Conference

One of my favorite talks from general conference was Elder Ballard's talk, "O That Cunning Plan of the Evil One." He spoke very movingly on devices that Satan uses to ensnare and capture us with. He made a very impressive analogy between a fly fisherman hand carving a lure to capture a fish. He said, "The goal of the fly fisherman is to catch trout through skillful deception. The adept fisherman studies trout behavior, weather, the water current, and the types of insects trout eat and when those insects hatch. He will often craft by hand the lures he uses. He knows these artificial insects embedded with tiny hooks need to be a perfect deception because the trout will identify even the slightest flaw and reject the fly." He compared this to how Satan "handcrafts" his lures to ensnare the children of God. One of the traps that Satan uses in our modern days, is addictions. Elder Ballard spoke of the usual addictions that plagues our world today, but he added a new addiction to the list. One I had never thought as something that could be addicting. Elder Ballard spoke of the technology that addicts us as a human race. He said, "There is also great concern about some of the pernicious, addictive behaviors like gambling and evil pornography that are so personally destructive and so rampant in our society. Remember, brothers and sisters, any kind of addiction is to surrender to something, thus relinquishing agency and becoming dependent. Thus, video-gaming and texting on cell phones need to be added to the list. Some gamers claim to spend up to 18 hours a day going through level after level of video games, neglecting all other aspects of their lives. Texting on cell phones can become an addiction, causing the important interpersonal human communication to become lost. Not long ago a bishop told me two of his youth were standing side by side texting one another rather than talking to each other." I have never thought that I could ever be addicted to texting, but now looking back, I can see that I have been! Another technology that can be addicting is that of Facebook. I spend WAY too much time on Facebook, keeping myself updated on aspects of people's lives, that I just frankly don't care too much about, and yet, I can't stop! Every time I log onto firefox, I find myself automatically typing in Facebook's web address. Technology should be use for furthering the gospel, and every time something comes along to further the gospel, Satan jumps in with his counterfeit. Trying to ensnare us in something to prevent us from furthering God's plan for His children. Use the advancements of technology for good, not for your own pleasure! I know I have things to work on!