Category: Essay

Chauncey C. Riddle
Professor of Philosophy
Brigham Young University
Originally given in 1988

One important question a thinking Latter-day Saint might ask concerning Joseph Smith is, What are the basic beliefs of his thinking? In other words, what are the fundamental ideas which are part of all that he felt, thought, and did?

This question is important because the mind of Joseph Smith was shaped by God himself; the thinking as represented in the scriptures which came through him is a prime clue to the nature of the mind of God. And since it is the opportunity of each Latter-day Saint to come to have one mind with God and with all of the holy prophets since the beginning, this question also comes down to what each of us should believe.

I will attempt to isolate the most important features of the thinking of the Prophet Joseph Smith. This is not a work of scholarship, for no scholarly methodology enables one to make the value judgments necessary to this task. This writing is more a personal testimony, an editorial on the life and thought of the Prophet. Admittedly it represents my personal opinions, based on a lifetime of study of the scriptures and pondering of the doctrines of the restored gospel. A similar effort on the part of everyone is an important labor in establishing Zion as we strive to attain one mind, the Savior’s mind.

This paper lists and elaborates the ideas which I believe are central to the thought of Joseph Smith and to the thought of all others who pursue the revelations of the true and living God in the hope of being saved from ignorance and impurity. My method is to give the reader a trisection by which to contemplate these ideas. One aspect will be quotations from the nonscriptural writings of the Prophet, another will be scriptural references, and still another will be my comments.

1. The heart of man is the key, the most important factor of man’s being. “Thus you see, my dear brother, the willingness of our heavenly Father to forgive sins, and restore to favor all those who are willing to humble themselves before Him and confess their sins, and forsake them, and return to Him with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy, to serve Him to the end.” ¹

The four parts of man are the heart, which is the function of desiring and choosing; the mind, which is the function of understanding, knowing, and planning; the strength, which is the physical body of man, having the functions of sensing, acting, and procreating; and the might, which is the influence of a person (of the heart, mind, and strength) as that person acts in the world. Thus the four important things to understand about any person in a given situation are the person’s motive (heart), intention (mind), action (strength), and resulting influence (might)—the most important of these being heart, for it is the independent variable. (2 Nephi 31:13: “Follow the Son, with full purpose of heart.”).

2. Man’s life consists of using one’s heart and mind to choose and act.“A man may be saved, after the judgment, in the terrestrial kingdom, or in the telestial kingdom, but he can never see the celestial kingdom of God, without being born pf water and the Spirit. He may receive a glory like unto   the moon [i.e., of which the light of the moon is typical] or a star, [i.e., of which the light of the stars is typical]: but can never come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant unless he becomes as a little child, and is taught by the Spirit of God.”²

To live is to act. To act is to sense a problem, perceive the situation, choose and plan a solution, and act to create a change the odd in the hope of solving the problem. The world is ones environment. A person acts to change that environment so that the desires of the person will be fulfilled. Actions do not always result in the fulfillment of desire, but persons always act to fulfill desire. (Proverbs 23.7. “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”)

To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction in people as well as in particles, so whenever a person act; to change hi environment, that action also changes himself. (2 Nephi 2:1: “Opposition in all things.”) The specific change of self-involved in a given action is that every choosing creates a propensity to make a similar choice at a later time. That propensity, if reinforced with similar choices, will eventually create a habit in the person, and habits create a character. (Alma 62:41: “Hardened, … softened.”)

To live a human life is to attempt to reshape one’s environment; this attempt may or may not succeed, but the attempt always creates a set of habits, a character, in the person. A person always succeeds in shaping the self into the image of that person’s own desires. (D&C 123:11–17. “Cheerfully do all things that lie in our power.”)

To live spiritually is to act under the direction of the Holy Spirit, which leads to eternal life, which is the fulness of acting spiritually. (Moses 6:59: “Enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come even immortal glory.”)  

3. In every action man must choose between what he believes to be the better and the worse, between darkness and light.“We again make remark here—for we find that the very principle upon which the disciples were accounted blessed, was because they were permitted to see with their eyes and hear with their ears—that the condemnation which rested upon the multitude that received not His saying, was because they were not willing to see with their eyes, and hear with their ears; not because they could not, and were not privileged to see and hear, but because their hearts were full of iniquity and abominations; ‘as your fathers did, so do ye.’ The prophet, foreseeing that they would thus harden their hearts, plainly declared it; and herein is the condemnation of the world; that light hath come into the world, and men choose darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. This is so plainly taught by the Savior, that a wayfaring man need not mistake it.”³

What a person thinks is better, the person calls good; and what a person thinks is worse may be called evil. This is to say that every human has agency. The agency consists in being subject to a person’s own desires, thus enabling that person to call some things good because they are desired by the person, and to call some things evil, or bad, or undesirable, because they are not desired by the person.

(Alma 42:7: “Subjects to follow after their own will.”)

Every person has some desires that he or she may act upon and others which he or she is powerless to attain. But in either case, the desiring and planning when one is powerless to act and the desiring and planning and acting when one is able to act both result in habit and character formation. (Mosiah 4:24–25: “you who deny the [poor] … say in your hearts.”)

