Ministering | Gerrit W. Gong | April 2023 General Conference
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- Опубліковано 31 бер 2023
- Let us reach out and care as our Savior would, especially to those whom we are privileged by love and assignment to minister.
www.churchofjesuschrist.org/s...
Elder Gerrit W. Gong speaks at the 193rd Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 1-2, 2023.
I'm so thankful for this guy. God always seems to call the right guys at the right times to be apostles.
He's AMAZING!! The way he speaks!
It's like inspiration, revelation even!! 😉❤️
Yes Jesus is the Christ
Great talk. I am glad to hear this from an Apostle of Jesus Christ.
One of my FAVORITE talks from April General Conference! 🤗
What an amazing talk! It's such a blessing to hear about how members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are really keeping the 2 most important commandments that Jesus Christ taught! Since I made the decision to come back to church after being less active, I have discovered that my life has a much deeper and more hopeful meaning than it did when I wasn't attending. Since I choose to come back, I'm thinking more about how I can help bless others. I also love God much more. I'm so blessed to have had some wonderful friends in the church show a lot of Christlike love for me, so that when I wasn't attending church, I remembered how Christlike they were, and decided to symbolically return into the loving arms of the Lamb of God, who is Christ the Lord.
I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and that Christ has the power to transform human nature into more faith filled charitable people, who can inherit all that God has!!
Very powerful.....the church is true indeed❤👌👌👌👌
I love mine. It was a leap of faith but with Bill Sanders picking the team it was a memorable and pleasant journey.
Dear our Heavenly Father Jesus Christ I do trust in Jesus Christ so much as always and forever.
Dear our Heavenly Father Jesus Christ I do thankful I do greatful I do gratitude to Jesus Christ so much as always and forever.
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Anyone else think the swimsuit story was really weird?
Beyond weird, it's one guy telling a story about another guy scanning the beach and critiquing womens bathing suit styles.
I doubt Elder Gong realizes how that story is actually creepy.
.
Nope.
Not creepy. Real. Young guy on a beach confused by a modest bathing suit. Very real.
okay here's my take on this talk:
1:30- this clip being praised as "good" shows that boundaries aren't respected in the church. If Jeff was genuinely a "really good friend" to this guy he would have respected his boundaries instead of saying "no i will find a way to ignore your wishes and comfort about this." Jesus respected boundaries, he didn't teach people unless they asked or deliberatley showed up to his sermons. Jesus wasn't knocking doors and refusing to leave when they said "no thanks."
3:08- Being a good person isnt unique to this church. After he was baptised he didn't "change for the better" he just changed into what the church says is better, which is, once again, not unique or helpful. The good things about this church are not unique and the unique things about it are not good.
4:35- members of the church who don't pay a full tithe aren't helped by the church or it's members. They don't have access to the bishops warehouse or other basic necessities that the church, a multi billion dollar group, can easily provide. This is an INCREDIBLY conditional version of Jesus' teachings. He didn't say "help the poor and needy, the fatherless and widowed if they pay 10 percent of their income to your organization." Jesus said love everyone, not just the people who can pay to earn your conditional 'love'.
6:25- okay... i just.. what?? if yall cant see how this old guy talking about a hot girl's swimsuit being used to convert a guy isn't creepy then maybe examine why you can't bring yourself to acknowledge that. Any woman i know would not react with "would you like to come to church?" they would probably tell the guy to mind his own business. If any other old man told you this story, how would you react? why is it different here?
7:50- i dont know how to explain why this feels off. Deliberatley starting with an easy person to minister to feels like a way to build up credibility to further convert others
9:00- this section is very nice and loving! I like this part of this talk, and encourage it to more members of the church in all their dealings with people. People can tell when you're just being nice to convert, and if your goal is to help other people understand your beliefs then be a genuine friend and learn about theirs! Don't just wait for your turn to talk, really listen and try to understand where other people are coming from.
9:24- once again, you don't have to make and keep the covenants of this church to be a good person. Being good is not something that the church has a monopoly over. If your invitations and friendships with people are solely to help them make and keep covenants, you're not being honest in your dealings with fellow men. You're hiding your real intentions of getting them to convert and pretending you have a genuine interest in them and their beliefs as a person.
10:01- I personally think this teaching of "bring lost sheep back to the fold" can be very easily misinterpreted and misused, as seen here. Sheep were originally wild animals before they were domesticated. And yes, this parable, as all parables, is interpreted differently based on who hears it. When I hear it, I think of wild sheep being domesticated. Christianity in general, before this church specifically, has eliminated and destroyed many beautiful ancient beliefs and practices, demonizing them to further the spread of Christianity. This reminds of the wild sheep being domesticated, and there is very big difference between helping one of your own sheep in your flock come back to where it's safe and their safe place is, versus going out and grabbing a wild sheep, taking it from its safe place and bringing it to yours.
