Mid-Week Meanderings/Maunderings (but not from truth!)

I’m gonna preach to the choir! One can never fully enjoy such preaching under the awareness of one’s own inadequacies, and the constant yearning that the choir were much, much larger (at least encompassing the entire congregation and pulling in others from the streets...as in Matthew 22:2-10)! “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38). There is an interestingly wry remark in the Tractate Avot, 2.20 of the Mishnah: “The day is short; the task is great; the workmen are lazy; the reward is abundant; and the Master is pressing.”

Needless to say—a rather curious phrase to say—I find it far easier to let my excessive thoughts spill over into a new entry, rather than bulking up the comment section.

Susan, is this the same instructor who said he was prepared to lecture on the unrevealed features of the Abrahamic facsimiles? What happened to that guy? I don’t mean to allude to your age in any way, but is it even possible for your instructor to have taught his warped notion before The Family: A Proclamation to the World boldly reminded everyone that “gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose”? Not that I think he had any right to be confused, anyhow. Frequently people create their private doctrines on assumptions that please them or reveal their hearts (i.e., Moroni 8:14-16), which really makes me worry about him. That is also not to say that doctrine never defies the natural understanding, even to those at least somewhat spiritually tutored. Some time ago an elders quorum instructor challenged his group to name one gospel principle that didn’t make sense. Out of respect, to him and the actual message he was teaching, I didn’t mention that Elder Lund addresses that rather well in Hearing the Voice of the Lord, pp. 12-14.

Yet the eternity of gender is one of those facts so patently obvious that we may not think of commenting upon it, or noting when we come across it in Church literature. But, naturally, it has always been taught. Elder Oaks covered it thoroughly in October 1993 General Conference (portions of which I will excerpt in addition to the theme at hand, since they’re so excellent, but I shall try to remain on but one or two conversation pieces this evening):

All of the myriads of mortals who have been born on this earth chose the Father’s plan and fought for it. Many of us also made covenants with the Father concerning what we would do in mortality. In ways that have not been revealed, our actions in the spirit world influence us in mortality. . . .

Satan seeks to discredit the Savior and divine authority, to nullify the effects of the Atonement, to counterfeit revelation, to lead people away from the truth, to contradict individual accountability, to confuse gender, to undermine marriage, and to discourage childbearing (especially by parents who will raise children in righteousness).

Maleness and femaleness, marriage, and the bearing and nurturing of children are all essential to the great plan of happiness. Modern revelation makes clear that what we call gender was part of our existence prior to our birth. God declares that he created “male and female” (D&C 20:18; Moses 2:27; Gen. 1:27). Elder James E. Talmage explained: “The distinction between male and female is no condition peculiar to the relatively brief period of mortal life; it was an essential characteristic of our pre-existent condition” (Millennial Star, 24 Aug. 1922, p. 539). . . .

We live in a day when there are many political, legal, and social pressures for changes that confuse gender and homogenize the differences between men and women. Our eternal perspective sets us against changes that alter those separate duties and privileges of men and women that are essential to accomplish the great plan of happiness. We do not oppose all changes in the treatment of men and women, since some changes in laws or customs simply correct old wrongs that were never grounded in eternal principles. . . .

Our concept of marriage is motivated by revealed truth, not by worldly sociology. The Apostle Paul taught “neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord” (1 Cor. 11:11). President Spencer W. Kimball explained, “Without proper and successful marriage, one will never be exalted” (Marriage and Divorce, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976, p. 24).

According to custom, men are expected to take the initiative in seeking marriage. That is why President Joseph F. Smith directed his prophetic pressure at men. He said, “No man who is marriageable is fully living his religion who remains unmarried” (Gospel Doctrine, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1939, p. 275). We hear of some worthy LDS men in their thirties who are busy accumulating property and enjoying freedom from family responsibilities without any sense of urgency about marriage. Beware, brethren. You are deficient in a sacred duty. . . .

We know that many worthy and wonderful Latter-day Saints currently lack the ideal opportunities and essential requirements for their progress. Singleness, childlessness, death, and divorce frustrate ideals and postpone the fulfillment of promised blessings. . . . The Lord has promised that in the eternities no blessing will be denied his sons and daughters who keep the commandments, are true to their covenants, and desire what is right. . . .

We who know God’s plan for his children, we who have covenanted to participate, have a clear responsibility. We must desire to do what is right, and we must do all that we can in our own circumstances in mortality.

In all of this, we should remember King Benjamin’s caution to “see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength” (Mosiah 4:27). I think of that inspired teaching whenever I feel inadequate, frustrated, or depressed.

Regarding the Elder Talmage reference, it’s at times like this that I wish I owned the Millennial Star. In coming years I’ll either get it myself or hint subtly via wish lists until I acquire the volumes. :o) And gospel library software packages just don’t cut it, which is why I hope we’re not seeing the complete demise of printed matter. I recently related to my sister how a high council speaker in our ward said to the preceding young single adult speaker, “You must have used the same search engine I did.” That would have had me suppressing hopping mad feelings, for it seems like an insult! What missionary goes forth under the power of google or some commercial software, rather than adequate preparation in the word and spirit of God? One general authority gives us insight: “Someone asked him when he found time to prepare so many addresses. His reply was: ‘You should study all your life and read with the thought of developing material for the future’” (Conway B. Sonne, A Man Named Alma: The World of Alma Sonne [Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers, 1988], 196).

I once edited some manuscripts at length that could scarcely conceal a simplistic plug-in-the-search-term usage of gospel passages all strung together. As in...you could find the same term in each one, and sometimes that's all they seemed to have in common, when far more relevant quotes would come immediately to the mind of almost any seasoned CES instructor (showing that the authors weren't even making a serious effort)! It tried my patience to breaking point. I don’t think our society realizes what it’s doing to its knowledge base, such that learned commentators must refer in passing to “an age when the memory was commonly keener and more retentive than in our own” (Victor Watts, introduction to Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, rev. ed. [New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1999], xxii). Nibley, whom I feel could occasionally be erratic in his gospel interpretations, nonetheless made a valuable, revolutionary observation:

Joseph Justus Scaliger, who died in 1608, was the last man ever to make a serious attempt to read what the written human record said. It covers thousands of years. The human race has documented its doings for a long time, and no one pays any attention to the record. Nobody in the world does that anymore. Oh, it’s a librarian’s paradise: we classify, we photograph, we reproduce, we store and preserve, and we transfer. We can do all the tricks electronics can do today, but nobody reads the records. Nobody knows what is actually in these books. I mean this literally. A few specialists may consider documents in one area or in another, but who knows what the record as a whole has to tell us? It’s a most interesting thing the way these records have been shamefully pushed aside. . . .

Giorgio de Santillana . . . . shows that the Egyptians knew more than we have ever given them credit for. Levi-Strauss, an anthropologist, has written an astonishing book on that quite recently—how much more our “primitives” have really known all along than we’ve been giving them credit for. We had the idea that since people lived long ago and before our science, their ideas must be superstitious. . . .

Now comes an interesting question: If you were to read these written records, would they give you the same picture of the world that the scientific transcripts give us? . . . No they don’t. They give a totally different picture of what was going on in the past, the so-called scientific view. This is very good news, because until now we have been told there is only one possible valid picture of the world—the picture science gives us at the moment. Many scientists are getting over that now—men like Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn. People like that are giving us a very different picture, showing us that it’s always changing—which we should have known all along anyway. We shouldn’t be stuck with just one picture at one image, even if we are laymen and can’t understand the scientists. They say, “Well, you have to take it, this is it; this is it.” That’s the voice of authority speaking: “I’m sorry we’ll just have to settle for that.” But it hasn’t been particularly good news, because in recent years the picture’s become a rather dismal one, and many scientists have been talking about that. Quite a number say the picture’s not only dismal but false in many respects. There’s something radically wrong with it. It doesn’t match the real world we live in, certainly not in all points. Then why do we accept it? Because, as I say, we’ve been told there’s no alternative. Many scientists have said that about evolution. It’s a very defective tool, but they must use it because it’s the only one they have. So we’ve been left with but one picture of the world, and all the time there’s the other one from the books. I don’t say it will give you a true picture of things or anything like that; I will say there might be something very wonderful if you went and looked. Yet nobody goes and looks. It’s just too much trouble. (Hugh Nibley, Old Testament and Related Studies, ed. John W. Welch, Gary P. Gillum, Don E. Norton [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1986], 116-120)

Anyway, my review of Millennial Star materials is not altogether disappointed, since I was reminded of this: “He believes so intensely in the principles which he preaches that we fear his attitude is sometimes misunderstood” (Bryant S. Hinckley, about Joseph Fielding Smith, MS, 94:405).

My available notes from that text don’t contain the passage quoted by Elder Oaks, but it does appear contemporaneously in another Church publication, the Liahona: The Elders Journal, 23:73, and I share a fuller passage with you for its value:

We affirm as reasonable, scriptural, and true, the eternity of sex among the children of God. The distinction between male and female is no condition peculiar to the relatively brief period of mortal life; it was an essential characteristic of our preexistent condition, even as it shall continue after death, in both the disembodied and resurrected states. . . .

There is no accident or chance, due to purely physical conditions, by which the sex of the unborn is determined. The body takes form as male or female, according to the sex of the spirit whose appointment it is to tenant that body as a tabernacle formed of the elements of earth, through which means alone the individual may enter upon the indispensable course of human experience, probation, and training. . . .

Scriptures attest a state of existence preceding mortality, in which the spirit children of God lived, doubtless with distinguishing personal characteristics including the distinction of sex, for "male and female created he them," spiritually, "before they were [created] naturally upon the face of the earth." It is plain that this spiritual creation of mankind embraced the entire human family and not alone the pair ordained to be the first mortal parents of mankind; for it is expressly stated that "the Lord God had created all the children of men" before a man had been placed upon the earth "to till the ground," even before the earth was tillable or capable of supporting the vegetation necessary for human food. . . .

[Alma 40:23]

With such definite word as to the actuality of a bodily resurrection, which shall come to all, righteous and sinners, is it conceivable that the essential differences of sex shall be eliminated? Children of God have comprised male and female from the beginning. Man is man, and woman is woman, fundamentally, unchangeably, eternally. Each is indispensable to the other and to the accomplishment of the purposes of God, the crowning glory of which is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Pearl of Great Price, p. 7.)

There’s no way I can forego quoting a prophet on the “gender gap”:

We had full equality as his spirit children. We have equality as recipients of God’s perfected love for each of us. . . . Within those great assurances, however, our roles and assignments differ. These are eternal differences—with women being given many tremendous responsibilities of motherhood and sisterhood and men being given the tremendous responsibilities of fatherhood and the priesthood—but the man is not without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord (see 1 Corinthians 11:11). Both a righteous man and a righteous woman are a blessing to all those their lives touch.

