr Brew — I’ve just never seen that safety bar before.
Woah, this voice is a roller coaster.
Elder Ellis is wearing his Virtue tie. A couple of months ago I wore my Integrity (purple) tie to support a pants-clad sister in my ward. Took me until today to realize that!
I like farm boys, but one day I think it would be cool to see a conference speaker drawing lessons from their urban upbringing.
If we need earthly parents we do we need only a Heavenly Father?
I’m with you Rob. Never noticed it before. Your comment brought a huge smile to my chocolate-covered face.
We don’t Emma. We need both Heavenly Parents too.
He says that if we do what the Lord says, the Lord “is bound to bless us”. Is that actually what the scriptures say? It’s not how i read it, i have to say.
Could have done without the dig on “political correctness.” Just unnecessary.
BREAKING: Deseret Book to release a new line of “Value Ties”, featuring colorful ties representing each of the YW values.
“The evils of the dole”! Clearly, emjen bears the spirit of prophecy.
J.Stapley….President Uchtdorf regularly speaks of the lessons learned from his urban upbringing (riding his bike and delivering laundry quickly comes to mind). I’m relatively confident there are many others.
Anyone else think he looks like Robin Williams?
@Conferenceisgreat You mean Uchtdorf wasn’t raised behind the controls of an airplane?
“Which ward needs a good family? Where can we help?” As opposed to “Where are the people ‘like us’?”
I hear stories of people buying a house to be in a particular ward, and i don’t get it. Having just bought a house last year, how would you do that? It really quite honestly boggles my mind.
I choose where to live by not living in places with excessive numbers of mormons in the area.
@JTZ: And now i can’t unsee it…
We moved across town in Texas to get rid of a terrible bishop
EmJen, I bow to your greatness. Conference Thread title homerun of all time.
Had a good core, i think, but the rhetoric had issues.
LOATHE — QUite simple…..Decide what ward you want to be in, find out the boundaries, and then only look in that area.
Members used to be called to go to areas where their strength was needed. Nowadays there are many that would do the same is asked. That’s so ironic.
I see the Robin Williams connection.
@loathing My parents have checked out wards before buying before, only one time were they going for a specific ward, and it was only to stay in the same ward where they had been for a year.
@Rob Lewis: Yeah—but given the way housing works, at least in areas with relatively small (though still huge by Utahn standards) ward boundaries, how in the world do you get away with being that picky? We ended up looking at houses in multiple stakes, let alone wards, all within good short-commute distance of our jobs and the kids’ schools. Had we been fixed on a particular ward, it would have taken us for-half-of-ever to find a place.
In a sparsely Mormon populated area, it’s easier to find a selection of housing inside a specific ward boundaries than in areas where the ward is 3×4 blocks.
loathing…Doctrine and Covenants 82:10 I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say…that’s pretty clear. I think I get stuck when I assume I know what the blessings should look like and when they should arrive . Or when assumptions are made that there isn’t a boatload of grace before, during and after any decision we make.
We looked for a ward with lots of youth for our children. I will say it’s easier in Texas to stay in the ward, because the boundaries are bigger.
Yeah, so, did BCC get copies of the talks before the conference this year? The BCC twitter feed is posting things about the numbers of footnotes.
I chose to live in the ward I’m in because at the time (2002) it was the ward my work was in. We bought a house in 2006 in the same ward, though we looked outside it. Then in 2010 the boundaries changed. We didn’t change wards but my workplace did.
@britt: See, i don’t agree. Yes, God is bound, but that doesn’t mean that blessings are a given.
@sbagleysd The twitter claims they have a BCC seer stone. https://twitter.com/ByCommonConsent/status/320644071540527105
I don’t agree either. My mission had folklore (apparently introduced by a visiting General Authority) that if we were working and following all the rules, we could “demand blessings” from the Lord if it was a “righteous desire” we were demanding. It never sounded right to me.
@Brooke Ah; right then. Carry on.
I think people can over-use of the “the Lord is bound” scripture and start to believe that you are *only* blessed when you obey or fulfill whatever it was you were doing. The reality is that we are blessed when we fail and when we do not come through also. Blessings are not change in God’s pockets dispensed in a perfectly predictable manner for successful completion of an objective. /end rant-threadjack
Admit it: How many of you got the spelling of Dickson wrong at first (along with the BCC twitter feed)?
cough cough
The world has a big “unauthorized” baby problem.
