Apostle Fireside

[Corsair]

Ask, "What is it like to see and talk directly to Christ?"

+1

I can already tell you the passive aggressive answer you will probably get: "What does it feel like when you get an answer to prayer, especially when it is part of a very sacred, very personal experience?"

[Korihor]

I would recommend asking the questions using a tone that indicates you are an.active, faithful member with a few questions.

That should be easy to do.

I am an active member that wants to stay in church.

And yes, you are absolutely right. I definitely do not want to have an adversarial tone. I figure there could be upwards of 25k people tuning in as this will be broadcast to 50 different stake centers. If the question comes across as adversarial, they'll all shut down and stop listening. The question has to be worded in such a way that it is thought provoking, yet still comes from a faithful point of view.

Do you think the question in proposed does that? Do you have any suggestions on how I could make it better?

If you don't want to have an adversarial tone, i would gladly come and speak in an adversarial tone in your stead.

[2bizE]

I would recommend asking the questions using a tone that indicates you are an.active, faithful member with a few questions.

That should be easy to do.

I am an active member that wants to stay in church.

And yes, you are absolutely right. I definitely do not want to have an adversarial tone. I figure there could be upwards of 25k people tuning in as this will be broadcast to 50 different stake centers. If the question comes across as adversarial, they'll all shut down and stop listening. The question has to be worded in such a way that it is thought provoking, yet still comes from a faithful point of view.

Do you think the question in proposed does that? Do you have any suggestions on how I could make it better?

AZflyer,
I like your question. It is legitimate. I would recommend polishing up the wording to make it more concise. Put it on a note card so you can remember it and keep it short. Practice giving it a few times. Maybe even shed a tear when asking it for dramatic effect.

[azflyer]

AZflyer,
I like your question. It is legitimate. I would recommend polishing up the wording to make it more concise. Put it on a note card so you can remember it and keep it short. Practice giving it a few times. Maybe even shed a tear when asking it for dramatic effect.

Thanks for the advise. I am going to shorten and polish it. I timed it the other day. It took one minute to read it at a regular speaking pace. That is WAY to long. I'm going to target 30 seconds.

I'll let everyone know how it goes. I'm actually a little nervous now.

[Korihor]

AZflyer,
I like your question. It is legitimate. I would recommend polishing up the wording to make it more concise. Put it on a note card so you can remember it and keep it short. Practice giving it a few times. Maybe even shed a tear when asking it for dramatic effect.

Thanks for the advise. I am going to shorten and polish it. I timed it the other day. It took one minute to read it at a regular speaking pace. That is WAY to long. I'm going to target 30 seconds.

I'll let everyone know how it goes. I'm actually a little nervous now.

We're all cheering for you!

[Linked]

Well, I had a dream about the fireside. The questions were all pre-selected and NOM was not happy about it.

I think I need to spend less time on here...

[Enoch Witty]

Well, I had a dream about the fireside. The questions were all pre-selected and NOM was not happy about it.

I think I need to spend less time on here...

I believe this is what they call a "vision." You know what's going to happen!

[azflyer]

Well, I had a dream about the fireside. The questions were all pre-selected and NOM was not happy about it.

I think I need to spend less time on here...

I agree with your assessment here.

[wtfluff]

Well, I had a dream about the fireside. The questions were all pre-selected and NOM was not happy about it.

I think I need to spend less time on here...

I believe this is what they call a "vision." You know what's going to happen!

Enoch beat me to my reply...

[Not Buying It]

No matter how respectful your tone, the apostles won't give you a straight answer. I still think you should make them squirm. But I'm behind you all the way no matter what you ask or how you ask it, best of luck.

[azflyer]

Well, it happened tonight. I was able to stand and ask a question directly to Elder Rasband and I received answers to the question I asked from both Elder Ballard and Elder Rasband. I'm pretty tired and am going to bed now. I don't think I am going to do much explanation of how it all went down here on the public page. If any of you would like to know more, please PM me.

[Silver Girl]

Thanks for letting us know you successfully asked a question - I sent a PM and would love to hear how things went.

[Enough Is Enough]

Well, it happened tonight. I was able to stand and ask a question directly to Elder Rasband and I received answers to the question I asked from both Elder Ballard and Elder Rasband. I'm pretty tired and am going to bed now. I don't think I am going to do much explanation of how it all went down here on the public page. If any of you would like to know more, please PM me.

Ah, now I wish I would've gone ... to hear a NOM ask a question of an apostle isn't an everyday opportunity. Some of my family went, but I couldn't endure the thought of it. I'd PM you, but it looks like I haven't posted enough on the board--an incentive to join in more.

[azflyer]

Thanks for letting us know you successfully asked a question - I sent a PM and would love to hear how things went.