Remember, in the world before we came here, faithful women were given certain assignments while faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood tasks. While we do not now remember the particulars, this does not alter the glorious reality of what we once agreed to. (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 315-316)

Sir Mister Landlord President Tall Man Sir,
I know enough about you to guess that not only did you mean no harm by teaching mythology, but probably did no harm, and I’m willing to bet there’s a good story to that. So I won’t launch into a wholly unnecessary, and offensive, discourse against melding philosophy with gospel teaching.

I was about to excuse the practice (in jocularity) altogether, stating that Greek philosophy was worse than the mythology, which was more of a cultural expression. How, though, could we really weigh the relative damage done in modern society by campuses versus Hollywood? (Sometimes they seem to be absolutely on the same team.)

I really only inveigh against philosophy more, I suspect, because my life so far has brought me more in contact with Worldly-Wise Men than icons of popular culture.

Even so, there is strong warrant in gospel teaching for drawing upon the acknowledged cultural norms of the people (somewhat in accord with Alma 12:9-11 (w/18:26-36 and 22:7-12), 2 Nephi 31:3, and D&C 50:12). I find one such example enlightening. S. Michael Wilcox, The Writings of John [Orem, Utah: Randall Book Company, 1987], 64-65:

Christ immediately tells the Greeks, "The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified." He explains the method of that glorification with an analogy that would have significant meaning to Greeks. The analogy he uses is the planting and harvesting of corn or wheat. Considering that one of the most important Greek myths revolved around Demeter the Goddess of Corn and her daughter Persephone's annual return to the underworld, this analogy would in all probability be understood by one coming from a Greek background. Christ's analogy is given as follows:

[John 12:24-25.]

Paul definitely utilized the prevailing culture and even its literature, but there are limits!

There’s a reason Tennyson wrote (The Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson [Roslyn, New York: Black's Readers Service, 1932], 144):

Hold thou the good, define it well;
For fear divine Philosophy
Should push beyond her mark, and be
Procuress to the Lords of Hell.

The last thing I’ll stay up to post demonstrates how Christianity traveled such a great distance from its origins. One of my greatest concerns in life is PROVENANCE. I want everything my mind ponders to have its ultimate origin with God, and to be highly proximate thereto.

Philo died in 50 A.D. while most, if not all the original Apostles yet lived. Yet none of their statements confirm his views. If Philo's teachings about God were inspired, why don't they appear in any Apostolic writings? Why was it that more than a hundred years passed before Philo's views on God were adopted by Christian writers? There is but one valid explanation. They were heretical when Philo taught them, and they were a sign of apostasy when the early Church later adopted them.

With the idea of a transcendent God, the concept of incorporeality was first applied to the God of the Bible, not in the early Church, but in Hellenized Judaism by Philo of Alexandria. Some time before 50 A.D., he wrote the following about God's nature: "He is 'without body, parts or passions;' without feet, for whither should He walk who fills all things: without hands, for from whom should He receive anything who possesses all things: without eyes, for how should He need eyes who made the light."

This language has great poetic beauty, but there is no biblical nor logical foundation to the ideas expressed. Why should God's creation of light imply that He has no eyes to see it with? The whole idea is illogical. Philo quotes no passage of scripture in support of his notions, for there are none. His ideas are borrowed entirely from Greek philosophy, the source later used by the Apologists to arrive at the same false conclusions. There was no inspired basis for adopting any of his notions. (Richard R. Hopkins, How Greek Philosophy Corrupted the Christian Concept of God [Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers & Distributors, Inc., 1998], 266-267)

Oh, yes. One final quotation, in partial explanation of why I mentally linked ancient Greek mythology with modern cultural expression (or, to put it more plainly, cultural lack of restraint):

Although the influence of the Bible has guided Western civilization for two thousand years, there are still those who seek to revive the gods of paganism, only now the gods have modern names: not Kronos but Progress; not Aphrodite but Sex; not Apollo but Culture; not Athena but Science. (Dennis Rasmussen, The Lord's Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response [Provo, Utah: Keter Foundation, 1985], 48)

By the way, thank you for your comments. My thought processes tonight were not intended as anything but favorable, albeit impersonal, interaction.

1 John 2:24-29

“Do not be so proud to think that you are beyond the adversary's influence. Be watchful that you do not fall prey to his deceptions. Stay close to the Lord through daily scripture study and daily prayer. We cannot afford to sit back and take our salvation for granted.” –Joseph B. Wirthlin

This Friday before last I was the recipient of an e-mail entitled “For my LDS buddies, Tribute to a Prophet.” It saddened me greatly, on two counts: 1) it seems indicative of a trend that always troubles me; 2) while it may be a tribute to something, it is certainly no tribute to a prophet. A portion of President Hinckley’s labors went into refuting unsound rumor.

Here is the message in full:

You were generals in the War in Heaven and one day when you are in the spirit world, you will be enthralled by those you are associated with. You will ask someone in which time period they lived and you might hear, "I was with Moses when he parted the Red Sea, " or "I helped build the pyramids'" or "I fought with Captain Moroni." And as you are standing there in amazement, someone will turn to you and ask you which of the prophets' time did you live in? And when you say "Gordon B. Hinkley" [sic] a hush will fall over every hall and corridor in Heaven, and all in attendance will bow at your presence. You were held back six thousand years because you were the most talented, most obedient, most courageous, and most righteous.
Elder Boyd K. Packer

I miss President Hinckley.

The first and best reaction to provide you with is President Packer’s. Please visit the genuine Church News link given there, since it constitutes an absolute rejection.

In the interest of time (and reader interest) I haven’t provided every reference for every quote in my entries, but they’re available upon request. In fact, it’s unlike me not to cram them in, regardless. It is not without very good reason that I will always have exact citation when quoting upon spiritual matters.

These entries are no cut-and-paste venture. (Sunday’s was entirely typed afresh, with at least two typos that I’m aware of.) However, here I will benefit by pulling in my initial journal reaction to this sort of teaching, when I encountered it on August 22, 2001:

From some murky origin comes a saying that has gone abroad, namely that some day individuals of past ages will bow down in awe to the youth of this generation. How false! How inflated! I understand this may be an exaggeration of someone's statement at an Especially For Youth conference. I wish teachers would find more appropriate ways to praise and/or encourage the youth. I don't know but that it will only grow in popularity, for nothing seems to check it. The tendency of my peers to imbibe false doctrine never ceases to amaze me. So it might be all the more a problem by the time you read this.

I will say, quite simply, that we ought to stand in awe of the sacrifices of past generations and quit making excuses to equate our circumstances to theirs. Admittedly, we are not thrown to the lions and must be faithful in other ways, but need we fabricate reasons why our daily trials are like theirs? Very few of us indeed stack up to the standard provided in Hebrews 11 and Ether 12. The point is not for us to match their deeds -- which are varied -- but to match their faith. Do we?

When a future day of blessed reunion comes, we will fall upon one another's necks. There will be no falling upon our knees. That is reserved for our King. Should such a lapse occur, the response will no doubt be as it was anciently: "See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God" (Revelation 19:10).

Doctrinally, I haven’t got the time to debunk the passage. (I have the space, but no one really wants me to use it!) I merely quote something in passing which is abundantly supported elsewhere: “Some of our Father’s sons developed spiritual talents to a marked degree, and they were foreordained to spiritual callings in mortality whereby their talents would be utilized to administer salvation to our Father’s children” (The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, 12). Yet even this should give no rise to a certain Protestant notion of determining election (for it is only God who knows the end from the beginning), since we have an interesting prophetic illumination:

I have seen many in the world that never have been able to discern the difference between foreknowledge and foreordination. I thought that I could always discern the difference. If I know that an act will transpire tomorrow, it by no means follows that I had decreed it. It is the design, wish, desire of our Heavenly Father that every soul in this congregation should be crowned in the celestial kingdom. Will they be? No. I know that some will not. But does it follow that some are ordained to go to hell? No. It is the design of the Gospel to save this congregation, all the Latter-day Saints, and all the world besides that will believe the testimony of Jesus and become obedient to the Gospel of salvation. And none need to turn round and say, "It is the design of the Lord, I shall be saved;" for its being the will and design of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and of every Saint that ever was or ever will be, that you should be a Saint, will not make you one, contrary to your own choice. All rational beings have an agency of their own; and according to their own choice they will be saved or damned. (Brigham Young, JD, 6:97; see Hel. 12:25-26)

So much for James Michener’s confused preacher:

We are the sweet selected few,
The rest of you be damned;
There's room enough in hell for you,
We don't want heaven crammed. (character Lanning Harper, in Texas [New York: Fawcett Crest, 1985], 308)

As for this business of generals, I don’t think we have any point of reference to be bothering ourselves much with the division and organization of the conflict, but it seems more than a little unrealistic to flatter ourselves that all served with equal valiance. (And, again, I’ve commented recently on the odd temptation to rest upon laurels, especially imagined ones!) Still, if some distinguished themselves above others, that strongly suggests that—even if “average” was stupendous—there was a more average plane among the rest. But I am not into this comparison game, in a world where there’s quite enough confusion and battle already.

On a tangent, I also learned long ago, much to my sorrow and distress, as well as constant internal derangement, that I simply could not view dating as an opportunity to boast. If someone wanted to marry a braggart, at least they’d be taking one of many off the market. I would sooner be viewed as a mute imbecile—when acting in the spirit of my best self—than inappropriately interject commentary. (Though it might say something if in the course of the conversation I can’t ever find a way to discuss what matters most to me.) I like to see honor, valor, commitment, etc. demonstrated, rather than spoken of endlessly...or, perhaps, that much at all. There is also much to be said for delightful discussion of doctrine, followed by mutual inclination to go and do.

One of my temptations in life has sometimes been a disposition to seek attention. Yet I am coming to learn this: of what value is it? Heaven knows the wrong kind of attention isn’t worth getting! I arrived at a difficult conclusion back in July: “I . . . passed up a ‘perfect’ opportunity to disclose personal bragging rights about something. It occurred to me that saying it would in no way assist the other's salvation, and I cannot really guess how it might damage me. I trust that the next person to truly extol my virtues will have to have truly gotten to know me.”

I cannot be altogether certain I’ve escaped what Pascal noticed: “Few men speak humbly of humility.” I just know that, having been around some monsters of arrogance, I really don’t want to wind up like that. Who wants to be around someone who makes themself the starting and finishing point of every conversation? What a call to fight off my natural man! I do want to clarify at this time that my strict attention to what great men have said has occasionally, and inexplicably, been taken as a sign of pompousness. I suffer from pride, it’s true, but I can almost invariably strip it out of my reverence for gospel truth, something I constantly and freely confess is so much larger than myself that my own personality means nothing.

At any rate, I prefer at this time in life to improve my observation skills, what I’ve jokingly called for over a decade my project of studying human nature.

