1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,960 Welcome to Closer to Christ through General Conference, where two friends who love Jesus 2 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:19,180 Christ share our own approach to studying the most recent General Conference talks. 3 00:00:19,180 --> 00:00:24,940 This is Abbie and Amy. Let's jump into it. 4 00:00:24,940 --> 00:00:29,380 Today we're talking about Following Christ by President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor 5 00:00:29,380 --> 00:00:34,820 of the First Presidency. Okay, so in an effort to follow him, Elder Oaks is going to highlight 6 00:00:34,820 --> 00:00:40,000 a few key pieces of looking at the Savior's life and then drawing lessons from it, that 7 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:45,720 they are most pertinent to you and I as we navigate the specific challenges of our day. 8 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:51,560 So first he starts with, come follow me. Abbey, what does come follow me actually mean, like 9 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:52,560 the phrase? 10 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:59,100 To me, from the talk and some things I was pondering on this week were that it's an invitation. 11 00:00:59,100 --> 00:01:05,080 Not everybody's going to accept it as an invitation, but it is one. It's an opportunity for us 12 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:08,360 to use our agency. So if it was a forced thing, it wouldn't really sound like an invitation, 13 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:15,200 it'd be a mandate, right? It's the Savior that's beckoning us to do this thing. It's 14 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:21,740 not a checklist. It's a gentle invitation. It's given to everybody who's ever walked 15 00:01:21,740 --> 00:01:27,000 the face of the earth. It's personal on how we pick up that charge and do something with 16 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:28,000 it. 17 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:29,000 Oh yeah, for sure it is. 18 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:34,720 It's something that never ends. It's a lifetime pursuit. I will say that I loved the title 19 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,440 of this talk. I have a friend, she says she writes her own title for talks after they 20 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,400 come out. Like as she studies them, she gives them a title for herself. I'm like, that's 21 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:46,560 really clever and cute. They're going to stick in her mind if she does that. And I appreciate 22 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:51,080 that as one way to do things. I also like to just dissect why they come up with the 23 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:52,080 title that they come up with. 24 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,880 Totally. I love it. Because while you're listening, you don't know what it is yet. 25 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:57,800 Totally. Because we were going to maybe kind of jump the gun and get going on the talks 26 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,480 then I was like, we don't even know the title of the talk. How would we publish that? 27 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:05,640 So the genius behind the title of this talk is that following can function as a verb, 28 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:09,800 a noun, or an adjective, depending on how it's used in a sentence. In this situation, 29 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:17,640 a verb is the present, in present participle. So it's used in a continuous tense, makes 30 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:22,160 this a verb to me in this sentence. So in this talk, we're going to focus on actions 31 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:29,600 that we are doing or can continuously do, not just hear the invitation to come follow 32 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:36,000 me, but instead we're in the continuous action of following him. If we can apply the principles 33 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:37,760 that he lays out in this talk. 34 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:42,520 Abby, also, my husband and I were just talking about this week, we were talking about how 35 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:47,120 the tone of conference talks has changed over the decades. We were listening to some probably 36 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,800 from the 70s and the tone is a little bit different than it is now. 37 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,240 I want to hear how you think the tone has changed and to see if it validates how I felt 38 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:55,240 about it. 39 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:57,520 So my husband was kind of like, yeah, they're just a lot more lenient and lax now. And I 40 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:02,900 said, for me, I hear the same thing being spoken. I just hear it now with more of a, 41 00:03:02,900 --> 00:03:07,120 this is your agency. So you can choose to do this or you can choose not to do it, but 42 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:12,840 it's not as strict or hard as it was. Yeah, maybe like, you know, that was just the way 43 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:17,680 that it was. So I appreciate how things are now and I don't feel a lax in any way. I feel 44 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:22,200 a gentle invitation to come follow me. That's how I feel with conference talks. 45 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:25,760 I love it. And I love that you're saying the words don't necessarily change, but like the 46 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:30,800 ears that we have to hear them and it's hitting a little bit differently. And I do hear a 47 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:31,800 gentle tone. 48 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:32,800 I do too. 49 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,840 But that doesn't make me any less more feeling the urgency to do the things that they're 50 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:41,120 doing. It's just that I'm, it's like a parenting style. Like you're like, are you going to 51 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,280 get up there and pretty forcefully tell me I have to do something or are you going to 52 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:49,680 lay out this case for me of like, why that's the best and only thing that I should choose. 