After thinking about it a bit more, I decided I will do a public write up. I hope you can all appreciate how I'm kind of putting myself out there by doing this. The meeting was broadcast to 53 other stake centers, and I did publicly stand up, state my name, and ask this question. After the meeting I had people I haven't seen in years contact me on social media, and via text message telling me they saw me, and that they were proud of me for standing up and asking a difficult question.

I had Friday off from work and I basically spent the entire day thinking, meditating, and praying about how I should phrase the question. I spoke with some of you fellow NOM's as well as my TBM sister about how it should be worded. During the meeting, I took careful notes, and further edited the question. Once the time came, I was sure to raise my hand quickly once Elder Rasband asked if anyone had questions. I know the stake high councilman that had the mic, and I had spoke with him before hand so he knew that I wanted to ask a question. He was looking right at me as I raised my hand. The second my hand went up, he came walking over.

I had considered recording the event, but we were specifically asked not to by Elder Rasband as the meeting started. I respected that request and shut my phone off.

I'll recount to you my question as best as I can remember it.

“Hello, my name is [OK, I'm not really putting that in here], and I am from [somewhere] Arizona. I was very grateful that Elder Ballard started the meeting tonight by letting us know that this would be a candid meeting. I hope to be faithfully candid in the way I ask my question tonight. We live in the information age. The temple endowment ceremony, unfortunately, can be found on youtube. The church’s family search website shows that Joseph Smith practiced polygamy with several teenage girls. I have many friends and family members that have felt very hurt as they have come to learn this information. Elder Robbins spoke of how the church history is our identify. Many of these people that have questions feel that their identify has been shattered as they… (somewhere in the italicized portion Elder Rasband cut me off and asked if I had a question – some of the people gave a nervous chuckle at this point). I responded with,
“Yes, of course. How can we best fellowship these dear Brothers and Sisters, and how can we teach our children so they don’t fall into the same predicament.”

At this point I nervously sat down and clenched my hands together tightly. My wife put her hand on my leg in a reassuring manner. Between the two of us, I am the one that keeps us going to church. She comes about once a month now, and only does it because I keep going. She wore pants and her double earrings to the meeting tonight. Elder Rasband looked back to Elder Ballard, and then Elder Ballard stood to address me. He spoke for several minutes and basically looked right at me the entire time. I don't want to go into detail about exactly what he said, because I don't think I'd do it justice, and if you have listed to his talks in the past, most of what he said last night was in line with what he has said in those previous talks.

After Elder Ballard was done, Elder Rasband stood and also spoke for a moment on the topic. He referenced his conference talk from October 2016. I went back and re-read that this morning.

After the meeting was over, I just wanted to run and hide. I felt that everyone was mad at me for some reason for bringing up a taboo topic. I just wanted to crawl under the pew and hide from everyone. I was very happy to see that two people in the congregation came over to me to specifically thank me for asking that question. I could tell that the question I asked resonated with them, and they were glad that I asked it. A member of our stake presidency also came over to talk to me. He said he thought it was a great question, and he was very happy that I asked it. These three people really helped to lift my spirits and help me feel better.

My wife and I went out to dinner after the meeting, and once I turned my phone on, I saw that I had multiple messages from friends that I haven't seen in a along time reaching out to me to thank me for asking the question. One friend that was in a satellite building pulled out his phone and took a picture of the projector screen in the building he was in and sent it to me.

More than anything, I want you all to know that you are not alone in having questions about the church. These questions are legitimate and real. There are many people out there that you think are TBM that also have these same questions. We are all doing our best one way or another to get through these crazy lives that we have. I love all of you and am so grateful for the friendship that I've felt from many of you. I want to continue my faith journey with the LDS church. My reasons for doing this are deep and complex.

AZflyer - out

[LaMachina]

Thanks for sharing, I sincerely appreciate you putting yourself out there like this, it's not easy.
I'm curious though, were you at all satisfied with the answer they gave? Or was it disappointing?

[Enough]

Azflyer, I can't imagine how nerve-wracking it was to put yourself out there like that/this. And, I think it says a lot that, given everything going on, you respected the GA's request not to record.

[Enough Is Enough]

The fact that this is even an uncomfortable question to ask in 2017 says much about the culture of the church. I too appreciate your willingness to stand up and ask the question. I now really wish I'd gone. I believe I would have been in the same building and would have introduced myself and shaken your hand!

[MoPag]

Azflyer, you are awesome!!! And you wife sounds really cool too! Two sets of ear rings and pants to an apostle fireside! Love it!

[Anon70]

Thank you for sharing this (and for the PM response earlier)! I love how you handled this. I think it does demonstrate that there are large factions in the church that are concerned. Can I ask about you perceived their attitude towards you?

[John G.]

The fact that this is even an uncomfortable question to ask in 2017 says much about the culture of the church. I too appreciate your willingness to stand up and ask the question.

Way to go! It's tough to ask the hard questions that need to be asked! Braver than me!

There is definitely a problem with the culture of the church for it to be so hard to ask these type of questions.