A wise old owl lived in an oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard:
Why can't we all be like that bird? (Author Unknown, in Jack M. Lyon, Linda Ririe Gundry, Jay A. Parry, and Devan Jensen, ed., Poems That Lift the Soul [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book (Shadow Mountain), 1998], 122)

Some of my expressed views, from a December 2002 talk:

President Taylor lectured, “I hear a great deal said about which is the ‘biggest’ man. . . . I think that the man who can be most like a little child will be the greatest in the kingdom of God. Greatness does not consist of talking of things, but in doing them.” President Lee counseled, “There is no end to the amount of good we can do in this church if we are not concerned about who gets the credit for it.”

Ultimately we will be known by our fruits, thus judged by our works, and rewarded accordingly. There are two classes, with plenty of gradations: the dos and the do nots. Every mortal lacks the ability to establish permanent residence in the “do” category, but one’s heart can live there, with one’s hands following suit according to ability. We can do everyone a favor by letting our lips be the last things to lay hold of our duty.

I had opportunity to speak further on this war in heaven matter before a congregation in April 2002, and I still don’t feel inclined to modify my language one bit:

We children of our Heavenly Father are sandwiched between premortal and postmortal life. So much hinges upon what we do here, but this is nevertheless such a “small moment.” President Harold B. Lee quoted the phrase: “What we are hereafter depends on what we’re after here.” Honestly, if someone had served as a general during the war in heaven, that would have little bearing if they refused to serve the Lord here and now. Failure to keep the second estate is good grounds for a fall from grace. The Kingdom is built by service and not by rank, as many apostles have humbly attested. Indeed, how can there be distinction—in terms of worth—between those who are equally children of God? The lines won’t be irreversibly drawn until God passes final judgment. Everyone deserves to be treated like a celestial candidate, regardless of attainment or ability.

“Be loyal to the royal within you,” said President Lee. So it is that we distinguish ourselves by living worthy of our divine potential. Knowledge of divine identity alone cannot save us, without our coming unto Christ. In his famous discourse on faith with works, James wrote almost sarcastically, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble.” This verifies that knowledge by itself is not power, and “of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.” God placed us upon this earth to “prove [us] in all things, whether [we] will abide in [His] covenant, even unto death.” We are not told to endure as long as we’d like. In fact, we are told to endure to the end, and to “endure it well.” . . . Brigham Young’s counsel is challenging: “So live that when you wake in the spirit-world you can truthfully say, ‘I could not better my mortal life, were I to live it over again.’” Knowing that we can always do better doesn’t help much, but there’s something to be said for at least living without regrets.

The Proclamation further reassures us that “in the premortal realm, [we] knew and worshiped” our Father, accepting His plan of progression. “Ultimately,” we can “realize [our] divine destiny as an heir of eternal life.” Charles W. Penrose, of the First Presidency, once said: “We haven’t heard the story, fully, of the . . . pre-existence of our Savior, nor of our own. We imagine a great many things concerning what we were and what we agreed to do and what we promised. . . . One certain thing is this: that we are here, born on the earth in the latter days for the purposes of God . . . and the things that he has promised us will all be fulfilled if we will do our duty, if we will learn his word today and keep his commandments now.”

Returning to my blast against false reports within the Church, President Benson said many things about correctness in one’s information-gathering. I include a few direct statements:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” said the prophet Hosea (see Hosea 4:6). Let us not let it happen to us. First, let us do our homework, because action without the proper education can lead to fanaticism. But after we have done our homework, let us take action, because education without action can only lead to frustration and failure. . . .

Students, study the writings of the prophets. Fortunately, a consistent position has been taken over the years by the prophets of the Church on vital issues facing this nation. Pray for inspiration and knowledge. Counsel with your parents. Let Sunday be the day to fill up your spiritual batteries for the week by reading good Church books, particularly the Book of Mormon. Take time to meditate. Don’t let the philosophies and falsehoods of men throw you. Hold on to the iron rod. Learn to sift. Learn to discern error through the promptings of the Spirit and your study of the truth. . . .

Study the scriptures and study the mortals who have been most consistently accurate about the most important things. When your freedom and your eternal welfare are at stake, your information best be accurate. (TETB, 301, 304-305)

President Monson has weighed in on the subject, one of three vital characteristics for a Latter-day Saint (Ensign, Mar. 1996, 2,4):

I would like to suggest that if we are really to be a chosen generation, we have the responsibility to be prepared, to be productive, to be faithful, and to be fruitful as well. . . .

I’d like to suggest that when we search for truth, we search among those books and in those places where truth is most likely to be found. I’ve often referred to a simple couplet: “You do not find truth groveling through error. You find truth by searching the holy word of God.” . . .

You and I have the responsibility to learn the word of God, to understand the word of God, and then to live his word. By so doing, we will find that we have learned and accepted the truth. The Prophet Joseph Smith provided direct counsel. He said, “I made this my rule: When the Lord commands, do it.” . . .

This is a day when time is precious. This is a time when we cannot afford not to be engaged in an earnest search for truth. May we fill our minds with truth.

Accuracy and discernment was in large part the burden of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s message. I have encountered a book taken far too seriously by certain scholars and eager students alike, founded upon unacceptable premises (that is, if one accepts Joseph F. Smith and Joseph Fielding Smith as prophets of God—and at last report, the author was unapologetic about downplaying their statements), pretending to pass for a doctrinal treatise. On the matter of issues that should have been laid to rest long ago but never will die, because Satan keeps reviving them, consider Joseph Fielding Smith’s tone:

Several times within the past three months I have been approached by individuals and have received communications through the mails, making inquiry concerning a certain purported revelation said to have been given many years ago to President Joseph F. Smith, in which he saw the destruction of many great cities and many countries of the world and other very unusual things. Inquiry has also been made regarding a purported vision given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in relation to the same things, and which has been in circulation for many years. It is evident that these things are again being circulated and many of the people are becoming agitated over them wondering if they are true or not, and some of the people have been deceived.

At the October Conference of the Church in the year 1918, which was the last General Conference attended by President Joseph F. Smith, I made some remarks in relation to these two so-called visions and pointed out the fact that they were not true. At the close of my remarks President Smith arose and also spoke of them. Let me say that this communication that has come into my hands recently, and about which I have been asked for advice, was being circulated very extensively at that time. It is a purported revelation given to Joseph Smith many years ago. . . .

Now, I think we are fortunate in having President Smith's own expression in regard to these purported revelations. It seems strange to me that now, some twelve years later, we still find them in circulation. But the thing that astonishes me more is the fact that members of the Church seem to be bewildered and in wonderment whether or not these purported revelations were indeed given to the Prophet Joseph and to President Joseph F. Smith. . . .

Who is it that is deceived in this Church? Not the man who has been faithful in the discharge of duty; not the man who has made himself acquainted with the word of the Lord; not the man who has practiced the commandments given in these revelations; but the man who is not acquainted with the truth, the man who is in spiritual darkness, the man who does not comprehend and understand the principles of the Gospel. Such a man will be deceived, and when these false spirits come among us he may not understand or be able to distinguish between light and darkness.

But if we will walk in the light of the revelations of the Lord, if we will hearken to the counsels that are given by those who stand in the councils of the Church, empowered to give the instructions, we will not go astray.

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, as the Lord revealed it to the Prophet Joseph Smith, not as you find it in the Bible, but as you find it in the Pearl of Great Price, we find this expression:
"And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived, for the Son of Man shall come, and he shall send his angels before him with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together the remainder of his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

I repeat: "And whoso treasureth up my word shall not be deceived." Therefore let us go to with our might in the labor of this Church, and in the study and understanding of the principles of the Gospel, these principles of light, and as we study them the Lord will reveal to us further light, until we shall receive the fulness, in due time, of the perfect day, and we shall not be under the necessity of being subject to doubt and seeking for advice when confronted by matters of this kind, because the Spirit of the Lord itself will teach us. (CR, Apr. 1931, 68-69, 71)

This raises an interesting point, difficult to the immediate understanding, but critical if we are ever to attain the point where we may speak (under inspiration) without reservation, unafraid that an accidentally—or insidiously?—conceived pet doctrine might be exposed at such time as a general authority takes the pulpit about it. It is absolutely critical in order to escape the deceptive spirit of our times.

From President Packer:

It is important to know the gospel, for instance, according to the leaders of the Church. But an even better starting place is to know the gospel according to one's own self; that is, to take a subject such as the Word of Wisdom and really search our own minds as to how we feel about it. We should read what we can find in the scriptures about the subject and then write down our feelings. Then we may compare those feelings against what leaders of the Church have written or said.

If we are sincere, we will find our conclusions being sustained by their conclusions. If we are searching inside ourselves in the right way, and we have included prayer as part of that search, we are tapping the same source of intelligence that the leaders of the Church are tuned-in upon.
Then we may become independent witnesses of that principle from our own inquiry. Then our obedience is not blind obedience. Then our agency is protected and we are on the right course. Then we will do things because we know they are right and are the truth. We will know this from our own inquiry, not simply because someone else knows it. (Teach Ye Diligently, revised ed. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1991], 119)

I have had so many wonderful experiences with strengthening testimony of truths that I can and always do bear testimony that “personal revelation will come only in confirmation of the prophets, and not in contradiction.” It seems to me that the greater my (legitimately acquired) confidence in the prophets, the faster the Spirit attests to the truth of what they’ve said, in an upward spiral.

As for exercising our agency mightily (and individually) within the gospel framework, I’ve often referred others to President Faust: “I strongly urge you that if there is any question in your minds or hearts about whether your personal conduct is right or wrong, don't do it. Each of us has moral agency, and the gift of the Holy Ghost will sharpen our impressions of what is right and wrong, true and false. It is the responsibility of the prophets of God to teach the word of God, not to spell out every jot and tittle of human conduct. If we are conscientiously trying to avoid not only evil but the very appearance of evil, we will act for ourselves and not be acted upon.” (Ensign, May 2003, 51)

(I can’t resist the urge to remark that conservatives are often misunderstood over the issue of wishing to avoid the very appearance of evil. Frankly, it should be refreshing to know individuals about whom one never need wonder where they stand, or what they’d do or say—none of this constant vacillation in an enormous realm of gray! In support, see, for example, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 678.)

Now, to share what President Joseph F. Smith said in the October 1918 Conference:

This wonderful, mysterious revelation that I have been said to have received a great many years ago, was given in French, and I never knew but two or three words in French in my life; consequently, I could not have been the originator of that revelation. I want you to understand that. I have denied it, I suppose, a hundred times, when I have been inquired of about it. It was gotten up by some mysterious person who undertook to create a sensation and lay the responsibility upon me. I am not guilty. When the Lord reveals something to me, I will consider the matter with my brethren, and when it becomes proper, I will let it be known to the people, and not otherwise. . . .

Now, these stories of revelations that are being circulated around are of no consequence except for rumor and silly talk by persons that have no authority. The fact of the matter is simply here and this. No man can enter into God's rest unless he will absorb the truth in so far that all error, all falsehood, all misunderstandings and mis-statements he will be able to sift thoroughly and dissolve, and know that it is error and not truth. When you know God's truth, when you enter into God's rest, you will not be hunting after revelations from Tom, Dick and Harry all over the world. You will not be following the will of the wisps of the vagaries of men and women who advance nonsense and their own ideas. When you know the truth you will abide in the truth, and the truth will make you free, and it is the only truth that will free you from the errors of men, and from the falsehood and misrepresentations of the evil one who lays in wait to deceive and to mislead the people of God from the paths of righteousness and truth.