10:37- I also like this bit! Community is very important to all people, and, once again i gotta add, "good fruits" and the good fruits that this church presents aren't unique to it. If this church is a gala apple tree, theres so many other varieties of apples, and a lot of apples are hybrids! I think the good one community does can be made even better when "crossbred" with a different apple species! (sorry this apple metaphor got a little carried away lol)
Overall, as a big fan of Jesus and the stuff he taught, this talk had some real hit or miss sections, but mostly miss for me. It seems like this church takes Jesus's words and teachings and twists them into the opposite of what he really meant. It feels very much like the Pharisees and the Saducees taking the original spirit or the teaching and making it so convoluted and strict that it loses all meaning and just turns into fear. Love your neighbor, but only if your neighbor is a member of this church who pays full tithing. If thine eye offends thee and you see something you don't like, pluck it out and ignore the thing because it doesnt directly affect you, unless its a woman wearing a bikini, in which case tell her to wear a more modest swimsuit. The good things in this talk and this church aren't unique to mormonism, and the unique things about it aren't necessarily good. Let me know your thoughts, whether you're a member of the church or not!
You nailed it
Member of the church here! I’m posting this comment because I’d like to clear up a bit of misinformation you have about our church as well as point out a few of our beliefs that might help you better understand why we do the things we do!
One of your points about 1:30 is that the ministering brother wasn’t a good friend, (you say Jeff but by Jeff I assume you meant the ministering brother). I think that your point about respecting his boundaries is a valid one, however, if my friend may be in danger of going to hell I would try to save them even if they didn’t want it. Something else I’d like to say is that a ministering brother won’t go to a person's house unless the person allows them in. Likely the ministering brother reached out to them by phone, inviting them to church activities or asking if they’d like help with anything, (moving, cooking, chores, etc). Although I can’t confirm what actions the ministering brother truly took, I find it unlikely that he ignored Jeff’s wishes considering that Jeff didn’t want the brother on his property. The intended audience was members of the church and I think that most of us understood what he was implying when he said, “I’ll find a way.” I’d also like to point out that the Savior did preach to those who didn’t want it. Later in your comment you mention the Pharisees and the Sadducees. In Matthew 15:12 we learn that the Pharisees and the scribes went to Jesus to reprimand him for not following what they had been told to do. Although these people did not want to hear it he still taught them in the hopes that he would be able to save them.
Your argument for 3:08 is that the people being good isn’t unique to this church and you’re absolutely correct! I know a number of awesome people who aren’t part of the church. In fact, at 3:05 we hear Gerrit W. Gong quote Peggy saying that, “John was always a good person,” Peggy goes on to add, “but he became different in a beautiful way after he was baptized.” This quote is part of the personal experience of someone outside of this conversation so arguments for or against it are hard to make because neither of us knew John as a person before or after he got baptized. I’m also curious to know what unique things about our church you think are bad! Maybe I can help clear up some misinformation or misunderstanding?
Looking at your point for 4:35 is heartbreaking 😭. I’m wondering if maybe you’re a former member who had experiences with a bad ward or stake? We love helping everyone in need! Paying tithing is your own choice but we are highly encouraged to do so as it is the will of God. Another thing you say is that we don’t help the poor. Here is a link to our website for a list of humanitarian efforts that we host, -newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/topic/humanitarian-services. I personally want to help in a lot of these but I’m a bit too young to help.
At 6:25 I’ll admit this story was a bit weird 😅. I think the message he was trying to get across was that, despite the guy being creepy and asking a girl why she’s not wearing a more attractive swimsuit, the girl still decided to share her beliefs and invite him to church. Instead of shoving him off and risking future interactions as well as hurting his feelings, the girl decided to invite the man to church in a hope to bring him closer to our Heavenly Father, (and hopefully off of beaches!) As for how I would react to another old man, I’d probably be a bit weirded out if a random old man came up to me on the street and told me this story, but if it were one of my grandpas I’d probably laugh at the silliness of the story (you can vaguely hear the congregation laughing in the background if you turn up the volume.)
Your point for 7:50 feels a bit unfinished. This may be because you said, “I don’t know how to explain why this feels off.” I don’t know how it would build credibility to convert others. Usually it’s just a few people who are assigned to minister to a family, so there wouldn’t be any way for the person who is being ministered too to fact check or communicate with the people who are being converted unless they themselves are already coming to church. Perhaps you might be talking about how we share conversion stories? Usually this only happens with permission from the converted parties, and usually the converted parties share the stories themselves in church. I think that it’s a good way for new ministers to practice. We don’t want to start with someone who is difficult to convert and then accidentally have them hate the church for the rest of their life. It is also pretty nerve wracking being a first time minister. If the new minister fails it might make them feel powerless or useless. If we start with easier people to minister to then the minister can learn from their mistakes at a much more reasonable pace.
9:00 - I also really love this section! This is more similar to what ministers are supposed to do. In the first part of this comment it’s more likely that Jeff’s minister wasn’t ignoring Jeff’s wishes but rather trying this instead.
9:24 - We believe that these covenants that we make are with God the Father. We make no covenants with or for our church. Once again I know lots of really good people outside the church! And we don’t solely convert people for the purpose of them making covenants. We genuinely want you guys to come to heaven with us!