53 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:54,720 That's funny laying out a case. I know I'm thinking of Oakes as I said that for sure. 54 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:58,880 Okay. So what continuous actions did you identify in this talk? 55 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:03,760 All right. I definitely, he laid it out nicely for us. He put it out in three steps. And 56 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:07,200 so the first one was keeping the commandments to love God and love our neighbors. And this 57 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:09,440 is the first time that this has come up in conference. 58 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:11,160 Right. Haven't heard it before. 59 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:16,880 No, I love it. He's obviously just echoing, you know, that sentiment that's definitely 60 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:20,200 being taught. They obviously, they're all bringing it up. It's all been on their hearts 61 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:24,240 and their minds. If we can focus on those two, everything else seems to fall into place. 62 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:29,040 So it makes perfect sense that it's coming up in pretty much in some way, shape or form. 63 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:30,800 It's coming up in pretty much every talk. 64 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:32,120 Yes. There's an echo all around. 65 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:37,260 So he, because it's the same topic and we don't want to, he doesn't want us to tune 66 00:04:37,260 --> 00:04:44,000 him out. He uses a great analogy in his talk on, we'll call it the analogy of the kite. 67 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,280 So through that, he's going to demonstrate how commandments provide a guiding and steadying 68 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:50,640 force in our lives. It was used to illustrate how commandments and covenants lead us to 69 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:56,120 our greatest heights. And that's an easy visual to picture when you're thinking of this kite. 70 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,760 I took a little liberty of my own as I reflected on the story and I've been thinking about 71 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:05,880 a lot over the week. I hope you have your own experience as you study that you can tweak 72 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:11,320 it or make it applicable to you in your life and how you see these things. But I think 73 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:15,560 we would all agree in the story as we're studying it, that we're each individually the kite 74 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:21,360 and the father in this story is our father, our father in heaven. The string represents 75 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:24,520 commandments. The more commandments we know and we understand, the greater we can fly 76 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:30,240 while still maintaining a connection to father. The key to soaring requires wind and resistance. 77 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:34,320 He called these mortal winds. And I thought a lot about that. There's like breezy light 78 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:38,560 days and the kite just picked up and it's kind of buoyed up by that resistance. It's 79 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:42,840 lifted to higher heights. Sometimes it's pretty wild. Sometimes it comes crashing down, but 80 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:46,640 the connection to the father is still there and there's still hope that we can, you know, 81 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:51,560 fill that height again and rise again. So these mortal winds, they act in opposition to the 82 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:55,560 kite and without it, the kite's just a pretty creation, not really filling the measure of 83 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,800 its creation. The kite's grateful for a windy day so it can test itself and how high it 84 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:04,480 can climb. Like the kite, we have to understand that opposition is a direct result of the 85 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:09,480 fall and the exact thing that the father would use to help us soar to our greatest height. 86 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,540 So today's challenges and challenges faced throughout history haven't come as a shock 87 00:06:12,540 --> 00:06:13,960 to our loving heavenly father. 88 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:17,080 Oh, how did that happen? I can't believe they had to go through that. 89 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:18,080 Right. 90 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:19,080 So that's your surprise. 91 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:20,080 He doesn't think that. 92 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:21,080 He thinks that. 93 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,960 This is where I took a little bit of liberty. He said that the essential string represents 94 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:28,800 the covenants that connect us to God, our heavenly father and his son, Jesus Christ. 95 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:33,720 And I wanted to tweak that a little bit and leave the commandments as the string and specifically 96 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,560 the handle on one end being firmly in the father's hand and then not at the other end 97 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:41,960 of the kite as the specific part of the string that represents covenants. 