LDS Ideals for Education

Posted on May 20, 1984 by Admin

Chauncey C. Riddle
c. 1984

I. What is the Relationship of Education to Living the Gospel?

Repentance in the Restored Gospel can be viewed as the process of change. Specifically, it is the change from being a natural man to becoming one who possesses the divine nature of the Savior. To endure to the end is to repent so completely that we become new creatures, just men made perfect, even as our Savior is perfect.

Seen this way, repentance is an educational process. It involves comprehending something that is better, then achieving that better condition. Line upon line, precept upon precept, the servant of Christ is taught to understand and then to exemplify a new mode of being and living.

To construe repentance as education is not to construe all education as repentance, for one can learn to become evil as well as good. But viewing education in this manner does help us better to promote repentance. We see clearly that repentance is the process wherein gospel principles are progressively taught and learned, thus enabling the faithful to govern themselves correctly.

The principle reason for the existence of The Church of Jesus Christ in every dispensation is to promote repentance. Members of the Church do this first by teaching and preaching the gospel to all to whom the Savior sends it. The gospel is the basic message as to how to repent. Then, for those who accept the gospel, the authorities of the Church assume the responsibility of assisting in the perfecting of the Saints, encouraging all who desire to do as to endure to the end. In this process, everything in this world that is virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy is sought after for the children of Christ in order that they may come to the fullness of Christ.

While it is the principle responsibility of church leaders to promote repentance, gospel education in the full sense, that opportunity is shared by every member of the kingdom. Apostles, prophets, and presidents are set to teach, preach, expound, and exhort as they lead the house of Israel to become like the Savior. But it is a wicked and slothful servant that must be commanded in all things. Each covenant servant has within him the gift of the Holy Ghost, that precious pearl of great price which empowers each to be an agent himself, to receive knowledge and direction from heavenly sources, and to bring to pass much righteousness by careful, repentant obedience.

Every faithful person in The Church of Jesus Christ thus ought to be engaged in the process of education. Each one should be seeking, searching, learning from those who are above him in the stewardship structure of the kingdom. Each should be teaching those in his stewardship, and each person should be humble enough to learn from those under him in stewardship.

The thesis here maintained is that repentance will be enhanced in the Church by seeing it as a species of education, and that education will be enhanced in the Church by seeing it as a species of repentance. Such a view would promote the following consequences:

  1. It would become plain that knowing the gospel is not enough; that it is doing what we know which fulfills both repentance and education.
    1. It would be more easily recognized that telling people what they ought to do is only the first step of leadership; helping them to learn to do what they ought to do is also required for repentance and for education.
    2. Seen this way, repentance would lose the negative connotation it has for some (that which sinful people need to do) and would become the way of life for all church members who are not yet perfect.
    3. Seen this way, education would become a lifelong way of living for all church members—learning to know and being able to do every good thing, and thus becoming able to help others in every way possible, as did the Savior.
    4. Just as repentance is seen to be a means, not an end, linking it with education would help all to see that education is not an end but a means to greater service to others, a preparation for righteousness. This would tend to cure one of the persistent perversions of the “civilized” world: the idea that education is an end, sometimes help to be the ultimate end, in itself.
    5. If the additional idea of hungering after excellence is added to education, quality added to quantity, then education as repentance, clearly centers on the Savior. For it is he who is the spirit of truth and the light of the world, showing the world a more excellent way. Only in and through Jesus Christ is quality education fulfilled, just as only in and through him is repentance fulfilled. He is the fountain of all truth and of all righteousness.

Conclusion: Greater emphasis on lifelong education in the Church and linking it to repentance would enhance both education and repentance.

II. What is the Mission of Latter-day Saints in This World?

The life mission of any member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is identical to that of any other member in its general features. Those features are that:

  1. The whole of each person’s life is seen to be a mission in the cause of Jesus Christ from the time one receives the covenant of baptism until one is released with his final breath. This means that one is on a mission twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, at home or abroad, in sickness or in health, and in whatever marital state or church calling one is found.
  2. Each person’s daily assignment in that mission is to turn his assigned portion of evil into good. Defining evil as that which is not good as it could be and taking the Savior as the standard of good, the life goal of a Latter-day Saint is to do that which the Savior would do as if he had our stewardship as his own. Our life should be one continuous labor to uplift, to enoble, to beautify, to instruct, to correct, to celestialize all around us, when, where, and how it is appropriate to our stewardship and as directed by the Holy Spirit.

A child forlorn, frightened, sobbing is an evil of this world: it is the mission of a Saint to hold that child, to administer comfort, security, and understanding as the manifestation of a pure and inspired love, thus turning an evil into something better. A ward choir which sings grudgingly, mechanically, egotistically is an evil; with skill, sensitivity, and love an inspired director can lift every participant to praise God in voice and song, to bear witness and gratitude through the meaning of the lyrics, to sing to bless rather than for recognition or reward. A widow’s home is unpainted, with sagging doors, cracked panes, and drafty casements; brethren of the priesthood who are skilled and who care descend upon that home and leave dignity in place of deterioration. There are children of an Andean village who have no opportunity for education; a low-cost, locally administered self-help program is designed, embodied, and delivered, giving those children access to the modern world. A people languish in ignorance of their true spiritual heritage: their need is assuaged by the teaching of the Restored Gospel in their midst.

Every father, mother, builder, teacher, chemist, administrator, repairman who is a covenant servant of Christ should be striving each day to make the world a better place, to uplift, encourage, and comfort not only fellow Latter-day Saints but ultimately all of the earth’s inhabitants. No one except the President of the Church carries the burden to worry about the whole world, for each of the rest of us has a more limited stewardship. Each morning each faithful servant should go to his knees in prayer to discern his assigned quotient of evil to be turned into good for that day, knowing that the powers of heaven will assist his faithful labor and that therefore his day will be “sufficient unto the evil thereof.”

Compensation is one of the last things the true servant is concerned about. He knows that he must perform honorable work and be compensated for it to provide for himself and for his family and to have a modest surplus with which to bless others. He knows that his greatest personal opportunity is to turn evil into good for which he is not compensated. Therefore, he deliberately spreads his resources of wisdom, knowledge, skill, and substance in many times and places where there cannot or should not be any return favor. He always remembers that it is to the Savior that he is beholden for his health, strength, mentality, knowledge, wisdom, and skill with which to bless, be it in compensated or noncompensated opportunities to do good.

Thus the daily mission of a Latter-day Saint is to search out the mind and will of the Savior relative to his formal and informal callings, then to turn evil into good in those callings. He does it cheerfully, gladly, and gratefully, rejoicing in the goodness of our Savior. He thinks about poverty, ignorance, disease, inferior values, and corruption in high and low places and strives to help. He may need to invent, translate, build, tear down, persuade, expose, correlate, and cooperate, but all with pure motive and under the direction of his Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Whatever preparation he needs to fulfill his task, he seeks; he begins with personal repentance from all sin, carries through to the acquisition of knowledge and skills, and his efforts culminate in attaining power in the priesthood to do all good things. This is the true education and repentance. It is likely that through the efforts of such servants of Jesus Christ this earth will be first terrastrialized, then celestialized and delivered spotless and whole to its worthy creator.

III. How and by Whom Should Latter-day Saints be Educated?

  1. Individuals ought to be motivated to learn the gospel (as opposed to emphasizing programs that teach them the gospel) and likewise motivated to do all that they can in righteousness to better themselves in the social and economic context in which they are personally located. The individual member of the Church must believe that his own efforts to learn the gospel and also all other worthwhile knowledge are efficacious. He must see that his own efforts are the most important factors which affect the quality of his spiritual and material well-being. It seems that too many of our members, especially in new and economically developing countries, are led to believe that their future well-being is unrelated to their present activity, that they are personally powerless to alter the circumstances of their lives. There seems to be a need to redirect such thinking toward personal initiative and responsibility.
    1. The family, headed by a righteous patriarch and faithful spouse, should be responsible for making certain that their posterity are fully instructed in all they need to know to be faithful to Christ, to overcome the world, and to subdue the earth.

IV. The Role of the Patriarch in Zion.

A patriarch is a faithful servant of Jesus Christ, a bearer of the Melchizedek Priesthood who is yoked with a faithful spouse in the temple covenants of eternal marriage.

The personal goal of every patriarch and his wife should be to endure to the end, which is life eternal. Their family goal should be to so lead and inspire their posterity that they also come to know the Savior.

The process of enduring to the end is mainly an educational process. One must be taught the gospel message and be taught to do all that it entails. The educational role of the patriarch and his wife is to assure that their children are fully instructed in all they need to know to be faithful to Christ, to overcome the world, and to subdue the earth.

If the patriarch and his wife have fully learned to be faithful to Christ, to overcome the world, and to subdue the earth, and if they have learned to do and are doing all they should do, then they can fulfill their role, which has three principle parts:

  1. To love purely, so that each person in his stewardship is enveloped in a spiritually oriented atmosphere of unconditional love. Giving this emotional sustenance is by all odds the most important thing a patriarch and his wife ever do.
  2. To instruct by example and by precept in every important matter, in order that those in their stewardship can learn all that they need to know and do, in both spiritual and temporal matters.
  3. To provide such spiritual, physical, social, and economic protection and support as is necessary and appropriate.

These persons thus blessed by the patriarchal order have the maximum earthly opportunity to exercise agency. For it is only this divine order coupled with the Restored Gospel and the authority of the Priesthood which provide full free agency to any person on this earth.

V. The Educational Ideal for Zion.

What kinds of education will righteous parents foster for those in their stewardship? Six kinds of education are proposed:

1- Family Education. The patriarch and his wife should assume direct personal responsibility for instructing each of their children in each of the following areas:

Personal discipline

  • Emotional steadiness
  • Intellectual honesty
  • Physical orderliness
  • Unselfishness

Language skills (including a foreign language, if possible) Spiritual matters

  • The gospel
  • How to receive and live by the gifts of the Spirit
  • The scriptures
  • The order of the Church
  • The order of the Priesthood

Work (learning to do and to love it)

Ability to cooperate

Hygiene

  • Cleanliness
  • Body functions
  • Nutrition
  • Exercise
  • Healing

Sex education

Family preparedness

Citizenship (opportunities and responsibilities)

Service (learning to rend it as appropriate)

Skills, basic

  • Care of tools
  • Safety
  • Food preparation
  • Household management
  • Care of machinery
  • Teaching
  • Accounting for stewardships

Social graces

Parental influence in basic education has often done all it will do by the sixteenth year of the child’s life.

2- Basic Formal Education. The patriarch and his wife should assume guidance and quality control in the educational opportunities which their children having in schooling outside of the family to learn:

  • Literary skills
  • Mathematical ability
  • Sciences
  • Countries and peoples
  • Physical education
  • Arts and crafts

Basic formal education is roughly what is received in the United States in K-12 education. For this basic formal education parents should use whatever opportunities are available in their local area which do not put their children into a deadly emotional, spiritual, physical, or social environment.

3- Manual Education. The patriarch and his wife assume the responsibility for instructing or arranging for the instructing of each child in one or more manual skills by which that child could later support a family, such as:

  • Administrative Assistant skills
  • Auto mechanic
  • Farming/ranching skills
  • Clothing construction
  • Building trades

Ideally this education would be substantially complete by the end of the teenage years.

4- General Education. The patriarch and his wife assume the responsibility for instructing or seeing that each child is instructed in the basic intellectual matters which a person needs to have to cope with the world. Areas which especially need to be pursued are:

  • History
  • Economics
  • Politics
  • Philosophy
  • Literature

This general education is to give a person the strength to be alive to the educational, political, and economic forces of the world and to be able to influence those forces for good.

The general education is roughly equivalent to two years of college work, though many have not attained it even after two years of college.

5- Missionary Education. It is contemplated that every young person in the Church would be fully prepared to go on a mission at age nineteen, having received full-fledged family, basic, vocational, and general education, then capping that preparation with a thorough understanding and ability to use honorable proselyting techniques. It is also contemplated that every worthy young man in the Church would be called and honorably fulfill a full-time mission.

Upon returning from missionary service, every young person would be ready to marry and to enter full-time work or to enter into further education.

6- Vocational Education. The patriarch and his wife should advise, encourage, and assist as is appropriate in the vocational education of their children. Vocational education is viewed as

(1) on-the-job education for a career,
(2) technical schooling, or
(3) the last two years of college and whatever graduate training is appropriate for entry into the job market in one’s chosen work.

VI. How Can we Foster a Better Tradition Concerning Learning and Teaching?

Even the casual observer cannot help but notice the marked difference in affluence and learning attained by various social and ethnic groups in American society. Japanese, Jews, and Mormons are often cited as examples of subgroups which have, on the whole, prospered in society and have achieved high levels of formal education relative to accomplishments in these areas by other groups.

Studies have shown that the desire to excel (achievement, motivation) is generated by two kinds of cultural practices.

