{"id":69175,"date":"2019-01-12T23:27:58","date_gmt":"2019-01-13T06:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=69175"},"modified":"2019-01-12T23:27:58","modified_gmt":"2019-01-13T06:27:58","slug":"president-russell-m-nelson-and-mortal-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/president-russell-m-nelson-and-mortal-loss.html","title":{"rendered":"President Russell M. Nelson and mortal loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

C. C. A. Christensen \"Tarring and Feathering the Prophet\"<\/a>
\u201cTarring and Feathering the Prophet,\u201d by Carl Christian Anton Christensen (d. 1912)
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We drove with four friends up to Sandy, in the southern Salt Lake Valley, where we had dinner and than attended a performance of The Wizard of Oz<\/em> at the Hale Centre Theatre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Truth be told, I\u2019ve never been an enthusiastic fan of The Wizard of Oz<\/em> in any of its forms, including the classic Judy Garland movie. \u00a0It just doesn\u2019t do much for me, for some reason. \u00a0But \u2014 as always at the Hale \u2014 this performance was very well done. \u00a0And Lexi Walker<\/a> was extremely good as Dorothy Gale.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is a heresy among many Christians and some Latter-day Saints \u2014 few would actually articulate it, but some seem to expect it nonetheless, and are shocked and surprised when it doesn\u2019t work out for them \u2014 to the effect that, if you\u2019re righteous, things will go well for you. \u00a0You and yours will be healthy, you will prosper, and you will escape serious grief.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not true, of course \u2014 as almost everybody, no matter how faithful, will grant in lucid moments. \u00a0Virtually nobody, if indeed anybody at all, gets out of this life without encountering sorrows, defeats, and pain.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Latter-day Saints, a moment\u2019s reflection on the ministry of President Spencer W. Kimball should be enough to demonstrate the truth of my contention. \u00a0And think of Presidents Thomas S. Monson, Gordon B. Hinckley, and Joseph Fielding Smith, who lost their wives while presiding over the Church. \u00a0President Joseph F. Smith, a polygamist, lost thirteen of his biological children during his lifetime \u2014 including one who was serving as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve \u2014 as well as an adopted son. \u00a0After years of harrassment, persecution, physical pain, unjust imprisonment, and the like, Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob when he was only thirty-eight years old.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consider, too, the current First Presidency of the Church:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kathleen Eyring, the wife of President Henry B. Eyring, has lost most of her memory, and hasn\u2019t appeared in public for a very long time:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Eyring paints to capture memories of his wife, who is in failing health\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Called to serve as an apostle in 1984, President Dallin H. Oaks lost his father, an ophthalmologist, to cancer when young Dallin was seven years old and his father was just thirty-six. \u00a0And his first wife, June, succumbed to cancer in 1998.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also called to the Twelve in 1984, President Russell M. Nelson lost one of his daughters to cancer in 1995. \u00a0She was thirty-seven years old. \u00a0In 2005, he suddenly and unexpectedly lost his beloved first wife, Dantzel. \u00a0And now, another of his daughters, Wendy Nelson Maxfield, has fallen victim to cancer:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWendy\u00a0Nelson\u00a0Maxfield,\u00a01951 \u2013 2019\u2033<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDaughter of President Nelson dies after courageous battle with cancer\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nobody makes it out of this life unscathed by loss, pain, injustice, and sorrow. \u00a0Don\u2019t feel, if you\u2019re facing adversity or suffering anguish, that you\u2019re being singled out. \u00a0You\u2019re not. \u00a0Prophets and apostles experience the full range of what this life can offer and impose, as well. \u00a0It\u2019s a fundamental part of our mortal experience. \u00a0We all know this, of course \u2014 when everything\u2019s going well, we can easily affirm the proposition, verbally \u2014 but going through such things is much worse than theorizing about them. \u00a0That\u2019s why we had to actually come down here to this world. \u00a0It would never have been enough to read books about earthly life.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 We drove with four friends up to Sandy, in the southern Salt Lake Valley, where we had dinner and than attended a performance of The Wizard of Oz at the Hale Centre Theatre. \u00a0 Truth be told, I\u2019ve never been an enthusiastic fan of The Wizard of Oz in any of its forms, […]<\/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-69175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPresident Russell M. 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