Video Tribute to Truman Madsen

May 30, 2009    By: Matt W. @ 7:28 am   Category: Life

I thought this was wonderful, and wanted to make sure we could all share in it. I especially loved the Covey Boys’ Madsen Impersonations, but that’s the 5 year old in me.

So many others have said so much about Madsen’s Passing, and how he impacted all our lives, I am not sure I can add anything.

I guess I can say that as a convert, his lectures on the presidents of the church series is what allowed me to have a testimony of each of the Presidents of the Church. I guess I can say he was one of the greatest orators I have ever heard and I have every talk I could find by him on my mp3 player, and they’ve been there for years, because no matter how many times I listen, I don’t get tired of them. I guess I can say that I believe he forever changed Mormonism, raising it to a higher state, making it better by his own personal efforts.

I guess I can say I never knew him personally, but I will miss him terribly.

God Speed, Brother Madsen.

10 Comments

  1. Matt-
    Thanks for that link. It is wonderful.

    My books are all in storage right now so I can’t look it up to quote it, but one of the things Madsen wrote that has always stayed with me was when he pointed out that in the pre-existance we all had a choice– to stay as we were or to become something more. 1/3 chose not to participate in the plan. I have always thought that didn’t make much sense– who would make that choice? But Madsen says that we face that same choice here. Stay as we are– the natural man– or become something more. Faith or fear.

    He was a great example of that “something more” that we are capable of becoming if we choose to.

    Comment by C Jones — May 30, 2009 @ 10:09 am

  2. Thanks for the link Matt. It is an excellent tribute. I was inspired to dig up the copy of Eternal Man that I inherited from a church library Spring cleaning one year. I plan to finally read it this week.

    Comment by Geoff J — May 30, 2009 @ 10:36 am

  3. Cool.

    I never knew much about Truman Madsen. Though I do remember this one time — I was walking through the HFAC with a friend who knew him. They saw each other and shook hands — and the first thing Truman said to him was “the Gospel’s true!”

    Comment by Jack — May 30, 2009 @ 4:47 pm

  4. Im a lifelong church member, but recently ive become most confused. Ive been reading that at least one third of gods spirit offspring will spend eternity in total darkness, with not even a meteor for light. This is justice? How can god confine people to this endless misery? Surely the crime
    must eventually outweigh the punishment? Maybe god is not the loving father we percieve him to be.

    Comment by Marvin G — May 31, 2009 @ 6:40 am

  5. Marvin,

    First this the wrong thread for that question. Here is a much better thread to bring up a question along those lines. Second, if you do comment over there please tell us the exact source of that speculative quote you are worried about. (And it is just speculation)

    Comment by Geoff J — May 31, 2009 @ 9:24 am

  6. That is a great video. I commented over at BCC and I’ll just link to it here. I will miss Bro Madsen.

    Comment by Jacob J — May 31, 2009 @ 10:35 am

  7. Thanks Matt. I will probably link to this video also as I conclude my Eternal Man series.

    I also hope GeoffJ (or one of you guys) does some posts on Eternal Man. Great little book.

    Comment by Eric Nielson — June 1, 2009 @ 7:44 pm

  8. I cannot find the link to the video. Can someone help?

    Comment by Robert Birch — June 6, 2009 @ 4:18 am

  9. Robert:
    http://mormontimes.com/people_news/newsmakers/?id=8026

    Comment by Matt W. — June 6, 2009 @ 12:22 pm

  10. Just an outstanding video. Truman was a hero of mine (one of my stake presidents at BYU) and oh, the things he expounded on! In a Stake Conference setting he changed hearts and minds through rigorous discourse and absolute doctrine. As Sister Dew said, “We may never know until the next life the influence he had on people. I suspect it was profound”. It was. Something I enjoyed was his take on the film “Random Harvest”. I just saw that film a few weeks ago for the first time and taken aback by its boldness. It’s considered one of “The Essentials” by TCM and now that it has Truman’s seal of approval, I can see why. What a great man he was. He will be missed.

    Comment by Phil Cardenas — July 11, 2009 @ 9:12 am