Just another Bishop account

The way we integrate faith and community is both the most compelling and most dangerous feature of the Church. The challenge is to build your discipleship on the strengths of both without allowing their weaknesses to detract from your efforts to become a disciple of Jesus Christ

@bcbaker66 @Intoalltruth64 @Proctorius10 Saw one in Austin 2 on Palm Sunday

@Intoalltruth64 @Proctorius10 I have. It took us years here to break those imported cultural shackles, but we’ve done it.

As the Church of Jesus Christ grows beyond its cultural core, true doctrines mercifully outpace false traditions. Congratulations to the new bishopric of the Highlands Ward in Harare: Bishop Malvin Shinga and his two bearded counsellors, Chiwalo Chiwalo (L) and Terry Dube (R).

@LeadingSaints My wife and I went on a date to Walmart to buy plastic containers and we just naturally ended up at Marble Slab afterward. 10/10 would recommend over 2 more hrs of church on TV.

I could be eating ice cream right now with my son. 😔 We miss you priesthood session. #generalconference

Elder Bednar’s love of running made me wonder who would win a foot race between current members of the Q12? 1. David Bednar 2. Gary Stevenson 3. Dale Renlund Patrick Kearon would have medaled but stopped to carry Ron Rasband who pushed a little too hard. #GeneralConference

“In the end everyone must make their own choice to come home.” - E Gilbert These are maybe the most healing words of this talk for the faithful conf goer. All of us know someone we wish we could drag home against their will. All we can do is call them home. #GeneralConference

‘As you anchor in the things you do believe, Heavenly Father will help you figure out the rest.’ (Paraphrase from E Gilbert) Yep. This is the way. Always start with what you do believe. #generalconference

I know it’s early but Best Opening Joke award goes to Clark Gilbert, the SmallClark™ #generalconference

Fun fact: being a Temple worker is one of the few callings you can just call your bishop and volunteer for. Don’t make our job harder by making us guess that you’d like to do that service. As Sister Yi said, it can be a life changing calling. #generalconference

My longstanding opinion that “sustaining does not necessarily mean agreeing with someone all the time” is now canonized by E Kearon in #generalconference. Starting off strong canonizing all my personal beliefs. ❤️

@CLURT1847 @OnThisDayLDS Yes. I remember 1994 (Hunter) 1995 (Hinckley) and 2008 (Monson) and 2018 (Nelson) there has been a news conference shortly after a new president of the Church takes office. In all of those cases, reporters were allowed to ask questions.

@OnThisDayLDS Hey, for the record, did TSM, GBH, or so on have media receptions like this?

On this day in Church history: January 16, 2018 In a special broadcast from the Salt Lake Temple, the newly reconstituted First Presidency is announced. This is the first time that the public is informed of the ordination two days prior of the Prophet Russell M. Nelson as the 17th President of the Church. As part of the broadcast, the Apostles Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring were announced as First and Second Counselors in the First Presidency, respectively. In the conclusion of his address, President Nelson remarked: “𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦. “𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘌𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘚𝘰𝘯, 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵. 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘮—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶—𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.”

@stackerco This is why I’m a firm believer in not putting stuff on the shelf. You pull it down, shine a big light on it, ask questions, ask yourself how really smart, faith-filled people you admire have squared that thing in their mind. Then you wrestle with it and find your peace.

Other reasons people leave the LDS church that’s not about sin: An accumulation of church policies, history, and truth claim issues break them: faenrandir.github.io/a_careful_exam…

@onmywaymo @hollywelker The most interesting folks in my ward are the ones who don't come to church, and I've had a lot of conversations (their request) where I just listen to their stories as they process a whole lifetime of twists and turns. I really do care about people. I don't feel "required" to.

@onmywaymo @hollywelker Makes sense. Sorry it felt trolly. I really was fascinated by the math - the 35 years - cuz in contrast the rhetoric felt so raw like it was recent. I shouldn't have assumed any specific motivations, but not taking the time to read the whole CV, I took a shot at a conversation.

Among the reasons it was so hard for me to leave The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that I wanted it to be "true" at the same time I felt it not only couldn't but *shouldn't* be true, because its god is a monster. So many people have professed astonishment 🧵1/

@eeksthegreat2 @RykerJackson97 @ThoughtfulSaint Even the non celestial glories are referred to as “glory”. I think you have a very narrow definition of glory.

@JAnotherBishop @RykerJackson97 @ThoughtfulSaint There is no eternal glory outside of hetero marriage. They become angels of God forever for they could not abide the higher law.

I thought apostasy was a reason for excommunication? Did that policy change?

@ElGranCheerio @jkimballcook It's pretty obvious (as a bishop) to identify those: - who take but don't give - who give only what is required - who are willing to give more when asked - who are willing to give all - who are giving all You guess which are living the Law of Consecration. They live among you.

You don't understand the Law of Consecration. It isn't that there are many ways to implement, it is that at this moment we are not required to live it in its fullness. We are only required to be willing to do so whenever the Lord commands us. The giving of our property to the Church, or our surplus, is 100% an integral part of the Law. We just are not asked to do that at the moment. At the moment, we are only commanded to pay an honest tithing. So a wealthy man, who pays an honest tithing and fast offering, is justified in the eyes of God, even if he chooses to keep the rest of his money. It's not a sin. If he is later commanded to give it all the Church and he refuses, then he would be sinning.

Jesus commanded a young man to sell his riches and give to the poor. That was a commandment for the young man only. Except for the LoC, which we are not yet commanded to keep, there is no commandment against the accumulation of wealth. There is no such thing as "obscene wealth".

I just want to say that last Sunday we sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing as the opening hymn. It was glorious. I got a chuckle, though, when I said we'd "be singing hymn one-thousand-and-one." It's just not a number you're used to seeing on the hymn board at church.

@RykerJackson97 @ThoughtfulSaint The Lord himself said "In my father's house are many mansions." LDS theology is one of the only ones who dare to detail the multiple "mansions" of heaven, thus I also think it's the only one equipped to better explain what eternal glory outside of hetero-marriage looks like.

Stuff like this is so odd to me because LDS theology is by far the least suited to gender and queer theory than any system of theology out there. We don’t believe that God is an amorphous essence beyond gender and human understanding. We believe He is a man with a wife. The highest aspirations of our religion are based around eternal marriages, families and increase. Exaltation is, quite literally, “the continuation of the seeds forever and ever” (D&C 132:19). “Queering” that system, to borrow the term, would break apart our theology to its core. We’re talking about rewriting the plan of salvation, which is why it won’t happen.

@SenMikeLee “Strongly worded statements are not enough” so instead here is a weakly and vaguely worded statement about us not doing stuff we are already not doing because some unrelated guy was convicted of a thing and we’re afraid he won’t like us anymore.

Strongly worded statements are not enough. Those who turned our judicial system into a political cudgel must be held accountable. We are no longer cooperating with any Democrat legislative priorities or nominations, and we invite all concerned Senators to join our stand.

@StallionCornell It’s all about the bread. I go when I need to be put into a gluten coma.

Jimmy John's is so relentlessly unimpressive.