Leaving the ninety and nine.

During the afternoon session of General Conference yesterday there was a talk given about the parable of the lost sheep. I have always loved this parable, it was my understanding that it showed how much each person is valued by God. The speaker took a different route when explaining this parable. He read a poem, done in that sing song rhyme. The poem said that the lost sheep had to be found so that they would not lead children astray. So according to both the speaker and the author of this talk, God cares about children not the lost sheep. This talk could change how I look at my ward's reactivation efforts. I could ask, do they care about me, or the children I may influence? I will not grow bitter, or negative over this talk. I just wanted to speak about it. That is not the meaning of this parable. Christ himself explains this story, he says that the one lost sheep is important to God. God will leave those who are safely in the church in order to find the one who is lost and alone. The point of this parable is to show us what true compassion is. That is the desire to end the suffering of all the many beings.
Lastly, I do not believe that I am a negative influence on the children in my life. I am working toward true compassion, what could be wrong with that. The teachings of Buddha can sit side by side with those of Christ.

"losing my way"

As I did my homework yesterday, I listened to the Saturday session of General Conference. The talks this session were in a much better spirit than those given in October. I did find some statements that were highly over generalized. When talking about those who are no longer active, the thought of church leaders is that those of us who become inactive are very unhappy. The other assumption that is made is that there is only one path to spiritual happiness. I have found that reading about the Buddha has made me very happy, indeed I feel more sure about my role in this world than I ever did as a Latter Day Saint. Finally they assume that people leave because they have been offended by someone in church. This is not always true either, some of us leave the church because of what is lacking in the teaching. For me it was many things that all added up to me knowing that this was not the "true" church. I have been offended many times during my time as a Saint, I never stopped going. I stayed because of what the church seemed to stand for. I had concerns, but was confident in knowing what the church stood for. I never closed my eyes however, and when I saw what was really going on I could not stay. So it is not true that we leave because of petty offenses or that we are horribly unhappy.