TANYA - President Hinckley has said that Jesus Christ is his friend, as well as others have said this, I agree. What was it in the 70s or 80s that Elder McConkie said about this was not a good thing to have Christ as your friend, not to pick "one" of the Godhead to give more attention to or something like that. I find this odd since you have made mentioned and I've also read where Maxwell has said similar statements as (Not word for word mind you) If you worship one you worship them all, if you feel one you feel them all, etc. because they are "God" they are perfectly united in love and everything else except physically. What one would think or say the othe would do in the same situation.
So what do you think McConkie meant by this statement? Does not Heavenly Father want Christ to be our friend, He's our brother and should we not treat him as such also?

JOEL - There have been many general authorities who have called Jesus their friend. For example, as President Kimball was being wheeled to an operating room, the hospital orderly pushing the gurney bumped the corner of the door and began to swear, taking the Lord's name in vain. President Kimball looked up at him and said quietly, "Don't say that. You are speaking about my best friend."

Jesus is indeed our elder brother and our friend but most importantly He is our God, and that relationship should take number one priority in our minds in our worship of Him.
In the talk you refer to(Church News, week ending March 20, 1982, p. 5), Elder McConkie was expressing his own opinion about our relationship with the Godhead, warning us that people who constantly profess to have a personal relationship with Christ may be in danger of forgetting about God the Father, who should be the true focus of our worship. He was simply making a distinction between a proper relationship with Christ and an improper one. In other words, as Elder McConkie explained, "we should avoid singling out one member of the Godhead as the almost sole recipient of our devotion, to the exclusion of the others. . . ." (same talk).
So he was not saying that Jesus could not be considered our brother or our friend, but that we should worship all members of the Godhead, especially God the Father, as our God.
Consider what Elder McConkie also said about Jesus:

"Those who believe the truth can be saved; those who believe a lie shall be damned. At our peril we must choose to believe as Jesus believed, and unless and until we do, we shall never begin the preparation that will qualify us to be His friends. When we believe as He believes; when we gain the mind of Christ; when we think as he thinks; when our desires are harmonious with His—then we will have so much in common that we can be friends.
It becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor. Every friend of the Lord must tell others of his Eternal Friend." (Bruce R. McConkie, "Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary", vol. 4, p.431-432)

Here's a scripture that will sound familiar to you where Jesus calls us His friends:

"Wherefore, the Lord said to them, I now send upon you another Comforter, even upon you my friends, that it may abide in your hearts, even the Holy Spirit of promise; which other Comforter is the same that I promised unto my disciples, as is recorded in the testimony of John. (D&C 88:3)
(See also verse 1 of D&C sections 94, 97, 98, 100, 103, 104)

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