4. In every action one is influenced toward the good by God and toward evil by Satan. “We admit that God is the great source and fountain from whence proceeds all good; that He is perfect intelligence, and that His wisdom is alone sufficient to govern and regulate the mighty creations and worlds which shine and blaze with such magnificence and splendor over our heads, as though touched with His finger and moved by His Almighty word. And if so, it is done and regulated by law; for without law all must certainly fall into chaos. If, then, we admit that God is the source of all wisdom and understanding, we must admit that by His direct inspiration He has taught man that law is necessary in order to govern and regulate His own immediate interest and welfare; for this reason, that law is beneficial to promote peace and happiness among men. And as before remarked, God is the source from whence proceeds all good; and if man is benefitted by law, then certainly, law is good; and if law is good, then law, or the principle of it emanated from God; for God is the source of all good; consequently, then, he was the first Author of law, or the principle of it, to mankind.” ⁴

God and Satan may influence man directly or indirectly. Direct influence comes in the form of personal revelation from either, God acting upon the spirit (heart and mind) and body of man, and Satan working upon the body. Or the influence may be indirect, through other human beings, through illness or calamity, or through natural events. The person receiving these influences might not recognize either God or Satan as existing or having any effect in a given situation. But it is fundamental to scripture-based thinking to recognize that all good that is really good comes from God and that everything that is evil is sent forth by the power of Satan. (Moroni 7:11–12: “All things which are good cometh from God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil.”)

Every person who attains accountability in this world knows both good and evil. But they do not come labeled. Thus there may be a difference between what a given person says is good and what God commends as good. The things individuals call good are relative goods, the desires of the person, and may differ from person to person. (See Moroni 7:14.) The good of God is righteousness and is absolute. Righteousness is so absolute that no human being can find it on his own. Thus it is that the true and living God of righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, is also “the fountain of all righteousness” to mortals on this earth. (Ether 12:28.)

Evil is inherently relative, never absolute, because it is always simply anything other than the righteousness which God commends at any given moment. Evil admits of degrees; some things are more evil than others. But righteousness admits of no degree: one is either righteous or not, which is to say that one is either yielding to the influence of God to do what is right at a given moment, or one is not. (James 2:10: “Offend in one point, he is guilty of all”; italics added.)

5. The righteousness of God is wise sharing in love; the evil of Satan is selfishness. “Let the Saints remember that great things depend on their individual exertion, and that they are called to be co-workers with us and the Holy Spirit in accomplishing the great work of the last days; and in consideration of the extent, the blessings and glories of the same let every selfish feeling be not only buried, but annihilated; and let love to God and man predominate, and reign triumphant in every mind, that their hearts may become like unto Enoch’s of old, and comprehend all things, present, past and future, and come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.” ⁵

Righteousness is of God. It is acting under the direction of God to share the good things one has and can do with others in such a way that the eternal happiness of any beings affected by that action is maximized. (2 Nephi 26:24: “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world.”) Selfishness is to shorten the God-ordained blessings of some being in order to try to fulfill one’s own personal desires. (3 Nephi 1:29: “They became for themselves.”) One work of God among men is to direct them as to where and how to be generous with those who are less fortunate than they are. Satan essentially says to each human that one should look out for himself first, that one should feather his own nest. (Moses 5:29–31: “Murder and get gain.”)

As a person yields to the influence of God, that person grows in generosity and care for the welfare of others until his love is full, pure, and universal. Thus, over time, that person acquires the character of God. As unselfishness becomes the essence of the person, God is able to share with that person his own purity of heart and fullness of mind and strength. Thus the person grows to be as God, which process eventuates in becoming a god. (D&C 50:24: “Until the perfect day.”)

As a person who was once cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ yields to the influence of Satan, he becomes selfish and possessive in character. If he does not repent of that selfishness before temporal death, then Satan seals that one to himself. (Alma 34:35: “He doth seal you his.”) But if one turns away from selfishness before one’s character is finally fixed and partakes to some degree of righteousness through Jesus Christ, that one may become righteous in character to that same degree and able to endure a kingdom of glory in eternity. (D&C 76:50–106: “Just men made perfect.”)

It follows also that no action of any human being is temporal only. Every action has moral ramifications and eternal consequences. Every action is either a yielding to the influence of God to do the work of righteousness, or it is yielding to the influence of Satan to sin. In every act, humans fill the God-given opportunity to make the world a place of happiness, wisdom, and truth; or, they fulfill the Satan-inspired opportunity to be self-indulgent, uncaring for others, promoting darkness and lies. (D&C 29:34–35: “Not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal.”)

One measure of the degree of evil a person is perpetrating when he acts is the limits of the circle within which that person is willing to be good to others. Thus an absolute devil has concern only for himself; everything and anything else, including all human beings, God, and Satan are simply tools to be used by that person to get what he wants. A less evil being is “good” to perhaps one other person but acts selfishly toward anyone else. A being yet less evil may include in the circle of persons with whom he desires to share all of his immediate or extended family.  

A being still less evil may extend the boundaries of his positive concern to his village, state, or nation. But a being cannot become righteous until he is willing to share with everyone—with his enemies, with all other human beings regardless of their nationality, religion, class orientation, education, health, or gender, and also with God, Satan, rocks, trees, animals, stars, etc., ready to share with all in the manner commended to him by God. (2 Nephi 26:24: “Benefit of the world.”)