  1. Achievement training in which parents, religious leaders, and other impose standards of excellence upon tasks by setting high goals for children and youth, indicate their high evaluation of the person’s competence to do a task week, and communicate that they expect evidence of high achievement.
  2. Independence training in which parents, leaders, and others indicate to the youth that they expect them to be self-reliant and, at the same time, grant them relative autonomy in decision-making situations where they are given both freedom of action and responsibility for success or failure.

Essentially, achievement training is concerned with getting people to do things well, while independence training seeks to teach them to do things on their own.

The Jews, who for centuries had lived in more or less hostile environments, have learned that it is not only possible to manipulate their environments to ensure survival, but even to prosper in it. Jewish tradition stresses the possibility of the individual mastering his work. Man is not helpless against the forces of nature or of his fellowman; God will provide, but only if man does his share. Physical mobility has likewise characterized Jewish culture. The Jews have typically urged their children to leave home if in doing so they faced better opportunities.

We are culturally similar in many respects to the achievement and independence training characteristics of Jewish society.

Posted in Educators Conference, Essay, Restored Gospel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on LDS Ideals for Education

An LDS Answer to the Problem of Evil

Posted on May 20, 1984 by Admin

Chauncey C. Riddle
Brigham Young University
c. 1984

This work was stimulated by the BYU forum address of Professor Robert Nozick of Harvard University given March 1984.

  1. Statement of the problem: If God is good and omnipotent, why is this world so evil? If God is not good, the evil is understandable. If God is not omnipotent, the evil is understandable. But if God is both good and omnipotent, surely he would have created a better world than this one.
  2. Observation about the problem: This is a genuine problem. Human beings are finite; God is infinite. It is not possible for a finite being to understand fully an infinite being. Nevertheless, it is most important for human beings to come to a finite satisfaction regarding this problem.
  3. Observation about the historic solutions to this problem: Many of the historic solutions are good in that they lend understanding to the situation. No one of them is sufficient to stand alone. The problem is to find a combination of ideas which will bring satisfaction to finite human souls.
  4. Definitions are in order to clarify this problem:

Good: To say that God is good means two things. It means that God is morally right in what he does. We shall henceforth express that idea by saying God is righteous. The other thing meant by saying God is good is that I like (love) God. We shall henceforth assume that to say God is good means I like (love) God.

God: We define God as an exalted man, which is to say he once was a human being. But having sought for and attained righteousness and truth, and having learned to act according to them, he has progressed beyond the state of man. He is now a perfect (morally righteous) being, omnipotent (he can do anything which can be done because he has all the power which exists), omniscient (he knows everything about everything, past, present, and future), is a personal being of flesh and bone, and is the literal father of the human race. His purpose in creating this earth is to provide a situation where his children can (a) choose the degree to which they desire to become as he is; and (b) learn and develop themselves to become as he, God, is to that degree which they have chosen.

The earth: The earth is the physical globe upon which the human race resides. It is governed by laws which God has ordained, and nothing happens in what we call “nature” except by his personal permission. Thus natural calamities as well as more desirable natural sequences are all manifestations of his will.

The world: The world is the dominion of Satan on this earth. Specifically, the world consists of all human beings who hearken to Satan, and includes the social institutions and accomplishments of those persons. Nearly every adult human being is or has at one time been part of the world. The opposite of the world is those people who manage to establish a personal daily association with God which enables them to detach themselves from the world and to serve God, the Father, through his son Jesus Christ, according to the instructions each receives through the Holy Spirit.

Evil: Evil is anything which is not as good as it could and should be. The standard of good is God. Whatever is created or done under instruction from God is holy and good. Whatever else exists or is done by the will of man or of Satan is evil. The commission of every godly person each day is to take something that is evil within his own stewardship and turn it into good through faith in Jesus Christ (direct obedience to the personal revelation one receives from God).

  • Why evil is allowed to exist: Evil in the world exists for three main reasons: (1) That every man may observe evil, compare it with good, and choose good or evil for himself; (2) That every man might be free to create and do evil, to see if that is what he really wishes to choose and promote; and (3) That those who choose to do good and become like God may have ample opportunity to grow towards becoming like God by many choices of good over evil and much experience in turning evil situations into good situations. Evil is not good, but the presence of controlled evil on the earth is good, because without it, man could not grow to become as God is. When the growth period for every human being has been fulfilled, then there will no longer be a need for evil on this earth and the earth will be cleansed of all evil. Then God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
  • Views of traditional answers to the problem:
  • “The world really is not evil.”

An LDS view would say that the earth is not evil, nor is any natural event that takes place on it. Storms, lightening, volcanic eruptions, floods and cold winters are all the handiwork of a good God who is reminding all of his children that he is in control of all things and that perhaps they might wish to repent so that they would no longer need such reminders. It is true that the innocent often perish with the wicked in natural disasters. For that reason God gives the innocent another, opportunity to choose between good and evil and to repent to that degree to which they so desire. That opportunity takes place in sheol, or the world of departed spirits. If every person were born and lived at the same time and could not use his agency to bring adversity on others, such as his children, then the opportunity in sheol would be unnecessary. But it is necessary.

  • “Evil is an illusion.”

The world is evil by definition, since it is the kingdom of Satan on earth. The world is no illusion, so evil really does exist, and in rather overwhelming abundance. But when people see natural events as evil, that is an illusion created by their misunderstanding of what is happening.

  • “The purpose of evil is to educate us.”

This statement is partly true. We need to see evil as a possibility that we may choose. But we do not need to do evil to know of evil. There is sufficient evil around that no one languishes for lack of observation of it. Thus we are educated as to the difference between good and evil.

  • “Evil comes from free will.”

Free will is free choice. Free agency is the power to carry out free choice. No human being is completely free, because only an omniscient being understands all the possible choices. No human being is completely an agent, because no human being is omnipotent. But to the degree which a person has knowledge, one does choose, and to the degree one has power, one does act to carry out that choice. As a person chooses other than the will of God and carries out that choice, that person creates evil in the world. If a person knows not God, then everything that person does is evil. Thus is the world created and perpetuated by the choices and acts of human beings. Yes evil comes because men are free.

  • “God is not the absolute creator.”

This statement sheds some light on the situation. God is not the absolute creator in the sense that he created everything out of nothing and all creation thus is the fulfillment of his desire. God did not create the intelligences of human beings, which is the personality, the true self of each person. God did give each intelligence a spirit body and a premortal life with himself. He gives many a mortal body, and each person who receives that body is given an opportunity to live eternally with him in the resurrection. But God did not create some human beings to be good and some to be evil. Each human being is a cocreator with God in that each determines for himself what he shall become. Thus God is not the absolute creator.

  • “God’s justice and mercy are in tension, out of which comes the problems of the world.”

This statement has an important element of truth for this discussion. God is love: he acts only to benefit the world. That righteous, pure, selfless love must abide the eternal principles which obtain, two of which are justice and mercy. Love is not pure or righteous unless it is just: God’s justice is that he is a lawgiver who cannot look upon defiance of his law with the least degree of allowance. For compliance with his law, God bestows blessing, even sharing all that he is and has with those who repent and learn to be completely obedient (who learn to love him with all of their heart, might, mind and strength.) But God’s justice also decrees an eternal damnation (stopping of blessing) for all who will not repent.

God’s mercy is that he desires to forgive all men their trespasses against his law so that he can bless each one. But he cannot forgive unless they repent of their sins, lest he become unjust and deliver blessing where none is due. All men who become accountable sin because of the fall of Adam. Once a person has sinned, the Father’s justice demands that he be cast out forever to satisfy justice. Thus all mankind would be lost, were it not for the Messiah.

God sends his anointed one, his only begotten son, to atone for the sins of every creature, that every’ man may become as though he had not sinned through repentance and acceptance of that atonement. Thus God is just in that he gives the law and demands an eternal satisfaction of that law, but he is also merciful in that he provides a way for a man who has sinned, and thus learned of evil first hand, to now turn from sin and become just. A man becomes just through faith in Jesus Christ, who teaches him how to live a sinless life henceforth. He becomes a just man-made perfect when he receives that merciful forgiveness of his sins from the Messiah, who has paid for his sins with his (the Messiah’s) own suffering. Thus God is both just and merciful.

But God cannot be just and merciful, give freedom to sin and reward for not sinning without both allowing sin and paying for all sin allowed. So that same God who created this world by allowing Satan to come on this earth and have a kingdom then pays personally for every jot and tittle of sin which he has allowed, that he might provide a means by which men can be forgiven and become as God is.

Evil is allowed to exist on this earth so that God can be just, and give his law by which men may be exalted. Men may choose to abide that law of their own free agency, and thus become one with God to share all that he has. But God must also be merciful to those who sin but are later sorry, that they may repent, learn to live by God’s law, and be exalted. God could not be just without giving men both law and agency, whereby they sin and create evil. He cannot be merciful without providing a Savior to show them the way out of sin and to forgive them. The tension between his justice and mercy indeed is the occasion for the freedom of man, which makes evil possible on this earth.

  • “This is the best of all possible worlds.”

Yes, this is the best of all possible worlds, if what you have in mind is the moral development of mankind. If what’ one wants is the most peaceful and physically non-threatening place which could exist, then this is not the best of all possible worlds for such an one. But if what is desired is a place of freedom, where a man must rely on his heart, his true desires, to choose between good and evil, and where those who choose good will have a virtually unlimited quotient of evil to turn to good as they progress toward becoming as God is, then there could be no better place for such an one to be than on this earth. This earth is the most wicked of all the many earths which God has created. As an incubator for gods and devils, a place where every person may seek and find exactly that pattern of moral choices which he wishes to pursue, this earth and its present world are without peer. They cannot be improved. This is the best of all possible worlds.

  • The tests for an answer to the problem of evil.
  • It must preserve the traditional view of God.

The question is, whose tradition? The view of God here presented is certainly not “traditional,” but it is scriptural, meaning that it is the same God as that of the Old and New Testaments. It does preserve the idea of a God who is perfect, omnipotent, and omniscient, but doubtless provides an out for everyone who wants one.

  • Does it help a person who is suffering?

This view does indeed help those who have found a personal relationship with the true and living God. They know that suffering, not peace and plenty, is the key to spiritual growth. They know that the Lord sends his rain on the just and on the unjust. They know that each human, good and evil, must die. But they know that God is good, and that nothing ever happens to any human being but what God will use that as an avenue of heaping blessings upon the head of that person, both in time and in eternity, if only that person will meet whatever the problem is with love of God and faith in Jesus Christ.

But how can a person who is suffering love God? There is a formula whereby any man can find God. It is to pray in his own secret place in the name of Jesus Christ and humbly to ask for wisdom as to what to do. God; who is merciful, gives wisdom to those who ask in faith. Thus can every human being establish personal contact with the true and living God, and immediately begin to know of his love and goodness as he repents and turns his life towards that light. When one has that personal, experiential (not just rational) relationship with the true and living God, he will know that God is good, for he will taste of God’s love. That love will be his assurance of things not seen, things not understood as yet. It is the assurance that he can trust that the love he feels from God is the safety he need to feel to trust that God has all of the evil of the world in hand, and that God will not allow one iota of evil more than is necessary for the salvation of mankind. Thus are some comforted in their suffering.

  • Is God affected by the evil of the world?

He most certainly is. It causes him to weep. He would that it might be otherwise. But justice and mercy cause that it may not be otherwise. So the God of heaven comes down to earth, takes upon himself the form of man, and personally pays for every sin which his justice has created. He personally teaches each human being how to avoid unnecessary suffering in this world, and how to eliminate evil from his own life. There could not be a God who is more personally concerned about the evil of this world and the involvement of each of his children in it.

  • Is the God of this explanation worth worshipping?

This answer must be the personal decision of each human being. It is plain that for some persons on this earth, the true and living God is not someone whom they care even to know, let alone worship. But each person must decide this matter for himself when he meets this God, for all do, sooner or later. Some seek him while yet in mortality and find him and worship him. Some find him, worship him, and then decide that they don’t really like him after all; he is not a good God to their thinking. Others hope against hope that he doesn’t even exist. But all will know he exists when they stand face to face before him at the bar of judgment. Then each will know of his love, his justice and his mercy. Nearly all will worship him then.

  • Does this explanation account for the magnitude of the evil on the earth?

This explanation holds that the amount of evil on the earth at any given time is simply the sum of the evil desires of the human beings who happen to live on the earth at a given moment (allowing for the sins of the fathers to be visited upon the heads of the children). In times of great evil or of natural disaster, the evil or the natural disasters are simply a function of the desires and actions of the inhabitants. Thus nations ripen in iniquity and are destroyed. Thus nations and peoples humble themselves before God and are prospered. Thus there will come a time again when the earth will be a paradise and when the gross evil of this age will be done away: the earth will enjoy a sabbath of peace and rest from wickedness, which is what evil is. That Sabbath will be brought to pass by the destruction of the wicked people who inhabit the earth, leaving only those who will serve the true and living God of love.

