College of Religious Instruction
The Mormon Intellectual fix WCr date in WCrVol. II, No. 1, 28 February 1968
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who develop themselves intellectually enjoy the riches of a double heritage. Participation in that Church brings them a legacy of prophets and principles, revelation and exhortation, as well as an active program of cultural, social, and moral reformation. Intellectual development brings to them the knowledge, culture, scholarship, and technology of the world of their fellowmen. These two heritages might be characterized in Greek terms as “mantic” and “sophic”; in direction as vertical as opposed to horizontal sources; or, as “other-worldly” and “worldly.” Tensions associated with the proper relating of these two influences, both within the individual person and also within the LDS Intellectual community, create rather considerable interest and excitement, both within and without that community. That tension may be seen as a great asset or as detrimental, depending upon one’s point of view, but it is unquestionably a very real factor in the present local scene.
The religious heritage of the LDS intellectual is centered in a special concept of deity. In this heritage, Jesus Christ is the God of this earth, a personal, specific, divine being who once lived on earth as a man and who now, as a resurrected, corporeal person, controls this universe. Much of this foregoing theological commitment is shared with other Christians. The special difference is that to the LDS person, Jesus Christ is available for personal communication at all times. To be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to acknowledge that Jesus Christ has and does literally speak with and appear to prophets today. To be active in this religion, each individual member is expected to communicate with Christ daily through the Holy Spirit, receiving instruction and guidance about the practical matter of moral uprightness in daily life. The goal of every person who lives this religion is to overcome unrighteousness and evil through the guidance of the Christ, and having done so, to be allowed into the personal presence of Jesus Christ, to see him face to face, as have the prophets, both ancient and modern. This is the “mantic” heritage.
The “sophic” heritage brings to the LDS intellectual the total cultural, scientific, and social deposit of the ages. Through the processes of education, scholarship and experimentation, that total deposit is available to him, as it is to every other human being. Far from being afraid or disdainful of this heritage, as religious persons are sometimes said to be, he is anxious to inherit: “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” (13th Article of Faith.)
As the possessor of a dual heritage, however, the LDS person cannot take either lightly. He must seek revelation constantly to be true to his religion, and he must seek the best that is in the world constantly, through study and experience. To become a master of both is his religious goal.
A problem arises, however, when the commitment to his religion runs contrary to the wisdom of his fellowmen. He may then be forced to choose between his prophet and contemporary sociology, between revelation and the opinion of his peers. He cannot give equal allegiance to both traditions. The possible solutions to this dilemma mark the tensions within the Church.
LDS persons who accept the prophets and revelation but will not study, discuss, reason and experiment are automatically excluded from the group known as “LDS intellectuals.” These, of course, do not fully accept their religion, because it enjoins them to seek learning, to be “intellectual.”
At the other extreme is the member of the Church who is well-acquainted with the heritage of the world and gives it his primary allegiance. Ordinarily he is a person who does not enjoy personal revelation on anything like a daily basis; this makes him suspect that the prophets do not enjoy much, if any, personal revelation. This type of person may be an active member of the Church, but becomes uncomfortable when Church policy or statements of the prophets go contrary to what he has learned from the world. He views the non-intellectual Church member as hopeless and suspects the integrity of any intellectual who puts faith first.
The LDS intellectual who enjoys personal revelation but insists on meeting the intellectual world on its own ground sees himself as taking the best of both worlds. He sees the non-intellectual Church member as needing to be inspired, and the intellectual who rejects revelation as one who is blind. He believes that revelation will help him to solve the problems of the world to the degree to which he himself works hard to implement those solutions. He sees the LDS Church as the nucleus of a perfect social organization that will eventually meet every human need for every human being: economic, cultural, intellectual, political, and religious.
The future of the LDS Church will be a struggle to encourage its faithful non-intellectuals to become faithful intellectuals and to encourage its intellectuals to become faithful to Jesus Christ through their own personal revelation.
President David O. McKay
Vol. II, No. 3, 20 March 1968
It is entirely fitting that President David O. McKay should receive the Exemplary Manhood Award from the Associated Men Students of Brigham Young University. Fitting though this honor is it does not begin to touch the greatness of the man. For this one is more than a man, a great man. He is a prophet of the living God. He is the personal steward representing the Creator of this universe, even Jesus Christ, to every living soul upon this earth.
If we assent to the Exemplary Manhood Award, perhaps we could also envision a greater honor to be bestowed. Perhaps we could see him as the Savior’s personal emissary, inviting all men to come and drink freely at the fountain of life, truth and righteous. Perhaps through the Holy Spirit we could believe and obey in all things as he speaks the mind and will of Christ. Perhaps through this faithfulness we could come to a unity of the faith, the perfecting of the Saints, the adornment of the bride ready for the Bridegroom. This would indeed honor David O. McKay and the Lord Jesus Christ who has sent him.