Human tragedy is made when a person attempts to do good for those whom he loves, tries to do evil to those whom he does not love, and finds that the evil he tries to do to the unloved ones destroys those whom he desires to love. The tragedy is occasioned, of course, by the fact that his love for those whom he desires to love is not pure love, because it does not first focus on love of God. Thus the person finds that his relative, personal love is another form of evil, of which he must repent if he wishes to come to God and be reconciled to true righteousness. (See Matthew 5:43–48.)

6. Acuteness of heart and mind in man consists in learning to discern the influence of God and to distinguish it from the influence of Satan. “The Spirit of Revelation is in connection with these blessings. A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things what were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.”⁶

Life is an intelligence test. Of all the things a person may attempt in this life, the most important and for some the most difficult task is that of sorting out his or her own heart and mind. Three things must be carefully and accurately identified: the influence of God, the desires and ideas of the self, and the influences of Satan. (D&C 46:7: “Not be seduced by evil spirits.”) This is not strictly a mind problem, as many would make it. It is a heart and a mind problem.

God is to be identified by the fact that he is the source of good and of truth. The self is to be identified as a source of desires and ideas which do not always square with good and truth. Satan is to be identified by his insistence that our own desires and ideas are really very good when we ourselves in our “heart of hearts” know that they are not. (Moroni 7:16–17: “The way to judge.”)

The person who has not made such identifications lives life in a fog where everything is relative and nothing is holy except perhaps himself. This person is driven to and fro with every wind of doctrine, having no anchor and no rudder. He or she will likely be an imperfect copy of some stronger nearby human being. (James 1:5–7: “He that wavereth.”)

One begins to live as an individual only when one makes these discriminations and begins to use them. One then knows that God exists and is good, that Satan exists and is evil, and that one’s self is not either God or Satan but that one may choose between them. This can be an auspicious beginning of good things in the person’s life.

7. Wisdom for man is to learn to act only under the influence of God. “There is one thing under the sun which I have learned and that is that the righteousness of man is sin because it exacteth over much; nevertheless, the righteousness of God is just, because it exacteth nothing at all, but sendeth rain on the just and the unjust, seed time and harvest, for all of which man is ungrateful.”⁷

“Every word that proceedeth from the mouth of Jehovah has such an influence over the human mind the logical mind that it is convincing without other testimony. Faith cometh by hearing. If 10000 men testify to a truth you know would it add to your faith? No, or will 1000 testimonies destroy your knowledge of a fact? No.” ⁸

Man is free to serve God or to serve himself. Satan’s only leverage is to encourage an individual to disobey God in following his own desires. (James 1:13–14: “Own lust.”)   But by paying careful attention, a person may learn to serve God only, never to indulge the desires of self. (Helaman 3:35: “Purifying … sanctification.”)

The self is motivated to make this dedication only after it has learned to identify and distinguish carefully between the influence of God and the influence of Satan. Having attained that enlightenment, the self will then quickly discern that when one follows the influence of God, things go well: one’s beliefs then are regularly discovered to be true, and one’s actions are seen to lead to kindness, love, sharing, and an increase of the happiness of others whom one affects. Having observed such results, the self then sees that the only intelligent thing to do is to yield to the influence of God in all things. (Alma 32:26–43: “Ye must needs know that the seed is good.”)

There will be momentary doubts for most. To satisfy those doubts one needs but to relapse into selfishness for a season and bask in its misery to be reassured that the way of God is real and correct. God is kind and permits such experiments, but not forever. Before mortal death, each person who has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ must declare himself or herself. (D&C 88:83: “Seeketh me early.”)

8. The only way wisdom can be attained is to learn to love with God’s love.“The names of the faithful are what I wish to record in this place. These I have met in prosperity, and they were my friends; and I now meet them in adversity, and they are still my warmer friends. These love the God that I serve; they love the truths that I promulgate; they love those virtuous, and those holy doctrines that I cherish in my bosom with the warmest feelings of my heart, and with that zeal which cannot be denied. I love friendship and truth; I love virtue and law; I love the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; and they are my brethren, and I shall live; and because I live they shall live also.” ⁹

“Until we have perfect love we are liable to fall and when we have a testimony that our names are sealed in the Lamb’s book of life we have perfect love and then it is impossible for false Christs to deceive us.” ¹⁰ 

This is to say that one must not just play at learning to yield to the influence of God in all things. One must throw one’s whole heart and soul into the fray. Until one fastens all the affections of his heart on God and his righteousness, so much so that serving God and establishing his righteousness on earth become an all-consuming passion, one will not be able to yield to the influence of God unerringly. (Alma 37:37: “Counsel with the Lord.”) The pressures to care for self are so great and so pervasive that mind alone can never deliver a soul to God. (Matthew 13:22–23: “Care of the world … choke the word.”) Nevertheless, heart and mind combined and dedicated can make this all-important delivery. But heart must lead the way, for heart is stronger and more important than mind. Mind facilitates, and that in a most ingenious and admirable manner, but heart points the mind and controls the occupation of the mind almost entirely. (D&C 59:5: “Thou shalt love.”)

