scottyg

What impressed me was that the great and thorough thinker that Brother Nibley was - that he discovered something new and exciting with each visit.  I will share one of my own.  I have often wondered why the Book of Mormon talked about those that were "stiff necked" as if this is a special kind of stubborn.   And there is - when the nick remains unmoved and unwilling in covenant.
 
The Traveler

Those would have been very rewarding visits...it would be interesting to know the things that those who are both so temporally and spiritually advanced, like Hugh Nibley, learn in the temple.
 
I certainly hope that's the case.

I have wondered if I ought to respond with a certain thought.  There are "pieces" to our temple worship.   One piece is specific to prayers or perhaps I should say temple prayers.  I have received counsel that in seeking understanding to answers to specific prayers that the proper "order" and to be a part of temple prayer according to our covenants and worship and then to be still and quite and instead of continuing our personal prayer in the Celestial room that we listen, meditate and await the spiritual answer and shift from our spiritual utterances to listening to the L-rd. 
 
The Traveler

No, Bishops and Stake Presidents were asked by area authorities to begin prayerfully developing plans on how to hold meetings again. Stake presidents were then asked to have those meeting plans (created with Bishops) approved by their Area Seventy, and be incorporated into the area plan. The practices vary between church area and stake, but all of their plans are approved by church headquarters. Again, local leaders were told to start holding meetings again. They are not doing this on their own, but are given the freedom to develop some parts of their plan. Some aspects of plans have been approved, some rejected, and other aspects are requirements from the First presidency. The individual stake and area plans may be different, but all are approved by the General Authorities. We have one Bishop in our Stake who is very much opposed to meeting again, but he is following the guidance of his leaders to meet, and his ward has been greatly blessed.
Other in-person Sunday meetings outside of Sacrament Meeting, such as Relief Society and Priesthood meetings, are not approved by the First Presidency at this time. Other church functions, such as Baptisms and Weddings, can be held if the maximum number of participants in less than 20, and weekly youth meetings/activities can be held if the number is also under 20, and if social distancing is practiced throughout the activity...this has not yet happened in our stake as we cannot trust the kids to practice social distancing yet.
Wards here are not going rogue. Church leadership is fully aware of all meetings taking place. If you want to know why the church would open wards in certain areas, or want to comment on how legally stupid you think our leaders are, I recommend you write to church headquarters and share your feelings. Be sure to let them know how you know better than them, and how people in Utah want to do anything and everything to risk others.

I would urge everyone to listen to and read this GC address by Elder Bednar. It was referenced in this week's CFM manual. 
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2009/04/honorably-hold-a-name-and-standing?lang=eng
I was acutely aware of this because of my calling as Temple & FH leader.  But as the speech went on, it became more and more apparent just how important temples are in this day.  TODAY.  Right NOW!  Specifically, he talks of the protection we receive because of "Temple Worship".
But we are prevented from attending the temple.  A part of me wonders if our condemnation for "taking lightly that which we've received" includes the blessings of the temple.  And because of that, we've had our temples taken away from us.  Without our temples, we lose some of the blessings -- which include protections -- from the Lord.
Speaking of taking lightly... I have to admit that I have no memory of this address when it was first given in 2009.  I'm so sad.
1. CFM manual talks of the people of Ammon who "never did fall away".
2. Elder Bednar is quoted (from the above linked talk) as saying.
Applying that metaphor, it implies that the People of Ammon never fell away because they regularly worshipped in the temples.  The message then is clear.  If we are to never fall away, we must also regularly worship in the temple.  (Alma 26:6).
Paraprhase:
This is an important point that I wish were taught more often.
Now, you may have noticed how I bolded the phrase worshipped in the temple. Here's why.
I know that I've been guilty of just "going through a session" quite often.  And, again, it is my wife who reminds me that I need to take time to ponder, pray, and listen to the Spirit while in the Celestial Room.
I'm just now learning this and recognizing the great blessing of the temple.  But I'm denied entry (as is the world).  Why didn't I take more advantage of the temple when I could?