President Wilford Woodruff:

“The Elders have a world of truth to preach about. There is enough revealed to fill the whole earth as long as you live. Preach the truth as you understand it. Do not speculate on things you know nothing about, for it will benefit no one. If you listen to false doctrine you will be led away by false spirits. Remember and observe this, and you will be all right. Keep in the paths of truth, and all will be well with you” (CD, 2:60-61).

I was once subjected to an entire semester with a—put in initial caps so as not to falsely advertise—Persuasive Writing teacher (at BYU, no less) who took every opportunity to cast doubt about matters upon which prophets have pronounced plainly. This teacher always alleged sympathy for the wrongdoer, in seeming oblivion to this sentiment:

Some of our good Latter-day Saints have become so exceedingly good (?) that they cannot tell the difference between a Saint of God, an honest man, and a son of Beelzebub, who has yielded himself absolutely to sin and wickedness. And they call that liberality, broadness of mind, exceeding love. I do not want to become so blinded with love for my enemies that I cannot discern between light and darkness, between truth and error, between good and evil; but I hope to live so that I shall have sufficient light in me to discern between error and truth, and to cast my lot on the side of truth and not on the side of error and darkness. The Lord bless the Latter-day Saints. If I am too narrow with reference to these matters I hope that the wisdom of my brethren and the Spirit of Light from the Lord may broaden my soul. (Joseph F. Smith, CR, Oct. 1907, 6)

By the end of the course, I was quite grateful that the conservative mindset finds ready and complete backing in the revelations. Thanks be to God that she didn’t succeed in her objective, stated directly to me, of changing my mind. It was also gratifying to encounter more clever couplets (attribution rather more certain than the opening quote):

Academic Freedom
They say we're anti-intellect,
Afraid to even think--
Our paranoid, deep fear of truth
Has caused our minds to shrink.
We're bigoted and prejudiced,
Withdrawn, afraid, regressive.
They must speak out and save the Church;
Someone must be progressive.
But them! How could we dare believe?
No! No! They're nowhere near it.
For shame that we should think the thought
That they are anti-spirit.
A Narrow-Minded Bigot (Boyd K. Packer, in Lucile C. Tate, Boyd K. Packer: A Watchman on the Tower [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1995], 265)

I was appalled in another classroom setting to witness the birth of a Second Coming myth and realize that no one else noticed or cared. My whole life I’ve thought the average church member understood that the Second Coming was in the top five things you don’t speculate about!

Somewhat in keeping with 2 Jn. 1:7-11, 2 Tim. 1:13-14, 2:15-16, 3:16-17 (JST), and Titus 3:11, I hope that we can all find greater courage to shun false teachings. President Joseph Fielding Smith, about one of his overriding concerns:

Sometimes those who are serving as bishops and presidents of stakes, and in other leading positions, I fear, may overlook this fact, and in the choosing of teachers in classes, as teacher trainers, or wherever it may be, think of the man’s educational qualifications as they would be looked upon in the world and forget the spiritual and doctrinal qualifications which are more essential. . . .

What do we accomplish if we spend our time and means preaching in the world to make converts to the gospel, if we place instructors before the youth in the stakes and wards who destroy the faith in the hearts of the young people in the divine message intrusted to our care?

How careful our instructors . . . should be to guard the revealed truth from heaven! How fearful we should be lest we teach that which is false and thereby lead souls astray, in paths that lead to death and away from the exaltation in the kingdom of God. . . . There is no greater crime in all the world than to teach false doctrines and lead the unsuspecting astray, away from the eternal truths of the gospel. . . .

What a dreadful thing it would be to be going forth to teach, to lead men, to guide them into something that was not true. . . .

He who blinds one soul, he who spreads error, he who destroys, through his teachings, divine truth, truth that would lead a man to the kingdom of God and to its fulness, how great shall be his condemnation and his punishment in eternity. For the destruction of a soul is the destruction of the greatest thing that has ever been created. (DS, 1:312-314)

Don’t get me wrong, perceiving me as Mr. Doom and Gloom or Mr. Know-It-All. I have had many exceptional teachers. I hope I won’t be blamed for being discriminating in how I place my trust. I had the opportunity to thank one teacher of sound doctrine last year, along these lines, “My home ward’s instructor seems more intent on entertaining the students. I really appreciate how much you clearly want to bear testimony to them.”

To supply a TKO from Pres. J. Reuben Clark, Jr.: “In matters of gospel doctrine, there is no such thing as academic freedom in your teaching of youth. You declare the word of God as written in the scriptures, and as interpreted by his Prophet, Seer, and Revelator. Otherwise there is chaos and apostasy, and we shall follow the route of the primitive, post-Apostolic church” ("Reflective Speculation," BYU seminary + institute address, 21 Jun 1954, 1).

So why do I seem so particular even about small things, to the point of appearing to raise contentions over points of doctrine? For starters, while many would change their tune if corrected, often the only difference between a mistake and open heresy is timing and opposition. Persisting in a false belief often occurs, regardless of OR in the absence of that correction factor. Also refer back to the Johnson quote, which I hinted was prelude to more dissertation.

These are “perilous times,” wherein so many are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:1, 7). The winds of doctrine, ready to blow the unprepared about (Eph. 4:14; see Hel. 5:12), move with increasingly gale force. A previous entry utilized the scripture admonishing us to “be not moved.”

To quote Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith on a strain he used often, “I do not believe, as some seem to think, that the world is growing better. I cannot make that thought appear consistent with the word of the Lord, for he has emphatically said otherwise. If the world is becoming more righteous, then the coming of the Lord will of necessity have to be postponed, because he is going to come in the day of wickedness, in the day of judgment, and when vengeance against the ungodly is in his heart. At that time he will cleanse the earth of its unrighteousness, and we are told there will be ‘few men left’” (CR, Oct. 1930, 24). President Marion G. Romney issued similar warning (and don’t fail to look up D&C 45:57):

"They that are wise and have received the truth" are they who, when they hear the gospel, accept it. They who "have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide and have not been deceived" are they who have not only had the gift of the Holy Ghost bestowed upon them, but who have thereafter so lived by faith as to have received the guidance of the Holy Ghost to such an extent that they have not been deceived. Such are they who, whether resurrected or living in mortality, shall abide the day of Christ's second coming. (George J. Romney, Look to God and Live: Discourses of Marion G. Romney [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1971], 51)

I’ve often felt that if Latter-day Saints applied themselves to understanding the plainness of the book of Revelation (see Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 290) and other legitimate prophecies, they’d be sufficiently alarmed that they’d have no more time to waste on passing around useless myths. However, remember what was just reiterated at Worldwide Leadership Training, a theme taken up by President Packer before, that Latter-day Saints should be prepared, not afraid.

One of the things I’ve most admired about Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith—aside from his sheer consistency, for he endorsed his lifetime of systematic theology after becoming president of the Church—is the focused necessity of his warnings. Note the incisiveness of this remark: “The thing that [is] needed as much as anything else among the Latter-day Saints [is] a better understanding or comprehension of the gospel. . . . I say to you, my brethren and sisters, you cannot keep the commandments of the Lord and walk in righteousness unless you know what they are. The Lord has commanded us to search the scriptures, for the things which they contain are true and shall be fulfilled, and so I say to you, and this is my closing message: Search the scriptures; make yourselves familiar with that which the Lord has revealed for your salvation, the salvation of your house, and of the world” (CR, Oct. 1920, 58-59). To fast forward to April 1971 Conference:

We are engaged in the Lord’s work; this is his church; he is the author of the plan of salvation; it is his gospel which we have received by the opening of the heavens in this day; and our desire and whole purpose in life should be to believe the truths he has revealed and to conform our lives to them. No person in or out of the Church should believe any doctrine, advocate any practice, or support any cause that is not in harmony with the divine will. Our sole objective where the truths of salvation are concerned should be to find out what the Lord has revealed and then to believe and act accordingly.

Elder McConkie was not the only man of apostolic stature in this dispensation of whom this might be said (as it was in the January 1973 Ensign): “He is impatient with half truth and intolerant of untruth. The way to righteousness is a clearly marked road of scriptural and revealed truth. He will have nothing else.”

I’m disappointed that the Conference Report containing the kernel of these quotations appears to be lent out at the moment. I choose to heedlessly advance some of Elder Mark E. Petersen’s thoughts:

But in spite of all the work that is done in the Church in the way of conversion and teaching, and so much wonderful work is done, there are some instances where people go in reverse and fall away. Sometimes they accept the teachings of false leaders and false teachers who lead them astray.

Often I have asked myself why it is that some people apostatize from the truth. I have never believed that a person falls away suddenly, all at once, any more than a person who has been righteous and honest all his life would go out and suddenly rob a bank. There is some preparatory work done in advance. There is some "softening-up" process which leads to the apostate condition. Big sins generally are preceded by little ones, and I believe that this is true with respect to people who fall away from the truth. . . .

I have heard of a man who claims to be a very good Latter-day Saint. He claims that he loves the Church, but he also loves the world, and he lives as closely as he possibly can to the line of disobedience without actually violating the letter of the law. He does not realize that he must avoid even the very appearance of evil. He does not realize, possibly, that by living as close to the line of disobedience as he can, he sows seeds of doubt and distrust in the minds of others.

There are those who live in open rebellion against the word of God and violate the commandments continuously and intentionally, and of course they always leave doubt in the minds of others, with some disrespect for them themselves.

And then there are the seeds that are sown by some of our teachers and preachers within our own organization, who like to advance some new doctrine, or some new interpretation, or some speculative theory, or advance something that is sensational, because to advance the sensational seems to feed their ego inasmuch as they become the center of a discussion.

Most of our teachers and preachers are wonderful. They teach the truth; they bring about conversions in the minds and hearts of those who listen to them. But there are these few teachers who sow seeds of doubt by speculative and unsound doctrines, and as they do so they "soften up," to use the army expression, some of their hearers who might later be taken over by the apostate teachers who come among them.

It is my full belief that whenever any of us accepts a position of any description in the Church, we accept along with it the responsibility of that office, whatever it may be. I believe that if a person accepts a position as a teacher in one of our organizations, or if he accepts the responsibility of preaching from the pulpit, such person accepts the responsibility which goes with that call. He becomes a representative of the Church in that position. Every teacher and every preacher therefore is duty bound, upon accepting such a call, to represent the official views and doctrines of the Church, and to teach those official doctrines in his class or from the pulpit, with the one thought in mind that conversion is to come about in the hearts of those who listen to him. I do not believe that conversion to the truth comes through the teaching of half-truths or untruths.

