Lynn G. Robbins

Presidency of the Seventy (April 5, 2014 – August 1, 2018)
First Quorum of the Seventy (April 1, 2000 – October 1, 2022)
Second Quorum of the Seventy (April 5, 1997 – April 1, 2000)

General Conference Addresses

• April 2018 General Conference
  • Until Seventy Times Seven
    • “Hopefully each mistake we make becomes a lesson in wisdom, turning stumbling blocks into stepping-stones.”
    • “While we are grateful for second chances following mistakes, or failures of the mind, we stand all amazed at the Savior’s grace in giving us second chances in overcoming sin, or failures of the heart.”
    • “Knowing that the strait and narrow path would be strewn with trials and that failures would be a daily occurrence for us, the Savior paid an infinite price to give us as many chances as it would take to successfully pass our mortal probation. The opposition which He allows can often seem insurmountable and almost impossible to bear, yet He doesn’t leave us without hope.”
    • “Repentance isn’t His backup plan in the event we might fail. Repentance is His plan, knowing that we will.”
    • “That doesn’t mean that the sacrament becomes a license to sin. That’s one reason this phrase was included in the book of Moroni: “But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven.””
    • “Real intent implies with real effort and real change. “Change” is the principal word the Guide to the Scriptures uses to define repentance: “A change of mind and heart that brings a fresh attitude toward God, oneself, and life in general.” That kind of change results in spiritual growth. Our success, then, isn’t going from failure to failure, but growing from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm.”
• October 2016 General Conference
  • The Righteous Judge
    • “We sometimes forget that when He gave the counsel to be as He is, it was in the context of how to judge righteously.”
    • “The natural man and woman in each of us has a tendency to condemn others and to judge unrighteously, or self-righteously.”
    • “Compassion doesn’t nullify the need for discipline.”
    • “An unwillingness to sacrifice as part of our penitence mocks or belittles Christ’s greater sacrifice for the same sin and trivializes His suffering—a callous sign of ingratitude.”
• October 2014 General Conference
  • Which Way Do You Face?
    • “Trying to please others before pleasing God is inverting the first and second great commandments (see Matthew 22:37–39). It is forgetting which way we face. And yet, we have all made that mistake because of the fear of men.”
    • “We seek respectful coexistence with those who point fingers, but when this fear of men tempts us to condone sin, it becomes a “snare” according to the book of Proverbs.”
    • “When people try to save face with men, they can unwittingly lose face with God. Thinking one can please God and at the same time condone the disobedience of men isn’t neutrality but duplicity, or being two-faced or trying to serve two masters.”
    • “Lowering the Lord’s standards to the level of a society’s inappropriate behavior is—apostasy.”
    • “Still others, self-deceived and in self-denial, plead or demand that bishops lower the standard on temple recommends, school endorsements, or missionary applications. It isn’t easy being a bishop under that kind of pressure. However, like the Savior who cleansed the temple to defend its sanctity (see John 2:15–16), bishops today are called upon to boldly defend the temple standard.”
• April 2011 General Conference
  • What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?
    • “To do without to be is hypocrisy, or feigning to be what one is not—a pretender.”
    • “Be without do really isn’t being—it is self-deception, believing oneself to be good merely because one’s intentions are good.”
    • “Do without be—hypocrisy—portrays a false image to others, while be without do portrays a false image to oneself.”
    • “When children misbehave, let’s say when they quarrel with each other, we often misdirect our discipline on what they did, or the quarreling we observed. But the do—their behavior—is only a symptom of the unseen motive in their hearts.”
    • “Through discipline the child learns of consequences. In such moments it is helpful to turn negatives into positives. If the child confesses to a wrong, praise the courage it took to confess. Ask the child what he or she learned from the mistake or misdeed, which gives you, and more important, the Spirit an opportunity to touch and teach the child. When we teach children doctrine by the Spirit, that doctrine has the power to change their very nature—be—over time.”
    • “A sweet and obedient child will enroll a father or mother only in Parenting 101. If you are blessed with a child who tests your patience to the nth degree, you will be enrolled in Parenting 505. Rather than wonder what you might have done wrong in the premortal life to be so deserving, you might consider the more challenging child a blessing and opportunity to become more godlike yourself. With which child will your patience, long-suffering, and other Christlike virtues most likely be tested, developed, and refined? Could it be possible that you need this child as much as this child needs you?”
    • “The most important way to teach to be is to be the kind of parents to our children that our Father in Heaven is to us. He is the one perfect parent, and He has shared with us His parenting manual—the scriptures.”
• April 2005 General Conference
  • Tithing—a Commandment Even for the Destitute
    • “One reason the Lord illustrates doctrines with the most extreme circumstances is to eliminate excuses. If the Lord expects even the poorest widow to pay her mite, where does that leave all others who find that it is not convenient or easy to sacrifice?”
    • “One of the first things a bishop must do to help the needy is ask them to pay their tithing. Like the widow, if a destitute family is faced with the decision of paying their tithing or eating, they should pay their tithing. The bishop can help them with their food and other basic needs until they become self-reliant.”
• April 1998 General Conference
  • Agency and Anger
    • “A cunning part of his strategy is to dissociate anger from agency, making us believe that we are victims of an emotion that we cannot control.”
    • “This doctrine or command from the Lord presupposes agency and is an appeal to the conscious mind to make a decision. The Lord expects us to make the choice not to become angry.”

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