The way to overcome doubts, tragedies and struggles is to get closer to Jesus Christ, President Dallin H. Oaks told millions of members gathered this past weekend in Salt Lake City and around the world for the faith’s 196th Semiannual General Conference.

Indeed, the 94-year-old leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints repeatedly said the answers to the most pressing issues can be found in Christ’s gospel.

The most buzzed about talk, however, was by his second counselor in the governing First Presidency, D. Todd Christofferson, who warned against the dangers of gambling, including the booming sports betting and prediction markets.

“For us as Latter-day Saints,” Christofferson said, “overarching all other concerns is the fact that gambling is morally wrong. Gambling is built on the desire to obtain something for nothing. Its structure requires that any gain comes at others’ expense. It’s hard to reconcile that with the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves.”

During the two-day conference, leaders largely avoided global issues and instead encouraged members to avoid contention, lift one another, overcome trials and tragedies with faith, recognize their worth in God’s eyes, and celebrate God’s goodness.

Three women spoke and two prayed during the meetings, compared to dozens of men. Five Africans addressed the attendees — including Primary General President Rosemary K. Chibota, the first African to lead a churchwide organization — which possibly reflected the American-born faith’s rapid growth on parts of that continent.

Conferencegoers and watchers also heard from a general authority Seventy, Jeremiah J. Morgan, who converted from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now the Community of Christ), and a Sunday school leader, Gabriel W. Reid, who mentioned the faith’s new Sabbath meeting schedule, with its shortened classes.

Some may ask, Reid said, “How can I teach everything in 25 minutes?” He responded saying a better question may be: “How can I help those I teach connect to the Savior sooner?”

Here are some of the key speeches:

Dallin Oaks: Never let secular learning limit spiritual horizons

What President Dallin H. Oaks wants is for Latter-day Saints to be “active members, proceeding forward on the covenant path into the eternities.”

But the 94-year-old leader recognized that many “have present or future concerns or struggles” they are trying to overcome, including questions and doubts.

“Whatever they are, the way to overcome them is to get closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ,” Oaks said. “... Overcoming uncertainty and doubt — which may include resolving conflicts between the evolving understanding of science and the sometimes-incomplete teachings of religion — can be a lengthy process. It involves building faith and strengthening humility. Hold on to the first article of faith even if something else is uncertain.”

Church leaders worry about “members of diminishing faith in Jesus Christ,” Oaks said. “We love you, young and old, men and women.” And so does God, who “is relentless in his loving pursuit of each of you.”

He urged any with doubts to “keep the commandments and be true to the covenants so many of you have made to guide you along the covenant path.”

“Never let your secular learning limit your spiritual horizons,” said Oaks, a former president of church-owned Brigham Young University. “There are two methods of gaining needed knowledge: (1) the evolving disclosures of man discovered by the scientific method including modern electronics, and (2) the truths disclosed by the spiritual method, which begins with faith in God and relies on scriptures, inspired teaching and personal revelation.”

There is no conflict between these methods, he said, “because God, our omnipotent eternal Father, knows all truth and expects us to learn by both methods.”

Interestingly, a recent Pew Research Center report showed that secular learning actually can help cement Latter-day Saints in the faith. Some 86% of U.S. members with a bachelor’s degree or higher attend church weekly compared to 59% of those without a college diploma.

Oaks then moved to the teachings about Christ in the Book of Mormon. The faith’s scripture says the great Creator died “for all men, that all men might become subject unto him.”

This means, according to Oaks, “that if our sins are to be forgiven through his Atonement, we must comply with the conditions he has prescribed, including faith, repentance and baptism. The fulfillment of these conditions depends on our desires, our choices and our actions.”

Other passages “contradict the erroneous assertion that the grace of God saves only a chosen few,” the president said. “His grace is for all. Similarly, the Book of Mormon tells us that the children of God in ‘every nation’ have his promise that he “manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost.”

He urged his listeners to “act on these truths and to share them with others [so] that we may all draw closer to Jesus Christ.”

Rosemary Chibota: Seeing others as God does

As a child growing up in Zimbabwe, Rosemary K. Chibota learned the southern African greeting “sawubona,” which means, “I see you.”

Chibota, the first African to lead one of the faith’s worldwide organizations, said, “This greeting is much more than a simple ‘hello.’ It is an acknowledgment of another person’s worth and humanity. It communicates, ‘I recognize you. I respect you. You matter.’”

During her daughter’s final parent-teacher conference, a school janitor approached the parents, the African said. “With tears in his eyes, he thanked us for our daughter. He explained that she regularly greeted him, knew his name and even helped him clean up after lunch.”

He told the couple, Chibota said, “very few students know my name. Your daughter sees me.”

Seeing others as children of God “also influences the way we see ourselves, yet the world often encourages us to see ourselves and others differently,” she said. “The world invites us to focus on labels rather than eternal identity. However, labels can never fully capture who we truly are.”

She acknowledged sometimes viewing herself through such labels.

“When President Oaks extended my new calling, he told me, ‘You’ve been called for who you are. The Lord knows you.’” Chibota said. “In that moment, I was reminded that God’s view of us is always more complete and more hopeful than our own. This reminder eased my feelings of inadequacy.”

She left the audience with a final sawubona: “I see you. More importantly, your Heavenly Father sees you.”

Clark Gilbert: ‘Stand for truth with love’

Loving others does not mean exempting them from God’s commandments, apostle Clark G. Gilbert emphasized in a sermon focused on bridge building across ideological lines. Nonetheless, he stressed, individuals shouldn’t become combative while holding fast to their principles.

