Year in Review -- Part II

27 January 2008 -- President Gordon B. Hinckley passes away. President Hinckley was probably the most amazing man I ever knew. I have to confess, when I was little, while President Benson was the president of the Church, I remember always thinking of President Hinckley as the boring one in the First Presidency. I mean, President Benson was the prophet, so it was always neat when he spoke, especially when, later in his ministry, it got to be a much rarer occasion. President Monson has always been the story teller, so that has always been neat (especially if you're a five year old). President Hinckley always just seemed to be the one to deal with all the business and stuff like that. However, when he became the Prophet, I distinctly remember seeing the mantle fall on him, so to speak. His was always the voice of optimism, the voice of faith, the voice of motivation, the call to repentance, the voice of leadership.

He reached out to the youth at a time when I needed it most. I distinctly remember one conference talk while I was on my mission where I really felt the power of his loving, but firm, calls to repentance. I remember noting to myself that President Hinckley had gotten "Old Testament" on the bretheren -- i.e. he had spoken with the power and strength that we normally associate with prophets of the Old Testament. (In saying this, I do not want anyone to presume me guilty of the crimes of which he was speaking, but rather to illustrate the conviction that I felt that President Hinckley was a prophet of God just as much as were Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and all the rest.) His "six B's" have guided and refocused a generation of youth who will be forever grateful to him.

He was also a prophet who brought temples to the people. Under his ministry, the number of temples in the world nearly tripled from 47 to 124, with plans laid for 13 more. Under this surge of temple building there were many firsts. For example, 14 November 1999 saw the first time two temples were dedicated on the same day (Halifax Nova Scotia and Regina Saskatchewan). In speaking about these temples, President Hinckley said, "I wish to say to everyone here, come to the temple. Live worthy to come to the temple. Live the commandments of God so that you may come to the temple. Do those things which will make you eligible to serve in the house of the Lord. It has been built for you, my brothers and sisters, that you might have the opportunity of coming here and receiving the wonderful blessings that can be had nowhere else in all the world, except in other temples, where you may be sealed together as husband and wife, where your children may be sealed to you, where you may work in behalf of your forebears, who have gone beyond. That great and marvelous and wonderfully unselfish work occurs in the house of the Lord. Come to the temple" (meeting, Aba, Nigeria, Aug. 6, 2005).

President Hinckley refocused our attention on retention. He was always concerned with "the one," the individual member. I remember Elder Holland of the Twelve speaking of President Hinckley, "For the Church at large, we have so many things to associate in our minds with the visionary ministry of President Gordon B. Hinckley, including (perhaps especially) the vast expansion of temples and temple building. But I dare say for those of us on this rostrum, it is likely that we will remember him at least as emphatically for his determination to retain in permanent activity the converts who join this Church. No modern prophet has addressed this issue more directly nor expected more from us in seeing that it happen. With a twinkle in his eye and a hand smacking the table in front of him, he said to the Twelve recently, “Brethren, when my life is finished and the final services are concluding, I am going to rise up as I go by, look each of you in the eye, and say, ‘How are we doing on retention?’ ”"

There are many other things which I could list which President Hinckley can and will be remembered by, but this is what I have for now. There have been many tributes made by people much more talented than I am. One of my favorites is posted below. All in all, the long and the short of this, however, is that I know that President Gordon B. Hinckley was a Prophet of God.



Praise to the man... We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet.

2 February 2008 -- Funeral Services for President Hinckley were held in the Conference Center. As with many others, I want to take one more chance to honor President Hinckley as a Prophet of God. It was impressive to see thousands of people waiting hours to pay their last respects to this great man. (As with many others, I wish I had been able to pay my respects personally, but living a couple thousand miles away makes that difficult.) It was so moving to see people lining the streets saluting the funeral procession with canes and white handkerchiefs. I will never forget that amazing man. He moved us to "stand a little taller" and "be a little better" (here, here, and here). He really made me want to be a better person. I hope, one day, to be able to tell him personally what his faith and example meant to me. I thank the Lord for His Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley.



4 February 2008 -- The First Presidency is reorganized with President Thomas S. Monson as President, President Henry B. Eyring as First Counselor, and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf as Second Counselor. As always, I am impressed by the power in the First Presidency. From the start, this was a united team. I know these men are Prophets of God and serve under His direction.