Note: This paper is entitled “An LDS Answer to the Problem of Evil” because there is no orthodoxy to which everyone must adhere in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are certain doctrines which are assuredly false, and there are others which are surely true. But each individual must seize the freedom to search for himself or herself. This allows one to believe false ideas, which if they are serious enough, will become an occasion for someone in authority to attempt to dissuade that individual. But this also allows a person to go beyond the boundaries of that which is commonly acknowledged as true in the church to discover truths that as yet are not known to many. Each is cautioned not to discuss these matters unless he or she is prompted by the Holy Spirit to do so. Thus every person is invited to become a profound theologian, but not so that they can profess this knowledge Rather is the intent that each would be enabled by this knowledge and thus bring forth greater fruits of repentance and love in his or her life.

The result of this situation is that two Latter-Day Saints may not agree at a given moment about a matter of doctrine. Each is working the matter out in his own mind, but the two may not be at the same point of development. The goal is that all who are faithful may come to see eye to eye. Meanwhile, the freedom to grow and be personally creative about searching for the truth about theology brings a necessary evil, a lack of agreement at times.

Posted in Definitions, Essay, Evil | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on An LDS Answer to the Problem of Evil

Letter to an Excommunicated Friend

Posted on April 6, 1984 by Admin

Chauncey C. Riddle
c. 1984

Dear Friend:

I was saddened to hear of your excommunication from the Church. It is plain that my understanding of authority in the church is not the same as yours. May I share my views with you?

I see the essence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be a program for perfecting our relationships with other beings. The program is simple, having only two steps. We must learn to love God with all of our heart, might, mind and strength. When we are fall of that love for Him then He can and will teach us how to love our neighbor as He loves us.

Crucial Point: We cannot know how to love others as our Father loves us in any natural way. When we feel love for others and try to help them as we see fit, that is probably a good thing but is clearly not the pattern of God’s love for us. His love for us proceeds out of a perfection of character and an omniscience that no human desire can begin to match. Thus, when we suppose that we can love our neighbor in a godly way by doing what we think is best, we are appointing ourselves to be gods, a bit of pride which is hardly justified.

The Gospel gives as a formula for loving God. It is

(1) to put our whole faith and trust in Jesus Christ,
(2) to repent of all of our sins,
(3) to make the covenant of baptism under one what has authority from Christ,
(4) to receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands of one who has authority from the Savior
(5) to endure to the end of becoming as Christ and knowing Him by following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. To love God is to become as He is and to come to know Him, to be one with Him.

It is my understanding that there are three basic levels of progress through which the Holy Spirit will lead us into oneness with our Godhead.

The first level is to turn as away from being like the world. To this end are we given the Ten Commandments which are a preparation for joining the Church. If we keep the Ten Commandments and follow the Holy Spirit by joining the Church then certain other outward opportunities are given to us, such as keeping the word of wisdom, paying tithes and offerings, doing good for others, being active in and filling callings in the Church, and receiving priesthood and the temple ordinances. In all of this, we show our love for the Lord, our acceptance of Him. Through all of this, the Holy Spirit guides us as we humbly seek help in prayer.

The second level is the opportunity to unite with the Priesthood authority which the Savior has placed in His Church to help to bring as to the Father. He has appointed officers in the Church for the perfecting of the Saints. We cannot grow past the first level until we carefully support, work with, pray for and love all those whom He, the Savior, has appointed to preside over us in our families and in the Church. To love God is to love His work and the instruments by which He does His work on the earth: His priesthood authorities. We need to love and support them with all of our heart, might, mind and strength is to reject the Savior who appointed them to preside over us. If we do support them, the Holy Spirit will guide us as we humbly seek help in prayer. (Cf. 1 Samuel 26:7–12.)

Crucial point: Either this is the True Church of Jesus Christ or it is not. If it is not, then all of us should withdraw from it. If it is the true Church then every presiding authority is appointed of Jesus Christ and must be so honored loved, sustained and obeyed as such. It will not do to say that the President of the Church has the true authority but oar bishop or stake president does not; that is inconsistent because every stake president and bishop is appointed and removed under the authority of the President of the Church.

When we have found ourselves fully united, in divine love, with the priesthood authority which is over us, then and only then can we go on to the third level, perfection. It is only then that we shall be given the power to perfect every word, every thought, every feeling, every hope, every desire under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit as we seek that help through humble prayer. Then we really do love the Lord with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. Then we achieve that oneness with the Lord.

If we are able to but do not unite with the priesthood authority which the Savior has established on the earth, that is a rejection of the Savior, a declared rejection of love for Him. In that condition we cannot keep the first great commandment; which also means that in that condition we cannot keep the second commandment. To pretend to love mankind and to try to make the world a better place while rejecting the Savior and His priesthood authority is a self-contradiction. Only through the priesthood structure of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is there any real hope for a righteous means of bringing the misery and woe of mankind to an end and to bring to all men the opportunity of true happiness, love and accomplishment.

Do you see that in my opinion when a person’s stake president or bishop asks him to repent and he will not, that is prima facie evidence he has jumped the track and is listening to the wrong spirit? The only cure that I know of is to start back at the beginning, as a little child, and to work up through level one until level two can be approached gain, to become one with the priesthood authorities over us. To me, a person who claims to have been wronged by his stake president, or that his stake president has exceeded authority in excommunicating him, has rejected this church as The Church of Jesus Christ, and in the process has rejected real love for the Savior and real love for mankind.

I plead with you to reconsider, to go back to the first works and seek the waters of baptism. I know that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ and that His power, authority, and love are in the priesthood structure of this Church.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

C. C. Riddle

Posted in Letter, Priesthood, Religious Studies Center, Sin, Testimony | Tagged | Comments Off on Letter to an Excommunicated Friend

Self-Love

Posted on March 20, 1984 by Admin

Chauncey C. Riddle
c. 1984

What is a self? A self has a body, feelings, thought processes, desires, but is probably not any of these nor the collection. Perhaps a self is a consciousness that is aware of its body, its feelings, thinking and desiring. This consciousness has the power of attention. It can focus on anything within the stream of mental events. It is an active choosing force that we call “the real me.”

A healthy self is one that is ready to meet any happening in the world with aplomb. It is never afraid (though often prudent), never angry (sometimes wary), never self-pitying (though sometimes hurting), never envious (but have real desires). In short, the healthy self never entertains negative emotions (sometimes tempted to do so, but never allowing such to remain).

The unhealthy self is afraid. It fears its body will be hurt or not nourished or rested. It fears its feelings will be wounded. It feels its thoughts to be inferior, therefore is hesitant to be open. It fears its desires will not be fulfilled. It fears its actions will be rejected as wrong or insufficient.

The fear of the unhealthy self probably has root in rejection as a child. There was an experience of real hunger that was not met until fear of hunger had lodged deeply. There were unassuaged hurts that culminated in fearful anticipation of further wounds. There were situations of “put down” embarrassment which caused the self to wonder when such would happen again. There were unfulfilled desires that left the self wondering if this were perhaps a totally hostile universe.

These fear-engendering experiences of the self have given rise to a defense mechanism—self-love. The self essentially says, “No one else loves me, so I will undertake the cause of my own welfare. I will love me and take good care of me, then I will have nothing to fear.” The only trouble with this strategy is that it doesn’t work. The love of self never fully satisfies the fears of the self. And the self feels, deep down, that this is wrong, to boot.

When the self undertakes to love and care for itself because no one else is doing so, this course embarked upon is self-destructive. It becomes self feeding upon self. For the measure of love is always sacrifice. Whatever we give up of our own comfort and benefit to help another is the true gift of love. But when the “other” is oneself, one gives up comfort and benefit to give oneself comfort and benefit.

Self-love doesn’t work well because the resources of self-love are always poor; it therefore cannot satisfy. The conscience of a person tells him it is wrong to love self, so one is discomfited. Then we add that the resources of self-love is a depletion of self resources (thus, of self) and we have classic self-destruction.

Self-love leads to self-despising. For the impetus to self-love is being despised by others. We naturally tend to think less of ourselves when others around us despise us. The fact that self-love is insufficient to satisfy the needs of self further lowers our self-respect level. The fact that one’s conscience pricks him for self-love causes further self-shame. The self-destructiveness of self-love adds a final blow. Self-respect has sunk to an intolerable low point.

Being already wounded, the self-loving self is difficult to help. Such an one cannot openly discuss the problem because the wounds are so deep and painful. Discussion exacerbates the hurt. Nor can such brook criticism, for that is taken as further despising heaped upon deep self-despising which may well be more than one can bear.

The distraught self-loving, self-despising self has no comfort or peace. The antidote has become a torment. The tormented soul thrashes wildly, trying to find peace, comfort, and security. Typical attempts at compensatory behavior are as follows:

Stimulus of body: (I drown my sorrows.)

Overeating, High speed thrills, Seeking to be scared, Drugs, Sexual libertinism, Loud erotic music

Escape: (I’ll try to forget my sorrows.)

Television, Workaholic performance, Immersion in the peer group, Books, Professional student, Overzealous espousal of some cause

Hiding: (No one must know.)

Lying, Rejecting of help, Hypocrisy, Reclusiveness

Denigration: (I’m not worth anything.)

Constant apologies, Psychosomatic illness, Suicide, Masochism, Carelessness

Aggression: (You rejected me, world; I’ll get back at you.)

Sports (brutality), Hatred, War, Criticism of others, Strikes, Anger, Crime, Insult, Spite Terrorism

Compensations: (If I can’t have love, I’ll take….)

Money, Prestige, Fashion and clothing, Cosmetics, Arrogance, Power, Many possessions, Jewelry, Famous friends, Spendthriftiness (be the generous one)

A person who is bound down with self-love is in the bondage of sin. As in quicksand, every struggle to add more self-love takes him deeper.

The only cure for self-love (and thus for sin) is to be loved. When a person finds that instead of the usual patronizing love of another self-lover, he is confronted by an unconditional love which accepts him as he is (does not despise him), will not collude in causing him to sin or in accepting his sinning, and which sacrifices to be a friend to him, he is first overwhelmed. Then he doubts it and tries to disprove that it is the real thing. When the doubt and disproof attempts have failed, then the self-lover must make a fundamental choice. He must choose: (1) to admit that sin and self-love are not good and don’t work, therefore they must be rejected in order to become like the person who loves him unconditionally; or (2) he must choose to espouse sin and self-love as his preferred way of life, a conscious rejection of unconditional love and righteousness.

The only unconditional love in this world is the pure love of Christ as embodied in the Savior or in someone who is truly His servant. To encounter this love, accompanied by the witness of the Holy Spirit, (it always is), is the true and only full opportunity to repent, to come unto Christ, to change from sin to righteousness, that this world affords.

The person who loves himself as a desperate self-defense mechanism can relinquish self-love when he discovers that the Savior loves him unconditionally. As the Holy Spirit teaches him that the Savior knows all, and has power to control all things, he sees that to be loved by such a being means that he need fear nothing, ever again. Feeling the reality of that pure love through the Spirit, he yields himself as a little child into the care and keeping of the Savior, ready to obey every instruction the Savior gives him, willing to suffer humbly whatever the Savior sees fit to inflict upon him, ready to make any sacrifice necessary to love purely. He is again as a little child, ready to be reborn.

The lost child is reborn through the waters of baptism and in the warm spiritual cleansing of the Holy Spirit. No longer needing to love himself, this person focuses now a true and fulfilling love on the Savior. Guided by the Holy Spirit, he feasts upon the words, the feelings, the ideas, the actions of his new father, Jesus Christ. He yearns to be nearer to Him and spends his best moments in mighty prayer, striving to draw ever nearer to his father. Upon arising from prayer, he views the world with the eye of faith: it is his apple. The world is his grand opportunity to go forth with confidence to do the will of his new father: to love others unconditionally, to speak the truth in all humility, to visit the widows and the fatherless in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Self-love has given way to love of God and love of neighbor. The newness of life is indeed not of this world. But he is grateful to be yet in the world where he can reach out to other souls tormented by self-love.

Posted in Definitions, Essay | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Self-Love

A Taxonomy of Human Communication

Posted on February 24, 1984 by Admin

Chauncey C. Riddle
Brigham Young University
24 February 1984

Riddle, Chauncey C. (1984) “A Taxonomy of Human Communication,” Deseret Language and Linguistic Society Symposium: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 21. Available at: http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/dlls/vol10/iss1/21

Riddle, Chauncey C. (1984) “A Taxonomy of Human Communication,” Deseret Language and Linguistic Society Symposium: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 21.
Riddle, Chauncey C. (1984) “A Taxonomy of Human Communication,” Deseret Language and Linguistic Society Symposium: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 21.

Introduction

The purpose for this paper is to further clarify understanding of human communication. The main assertion is that all human communication may usefully be seen to belong to three and only three types: disclosure, directive, and description. The support offered is rational and intuitive. What is presented here is intended to be highly consistent within itself; it is also intended to be grounded in common sense with you as hearer as witness to that. The relevance intended is that by shedding light on the situation, the possibilities of human communication may be enhanced.

A Theory of Man

Fundamental to this discussion is the image of man presumed. It is here posited that man is a three-fold being, each part making possible a separate function. Man is a feeling, thinking and acting being. Though these are analyzed as three, it is important to see that they are integrated; one performs one function only in connection with the other two. Thus, when one feels or desires, one also thinks and prepares for action. When one thinks, one also feels or desires and prepares for action. When one acts, one is also feeling and thinking.