98 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:45,800 And if we erroneously think that once we are high enough that we can cut that string and 99 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:52,620 fly even higher, we're mistaken. Commandments stacked upon each other and lived simultaneously 100 00:06:52,620 --> 00:06:57,140 allow us to soar amidst the mortal winds. And the second we think we can disconnect 101 00:06:57,140 --> 00:07:01,360 from our covenants is the second we're tossed and turned in an inevitable fall. And I thought 102 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:06,600 on the string with my own personal life experiences, I think the best scenario with kite flying 103 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:12,080 is a straight clean line between father and us. And I thought maybe how simple and basic 104 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:16,680 the commandments are. Sometimes we complicate those things and we put knots in our lines 105 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,240 and we kind of twist ourselves around covenants or commandments. 106 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:24,400 We put knots in our lines. 107 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:30,040 And so like just trying to keep it as simple as what's the actual commandment I'm trying 108 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,320 to obey here and how does that help me keep this covenant between me and father? 109 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:34,560 Yeah, that's a really good point. 110 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:39,640 And then another thought that I had in my own study was as I've seen a kite come off 111 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:43,760 of string, like for a brief moment, yeah, it doesn't hold the mortal winds quite the 112 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,880 same. Now inevitably it comes crashing down. So I had mentioned that before, but it's not 113 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:48,880 the end of that kite story. 114 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:49,880 Right. 115 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:50,880 Doesn't mean that it can't 116 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:51,880 Tie another string. 117 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:52,880 Yeah, exactly. 118 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:58,200 Okay. Thank you for that, Abby. I really liked that. And I did love his analogy, like when 119 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,880 he was talking about it with the father and the little boy that was like, well, why don't 120 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:02,880 you just cut it? 121 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:03,880 Let's cut it. 122 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:04,880 Yeah. 123 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:07,280 Because this is going so great. They can just even go better. But I just love the wisdom 124 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:11,560 and I was like, yeah, I see where he's going with this. Like that is a really great analogy. 125 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:15,880 The Book of Mormon frequently declares that Christ is the light of the world. We have 126 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:21,840 an opportunity and an obligation to be learning about him. It is impossible for us to be saved 127 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:26,880 in ignorance. The more we know about the Savior's ministry and mission, the more we understand 128 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:33,320 his doctrine and what he did for us, the more we know that he can provide the power that 129 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:41,880 we need for our lives. So I love this, Abby. Again, I'm reminded of President Nelson when 130 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:47,400 he says learn about God and how he works. That would also mean you're learning about 131 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:52,000 Jesus Christ at the same time, right? Because he came down to do the will of him who sent 132 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:56,760 him, which is his father. So yes, the more we learn about him, just… 133 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:59,360 Learn to learning about father and mother. 134 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:00,360 Right. 135 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:01,360 It works. 136 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:02,360 And the richer our lives become. 137 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:03,360 It is true. 138 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:07,400 So each week as we partake of the sacrament and commit to always remember him, what things 139 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:09,760 are coming in mind? 140 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:16,600 I'll reemphasize what you were saying. President Oaks quotes the prophet in this talk and he 141 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:20,880 says earlier this year, I asked the young adults of the church to consecrate a portion 142 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:26,240 of their time each week to studying everything Jesus said and did as recorded in the standard 143 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:30,060 works. I invited them to let the scriptural citations about Jesus Christ and the topical 144 00:09:30,060 --> 00:09:36,400 guy become their personal core curriculum. So I believe the way I did this was to download 145 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:41,680 an app and it took me through each scripture that mentioned Jesus Christ. 146 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:42,680 I remember that, yes. 147 00:09:42,680 --> 00:09:48,560 It was not bad. It felt kind of check-listy though. 148 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:51,560 Because it led you through and you weren't doing anything. 