Of Inspired Leaders

Today, Elder Bednar spoke at Education Week (you can watch or read it here). We truly have inspired leaders! His entire message was on how we can utilize social media in spreading the Gospel. I highly recommend watching it!

One of my favorite lines in his devotional was something like, "Social media needs to be our servant - not our master." That's definitely not a direct quote, but that's the message I heard. And I must admit that it has been my master way too many times! I'm ready to take over and show it who's boss! :)

I'm so grateful for the leaders of our Church. They truly are inspired to share with us what we need to hear on that very day!

Our True Identity

Perspective

We Still Love You, President Hinckley!

It's been a year and a half since his passing, and I still miss President Hinckley. I watched his last talk from General Conference (besides his closing remarks) on Sunday, and I cried just watching it - knowing this is the only way I'll get to hear his voice. Today, on his birthday, I thought I'd post a couple of videos to remember him by. Enjoy looking back at a man - a prophet - who shaped millions of lives, including mine.

Elder Bednar's Talk is Now Available

I thought I'd write a quick note, letting you know that Elder Bednar's CES talk is now available as text, mp3, and video form. Here's the link to the CES Fireside site.

This is a really great talk. I think anybody who uses the Internet should read it. Enjoy!

Things As They Really Are

If you didn't catch the CES Broadcast tonight with Elder Bednar, I would definitely watch it or read it, as soon as it's up on the Church Institute website! It was a very interesting talk, based on Jacob 4:13, specifically the line, "things as they really are." Go back and read his talk when it's available, because my notes do not do it justice! However, here are some of the things I wrote down as he was speaking:

~The devil only has power over us if we permit him to.
~Lucifer = confusion and unhappiness
~Satan can't progress, so he seeks to frustrate our progression by enticing us to use our bodies improperly.
~The adversary has us minimize the importance of our bodies.
~We shouldn't put our bodies (gifts from God) at risk just to experience a thrill or to boost our ego. It truly minimizes the importance of our bodies.
~If the adversary cannot entice us to misuse our physical bodies, he can employ some aspects of modern technology to achieve his purpose.
~We should seek things with high fidelity and good purposes. (Fidelity = accurate to real life)
~We need to experience REAL LIFE - not a high fidelity fantasy life (specifically those with bad purposes). They disconnect things from how they really are.
~We also need to have personal fidelity. We need to be the same person online as we are in person.
~Don't destroy real relationships by having fake relationships on the computer.
~You can be anonymous on the Internet, but deceitful acts are always deceitful. The Lord knows who we really are, what we really do.
~Apostasy is apostasy, whether it's in real life or on a computer.
~Study more diligently the doctrines of the gospel.
~Ask ourselves: Does my use of the Internet invite or impede the Holy Ghost? Does my time spent on the computer enlarge or restrict my capacity to live and love?

Again, his actual words are MUCH more powerful than my meager notes. The basic theme I got from it is that we need to focus on living real, fulfilling lives, rather than attempting to simulate sincere relationships through modern technology. He specifically mentioned video games and online gaming, naming Second Life as an example. (I don't even know what that is, but it sounds awful...)

When a prophet of God asks us to do something, we need to do it. Hopefully, you're all living your own lives - not trying to imitate real life and real relationships through video games or the Internet. :)