Now, this isn't a specific quote that I'm thinking of from someone, but a general idea that I've heard over and over again in LDS meetings. I'm not sure how I feel about it. In my experience, the gospel feels complex in the respect that it asks for everything from it's adherents. I wouldn't use the word simple to describe what I feel like the gospel is.
In your experience, is that true? Is the gospel simple?
From about high school on, I've been fascinated by prophets and apostles. On my mission, I started to really become fascinated by them. We used to email home from the local library, who would give you a certain number of free pages to print. I'd search the Church archives for all the GC conference talks I could find. I went back far and just devoured everything. In college, there was a podcast called Conversations, I think it was on the Mormon Channel or something like that. They would do interviews with church leaders and whatnot. I wanted more unscripted, real talk. Conversations was a start, but I wanted more.
I remember hearing stories that would just make them seem like people. I can't exactly pinpoint why I enjoyed it so much, but it did. I remember one person telling us the story about how prophets were susceptible to human emotion. He talked about being in the audience for a devotional with President Hinckley. He was close enough he could see him clearly. Someone kept coming to Pres Hinckley to ask/tell him things and after the 2nd or 3rd time, he seemed annoyed, slammed his cane on the ground a time or two, and yelled at the man to get the devotional started.
A more recent and comical one I heard was about President Nelson. At a luncheon, one of the leaders got a soft drink with their meal, Sprite or something. Pres Nelson warned this leader they needed to be careful with consuming sugary beverages. Time went along and at a separate luncheon, this leader noticed Pres Nelson enjoying a root beer. When he asked him basically 'what gives?' Pres Nelson responded, 'But I like root beer.'
As time has gone on, and my faith journey has gone to a place of skepticism and exploration, I've really dug into finding more of these stories. I used to wish there was a way to see, because of some brief mentions in GC, the FP and Q12 in their meetings. They talked about how there would be strong opinions and how they would work through them. I always thought that would be valuable to see. Then I found MormonLeaks. Watching the way they talked with one another was fascinating. Even though most of these were presentation-based and not extensive discussions, some had a little bit more than others. I was disappointed by some of it, bored by some of it, and overall was a little underwhelmed.
Then, I went back and watched things like Gordon Hinckley on Larry King or other news shows. Watched Jeffrey Holland interviewed on BBC (which led me to look into penalties in the temple, that was a stomachache day). Just the other day, I read the emails between Jeff Holland and Tom Phillips. I've read plenty about Holland and Bednar at local stake conferences and whatnot. Brad Wilcox "playing church". So many other things that give us insight into what the prophets and apostles do and say that are a little more unscripted, real talk.
I want more.
What stories, good or bad, humorous, inspiring, disappointing, or otherwise humanizing do you have of the FP and Q12?