http:\/\/www.mormonnewsroom.org\/article\/elder-l-tom-perry-elder-richard-g-scott-health<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I cannot recall such candid statements on this topic before.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I know that at least one senior member of the Twelve has been advocating such frank openness for a while, and I\u2019m very pleased to see it happening.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Apart from these statements, it\u2019s been obvious for years that Elder Robert Hales, too, has faced serious physical challenges, and President Boyd K. Packer\u2019s physical decline has been open and unconcealed.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Critics of the Church have pointed out, happily, that changes are on the near horizon for the presiding quorums, and they\u2019re surely right about that. \u00a0Such changes are inevitable \u2014 although, if the critics are hoping to see the Church back away from its core doctrines and commitments as personnel changes come, I\u2019m confident that they\u2019re going to be severely\u00a0disappointed.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some critics seem to imagine that debilitating illness and decline among senior Church leaders somehow demonstrates Mormonism false, as if it were a doctrine among Latter-day Saints that apostolic ordination guarantees immunity to all illness and freedom from all problems, as well as immortality and everlasting youth.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wish the very best for Elder Perry. \u00a0He\u2019s undergoing treatment, and I hope that he can beat his cancer. \u00a0He\u2019s still entirely capable of serving. \u00a0I\u2019m sad to know of Elder Scott\u2019s incapacitating problems with memory \u2014 especially ironic given his distinguished career in earlier life as a nuclear engineer. \u00a0My wife and I pray for them daily, as, of course, we pray for President Monson and for President Packer and Elder Hales.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
And we honor them for their exceptionally long lives of exceptional service. \u00a0We revere\u00a0them as divinely chosen apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
May God bless them and their families. \u00a0Now and forever.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 The Church has recently released two statements on the health of, respectively, President Thomas S. Monson and Elders L. Tom Perry and Richard G. Scott of the Council of the Twelve Apostles: \u00a0 http:\/\/www.sltrib.com\/lifestyle\/faith\/2465653-155\/at-87-mormon-leader-thomas-s \u00a0 http:\/\/www.mormonnewsroom.org\/article\/elder-l-tom-perry-elder-richard-g-scott-health \u00a0 I cannot recall such candid statements on this topic before. \u00a0 I know that at least […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>