9. The only way one can love God with all of one’s heart, might, mind, and strength is through the law and the ordinances of the new and everlasting covenant. “It is a duty which every Saint ought to render to his brethren freely—to always love them, and ever succor them. To be justified before God we must love one another: we must overcome evil; we must visit the fatherless and the widow in their affliction, and we must keep ourselves unspotted from the world: for such virtues flow from the great fountain of pure religion. Strengthening our faith by adding every good quality that adorns the children of the blessed Jesus, we can pray in the season of prayer; we can love our neighbor as ourselves, and be faithful in tribulation, knowing that the reward of such is greater in the kingdom of heaven. What a consolation! What a joy! Let me live the life of the righteous, and let my reward be like this!” ¹¹

To be able to deliver oneself—heart, might, mind, and strength—to Jesus Christ is a matter of power. No human being has that power naturally, though many go a remarkable distance toward that goal outside the covenant. The power that makes that delivery possible is the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the pearl of great price. Through the Holy Ghost a person’s heart may be purified, cleansed of all selfishness; then the soul can reflect back to God that pure love and also extend it to a neighbor. By that power the mind can eliminate all errors of belief, which are the chains of hell inflicted by Satan on the world, and also gain that precious knowledge of the truth which one must have to be saved. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, one may keep his body clean and pure and have it renewed in rebirth unto sufficiency to accomplish every mission to which the person is appointed by God. And through that power one receives priesthood might, enough might to show that one will use it obediently and fully in the service of God. (Moroni 7:25–48: “Lay hold upon every good thing.”)

Thus through the new and everlasting covenant one can fulfill all that is possible for man: to become as God is. (D&C 132:19–20: “Then shall they be gods.”) This new creation will not be accomplished completely in this mortality, but enough will be accomplished here that the individual may become a great power in extending the influence of God in the earth. (Mosiah 8:15–18: “Becometh a great benefit.”)

The law of the celestial kingdom is that one must act only in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (D&C 132:12: “No man shall come unto the Father but by me or by my word, which is my law.”) All righteous acts are acts of faith in him, and whatsoever is not that faith is sin. To say that we should love the Lord, our God, with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength is linguistically equivalent to saying that we should exercise full faith in Jesus Christ through the new and everlasting covenant.

10. The key to knowledge (truth) is to learn first of the whole, which is God, then of the parts, which are nature and man.

2. Let us here observe, that three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation.

3. First, the idea that he actually exists.  

4. Secondly, a correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes.

5. Thirdly, an actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is according to his will. For without an acquaintance with these three important facts the faith of every rational being must be imperfect and unproductive, but with this understanding it can become perfect and fruitful, abounding in righteousness, unto the praise and glory of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. ¹²

The world would have one study the parts and through them discern the whole. But this is not really possible. No one can intelligently study a part of something without having at least a working hypothesis of the nature of the hole of that something. If the hypothesis about the whole is faulty, the part will be analyzed in a faulty way. This is the real lesson of systems thinking, thinking popularized in the present century but employed by responsible thinkers from time immemorial.

The whole is God. The universe is personal, not natural, because the hand of God is in every thing. (D&C 59:21: “Confess … his hand in all things.”) Until one understands the nature and being of God, one cannot understand correctly the rest of the universe. Nature is the handiwork of God, and when one sees any natural occurrence in the universe, one is beholding “God moving in his majesty and power.” (D&C 88:46–47.) Men are the children of God, and when one sees a human being one sees the literal offspring of gods, a potential heir of Jesus Christ. Whatsoever one does to any of those heirs, Jesus Christ counts it as done unto himself. (Matthew 25:40: “Ye have done it unto me.”) Each of these heirs may inherit all He is and has if that heir will only deny selfishness and grow in spiritual stature unto the measure of the fulness of his stature through faith in Him and through the power brought by the covenants. (Ephesians 4:13: “Fullness of Christ.”)

11. Jesus Christ is the Truth. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth which points the way to find the Truth. “And now what remains to be done, under circumstances like these?   I will proceed to tell you what the Lord requires of all people, high and low, rich and poor, male and female, ministers and people, professors of religion and non-professors, in order that they may enjoy the Holy Spirit of God to a fullness and escape the judgments of God, which are almost ready to burst upon the nations of the earth. Repent of all your sins, and be baptized in water for the remission of them, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and receive the ordinance of the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power, that ye may receive the Holy Spirit of God; and this is according to the Holy Scriptures, and the Book of Mormon; and the only way that man can enter into the celestial kingdom. These are the requirements of the new covenant, or first principles of the Gospel of Christ: then ‘Add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity [or love]; for if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful, in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.’” ¹³

“Again, if others’ blessings are not your blessings, others’ curses are not your curses; you stand then in these last days, as all have stood before you, agents unto yourselves, to be judged according to your works.” ¹⁴

Man is saved no faster than he gains knowledge of the Truth. This truth one must know is not just any truth, such as one would encounter in a phone book or on a topographic map. The truth which saves is Jesus Christ. Only he can and will save from sinning, from hell, from death. Only as one comes to know him personally can one be saved. (John 8:31–36: “Ye shall know the truth.”)

