NOM

I have a close friend who received a very subtle/gentle suggestion on Facebook that he was seeing EVERYTHING through a bit of a nasty political lens. He hardly posted anything that wasn't hammering on some political issue. And he received the suggestion from me, which is always a little dicey.

A few days later he actually made kind of a blanket apology after listening to this very good talk given by Arthur C. Brooks at BYU commencement. He gave it high praise.

I listened to it as well and was very impressed that BYU would have a Catholic deliver the address. And how ironic that this talk motivated my friend to change his behavior.

The other thing I noticed was the absence of the terribly droll "Mormon cadence" in this talk. It was truly refreshing and a pleasure to listen to someone actually speaking like a human rather than an automaton. Who'dah thunk it!

https://youtu.be/qSflt1qrROM

Judging from the applause afterward you can tell it was a better address than what they were used to hearing. I imagine the students at the Y have sat through more painfully boring talks than college students elsewhere.

This is a great talk. Take 11 minutes and listen. He did a great job in preparing for his audience. He was witty, entertaining, and drove home a great message. Kudos to BYU for bringing him in.

Sadly, I am sure that the majority of students in attendance discussed how he is a dry Mormon (er Latter-day Saint) and will likely join any time now since that briefcase constantly teaches him to be saintly.

I saw him there in person and he was very well received, as evidenced by the lengthy standing ‘O’when he concluded. No one who spoke before or after got quite the reaction, though the Seventy that followed wasn’t bad. I think the drone was masked by his UK accent. Funny that you would bring up the Mormon cadence because that’s exactly what came to mind during the program. There was a stark contrast.

I saw Arthur C. and expected the next word to be Clarke. For a moment I thought it was the Second Coming.

Hagoth wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:50 am

I saw Arthur C. and expected the next word to be Clarke. For a moment I thought it was the Second Coming.

Or at least be the prelude for a Monolith to appear at Temple Square and gather the Temple patrons together to beat their quads upon the ground and make joyful grunts of awareness. Bet people could hear the crescendo of Thus Spake Zarathustra all the way to Bountiful.

Palerider wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 27, 2019 5:32 pm

A few days later he actually made kind of a blanket apology after listening to this very good talk given by Arthur C. Brooks at BYU commencement. He gave it high praise.

That was a great talk. It was downright humanistic and i cannot see any real disagreement with his observations of the best that the LDS church does, in fact, produce in people. I'm simply left with the troubling thought that our believing friends, family, and leaders should be taking these ideas to hear when people like us start posting on forums like this.

I'll go one step further and consider how we should be doing the same towards the believers in our own lives.

Corsair wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 28, 2019 6:06 pm

I'll go one step further and consider how we should be doing the same towards the believers in our own lives.

Couldn't agree more and yet I am reduced to being small minded in remembering my first foray into the culture found on that other apologetic website. Talk about someone being treated with "contempt".

I'm sure they felt like they were just defending the church but their harsh rhetoric did nothing to convince me I had come to the wrong conclusion. I'm sure that's why things have toned down significantly over there in the past couple of years. They may have been "defending" the church but they weren't gaining any lost sheep back to the fold.

As you stated Corsair, it has made me think more seriously about how I should proceed with those of my family and friends who still believe.

Palerider wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:30 pm

Couldn't agree more and yet I am reduced to being small minded in remembering my first foray into the culture found on that other apologetic website. Talk about someone being treated with "contempt".

They currently have a thread going aimed at belittling poster Bill Reel.

http://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/718 ... everything