Thoughts on General Conference

This is a bit late. I've been busy.

This most recent session of General Conference was so inspiring and beautiful to me. Was it perfect? No. Where there awkward moments when the feminist within me squirmed and protested? Absolutely. But the Spirit was also undeniably strong and the Sunday morning session in particular was pleasantly Christ-focused.

Oh, President Uchtdorf. What would we do without you? Thank you so much for reminding us all of what it means to be a Christian. Regarding hypocrisy, a thought occurred to me: Usually when we talk about Pharisee-ism and hypocrisy, we envision the most pious, the most observant, those who follow the strictest interpretation of every letter of the law scorning those who don’t sin the way they do. And that is definitely an issue in the church. But I think among the more Spirit-of-the-law centered folks, we can have our own brand of hypocrisy.

Now this thought was centered on myself, so I’m not seeking to condemn anyone, but my thought was that if I spend too much time focusing on what I perceive to be the flaws of the church, or the hypocrisy and Pharisee-ism of others, how is what I’m doing very different from those Holier-Than-Thous? Doesn’t it boil down to pride and fault finding in both of us? Can’t you be a Pharisee about Pharisee-ism? Can’t you take pride in how you REALLY get the IMPORTANT parts of the gospel and SOME people just don’t understand the POINT?

A person can spend their time judging others based on the length of their hem, or on how sexist, politically conservative and closed-minded their sacrament meeting talk is, but in the end, it’s still condemning and judging others. We all have opinions about which behavior is “worse”, but I don’t think the point of church is to go and see how many people behave in ways that offend you in one way or another.


So I’m trying to forgive others for seeing the world in a way that I feel is inherently degrading to my sex. I’m trying to allow them the time and opportunity they need to change. I’m trying to offer another perspective, while trying not to dislike them personally for their biases. I think most people think the things they do because they’ve never spent a lot of time challenging their assumptions. It’s not really their fault that the society, culture and role models that have surrounded them their whole life have taught them insidious falsehoods. I’m trying to be patient and compassionate as I would like them to be with me. I’m trying to be Christlike. 

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