So...the Big Bang, huh?

[Katya]

I was also happy to hear that Elder Whiting got called to the First Quorum.

My grandmother was a Whiting. I bet we're related.

[Fredjikrang]

Yes, any...world that we live in...[isn't] something that is even worth...this point.

Because this quote is awesome, Fredji?

Exactly. ;D

[Fredjikrang]

Elder Ballard's talk boils down to family and service, which I'm all for, but some of his reasoning and justifications were awful. Not only is prosperity gospel false, but it kicks the poor while they're down by implying that they're also unrighteous and he seems to have completely misunderstood the difference between correlation and causation when citing the social data. (And then there were the swipes against single people, working women, and working mothers—Thanks!)

However, my short-term goal is to focus on the good things in conference instead of the bad so I'll, um, get right back to that.

I'm rewatching his talk right now, and I find his reasoning quite good and heavily based on scripture. But I think that it has to be understood in the context that he presents it, mainly that the prosperity that he is talking about is as a society. Or in other words, societies with strong families are more prosperous. Obviously there are going to be wealthy and poor in such societies, but the overall conditions are better.

I have recently been reading in the last part of Mosiah and the first part of Alma, and I feel like his talk is basically a review of the principles taught there. There is a time when they are righteous, and so they become "exceedingly" prosperous. But, it mentions that in spite of their great prosperity they help the poor, naked, and hungry. So, in spite of their prosperity as a society, there are still poor among them.

So, when seen from a societal viewpoint, I see no problem with his talk. Individually, sure, righteousness is not highly correlated with economic prosperity, but for large groups I agree with his thoughts.

[NerdGirl]

On a semi-related note, did anybody else think that Elder Scott's talk would have been CRAY-CRAY if it had come from anybody else? Especially in a sacrament meeting? The whole "God uses the dead in our dreams to give us messages" thing really reminded me of some of the crazier people I met on my mission.

This makes me really excited to watch his talk. I wish we talked about things like this more often in the church.

[Gimgimno]

So the printed versions are now online, and it seems a lot gentler in text. It also seems to tangentially support evolution, even though I think the "new editions" comment was meant to allude to reproduction and not evolution. But who even knows.

[Waldorf and Sauron]

It struck me as a deliberate dig against evolution, Gimgimno.