Our classrooms and our assembly rooms have been built at great expense with only one thought in mind, and that is that in them we may teach the truths so that we may convert those who come there, so that they in turn will live the gospel and work out their salvation in the earth.

I do not believe that the classrooms or the pulpits of our Church are for laboratory purposes in which to experiment with new doctrine and speculative notions. They are exclusively for the use of those who are willing to convert men and women and boys and girls to the truth.

There is only one man in all the world who has the right to introduce a new doctrine to this Church, and that man is the President of the Church. So teachers, until you become the President of the Church, will you be willing to content yourselves with the present officially accepted doctrines of the Church?

I do not believe that we can escape the responsibility of starting someone off on the wrong way if we teach wrong principles. I do not believe that any of us can afford to take that responsibility.

I do not believe, therefore, that we can bring into our classes or our sermons views and doctrines which are not accepted and officially advocated by the Church. . . .

I do believe that the Lord has given to the Latter-day Saints a fair amount of intelligence. I do believe that he expects us to use that intelligence in studying his revealed word and following his prophets here on earth, so that we will not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine.

I do believe that he expects our teachers and preachers to use the common sense he has given them to teach the simple truth which saves, rather than the speculations and theories of men, which only confuse the mind and lead some of our people right out of the Church.

I do believe that by proper teaching of the revealed truth we can convert ourselves and our children and all others who are willing to listen to us.

I do believe that people are converted to the truth only by the truth and not through the teaching of half-truths and untruths.

I do believe that only in loyally teaching and living the true principles of the gospel can we fulfil the responsibility which God has given us, and this is my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. (reprinted in Messages of Inspiration: Selected Addresses of the General Authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1957], 99-106)

AGAIN, I am perturbed because in my estimation half truths can be lethal. As far as the elect are concerned, they may be more deadly than total untruths. Many outright philosophies of man are easily discerned, but what of these rumors and mixed truths, which are the devil’s specialties? (Refer to D&C 46:7-9.) I’ll let President Kimball teach us:

The adversary is subtle; he is cunning, he knows that he cannot induce good men and women immediately to do major evils so he moves slyly, whispering half-truths until he has his intended victims following him, and finally he clamps his chains upon them and fetters them tight, and then he laughs at their discomfiture and their misery. . . .

And the Savior said that the very elect would be deceived by Lucifer if it were possible. He will use his logic to confuse and his rationalizations to destroy. He will shade meanings, open doors an inch at a time, and lead from purest white through all the shades of gray to the darkest black. (TSWK, 151-52)

Do we doubt the extent of Satan’s dominion? Elder Holland just used the phrase “cling to the doctrine” at least thrice in Worldwide Leadership Training, and once more, “cling to the revelations.” (Lehi’s dream is highly descriptive of our path of safety!) Then I encountered a portion of Mormon 8:33, with especial application to apostasy, “Why have ye transfigured the holy word of God, that ye might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God . . .” The Prophet Joseph Smith, one individual very accustomed to fighting Satan, cautioned, “The devil has great power to deceive; he will so transform things as to make one gape at those who are doing the will of God.” (Remember that phrase, that he “transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light”?)

Again, and I’m not simply saying this on the basis of the few quotes utilized above, our steadiness in the truths of the gospel has direct correlation to our usefulness to the kingdom of God in these crucial last days. Here’s my plea for us to adhere to another recurring theme of Worldwide Leadership Training: let’s stop taking our pattern from the world, and turn back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think that includes a certain depth of discipleship that spurns fables, seeking instead that which doth not rust nor corrupt, which will not pass away with the rest of the world. Who and what can abide the day of the Lord?

Decalogue #4

Heavy snowfall cancelled my regular ward meetings, but my home ward still held sacrament meeting. Before I knew it, I’d been recruited to bless the water in a ward that doesn’t even have my records, and hasn’t seen me in months! Coming off that privilege to more time than anticipated for reflection, I am willing to thoroughly, irrevocably, and publicly commit myself to a controversial course. “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land” (Hosea 4:1).

At the heart of this discussion is one of the basics of human history, the Ten Commandments. (See Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, Jan. 2008, 7.) In this respect, much of the “Christian” world has willfully turned its back on it, and Latter-day Saints ought to set the shining example of reminding them of God’s promised blessings, no matter the fallout. What business do we have conducting activities in a modern Roman colosseum on this sacred day that garner more reverence and profound attention than most worship services? Perhaps I won’t even be considered objective, as I don’t even know what teams are playing today, if such astonishing ignorance can be imagined. Perhaps this could be viewed as an opportunity to hear a unique perspective!

This will not be about me or anything I may personally propound. Someone once said to me, as if to negate an uncomfortable subject, “Only a PROPHET can say that!” I replied, “Many of them have. Does it not bear repeating?” How could I dare to assert something strongly that is not in accordance with the Lord’s expressions? Not one new doctrine from me!!! One of the greatest desires in my life is for as many listeners or readers as possible, instead of inching away, to simply look at what I’m presenting and realize the reason for my intensity. This is nothing to sneeze at. If it matters to God, shouldn’t it matter to us? That something is almost universally neglected is no cause to retreat.

I am about to set forth line upon line—which are, nonetheless, but selections from a vast corpus of church literature—in a procedure I call “laying the incontrovertible foundation.” Whether or not this warrants thanks is up to the reader, but I see it as fulfillment of D&C 88:81-82: “Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor. Therefore, they are left without excuse, and their sins are upon their own heads.” There were times in my earlier life when I did not understand this commandment as well as now, but the only choice when confronted with prophetic clarity, it has seemed to me, is to either accept or deny. I am absolutely converted to the belief that, almost excessively long as prophetic excerpts may seem, no one can plunge in allowing the Spirit to speak to them, and emerge unchanged. The proper response is not to be contemptuous or dismissive just because plain, lowly, little old me appears to be on a soapbox. I do not stand to condemn; my feelings are more in accord with Ezekiel 18:23 than those quick to pass judgment may ever realize. Please, let the prophets speak for themselves. . . .

Brigham Young (DBY, 164-165)

Spend the Sabbath day prudently, in the love and fear of God. . . .

Instead of suffering our labors to occupy the Sabbath—instead of planning our business to infringe upon the first day of the week, we should do as little as possible; if it is necessary to cook food, do so; but even if that could be dispensed with, it would be better. As to keeping the Sabbath according to the Mosaic law, indeed, I do not; for it would be almost beyond my power. Still, under the new covenant, we should remember to preserve holy one day in the week as a day of rest—as a memorial of the rest of the Lord and the rest of the Saints. . . .

Now, remember, my brethren, those who go skating, buggy riding or on excursions on the Sabbath day—and there is a great deal of this practiced—are weak in the faith. Gradually, little by little, little by little, the spirit of their religion leaks out of their hearts and their affections, and by and by they begin to see faults in their brethren, faults in the doctrines of the Church, faults in the organization, and at last they leave the Kingdom of God and go to destruction. I really wish you would remember this, and tell it to your neighbors.

John Taylor (TPC, 108-109)

The best of us are not too good; we all of us might be better, and do better and enjoy life better, having more of the Spirit of the Lord in our own homes and in our own hearts, and do more to promote the welfare of all who come within our reach and influence. To serve the Lord is one of the great objects of our existence; and I appreciate as a great privilege the opportunity we enjoy of worshiping God on the Sabbath day. And when we do meet to worship God, I like to see us worship him with all our hearts. I think it altogether out of place on such occasions to hear people talk about secular things; these are times, above all others perhaps, when our feelings and affections should be drawn out towards God. . . .

I will tell you how I feel on a Sabbath morning. I realize this is a day set apart to worship Almighty God: now I ought to worship God myself, and I ought to look after my family and discover whether they are engaged in the same thing or not. For we are commanded to keep holy the Sabbath day and to rest from all our labors, as God did when He created the earth upon which we dwell. He has given us six days to attend to the various labors and duties of life, and if we [undertake] to keep the Sabbath, let us do it acceptably to God our Father, dedicating ourselves to him at least, for that day, and placing our feelings and affections upon him.

Joseph F. Smith (GD, 242-245)

True, Sunday is a day of rest, a change from the ordinary occupations of the week, but it is more than that. It is a day of worship, a day in which the spiritual life of man may be enriched. A day of indolence, a day of physical recuperation is too often a very different thing from the God-ordained day of rest. . . . A proper observance of the duties and devotions of the Sabbath day will, by its change and its spiritual life, give the best rest that men can enjoy on the Sabbath day. . . .

My belief is that it is the duty of Latter-day Saints to honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy, just as the Lord has commanded us to do. Go to the house of prayer. Listen to instructions. Bear your testimony to the truth. Drink at the fountain of knowledge and of instruction, as it may be opened for us from those who are inspired to give us instruction. When we go home, get the family together. Let us sing a few songs. Let us read a chapter or two in the Bible, or in the Book of Mormon, or in the book of Doctrine and Covenants. Let us discuss the principles of the gospel which pertain to the advancement in the school of divine knowledge, and in this way occupy one day in seven. I think it would be profitable for us to do this. . . .

To observe the Sabbath day properly is the plain duty of every Latter-day Saint—and that includes the young men and young women and the boys and girls. It may seem strange that it should be necessary to repeat this often-asserted fact. But there appear to be some people, and sometimes whole communities, who neglect this duty, and therefore stand in need of this admonition. . . .

The Sabbath is a special day for you to worship, to pray, and to show zeal and ardor in your religious faith and duty—to pay devotions to the Most High.

The Sabbath is a day when you are required to offer your time and attention in worship of the Lord, whether in meeting, in the home, or wherever you may be—that is the thought that should occupy your mind.

Heber J. Grant (GS, 249)

I am opposed to Sunday baseball, and have been so from my boyhood days. When a young man, I was passionately fond of the game. Today I am happy in contemplating the fact that, much as I loved to play it, I never played a game on Sunday. I am grateful to know that I also persuaded more than one young man from playing on Sundays.

Not only am I opposed to Sunday baseball, but I am decidedly and emphatically in favor of a Sunday law which will not only prevent the playing of baseball but will also provide for the closing of theatres and other places of amusement. . . .

I never think of the quiet in the great city of London, on Sundays, and compare it with our own city, that I am not humiliated.

George Albert Smith (TGeAS, 108-109)

Brethren, it is not an insignificant thing to violate the Sabbath day. I want to say that you lose every time you violate the Sabbath day, you lose more than you can gain, no matter what you may think you are going to gain, but your boys and girls sometimes do not understand that. Teach it to them. Teach them that their homes may be the abiding place of prayer.

I remember when I was a child, living right across the street form here and the boys would come over to our place on Sunday after Sunday School, and I was like the boys. I thought it would be lots of fun to play ball and to play other games. But I had a wonderful mother. She did not say, “You cannot do it,” but she did say: “Son, you will be happier if you do not do that. Let the boys go home and read a good book.” . . .