The sermon harked back to a 2022 address he and President Dallin H. Oaks delivered jointly to students of church-owned Ensign College.

Focused on peacemaking, it outlined five principles, which Gilbert, the faith’s newest apostle, revisited in his second General Conference address since his appointment:

• Avoid overly contentious settings.

• Find common ground.

• Be a light.

• Hold to truth even when doing outreach.

• Stay anchored in Jesus Christ.

“It takes courage to stand for truth,” he said. “It takes even more courage to stand for truth with love.”

Sometimes, this means listening more than speaking and waiting for tensions to ease before venturing into a debate.

The former head of the church’s educational system, Gilbert has long been critical of what he sees as the secularization of the country’s universities. And so it was with much difficulty, he said, that he refrained from arguing when a “group of national academic leaders aggressively criticized the role of faith in education.”

Sensing tension, he “tabled” the discussion.

“In part because I chose not to engage in the moment,” he said, “a university chancellor later reached out for counsel in creating a course on character.”

From this, Gilbert said he learned that “being a light opens more doors than any pointed argument ever will.”

Ronald Rasband: Jesus can ‘bring them home’

Speaking directly to those whose loved ones have stepped away from the church, apostle Ronald A. Rasband said, “I ask you to turn over to Jesus Christ your despair for those wayward souls.”

All have their agency and only God can change a person’s heart, he taught, warning that foisting faith on others can sometimes backfire.

“We preach, cajole, argue, demand, lecture, ignore, sit them down to watch General Conference and even send them links to the talks, like this one, but to no avail,” he said. “If anything, these efforts can cause a greater rift.”

Instead, he instructed listeners to turn those efforts over to Jesus, who, “in the vernacular … says to all who grieve, ‘I’ve got this!’”

Shun guilt, remain interested and engaged in those individuals’ lives, and remember, Rasband instructed listeners, Jesus “gave his very life to bring them home, all the way home.”

“Never, never,” he pleaded, “give up on those you love.”

Tamara Runia: ‘We’re going to get pelted’

Growing up, Tamara Runia, first counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, absorbed the message that she would be blessed if she kept God’s commandments.

Because of this, she said, “the gospel felt like a big umbrella I could hold over my head to keep the rain from falling on me.”

Life has since taught her otherwise.

More than a decade ago, Runia’s son died, leaving behind a widow and four young children.

“We’re all going to get rained on,” she said. “And sometimes we’re going to get pelted.”

This, Runia explained, is by design, a necessary part of a mortal journey meant to shape and grow each person into what God alone can envision.

Nowadays, she envisions a different metaphor for understanding faith.

“The gospel isn’t the umbrella,” Runia taught. “It’s the solid rock we’re standing on during the storm — the sure ‘foundation whereon if men build, they cannot fall.’”

Jeremiah Morgan: The legacy of covenants

Jeremiah J. Morgan, named as general authority Seventy in April, grew up hearing his single mom reading from the Book of Mormon.

She wasn’t a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He grew up in Ohio, belonging to the Community of Christ, the former Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the group that stayed in the Midwest, rather than following Brigham Young to the West.

All he remembered of the faith’s sacred scripture, Morgan said Saturday, were the phrases “and it came to pass” and “wars and rumors of wars.”

More than any words that he heard, he knew the Book of Mormon “was important to my mother. And I knew she knew it was true.”

The lesson? “No time or effort is ever wasted in reading the Book of Mormon. Not for you, not for your children, not for your family, not for anyone.”

As a young teen, Morgan began to study the Utah-based faith, he said. Some members of that church were his friends.

For two months, he attended both churches.

“I can’t fully express the gratitude I have for my upbringing and the knowledge I had received,” Morgan said, “even so, I came to know that this is the Lord’s church.”

Morgan eventually joined and learned that his ancestors had made temple covenants in Nauvoo, Illinois.

“It was covenants that had impacted me, not my covenants,” Morgan began to understand, “but those that came before me.”

Covenants with God “are filled with incalculable power,” he said. “They do not bless just the maker of the covenant but are generational in their impact. We are all the intended beneficiaries of countless covenants. Like the great binding power of gravity that stretches across the universe, covenants with God stretch over all time and all space.”

James G.O. Fantone: Taking on Jesus’ name through service

At baptism, Latter-day Saints covenant to take upon themselves the name of Jesus. But what, asked general authority Seventy James G. O. Fantone, does that mean?

“How,” the Filipino leader asked, “does that manifest in our daily lives?”

The answer: serving others.

As a mission leader in the Philippines, Fantone saw firsthand “courageous service” of the church’s young full-time proselytizers.

“In their first few months,” he recalled, “it was not uncommon for some to sit across from me in tears and say, ‘President, I am so sad, lonely and homesick. The days feel so long and time is so slow, I don’t even know if I can last for three more months.’ Yet, these valiant missionaries got on their knees, put on their nametags and went out to serve anyway.”

A year later, Fantone said, the same missionaries would state, “President, I am so happy! I love the people, and I love this work. But time is moving too fast — I don’t want this to end!”

Time, of course, did not change, Fantone said. “The missionaries did. The work did not change — but the workers did.”

Quoting former apostle Marion G. Romney, he said: “Service is not something we endure on this earth so we can earn the right to live in the Celestial Kingdom. Service is the very fiber of which an exalted life in the Celestial Kingdom is made.”