Why We Should Reverse a Common General Conference Question

After every General Conference everyone asks the same question, “What was your favorite talk?” Even I have asked this question hundreds of times over the years. I LOVE to hear about other people’s conference insights. But I believe that rather than asking what is our favorite talk, we should be asking ourselves “What talk did I dislike the most? (or like the least)” Because that is where we actually need to work!

The Role and Purpose of General Conference

In Doctrine and Covenants 6:9, 11:9, 14:8, and 19:21, the Lord repeatedly commanded the leaders of the Church to “Say nothing but repentance unto this generation.” General Conference is one of the chief ways we, as a people are called to repentance. Satan wants us to take gospel truths to the extremes, as any virtue taken to the extreme turns into a vice. The same with the principles of the gospel. When we decouple the principles of the gospel then we find ourselves outside of the truth. And as fallen humans, we love the extremes, as they do not require us to think, aka use our agency. It is finding the balance between love and law, mercy and justice, and kindness and discipline that requires us to use our agency.

This is where General Conference comes in to help. The talks in General Conference range on a wide variety of topics. From fasting to studying the scriptures. From the need to learn the law, to the need to serve our neighbor. General Conference is when the Lord’s authorized servants call us as a people in various ways back from the extremes and back to the gospel truth that rests in the middle.

Favorite vs Disliked General Conference Talks

When we choose our favorite talk, it is most likely us choosing the talk that is closest to our preferred extreme. If we are adamant about the need to teach the gospel law and President Oaks gives a discourse about Law, then we absolutely LOVE his talk! It becomes our favorite because it confirms our bias. We often then use it to justify our position and point out “SEE LOOK!! I am right!”

But that is not the purpose of General Conference! Conference is meant not to confirm our biases, but to call us to repentance and to help us realize what we need to do to better align with Christ. But those talks, the ones that are on the opposite side of the gospel to our preferences, calling us to repentance we dislike. We dislike them because we are guilty of neglecting that portion of the gospel, and as Nephi taught, “the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center.” (1 Nephi 16:2).

Voices of the world and influencers will teach that “not every talk is for you” and that you should focus on the ones that uplift you. But I suggest that the exact opposite is what we should do. We should stop and realize that those talks that cut us the most, that we dislike the most, are actually the MOST important talks for us to hear. They are the talks that are attempting to pull us BACK into harmony with the gospel from the extremes.

What Lack I Yet?

President Harold B. Lee taught “Every one of us, if we would reach perfection, must [at] one time ask ourselves this question, ‘What lack I yet?’” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee [2000], 197). Adopting a “What lack I yet?” mentality with General Conference allows us to humbly receive correction, even to seek it! That is true repentance. That is having a broken heart and a contrite spirit! That is the essence of the masterful discourse “Lord, Is It I?” delivered by Dieter F. Uchtdorf where he taught:

None of us likes to admit when we are drifting off the right course. Often we try to avoid looking deeply into our souls and confronting our weaknesses, limitations, and fears. Consequently, when we do examine our lives, we look through the filter of biases, excuses, and stories we tell ourselves in order to justify unworthy thoughts and actions.

But being able to see ourselves clearly is essential to our spiritual growth and well-being. If our weaknesses and shortcomings remain obscured in the shadows, then the redeeming power of the Savior cannot heal them and make them strengths. Ironically, our blindness toward our human weaknesses will also make us blind to the divine potential that our Father yearns to nurture within each of us.

So how can we shine the pure light of God’s truth into our souls and see ourselves as He sees us?

May I suggest that the holy scriptures and the talks given at general conference are an effective mirror we can hold up for self-examination.

As you hear or read the words of the ancient and modern prophets, refrain from thinking about how the words apply to someone else and ask the simple question: “Lord, is it I?”

GC: Oct. 2014 “Lord, Is It I?”

Therefore, What?

My invitation to you is to resist the human urge to cling to the messages we already believe in and excel at. Instead, focus on the talks that show us where we can do better, and pray to have the Holy Ghost help you recognize, accept, and apply those talks! Doing so will radically transform your conference experience, and even you!

NOTE: This principle applies to prior conference talks. I have learned and been called to repentance NUMEROUS times as I have studied the words of over 6000 prior conference talks. To learn more about what I have learned from this study see, “8 Things I Have Learned From Listening to 6,000 General Conference Talks”