Everyone on earth is invited to come to know the Truth through the teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If a person accepts that gospel and lives it completely, the path entered upon will lead such a one to know the Savior personally. The scriptures speak of the gospel as the truth because it is that portion of truth in the world which everyone must come to know to fulfill their mortal probation in accepting or rejecting Jesus Christ. (D&C 123:11–12: “Know not where to find [the truth].”)

The responsibility for seeing that every child of God encounters the gospel of Jesus Christ rests on the shoulders of the Savior himself. He enlists others to assist him, that they too might become as he is through faithful service. But he also respects the agency of men. He allows men to teach their children the truth or lies, as they will. Some teach the lies of Satan or part truths in ignorance, but some do not. (D&C 123:7–8: “Chains … of hell.”) It suffices to know that God is just, and thus every soul will hear the truth taught to him in his own tongue, in all humility, by a servant of Jesus Christ. This will happen before he or she becomes fully accountable for his or her sins and therefore liable for the final judgment which will come to all human beings. Partial accountability comes to each person through the light of Christ. But the light of Christ witnesses of truth and good. It does not tell one how to repent of sinning nor how to be able to make amends for all the evil one has done. That is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Moses 6:55–62: another law: all men must repent through Christ.)

As defined by the Lord himself in scripture (see 3 Nephi 27:13–21), there are but a few simple, powerful ideas which constitute the truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ. These are as follows:

1. Jesus Christ was sent into this world to do the will of God, his Father.
2. His Father’s will was that he be lifted up upon the cross and atone for the sins of all men.
3. After Jesus had been lifted up, he was to draw all men to himself, that each might receive a final judgment as to whether each one’s works were good or evil.
4. Whosoever would desire to be found guiltless at the day of judgment must:
   1. Exercise full faith in Jesus Christ, unto
   2. Repenting of sinning, and
   3. Being baptized in his name, of water; then to  
   4. Receive the Holy Ghost unto the remission of sins; then to
   5. Endure to the end.
5. Whosoever receives the Holy Ghost and endures not unto the end will be hewn down and cast into the fire.

12. Family is the important social relationship.

Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be married for eternity, while in this probation, by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood, they will cease to increase when they die; that is, they will not have any children after the resurrection. But those who are married by the power and authority of the priesthood in this life, and continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost, will continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory. The unpardonable sin is to shed innocent blood, or be accessory thereto. All other sins will be visited with judgment in the flesh, and the spirit being delivered to the buffetings of Satan unto the day of the Lord Jesus.

Salvation means a man’s being placed beyond the power of all his enemies. The more sure word of prophecy means a man’s knowing that he is sealed up unto eternal life by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, through the power of the holy priesthood. It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance. ¹⁵

All human beings have one literal Heavenly Father and thus are brothers and sisters in the spirit. All human beings have one physical set of parents, Adam and Eve, and thus are brothers and sisters in the flesh. One purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to allow men to know and affirm this family relationship, that all might learn again to serve their Father, the true and living God. (Acts 17:22–31: “God that made the world.”)

The marriage covenant is of God, and marriage and the begetting of children unto God are to be holy undertakings, functions of the holy priesthood of God. The most important personal bond between any two persons is the bond between any human being and the Savior, as one learns to love the Savior, his new father, with all of his heart, might, mind, and strength. (Ether 12:4; Mosiah 5:7: “Children of Christ.”) The next most important bond for any human being is the bond of love which the new and everlasting covenant makes possible between husband and wife. This second bond can be successful only if the first one is in place, the bond of love between each individual and the Savior, When a husband and wife bond in the pure love of Christ, they create an eternal unit and they can then be exalted. It is that nuclear, bonded family consisting of three persons, the Savior as father, and the faithful husband and the faithful wife, which is and can be exalted, not the individuals separately. (D&C 132:8–25: singly saved.)

13. The greatest power on earth is the Holy Priesthood.“It has been the design of Jehovah, from the commencement of the world, and is His purpose now, to regulate the affairs of the world in His own time, to stand as a head of the universe, and take the reins of government in His own hand. When that is done, judgment will be administered in righteousness; anarchy and confusion will be destroyed, and ‘nations will learn war no more.’” ¹⁶

“Other attempts to promote universal peace and happiness in the human family have proved abortive; every effort has failed; every plan and design has fallen to the ground; it needs the wisdom of God, the intelligence of God, and the power of God to accomplish this. The world has had a fair trial for six thousand years; the Lord will try the seventh thousand Himself; ‘He whose right it is will possess the kingdom, and reign until He has put all things under His feet;’ iniquity will hide its hoary head, Satan will be bound, and the works of darkness destroyed; righteousness will be put to the line, and judgment to the plummet, and ‘he that fears the Lord will alone be exalted in that day.’” ¹⁷

The holy priesthood is the power of God. By it the worlds are created, governed, and destroyed; and by it the work of God in all the universe is accomplished. (D&C 38:1–3: “All things came by me.”)

Man is given the opportunity, through faith in Jesus   Christ, to receive and use this priesthood if he will use it only as God instructs him. As God commands men, they do the most important work they do on earth through the priesthood power. That work is to establish eternal family relationships between God and men through the teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and through the administration of the new and everlasting covenant. (D&C 128:17–18: “Tum the heart of the fathers.”)

