***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some cynics like to imagine the wealth and luxury, the glory and the status and the prestige, the sheer ego-gratification, that come to the men who are called to serve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Such imaginings tell us far, far more about the cynics and their imaginations than they do about the members of the Twelve.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The odds of being called to the Twelve are submicroscopically low for any given active male in the Church. \u00a0Those who are called so to serve can hardly have been seriously thinking about elevation to the apostleship during their decades of prior service in the Aaronic priesthood, as missionaries, as priests quorum advisors, elders quorum presidents, young adult leaders, scoutmasters, members of high councils, counselors in bishoprics, bishops, counselors in stake presidencies, stake presidents, mission presidents, and the like. \u00a0These were years of uncompensated, sometimes rather demanding, and very often quite unglamorous labor in the Church and on behalf of the Saints. \u00a0There were plenty of welfare assignments, late night calls, and calls to move ward members.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
If, through all those years, they were really just in it for\u00a0wealth, luxury, glory, status, prestige, and ego, these men took an enormous risk for highly unlikely delayed gratification.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moreover, the life of an apostle isn\u2019t<\/em> actually one of splendor, status, and luxury. \u00a0It entails endless meetings, problems, challenges, reports, and constant, quite un-vacationlike travel.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
And, for most of them, apostolic service commences at just about the stage in life where most men are thinking about retirement.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This really hit me when Elder Gerrit W. Gong was called to the Twelve at the end of March. \u00a0He and I are approximately the same age. \u00a0Like me, he has an academic background. \u00a0We\u2019re not intimate friends, but I\u2019ve known him for quite a few years and worked with him once or twice. \u00a0It struck me on 31 March 2018 that he\u2019ll never enjoy retirement. \u00a0I\u2019m beginning, myself, to look forward to a time, which can\u2019t be too far away, when I\u2019ll no longer be grading student papers and serving on faculty committees. \u00a0I have big writing projects and other goals to which I want to devote my attention \u2014 on my own time, at my own initiative, on my own schedule. \u00a0If Elder Gong was beginning to entertain such thoughts, however, he can kiss them goodbye. \u00a0The only way out of the apostleship is death, apostasy, or serious transgression and excommunication.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anybody really ambitious for attending lots and lots of meetings, helping to oversee and guide a large and complex international organization, and coming into the office every day when not traveling nationally and internationally for the sake of the organization from roughly the age of sixty-five or so until death (perhaps several decades later) has my genuine awe and respect.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
These men, too, have my respect, awe, and admiration. \u00a0Not because of their ambition to reign, though. \u00a0Because of their willingness to serve.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 This is good news: \u00a0 \u201cNew Marriott rooms across the globe will get Bible, Book of Mormon\u201d \u00a0 *** \u00a0 Have you seen this interesting series of articles? \u00a0 \u201cInside the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: The Ministry of President M. Russell Ballard and His Brethren\u201d \u00a0 \u201cInside the Quorum of the Twelve: […]<\/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":[1821,1266,1809,2218,788,55],"class_list":["post-64252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apostle","tag-apostles","tag-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints","tag-gerrit-gong","tag-mormon","tag-mormonism"],"yoast_head":"\n
Apostolic Ambitions?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" This is good news: "New Marriott rooms across the globe will get Bible, Book of Mormon" *** Have you seen this\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Apostolic Ambitions?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" This is good news: "New Marriott rooms across the globe will get Bible, Book of Mormon" *** Have you seen this\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-27T05:33:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-05T15:52:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2018\/08\/31046368_1079926742145496_3976547981271760896_o.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html\",\"name\":\"Apostolic Ambitions?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-27T05:33:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-05T15:52:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" This is good news: \\\"New Marriott rooms across the globe will get Bible, Book of Mormon\\\" *** Have you seen this\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Apostolic Ambitions?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Apostolic Ambitions?","description":" This is good news: \"New Marriott rooms across the globe will get Bible, Book of Mormon\" *** Have you seen this","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Apostolic Ambitions?","og_description":" This is good news: \"New Marriott rooms across the globe will get Bible, Book of Mormon\" *** Have you seen this","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2018-08-27T05:33:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-09-05T15:52:45+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2018\/08\/31046368_1079926742145496_3976547981271760896_o.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html","name":"Apostolic Ambitions?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-08-27T05:33:32+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-05T15:52:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" This is good news: \"New Marriott rooms across the globe will get Bible, Book of Mormon\" *** Have you seen this","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/apostolic-ambitions.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Apostolic Ambitions?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"The](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/08\/31046368_1079926742145496_3976547981271760896_o.jpg\")
<\/a>