149 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:55,680 It was like, yeah, I did that and I got that done. But I'm not feeling like when I hear 150 00:09:55,680 --> 00:10:03,440 that, when I heard President Oaks bring it back up, I went to the footnote and I was 151 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:08,900 like, okay, this is the thing he was referencing. And I wasn't like, oh man, I took that challenge 152 00:10:08,900 --> 00:10:12,640 and I feel so blessed. Look at all those things that I learned about my savior in that time. 153 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:14,600 Since I've been invited to do it. 154 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:19,820 So I used it as a gentle reminder that there's something there for me if I should choose 155 00:10:19,820 --> 00:10:25,320 to take up that invitation. So I have been thinking on it and I thought of a simple way 156 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,280 to implement this. And so I played around with it and I went into the gospel library 157 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:35,400 and I set myself a new plan and asked it to remind me every Sunday. So there's about 58 158 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:41,040 sections in the topical guide that are titled Jesus Christ and then some sub point. And 159 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:45,480 there's a wealth of references and I know that many of them will overlap. The reference 160 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:50,400 will find itself in two different subjects. But I thought if I could be reminded in just 161 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:56,920 about a year time from now, I can say that it's a challenge that I've taken up. I can 162 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:02,240 think on Jesus Christ weekly. My guess is that I'll spend my sacrament time doing that 163 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:06,600 because like during the sacrament, as I'm trying to be reflective, like, you know, I 164 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:10,480 can read hymns or I can be looking at picture of the Savior, be thinking about him, but 165 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,880 I'm going to choose to go into the topical guide and kind of study one of those things. 166 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:18,200 And if it takes a little bit longer, then I can stretch that into the week. But I thought 167 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:22,160 I would ponder on the things that I learned from those scripture references under that 168 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:26,880 section and then I would leave my testimony in the topical guide as a note section so 169 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:31,000 that I know that I've covered it, not that I mark a box. There's no real good way to 170 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:36,480 make a plan because when I said I wanted to study the topical guide, it gave me like the 171 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,600 whole topical guide and it's like, whoo, that's going to be six chapters a day. I'm like, 172 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,800 or whatever, however they organize it. That's not what I'm going for. What I need is just 173 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:47,600 a reminder on my phone to say that that's something I want to get into and to not brush 174 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:53,800 it aside. So anyway, I'll leave my testimony on it in my recorded notes. And, you know, 175 00:11:53,800 --> 00:12:01,920 at the end of a solid year, I'll have a pretty special to me recording of how I feel about 176 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:06,080 the Savior and how he entangles in everything that I'm doing. 177 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:09,760 Absolutely. I'm sure you'll see that every week. 178 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:14,960 So we'll move on. The second point that Elder Oaks made was to follow the doctrine of Christ. 179 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:17,080 Do you feel like you could take that one? 180 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:21,440 Yes. So in the Book of Mormon, the Lord gave us the fundamentals and what he called the 181 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:26,440 doctrine of Christ. We kind of talked about this in our last talk. Again, some overlapping. 182 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:31,480 These are faith in Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, 183 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:36,440 enduring to the end and becoming as a little child, which means to trust the Lord and submit 184 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:38,760 to all he requires of us. 185 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:43,960 I love this part. Temporary commandments are those necessary for the needs of the Lord's 186 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:48,340 Church or the faithful in temporary circumstances, like the Lord's direction to the early leadership 187 00:12:48,340 --> 00:12:54,240 of the church to move the saints from New York to Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and then 188 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:59,920 the Intermountain West. I got to tell you, Abby, Garen and I have moved, we moved quite 189 00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:04,800 a bit like over about a six year span. And it was so interesting because I didn't understand 190 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:08,040 the temporary commandment as in like for a family, right? 191 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:11,440 Yes, I see where you're going with this because I see this in your life. 192 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,400 I remember Garrett saying, Hey, we need to pray about whether we should still be here. 193 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,440 And I was like, wait, it almost sounded blasphemous to me, which is funny. I didn't understand 194 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:22,280 the temporary commandment. I was like, wait, no, we prayed, we're supposed to be here. 195 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:26,780 I didn't realize that there could be an expiration date to where you're supposed to be. I didn't 196 00:13:26,780 --> 00:13:32,000 understand that. So as we prayed, I think it was a while later. I don't know that it 197 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:36,960 was that exact night, but whatever we ended up moving. And I was like, Oh my gosh, it 198 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,600 kind of opened up a part of my brain that I didn't know because it was kind of, it's 199 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,760 kind of nice to be like, the Lord said to do this. He stuck me on my track and I just 200 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:49,240 move forward. But then there was another part of me that was like, Oh, and continue to ask 201 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:52,960 if this is still