Elder Jensen on the Solemn Assembly

3 April 2008 @ 12:43 pm | 4 comments

Elder Marlin K. Jensen looks to this weekend’s Solemn Assembly.

Until 1986, when Ezra Taft Benson was sustained as president of the church, the priesthood was seated by quorums and groups in various areas of the Tabernacle. The first solemn assembly in which the Relief Society and Young Women of the church voted as separate groups was in 1995.

While church members in earlier solemn assemblies were able to participate only by attendance in the Tabernacle, in recent years congregations around the world have participated via satellite broadcast, with stake presidencies observing the vote of the congregations. Beginning in 1945, church members listening to the proceedings of conference in their homes have been asked to sustain the new president wherever they may be.

Mormonwiki has more on the Solemn Assembly.

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  1. Tamara’s avatar

    Tamara on 4 April 2008 at 9:02 pm

    A rather benign sounding phrase “…with stake presidencies observing the vote of the congregations”, but–to be certain–this has a rather unusual implication:
    Like, why are those leaders ‘observing’ the vote of the people, if it was an individual thing, whether people–as individuals–pledged their support for this or that leader, or not!?!
    This reminds me of the Brown Shirts (and, yes, it doesn’t fall on deaf ears and eyes that yours are the “White Shirts”) who were sent out, by Hitler, in Germany, in the 1930s, to ‘observe’ the actions of the people: all done for ‘their’ supreme leader, as well.
    If people vote against supporting Tom Monson, because he drank caffeinated Pepsi by the truckload, who are ‘you’ to take issue with that?
    (P.S: On good authority, I am aware that there was a time when many mormon branches of the church would not give a temple recommend to anyone drinking coke-pepsi. I guess Monson would be kept out of the upper chambers of the temple, on that very same basis. Or would he?)
    Don’t you just love the double-standard hypocrisy?
    I do.

  2. Carol’s avatar

    Carol on 5 April 2008 at 1:00 am

    Good for Tamara, for pointing out that the emperor has no clothes. L.D.S. Inc. even had the Nazi flag flying at ward houses in Germany during the war. This poor excuse for a church expects its masses to tow the line, while the upper crust does what it wants, as it laugh all the way to the bank on the poor suckers’ tithing money. Condos and malls are the latest projects, after throwing a pittance at the poor, for PR sake, of course.

  3. David B’s avatar

    David B on 8 April 2008 at 9:50 am

    Godwin.

    (Just sayin’.)

  4. David H. Sundwall’s avatar

    David H. Sundwall on 8 April 2008 at 10:03 am

    Well said David.

    I never thought his law would ever be applied on my blog but that’s the internet for you.