Through the years the words of President McKay have sweetly vouchsafed peace to our souls, courage to our hearts, strength to our determination. The following selection of these choice sayings is brought to your attention in the hope that all of us might rededicate ourselves to the service of Christ and that we might encourage others to do the same as we savor the prophetic, challenging words of this great man:
Christ
I know that God lives, that his Son Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and that divine beings restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith the gospel of Jesus Christ as he established it in the meridian of time. (CR, Oct. 1967, p. 153)
The Church
Thus does the Savior and His Church become my inspiration, my ideal in life. I think it is the one great thing for which man should strive. It presents the most efficient methods for human service, social uplift and progressive steps toward universal peace and brotherhood; and in its idea of salvation it comprehends the whole of the human family. (CR, April 1963, p. 99)
Communism
The position of this Church on the subject of Communism has never changed. We consider it the great satanical threat to peace, prosperity, and the spread of God’s work among men that exists on the face of the earth. (CR, Oct. 1964, p. 92)
Force
Force rules in the world today. Individual freedom is threatened by international rivalries and false political ideals. Unwise legislation, too often prompted by political expediency, if enacted, will seductively undermine man’s right of free agency, rob him of his rightful liberties, and make him but a cog in the crushing wheel of regimentation. (CR, Oct. 1965, p. 8)
God as the Center of our Lives
When God becomes the center of our being, we become conscious of a new aim in life. To indulge, nourish, and delight the body as any animal may do is no longer the chief end of mortal existence. God is not viewed from the standpoint of what we may get from him, but rather from what we may give him.
Only in the complete surrender of our inner life may we rise above the selfish, sordid pull of nature. What the spirit is to the body, God is to the spirit. When the spirit leaves the body, it is lifeless, and when we eliminate God from our lives, spirituality languishes. (CR, April 1967, pl 134, emphasis added)
Hearts
Merely an appreciation of the social ethics of Jesus, however, is not sufficient. Men’s hearts must be changed. Instead of selfishness, men must be willing to dedicate their ability, their possessions—if necessary, their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor for the alleviation of the ills of mankind. Hate must be supplanted by sympathy and forbearance. (CR, Oct. 1963, p. 89)
Love of Life
I love life! I think it is a joy to live in this age. Every morning, as I view from my window the mountains to the east and greet the sun as it ushers in these unexcelled autumn days, I feel the joy and privilege of life and appreciate God’s goodness. (CR, Oct. 1966, p. 4)
Missionary Work
It is the responsibility of every member of the Church to preach the restored gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, that the evils of the world may be met by the counteracting forces of truth. (CR, Oct. 1967, p. 151)
The Noble Life
The noblest aim in life is to strive to live to make other lives better and happier. (CR, April 1961, p. 131)
Radiate the Divine Nature
God helps us to be partakers of the Divine Nature. May the spirit of this great conference radiate from your hearts to those who you will meet when you go back to your stakes and wards, and especially may it radiate in your homes. (CR, Oct. 1960, p. 60)
Reverence
The greatest manifestation of spirituality is reverence; indeed, reverence is spirituality. Reverence is profound respect mingled with love. (CR, April 1967, p. 86)
Self-Mastery
I plead with the members of the Priesthood throughout the Church to practice self-mastery. Be master of yourselves, master of your appetites, master of your passions. (CR, Oct. 1958, p.88)
Spirituality
Spirituality is the consciousness of victory over self, and of communion with the Infinite. (CR, April 1967, p. 8)
The Test
Man’s earthly existence is but a test as to whether he will concentrate his efforts, his mind, his soul, upon things which contribute to the comfort and gratification of his physical nature, or whether he will make as his life’s pursuit the acquisition of spiritual qualities. (CR, Oct. 1963, p. 89)
Truth
The most precious thing in the world is a testimony of the truth. (CR, Oct. 1964, p. 92)
Unity
The greatest safeguard we have for unity and strength in the Church is found in the priesthood, by honoring and respecting it. (CR, Oct. 1967, p. 6)
We Must Be Born Again
Force and compulsion will never establish the ideal society. This can come only by a transformation within the individual soul—a life brought into harmony with the divine will. We must be “born again.” (CR, Oct. 1961, p. 7–8)
The Anchor
Vol. II, No. 6, 15 April 1968
President David O. McKay admonished us in his closing conference message to make the Gospel the anchor of our lives. An anchor is a device for giving a ship some freedom of motion, but setting definite boundaries beyond which it cannot go. As the wind, waves and tide force the ship in directions that lead to destruction, the anchor holds it safely in check.
