The Problem of Professionalism in Teaching Religion

1. No doctorate degree in any subject can qualify a man to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Any person who attempts to teach without the direction of the Holy Spirit is promoting darkness, not light. Having a doctor’s degree may be rather more a hindrance than an asset for having the companionship of the Spirit.
2. There is no natural check on paid teachers of religion. In other fields, professionals can be checked by the work of other persons in the field. But professors of religion in the Church necessarily differ from their counterparts in other churches. If not held in check by the Spirit or the Priesthood, they become a law unto themselves.
3. Professional teachers of religion tend to make their subjects unnecessarily complex. The simple Gospel that everyone can and should understand is made recondite and philosophical in the interest of expanding the professional opportunity. Truth is thus obscured rather than revealed.
4. Professional teachers of religion tend to say too much of what is true. The main function of any teacher of the Gospel is to bring those taught to be able to receive the companionship of the Holy Spirit. All further teaching is then not only superfluous, but may indeed be harmful. Further information should be conveyed by way of suggestion only. The Savior was careful to teach in a manner that would obscure His message to those not prepared to receive it.
5. Teaching for hire tends to make the holder of the purse strings the standard of truth. Congregations pay for what they want to hear. Administrators perpetuate their own doctrinal preferences. If the Lord is paymaster, most false hirelings soon depart for lack of reward.

Ideally, all Gospel teaching should be done on the basis of a call from those in Priesthood authority and to be recompensed by spiritual, not physical rewards. The major difficulty with this ideal is the shortage of men who can teach effectively and with knowledge. But could not men be called to prepare themselves to teach? Could not teaching religion during the week be as much a calling as being a Bishop or Quorum President?