We usually only have a limited understanding of the relationship between obedience to a law, and the blessings that are bound to it. So it isn’t reasonable to expect or demand a specific blessing when we follow the rules. Obedience can be an expression of faith, or a frustrating exercise in trying to negotiate with God.
FWIW: taking the gospel unto all the earth does not equal restricting blessings from one nation so that they can receive only baptism and not the whole thing–until a timetable is met. No, the scripture means what it says. ALL nations. There is not a parenthetical statement declaring exceptions. Demographics determine places which can’t receive the goepel, usually because of political dangers. Elder Dickson seems to love the people of West Africa, but someone needs to lovingly lead him to some history.
“The elements are fallen”??
@Kristine: Yeah, i caught that too. Maybe he’s been reading himself some Orson Pratt lately?
“Lucifer wants us to be alone…in the dark…without hope.” -Elder Bednar
Interesting idea, that part of Satan’s motivation is based in jealousy at a bodily resurrection. I’ma have to think on that a bit.
“Defiling the body is an act of rebellion.” – Elder Bednar. Interesting.
I’m liking Elder Bednar’s talk on chastity better than Sister Dalton’s.
“Jesus is known as the Great Physician.”
So… is Doctor Who about Jesus then?
Love increases through righteous restraint and decreases through selfish impulse. Elder Bednar.
“Guilt is to our spirit what pain is to our body. it is a protection from further danger.” -Elder Bednar
The way that Latter-day Saints kind of define the term “damn” as “stopping a person’s progression” just like a dam is interesting. I guess the similarity of the words “damn” and “dam,” and our doctrines of progression, make this an easy move. But I just looked it up, and I don’t think the words come from the same etymological history. Has anyone written anything about this?
I get tired of claims that the church’s approach to chastity is so utterly out of step with that of “the world”. Well, if “the world” is made up entirely of first-world cultures, sure…
I wonder if LDS couples will still have sex and not just for having children? I know that we can go to the extreme, too much or too little in any behaviour
Mormon linguists all die a little bit inside every time the damn/dam thing gets brought up.
(Also, every time people say that KJV is written in Old English, or that we use ‘thou’ in prayers because it’s more formal.)
Catch the Wave was a Coke ad campaign in the 80s
Encouragement to apply to colleges before missions, because many institutions of higher education will grant an 18- to 30-month admissions deferral. Really? As someone who’s in higher ed, that seems like a really long deferral to grant. One year, sure, but two or more?
“Catch the wave.” –Elder Russell M. Nelson
“Pinching pennies for piggybanks becomes part of your practice.” Nice alliteration, Elder Nelson.
Besides, most women will still have a gap year between high school and mission, so might as well go to college that year, no?
loathing, for example, I went to Arizona State and they were willing to defer my scholarship for 2 years, though I didn’t need that much time.
I wonder if it’s more common in areas with a large Mormon population, maybe?
Could be.
Oooh – “thou” in prayers is my absolute favorite. “It shows respect”… Especially when in talks on the subject translated into Spanish, Russian, etc.
A Root-Toot-Toot for Manifest Destiny!
Prooftexting…GO.
Please don’t say that Utah means ‘top of the mountains’, please don’t say that Utah means ‘top of the mountains’, please don’t say that Utah means ‘top of the mountains’…
(Hint: It doesn’t.)
If you’re addressing the Lord in French, do you use “vous” or “Tu”?
Also, my living-in-Alaska self scoffs at your “top” of the mountains!
:-)
@Sharee, I have heard French uses “tu”, and in Spanish we use “tú”, the informal.
Sharee: tu.
It’s the familiar, “tu” in French.
Utah means “people if the mountains” in the Ute Language, according to Wikipedia.
This closing hymn is almost slow enough to satisfy my ward music people. Almost.
Linguists also don’t care for “she literally dissolved into tears.” First off, it’s messy to clean up when someone dissolves–especially when the dissolving is wet. Secondly, I love Elder Cook anyway. Loved his talk. I got kicked in the gut by Elder Dickson’s, and am pondering.
German uses ‘du’, the informal. In fact, nearly all languages with a simple two-way formal-informal distinction use the informal. Languages with a three-or-more-way distinction show more variation.
In Italian you use “tu”. In our mission there was a joke that missionaries were like little children because we gave “Lei” (or were supposed to) and everyone gave us “tu”.
I think this (rather excellent, though as a Ute, it pains me to say it) choir is disproportionately ginger. #gingerpride
@Sharee Hughes: Wikipedia is demonstrably wrong, then.