2007 - 2008 -- The "Mormon Moment." I wasn't sure where to put this post, because the "Mormon Moment" is quite long for a moment. Every once in a while, we are presented with unusual opportunities for ignorance, "distrust and stereotypes to yield to understanding". Our task is simply to know what to do with these opportunities. We need to always reach out in love and understanding to our friends and neighbors. Let us "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15), even to those who are simply "curious".

9 February 2008 -- A Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting of the Church focusing on the theme of "Building Up a Righteous Posterity" is held for all adult members. First of all, I was so impressed by the personal and familiar tone of the conference. I was also impressed by the spirit of complete unity and respect that I saw between the bretheren and sisters. You could tell that they knew why they were there and what their purpose was.

The continual and renewed focus on the family sent a message to me. We all want peace and joy in our family lives. I believe that we can all know that this is where real peace and joy in this life is to be found. As we read in The Family: A Proclamation to the World, "Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ." I know that this is true. I am trying every day to live it. I can really tell the difference between those days when I am doing fairly well and those days when I am doing not so well. I am so grateful for the guidance of the leaders of the Church.



5 April 2008 -- A Solemn Assembly of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is held in which the new First Presidency of the Church is sustained, and Elder D. Todd Christofferson is added to the Quorum of the Twelve. As I said before, it is exciting to see the power and unity among the brethren. I was impressed how over and over again speakers in conference testified of the love that we all held and hold for President Hinckley and their testimony of him as a Prophet, and then testified of President Monson as our Prophet today. It is the same mission, the same course. I think this was a comfort and reassurance that the church needed to hear. I know I did.

What a blessing it is to be able to sustain our leaders, individually and independently! I am so grateful to be able to sustain these people as my leaders and pledge my faith, loyalty, and support for this work, recognizing them as the people that the Lord has chosen to direct the affairs of His church on the Earth.

I know President Thomas S. Monson is a Prophet of God. I have felt the power of his testimony. One of my favorite videos of the new First Presidency is posted below.



"We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet."

May 2008 -- The California state Supreme Court rules that the California State Constitution requires that same gender "marriage" must be recognized by the state. This is an especially hard post for me to write about. I know this is a very hot topic, so for the time being I have set comments to be moderated. The Church has made repeated stands on this subject here, here, and here. I really can't express how much this ruling upset me. The official church news release said that "Yesterday’s California Supreme Court decision is unfortunate." I find that to be an extreme understatement. I am a firm believer in the democratic system and in the strength of diversity, but what is, by this ruling, being called "marriage" is not, never has been, and never will be marriage as the word was intended to be used. My wife and I have been married for four years this summer. We have a little boy who recently turned two and a half, and I sincerely worry about the type of world in which he will live. I do not want people trying to convince him that certain things are acceptable, when they are not acceptable.

I know many people wonder what the big backlash is about, supposing that extending the definition of marriage cannot harm traditional marriages, but I feel very strongly about this. Re-defining marriage does harm existing marriages. It is a significant harm. You cannot re-define an institution without changing those items already covered by that institution. I know many will decry traditional marriage as "discriminatory," but there have always been restrictions placed on what types of unions can be legally considered to be marriages. Laws exist restricting marriages to be monogamous. Laws exist restricting marriages prohibiting marriages between close relatives. I doubt that the natural restriction prohibiting "marriage" between a person and an animal has ever even been brought up in court, as it is such a natural restriction that almost no one would even think of it as a restriction. Up until recently, relationships between people of the same gender were considered in this category -- too obvious and natural a restriction to really be considered a restriction. There are many relationships, committed, enduring, reciprocal, loving, powerful relationships that cannot and should not be considered as a marriage.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World states, "We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

"All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose. ...

"The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. ...

"We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society."

As with many others, I hold nothing but love and concern for those that have same gender attractions, but to love the person is not to condone the action, nor should love for the person be a motivation for us to seek to legally justify the action. Such is not acceptable. Marriage between a man and a woman is what has always been, and will always be the fundamental backbone of society. I urge all people everywhere to more urgently and diligently take those steps that will protect and establish the traditional family and marriage between a man and a woman as the fundamental unit of society.