Jacob on Religion and Ethics

I spent a little time tonight getting the audio and text from the last General Conference linked into ScriptureCast.net. This service allows people to podcast the scripture or general conference at a custom rate. You can read more about the update on the ScriptureCast.net blog.

Priesthood session for General Conference was really good. Here are a few notes:

Elder Cook told about the fire fighting heroes in Southern California and talked about the importance of following the words of the prophet.

Bishop Burton told us about the churches humanitarian efforts. He expressed appreciation for the good Samaritans. He said that in 2007, the church responded and assisted with 170 disaster events in 50 different countries. He said, “The things which you do for others remains your legacy.”

Brother Burges from the General Young Mens Presidency asked, “Do you know who you are?” He also talked about knowing who you are in the Great Plan and as a member of the Church.

Elder Mansen of the 70 talked about young deacons and their potential. He gave an example of the Savior, and what he did at deacon age.

President Uchtdorf advises us about the dangers of being just a few degrees off in course. He told us of the power of self-direction and told us to “Be anxiously engaged in a good cause.”

President Eyring talked on many subjects, including the temple being a place to gain a fullness of glory and eternal increase. He told us to study the word of God. He said that the priesthood is the power that God, through His Son, created the worlds.

President Monson told us to ask ourselves, if we are worthy servants of the Lord. He told a story of him at a meeting where a boy was imitating his every posture. If he would cross his legs one way, the boy would do the same. President Monson said this continued until he wiggled his ears, which the boy couldn’t imitate. President Monson wiggled his big ears for us in demonstration and articulation in his story. (It was funny.) He told this story to help us understand the examples we must be for others. He also said that we should, “Determine to prepare for our time of opportunity.”

The 178th Annual General Conference of the Church will be held on Saturday and Sunday, April 5-6, 2008. Speakers will include the First Presidency and other General Authorities and general officers of the Church. There will also be a General Young Women Meeting on March 29, 2008 at 6pm MDT.

The General Conference sessions will take place at:

• Saturday Morning, 10am MDT
• Saturday Afternoon, 2pm MDT
• Priesthood Session, Saturday 6pm MDT (broadcasted only to select meeting houses)
• Sunday Morning, 10am MDT
• Sunday Afternoon, 2pm MDT

Sessions last two hours each, and can be viewed at select meeting houses, select TV, radio and satellite stations, or on the Internet. Video streams are available at LDS.org, BYU-TV, and audio available at LDS.org and on KSL Radio.

Special highlights of this General Conference will most likely include the sustaining of President Monson as President of the Church, and the calling and sustaining of a new apostle.

Online text transcripts in English will be available the Thursday after General Conference, with additional materials in English and other languages being made available at later dates.

Just before Christmas, I wrote my favorite sister missionary a letter on this nice piece of colorful paper which I had to fold like a bazillion times just to get it to fit in the envelope. I sent it to Salt Lake City to be included in a “pouch” full of correspondence that is sent to her mission all together.

It bounced.

I got it back in the mail as unable to be forwarded along because it didn’t meet current pouch restrictions.

This is kind of a big deal for me because I’m really quite horrible at writing letters, and this was the first letter in a long time that I was sending her. For me to write a real letter is a real deal.

Apparently letters that go through the pouch need to be as normal as possible, and that means one normal piece of typing paper, tri-folded normally, with two normal pieces of tape to seal the paper shut with the ends open.

What got me was the message on the return to sender label which said, “Contact your bishop for further details.”

Divorce rates are increasing all over the world, except in the United States where fewer people getting married means fewer people getting divorced. When people live separate single lives, they consume more resources which is contributing to the causes of global warming, according to a study at Michigan State University.

Divorced couples use more space in their respective homes, equating to 38 million more rooms to heat, light, and air condition. Divorced couples also consume 73 billion kilowatt-hours more of electricity and 627 billion gallons more of water than married couples.

More details of the study are provided at New Scientist, which provides more quotes and statistics about divorce and its effect on the environment.

A few months ago I announced the release of a new website, ScriptureCast.net. Since then, things have taken off. The site has been featured in the ldsWebguy blog as well in the More Good Foundation blog. I’ve also received numerous emails praising the site for helping people study the scriptures.
Continue reading ScriptureCast highlights…

Recently The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had their fall General Conference, and they have just released the audio files of the various talks given on their website. The audio files are a great way to review General Conference material.

I’ve been working on a site called ScriptureCast.net which can create podcasts of the scriptures at custom rates. I’ve recently added the recent General Conference to the list of sources available for podcasting. Now you can subscribe to a custom podcast which feeds the talks to you at (almost) whatever rate you want.

I’ve just subscribed to a feed which starts with the Saturday morning session, and will give me a custom rate of talks so that I’ll finish the last talk just before the next General Conference in April, 2008. This way, I can study the conference talks all year round.

Update April 2008. I plan on putting the April 2008 LDS General Conference talks up on ScriptureCast.net just as soon as the individual talks are made available in MP3 format.

Here is a thought provoking quote I came across today:

I am asking that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight

–President Hinckley

Here are a few of the points and things that I learned in attendance of the Priesthood Session of the 177th Semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. One of the themes of the session was to not procrastinate doing good things.

• From Elder Perry I learned that missionaries must meet the minimum standards, and then continue to raise the bar to fulfil. their full potential.
• President Kimball was quoted as saying, “Procrastination leads to loss of exaltation.”
• Elder Clayton of the Seventy said that healing and escaping a trap may require:
  1. All your heart and mind.
  2. Help from a bishop
  3. The power of the Atonement
• Elder Gonzalez of the Presidency of the Seventy explained that we will have tremors in our lives similar to earthquakes, and now is the time to prepare (not at the time of the quake), similar to how the priesthood leaders in Peru were prepared for an earthquake.
• President Eyring, the new Second Counselor in the First Presidency told about things you can do when we feel inadequate in our priesthood responsibilities:
  1. Find assurance from memories of times when Heavenly Father has helped you.
  2. Forget yourself and help the people that you are called to serve
  3. Go to work

  He also explained that the purpose of any priesthood responsibility is to help Heavenly Father’s work in helping others to succeed.

• President Monson said that we accomplish our goals, not in the thinking, but in the doing. He repeated a quote, “A man never stands taller than when he is on his knees.” He stressed five things: vision, effort, faith, virtue, and prayer.
• Finally, President Hinckley warned us about anger and said that we get into trouble when we get angry.

Last Sunday I taught Sunday School in church, and I taught about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Later that day, I got this little anonymous note which read:

Um, I was in your lesson today, and I just wanted to tell you that somethign you said today changed my life.

Isn’t that what gospel teaching is about? Teaching the Gospel such that it helps people better themselves?