It is the feeling aspect which is most distinctive about man. A gear chain reacts to its environment by receiving power, acting to increase or to decrease that power with a corresponding change in velocity. A computer reacts to its environment by receiving data then outputting transformed data; it may be said to think and to act, though that thinking is surely less than the human kind. A human being receives input from many feeling sources, then creates a desire which is not simply a function of that input. A human being receives data about the world from many sources, then combines these to create a special personal construct of the universe. Feeling and thinking then combine to produce action. Feeling provides the what of action, thinking provides the how of action, and action delivers what feelings desire and the mind conceives.

Man is here considered to be free. He chooses his desires, his thoughts and his actions. His environment provides limits within which he functions, but what and how he acts within those limits is his choice. The purpose of receiving communication is to become aware of the possibilities for action and the limits of those possibilities. The purpose of sending communication is to act upon the universe to transform it into a place tore compatible with one’s personal desires.

The challenge for every human being is to communicate with sufficient effectiveness and efficiency that one becomes satisfied with what he creates through his own communication. It seems that one can do this best when his feelings and thoughts correspond with the way the universe really is, and when his actions are an integrated and effective force to change the universe in the direction he thinks is better. Sometimes we desire, but our thoughts and actions cannot deliver what we desire. Sometimes we desire and then are repelled by that which we thought we desired. Human life is the attempt to create in ourselves an integrity of feeling, thought, and action which accords with the reality of the universe and which enables us to create those satisfactions which we seek.

It may be said that a human being is under control when his thinking and acting are consistent with his feeling. The possibility of that consistency is the possibility of man’s freedom. Gaining that consistency is a skill learning which men gain only through much concerted effort in correct practice.

A Definition of Communication

Human communication is assumed to be dyadic: it may always be analyzed as the relationship between two and only two persons. Communication is here defined as the effect of A upon B. Human communication is the effect of person A upon any B, be it person, place or thing. Fully human communication is the effect person A has on person B. This communication may be isolated for a specific short time interval   or it may be summed over an extended period of time. Normally communication is reciprocal: person A affects person B, then person B affects person A. Mass communication is the effectperson A has on many persons B, but each case may be analyzed individually.

This definition allows both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication. No attempt is here made to catalog all of the possible ways in which one person may affect another, but there are two examples which are noteworthy. Person A may affect person B by not sending a message at time T. Person A may affect person B by not growing, not becoming more capable, thus not affecting person B in the manner that would have been possible had A changed as was possible.

This definition is seen to be the broadest possible definition of communication. Any not so inclusive could not be used to give a full account of the communication situation. The concepts of message and meaning are not used in it even they are important to most communication. They are elements which are projected by a speaker and constructed by a hearer, but which never are assuredly common to both speaker and hearer, as we shall see below.

A Model of the Human Communication Process

We assume for our model of human communication that we begin in medias res. We take person A as he exists in the world, having received much communication from other human beings, having decoded that with some success; having well-formed opinions about the persons who communicate with him and about the world and the universe, and having some fairly definite ideas as to just what changes he wishes to effect in the world.

Person A is seen to be doing three things more or less simultaneously and continuously. First, person A is translating the verbal messages of others. To do this he creates an hypothesis as to the intent of a given speaker, then fleshes out that hypothesis according to the verbal-cultural context which unites person A and the speaker which he is translating. This is a creative, willful act for which he is responsible. This translating or decoding is essentially but not exclusively a function of the thinking of person A. That is to say, this translating reflects what he believes the person he is translating to have said; but it does not necessarily reflect what he believes the person he is translating to have meant. True meaning comes in assessment.

Person A is also assessing the nature of the world around him. He assesses the persons whom he translates, and decides whether they are trustworthy or not, whether they speak ironically or not, etc. Thus he decides what they really mean by what they have said. He assesses the total social context, the verbal and physical messages he has received and is receiving from all persons. He assesses the physical environment as to what it was, is, and portends. All of this assessing is the creature of the imagination of person A. Though he works with abundant input, the output of his assessment is of his own making. This assessing is essentially but not exclusively a function of the feeling of person A. That is to say, it reflects his desires.

The third function which person A is continually doing is forming intents or intentions. Out of what he has translated others to have said, and out of his assessment of what they really meant and his assessment of the past, present and future of the state of the world, person A is preparing to act to affect the world, either by speaking or not speaking, or by acting physically or not acting physically. That intention reflects the desires of person A and his thinkings, but is essentially the action part of his nature. Once the intention is formed, the actions of person A begin to reflect his intent.

The translations, assessments and intents of person A are the thrust of his personality in the world. The manifestations of that thrusting are the actual actions of the person, their intentions reflected in speaking and acting. According to the best of his skill, person A translates his intentions into code or act. He may act honestly or deceitfully, selfishly or selflessly, but in any case his words and acts taken as a whole and over time reflect whatever his intentions are, be they honorable or dishonorable, skillful or artless. Speech code or action, all that person A does is relevant to a cultural context, and the translation he makes of his intent is projected into that context. The context has some physical existence, but its principal existence is in the minds of the hearers or observers of person A.

In addition to the cultural context, the speech code or action also exists in and acts in a physical   environment. Sign language in the dark or conversation by a waterfall are typical cases where communication or effect is lessened by the environment. The use of a megaphone or of video transmission are cases where the code and acts of person A are enhanced in their effect by the environment. The environment also provides referents which affect the interpretation of the code and/or act by the hearer, such as the presence of a charging bull when the cry goes out “Watch out for the bull!”

At this stage of communication, everything that retains is the responsibility of the hearer. The hearer must now perform his three functions. First he will translate any code into a message, using his understanding of the cultural context plus his personal knowledge of the speaker. Second he will assess the situation to decide what the speaker really meant, whether the speaker speaks truthfully or meaningfully, and the net import of what the speaker literally says but really means in the context of the physical environment. Third, the hearer will create out of his translations, assessments and desires his own intentions, what he will say and/or do to try to push the world in the “right” direction. As with person A, person B is creative about each of these three steps. He creates a literal interpretation of person A’s words and acts, he creates an assessment as to the true meaning and import, and he creates an intention to affect the world in some tanner so it will become more to his liking, all done as a creative reaction to the universe.

Person B then encodes his intent, using the cultural context, and projects that code into the physical environment. Another person, perhaps person A, then decodes, assesses and forms another intention. Thus the process of communication is a constant reverberation of codes and acts among feeling, thinking, acting creative individuals.

The Taxonomy of Human Communication

Having laid the groundwork which was necessary, we may now proceed to make explicit the taxonomy of human communication which is the heart of this paper,

It is posited that all human communication may profitably be classified in one of three basic types. These types match the functions of man. Thus, representing the feeling aspect of man we shall designate a category to be known as “disclosure,” Representing the thinking aspect of tan we designate a category known as “description,” Representing the acting aspect of man we designate a category known as “directive.”

Disclosures may be subdivided into four main types, these types being more representative than exhaustive. First is the subtype of expression, such as “I feel ill,” Second is the subtype of value judgments, such as “What a beautiful sunset.” Third are plans, such as “I’m going to run for governor.” Finally, we have preferences, such as “I really prefer a little less winter in the climate.”

Descriptions may also be placed in four subtypes, these here intended to be both representative and exhaustive. The first subtype is that of fact, which is a description or classification of a phenomenon which is present in the physical environment of the speech act describing it. An example of a factual type assertion would be “This dog has a broken leg,” Second is the subtype of law; a law-like assertion is one which is an induction from many related factual assertions. For example, after observing many dogs with broken legs, one might assert that “Injuries of this sort are readily healed with proper care,” The third subtype is that of theory, which is a wholly or partly fictional account created to take sense of the facts and laws of an area of thought. An example of such a useful fiction is Newton’s idea of gravity. Gravity is never perceived, and it is quite possible that no such thing exists, but until we can do better it provides a useful mental image. The fourth subtype of descriptive assertion is that of principle. A principle is a fundamental postulate of thought which aids in the construction of theories and in the explanation of laws and facts. An example of a principle is Newton’s idea that to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Each kind of descriptive assertion may be used in the form of an hypothesis, which is an assertion of a fact, law, theory or principle which is seriously proposed for acceptance but which as yet lacks the necessary basis for acceptance. The basis for acceptance of a hypothetical fact is a pertinent observation. The basis for the acceptance of a hypothetical law is a series of observations of the phenomenon described by the proposed law, which series vindicates the statement as a reliable generalization. The basis for the acceptance of a hypothetical theory is its usefulness in forming a   basis for deducing the accepted laws of an area and for leading to hitherto unobserved facts and laws. The basis for acceptance of principle is the usefulness such an hypothesis shows as a fundamental postulate in a useful body of thought. Needless to say, theoretical assertions and principles cannot be proved to be true,

The third basic type of assertion, that of directive, may also usefully be divided into four subtypes. The first subtype is non-verbal, and will be called “art.” This subtype includes all of those things which a human being may do physically to change the world around him. This area is subject to the laws of physics, wherein every effect must have a sufficient cause. Examples of this subtype are piano playing, carpentry, skydiving, sculpture and disguise. The next three subtypes are verbal forms, encompassing command, questions and definitions. In each of these verbal forms of directive the speaker is attempting to change the universe by using words only, leaving it to others to supply the force which physics requires for changes. In commands, person A tells person B what to do, how to move his muscles. In questions, person A is directing someone to make an appropriate response. In definitions, person A is directing how a certain symbol must or may be used. What all directive communications have in common is an attempt to change the nature of the world.

It is posited that every communication, verbal or non-verbal, may be formed into an assertion, which is a complete sentence expressing the hearer’s hypothesis as to what the initiator of the communication intends. Where no assertion can be formed, the observer or hearer has no understanding, correct or incorrect, to attach to the observation. Thus every communication can be interpreted in the form of an assertion.

By examining cases we observe that all assertion may be properly categorized as being primarily disclosures, descriptions, or directives. But we further observe that every assertion may also be interpreted as representing the other two types as well as its primary type. In fact, it appears that a formulation of all three forms of the assertion is necessary to establish complete meaning. Thus “meaning” is taken to be a resonance along the three types of assertions wherein each is represented in different strengths according the interpretation of the hearer. Just as intent involves feeling, thinking and acting, so interpretation involves attribution of feeling, thinking and acting as the hearer attempts to recreate the speaker’s intent.

Examples are necessary at this point. If a speaker says, “You’re all right,” after assessment we may form a disclosure assertion such as “I like you.” But also meant will be a description, such as “I believe you are a reliable person,” and a directive such as “You believe that I esteem you.”

If the original code is such as “Utah is a western state,” we have an assertion that is primarily a description. This may also be decoded and assessed as a disclosure: “I believe that Utah is a western state,” and as a directive: “You believe that Utah is a western state.” This resonance becomes more apparent when we move to the realm of theory. If the original code is “an evolved from a lower form of life,” the disclosure might be “I am convinced that an evolved from a lower form of life,” and the directive would be “You: believe also that man evolved from a lower form of life.”

If the original code is such as “Stand up,” we have a typical command form directive. But it also may be represented after assessment by the disclosure form: “I want you to stand up,” and the descriptive form: “You are a person who should stand up.”

Conclusions

1. Communication may be enhanced by understanding the resonance nature of meaning.

2. Assertions are better formed from assessments than from decodings, and that intent is more truly captured in assessments.

3. It is claimed that gods, little children and dogs understand principally by assessments, therefore interpret more effectively than those who do not recognize deceptive coding.

Posted in Communication, Deseret Language and Linguistics Society Symposium | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on A Taxonomy of Human Communication

How to Avoid Priestcraft

Posted on February 20, 1984 by Admin

Chauncey C. Riddle
Honors 204R & Religion 231
(c. 1984 – Later read at BYU Women’s Conference)

The purpose of this paper is to suggest the way by which one might avoid the practice of priestcraft in this world. We shall proceed to discuss this topic under the four following main headings.

First, the basic premises. Then we shall define priestcraft and priesthood. Thirdly, we shall suggest how not to practice it in various professions, and, finally, we shall assert some conclusions.

The context of this discussion is that of Latter-day Saints in this dispensation. The question is: how shall we, knowing the fullness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, be able to avoid practicing priestcraft?

Basic Premises

We make the following stipulations as part of the basic premises.

