Gerrit Gong has an airplane story of his own...

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_I have a question
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Gerrit Gong has an airplane story of his own...

Post by _I have a question »

During a recent flight from Salt Lake City to New York City, Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had a last-minute seat assignment change.

“In this case, perhaps not without purpose,” he recalled during a campus devotional at Brigham Young University on Oct. 16.

When he asked his new seat companion whether she was traveling to New York or the plane’s final destination of Milan, Italy, their conversation began to take off.

https://www.ldschurchnews.com/leaders-a ... ning-48245

The woman had spent her life as a bilingual, bicultural Italian-English translator, and the two began to talk about Italian art and culture.

“As she queried me about Michelangelo, I remembered a BYU humanities class with Professor Todd Britsch,” Elder Gong said. “I was able to say that in Michelangelo’s statue the Pieta, the same piece of Carrara marble feels alive and lifeless at the same time.”

The woman sitting next to him agreed, and they began to talk about the Sistine Chapel — then Dante, and Shakespeare.

“Then something unexpected happened," he said. "Seemingly out of the blue, this good woman quietly asked, ‘You want to know how my son died, don’t you?’”

Although the two had been discussing Italian art and literature, she felt Elder Gong had been listening with his heart.

“She felt she could say, ‘My son committed suicide. I am going to Italy to make arrangements.’ She added, ‘I feel you are a man of God. God put you here today because I have no one I can talk to about these things.'”

For the rest of the flight, Elder Gong and the woman spoke tenderly about the plan of happiness established by God, and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ that allows families to be together forever.

“I testified of ordinances and covenants found in the Holy House of the Lord, and invited her to visit the Manhattan New York Temple or, someday, the Rome Italy Temple.”
“When we are confronted with evidence that challenges our deeply held beliefs we are more likely to reframe the evidence than we are to alter our beliefs. We simply invent new reasons, new justifications, new explanations. Sometimes we ignore the evidence altogether.” (Mathew Syed 'Black Box Thinking')
_Dr Exiled
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Re: Gerrit Gong has an airplane story of his own...

Post by _Dr Exiled »

I sounds like a nice story, and I am sure he is sincere, but his answers are myth ... and then I told her of the dragon god of the north, protector of lost souls, and she was comforted ....
"Religion is about providing human community in the guise of solving problems that don’t exist or failing to solve problems that do and seeking to reconcile these contradictions and conceal the failures in bogus explanations otherwise known as theology." - Kishkumen 
_moksha
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Re: Gerrit Gong has an airplane story of his own...

Post by _moksha »

Exiled wrote:I sounds like a nice story, and I am sure he is sincere, but his answers are myth ... and then I told her of the dragon god of the north, protector of lost souls, and she was comforted ....

Comfort is comfort, although with Alduin of Skyrim you do not have to use wet wipes afterward like you would with the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Elder Gong does sound like someone sympathetic enough to confide in.
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_kairos
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Re: Gerrit Gong has an airplane story of his own...

Post by _kairos »

Why did G not change his flight plan and fly with the lady to Italy and assist with funeral etc. I wonder what the HS was promoting GG to do during the flight- G is an apostle and would have special blessings to impart.
_krose
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Re: Gerrit Gong has an airplane story of his own...

Post by _krose »

So this is what an all-knowing, all-caring, all-powerful god is doing instead of helping starving or murdered children. Changing seat assignments on domestic flights to put certain people together so they can talk. Makes perfect sense.
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_Polygamy-Porter
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Re: Gerrit Gong has an airplane story of his own...

Post by _Polygamy-Porter »

Does he have any children with the first name of Banga?
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_kairos
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Re: Gerrit Gong has an airplane story of his own...

Post by _kairos »

Polygamy-Porter wrote:Does he have any children with the first name of Banga?

One son first Name is TuFarr and is daughter is named RingMy!

Just saying - GG temple name is alleged to be "tinker bell"!
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