Because of the fall of Adam, men must do the work to earn their bread by the sweat of their brows. This is part of the individual salvation each must work out as each seeks to be obedient to God. But the time will come for the faithful, perhaps in the next world, where all work will be done by priesthood power. As one is true and faithful to his priesthood covenants here, one prepares to wield the greatest power in all of eternity, the holy priesthood of God. (D&C 84:33–38: “These two priesthoods.”)

All associations or alliances made on earth which are not made through the new and everlasting covenant “have an end when men are dead.” (D&C 132:6–7.) The only associations which may be made eternal through that covenant are family relationships.

The power of the holy priesthood is also the only power by which righteous and lasting government can be established on the earth. The civil governments of men are better than nothing, usually, but none can solve all problems or achieve either equity or righteousness. The nations of the earth must suffer until they are willing to accept the Savior as their lawgiver; then he will reign through love and the power of priesthood.

The thinking of the Prophet Joseph Smith is as wide and as deep as eternity. It compasses all of God and all of space, time, and matter. Truth and righteousness are his themes, but righteousness reigns as head. For him it is the God of Righteousness who rules the universe, who is the source of truth, who is the “Spirit of Truth” to all who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

Notes

1. Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols., 2 ed. rev., ed. B. H. Roberts (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1932–51), 2:315.

2. Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Co., 1938), p. 12.

3. Ibid., pp. 95–96.

4. Ibid., pp. 55–56.

5. Ibid., pp. 178–79.

6. Ibid., p. 151.

7. Ibid., p. 317.

8. Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, eds., The Words of Joseph Smith (Provo, Utah, Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center 1980), p. 237.

9. Smith, History of the Church, 5:108–9.

10. Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 9.

11. Smith, History of the Church, 2:229.

12. Lectures on Faith (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Co., 1985) no. 3, p. 38.

13. Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 16.

14. Ibid., p. 12.

15. Ibid., pp. 300–301.

16. Ibid., pp. 250–51.

17. Ibid., p. 252.

(Originally written 6 February 1980, edited 4 June 2020)
by Chauncey C Riddle

Because we are blessed with knowing the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, we understand that there are four irreducible purposes for our mortal existence. Only the first is absolutely essential. To fulfill the other three makes possible a fullness of blessings. The four are as follows:

1. To gain a mortal tabernacle of flesh and blood for our spirit body. 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 Christ-like character. To learn to act righteously, responding only to the spiritual guidance of our Savior and learning not to be controlled by either the physical forces around us or by the temptations of Satan is the goal. Every human situation is rich with opportunity to learn to be honest, true, chaste and benevolent, and to do good to all men. Either sex, any race, any age, any educational level, any economic level –all afford an almost overwhelming opportunity to add good habit to good habit, correct preference to correct preference, true idea to true idea, all done by following the Savior through the influence of the Holy Spirit. Each soul is given the light of Christ to guide him or her in this quest for perfect character. But one cannot finish that task except through accepting the fulness of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and the ordinances of the New and Everlasting Covenant, then enduring to the end by accepting the tutelage of the Holy Ghost to tread the strait and narrow path to the end. The end is attaining that Christ-like character.
3. To pass on the seed. To marry in the Lord’s covenant and to bring the souls of men and women into this mortal world is the third task. To forebear having children by artificial means subverts both the character we are trying to build and the plan of God for our blessing. Children are an heritage of the Lord. Blessed is he who has his quiver full. (Psalm 127:3-5)
4. To pass on the Gospel. To bring up our children in the nurture of the Lord, transmitting that faith which is precious above all other ideas or messages in this world is the fourth great opportunity. We are not limited to sharing with our children, but sharing our faith fully with them is essential.

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

1. We gained a mortal tabernacle and therefore can be resurrected to immortality.
2. We gained a Christ-like character, and therefore can be trusted with the same glory and power that our Savior has.
3. We sacrificed to bring other souls into mortality, and therefore we can be trusted to continue to bear souls in eternity.
4. We taught and showed  the way of righteousness through Christ in all things to all who would listen, and therefore we can be trusted with stewardship over all that the Father has, being joint heirs with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

CHAUNCEY C. RIDDLE is Dean of the Graduate School at Brigham Young University, where he has been a faculty member since 1952.

He has earned the reputation of master teacher during his distinguished educational career. He earned the B.S. degree in mathematics and physics at BYU, and then at­tained the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in philos­ophy at Columbia University in the City of New York.

He has been an active member of the Church and at present is a high councilor in the Sharon Stake.

His wife is the former Bertha Janis All­red. and they are the parents of twelve chil­dren, ten of whom are living.

MORMONISM AND THE NATURE OF MAN

Chauncey C. Riddle

Quoted from the book – To the Glory of God – Mormon Essays on Great Issues

The purpose of this paper is to delineate some of the factors pertinent to a monistic (literally “one thing”) con­ception of man as contrasted with a dualistic conception. In the monistic thinking presently in vogue, man is seen as a material being wholly governed by the laws of the universe as discovered and formulated by science. Some persons grant that man has a spirit, but in their accounts of and treatment of man, the spiritual aspect is nonfunctional; such persons may appear to be dualists but are here classed as functional monists. The dualistic concept entertained in this paper posits mortal man as a spirit, which is the real person, and a body, which is the tabernacle of the spirit person. Though both the spirit and the body are of a material nature, dualism ob­tains because each represents a different order of matter this difference is manifest in that the set of laws and influences governing the spirit aspect of man is different from that which governs the fleshly body. Basic to this whole dis­cussion, of course, is the assumption that law and order gov­ern all things in the universe, that all events are caused, and that there is a regularity or uniformity in the universe.