Those who do not honor the Sabbath and keep it holy displease [God]. Some people appear to think that if they have attended religious meetings, or performed some portion of the service required of them on Sunday, they are then at liberty to go to ball games, picture shows, or resorts of various kinds, and still continue to enjoy the favor of the Master. I say to you that if they persist in doing things of that kind, members of the Church will lose their faith; and the Spirit of our Heavenly Father will withdraw from them. . . .

This very day upon which we meet here to worship, viz., the Sabbath, has become the play-day of this great nation– the day set apart by thousands to violate the commandment that God gave long, long ago, and I am persuaded that much of the sorrow and distress that is afflicting and will continue to afflict mankind is traceable to the fact that they have ignored this admonition to keep the Sabbath day holy. Where are your sons and daughters and mine today? . . .

There was no happiness worthy of that name which resulted from violating the Sabbath day in the time of Moses, and I want to say to you there is no happiness for us now when we violate the Sabbath day.

David O. McKay (TDOM, 266-267)

Let us not make Sunday a holiday. It is a holy day, and on that day we should go to the house of worship and seek our God. If we seek him on the Sabbath day, if we come into his presence on that day, we shall find it easier to be in his presence the following days of the week. . . .

Is it better to cherish Church ideals on Sunday or to indulge in Sunday sports? This is simply a question of physical pleasure or spiritual development; and in that regard we should keep in mind the following:

First, it is a day of rest, essential to the true development and strength of the body, and that is a principle we should publish more generally abroad; and we should practice it.

A second purpose for keeping holy the Sabbath day is mentioned in one sentence of modern revelation: “ . . . That thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world. . . .” (D&C 59:9.) That is a glorious sentence!

Third, keeping the Sabbath day holy is a law of God, resounding through the ages from Mount Sinai. You cannot transgress the law of God without circumscribing your spirit.

Finally, our Sabbath, the first day of the week, commemorates the greatest event in all history—Christ’s resurrection and his visit as a resurrected being to his assembled apostles.

Now, if a person wants to indulge in bodily exercises and amusements, he cannot do it on the Sabbath day with impunity.

Joseph Fielding Smith (SYE, 102, 130-131, 162)

This is what I think when [the Lord] is going to come—on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in the summer time when the people—the members of the Church and everybody else—are picnicking in the canyons, and to the lake, or some other resort; on vacation and having a wonderful time doing everything but what the Lord commanded us to do. It may be in a picture show. It will be a Sunday afternoon and then the cry will sound, “Go ye out to meet him,” and oh, what scurrying and what confusion there will be. . . .

Brethren and sisters, let us live in accord with his word today and tomorrow and the next day—not with any feeling of fear that we might be caught, but because we love to do the things he has commanded us. . . .

Every member of this Church that violates the Sabbath day, that is not honest in the paying of his tithing, that will not keep the Word of Wisdom, that wilfully violates any of the other commandments the Lord has given us, is ungrateful to the Son of God and when ungrateful to the Son of God is ungrateful to the Father who sent him. If our Savior would do so much for us, how in the world is it that we are not willing to abide by his commandments which are not grievous, which do not cause us any suffering if we will only keep them?

Have we observed the Sabbath day and kept it holy? Is it not a fact that we have looked upon this law as being obsolete; something suited, perhaps, to the needs of a primitive people, who, like little children, need special care, but not necessary for us to observe in this modern world of superior wisdom? Is it not the fact that through the length and breadth of our land, this sacred commandment has been treated, and is being treated, with absolute contempt? Have we not made of it a day of pleasure, of indulgence, and have we not lost all love for its sacredness? How can we expect the Lord to bless us when we ignore so universally this holy law?

Harold B. Lee (THBL, 210-212, 391-392)

But Sunday is more than a day of rest from the ordinary occupations of the week. It is not to be considered as merely a day of lazy indolence and idleness or for physical pleasures and indulgences. It is a feastday for your spirit bodies. . . .

Whether at home or in church, your thoughts and your conduct should be always in harmony with the spirit and purpose of the Sabbath. Places of amusement and recreation, while at proper times may serve a needed end, are not conducive of spiritual growth and such places will not keep you “unspotted from the world” but will rather deny you the “fulness of the earth” promised to those who comply with the law of the Sabbath (see D&C 59:8-16). You who make the violation of the Sabbath a habit, by your failure to “keep it holy,” are losing a soul full of joy in return for a thimble full of pleasure. You are giving too much attention to your physical desires at the expense of your spiritual health. . . .

Make this a day of prayerful, thoughtful study of the scriptures and other good books. While filled with the joy of the Sabbath, write a letter to your sweetheart or an absent loved one or a friend who may need your spiritual strength. Make your homes the places for the singing and playing of beautiful music in harmony with the spirit of the day. At evening’s close as you gather at your fireside with the family alone or with friends, discuss the precious truths of the gospel and close with the benediction of family prayer. My experience has taught me that the prompting of the conscience to a faithful Church member is the safest indicator as to that which is contrary to the spirit of worship on the Sabbath day. . . .

One who keeps the Sabbath day holy will be filled with a lasting joy far more to be desired than the fleeting pleasures derived from activities indulged in contrary to God’s commandment. . . .

That, it seems to me, is about the progressive way that men begin to fall away. They first begin to “kick against the pricks.” . . . I wonder, perhaps, if they are not those things referred to by President J. Reuben Clark Jr. as “restraints”—the restraints of the Word of Wisdom, the restraints imposed in keeping the Sabbath day holy, injunctions against card playing, the restraints imposed by following the welfare program, and so on. . . .

I remember in this connection what somebody said in classifying humankind. He said there were only three kinds of people in the world—“Saints, Ain’ts, and Complaints,” and perhaps the “Complaints” would represent those who seem to be kicking against the pricks. These are the ones who “persecute the Saints” and, finally, “fight against God.” . . .

Today the greatest enemies we have are those who, for flattery of the world, would betray the Savior by denying His prophets and making light of Church pronouncements on vital issues that strike at the very foundation of the Lord’s work. Such we have among us today—make no mistake.

Spencer W. Kimball (TPC, 168-172; see Ensign, Jan. 1982, 3, for his First Presidency message calling our attention to a statement on appropriate Sabbath and other activities for the home, from “the Brethren”)

To many, Sabbath-breaking is a matter of little moment, but to our Heavenly Father it is disobedience to one of the principal commandments. It is evidence of man’s failure to meet the individual test set for each of us before the creation of the world, “to see if they will do all thing whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.” (Abraham 3:25.) . . .

The solemn command brought down from the thundering of Mount Sinai was “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” That commandment has never been rescinded nor modified. Instead, it has been reinforced in modern times. . . .

I . . . would urge upon all Saints everywhere a more strict observance of the Sabbath day. The Lord’s holy day is fast losing its sacred significance throughout the world. . . . More and more, man destroys the Sabbath’s sacred purposes in pursuit of wealth, pleasure, recreation, and the worship of false and material gods. We continue to urge all Saints and God-fearing people everywhere to observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Businesses will not be open on the Sabbath if they are not patronized on that holy day. The same is true of resorts, sporting events, and recreation areas of all kinds. . . .

We have become largely a world of Sabbath breakers. . . . The Sabbath is the preferred day for rodeos, conventions, family picnics; even ball games are played on the sacred day. “Business as usual” is the slogan for many, and our holy day has become a holiday. . . .

To go into the canyons for picnics, to attend games or rodeos or races or shows or other amusements on that day is not to keep it in holy remembrance. . . .

There is no criticism of legitimate recreation—sports, picnics, plays, and motion pictures. All have potential for revitalizing life, and the Church as an organization actively sponsors such activities. But there is a proper time and place for all worthwhile things—a time for work, a time for play, a time for worship. . . .

Sometimes Sabbath observance is characterized as a matter of sacrifice and self-denial, but it is not so. It is merely a matter of shifting times and choosing seasons. There is time enough, particularly in our era of the world’s history, during the six days of the week in which to do our work and play. Much can be done to organize and encourage weekday activities, avoiding the Sabbath. . . .

The Sabbath is a holy day in which to do worthy and holy things. Abstinence from work and recreation is important, but insufficient. The Sabbath calls for constructive thoughts and acts, and if one merely lounges about doing nothing on the Sabbath, he is breaking it. To observe it, one will be on his knees in prayer, preparing lessons, studying the gospel, meditating, visiting the ill and distressed, writing letters to missionaries, taking a nap, reading wholesome material, and attending all the meetings of that day at which he is expected.

Take time . . . to be together as families to converse with one another, to study the scriptures, to visit friends, relatives, and the sick and lonely. This is also an excellent time to work on your journals and genealogy. . . .

It is a day to get rid of selfish interests and absorbing activities.

The Sabbath day is given throughout the generations of man for a perpetual covenant [see Exodus 31:16]. It is a sign between the Lord and his children forever [see Exodus 31:17]. It is a day in which to worship and to express our gratitude and appreciate to the Lord. It is a day on which to surrender every worldly interest and to praise the Lord humbly, for humility is the beginning of exaltation. It is a day not for affliction and burden but for rest and righteous enjoyment. . . .

The Sabbath is a day on which to take inventory—to analyze our weaknesses, to confess our sins to our associates and our Lord. It is a day on which to fast in “sackcloth and ashes.” It is a day on which to read good books, a day to contemplate and ponder, a day to study lessons for priesthood and auxiliary organizations, a day to nap and rest and relax, a day to visit the sick, a day to preach the gospel, a day to proselyte, a day to visit quietly with the family and get acquainted with our children, a day for proper courting, a day to do good, a day to drink at the fountain of knowledge and of instruction, a day to seek forgiveness of our sins, a day for the enrichment of our spirit and our soul, a day to restore us to our spiritual stature, a day to partake of the emblems of [the Lord’s] sacrifice and atonement, a day to contemplate the glories of the gospel and of the eternal realms, a day to climb high on the upward path toward our Heavenly Father.

We hope . . . that either before or after your series of Sunday meetings, depending upon your particular . . . meeting schedule, you will do what the Savior asked the Nephite disciples to do: After he taught them, he asked them to go to their homes and to ponder and to pray over what was said (see 3 Ne. 17:3). Let us keep that pattern in mind.

Ezra Taft Benson (TETB, 438-441, 460-461)

The purpose of the Sabbath is for spiritual uplift, for a renewal of our covenants, for worship, for rest, for prayer. It is for the purpose of feeding the spirit, that we may keep ourselves unspotted from the world by obeying God’s command. . . .

Few, if any, subjects in the great, eternal gospel plan of the Lord have been spoken of more frequently than that of the Sabbath. Ancient prophets of God have proclaimed it, Presidents of the Church and other General Authorities have repeatedly emphasized it, lay Christians and men of goodwill throughout Christendom have spoken approvingly of its place and value in the lives of men, women, and children of all races and climes. . . .

Many—too many—have almost ceased to observe the Sabbath. Not only is it a workday now, but it is supremely a day of amusement and recreation: golf, skiing, skating, hunting, fishing, picnicking, racing, movies, theaters, ball playing, dancing, and other forms of fun-making—all are coming largely to be the rule among too many so-called Christians. Some churches are said to encourage all these, if properly conducted. But God’s law says keep the Sabbath day holy. . . .