So with our lives. The fierce winds of passion, the waves of confusion, the tides of the ways of men, the stealthy fog of temptation, all effectively put us in peril. If the Gospel is our anchor, then Christ is our rock. As a sure mooring he enables us to bridle our passions that we might love purely, to know the truth that we be not double-minded, to walk in the narrow path of righteousness that we might do great good to penetrate the fog of temptation with the light which leads us out of darkness to eternal life.
How joyful we ought to be that there is a god who is our God, who loves us enough to restrain us from evil, to protect us against destruction! How grateful ought we to be for that tug of conscience that tells us that we have gone far enough, that any further will sever our connection with the rock of our salvation! If we are humble and obedient to the tugs of the anchor chain, if we can resist being restive and proud, then the might and power of all eternity is extended to us to guarantee safe harbor. But if the anchor becomes a burden and the rock too restrictive, we can cut ourselves loose; but then we must depend upon our own power for any salvation we get.
The choice is simple: anchor, restraint, safety, salvation, Christ; or relativity, license, danger, degradation, destruction.
Two Kinds of Religion
Vol. II, No. 7, 22 April 1968
As we take spiritual inventory, we should understand the type which our personal pattern of religion exemplifies. There are two main types of religion. Both can be good, but one can be better.
The first kind of religion is an attempt to avoid evil. It seeks a pattern of safety among pitfalls. It seeks defense against a formidable adversary. It is essentially negative. Carried to extreme, its progressive protections and proscriptions lead the doer to inactivity. Only in doing nothing is he safe. Nirvanistic loss of personal identity and responsibility is the eternal bliss.
The second kind of religion is an attempt to do good. It seeks to establish heaven in a fallen world. It strives for an offensive against everything which deters growth, development, fulfillment. It is positive. Its culmination is in the enlargement and exaltation of the individual through laying hold of every good thing. An eternity of solving problems in blessing others is the great goal.
The first alternative will be recognized as legalistic, law-of-Moses type of religion. The second will be seen to be a more expansive, spiritual type of religion. The former breeds fear and carelessness. The latter breeds the impetuous Peter who sought good in spite of himself. We can see these two types in the restored Church today: legalistic proscribers and liberalizing expansionists. The interesting thing to note is that neither of these approaches by itself enables one to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
To live the Gospel one must enjoy both kinds of religion, both negative and positive. The negative side, as the law of Moses, is carnal; it is for the body, for the subduing of the flesh. The ultimate goal of this side of living the Gospel is to strip the flesh of identity, of autonomy, to make it humbly obedient as a passive entity, an instrument of the spirit. The spirit having gained mastery and control of the body with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, it can then with that same help pursue positive religion, to do the works of righteousness, of charity, uninhibited by a recalcitrant tabernacle but strengthened by a body in form like that of God himself. The fulness of the Restored Gospel leads a person to mighty works of witness, of priesthood and of love as the individual participates in the warning of the nations and in the establishment of Zion.
Man is a dual being, body and spirit. He needs two religions. One of proscription, to subdue the flesh, and another of enticement to do good, to enlarge the spirit. The negative must come first, even as the schoolmaster law of Moses prepared the way for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But both must have their fulfillment. Then we shall be sons of both Moses and Aaron:
“For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God.” (D&C 84:33–34)
Both of these religions must center upon Christ through the laws and ordinances of his Gospel. As the Law of Moses witnessed the sacrifice of the Savior’s body, even so does the Gospel witness his faith, his complete obedience to the Father in the spirit. Jesus Christ is both our example and our succor in living both of these religions. As we fulfill all righteousness in him, the two become one religion. This then is our hope:
And again I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing. …
Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ, and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.” (D&C 10:30, 32–33.)
Spring, a Time of Hope
Vol. II, No. 8, 29 April 1968
On a fine spring day the surge of life as nature awakens is electric. Blooming flowers, nascent leaves, bursting buds, tireless bees, pungent fragrance, all attest the energy, the power, of life.
For one who loves Christ, every day is a fine spring day. As he feels the testimony, the love, the gifts, the comfort of Christ, his bosom swells; the power and sweetness of spiritual life cause him to be exuberant. In spite of troubles and trials, he knows no anxiety, for he knows that in Christ all things work for good for those that love the Lord. Each day becomes an exciting adventure as the Lord’s mission takes him to new places, to meet new people, to help solve new problems. He knows no failure in any venture, for the Lord prospers him spiritually no matter what happens physically or temporally. As he goes through each day, a singing happiness of self-mastery, accomplishment, benevolence and compassion rewards and nourishes him, and the anticipation and intimation of joy beckon him onward. Knowledge distills upon his soul, understanding wreathes his experience, power flows to enable him to lay hold upon every good thing. The life and light and love of Christ are his life, his hope, his love. So every day is as spring.
And when you couple spiritual life with a beautiful spring day. …