Mormon Monday: General Conference April 2015

Well, another spring has passed, and with it, another General Conference. In previous posts (Click here or here) I've explained what General Conference is if you're not familiar with it, but with this post, and wanted to talk about my favorite talk.

I always love to hear Elder Jeffery R. Holland speak. I think it is the passion with which he gives his talks that really helps me to feel the spirit. Here's the talk if you want to hear the whole of it:

He begins by talking about two brothers who are climbing a cliff without safety gear and encounter an obstacle that they can't get past, and a point where they can't return.

The older brother hoists the younger brother to safety, but then he faces his own death as he sees no way out for himself. He sends his younger brother off while he gives one last desperate attempt to save himself.

As he jumps, he lands and feels nothing under his clenching fingers but "loose sand on flat stone." He feels himself slipping to his death. Then, his younger brother who never left, grips his arms and pulls him to safety.

He moves from this story to talking about how yesterday was Easter Sunday, and it was the most sacred day of the year because it is where brotherly hands (Christ's) reached to save us all.

Elder Holland then proclaims that we can't fully comprehend Christ's sacrifice for us, unless we understand that there was a need for His sacrifice because Adam and Eve lived and fell. If there was no fall of mankind, we wouldn't need a Savior to lift us back up from the brink.

However, because Adam and Eve did live, we do need a Savior, and he CAN save us.

At one point, he talks about the purpose of life. He asks, "Are we all just hanging in a cold canyon somewhere, in an indifferent universe?...Each of us seeking for something to help, something to grip? With nothing, but the feeling of sand sliding under our fingers...with nothing to hold on to, and much less anything to hold onto us? Is our only purpose in life an empty existential exercise simply to leap as high as we can, hang on for our prescribed three score years and ten, and then fail and fall, and keep falling forever?"

"The answer to those questions is an unequivocal and eternal NO."

Elder Holland speaks with such passion that regardless of whether or not you believe what he's saying, you can tell that HE believes what he is saying. I really appreciate that about him. There is no pretense, he is simply saying what he believes with all of his heart. Elder Holland knows that Christ is our Savior and he isn't afraid to share it.

I also know that Adam and Eve lived. As much as it contradicts common scientific evidence, it doesn't matter to me because I have felt the truth of it from the source of all truth. "The resurrection must come by reason of the fall." As I know that Adam and Eve lived and their is a need for salvation, I also know that Christ lived and he was resurrected! Christ lives now.

He is a huge part of my life, and daily I strive to know Him more and more. I have a lot of work to do (as conference reminds me), and I know that Christ wants me to improve.

I know that wherever we are in life, whatever we've done, Christ is standing with open arms to receive us. He loves us more than we can comprehend. I have felt a tiny bit of the love that He feels for us, and it was almost more than my mortal frame could bear. If you've ever felt so full of love that you nearly felt as though you were going to burst, I think you have some small inkling of the love that our Savior and Heavenly Father feel for us. I have felt that way, and often toward people that I barely knew.

I often felt that way on my mission, and I knew it was the a gift from the Lord to me. He let me have a glimpse of how he feels for His children, and I am so grateful for that.

I know Christ lives. He loves me and He loves each one of you.

I'd like to extend the invitation to listen to the rest of general conference. It's all available on youtube, and on the church website lds.org. I know that as you listen with real intent and with prayer to find answers, they will be given to you.

They were given to me.