Another thing I’d like to clarify is our covenants themselves. The specific covenants we make are things like baptism, the sacrament, and marriage. Baptism is the symbolic cleansing of sins through the immersion of water. When you are baptized you make a covenant with God to take upon yourself the name of Jesus Christ, keep His commandments, and serve Him to the end. Sacrament helps us renew this covenant every Sunday. When people are married in the temple they make a covenant with God and to each other so that they are able to be with their families together forever, even after death.
10:01 - That’s a very interesting interpretation! I’d like to point out that you basically nullified and contradicted any argument either of us could make for or against the interpretation by pointing out that the parable can, “easily be misinterpreted and misused,” as well as pointing out the fact that everyone interprets parables differently. I still would like to share my interpretation of the parable so if you do not wish to hear it you can skip the rest of this section. The way I interpret it is that these sheep that he was talking about are more similar to the domesticated sheep that are mentioned throughout the Old Testament. I believe that these sheep have wandered off and Jesus, (or the Good Shepherd,) is trying to find his sheep. Similar to how when he healed the sick on the sabbath day and when he was confronted about it he said, “What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?” (Mathew 12:11)
10:37- Again! Yes! We aren’t the only people out there who do good work! I don’t know who made this claim to you that, “only the church can do good,” But that’s just not true! I’m wondering again if maybe you’ve had bad experiences with members of the church in the past? Also I appreciated your apple tree metaphor. It was very similar to what Gerrit W. Gong was saying, about how each tree in the vineyard comes together to strengthen the entire vineyard. Almost like a hybrid apple!
For your final paragraph I’m completely lost. Much of the stuff you say is completely untrue! The first thing I see is that you think we are too strict, to the point where we are similar to the Pharisees and the Sadducees. I think this might have something to do with the fact that we have a lot of things that we like to call eternal truths. These can be found in a For the Strength of Youth (FSY) pamphlet. One example of these eternal truths is, “Your body is in the image of God.” God is the most glorious Being in the entire universe. We can show him some respect by taking care of our bodies and wearing modest clothing. Taking care of your bodies means not putting stuff in it that might not belong there, ( i.e alcohol, harmful drugs, and coffee.) The next thing you talk about is how we only help our church members which is, again, untrue. Please refer to the arguments on 4:35 for the link to our humanitarian efforts, much of which is paid for by tithes the people of the church choose to donate. Another eternal truth that can be found in the FSY pamphlet is, “Show love for God by keeping his commandments.” It goes on to state that, “paying tithes is a way to show God that His work is more important than our material things.” This is something that I believe most Christian religions agree on, that the works of God are more important than any one man or his possessions.
One part I’m really confused on is your sentence that starts with, “If thine eye offends thee.” The entire sentence just doesn’t make sense to me. If you’d like to respond to this and maybe give some clarification on that I’d love to help get rid of any misunderstandings that there might be.
If you read this then thank you so much! Hopefully I was able to give you some more accurate information on our beliefs!
Hi Lark,
I hope you are listening to these talks so that you can learn to love Jesus Christ, and others better, because that is what the overarching message of this speech is all about. I choose to love and forgive you for your words . Jesus Christ taught that a house divided against itself cannot stand, so either the doctrine being taught here about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true or it's of the devil. If the church is fake, than it's inspired by Satan. However you can know with a perfect knowledge that it's not, because Christ taught by their fruits you shall know them. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints helps millions of people around the world, regardless of faith, nationality, socioeconomic status, etc. Without the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, millions of people, would go hungry, naked, with little education, without adequate shelter, untreated medical issues, etc. That isn't even including all the kind acts done without fanfare by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide, as well as the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and eternally saving ordinances and covenants that we perform for our deceased loved ones in holy temples.
Concerning why we give 10 percent of our annual income to help bless mankind, it isn't something we just made up, it's a commandment from God in the Bible.
"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
-Malachi 3: 8-10
Also I personally try to not attack another church for it's beliefs, because Christ not only taught us to love those who love us, but he also taught us to love our enemies. If everyone were to attack each other for believing differently than we do, the world would be a much more divisive, and not a Christlike place to live in.
I hope this helps clarify some misunderstanding about why we believe what we believe.
God bless you.
I'm a member and agree with almost everything you said. I find that we Latter day saints have very little self awareness.
Our zeal to spread the gospel however is far less about compassion and more about promotion. It strangely has become
more like a political party, needing to sell it's ideology.
We say we are about "Truth", but tend to give lesser value to truth coming from sources outside our institution.
We play the us vs them conversation incessantly, always referring to evil as "the world". I don't understand how we
intend on living in unity when we have made unity about agreeing with our beliefs and world view.
Member of the church here! I just wanted to let you know, Lark, that we do respect boundaries in the church. I guess that sometimes we just get a little bit pushy. Jeff just felt uncomfortable with white shirts in his house. So his friend was trying to cater to his wants and so he tried to find a way to get to him.
If the story and photo about his son that has gone around is true then he should want to leave for how this church has made him act towards to his son.
This message is all about how we can be more effective in encouraging and uplifting all members of this already wonderful Church. Why do you accuse?