The Gospel and The Church

[flower]

Here is talk #2 I wanted to share. You may already be familiar with it being that you are all such a well read group.

If you missed talk #1 see the thread below.

http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1375

This talk I believe was referenced in an earlier thread (by Bruce I think) by I felt is deserved its own thread. This talk was given during General Conference in 1984 by Elder Ronald E Poelman. It was an amazing talk but sadly what people saw in their Ensigns the next month was a very revised edition of this talk. He was even re-filmed giving the revised talk and that is what went into the archives. Thanks to the new invention of the VCR the cover up was discovered. According to official church statements Poelman “wanted” to change his talk.

Here is a tidbit to wet your mouth…

“As individually and collectively we increase our knowledge, acceptance, and application of gospel principles, we become less dependent on Church programs. Our lives become gospel centered.”

Actually the link I am going to post is to the Pure Mormonism Blog which wrote a great piece about this talk. He has included lots of links within his post including side by side transcript comparisons and youtube links. Enjoy!

http://puremormonism.blogspot.com/2010/02/best-conference-talk-you-never-read_13.html

[just me]

I’ve seen discussions of this talk before. The original was a truly magnificent talk!

[swimordie]

I watched this talk when Bruce posted it, too. It’s stunningly refreshing!!

[cwald]

swimordie wrote:

I watched this talk when Bruce posted it, too. It’s stunningly refreshing!!

I keep two documents in my church briefcase, which I read regularly before going to church and/or church meeting. One is this talk by Poelman. Great talk. And the other one is, no surprise, How to Stay in the LDS Church After a Major Challenge to Your Faith

I say this truthfully and honestly — when I finally reached the point where I felt I had no choice but to leave the church, and that I was the only normal LDS person left on the planet, I stumbled across these two documents — these two documents kept me from making that disastrous mistake of leaving the church.

You want to talk about answers to prayers and receiving personal revelation. There you have it. Now wouldn’t that be funny, tell my ecclesiastical authorities that god answered my prayers by sending me here, not to their office! 😯 Nah, probably won’t do that. What good could come from it.

[Heber13]

flowerdrops wrote:

“As individually and collectively we increase our knowledge, acceptance, and application of gospel principles, we become less dependent on Church programs. Our lives become gospel centered.”

flowerdrops…you’re amazing. This quote from Poelman is my mantra. My challenge is that I have to deal with the church programs (youth programs, priesthood programs, etc)…and so because I want to live a gospel centered life, the Church programs are less important to me and I find I either just do them anyway because I can, or just don’t follow the church programs and deal with repercussions as the church must necessarily support its programs to continue as an organization.

That is where I am now with my journey.

[Old-Timer]

Fwiw, every conference at least one speaker says explicitly that church programs (and even the Church itself) is here to support the family – and that the family is more important than the programs. It happened last week, as well.

I wish all the local leaders would internalize that message, but it is being preached constantly.

[PressingForward]

flowerdrops wrote:

“As individually and collectively we increase our knowledge, acceptance, and application of gospel principles, we become less dependent on Church programs. Our lives become gospel centered.”

I LOVE this. I’m writing it down and placing it somewhere I can see everyday…

[hawkgrrrl]

Thanks so much for sharing this!

[Euhemerus]

Awesome talk! I loved it. I’m saddened to hear of the censorship.

When I was going through my faith crisis I mentioned to a dear friend that I felt our history was whitewashed, and that we had a culture of strong obedience at the expense of freedom in many cases. He accused me of having my “tin foil hat” on and insisted there was no such thing.

[My3GirlsDad]

Paradigm shifts that have changed my life for the better:

All of my “good” works are broken and imperfect because I am mortal. The pursuit of worthiness is a mirage. We should seek to honor God by living obediently but should not ever feel that obedience makes us “worthy” of anything. By letting go of the pursuit of worthiness through our “goodness” we can have daily access to Christ’s worthiness- by letting go, we get more.

Salvation is personal. Faith in Christ is the ONLY saving faith. Faith in anything or anyone else is a personal choice and is worthy of scrutiny and judgement. Faith in a man, an ordinance, a ritual, a birthright, or your good looks or big house will do nothing to save you. Faith in Christ without works is most likely a dead faith. Works without faith in Christ is “like straitening deck chairs on the Titanic”- it avails us nothing.

If we find ourselves striving to “earn grace”- then we have missed the mark. Life is hard and challenging but the yoke of salvation (Christ) is easy and the burden is light.

M3GD

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