Comments about ‘Elder Dallin H. Oaks: Love and law’

Elder Oaks speaks perfectly clearly pertaining to all things of the gospel. I am not a perfect person, but the Lord has given us the laws and the commandments to help us be on the path to find perfection. Thank you, Elder Oaks.

I thought it was good that Elder Oaks taught principals and not what to actually do in given situations. As he made clear, the actual answer must be worked out in the actual situation, but eternal principals and following the guidance of the Holy Ghost will give us the answer.

As My Missionary son, whom I feel the church knows about came home and fell so far now hes looking at 14 years in State Prison, we did all we could do
He made his choices, now he must suffer and pay the price for sinning. Still a very painful and needful talk to hear and knowing this is the 1st time our son is not sitting with us watching General Conference was very sad today.

"God's anger and His wrath are not a contradiction of His love but an evidence of His love," "Every parent knows that you can love a child totally and completely while still being creatively angry."

Remember that God encouraged and allowed slavery, murder, and genocide at times in the Old Testament...because the people were not obeying laws. God's wrath is a sign of his love? Just as a parent's wrath is a sign of love? To say this is to say that an abusive parent is justified in their actions. I don't care if a parent (or God) professes love or not; to unleash their unbridled wrath on their children is not an indication of love, but an uncivilized being.

I am concerned in church as I hear people puppet this type of thinking--that "tough love" is what those Old Testament people needed, and so that's what God gave them. Should not a perfect God lift people to a higher standard, instead of lowering himself to theirs?

One last thought... here we are justifying anger/wrath. Did not Thomas Monson speak plainly that Anger is NOT a godly attribute? Contradiction indeed.

Really? You're going against something an Apostle said? Sounds like you are trying to find something wrong with what he is saying rather than educate yourself to be able to understand the meaning behind his words. People think anger and wrath are these horrible acts of cruelty. Look it up, wrath is defined as
1 : strong vengeful anger or indignation
2 : retributory punishment for an offense or a crime : divine chastisement
You think God has to be vengeful? Or do you think it just might be #2. We do something wrong so we have to face the consequences, hence, "punishment for an offense or a crime." Also notice divine chastisement. Chastise meaning to punish or to censure. We have the right to choose our actions. Our choices will have consequences whether they be good or bad. If we don't obey God's laws, obviously there will be bad consequences.
Sounds like you need to figure out who you are going to follow. There are only 2 roads. Choose wisely because there will be good or bad consequences depending on the choice you make.

I am not sure if I perfectly understand his talk. As a parent, I don't require my kids to be following all my rules. As long as they are trying I will be happy. My biggest hope for my kids are that they become truly happy. I would be sad, in fact, if my kids are trying to keep all the commandments and they are so frustrated at themselves and they are less confident and less happy. Would our God want that from us as well or would he wants us to be perfectly obedient even if we have to be less happy? There is no way we can be all happy together because we love each other even though one of our family members are not as good as others?