The thesis of this paper is that the key concepts of the gospel of Jesus Christ have consistency and significance only when one conceives of mortal man as a dualistic being, these values being lost if a monistic conception is adopted. The key concepts here discussed are the fall of Adam, free agency, spirituality, sin, the atonement of Jesus Christ, salvation, and righteousness.

The Fall

Before the fall, Adam and Eve were In a monistic state, we may presume, because they were subject to only one set of laws and influences, those of God. Their whole being was of a spiritual order, with spirit matter being the life-substance of their bodies. In this condition the range of their freedom was limited; they simply responded positively to the commands of the Father.

The influence of Satan in tempting Eve and Adam in the garden brought a new and opposing set of forces and laws to bear. The Father granted Adam and Eve freedom in the garden in that he allowed the influence of Satan to work upon them. He allowed them to choose between His in­fluence and that of Satan. Eve, having been deceived by Satan, and Adam, choosing to follow her into mortality, the anticipated death came upon our first parents. In this process their bodies were rendered spiritually dead; spirit was re­placed by blood in their veins and their spiritual bodies lost the ability to perceive things in a spiritual order.

Fallen Adam was a paradigm of dualism in that his body was fully of the order of what we call physical matter, sub­ject to the laws and forces of a fallen realm, while his spirit, though within the physical body, was yet subject to the laws and forces of the spiritual order of the universe. The true person, the spirit, was now set in opposition to the physical body, since each was subject to a different set of laws and forces. The Fall was thus a sundering of man, resulting in a duality. This duality is the basis of both conflict and progress in the individual person.

What would the Fall mean if man were construed monistically? Under monism, death could only be physical; if literal, the death of the body. But since physical death is explicitly not part of the Fall, a monist must reject a literal interpretation. When the spiritual death of the Fall is con­strued non-literally, it is usually seen either as a change of place. the process of being cast out of the presence of God, or as a change of the nature of man. Change of place (re­moval from the Garden of Eden) did occur, but this change does not exhaust the scriptural teaching concerning the Fall. If man’s monistic nature were considered to change in the Fall, that change could only be accounted for by external forces. Under a monistic system, there is only one set of laws and forces. It follows that there could be no meaningful choice, and thus Adam could not be held responsible for his fall. If Adam is not responsible for his fall, he is likewise not responsible in any way to the opportunity of redemption. This, of course, renders the gospel meaningless.

Free Agency

Freedom is the opportunity to choose; agency is power. Man’s free agency is then the freedom to choose and the power to attain what is chosen. Whereas God is completely free, man is but infinitesimally free; but man is free enough to respond to the influence of God, by means of which influence to become like God, or to respond to Satan and by means of that contrary influence to become like Satan.

The free agency of man, then, is limited, specific. It is a freedom given of God to the spirit in man to become free of the dominating influence of one’s own physical body. It is the freedom and power to respond to the commandments of God through the Holy Spirit, thus bringing the flesh into subjection by overcoming the power and influence of Satan, which operates through the flesh. As father Lehi put it, the agency of man is to be “free according to the flesh.” When that freedom is full and final, the body of man functions only under the powers, forces, and influences of the spiritual order of existence. This is to say that Satan never again has power over that being. He is free forever.

If man is construed monistically, freedom from the flesh makes no sense, for this man is only flesh. On the mo­nistic view if man feels free, it is either a psychological illu­sion or simply a physical freedom of a physical body to act without external restraint. Under monism, self-discipline is meaningless, for all discipline is a thing that must be superimposed upon a person by outside force. Monistic free­dom is the absence of that dualistic freedom, discipline of the body by the spirit, which the gospel affords.

Spirituality

In the gospel, spirituality is the condition of the spirit of a person being responsive to the commandments and influences of God, specifically the influence of the Holy Spirit. Spirituality is manifest in the control wherein the walking, talking, eating, drinking, working, etc., of a person are models of fulfilling the words of words of the prophets of God to the degree to which the person is spiritual. The more spiritual a person is, the more complete and absolute will be the discipline of the spirit over the body.

It should not be supposed that spirituality enjoins what is often called “asceticism.” While self-denial is a frequent choice of a spiritual person, pleasure of itself is not consid­ered an evil. But pleasure is not sought for its own sake. A spiritual person seeks first the kingdom of God and then to establish in the earth the righteousness of God. In the of duty of serving God and blessing his fellowmen, the spiritual person­ will strive for health, cleanliness, comeliness, strength, and skill. But these arc sought as means, not as ends. They are means by which to glorify God and to build his kingdom, and are an integral part of the control of the appetites and proclivities of the physical tabernacle of the spirit. Further­more, this control, when sought for the glory of God, re­dounds to the blessing of the person spiritually and tempo­rally. One of the blessings will be pleasure that is pure, un­mixed with lust, because it is allowed rather than directly sought. Pleasure that is spiritually pure does not turn to pain, regret, and remorse of conscience as do pleasures sought to gratify the appetites of the flesh.

