Last updated on November 8th, 2024 at 06:32 am
General Conference Applied
S4 E2 – Sunday, October 27, 2024 | “Following Christ” by President Dallin H. Oaks; October 2024 General Conference
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Podcast Episode Outline
Introduction
- Sacrament Meeting Talk – October 20, 2024: “We are living in a time of ‘influencers’ [i.e., the people we follow on social media]. Anytime I hear that someone is an ‘influencer,’ my first question is: ‘What are they influencing me to do?’ Most often, they want you to buy what they are selling. They want you to give them your affection, your attention, your money, and your time.
“3 Nephi 12:16 – ‘[16] Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.’
“3 Nephi 18:24 – ‘[24] Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I [i.e., Jesus Christ] am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do.’
“President Russell M. Nelson does not say: ‘Give me your affection, your attention, your money, and your time.’ Rather, he consistently points us to Jesus Christ and says: ‘Give Jesus Christ your affection, your attention, your money, and your time.’ That is the type of influencer I want to support.” - “The commandments of God provide the guiding and steadying force in our lives. Our experiences in mortality are like the little boy and his father flying a kite on a windy day. As the kite rose higher, the winds caused it to tug on the connecting string in the little boy’s hand. Inexperienced with the force of mortal winds, he proposed to cut the string so the kite could rise higher. His wise father counseled no, explaining that the string is what holds the kite in place against mortal winds. If we lose our hold on the string, the kite will not rise higher. It will be carried about by these winds and inevitably crash to the earth.
“That essential string represents the covenants that connect us to God, our Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. As we honor those covenants by keeping Their commandments and following Their plan of redemption, Their promised blessings enable us to soar to celestial heights.” - “In the Book of Mormon, the Lord gave us the fundamentals in what He called ‘the doctrine of Christ.’ These are faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, enduring to the end, and becoming as a little child, which means to trust the Lord and submit to all He requires of us.”
Bio
- “[President] Dallin H. Oaks was sustained and set apart as first counselor in the First Presidency and president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday, January 14, 2018.
“Elder Oaks is a native of Provo, Utah, and was born August 12, 1932. He and his late wife, June Dixon Oaks, are the parents of six children. She died July 21, 1998. On August 25, 2000, he married Kristen M. McMain in the Salt Lake Temple.
“He is a graduate of Brigham Young University (1954) and of the University of Chicago Law School (1957). He practiced law and taught law in Chicago. He was president of Brigham Young University from 1971 to 1980, and a justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 1980 until his resignation in 1984 to accept his calling to the apostleship.
“Elder Oaks has been an officer or member of the board of many business, educational, and charitable organizations. He is the author or co-author of many books and articles on religious and legal subjects. In May 2013, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty awarded him the Canterbury Medal for ‘courage in the defense of religious liberty.'” - This was President Oaks’s 91st general conference address. Here are his five most recent addresses:
- “Covenants and Responsibilities” – April 2024 General Conference
- “Kingdoms of Glory” – October 2023 General Conference
- “The Teachings of Jesus Christ” – April 2023 General Conference
- “Helping the Poor and Distressed” – October 2022 General Conference
- “Divine Love in the Father’s Plan” – April 2022 General Conference
What is the speaker inviting me to do, and how might I consider taking action?
Invitations
1: “Peacemakers! How it would change personal relationships if followers of Christ would forgo harsh and hurtful words in all their communications.”
- If you don’t have something nice or uplifting to say, then don’t say it at all.
- Christlike Attribute: “I say positive things about others. (Doctrine and Covenants 42:27)” (Charity and Love)
- “As followers of Christ, we teach and testify of Jesus Christ, our Perfect Role Model. So let us follow Him by forgoing contention. As we pursue our preferred policies in public actions, let us qualify for His blessings by using the language and methods of peacemakers. In our families and other personal relationships, let us avoid what is harsh and hateful. Let us seek to be holy, like our Savior.” -President Oaks
- Questions:
- Does ‘all [our] communications’ even include our thoughts?