This.  But let me emphasize, it was for a good cause, and I don’t begrudge the Church for doing it.  To my mind this just reiterates why the Church tends to move cautiously in partnering with outside agencies for humanitarian purposes (particularly when those partners—let’s be frank—hate our living, breathing guts).  And yes; I’m also guilty of more than a little schadenfreude, as @Vort points out.  

No, Bishops and Stake Presidents were asked by area authorities to begin prayerfully developing plans on how to hold meetings again. Stake presidents were then asked to have those meeting plans (created with Bishops) approved by their Area Seventy, and be incorporated into the area plan. The practices vary between church area and stake, but all of their plans are approved by church headquarters. Again, local leaders were told to start holding meetings again. They are not doing this on their own, but are given the freedom to develop some parts of their plan. Some aspects of plans have been approved, some rejected, and other aspects are requirements from the First presidency. The individual stake and area plans may be different, but all are approved by the General Authorities. We have one Bishop in our Stake who is very much opposed to meeting again, but he is following the guidance of his leaders to meet, and his ward has been greatly blessed.
Other in-person Sunday meetings outside of Sacrament Meeting, such as Relief Society and Priesthood meetings, are not approved by the First Presidency at this time. Other church functions, such as Baptisms and Weddings, can be held if the maximum number of participants in less than 20, and weekly youth meetings/activities can be held if the number is also under 20, and if social distancing is practiced throughout the activity...this has not yet happened in our stake as we cannot trust the kids to practice social distancing yet.
Wards here are not going rogue. Church leadership is fully aware of all meetings taking place. If you want to know why the church would open wards in certain areas, or want to comment on how legally stupid you think our leaders are, I recommend you write to church headquarters and share your feelings. Be sure to let them know how you know better than them, and how people in Utah want to do anything and everything to risk others.

And old lady in my ward joined us for sacrament meeting yesterday.  Her great grandparents on both sides were slaves.  She grew up in Mississippi and she was 8 years old or so when she looked out her bedroom window and a man was hanging off the tree across the yard.  What's more, her sister in Maryland died last February of cancer, her brother died of Covid in Chicago in March and her cousin died of Covid in Mississippi in April.  She has been on chemo for the past 5 years due to complications with lupus that I don't understand.  This has caused her bones to be very fragile like that Shyamalan movie causing her to have several fractures all over her body.  Talking to her yesterday gave me hope for the future.  All these terrible things have happened to her and continue to happen to her yet she is the most positive and upbeat person I have ever met in my life.  I asked her about race relations today and she said, direct quote, "these people don't know what racism is".

Really? Only people in Utah have bad attitudes about this? Worse than anywhere else? Church leaders are absolutely careless and disregard everything related to the general consensus? Really? I mean, it's not like the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve have multiple doctors and lawyers serving...oh wait...they do.

I realize she's gone.  But I thought I'd throw this in to show just how the biased reporting tends to =  incorrect reporting.  It's called TDS.

So, before the article's text even begins, their graphic destroys their headline claims.
Then the article kinda mealie-mouths justification to think they are right.  But then admit they're wrong while stating it doesn't really matter that Trump was right.
Yeah, really accurate (but still biased) reporting.  Uh-huh.

Really? Only people in Utah have bad attitudes about this? Worse than anywhere else? Church leaders are absolutely careless and disregard everything related to the general consensus? Really? I mean, it's not like the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve have multiple doctors and lawyers serving...oh wait...they do.

You got to respect individuals choices.  Others shouldn't be making your choice or guilting you into a choice.
If your primary concern is health risk, then the money should not be the prevailing factor in your individual choice.