In Russian, you use the the familiar form, tui, rather than the formal form vui, in prayers. I’ve stopped using thee, thy, thou in prayers. Now I just say you and it feels so much more natural.
Mooooooooooooorrreeeeeeeeeee Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolliiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssss giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiveeeeeee
meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Does anyone know a language with formal and informal that does use the formal? I’m guessing not.
@sbagleysd: Ginger is fashionable right now.
Not saying that there might be a lot of people who have altered their natural color, of course, just pointing out a bit of social context.
Overall a pretty good session. Especially the first half of it.
Lolz, Ardis. It is pretty darn slow.
Casey wins best comment of the day.
For the record, thou used to be the informal form in English. Now that it no longer is, I think we can dispense with it.
On the song being slow: I guess they didn’t want to finish up ten minutes early, like the last session.
Okay, Loathing, what does Utah mean?
ALmost time for tip off of the final four….Hope I don’t forget to go to Priesthood Session.
Shortest GC prayer ever.
I use “thee” and “thou” out of habit. At least I took German in high school so I know which one to use at a given moment, unlike some folks who say “thy Son” regardless of the context. I don’t fault anyone who uses “you” or “your”.
New record for shortest ever general conference prayer?
(Who was it?)
‘Utah’ is a place name. It means the place that it refers to.
Less snarkily, ‘Utah’ is derived from ‘Ute’, which is a name given to one of the indigenous peoples of the area. However, as a simple name, it doesn’t have any meaning beyond that it’s a name for something.
In our family, we use the Plain Language, a remnant of the Quaker heritage that my mother was raised with. We use “thee” and “thy” instead of “you” and “your” when we talk to our family. When we address people outside our family we use “you”.
Therefore, we use the familiar with our family and in our prayers, and the formal with the rest of the population. In our eyes, everyone else in the English speaking population is using the Formal address with the Lord.
Prayer was by Elder J. Devon Cornish of the Seventy
Yes, Mandy. That’s why it’s so funny.
Hmm – I used to know a Mandy who knew Russian…
The high school German also helps with “giveth” vs. “givest”.
Mmmmm…cornish…[droool]
Time for the Final Four.
we can’t end 10 minutes early like last session tell them to slow the meter down!
When Pres. Eyring announced the closing hymn, Alisa was like “Oh no – I don’t like this one.” She loved the way the choir sang it nice and slow. She said someone once sang it as a solo in sacrament meeting and put so much emphasis on “More” that it sounded like a dog howling.
It was nice to hear “Hark all Ye Nations” this morning. I hadn’t heard it in a long time, and we used to whistle it in George Durrant’s Sharing the Gospel class.
“For the record, thou used to be the informal form in English”
And here I’ve always believed the grammarian’s explanation that “thou” was the second person singular form and “you” the second person plural form in Jacobean English.
@Amy T: Both explanations are right. As is the case in several languages, the second person plural was used as a formal when speaking to a single person.
And i’m off to do a bit of shopping and then hit up priesthood session. See y’all tomorrow.
I’ve never noticed that usage in the scriptures, loathing, but I’ve never read through the entire canon looking at the pronoun usage. The KJV seems to use thee/thou for the singular, and ye/you for the plural in every case that I’ve seen. But your explanation could explain why they use the words differently in the Quaker culture.
Yeah—the KJV never uses a formal pronoun in the whole thing.
There are place names, Loathing, that do mean something. The town I grew up in, Penticton (in B.C., Canada) means “a place to live forever” in some native language.
No priesthood thread??
There’s a priesthood thread at Feminist Mormon Housewives: http://www.feministmormonhousewives.org/2013/04/the-hear-that-softly-spoken-magic-spell-priesthood-session-open-thread/
It’s coming, I hope. Wi-fi problems.
Speaking of that closing song, I was going crazy trying to figure out what time signature the organist was playing underneath the singing. It made for an interesting counterpoint. It sounded almost like triplets (6/8) but not quite, and almost like 7/8. Kristine, as a music person, by any chance did you notice it and figure it out?
ASL uses honorific direct address, but when doing so, it’s pretty much transliteration from Mormon liturgical English.
Little late, I know… but just to add: Mandarin Chinese uses the formal form when addressing God. Also, in the written language, an extra “God” radical is added on to pronouns to denote a reference to deity.
We always picked the schools first and then looked at the youth programs, when picking a ward.
Japanese also uses formal for prayer.