{5} Come and See - An Invitation to the Gospel

These guys are ready to talk to you

      In Elder Bednar's talk "Come and See" in the October 2014 LDS General Conference, he directed most of his message towards those who are not of our faith. He answered the question of why it seems that Mormons always want to share their faith with those around them. Elder Bednar used an understanding and informative tone, scriptural references from both the Bible and Book of Mormon, and anecdotes to illustrate the Latter Day Saint culture to those that are not members of the LDS faith.
      Elder David A. Bednar opens his talk saying that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "always has been and always will be" a missionary church. He uses this phrase multiple times in his talk to point out that Chrost's church never changes. It is the restored gospel and is the same as it was when Christ was on the earth. Because our teachings are the same as Christ's, members are encouraged to be Christ-like and teach others and He did.
      Throughout his talk, Elder Bednar uses quotes and references from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. By doing this, he showed that as Mormons we do not replace the Bible with the Book of Mormon, but instead use them together. This allowed his audience of nonmembers to better understand that we are not turning away from all other Christian churches by having our own scripture, but only adding to it with the teaching of Book of Mormon day prophets.
      Christ taught the principle of brotherly kindness. Elder Bednar used an anecdote from when his children were young to illustrate how this principle can be applied to each of our lives in an everyday setting. When one of his sons was hurt, the elder boy took care of him and made sure that he was okay after the younger boy's minor accident. After being bandaged up, the younger boy took bandaids and ointment to his friends and put ointment and bandaids on them, just as the elder brother had done for the younger. This story illustrates how natural it is for us as human beings to want to share the good or healing parts of our lives with those around us.
     While Elder Bendar's talk was directed mostly toward nonmembers, members of the church can also gain insight from what he had to say. Bednar made his audience feel the need to go out and be a missionary, whether in the field or at home. Whatever our lot in life may be, we should be caring for those around us and wanting to share the gospel that we have in our lives with those that have not had the opportunity to learn of its truthfulness.