right. Not that I do it all the time, but usually if an, if a thought 202 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:56,320 ever comes, maybe it's time to pray about this. Then I take the opportunity because 203 00:13:56,320 --> 00:14:01,120 that usually means, guess what? The Lord might have something else for you. So let's pray 204 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:03,480 about it and then decide to opt in or not. 205 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:08,600 So absolutely love what you just said there because I feel like people think, um, if they 206 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:11,980 question the inspiration that they get in life that they've proceeded with and they've 207 00:14:11,980 --> 00:14:15,920 done that they're like, they're going back on what the saviors encouraged them to do 208 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:20,040 what I thought and that they're going to some way lose the blessing, lose out on blessings 209 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:24,640 that they had, but it can definitely be a right decision to you. Maybe you prayed about 210 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:30,440 what course to take in, which direction your life should take in college or what's not 211 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:35,160 college. What's an option? Career. Yeah. And whatever career you're going to take and, 212 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:39,520 and it feels right. And it takes you during a down a path or to, you know, down a road 213 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:44,320 and it's, it's beautiful and you, you're blessed from it. There's no shame in asking again, 214 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:48,860 am I doing all that I can? Am I still in the right place? Yeah. And that's another way 215 00:14:48,860 --> 00:14:53,120 of asking about filling the measure of your creation. He's like, I, I supported you and 216 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:56,800 buoyed you up in that direction because it gets you just that much closer to the next 217 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:03,960 thing. If I'd asked you to do, if he asks you to move from like Arizona to France, that 218 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:10,480 might be overwhelming, but maybe he gets you to New York and then he gets you to France. 219 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:14,600 So I love that. And I hope that maybe because of this talk and this conversation, we're 220 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:20,520 having everybody takes an opportunity to just say, you know, pick something where they're 221 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:25,120 very happy in their circumstance and can they, can they improve upon that? Or is there another 222 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:30,320 direction that they could be going? Yeah. I love that. Another step. So you mentioned 223 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:35,760 the word reemphasis from the talk. What are some recent examples of reemphasis that had 224 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:39,280 been needed because of the current situation that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 225 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:43,600 Saints is facing right now? Okay. I love that. So reemphasis would be for some permanent 226 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:48,040 commandments. The permanent commandments are going to be different than the ones that are 227 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:53,000 temporary. So some of these include the proclamation on the family issued by President Gordon B. 228 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:58,720 Hinckley a generation ago. I was my first year of college and President Russell M. Nelson's 229 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:03,280 recent call for the church to be known by its revealed name, the Church of Jesus Christ 230 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:08,060 of Latter-day Saints. Another of our Savior's teachings seems to require emphasis on the, 231 00:16:08,060 --> 00:16:15,320 in the circumstance of our day, which is President Oaks point three avoid contention. Yeah. Well, 232 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,800 did you look, did you, did you listen to this talk? Do you read or do you listen as you 233 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:23,520 go back to talks? It depends on what time I am, how much time I have this one I listened 234 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:28,520 to. He's very easy to listen to. He's got a great voice. He's like making a great case. 235 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:34,040 But I did both too. But when I looked at it, when I, when I put it on play and was watching 236 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:42,720 him, the halfway market, this talk starts here. Stop. So he was like, for me, it was like, 237 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:46,200 he's building a case. Yeah. Laying out this case. And it's like, yeah, I'm thinking all 238 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:51,000 these things, totally agreeing. And then he's going to be like, this is a commandment. It's 239 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:54,680 reemphasized and it didn't disappear just because the times have changed. It's become 240 00:16:54,680 --> 00:17:01,360 even more important. So, um, I love that. Anyway, the rest of this, the rest of this 241 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:05,320 podcast is going to focus on point number three, like you said, which is avoiding contention. 242 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:11,940 All right. So what should followers to Christ teach and do in this time of toxic communications? 243 00:17:11,940 --> 00:17:17,160 What were some of his examples and teachings? So as I combed through it, just to make it 244 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:22,560 simple, um, I made some bullet points. I wrote down that he said that the spirit of contention 245 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:27,640 is not of Jesus Christ. He said that it's Satan's tactic to anger one towards another. 246 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:33,000 And inversely, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. 