Flooding the Earth with Real Things (Elder Bednar Response)

Flooding the Earth with Real Things

Elder Bednar made lots of great points in his talks. In his first talk, “Things as They Really Are”, he outlined the various forms of technology and the impacts that they can have on people’s lives in positive and negative ways. He goes on to say that “computer-mediated communication can play a role in minimizing the importance of our physical bodies.” He’s very stern about the fact that being idle and wasting away our time are detrimental to our spiritual well-being, but in his second talk, “To Sweep the Earth as With a Flood”, he also defines some of the various ways that social media and technology can be used to hasten the church’s work and help with the missionary effort and recognition of the Lord and His work. He talks about a movie that the Church helped to produce- “Meet the Mormons”. It was originally produced to be shown in visitors centers and at a film festival in Salt Lake, but the church leadership realized that it could be beneficial in increasing the Church’s recognizability and reputation. It addressed some common beliefs and falsities about the Church. It also showed great examples of how LDS Church members are good people who contribute to the world in whatever way they can. He talked about using sites like Twitter and Instagram and how they use hashtags and various ways to spread the messages of the Church and its teachings.