  1. We are here on earth to become as the Savior. It is the intent of our Father that we should have the opportunity to acquire the Savior’s knowledge, skills, values and powers in this mortality with the ultimate possibility of becoming fully as He is. The work of the Lord is calculated to encourage us to become as close to Him as we wish to become, and to become as much like Him as we wish to be.
  2. The scripture warns us that the Savior is our God, and we are not to take counsel—that is to say, we are not to take wisdom,—from our fellowmen. We read the following in Section 1 of the Doctrine and Covenants which is part of a series of comments as to why the gospel has been restored in these latter days.
    “That man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh, but that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world.” (D&C 1:19)
    We see, then, that it is not good for one man to try to tell another what is wise for him to do. We may teach each other. We may explain, but we should not pretend to give counsel to our fellowmen for that is the function of God, Himself.
  3. We read in the scriptures that the Savior is the fountain of all righteousness. Quoting from Ether, chapter 12, verse 28:
    “Behold, I show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness.” (Ether 12:28)
    The Savior is indeed the fountain of all righteousness, meaning that if we wish to be righteous we must go to Him, for He is the only source from which we can draw true wisdom. The scriptures also say that the wisdom of man is foolishness before God. For man does not know the beginning from the end. Man does not know very much about the complexities even of the moment which he in the world. To know true wisdom, that is to say, to find out how truly to do the right thing at any given time, we must come to consult One who does know all, who is infinitely good and wise in all things, and this is our Savior, Jesus Christ, the fountain of all righteousness.
  4. We need to understand something about basic human roles. There are three basic human roles, one of which obtains every human relationship. In any given situation I am someone’s father, I am their brother, or I am their son. If you are a woman, in every situation you are either someone’s mother, you are their sister, or you are their daughter. Special relationships obtain between people when they have these relations. For instance, the proper relationship between father and child is that the father is to bless the child. That is to say, to help the child to grow, to develop, to come to be as the Father is. It is the glory of fathers to share with their children, to help the children to have all that they have, even as does our Father in Heaven. It is the glory of brothers to share with each other. Not to lord, not to dominate, not to be keepers, but to share one with another. To share joy and sorrow, riches and poverty, understanding, skills, possessions, whatever we might have, it is our opportunity to share with our brothers and sisters.
    Children have a special relationship with fathers: their role is to obey, for only as they obey and take counsel from those who are their fathers, either appointed by God or God, Himself, can they grow to their potential. Only in obedience to those instructions can they come to a fulness of what their Father would have them be. One of the great problems in the world is the confusion of these roles, of people assuming that they have the right to be fathers when they do not, assuming that to be a brother is to be a father, or keeper, which it is not.

Definition of Priestcraft and Priesthood

Finally, we need to point out from 2 Nephi, chapter 26, verse 29, the Lord’s definition of priestcraft as given through Nephi.

He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for, behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion. (2 Ne. 26:29)

Without commenting further on this definition of priestcraft then we shall proceed to define the roles of the priest and then to give a refined definition of priestcraft in the context of true priesthood.

We will assert then that the true characteristics of a true priest are as follows. The priest is a righteousness person, he is a saint. A priest is called of God. He is a true light unto the world. That is to say, he dispenses truth and wisdom from God the Father and from our Savior, Jesus Christ, through the instrumentality of the Holy Ghost. The true priest does not speak of himself or his own wisdom, but he delivers to his fellow beings the wisdom that comes from God. To those who accept his message, he administers the ordinances of salvation. He also does suffering for the sins of his people; for in their weakness, in their ignorance, for they will sin, and the priest suffers with them and for them.

The Savior is our model in this matter of being a true priest. He, indeed, was righteousness and without sin. His Father sent Him into the world. The Savior did not call Himself but His Father sent Him and testifies to men of that sending. The Savior is the Light of the World. He is the Source of all Wisdom and all Righteousness to this world. He came and ordained and blessed and healed, thus administering the ordinances of salvation, both temporal and spiritual, to those who could profit from His blessings. He suffered for the sins of His people, indeed, for He performed the atonement in which He took upon Himself pain for the sins of all human beings, whoever had lived or would live on the face of the earth. In doing all this, He gave the glory to His Father, accepting none for Himself.

A true priest, one appointed after the order of Christ, will have similar characteristics to the Savior. The true priest strives to be righteous. He confesses and forsakes his sins. He loves his brothers and his sisters. He is one with his file leader and is a saint. He does not call himself or set himself up but is ordained and set apart by his file leader in the priesthood. He teaches the commandments of God, not his own wisdom. He helps people to be wise by delivering to them wisdom from God and thus helps them to come to happiness which is the fruit of true wisdom. He administers the ordinances of salvation. The power of God flows as the true priest administers the saving ordinances as he heals and blesses. He forgives all men their personal trespasses and against himself suffers the indignities and evils that men heap upon him because he is a servant of Christ, thus helping to bear their sins. He gives the glory to the Savior.

The false priest, in contrast to the true priest, covers his sins, gratifies his pride. His love for men waxes cold. He is an apostate: he stands apart from those who hold the true priesthood, and will not accept their counsel. He is not called of God but sets himself up to be a light unto the world. He pretends that his light is good and teaches men that they should do as he says, but he does not teach the commandments of Christ. He teaches doctrines of man and of devils and sorrow results. Sometimes, of course, he mixes what he teaches with the statements of the scriptures, giving some good along with the bad, thus confusing people. He administers empty ordinances: most of the ordinances he performs, if they are saving ordinances, have pretended efficacy in the next life only. By this he shields himself from having to pay the consequences of ordinances performed without power. Should he heal, he likely will do so by Satan’s power, surely not by that of Christ. When he has opposition, he will not suffer it, but he seeks to punish the opposition and thus brings persecution upon his enemies (as the history of religion has so many examples to offer). He gladly accepts praise and/or gain for his priesthood functions.

Having thus defined the true priest and the false priest, we can now say particularly what it is we are talking about. When any person has every characteristic of the true priest then he is a true priest. Should he partake of any one characteristic of the false priest, then that person is a false priest. Priestcraft is one subdivision of being a false priest. It is that subdivision wherein one sets one’s self up as a light unto the world and takes praise or gain for doing so. Having thus defined priestcraft we will now proceed to show some examples of both priestcraft and the possibility of not practicing priestcraft.

How to Avoid Practicing Priestcraft

Let us posit first of all the worst possible case. Let’s take an LDS man who has grown up in the Church but rejects many of the teachings of the gospel and rejects the Brethren as his file leaders. Because he does not accept the gospel, he has not repented of his sins and he is selfish and unrepentant. He lies about his sins, perhaps even accepting the priesthood for social reasons. He goes to a university and there he gets what he considers to be “real authority” in this world, a Ph.D. and a M.D., and becomes a psychiatrist. As he goes out to practice psychiatry, he teaches and uses the theories of men. He perhaps teaches permissiveness, situational ethics, humanist doctrines, all of which are contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He conducts therapy sessions to relieve persons of guilt and of shame for sin by telling them there is no such thing as guilt and there should not be shame. He attacks and belittles faithful people and priesthood authority in the true Church, and perhaps becomes wealthy and famous from his priestcraft.

Let us show now how this same person with the same occupational opportunity could proceed not to practice priestcraft. If the psychiatrist were a humble LDS person who fully accepted the priesthood authority in the Church, if he repented of all his sins, and sought to serve the Lord with all of his heart, might, mind and strength, then he might go to a university and learn much of the theories and practices and skills of man, receiving his Ph.D. and his M.D. Having learned all the good that he could from the wisdom of men he would search also into the things of God and would become skilled and knowledgeable in all the way of godliness. Then when people came to him with their problems, he would teach them both the understanding of the world and the understanding of the gospel; he would allow them to take their choice and select the kind of treatment they would like to have. He would make no pretense to cure. He would help people to repent, if they choose the Lord’s way. He would administer appropriate therapy if they chose the world’s way. He would not do anything that would be contrary to the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He would be fully respectful of all persons, including his client. If someone were to abuse him for his faith in Christ or for any of his professional notions, he would accept that abuse without retaliation. He would charge modest fees, and those only for teaching and for administering therapy; never for telling people what they should do. He would reject the praise of man, giving the glory to God.

Let us now proceed to discuss a series of occupations showing how people in each of these occupations would act so as to avoid priestcraft. We shall assume that in all cases the person is a righteous LDS person and has received sufficient training from the world to be able to understand and practice the ways of the world.

Let us take then the case of the lawyer. The lawyer would learn the ways of law and then would teach his clients the ways and words of the law. He would teach probable options, probable outcomes, and possibilities that the client might choose. Then he would assist the client in executing whichever choice the client makes in preparation of documents, in trial procedures, etc. The lawyer would take money only for teaching and for applying his skills, never for telling people what they should do for that is the role of the true priest.

How would the M.D. act? The M.D. would learn all he could about the functions of the human body and the nature of the diseases which are common to human beings. When someone came to him with a malady he would teach them the ways of their body and the options for treatment and probable outcomes. When the patient had made a choice that seemed to the patient to be wise, then he would help the patient execute the choice, performing surgery or therapy according to the patient’s instructions. He would take money for teaching and performing professional skills, but not for telling people what they should do.

Let us then take the case of the teacher, say a teacher in a university. The teacher would learn and then teach skills and knowledge. He would never force his values or any values on students, leaving them the honor of being agents unto themselves to make their own choices. But he would teach them the knowledge and skills which they came to him to receive and requested of him. He would teach parents and students options for education so that they could understand the various possibilities and then would proceed to help them implement those options as chosen. He would take money for teaching, never for telling people what they should do or what they should believe, leaving that to their own personal agency.

How would a financial counselor operate? A financial counselor would make himself very much aware of the possibilities available for his clients, and then would teach his clients the options for investment plus probable consequences. He would assist his clients to understand what they needed to know to make wise decisions. When the clients had decided what to do, then he would assist them to execute their choice, if requested. He would take money for teaching and for executing choices, but never telling them what they should do.

How would an architect operate? The architect would learn the possibilities for beauty and utility in buildings. When a client came to him, he would make proposals showing the client various options. When the client was prepared to make a choice and did make one, then he would prepare specifications and detailed drawings and assist with architectural supervision in the construction of the building as the client desired. He would apply his skills and teach, but would never take money for telling people what they should do.

The engineer would learn and teach cost-effectiveness options in accomplishing various kinds of practical projects in the world. He would acquaint his clients with options available, possible costs, and the probable effectiveness of various projects. When the client had made a choice of a system, he would design and perhaps build the system to fulfill the client’s choice. He would take money for teaching, designing and building, but not for telling his clients what to do.

As a scientist, a person would learn all he could about the current sciences of his time, about the hypotheses on which people were working. He would then propose to various people projects where he might further explore these hypotheses to either add to their confirmation or to try to falsify them, to add somehow to the store of human capability. He would use the very best of hypotheses available for experimentation. He would take money only for teaching, for his technical accomplishments, and for his ideas in creating new hypotheses. He would never take money for propounding truths or for telling people what they should do or what they should believe.

The farmer would operate by learning the options for effective farming. Then he would farm effectively and would take money for produce, not for telling people what to do. The case of the farmer is relatively a simple one, and is matched by that of the artisan in many professions.

The senator is a more difficult case. The senator would learn and teach the options and probable outcomes for public policy. He would make it his business to inform his public as fully as possible on the problems that face them and the possible options for action. When called upon to make a decision as to what policy to follow, he would either execute the people’s choice or if delegated to make the choice himself would go before the Lord and seek from the Lord that which was most wise and would vote for or enact that which the Lord asked him to do. He would take money for teaching and for implementing, but never for telling people what they should do.

Admittedly, this problem of the senator is more complex than most of the rest. There is much yet here to be explored. For the senator gets into moral difficulties because he must vote to force people to do and not to do certain things. He thus begins to act in the role of the priest or in the role of God, which is, of course, always a dangerous business. We will leave that exploration to another time and place.

The final case that we will draw is that of the salesman. The salesman will learn all he can about the options available to his buyer, to fill to buyers needs. Then he will help his client to understand all the options available and will help the client to procure the clients choice. This would involve sometimes, of course, featuring the goods of some other person rather than the goods the salesman might be wishing to sell himself. This means that salesmen might have to become buying agents rather than representatives of particular products if they were to avoid unrighteousness in being salesmen. They would take money for teaching, not for psychologically forcing someone into what they did not want or need, nor for telling them what they should do.

Conclusions

Now, let us sum up and conclude on the matter that we have been discussing. The pattern shows up plainly. It is the glory of mankind to share with one another, to teach one another both skills and knowledge. But men should not try to counsel one another, nor to pretend to be one another’s keepers or priest, unless we have been personally appointed by God to the true priesthood to preside. Everyone might thus see the importance of becoming a highly skilled learner and teacher since this is what the professional life of many people would consist of doing. It seems then that to love God is to take His counsel, never the counsel of man, and to learn all of God’s thoughts and ways that we can. To love our neighbor is to share our learning and skill with our neighbor but never to force or lord it over our neighbor by practicing priestcraft. To be a good neighbor is also not to demand or even to submit to priestcraft.

We Latter-day Saints give glory to God and hearken carefully to the voice of his true priests who are the presiding authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For they truly represent Jesus Christ, who is the fountain of all wisdom and all righteousness. By our own revelation, each of us can know that what they say is the word of the Lord. Because of the goodness of our Lord, who gives liberally to all who ask for wisdom in faith, each of us can be wise.