- Do the “influencers” you “follow” ‘forgo harsh and hurtful words in all their communications’?
- How might your ‘personal relationships’ change by ‘[forgoing] harsh and hurtful words in all [your] communications’?
- In the April 2023 General Conference, President Russell M. Nelson delivered an address entitled “Peacemakers Needed”. Do you remember the seven invitations from his address?
- “Peacemakers Needed“:
- “Today, I am asking us to interact with others in a higher, holier way. Please listen carefully. ‘If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy’ that we can say about another person—whether to his face or behind her back—that should be our standard of communication.”
- “I urge you to choose to be a peacemaker, now and always.”
- “Cast [Satan] out of your relationships!”
- “In situations that are highly charged and filled with contention, I invite you to remember Jesus Christ. Pray to have the courage and wisdom to say or do what He would.”
- “I also hope that you will look deeply into your heart to see if there are shards of pride or jealousy that prevent you from becoming a peacemaker. If you are serious about helping to gather Israel and about building relationships that will last throughout the eternities, now is the time to lay aside bitterness. Now is the time to cease insisting that it is your way or no way. Now is the time to stop doing things that make others walk on eggshells for fear of upsetting you. Now is the time to bury your weapons of war. If your verbal arsenal is filled with insults and accusations, now is the time to put them away.”
- “Today I invite you to examine your discipleship within the context of the way you treat others. I bless you to make any adjustments that may be needed so that your behavior is ennobling, respectful, and representative of a true follower of Jesus Christ. I bless you to replace belligerence with beseeching, animosity with understanding, and contention with peace.”
- “Let us as a people become a true light on the hill—a light that ‘cannot be hid.’ Let us show that there is a peaceful, respectful way to resolve complex issues and an enlightened way to work out disagreements.”
- “Peacemakers Needed“:
- How can saying positive things about others actually boost my self-esteem?
- “Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day” by Jay Shetty: “I flash back to a class Gauranga Das taught called ‘Cancers of the Mind: Comparing, Complaining, Criticizing.’ In the class, we talked about negative thought habits, including gossip. One of the exercises we did was keeping a tally of every criticism we spoke or thought. For each one, we had to write down ten good things about the person…
“I went through the exercise, dutifully noting every criticism I let slip. Next to each, I jotted down ten positive qualities. The point of the exercise wasn’t hard to figure out—every person was more good than bad—but seeing it on the page made the ratio sink in. This helped me see my own weaknesses differently. I tended to focus on my mistakes without balancing them against my strengths. When I found myself being self-critical, I reminded myself that I too had positive qualities. Putting my negative qualities in context helped me recognize the same ratio in myself, that I am more good than bad. We talked about this feedback loop in class: When we criticize others, we can’t help but notice the bad in ourselves. But when we look for the good in others, we start to see the best in ourselves too…
“Becoming aware of negativity means learning to spot the toxic impulses around you. To help us confront our own negativity, our monk teachers told us to try not to complain, compare, or criticize for a week, and keep a tally of how many times we failed. The goal was to see the daily tally decrease. The more aware we became of these tendencies, the more we might free ourselves from them.
“Listing your negative thoughts and comments will help you contemplate their origins. Are you judging a friend’s appearance, and are you equally hard on your own? Are you muttering about work without considering your own contribution? Are you reporting on a friend’s illness to call attention to your own compassion, or are you hoping to solicit more support for that friend?”
- “Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day” by Jay Shetty: “I flash back to a class Gauranga Das taught called ‘Cancers of the Mind: Comparing, Complaining, Criticizing.’ In the class, we talked about negative thought habits, including gossip. One of the exercises we did was keeping a tally of every criticism we spoke or thought. For each one, we had to write down ten good things about the person…
2: “Potential adversaries should begin their discussions by identifying common ground on which all agree. To follow our Perfect Role Model and His prophet, we need to practice what is popularly known as the Golden Rule: ‘All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.’ We need to love and do good to all. We need to avoid contention and be peacemakers in all our communications. This does not mean to compromise our principles and priorities but to cease harshly attacking others for theirs. That is what our Perfect Role Model did in His ministry. That is the example He set for us as He invited us to follow Him.”