247 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:37,440 Christ proclaims that this contentious behavior should be done away with. Summarizing the 248 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:41,680 sermon on the Mount and almost identical words when he came to the Americas, he says, to 249 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:45,480 love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for 250 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:50,960 those who despitefully use you and persecute you. These teachings made him a revolutionary. 251 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:56,840 Our savior really covered, um, every single one of the, but what ifs and got them down 252 00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:01,420 in scripture. Do you know what I'm saying? When I say, but what ifs, but what, what if 253 00:18:01,420 --> 00:18:05,720 they're mean to me? What if they're my enemy? What about if they did something bad to me 254 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:10,800 first? What about, you know, yeah, what about all those things? Yep. But what ifs followed 255 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:15,840 it or covered it? How do we know that Jesus Christ is serious about this charge? I was 256 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:21,360 asking myself that question and I said, because literally on the cross in agony and pain, 257 00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:27,040 his inclination to still utter the words father, forgive them for they know not what they do. 258 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:32,040 I don't think you muster up that kind of attitude in this moment. If you haven't been living 259 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:38,120 this every single moment of every day. And that is, he embodied the teaching. That is 260 00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:42,960 why he is the perfect example of being a priest maker. That's so good, Abby. They quote, um, 261 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,520 Elder Oaks quotes president David O. McKay in his talk. He said, there's no better way 262 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:53,900 to manifest love for God than to show an unselfish love for one's fellow men and not if they're 263 00:18:53,900 --> 00:18:58,320 just nice to you. Right. Doesn't say that anywhere. No reciprocation. Yeah. There's no 264 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:06,040 caveat. How it would change personal relationships if followers of Christ would forgo harsh and 265 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:10,940 hurtful words and all of their communication. So we get to an action item brought to us 266 00:19:10,940 --> 00:19:16,760 by our very own prophet, president Nelson, who gave us the challenge. One of the easiest 267 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:21,320 ways to identify a true follower of Jesus Christ is, is on how compassionately that 268 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:26,940 person treats others. True disciples of Christ are peacemakers. One of the best we can honor 269 00:19:26,940 --> 00:19:31,420 this best ways we can honor the savior is to become a peacemaker. And he concluded his 270 00:19:31,420 --> 00:19:36,060 teaching by saying contention is a choice. Peacemaking is a choice. You have your agency 271 00:19:36,060 --> 00:19:40,920 to choose contention or reconciliation. I encourage you to choose to be a peacemaker 272 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:49,640 now and always great action item. Yeah. So good. I love it. So how do we interact with 273 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:54,320 potential adversaries? It's sad that it's like obvious we're gonna, they're potential 274 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,720 adversaries like everybody potentially could be our foe. Right. Or someone that just crosses 275 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:02,480 our path in some way. Right. Right. But it's a sad thing that in this world that it's like, 276 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:06,120 we're probably gonna not get along. We're probably gonna fight about this. Like why 277 00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:11,200 I couldn't have said potential friend. I know that doesn't work for the talk, but, but the 278 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,780 point of what he's saying, I think, I think it makes it kind of funny to say that we're 279 00:20:14,780 --> 00:20:19,360 looking at these being potential adversaries because if we approach this correctly and 280 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:24,880 like Jesus Christ would, everybody could potentially be a friend. True. Just ones we haven't met 281 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:30,160 before. So, Abby, that's so you. I love it. I don't want to not like somebody when I first 282 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,680 meet him. I want to give him every chance that we can be friends. So the suggestion 283 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:38,280 from the talk was to find common ground, follow the Savior's example, follow the example of 284 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:44,240 his prophets, Prophet Russell M. Nelson, and reminder that we do not have to compromise 285 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:50,140 on our principles to get along with somebody. Right. But we also don't need to belittle 286 00:20:50,140 --> 00:20:56,200 theirs, their beliefs. We don't need to belittle other people for their beliefs. I love that 287 00:20:56,200 --> 00:21:00,560 part because that's exactly what we want in return. Right. Could there be able to hold 288 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:04,900 our beliefs while not being belittled at the same time. So we extend the same grace. It's 289 00:21:04,900 --> 00:21:09,000 good practice to have a conversation long enough with somebody that you can find that 290 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:16,820 there's something similar between you. It might take a while. Maybe it'll be fast. There was 291 00:21:16,820 --> 00:21:21,440 another action item right after that. And it said, are you willing to let God prevail 292 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:27,640 in your life? Are you willing to let God be the most important influence in your life? 293 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:31,520 Will you allow his words, his commandments, and his covenants to influence what you do 294 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:35,920 each day? Will you allow his voice to take priority over any other? 