1 This was a class handout for several years when I helped Chauncey teach a 6 credit Honors class from 1981 to 1988. The course number changed a few times during those years. Chauncey presented a revised version of this paper sometime later at a BYU Women’s Conference. (Monte F. Shelley)

Posted in Class Notes, Definitions, Womens Conference | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on How to Avoid Priestcraft

Why We Are Here

Posted on January 1, 1984 by Admin

Chauncey C. Riddle
c. 1984

Because we are blessed with knowing the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, we understand that there are five basic irreducible purposes of our mortal existence. Only the first is absolutely essential. To fulfill the others makes a fulness of blessing. The five are as follows:

  1. To gain a mortal tabernacle for our spirit. This is the necessary prelude to immortal life in a tabernacle of flesh and bone, which is the heritage of all human beings.
  2. To develop a Christ-like character. To learn to act righteously, responding to the spiritual influences from the Savior and learning not to be controlled by the physical forces around us is our goal. Every human situation is rich with opportunity to learn to be honest, true, chaste, benevolent, and to do good to all men. Either sex, any race, any age, any educational level, any economic level, affords an almost overwhelming opportunity to add good habit to good habit, correct preference to correct preference, true idea to true idea, all done following the Savior. Each soul is given the light of Christ to guide him or her in this quest for perfect character. But one cannot finish the task except one receives the fulness of the Restored Gospel and the ordinances of the new and everlasting covenant.
  3. To relieve suffering. The world is full of sorrow and suffering because of the sins of men. But that sorrow and suffering becomes an opportunity to those who have learned the unselfishness of the Savior. With heart, might, mind, and strength, they labor to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to heal the sick, to comfort the tormented, to assure the bereaved, to plead for the unjustly accused, to teach the unlearned. All of this is done under the Savior’s direction, never by using their own or any other man’s wisdom. Their goal is to be sure that they produce more good in this world than that which they consume, and that they share their surplus.
  4. To pass on the seed. To marry in the Lord’s covenant and to bring the souls of men and women to this world is the fourth task. To forebear having children by artificial means subverts both character and the plan. “Children are an heritage of the Lord. Blessed is he who has his quiver full.”
  5. To pass on the gospel. To bring up our children in the nurture of the Lord, transmitting the faith which is precious above all other ideas or messages in this world, constitutes the fifth great opportunity. We are not limited to sharing with our children, but sharing our faith fully with them is essential.

When our lives are finished, only these five things will be important for eternity:

  1. We gained a mortal tabernacle, and therefore can be resurrected to immortality, becoming just and true in all things.
  2. We gained a Christ-like character, and therefore can be trusted with the same glory the Savior has.
  3. We relieved suffering. We showed that as with our Master, we lived to serve and to help, not to “lord” it over anyone.
  4. We sacrificed to bring others into mortality and therefore we can be trusted to continue to bear souls in eternity.
  5. We taught and showed the way of the Savior in all things to all who would listen.

Because we will have done these five things faithfully, we can be trusted with stewardship over all that the Father has, becoming joint heirs with our Savior.

The name of 2, 3, 4, and 5 is “charity,” the pure love of Christ.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth, Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—(Moroni 7:46)

Posted in Essay, Restored Gospel | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Why We Are Here

Concept Clarification Template

Posted on June 20, 1983 by Admin

Concept Formulation/Clarification/Definition

Chauncey C. Riddle, 1983
Blank Template

Click to see example: Wisdom

  1. Symbols: (Symbols associated with concept in its variant forms.)
  2. Base: (language/culture/time frame of inquiry)
  3. Etymology:
  4. Dictionary definition:
  5. Examples: (Examples in base on other side.)
  6. Correlations (see graphic below)
  7. Key questions: (Questions and answers to illuminate the concept. Use other side.)
  8. Definition:
  9. Examples: (Positive/negative examples to demonstrate or test concept.)
  10. Relevance: (The difference this concept should make in my life: heart, mind, strength, might.)
Actual Concept Clarification Template from Chauncey’s Course Outline – 1983
Posted in Class Notes, Conceptual Analysis, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Concept Clarification Template

Concept Clarification Example: Wisdom

Posted on June 4, 1983 by Admin

Concept Formulation/Clarification/Definition

Chauncey C. Riddle,
1983 Class handout

Example: Wisdom

Click to see blank template

  1. Symbols: (Symbols associated with concept in its variant forms.) wise, wisdom
  2. Base: (language/culture/time frame of inquiry) Gospel/scriptural
  3. Etymology: AS, wis=discerning + dom=judgment
  4. Dictionary definition:

Webster’s Collegiate: “Quality of being wise; ability to judge soundly and deal sagaciously with facts, esp. as they relate to life and conduct; discernment and judgment; discretion; sagacity.”

Oxford English: “Capacity of judging rightly in matters relating to life and conduct; soundness of judgment in the choice of means and ends. …”

5. Examples: (Examples in base on other side.)

’Tis a wise man who knows his own father.
Wisdom is justified of her children.

6. Correlations

Concept Analysis
(actual image from Chauncey’s Class Outline – 1983)
Genus: ThinkingLevels
Similar: Ethics, morality, copingCelestial
Perfection: All wiseAll wisdom comes from God
Pre-requisite (s)Comple-ment:Counter-feit(s)Terrestrial
AgencyFoolishnessSophistry, being learnedLiving by rules
Concept:Telestial
WisdomLiving by impulse
Opposite: InsanePerdition
Contrary: Stupidity, innocence,
unable		Living to use others while feigning good
Necessary Constituents

(table above can scroll side to side)

7. Key questions: (Questions and answers to illuminate the concept. Use other side.)

  1. What is the connection between wisdom and ethics?
    Ethics is the study of the different approaches to wisdom in the world.
  2. How many kinds of wisdom are there?
    Nearly as many as there are individuals.

8. Definition: Wisdom is the ability to achieve one’s goal at a tolerable price and never to have to look back and be sorry.

9. Examples: (Positive/negative examples to demonstrate or test concept.)

  1. Examples: The man who built upon a rock. The man who works hard and saves.
  2. Non-examples: The man who built upon sand. The man who is lazy and a spendthrift.

10. Relevance: (The difference this concept should make in my life: heart, mind, strength, might.)

There seem to be many short-run wisdoms, but only one long-term wisdom.

Posted in Class Notes, Conceptual Analysis, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Concept Clarification Example: Wisdom

Feit and Counterfeit

Posted on February 17, 1983 by Admin

Preliminary draft 8 (CCR) 15 Feb. 1983
(Latest Version. Read at Women’s Conference 17 Feb. 1983)
Appendix A

I. Introduction

I appreciate the opportunity to contrast in this paper the two principal rootstocks onto which are grafted the works of mankind. The good root is the Royal Law; if it nourishes our life and work, everything we touch is uplifted. The evil root is noblesse oblige; all human acts that draw nourishment from it result in degradation. Living by the Royal Law is the most difficult and most important feat which any human being can perform. Living by noblesse oblige is the counterfeit which is natural, easy, and widespread.

We shall focus the contrast between these two rootstocks by noting the difference each makes to the miseries of mankind. The catalogue of human misery is long: hunger, malnutrition, poverty, foolishness, disease, birth defects, oppression, unhappiness, ignorance, insanity, etc. Every person of conscience in this world is gripped by the enormity of this misery and seeks to alleviate it. There are only two main ways to alleviate those miseries. The two ways are the Royal Law and noblesse oblige, the feat and its counterfeit.

II. The Royal Law.

The Royal Law is the first and second great commandments as given by God to men in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Doctrine and Covenants. The first law is that we should love the Lord our God, with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. The second is that we should love our neighbor as our self. We shall here interpret this Royal Law in the framework of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. In this interpretation, we reword the first law to say that we should love, emulate, and obey our God in the exact pattern in which our Savior, Jesus Christ, loves our Father. We reword the second law to say that we should love our neighbor in the exact pattern in which our Savior loves us. Our Savior loves us by loving, emulating, and obeying the Father in all of his love for us. Thus the second law is like unto the first, and stems from it. By living these laws we may become like unto our Savior. For the Savior is our great exemplar, the high priest of our profession, the father of all those who are born again unto God. To love as he loves should be our ideal. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Only in him can salvation from sin, misery, and oppression come unto mankind. Only in him can we become like the Father.

That all mankind may know and understand the exact pattern of his love, our Savior has given to man three grand windows by which to learn of him and his ways. The first is the scriptures, which are the testimonies of dead prophets concerning how he loved. The second is the testimonies of the living prophets today who tell us how he loves. The third is the whisperings of the Holy Spirit which tells us how he will love and how we may love our God and our neighbor as he does. These three witnesses are not separable. If we search and pray until we see the unity of witness among them, we rise above our own private interpretation to a true understanding of the way of Christ. No man is saved faster than he gains this true understanding. Let us point out how the Saviors love fulfills the Royal Law.

The Savior loved our Father with all of his heart. He relinquished all of his personal desires and chose to do nothing and say nothing except that which his father instructed him to do. He loved our Father with all of his mind. He learned and believed all that the Father taught him, declining instruction from any human being. He loved our Father with all of his strength. He gave all of his energy and skill to fill completely the mission which our Father gave him, culminating in the voluntary giving up of his life. He loved the Father with all of his might. He used his priesthood power, his persuasion with men, his ability to control people, spirits, animals, plants, the waters, the earth, and the universe, to order all things exactly as the Father wanted them to be. His love was complete, perfect.

Our Savior loved our Father so because of the goodness, the righteousness, the fullness of the Father’s love for him. The Father is a perfect man. Man of Holiness is his name. He is a god of righteousness, for his only work and glory is to share all that he has with others to help them to become as happy as they can stand to be. The Father loves personally, fully, purely, with an intensity that rights every wrong, heals every wound, comforts every grief. All the perfection of soul that eternity could contain is fully represented in our Father. He is loved by every intelligent being. Our Savior, more intelligent than any of us, loved him fully, returning the fullness of his love. Thus our Savior keeps the first and great commandment.

Each of us is neighbor to the Savior. So the Savior loves us as his Father loves him. Acting under the Father’s love and instruction, the Savior loved us by volunteering to fill the Father’s plan in the council in heaven. He, our Savior, created this earth and all things in it to show forth the Father’s love to us. Because we are fallen, he shows us the way back to the Father’s presence, building a bridge for us with his own pain, spirit, and life-blood. He it is who pleads with each of us to turn from the world to love the Father. He pleads with the Father that our Father might accept our imperfect love. Our Savior tries to share with us all that the Father has given him. His ultimate hope for us is that we might turn from our sins and become one with our Father, even as he is, even as he has shown us the way, even as he loves. There is no stone in all eternity that the Savior does not turn to help us to attain our own individual greatest happiness. Thus the Savior loves us, his neighbors, just as the Father loves him. Thus he fulfills the Royal Law. Our Savior has shown us the way. It is now our turn to live the Royal Law.

We come to mortality with our minds and memories clouded over so that the choosing we do will be with our hearts, not our minds. We are born into this world with body, mind, and opportunity greater than any other creature we see. We are given a home of beauty, regularity, and abundance on this earth. we can think and feel, speak, laugh, cry, strive, and overcome. We have power to create heaven on earth; or hell.

For our Father has given us a choice. We may choose between righteousness and selfishness. To make that choice more explicit, our Father has sent our Savior to show us the way of righteousness and to witness to us of the Father’s love for us. the Father also sent Satan to intensify the way of selfishness; Satan urges and inspires us to do just as we please on this earth as long as we don’t love the Father and our neighbor as the Savior does.

Let us now summarize the truths of the Restored Gospel which highlight this mortal opportunity and the importance of the Royal Law.

“1. In God we live, move, and have our being. we are not “”natural”” creatures of the earth. Our breath, our strength, our health, our intelligence, our freedom, are all gifts of God to each of us, moment by moment. Our God is the author of all we call “”good”” in our lives. He is also the author of all we call “”evil”” in our lives.”

“2. The evil in our lives is sent from that we might clearly see the difference between good and evil. The good is sent from God that we might choose it over evil.”

“3. The great probation of this life is to see if we choose good[1] over evil only for ourselves, or do we choose it for others also. Those who choose good only for themselves are the selfish, the children of Satan. Those who choose good for others are the righteous, the children of our Savior.”

“4. The way of selfishness is easy to find. It is a broad path. To find it one only has to act naturally, to yield to whatever desire one happens to have.”

“5. The way of righteousness is difficult to find. It is a strait and narrow way. To find it one must hunger and thirst after righteousness. One must search and strive until one finds the very best way to help others.”

“6. The very best way to help others is to find the way of Christ, which is to love God and our neighbor as the Savior did. It is the Royal Law.”

“7. No human being can implement the Royal Law by his own power. That power comes only through the ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

“8. The essence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to have faith in Jesus Christ. This faith is to receive direct revelation from him, to believe it, and to obey it.”

“9. What the Savior reveals is how to replace our desires for good, for ourselves and for others, with righteousness. Then instead of doing what pleases us we begin to turn to the Royal Law, to love and please the Father instead of ourselves.”

“10. As we act in faith and begin to love God with all of our heart and mind, his love begins to shower blessings upon us. A blessing is something that enables us to become more like God. Our breath, our strength, our health, our wealth, are not blessings to us until we begin to live the Royal Law through faith in Jesus Christ. If we are faithful, everything becomes a blessing to us.”

