Hello again, everyone! After trying to wrap my head around some of the nuances that occurred during the three Saturday Sessions of General Conference. In the first session, I correctly predicted that Presdient Nelson would open the first session, which would be closed with an address from President Oaks. I also correctly pinpointed the 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve, though I had them in the wrong order. In the afternoon session, I correctly predicted 3 apostles that would speak (though I had added a fourth that didn't), and that President Eyring would lead the sustaining vote.
And I was correct as well that President Ballard would be the member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaking in the Saturday Evening Session, and that President Henry B. Eyring spoke during that session. But I was incorrect about the other First Presidency members also speaking to close out that session. I was also not anticipating the high number of general officers, including more specifically the significantly-higher number of female speakers.. Additionally, I did not anticipate that so many GA Seventies, including one member of the Presidency of the Seventy, would also speak.
So, at the outset, it looks like I owe someone here an apology. In a previous thread, when I published my speaking order predictions, someone (wish I could recall who it was) mentioned a theory that the entire First Presidency would not speak to conclude the Saturday Evening Session. Although it seems unimportant right now, I apparently dismissed the idea because there wasn't any kind of precedent for such a prediction, and because it was not clear whether the entire First Presidency speaking during that session was more traditional than a doctrinally-based requirement. Since it has been noted by a previous apostle
So here we are, about 9 hours from when the encore "Music & the Spoken Word" episode will immediately precede the Sunday Morning Session. Each counselor in the First Presidency has spoken once, but that's only if President Eyring presenting changes in Church leadership for a sustaining vote is not considered. President Nelson is going into the final two sessions of this General Conference with just his opening address, and it's not very clear at the moment whether either or both counselors will be giving one more address each.
But when I thought about this further, my mind was drawn to a statement made years ago by Elder Bruce R. McConkie, who was quoted in Doctrines of the Restoration as follows: "The proper course for all of us is to stay in the mainstream of the Church. This is the Lord’s Church, and it is led by the spirit of inspiration, and the practice of the Church constitutes the interpretation of the scripture”
In view of the statement, if the practice of the Church constitutes the interpretation of the scriptures, then it waws clearly more tradition than official doctrine or policy that the entire First Presidency speaks in an evening meeting. What that mean for the concluding sessions of General Conference is that with 5 apostles left to speak, it seems likely that the Sunday Morning Session will see remarks from 3 apostles, since that has been standard, and that the 2 apsotles remaining will do so in the Sunday Afternoon Session.
But as a ChurchBeat email noted, with 8 addresses of a normal length occuring in the first 3 sessions, 8 speakers might also be featured in each of the Sunday Sessions. Whatever happens in the remaining 2 sessions, that will probably illustrate what we can expect from those sessions.going forward While it's possible that the speaker parameters could be changed conference-to-conference, that won't necessarily be taken as rote,. Hopefully there is enough consistency in the rotations to draw some conclusions.
In any case, this conference has already blown the possiblities clearly out of the water, so I'm not sure what to expect or hope for. But whever happens, you can count on my analysis thereof ASAP. I fully anticipate that President Nelson will announce new temples tomorrow. What will be interesting to see is if he speaks in both sessions, whether either or both of his counselors will do so, and anything else that might point to new patterns and rotational traditions.
I remain committed to bringing you all word of those developments as they occur.That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Hello again, everyone! With the amount of allotted time for speakers being what it was today, I had a feeling President Nelson might take most of the last half hour. The session actually ended early instead. But above and beyond that, President Nelson's comments this morning about the safety and security found in temple worship and reeembrance of our temple covenant sounded like part 1 of a 2-part address (by which I specifically mean that his morning session talk was focused on an overview of temple worship and its' role in the lives of Church members
ReplyDeleteIn the interim, with 3 apostles each speaking on Saturday Morning, Saturday Afternoon, and Sunday Morning Sessions, with one more doing so in the Saturday Evening Session, that leaves just two apostles to give their remarks: Elders Gerrit W. Gong and Neil L. Andersen. And if they are joined in doing so by one or both counselors in the First Presidency, and perhaps one or two GA Seventies, that might give President Nelson just enough time in his concluding remarks to address his temple plans and announce any new ones. Stay tuned for more on this as it is announced in the next 4 hours. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
That is what I hope to be able to report, but it will be interesting to see what actually happens there. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
I was the person who made the prediction. No apology is necessary. There was no precedent for my thought, but also no precedent of Saturday evening being just a general session. Like you, I was astounded and inspired by yesterday, and especially President Nelson today.
ReplyDeleteScott, thanks for clariying that. A Church News article I shared yesterday noted that each of the 3 Saturday Sessions had 8 speakers apiece (technically 9 yesterday afternoon, if accounting for the scaled-down Church officer sustaining). Among the highlights noted by the article is the much higher number of GA Seventies and General Officers of the Church who were able to speak. I will be particularly interested to see how the last session turns out. With 2 of the Quorum of the Twelve left to speak, it's my opinion that one of the counselors in the First Presidency (perhaps Eyring) might offer remarks of some kind in that final session, and I think it likely we will hear from Bishop Budge of the Presiding Bishopric, and maybe one or two additional General Officers and/or 3 or 4 other GA Seventies.
DeleteMy records show that Elder Adeyinka A. Ojediran is now the only GA Seventy sustained in April of last year who has not yet spoken in General Conference, in addition to 4 GA Seventies called in April who have not yet spoken. I wouldn't be shocked if Elder Ojediran and 2-3 others sustained last year were held over for the next General Conference, especially since there are around 3-4 GA Seventies who have not spoken in General Conference recently whom the Church might call on for the final session. I will be interested to see what happens there. This conference has truly been unprececedented for a variety of reasons, and I hope to see more surprises as the final session gets underway in the next 40 minutes or so. Thanks again, Scott.