What fits the purpose of the Sabbath? Here are a few suggestions: Activities that contribute to greater spirituality; essential Church meetings in the house of prayer; acquisition of spiritual knowledge—reading the scriptures, Church history and biographies, and the inspired words of the Brethren; resting physically, getting acquainted with the family, relating scriptural stories to children, bearing testimonies, building family unity; visiting the sick and aged shut-ins; singing the songs of Zion and listening to inspired music; paying devotions to the Most High—personal and family prayer; fasting, administrations, father’s blessings; preparing food with singleness of heart—simple meals prepared largely on Saturday. . . .

Yes, Sunday is wonderful, but how much more wonderful it might be if honored as a sacred Sabbath. . . .

We have requested priesthood leaders to minimize administrative meetings on the Sabbath so that families may engage in worship and family time. Our hope is that you will use this time to attend your meetings, render Christian service, visit family members, hold family home evenings, and study the scriptures. . . .

Remember, Sunday is the Lord’s day—a day to do His work. . . .

I believe in honoring the Sabbath day. I love a sacred Sabbath. I am grateful that as a boy I had a constant example and sound parental counsel as to the importance of keeping the Sabbath day a holy day. My memories of the Sabbath from infancy have been joyful, uplifting, and spiritually profitable, for which I am deeply grateful. . . .

I am grateful for the Sabbath day. I sometimes wonder what I would do without it. I mean that literally. A day of rest, but more than a day of rest—a day of prayer, a day of worship, a day of devotion, a day to be spiritually fed, a day to reflect on the purpose of life and the privileges, opportunities, and obligations which are ours as members of the Church. . . .

It is not possible to keep the Sabbath day holy just by resting from our labors. . . .

We need to keep the Sabbath day holy. We need to close our businesses on Sunday and as Latter-day Saints refrain from making purchases on the Sabbath. We need to refrain from going to moving pictures on the Sabbath, and if we are operating show houses, we should close them on Sunday. We should not seek pleasure in any form on the Sabbath day. We should stand firm in opposition to Sunday baseball and other amusements regardless of what much of the Christian world may do. . . .

We do not compromise principle. We do not surrender our standards regardless of current trends or pressures. As a Church, our allegiance to truth is unwavering. Speaking out against immoral or unjust actions has been the burden of prophets and disciples of God from time immemorial. It was for this very reason that many of them were persecuted. Nevertheless, it was their God-given task, as watchmen on the tower, to warn the people. . . .

Remember, my young brethren and sisters, you will never have an occasion to be embarrassed—among people of character, people who count, real men and women—because you live according to the standards, the teachings, and ideals of the Church.

Howard W. Hunter (THWH, 42, 111, 114)

We have room for the commercialism of Christmas and even pleasure-seeking on the Sabbath day, but there are times when there is not room for worship. Our thoughts are filled with other things—there is no room. . . .

A father and a mother who take their children to a movie on the Sabbath day will pay dearly for that failure to follow advice and counsel. . . . There was a time when the Sabbath was not violated among God-fearing people. We live in a [time] where those things are much forgotten. Stores are open. Things go along as usual except that employees, in most instances, have a day off for recreation.

The Sabbath day has been desecrated from the day of rest to a day of sports and recreation. We must look to the proper definition of the word “rest.” It is a day when there is cessation from labor and we give thought to those things which pertain to God. . . .

What respect is paid today to the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy? Of recent years there has been a growing trend toward using the Sabbath as a holiday, a day for sporting events, pleasure, travel, and play. This tempo of activity seems to be increasing. The admonition “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy” would appear to be largely ignored. The word of God spoken to the Israelites and graven in stone tablets has never been rescinded or modified. . . .

Are we entitled to the blessings of the Lord as a nation, communities, families, or individuals if we fail to keep his commandments? To know God, one must know his laws. To receive the blessings of God, one must keep his laws. I pray we may come to observe the Sabbath day and to keep it holy.

Gordon B. Hinckley (Ensign, Nov. 1997, 69)

The Sabbath of the Lord is becoming the play day of the people. It is a day of golf and football on television, of buying and selling in our stores and markets. Are we moving to mainstream America as some observers believe? In this I fear we are. What a telling thing it is to see the parking lots of the markets filled on Sunday in communities that are predominately LDS.

Our strength for the future, our resolution to grow the Church across the world, will be weakened if we violate the will of the Lord in this important matter. He has so very clearly spoken anciently and again in modern revelation. We cannot disregard with impunity that which He has said.

Gordon B. Hinckley, James E. Faust, Thomas S. Monson (issued by approval of First Presidency-True to the Faith [2004], 146)

The Lord emphasized the importance of Sabbath observance in the Ten Commandments. . . .

In the latter days, the Lord has commanded us to continue observing the Sabbath. . . .

Because the Sabbath is a holy day, it should be reserved for worthy and holy activities. Abstaining from work and recreation is not enough. In fact, if we merely lounge about doing nothing on the Sabbath, we fail to keep the day holy. . . .

In harmony with this revelation [D&C 59:9-10], we attend sacrament meeting each week. Other Sabbath-day activities may include praying, meditating, studying the scriptures and the teachings of latter-day prophets, writing letters to family members and friends, reading wholesome material, visiting the sick and distressed, and attending other Church meetings.

Thomas S. Monson
(Ensign, Nov. 1990, 47)

The Lord has given the Sabbath day for your benefit and has commanded you to keep it holy. Many activities are appropriate for the Sabbath. Bear in mind, however, that Sunday is not a holiday. Sunday is a holy day.

(Ensign, Nov. 1999, 19)

What lessons have we learned from our fathers? Years ago, a father asked Elder ElRay L. Christiansen what name he could suggest for his newly acquired boat. Brother Christiansen suggested, “Why not call it The Sabbath Breaker?” I’m confident the would-be sailor pondered whether his pride and joy would be a Sabbath breaker or a Sabbath keeper. Whatever his decision, it not doubt left a lasting impression upon his children.

Yet another father taught a son a never-to-be-forgotten lesson in obedience and, by example, to honor the Sabbath day. I learned of this at the funeral service of a noble General Authority, H. Verlan Andersen. A tribute was paid to him by one of his sons. It has application wherever we are and whatever we are doing. It is the example of personal experience.

The son of Elder Andersen related that years earlier he had a special school date on a Saturday night. He borrowed from his father the family car. As he obtained the car keys and was heading for the door, his father said: “The car will need more gasoline before tomorrow. Be sure to fill the tank before coming home.” . . .

In his exuberance, however, he failed to follow his father’s instruction to add fuel to the car’s tank before returning home.

Sunday morning dawned. Elder Andersen discovered the gas gauge showed empty. The son saw his father walk back into the house and put the car keys on the table. In the Andersen home, the Sabbath day was a day for worship and thanksgiving, and not for purchases.

As the funeral message continued, Elder Andersen’s son declared, “I saw my father put on his coat, bid us good-bye, and then walk the long distance to the chapel, that he might attend an early meeting.” Duty called. Truth was not held slave to expedience.

In concluding his funeral message, he said: “No son was ever taught more effectively by his father than I was on that occasion. My father not only knew the truth—he lived it.”

It is in the home that we form our attitudes, our deeply held beliefs. It is in the home that hope is fostered or destroyed.

Our homes are to be more than sanctuaries; they should also be places where God’s Spirit can dwell, where the storm stops at the door, where love reigns and peace dwells.

Some jump to their feet to condemn the extremism of certain examples that our leading Brethren clearly feel comfortable sharing. In one such case, Elder Bednar added, “I presume that some of you might have difficulty with my last example. You may believe the young man was too judgmental or that basing an eternally important decision, even in part, upon such a supposedly minor issue is silly or fanatical. . . . I simply invite you to consider and ponder the power of being quick to observe and what was actually observed” (Ensign, Dec. 2006, 33). I’ve “been around the block” (is that the right colloquialism?), and am only more persuaded than ever that I would have made fewer mistakes had I insisted on just such well-rewarded observations. I certainly won’t find someone to do things with by attending events that I wish to have no part of.

The Sabbath is important to a host of general authorities. (See, for starters, “Church Magazine Articles” under the topic of Sabbath:

There is understandable reluctance to discuss what NOT to do on the Sabbath, so as not to abridge personal liberties, but is it not becoming obvious how to reevaluate one’s reverence toward one’s Maker? There are some fundamentals of the spirit of the law completely denied nowadays. Between 1945 and 1975 our society changed so fundamentally that one must be totally unsteeped in tradition and willing to look to another generation for their example to even discover the Sabbath’s sanctity. Our apostles are uniformly different from society in how they approach this sacred day. Witness, for instance, Elder Nelson’s statement of personal preference(The Power Within Us [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1988], 127):

Now I understand that my behavior on the Sabbath is my sign to the Lord of my regard for him and for the covenant under which I was born. If, on the one hand, my interests on the Sabbath were turned to pro football games or worldly movies, the sign from me to him would clearly be that my devotion would not favor the Lord. If, on the other hand, my Sabbath interests were focused on the Lord and his teachings, my family, or the sick, or the poor, and the needy, that sign would likewise be visible to God. Our activities on the Sabbath will be appropriate as we consider them to be our personal sign to him of our commitment to the Lord.

Elder Oaks recently spoke to the youth, strongly and at length in favor of renewed Sabbath observance. (See the last half of his talk, if you insist on passing over some other excellent remarks.)

In a final pause for thought, what has our generation forgotten? Elder Oaks referred to it in his recent talk: “We certainly have fewer rules than the Orthodox Jews, but I wonder whether we match their excellence in faithfully carrying out the positive purposes of the Sabbath day. As I have reflected on my own Sabbath practices, I believe I have been far more effective in observing the Sabbath in what I did not do than in what I did do. Along with many others, I have not been so effective in applying the teachings of the scriptures to do things that would make the Sabbath what the prophet Isaiah called ‘a delight, the holy of the Lord.’”

President Faust certainly attempted to place his finger on it: “By today’s standards, perhaps Grandfather’s interpretation of Sabbath day activities seems extreme, but something wonderful has been lost in our lives. To this day, I have been pondering to try to understand fully what has slipped away. Part of it was knowing that I was well on the Lord’s side of the line. Another part was the feeling that Satan’s influence was farther away. Mostly it was the reinforcement received by the spiritual power which was generated” (Ensign, Nov. 1991, 33).

I will close with a passage from Bishop H. David Burton, Ensign, Nov. 1998, 9:

Over and over again we have been reminded from this pulpit to fully observe the Sabbath day. If we are not keeping the Sabbath day holy, today is a wonderful time to commit to seize that opportunity, to receive the promised blessings that come from Sabbath day observance.

Many have come to feel that the terms “Sabbath day” and “play day” are synonymous. A friend who manages several small retail outlets in predominantly LDS communities tells me he can precisely tell when Sunday worship services conclude because customer counts increase dramatically. Recreation in its various forms has become “king of the Sabbath day.”