“11. If we are faithful servants of Jesus Christ, he shares with us his power through the ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then, because we love the Father with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength, the Savior gives us the knowledge and power to love our neighbors as he loves us, to share our blessings with them.”

“12. As we share our blessings with our neighbors in his love, we bear witness of the Father’s love for them. If they hunger and thirst after righteousness, they too will learn of the Father’s love, become grateful for it, and have the opportunity to turn and to live the Royal Law themselves.”

“13. On the day of judgment, every soul will look back to his probation and acknowledge:”

” a. that he was in the hand of God at all times;”

” b. that God’s love was showered upon him; and”

” c. that his sorrow, if any, is that he did not return God’s love sooner.”

“14. If we are really interested in relieving the suffering and the miseries of mankind, here and now, we will realize that man’s resources and abilities to do so are insufficient. But Gods resources and abilities are infinite. Man does not have the understanding, the wisdom, the goodness, the strength, or the might, to solve man’s problems. But God has all the resources necessary to solve every human problem and is only waiting for men to live the Royal Law through faith in Jesus Christ so that relieving their misery would be a blessing and not a curse.”

III. Mortal examples of living the Royal Law

Moses was born into the misery of the slavery of the children of Israel in Egypt. Because God loved Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he looked carefully after their children and saved Moses: life. He saw that Moses was raised as an Egyptian then drew him to Midian where he learned the Royal Law and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Moses was grateful for God’s love and loved him in return. Keeping that first commandment enabled Moses then to love his neighbors, the Egyptians and Israel, as he was loved. But Moses did not pretend to the power to bless Egypt or Israel. He went to teach them of the true and living God, that each might be blessed of God if they would love him.

Moses taught the Egyptians of God and his power, and gave them a chance to serve God by letting Israel go. They chose selfishness over righteousness. Moses taught Israel of God and his power. Israel learned enough to become barely obedient, and were made free. Acting on faith in God, Israel went under the sea walls and was saved. Acting in the satanic anger of selfishness, Egypt went under the sea walls and was destroyed.

In Sinai Israel lacked water and food. Moses implored the Lord, and God sent water, manna, and meat. Their clothing did not fail, nor their shoes wear for forty years. Moses loved Israel, his neighbors, but what he gave them did not save them. He gave them his time, and his strength. He gave them witness of the true and living God. As Israel learned to love God as Moses did they were saved. Those that did not return God’s love were left in misery.

In Moses’ last great labor with Israel, the Book of Deuteronomy, he implored them to love the Lord, to keep the Royal Law. He told them of the blessings they and their children would receive for that faithfulness. He told them of the misery which would come upon them if they turned away from God and served selfishness. But Israel had rejected the higher law, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and its ordinances. The lesser law which took its place was to point their minds to the higher law but did not give them the power to live the Royal Law. Thus Israel suffered in misery down through the centuries, embracing the idea of the Royal Law but rejecting the power which made living it possible.

The Savior himself came in flesh and blood to show Israel the way. He reaffirmed the Royal Law and restored the Gospel and its ordinances. `Most’ of Israel rejected him and his Gospel, even while professing to love God, to live the Royal Law.

In these latter days the Lord has set his hand again to gather and restore Israel to the Royal Law through the preaching of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. He sent the Prophet Joseph to show the way. The Father and the Son loved Joseph for his faith, and Joseph loved them with all of his heart, might, mind, and strength. Through Joseph the Lord restored the Gospel message and all of the ordinances which pertain to salvation. Joseph loved his neighbors as God loved him, and sought to share his knowledge and power from God wherever it was appropriate in God for him to do so. The love of God and of the Prophet Joseph and of all others who love God continue to reach out today to invite every soul on earth to come to the feast of God’s love and partake without money or price.

To emphasize again the nature of the Royal Law we note the following. Love of the Lord must precede love of neighbor because no man of his own wisdom knows how to do what is best for his neighbor. When a person loves the Lord as the fountain of all righteousness, that fountain flows unto him as living water, so that he never hungers nor thirsts again. His gratitude for this living water is so great that he has then a great desire to share his blessings with his neighbors. He implores the Lord for guidance, then imparts of whatever riches he has according to the Lords instructions, never fearing diminution of his fountain. His fountain is endless, infinite: he knows that his personal needs will always be met as he obeys the Lord. So he gives and shares without worry, for love. He give’s and shares that his neighbor might know of the goodness of God. He knows that whatever he gives his neighbor, it is a pittance compared with the love of God that neighbor will know if the neighbor turns to love God. The purpose of the Royal Law is identical with the work and glory of God, which is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Men on earth become participators with God in the grand design as they beget children to a mortality that leads to immortality and as they love their neighbors in a world full of misery in a way which presages the blessings of God. This world that abounds in misery is the handiwork of a kind and loving Father who has carefully allowed this misery that he might teach his children the true riches of time and eternity. The misery exists for two basic reasons: 1) that those who love God will have ample opportunity to share what God has given them with their less fortunate neighbors as they witness of God’s love, and 2) that-those who reject God might better realize that there are consequences for having done so here in this life as well as hereafter.

In summary, keeping the Royal Law is what every man can and should do to help to relieve the miseries of mankind. As any man keeps it, he opens the channel of godly love that flows between God and himself, and between his neighbor and himself. Thus every human misery that should be relieved will be relieved. Each will be relieved when faith in God makes that relieving a blessing. Every man who keeps the Royal Law voluntarily makes himself a servant of God and also a servant to his neighbor.

III. Noblesse Oblige

Having given a basic explanation of the Royal Law, the living of which is the greatest and most rewarding feat which any human being or god can perform, let us turn briefly to the counterfeit which is noblesse oblige. Noblesse is the French word for nobility: oblige means `oblige’. Together they mean that to be of the nobility obliges one to do good for others.

To begin our account we must make a few observations about nobility.

There is a striking propensity in every human society for people to stratify, to establish a pecking order. Almost every person who exists desired to be able to look down on someone else, anyone else. The desire to look down on someone seems to be almost as basic as the need for human company. In many people it is matched by a desire to look up to someone, a “hero” to worship. Much of what we see in human relationships is varieties of this look-up, look-down syndrome.

One outgrowth of that syndrome has been the creation of a noble caste or class in almost every society, an “in” group to which not everyone can belong. Devices which have been used to create nobility or “in” groups are: age, blood line, language spoken (e.g., French over Anglo-Saxon), clubs, clothing, priesthood, physical strength, physical prowess, education, degrees, physical possessions of land, money, technical devices (e.g., possession of a Rolls Royce), skin color, height, obesity or lack of it, etc. We see the same drive for superciliousness influencing the royalty of a country to see themselves as being far superior to commoners as we see when third- graders taunt the “kindergarten babies.” For many people, success in this world is just having someone to look down upon. This is a worldwide psychological Ponzi scheme to live psychologically high the expense of those at the bottom of the social pyramid. We note that the nobility are self-appointed. Their noble line began in case when some ancestor had power, either military or economically monopoly power, and through that power obtained holdings that ensure family wealth. Family wealth has been exploited to differentiate the noble family from others in perpetuity.

Because they believe they are nobler, thus better than whoever else is beneath them in the social pyramid, the nobility believe they have obligations to make up for the deficiencies of the “great uneasy” Because their actions are typical and world-wide, we will focus on the obligations which historically have attached to the nobility of Europe.

The first obligation is to maintain a clear line of difference between themselves and their inferiors. They are obliged to do this because they perceive that the world would be worse off if they were not true and loyal to the inherent betterness of their class. Devices used to institutionalize that line of difference are:

a. Distinctive dress, speech, gracious manners, and demeanor in all public appearances. This is what they call “breeding.”

b. Fostering differential and deferential behavior in their underlings; such as bowing, kneeling, sitting lower than, saying “sir” and “maam.”

c. Controlling their public image by getting the “right reports of their being seen and being mentioned at  “right” occasions.”

d. Recognizing and making much of each other.

e. Total avoidance of productive manual labor. That would utterly disgrace them.

f. The need to appear to be affluent even if the family fortune has fallen on hard times.

The second obligation is to be influential in government to protect the interest of the “people,” the community, the nation. They do this by wielding “influence” in whatever government currently stands. Should the government be threatened and military force become necessary or expedient they, because of their inherently super wisdom and because of their breeding, always become the officers. They seize the government for themselves, where possible.

A third obligation is the need to support “fine art.” Fine art is the art of the medieval court. If they, the nobility, did not support it, it would die, since the masses have little taste for it. So it is the obligation of the nobility to support opera and ballet companies, symphony orchestras, art museums, etc., in order to preserve what is “noble” in art for the benefit of all mankind.

(Note: Their support of science is a practical matter, science has commercial and military technical applications which make its support necessary. But because fine art is not in the same sense necessary, voluntary support of fine art is a truer test of “nobility than is support of science.)

A fourth obligation of the nobility is the need to be charitable, be involved in good causes to help the poor. This obligation manifest in three main ways:

a. They support charitable organizations which engage in the immediate physical relief to the suffering, such as hospitals, and soup kitchens.

b. They support government welfare programs which will maintain the quietness and steadiness of the masses to be ready to serve in the military or in industrial enterprises should the need for their labor arise.

c. They support compulsory public education so that the masses will be sufficiently educated that they can serve well in the military and industrial occasions of the society. Professional training of the brightest persons is essential so that they can run the government bureaucracies, the military organizations and the industrial complies with greater efficiency.

Thus do the nobility preserve their status and fortunes.

The occupations of the nobility traditionally were war and government. Now they are war, government, and business. Part of their success (that not due to their power and wealth) has been due to the mystique which they have engendered about themselves. Non-nobility traditionally look Lip to the nobility as the wisest, the bravest, the best of persons. The never-never land of all fairy tales and romantic literature is for some low-born person to join the nobility and live happily ever after. Low-born persons, not esteeming themselves, attempt to imitate the speech, the dress, the sports, the vacations of the nobility. When a low-born person gets wealth, he often will immediately seek to acquire the eternal trappings of the nobility and will try to join them. If his son or daughter can marry someone of “noble” blood, he has succeeded. But the nobility resist penetration. They are careful to count as “their own” only pedigreed persons of ancient wealth; interlopers are disdainfully regarded as nouveau riches (the newly rich).

An interesting application of the nobility mystique is seen at the wedding receptions in our own LDS culture. Not esteeming ourselves because we believe we are not nobility, LDS families seize upon this one special occasion to become kings and queens, knights and dukes, for a day. We rent the tuxedo trappings of the nobility and parade before all of our family and friends in the accoutrements of the “noble” rich to make the occasion “very special,” to be somebody. But of course we do homage in other ways, such as buying designer clothes, desiring the “right” kind of automobile, desiring to live as high on the hill as possible, etc.

An historic example will help to clarify the meaning of what we are saying as to the pervasive nature of the “nobility” frame of mind and its obligations. In the 19th Century, Tsarist Russia was a typical European kingdom ruled by a nobility which fitted the general descriptions given above. During the second half of the century (1861-1907), in response to great internal pressure, reforms were undertaken to abolish serfdom and to institute some representative government. But the outrageous inequity and inefficiency of the government as run by the nobility forced the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917.

In the power struggle which ensued, the Bolsheviks eventually gained control of all of Russia. And how did they govern? By creating a new aristocracy. They replaced an aristocracy of blood and power and money by an aristocracy of intellect and power, the members of the Communist Party. The years since 1917 have shown; insufficiency of the intellectual claim of Communism, so now Russia ruled by another aristocracy of blood, money, and power, who have all of the attributes of a traditional nobility anywhere and respond under exactly the same obligations. They differentiate themselves socially from the masses, run the government, support the same fine art, and practice the same condescending charity as the nobles whom they smashed in 1917 to 1920. They, too, rule by noblesse oblige.

Now it is time for a caveat. We desire to be understood as speaking in types, and average when we talk about the historic nature of aristocracy, the so-called nobility. Among the nobility doubtless there have been pure souls who recognized and attempted to live the

Royal Law, and their good works were genuine selfless help to those less fortunate than they. Had such souls been a majority, the history of the earth would have been very different, much happier. But such have not been in the majority. As a class, the influence of the nobility has always been more that of Satan than of God.

Recognition of that generalization caused the Founding Fathers of the United States expressly to forbid the establishment of a peerage. The wisdom of that move has been plain, at least to those who see with Restored Gospel eyes. But their refusal to recognize a nobility did not prevent the assembling of a defacto peerage which has carried on the European traditions of the nobility wherever enough money could be assembled to launch a dynasty.

While it can correctly be said that the world might be worse off were it not for the rule of the nobility (anarchy has few devotees), our point is that there is an alternative to aristocracy and noblesse oblige; the alternative is the Royal Law. To sharpen the contrast between these two approaches to solving the problems of mankind, let us now sum this feit and the counterfeit to make clear their striking differences.

1. In the Royal Law, God is loved and worshipped because of his righteousness, and the worshipper counts himself as nothing without God. In noblesse oblige, God is far, far away, if he exists at all. The nobility must take the place of God to the people.

2. In the Royal Law, God showers spiritual and temporal blessings upon all those who love his name and diligently keep his commandments. To be saved is to learn to love as God loves.

