NOM

Gathering, in short, is at the core of faith and religion. Indeed, if the faithful are not gathering, sooner or later they will begin to scatter.

... never again can we allow government officials to treat the exercise of religion as simply nonessential. Never again must the fundamental right to worship God be trivialized below the ability to buy gasoline.

In North America, Elder Bednar pointed out, jurisdictions deemed services related to alcohol, animals and marijuana as essential, while the services of religious organizations were classified as nonessential, even when those activities could be safely conducted.

nibbler wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:01 pm

Behold thy brother hath said, What shall we do?—for we are cast out of our synagogues, that we cannot worship our God.

Behold I say unto you, do ye suppose that ye cannot worship God save it be in your synagogues only?

græy wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:17 pm

Having now watched Bednars actual talk, my interpretation has softened just a bit.

I do think he paints a false picture of a government willing to rip away religious freedom as soon as we aren't paying attention. He builds that narrative by citing the ban on group gatherings (which happened to include religious services) and how those prohibitions were the result of careless government orders which did not take into account religion's place of prime importance in our lives. I firmly disagree there. There was no sinister plot to restrict religious freedom by limiting groups.

However, he then goes on to note how ceremonies like last rights we're denied to many who weren't even sick with COVID19 because of emergency policies in place. While food and health services were deemed essential, even religious services that could be performed safely we're denied - or as Bednar put it - trivialized.

I do understand that to some, ceremonies like last rights could be considered essential. Havimh been TBM, I could not imagine knowing I was going to die and also knowing that my only means of preparing to meet Good worthily were being denied.

I think Bednars ultimate message is that those things are more than meaningful, they are spiritually necessary to some. Denying them could even be cruel. We should be careful in the future to not let things like that get swept into the unimportant pile without so much as a thought.

alas wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:31 pm

græy wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:17 pm

Having now watched Bednars actual talk, my interpretation has softened just a bit.

I do think he paints a false picture of a government willing to rip away religious freedom as soon as we aren't paying attention. He builds that narrative by citing the ban on group gatherings (which happened to include religious services) and how those prohibitions were the result of careless government orders which did not take into account religion's place of prime importance in our lives. I firmly disagree there. There was no sinister plot to restrict religious freedom by limiting groups.

However, he then goes on to note how ceremonies like last rights we're denied to many who weren't even sick with COVID19 because of emergency policies in place. While food and health services were deemed essential, even religious services that could be performed safely we're denied - or as Bednar put it - trivialized.

I do understand that to some, ceremonies like last rights could be considered essential. Havimh been TBM, I could not imagine knowing I was going to die and also knowing that my only means of preparing to meet Good worthily were being denied.

I think Bednars ultimate message is that those things are more than meaningful, they are spiritually necessary to some. Denying them could even be cruel. We should be careful in the future to not let things like that get swept into the unimportant pile without so much as a thought.

Yes, the church really needs to look at all the women who do not have a priesthood holding man in the home and realize that something important was being denied to a segment of the church and how denying that was cruel when blessing the sacrament over the phone or a dozen other ways to allow women to have access to the sacrament were so readily available. But the leaders trivialized the sacrament as far as single, widowed, or mixed faith marriages go. They really should practice what they preach.

2bizE wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 17, 2020 8:26 pm

There was a part of Bednar’s speech that was left out, as some heard him mumble under his breath .... “it is better for thousands of old and less healthy people to die, then for a whole nation of people stop going to church and dwindle in unbelief.”

2bizE wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 17, 2020 8:26 pm

There was a part of Bednar’s speech that was left out, as some heard him mumble under his breath .... “it is better for thousands of old and less healthy people to die, then for a whole nation of people stop going to church and dwindle in unbelief.”

jfro18 wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 18, 2020 9:13 am

Second, he keeps whining about government having too much power and say. This comes from a church that tells you what you can and cannot wear, what you can and cannot drink, how you spend your money, what sources of information you are to read from, etc.

wtfluff wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 18, 2020 8:40 am

Now that I think about it... This is probably just Bednar's evil plan to get all the older Q15 members above him in the hierarchy to go to more meetings so all the old coots will get COVID and die, and then Bednar get's his CEO of LD$-Inc. dream-job sooner.