295 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:40,000 That's so good. And again, that's a direct quote from our prophet. 296 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:44,480 And the way that they listed them, it just felt like the action items. Oh, yeah. And 297 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:51,280 there's a reemphasis on a command that was given a couple of conferences ago, a few now. 298 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:55,520 Neither of those were the last one. So it's been at least a year that we've had time to 299 00:21:55,520 --> 00:22:00,640 work on this. Are we getting any better at it? It's time to reassess if we need to recommit 300 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:08,360 to this charge. And like I said, he's laying out a very strong case in court. It's like, 301 00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:12,600 the commandment is to love God and love our neighbors and follow our example of our savior, 302 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:17,400 Jesus Christ. And I think he's really saying to us, as the world gets more contentious 303 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,000 and drawn apart, and it looks like we have less in common with people, and we're more 304 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:27,360 inclined to anchor and to contention, that's Satan's tactic. And if we want to show that 305 00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:36,760 we're following Jesus Christ, despite those circumstances, we have to make that conscious 306 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:40,920 decision to think about our words, think about our actions, and think about how we're going 307 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:47,080 to treat other people. Absolutely. It's so cute. I had a, when I was in Young Women's, 308 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:50,880 I had a really cute girl who she was the youngest of nine children. And she's like, you know 309 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:56,680 what, my oldest sister has this saying, and it's when there's something that arises that 310 00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:59,600 you feel heated about, or that you want to have a conversation about, or whatever it 311 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:05,320 is, but it gives you a rise. You ask yourself, will this matter in five minutes? Will this 312 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:10,160 matter in five years? Will this matter in, you know, five months, five years, was like 313 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:16,600 10 years. Anyways, it was essentially saying, is it really worth putting this anger or frustration 314 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,600 or whatever into it? You know, we would tag that, think celestial. 315 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:25,600 Right? That was before that ever happened. It would be as a reminder, the prophets charged 316 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:30,000 to be a peacemaker, the prophets charged to let God prevail, and the prophets charged 317 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:35,000 to think celestial. Yeah. You just really can't go wrong if you, like we had talked 318 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:40,800 about, we have Jesus Christ as our example, but the prophet is his mouthpiece. And clearly, 319 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:45,480 it's easy to say that the President Russell M. Nelson emulates him in his action too, 320 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:50,320 not just in his words. Absolutely. So what a blessing. I do want to, do you have any 321 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,280 more thoughts? I don't. I would love to hear what you have 322 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,920 in closing. I would love to close with Elder Oaks' own 323 00:23:55,920 --> 00:24:01,040 words, but before I do that, because this finalizes the last talk of the Saturday morning 324 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:06,800 session, I just want to take a minute to express gratitude for those of you who have been with 325 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:11,540 us for all of these talks, or even new listeners, it's great to have you coming on board and 326 00:24:11,540 --> 00:24:20,060 joining us. And we kind of take these last episodes of, you know, session ends to encourage 327 00:24:20,060 --> 00:24:24,260 you to share the goodness that you find. If it's in this podcast, that's great. If there's 328 00:24:24,260 --> 00:24:29,520 another one that's catching your ear and it's like sparking you to make actions that you 329 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:34,160 weren't before, or helping you look deeper into the scriptures, or focusing more on Come 330 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:40,040 Follow Me, whatever you're into right now that's bringing you closer to Jesus Christ, 331 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:44,840 if it's in a shareable form, like a podcast or a great meme, we just want to encourage 332 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:50,760 you to take time to like and comment and share those things. If it happens to be this podcast, 333 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:55,500 we would love for you to leave a review. It does help people find us, and we hope that 334 00:24:55,500 --> 00:25:00,780 you're finding more connections to Jesus Christ through this podcast. And if that is the case, 335 00:25:00,780 --> 00:25:05,480 we would love more people to be able to have access to it. And so your words help in a 336 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:11,480 lot of ways. So I will wrap it up. If you have any other thoughts? Nope. I'm going to 337 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:13,820 close with Elder Oaks' words. He said, 338 00:25:13,820 --> 00:25:18,640 As followers of Christ, we teach and testify of Jesus Christ, our perfect role model. Let 339 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:22,980 us seek to be holy like our Savior, in whose name I testify, and invoke His blessing to 340 00:25:22,980 --> 00:25:27,320 help us be saints. In His name, Jesus Christ. Amen. 341 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:54,320 Thanks so much. We'll catch you next time.