If only our church leadership had legal counsel as good as you

I absolutely would and am.
Easy way to avoid this. Say “hey we are holding the family reunion, if you are worried, then don’t come”

Erm . . . Not quite.
Yes, the Brits accepted runaway US slaves.  American southerners lived in fear of the Brits fomenting a slave rebellion—an early draft of the Declaration of Independence simultaneously blamed George III for continuing the slave trade in the colonies, and also for stirring up those same slaves to rebel against their masters.  During the Chesapeake Campaign the British Admiral Cockburn was able to muster a couple of regiments of ex-slaves, units of which had taken part in the sack of Washington, DC the month before the assault on Fort McHenry.  And virtually all Americans scorned the British soldiers as either recently-emancipated slaves (who, as throughout all ancient history, were despised as an uneducated and undisciplined rabble irrespective of race) or paid mercenaries (“hirelings”), whereas the Americans characterized themselves as “freemen . . . stand[ing] between their loved homes and the war’s desolation”.
Yes, the verse contains snobbery (I wouldn’t say “racism” per se, though Key himself was undoubtedly a racist).  No, it does not glorify war crimes.  It is a jingoistic paean to American soldiers who considered themselves to be both better soldiers and motivated by a better cause.
Sure, it’s a little obnoxious—most good patriotic displays are.  But the real problem with “The Star Spangled Banner” is that it enthusiastically endorses the ideas that we are objectively better because we are free and that defensive violence is a natural prerogative of a free people.  It’s easy to miss that point, because we’ve had two generations of generally progressive schoolteachers indoctrinating their pupils with the idea that the song is just about a flag.

I was thinking on this yesterday after discussing it with individuals who both favored the church and those who were not as favorable when it struck me.
In the past there have been comments made by prophets and apostles that were thought to be talking about their day, but (and they may or may not have even realized it when they said it) when you look back at it, they were basically in many ways a prophecy of what could happen if their statements were not taken seriously.  Many of these ideas are considered backwards today or them talking as men, but when you actually look at what they said and what has happened, you see that their thoughts actually did predict exactly what has happened.
One that I think on often was with Brigham Young.  He basically told the saints not to sell their lands to those who were not saints or those who were not part of their society.  If they did, he warned, it would bring in the wickedness of the world to influence Utah and the culture of the Saints.  Looking at Utah today, especially Salt Lake City, I think that statement has been absolutely fulfilled.  Salt Lake has many of the church monuments and history, but it seems the wickedness of the world resides there as well.
Boyd K. Packer warned of far left liberalism in some ways, warning that it would bring troubles in the future if it were left to go unheeded.  Today, I see that the very things he warned about are occurring around us.
Ezra Taft Benson repeatedly warned against the dangers of Marxist Communism as well as the need to continually read the Book of Mormon for our own testimony.  Today, I see many troubles regarding testimonies of those in the church and those falling away, and I see the effects of where we thought we won the Cold War (yes, we did), but in doing so, our defenses against Marxist/Stalinist Communism fell until today we see those openly promoting Marxist Communism around us and atheism it promotes on proud display everywhere we look and it's growing population in our free nations.
Today, I see Elder Bednar is warning us of the dangers of government overreach in restricting our freedom of Religion.  It strikes me that this may be seen as talking about our day (much like the things stated above were) but in many other ways, it could also be seen as a Great Warning about what is coming in the future.  I do not know what we as Saints can do to stop such a future, but as things stand in the West currently, I can see a great tidal wave occurring where religious freedom and liberty are taken away in the name of protection or giving liberties to others.  In otherwords, this could very much be as much a prophecy of warning, as much as it is talking about what is happening in the present.

I have had a very recent struggle with this same issue, albeit from the other side of the spectrum.  I had advised our bishopric to seek input from the general ward membership on what we could do to help each of them feel comfortable returning to church. Mixed in with the vast majority of thoughtful responses were a few "There's nothing you can do that will make me feel comfortable right now." and a few "people just need to stop being scared and take things back to normal."
As you might expect, the "just stop being scared" comments triggered my thoughts of "what a blithering idiot." No sooner had I said that to myself than my mind was filled with this thought:
For most of this month, I've been struggling with how to repent and be more charitable toward those with whom I disagree.  It's hard.  It's really, really hard for me.
I don't have solutions.  I don't think I've made any progress in my repentance.  But know that you aren't alone in your feelings.

