Church president defends Mormon faith, validity of Book of Mormon

"I am puzzled by any who question this church's belief in the Bible and our position as Christians," said M. Russell Ballard, a top church leader who added that church leaders quoted from the book more than 200 times at the last conference. "We not only believe in the Bible, we strive to follow its precepts and to teach its message."

Other speakers called for couples to avoid divorce, serve others, tithe and strive for forgiveness despite the anger and bitterness that can follow tragedy.

"Most of us need time to work through pain and loss. We can find all manner of reasons for postponing forgiveness," an emotional James E. Faust, one of Pres. Hinckley's two counselors. "If we can find forgiveness in our hearts for those who have caused us hurt, and injury, we will rise to a higher level of self-esteem and well being."

The 12.5 million member Utah-based church holds general conference twice yearly, gathering more than 100,000 followers at the conference center to hear spiritual direction and words of inspiration from church leaders. The April and October proceedings are broadcast on television, radio, satellite and over the Internet to 85 countries, simultaneously translated into 89 different languages.

This weekend's event — the 177th for the church founded April 6, 1830 — was marked by Saturday's reopening of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Closed since 2005, the home of the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir has undergone renovation work and seismic retrofitting to preserve the 140-year-old building and prevent damages in the event of a major earthquake.

Saturday's service there was the first since 1999, when the church opened its 21,000-seat conference center nearby allowing more Latter-day Saints to attend the biannual meetings in person.

With the Tabernacle's reopening, the choir is expected to return there for its weekly television and radio broadcasts of "Music and the Spoken Word," one of the longest, continuous running programs in broadcast history.