In noblesse oblige, one must amass and maintain fortune and power as one can. The end justifies the means of slavery, tyranny, oppression, and all manner of legal extortion. To be saved is to be of the nobility, to lord it over others.

3. In the Royal Law one loves ones neighbor as Christ loves him. He goes to the Father and seeks direction to know how, when, and where he should share what the Father has given him to help to relieve his neighbor’s misery, and is willing to share, to give, all that he he has.

Under noblesse oblige one is obliged to do something for the suffering, struggling masses. So one gives them policemen to establish order, government to promote trade so they can have jobs, medical programs so they can have better health, schools so they will not be illiterate. But very little, if any, of the family fortune every goes into any of these causes unless it can be recouped in good will or tax advantage. To be noble is to fling coins at the masses.

4. In the Royal Law, the main hope in sharing one’s wealth with the poor is the hope that one can help the poor turn to the Father and that they can learn to keep the Royal Law themselves. For if the poor do that, all of their problems will be solved. They will inherit all that the Father has, both temporally and spiritually, in both time and in eternity. Then they will be wealthy in a way that no earthly or mortal system could possibly match.

In noblesse oblige the main hope in helping the poor is to keep them fed, pleasured, working, and obedient, so that they will not disturb the status quo. Or if the nobility are religious, the reason for helping the poor is so that the poor can successfully endure the miseries of this world long enough to do their serf work; then God will reward them for their goodness and suffering in the next world.

It surely is true that God will reward the righteous poor. But a rich person rarely has a heavenly future.

As we turn to the world in which we live for examples of noblesse oblige, we see them everywhere. All are varieties of: I am noble. In condescend to relate to you who are inferior, e.g.,

  1. Professional people who condescend to relate to laymen.
  2. People in expensive homes who condescend to admit that people in hovels are human beings also.
  3. Professors who condescend to teach students.
  4. Elders who condescend to relate to younger people.
  5. Younger people who condescend to acknowledge that the elderly are human beings.
  6. The cultured who condescend to admit that the uncultured people do exist.
  7. The strong that lord it over the weak.
  8. The literate that lord it over the illiterate.
  9. The married that lord it over the single.
  10. Men who lord it over women.
  11. Parents who lord it over their children.
  12. The professional women who lord it over the housewife.
  13. The housewife who feels superior to the professional woman.
  14. The people high on the hill who look down on the people in the lowlands.
  15. The athletes who swagger around those who didn’t make the team.
  16. The verbal who tease those who struggle to speak.
  17. The fortunate who note how the misery of the unfortunate is well-deserved.
  18. The beautiful people who feel sorry for ordinary people.
  19. The white people who look down on people of other colors.
  20. The Mormons who look down on non-Mormons.
  21. The government official who deigns to render a service to a citizen.
  22. The “saved” who look down on the sinners.

It is plain that the list is virtually endless. It is also plain that most humans would gladly have some edge on others so they could lord it over others. All instances of this noblesse oblige have two things in common which are the perverse parallels to the Royal Law.

The first law of the nobility is to love and perpetuate that difference that sets one off from the masses. The second law of the nobility is to flaunt that difference which sets them off from the masses by displaying the difference whenever possible, but always in a condescending way. Noblesse oblige is the epitome of arrogance and selfishness, even as the Royal Law is the epitome of godly love.

It remains now in this paper to make plain how certain specific human miseries are to be cured through the ministrations of those who live the Royal Law. (We take it for granted that noblesse oblige never will nor never could solve any of these problems on a societal scale: the evidence for that is six thousand years of one miserable failure after another as the miseries and oppression of mankind have been perpetuated by the self-styled lords and landlords of humanity.)

IV. Solutions to Human Misery

Misery #1. Poverty.

Under the Royal Law every covenant servant of God sets the totality of his earthly goods in reserve to be ministered unto the poor. He holds nothing back, knowing that should he need to give away or lose all of his earthly substance to fulfill the Lord’s plan, then the Lord would yet make it possible for the labor of his two hands and the sweat of his brow to provide for the needs of his family. Having put all he has in reserve, he then makes diligent inquiry of the Lord as to whom the Lord would have him give what. Having received instructions he will give away his substance, directly or through the Church, as the Lord directs. If so instructed, he will bear witness of the goodness of God to the recipient and will encourage the recipient to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; but if instructed not to say a word, he will give and not say a word. But he will pray mightily for that recipient, hoping that the Spirit of the Lord will penetrate to his heart, that he, the recipient, might turn and begin to love the Lord with all of his soul through the Restored Gospel.

Only thus will humanity see the world-wide end of poverty.

Misery #2. Ignorance.

Under the Royal Law, every covenant servant seeks after and treasures truth. He searches out the ways of nature and of the world until his faith in God is crowned with great understanding. He does not believe the opinion of any man, but tests all of the ideas he receives by the Spirit and by experiment, then holds fast to that which proves to be true and good. Then he consecrates all he has learned to the Lord and humbly seeks to know what to do with that knowledge. Usually his instruction will be to conduct his stewardship ably through the understanding he has gained and the further instruction he receives from day to day. But also, if so directed, he will share part of his truth with his neighbor. In so doing, he will warn the neighbor not to accept his human witness. He commends his neighbor to seek God: the Spirit of Truth, for in God that neighbor will find the greater treasures that he, the covenant servant, does not yet know. If the neighbor turns to love the Lord and to accept the Restored Gospel, that neighbor will then have access to the truth of all things in and through the Holy Ghost.

Thus can the ignorance and the chains of falsehood that bind mankind be dispelled and replaced by truth forever.

Misery #3. Foolishness.

Under the Royal Law, every covenant servant knows that the wisdom of the wisest man is foolishness before God. God sees all, knows all, understands all, but man sees little, and of himself knows and understands almost nothing. The covenant servant knows that God give liberally and upbraideth not when his servants ask in faith. So the servant asks, frequently, and obeys always and immediately. That obedience causes him to prosper, and his purposes fail not, because he loves that true and living God who purposes fail– not. In his success he sees a foolish neighbor who knows not God. The covenant servant seeks wisdom of God to know how to minister to the neighbor. The Lord may say “do nothing;” the servant will forebear. The Lord may say “give him money”! The servant will obey. The Lord may say “teach him how to avoid the pitfall that troubles him;” the servant will do so in all humility. The Lord may say “teach him the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. That I may make him wise;” the servant will comply. In every case, the servant prays mightily for the neighbor that the neighbor might come to know and love the Lord and partake of his wisdom.

Thus can the foolishness and failure of every human enterprise be turned to success and accomplishment of things eternally worthwhile by the living of the Royal Law.

Misery #4. Ill Health

Under the Royal Law, every covenant servant knows that health is primarily a spiritual but also a physical matter. It makes a difference what and how he eats, drinks, and exercises, but it makes more difference whether he is filled with the love of God or if he lets Satan rage within him in anger, self-justification, and punishment of others. So he attempts to love the Lord with all of his soul, that he might cleanse the inward vessel, knowing that is his real hope for strengthening the outward vessel. When his body is renewed and strong, he places that strength at the Lord’s disposal. He perceives a neighbor who is ill, and implores the Lord as to how to help. Having received the Lord’s instruction, he nurses the neighbor, expending his own strength. But in addition he prays for the neighbor, and if so further instructed, shares with the neighbor the Restored Gospel truths. If asked, he lays on hands and speaks the Lord’s blessing upon the head of the neighbor. The servant hopes in all this that the neighbor will turn and love the Lord, that the shower of love coming back from the Lord will heal the neighbor in heart, mind, and body. Then the neighbor will know exactly what to do for himself, to have faith inwardly and outwardly, that he too might be renewed and make his strength part of the hand of God in all things.

Thus may all of the ill-health of mankind be cured?

Misery #5. Lack of Power

The covenant servant of the Lord finds himself in a world where men have a great deal of muscle power and mental power but are not thereby able to solve many of the most pressing human problems. This servant, because of his love of the Lord, has sought and received additional power, the power of the Holy Priesthood. That priesthood is effective and operative exactly to the degree that the covenant servant hungers and thirsts after righteousness and places the Lord’s will above his own in all things. When he keeps his covenants, that servant can control fire, flood, earthquake, climate, storm, disease, pestilence, mountains, rivers, the rotation of the earth, etc. Anxious to share this power with his neighbor who does not enjoy the same, the covenant servant implores the Lord to know how and what to share. If the neighbor has not received the Gospel, under the Lord’s direction he shares with the neighbor the Gospel message. As that is received, and as the neighbor is able to receive, and as it is fitting in the Lords authority in his earthly kingdom -The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-, the neighbor is brought to faithfulness and then to a sharing of the priesthood power and authority. Then the neighbor has the power to solve every problem situation that confronts him in the stewardship God gives him in mortality.

By this same means can the lack of power to solve earthly problems be overcome for all mankind.

Until June 8, 1978, the opportunity to receive this power was not open to all men. On that day came a marvelous change. Why did the change come then? It had been prophesied that the change would come eventually, but why then? Two factors are important to mention: First, it was the Lord’s will, the right thing to do. Second, those who held the priesthood were very anxious to share the priesthood with every brother, who would love the Lord. The prayers of those who held the priesthood in behalf of their less fortunate brethren were undoubtedly a powerful influence to bring about the change. Their prayers and desire to share were a key aspect of making it right to make the change so that the Lord could instruct his prophet to make the change.

Misery #6. Being alone

Every righteous, healthy male covenant servant of the Lord of sufficient age is or has been married. Not so with many righteous female covenant servants of the Lord who desire to be married to a strong, good man and do not have that opportunity. It is one thing to tell them that they will get their reward in heaven. That is true. But it is like saying to the poor that the Lord has no power to lift their lot now, to the unlearned that the hidden treasures of knowledge are all reserved for the next world, or to the diseased and infirm that their cause is just but there is no healing power to help them. Following the principle that those who are rich have the opportunity to implore the Lord to know how to share with the poor, the changes which will enable the single righteous sisters of the Church to begin to fulfill their full earthly opportunities are much in the hands of the married sisters of the Church. When they who are rich implore the Lord that somehow the poor might be blessed in this regard, then it will become more right for the Lord to show forth his mighty arm. The poor in temporal resources in the Church yet languish because the rich do not yet love the Lord enough to implore him in their behalf. The ill in the Church yet languish because the healthy are not yet as concerned about them as they should be. The unlearned of the Church and the world are yet unlearned partly because the learned of the Church do not yet love the Lord enough to share more with them as the Lord directs.

May I now share with you the conclusion foregoing?

Conclusion #1: The measure of our love for the Lord is the degree to which we keep his commandments. To each of us he gives a mission as part of his commandments. He gives us a “what” and a “how.” Basically the “what” and the “how” are the same for each of us. The “what” of our missions is always to bear witness of him, to help to turn souls to him as we share our temporal blessings with them. The “how” of our missions is to do all that we do in righteousness, in and through covenants of the Restored Gospel and in the name of the Savior.

Conclusion #2: The measure of our love for our neighbor is the personal sacrifice we make to fulfill our mission to relieve our neighbor’s misery and to bear witness of the goodness of God to him. Whatever we get paid for doing, either in honor or money, is no sacrifice, and does not count as the work of God. Nor does it count if it is not done in the Lords own way. The work of God is always the free gift of love borne in sacrifice. The sacrifice always involves acting with a broken heart and a contrite spirit before God, and a giving up of our own time, strength, and substance to minister to genuine need. My belief is that it is the full-time mothers of this world who best perform this sacrifice and thus bust fulfill the Royal Law.

Conclusion #3: I have felt great anguish in my life because as a parent, spouse and neighbor I have been so imperfect. I have glimpsed the way of godliness but have been unable to exemplify it. Consideration of the Royal Law has brought me a new hope. That hope is in Christ. For I see that though my love and witness to my children is not perfect and I will never be able to minister fully to their miseries, I believe my love and witness have been sufficient to invite them to love the Lord. No man or men will ever be able to heal all of their wounds and troubles. But if each of them loves the Lord and fulfills his Royal Law, the Lord, who is perfect, will give them complete healing and blessing such as the people of this world have never dreamed. To pretend that man can save man, that the services one man can perform for another are sufficient for his needs, is as great a blasphemy as I know.

Conclusion #4: There is a worse hypocrisy in the earth than aristocracy. It is when the covenant servants of the Lord love him with only half of their heart, might, mind, and strength. They sit down in the gate of glory and will not go in themselves, nor will they help others to find the gate who would and could enter were the gate not blocked by double-minded carcasses. The kingdom has come a long way in 153 years. But the Royal Law yet beckons us to continue in faith unto the end.

The great truth of the Restored Gospel is that each human being can have a direct, personal, daily, saving relationship with God, now, in this world. If this relationship is sought humbly and intelligently by us through the laws and ordinances of the Restored Gospel, each of us shall know that bread of life, that fountain of living water, and shall never hunger nor thirst again. Unto this true nobility was each of us born. Thank you.

Posted in Restored Gospel, Womens Conference | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Feit and Counterfeit