When Sister Burton and I were first married, we lived in the southeast part of the Salt Lake Valley. On occasion, as we purchased groceries from a small neighborhood store, we observed President and Sister Joseph Fielding Smith in the same store making their purchases. After several such observations, I finally mustered the courage to inquire of President Smith why it was he traveled all the way from downtown, past a dozen grocery stores, to shop at this particular store. Looking over the tops of his glasses he emphatically said: “Son! [He had my immediate attention.] Sister Smith and I patronize establishments that keep the Sabbath day holy.”

The need to reverence the Sabbath day is not new counsel. We are only being told today what prior generations have been told by the prophets of their day and reconfirmed countless times by the prophets of our day. . . .

I . . . know that remembering to keep the Sabbath day holy is one of the most important commandments we can observe in preparing us to be the recipients of the whisperings of the Spirit.

For the benefit of the incensed reader, I confess that I need to enforce with greater strictness in my own life not patronizing on Monday through Saturday those establishments which are open on Sunday. President Joseph Fielding Smith was not alone in this conviction.

Some of us who wouldn’t think of giving the Lord 7.5% for tithing are not exactly giving Him His full day. Is there anything in the foregoing passages not in agreement? Is there anything suggesting that Sunday evening should differ in tone from our meeting block? I bear solemn testimony that my life and spirit have been greatly enriched during just such times when I could easily have had my mind distracted from the sacred uses of this day. One will not be blessed in a measure above any ordinary day—and perhaps less—if not in keeping with this great commandment. Yes, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath...but is this really all that we want to give back to the Lord?

Mere Minutiae of a Bemused Man

Gasp! I realize that Friday evening is held sacrosanct by singles, and to reveal that one is not “out and about” at such a time is considered unspeakably awful, even at the price of ignoring the phone and pretending to have prior commitments for possible engagements. Not that I understand such escapist measures.

Well, tonight I’m reminded of why, when in a relationship, I switched official date night over to Thursday night to escape the traffic jams. Now, when I can manage it, I also make temple trips correspond with Thursday. (The Brethren hold their temple meeting on that day, and myriad are the stories of their prayers’ influence reaching around the globe.) If a currently single individual is immune to the effects of watching happy couples, Friday night is still rather crowded at both the Mount Timpanogos and Provo temples, regardless, because it does make an excellent date night activity.

I suppose the major announcement for the day would be that I got the promotion I put in for. It is lateral for the time being, because of my natural progression in the old track, though the time in grade is what helped me qualify.

I will now end up on the rating board, and such seems far more suited to my interests. As for aspirations, people don’t believe me when I say I had none. I certainly wouldn’t appreciate being advanced faster than my merit. I grew very weary, too, of hearing other applicants discuss the career track and monetary benefits. My own grandmother couldn’t comprehend my saying I don’t care about the money. I entered the process with no interest in the outcome other than what the Lord wanted for me. (Sometimes I suspect He’s more inclined to bless when we genuinely leave the results in His hands, yet surely the reader realizes that to concentrate on such a reality removes the cause described. Surrender of will is by definition a conscious decision, but also a very natural one.)

My life (and blog) will make little sense if one doesn’t realize that I mean what I say. If I ever have an agenda, it’s transparent even to myself. For instance, I like doctrine for its obvious, inherent value, and not for any ill-gotten gain thereby. I can’t think of a better theme to occupy one’s heart and mind, or set the pace for one’s motives. Nor can I imagine to myself that Heavenly Father will say “come unto me, ye blessed,” if I wasn’t as precise with the doctrine as my abilities allow me to be.

In fact, I loathe hypocrites in terms much like President Brigham Young’s: “There is not one man in this city nor in the Territory who hates the truth and the Latter-day Saints, whose influence I dread, no, not even the hundredth part, as I do a smooth, slick hypocrite who professes to be a Latter-day Saint. The former cannot sow the seeds of infidelity and unbelief in the hearts of the people; but the latter can.” I have known some very tender-hearted people who cite hypocrisy as the chief reason they left the Church at some point. Twice in my life I have faced situations in which I could think, “People have never returned to church over lesser things.” It came down to this test: 1) The Savior, who leads this Church, needed me to hear and incorporate that; 2) The Savior had nothing to do with it, and as President Wilford Woodruff said, “It will do me no good if I apostatize because somebody's family follows the fashions of Babylon, or because some man or woman or some set of men and women do wrong. . . . It will do me no good if I apostatize because I think somebody else does not do right.” That the Savior doesn’t want us to turn our backs on the greatest possible blessings holds true whatever the circumstances.

We’re all subject to at least passing hypocrisies as we travel through life. Why are even the righteous so? Because if people don’t have goals, then they really have no profession at all. It is in actuality good to have goals so high above us that we almost can’t help but differ. When all is said and done, Christ can—and I choose this word carefully, on the basis of personal agency meeting godly omnipotence—mend the difference. This is in point of fact why I cannot imagine setting standards any lower than the exact manner prescribed by the Lord in holy utterance. (No, I won’t launch into a series of quotes about how our sights must be high or we will come short of the goal: exaltation.)

President Hinckley placed a high premium on the sort of honesty I seek high and low. From an article about honesty regarding Internet downloading in this month’s New Era: “President Gordon B. Hinckley has said, ‘How rare a gem, how precious a jewel is the man or woman in whom there is neither guile nor deception nor falsehood!’ We can all be that kind of man or woman by being honest in everything we say and do.” I left the author’s sentence as glue to the next prophetic phrase: “We should teach our children that honesty even in minor things is important if they are to obtain a place in the Celestial kingdom” (George Albert Smith, CR, Apr. 1929, 32).

I’ll quote from Samuel Johnson now, only because it actually ties into other Church quotes I’m not employing on this occasion, and because his last sentence is lead-in to something regarding DOCTRINE I may discuss in the near future, that transpired this afternoon.

James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson [Roslyn, New York: Black's Readers Service, 1952], 370-371:
“Johnson gave a very earnest recommendation of what he himself practised with the utmost consciousness: I mean a strict attention to truth, even in the most minute particulars. 'Accustom your children (said he) constantly to this; if a thing happened at one window, and they, when relating it, say that it happened at another, do not let it pass, but instantly check them; you do not know where deviation from truth will end.' . . . ‘It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying, that there is so much falsehood in the world.’

I swoop back in with Brigham Young: “It is the misapplied intelligence God has given us that makes all the mischief on the earth.” Anyway, in cultivating relationships with others, this has become something of a sore point with me. I wrote in January 2003, “I pray daily now to be spared all lingering affection for a girl who is either dense or deceptive, and most likely the latter. (I'd rather be a moron than an inveterate liar.)”

The Brethren are saying with increasing frequency that there are undesirable elements of deception on the dating scene. I have made my own share of mistakes with regard to ferreting it out, but how can one properly vow to be less trusting? It may be a positive development—one that I needed—that flattery doesn’t move me any more, because of so much time spent with a girl who had a knack for always saying what she thought I wanted to hear. She may even have believed it, but several Confucian sayings capture the difficulties with her sentiment: “In antiquity men were loath to speak. This was because they counted it shameful if their person failed to keep up with their words;” “The gentleman is ashamed of his word outstripping his deed;” “The thing about the gentleman is that he is anything but casual where speech is concerned;” “Claims made immodestly are difficult to live up to.” I cannot understand resting upon one’s laurels when there are always more to be won, we may be too inflated in our opinion of those we have, and there’s more than a strong inducement to “endure to the end.” Yet again, the ultimate doctrine is that our efforts are paltry and worthless unless we join hands with the Savior in His work.

Still, somewhat amusedly, I share one choice little gem from my studies of Reformation history, where Erasmus took Luther to task: “Why is there so frequent a mention of judgement in Holy Scriptures if there is no weighing of merits? Or are we compelled to be present at the Judgement Seat if nothing has happened through our own will, but all things have been done in us by sheer necessity? There is the further objection: What is the point of so many admonitions, so many precepts, so many threats, so many exhortations, so many expostulations, if of ourselves we do nothing, but God in accordance with his immutable will does everything in us, both to will and to perform the same? He wishes us to pray without ceasing, to watch, to fight, to contend for the prize of eternal life. Why does he wish anything to be unceasingly prayed for which he has already decreed either to give or not to give, and cannot change his decrees, since he is immutable?”

Two separate thoughts from letters President Joseph F. Smith wrote his sons:

“I do not believe in flattery. I prize real merit.”

“Let everyone stand, or rise or fall upon real merit. . . . I want my boys to avoid, absolutely[,] the manifestation of a feeling or thought expressed in the aphorism, ‘I am better than thou!’ Better is as better does. . . .
“He that does well, will not lose his reward, and he who does better than another, or than others, and boasts not of it, nor prides himself on his superior works will surely receive his reward. And it will be a glorious one.” (This makes me think of D&C 58:32-33; 130:19.)

That was a long mental detour! I’m thinking of honesty because of what I decided, inadequately, to convey to my interviewers on Tuesday. For the past year I’ve taken constant ribbing for nearly always wearing a white shirt and tie to work.

President Ezra Taft Benson once remarked, “The expression ‘follow the Brethren’ has a broader meaning than some would apply to it. It means not only to agree with the counsel given to the Church by the Brethren, but also to follow their example in appearance and deportment.” I’m not extending that in insane proportions, but subsequent Brethren have certainly stepped up to support views about, shall we say, what President Hinckley termed “sloppy ways lead to sloppy lives.”

Regarding church apparel for every aspect of church administration (to include ministering to the sick), President Harold B. Lee said, “When I have an appointment with the Lord, I always want to look my very best.” I’m intrigued by the account of one rabbi who slept fully clothed so that he could roll straight out of bed to greet the Messiah. Such is an admitted excess, but I must agree that—worthiness being obviously conceded regardless in such an extremity—I would still feel more comfortable in decent attire than t-shirt and jeans, if the recipient of a heavenly visitation.

In the final analysis, though, I simply enjoy dressing in this fashion. It has nothing to do with ambition or comparison. It just helps me feel better inside and out. (And I’m keenly aware of my need to budget for additional suits, difficult though they are to size for me.) In contradistinction, I knew of a man who swore to never wear a white shirt again after his mission. I wonder if that made temple work a difficult affair?

Returning to the story for the second time, I saw several people dressed on interview day in garb completely foreign to them. They clawed at their throats and kept a carefully primped suit jacket hung beside them. These were promptly cast aside once the purposes of the interview were met. As internal hires who were visible every day to management, who did they think they were fooling?

So I decided to tell the interviewers that I just got up and came in to work like every day, not that I didn’t take this particular process seriously, but that I always take my work seriously. Perhaps not in regard to height and the like, what they see IS what they get. (Believe me, you couldn’t fake your wardrobe for an entire year, and I think that’s why the comments have fallen off dramatically.)

Good night, and may you be blessed with fewer neuroses than I’ve managed to display!