- Focus on our similarities and stop attacking others who think differently.
- Christlike Attribute: “I try to understand others’ feelings and see their point of view. (Jude 1:22)” (Charity and Love)
- “This is a time of many harsh and hurtful words in public communications and sometimes even in our families. Sharp differences on issues of public policy often result in actions of hostility—even hatred—in public and personal relationships. This atmosphere of enmity sometimes even paralyzes capacities for lawmaking on matters of importance where most citizens see an urgent need for some action in the public interest.
“What should followers of Christ teach and do in this time of toxic communications? What were His teachings and examples?
“It is significant that among the first principles Jesus taught when He appeared to the Nephites was to avoid contention. While He taught this in the context of disputes over religious doctrine, the reasons He gave clearly apply to communications and relationships in politics, public policy, and family relationships. Jesus taught:
“‘He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.’
“In His remaining ministry among the Nephites, Jesus taught other commandments closely related to His prohibition of contention. We know from the Bible that He had previously taught each of these in His great Sermon on the Mount, usually in precisely the same language He later used with the Nephites. I will quote the familiar Bible language:
“‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.’
“This is one of Christ’s best-known commandments—most revolutionary and most difficult to follow. Yet it is a most fundamental part of His invitation for all to follow Him. As President David O. McKay taught, ‘There is no better way to manifest love for God than to show an unselfish love for one’s fellowmen.'” -President Oaks - Questions:
- Who are my ‘potential adversaries’?
- Finding Joy in Jesus Christ | 3 Nephi 28-4 Nephi | Class 44 from The Book of Mormon: A Master Class, by John Hilton III: “Another phrase about the Zion-like society that touched my heart is that there were no ‘ites’ among the people. There was no ‘us vs. them’. And I don’t know about you, but I think it’s pretty easy to slip into an ‘us vs. them’ mentality. One political party against another, one sports team against another, [and] one religion against another.
“I once heard [Professor] Jared Halverson give a great analogy where he said something like this: ‘If you put a bunch of Latter-day Saints in a room, they might divide themselves into liberals and conservatives. But if you put Protestants and Catholics into the same room with the Latter-day Saints, the Latter-day Saints will band together. Or if you have a room of Latter-day Saints, Protestants and Catholics, they might focus on their differences.
“But if you add in Jews and Muslims, they’ll focus on their common identity as Christians. If you add some atheists into the room, all the believers will unite together around their common identity as believers in God. So we just need to zoom out one more step and see that we are all children of God. There’s no ‘ites’. We’re all the Lord’s children. And it seems like that’s what the Nephites were able to do.”
- Finding Joy in Jesus Christ | 3 Nephi 28-4 Nephi | Class 44 from The Book of Mormon: A Master Class, by John Hilton III: “Another phrase about the Zion-like society that touched my heart is that there were no ‘ites’ among the people. There was no ‘us vs. them’. And I don’t know about you, but I think it’s pretty easy to slip into an ‘us vs. them’ mentality. One political party against another, one sports team against another, [and] one religion against another.
- What is a practical application of ‘identifying common ground on which all agree’?
- “The Peace of Christ Abolishes Enmity“, Elder Dale G. Renlund, October 2021 General Conference: “After the Savior’s visit to the Americas, the people were unified; ‘there was no contention in all the land.’ Do you think that the people were unified because they were all the same, or because they had no differences of opinion? I doubt it. Instead, contention and enmity disappeared because they placed their discipleship of the Savior above all else. Their differences paled in comparison to their shared love of the Savior, and they were united as ‘heirs to the kingdom of God.’ The result was that ‘there could not be a happier people … who had been created by the hand of God.’