It seems to me that the first page you were really generalizing that if a person was supportive of Trump's politics, that they must also be supportive of his personal conduct.   That's simply not true, and really offensive to people whom are supportive of politics but not the personal conduct of Trump  -- and there are a lot of those people around, including on this forum.  That large of a misrepresenting of people and generalization. ..  It's just not a good starting point for anything respectful.

The thing to understand here is that she was not here to "discuss" anything.  She was here to air her grievances unfettered and unchallenged. 
When she found that she'd (gasp!) actually have to defend her position with more than just blanket statements, rhetoric, and straw men, her only explanation for such a response was that we must simply be too blinded by the Orange Man's bluster to hear the unfettered truth as it dripped from her golden tongue.
In other words:  We're just a bunch of mindless followers.

Dude... you haven't seen nuthin' yet!  @Vort and @Carborendum are two of my favorites on here.  If you get triggered by their "tone", there's not much on the internet you're gonna be comfortable in. 
I'll give you a tip from a child of the nerdy 80's who programmed a pac-man game on a radioshack computer:
"Tone" is mostly your impression of their tone and not necessarily the tone they're actually trying to convey.  Therefore, it's always best to give everyone the benefit of the doubt that they are taking the time to talk to you to facilitate conversation and not to deliberately offend you.

That is fair.
58% of members in Utah.  Only ~13% of members live in Utah.  
Now of that small subgroup, what percentage of them are simply going with the lesser evil of their choices?    Obviously that's not a number we have quantified, but it is an important point to remember.  
That's an unreasonable extrapolation.  It's possible for a person to think he's done a decent job, but also acknowledge that he's a very flawed character (I think Carb would be in that category).  
 
Let's also remember that a loud supporter is...well loud.  And tend to take a very disproportional amount of the spotlight.   There are many many people whom are quiet and hence tend to just get overlooked.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I feel that one of the reasons the media has been over-hyping the coronavirus, "racial justice", and of course, Trump, has been so that other things would not be reported or noticed by the public at large, but rather be drowned out and passed by. I get the feeling that a lot of evil and secret works have gone unnoticed in the world over the past 3-4 months. Similar to a magician's sleight of hand, or "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I feel that one of the reasons the media has been over-hyping the coronavirus, "racial justice", and of course, Trump, has been so that other things would not be reported or noticed by the public at large, but rather be drowned out and passed by. I get the feeling that a lot of evil and secret works have gone unnoticed in the world over the past 3-4 months. Similar to a magician's sleight of hand, or "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I feel that one of the reasons the media has been over-hyping the coronavirus, "racial justice", and of course, Trump, has been so that other things would not be reported or noticed by the public at large, but rather be drowned out and passed by. I get the feeling that a lot of evil and secret works have gone unnoticed in the world over the past 3-4 months. Similar to a magician's sleight of hand, or "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

https://youtu.be/RIYafkjQVn8
I found this video with Elder Holland talking with a Jewish rabbi. It explains some of my questions about where our leaders have been lately and why we maybe haven’t heard as much from them as we would have wanted.
 
This is where Elder Holland is personally. In my mind it really helps me to see him not just as a leader that I have all kinds of expectations for, but as an individual and fellow passenger on this crazy COVID  ship we’re on. It humanizes our leaders which is humbling to me. I appreciate them more after listening to this and don’t feel so demanding of them. 
 
Basically this is a time of “renewal” for them. It’s almost a blessing of down time for them. 
 
About halfway through at min 27 or 28 it takes a more theological turn. I haven’t finished listening to that part.