“Unity requires effort. It develops when we cultivate the love of God in our hearts and we focus on our eternal destiny. We are united by our common, primary identity as children of God and our commitment to the truths of the restored gospel. In turn, our love of God and our discipleship of Jesus Christ generate genuine concern for others. We value the kaleidoscope of others’ characteristics, perspectives, and talents. If we are unable to place our discipleship to Jesus Christ above personal interests and viewpoints, we should reexamine our priorities and change.
“We might be inclined to say, ‘Of course we can have unity—if only you would agree with me!’ A better approach is to ask, ‘What can I do to foster unity? How can I respond to help this person draw closer to Christ? What can I do to lessen contention and to build a compassionate and caring Church community?’
“When love of Christ envelops our lives, we approach disagreements with meekness, patience, and kindness. We worry less about our own sensitivities and more about our neighbor’s. We ‘seek to moderate and unify.’ We do not engage in ‘doubtful disputations,’ judge those with whom we disagree, or try to cause them to stumble. Instead, we assume that those with whom we disagree are doing the best they can with the life experiences they have.
“My wife practiced law for over 20 years. As an attorney, she often worked with others who explicitly advocated opposing views. But she learned to disagree without being rude or angry. She might say to opposing counsel, ‘I can see we are not going to agree on this issue. I like you. I respect your opinion. I hope you can offer me the same courtesy.’ Often this allowed for mutual respect and even friendship despite differences.” - “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know” by Adam Grant: “When I asked Harish [Natarajan]: ‘How do we improve at finding common ground?’ He offered a surprisingly practical tip: Most people immediately start with a ‘straw man’ – poking holes in the weakest version of the other side’s case. He does the reverse. He considers the strongest version of their case, which is known as the ‘steel man’. A politician might occasionally adopt that tactic to pander or persuade. But like a good scientist, Harish does it to learn.”
- “The Peace of Christ Abolishes Enmity“, Elder Dale G. Renlund, October 2021 General Conference: “After the Savior’s visit to the Americas, the people were unified; ‘there was no contention in all the land.’ Do you think that the people were unified because they were all the same, or because they had no differences of opinion? I doubt it. Instead, contention and enmity disappeared because they placed their discipleship of the Savior above all else. Their differences paled in comparison to their shared love of the Savior, and they were united as ‘heirs to the kingdom of God.’ The result was that ‘there could not be a happier people … who had been created by the hand of God.’
- In what ways can ‘[loving] and [doing] good to all’ bless our lives?
- “The Anatomy of Peace (Fourth Edition): Resolving the Heart of Conflict” by The Arbinger Institute: “Unfortunately, listening is often thought of as a burden we impose on ourselves for the benefit of others – as if it is a ‘gift’ we give to others. But real listening is primarily a gift we offer ourselves. One that opens us up to others, and allows us to live and work free of prejudices, biases, and false assumptions. What’s more, this kind of listening will most often lead to a sense of something we can do to help things go right. Whatever role we play in our organizations, the influence we have and the actions we take will be, in large part, a function of the degree to which we allow ourselves to be influenced by others. And more often than not, this kind of listening helps us see where we can engage in the most important correction of all – the correction of ourselves.”
- Can you think of an example of how someone did not ‘compromise [their] principles and priorities but … [ceased] harshly attacking others for theirs’?
- What is a story about Jesus Christ from the New Testament in which the Savior demonstrated that He followed the ‘Golden Rule’?
- Who are my ‘potential adversaries’?
Take Action
How will you take action on the invitations extended in this General Conference address?
Conclusion
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Tags
Commandments | Contention | Covenants | Discipleship | Jesus Christ | Peacemaking
Additional Content
Previous Podcast Episode (“The Lord Jesus Christ Will Come Again” by President Russell M. Nelson)
Next Podcast Episode (Non-General Conference Applied: October 2024 Invitations Recap)