Especially noteworthy is that the more splritual a person becomes the less he will depend upon physical evidence (through the flesh) as to what he believes. This does not mean he ignores physical evidence; he accepts the responsi­bility of accounting for it, but he believes and interprets all things as he is instructed by the Holy Spirit. He will not judge on the basis of appearance.

Under a monistic system, spirituality must be classed with insanity. Since the bodies of men are demonstrably very similar, any person who does not respond “normally” to physical stimulus must be tagged as “abnormal”-insane. The more spiritual one is, the more suspect he would become to persons espousing the monistic view. Persons with great self-control cause those without it to wonder and to feel uncomfortable. To sin a little, to laugh at the possibility of perfection, to justify pleasure sought for its own sake are normal to the monist. Youth, strength, and worldly learning are honored above all else in monistic thinking because they represent the fullest accommodation and power in the realm of the physical, the realm of the flesh.

The monist also takes a curious stance of omniscience. He will not pretend in theory to know all things, but will assert that he does know all the factors pertinent to a given social problem and can therefore prescribe its solution. Thus he reserves to himself a practicing omniscience. Having de­nied the existence and influence of God, as a naturalist, he finds it necessary to pronounce himself at least a demi-god in order to justify rationally his practical decisions; or his intellectual systems and heroes become his demi-god. Judging by appearance and arrogating to himself sufficiency, the mo­nist has left a trail of blood, slavery, and failure, confronted only occasionally by a John the Baptist or a Socrates who points out that he does not really know what he is doing. But the monist has ways of dealing with John and with Socrates.

To a monist, spiritual people are indistinguishable from spiritualists-those possessed of evil spirits; both are classed as insane because they do not act “normally.” History shows that what is “normal” changes from age to age. There are vogues as to what is socially acceptable, fostering first one species and degree of carnality, then another. But the gospel is the same in every age: dominion of spirit over body through the gifts of God through Jesus Christ.

Sin

Sin in the gospel is breaking a commandment of God; it is acting to yield to the influence of the world upon the flesh rather than responding to the influence of God upon the spirit. Faith is willing obedience to God’s. Holy Spirit, and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Sin is the triumph of the flesh over the spirit, and is therefore the triumph of Satan over the person.

In a monistic system there is no meaningful concept of sin. People are said to act strictly according to their heredity and environment, and are not to be blamed for any act. Since they are not free. To change people’s actions means simply to change the influences that touch them. Monists say that it is institutions of society that control men s actions. This is why control of educational programs and information media are crucial to the monist-though he never can quite account for how the governor of the system can himself escape what he is trying to cure in those whom he “benevo­lently” controls. The monist does not fathom the concept of repentance, because it, too, has no gospel meaning in this thought. He will look upon sex sin as “normal” and excuse my offender as if it were a light thing. Should he be a church worker, he may see social control (socialism) as the ultimate panacea, and think that in promoting social control he is doing God a favor.

The Atonement

The atonement of Jesus Christ is the central and crown­ing concept of the gospel. In living a perfect life as a dual being, Christ overcame the power of Satan. His life was the great triumph of spirit over flesh, the example and pat­tern for all mankind. In his death, the Savior climaxed that triumph by seizing from Satan the keys of death. Through his suffering in taking the bitter cup, the Savior satisfied the demands of justice, making possible for all men an eternity free from the consequences of sin. Through his sacrifice of his life, the Savior made it possible for all men to be raised again in the resurrection with a spiritual physical body, thereafter to serve God through the spirit in eternity. As in Adam man became dual and fallen, even so in Christ men may be made spiritual and whole again, redeemed to the spiritual order of existence of their own choice.

In a monistic system, the atonement of Christ can only by the suffering and death of just another person, having efficacy for us only as it might affect us in a physical way. A monist would see the atonement at best as a symbol, as a noteworthy deed, as an ultimate protest. But he will see no connection between the shedding of the Savior’s blood and the forgiveness of our sins, since the physical world affords no such causal connections; in fact, he is likely to be ap­palled by this idea and see it as a barbaric superstition. Thus it is possible that one who in the relative innocence of youth was cleansed and forgiven through the blood of Christ might later in his state of monistic “erudition’ shed the blood of Christ afresh and put him to an open shame, not being able then to see any point in the atonement.

Salvation

Salvation in the gospel is to come to be beyond the power of one’s enemies. It is a thing of degree, progress­ing step by step as the spirit of a person triumphs over his own flesh through faith in Jesus Christ. Considered in the aspect of being able to stop sinning, salvation is self­-denial of the lusts of the flesh, and the ultimate demonstra­tion of it is in voluntarily giving up the life of the body. Only in our death is salvation fully manifest and only in willingness to die is it fully attainable. To be free of the control of the flesh, through faith in Christ and through death, is to be forever free from Satan. If through the Savior we also gain a remission of the sins we have committed, we can then go on to inherit all that Christ has.

But salvation for the monist is quite opposite. It is ease, opulence, pleasure, comfort, and security for the flesh. The greatest of all evils for the monist is pain, though pain is challenged for that position by death. The body is the object of concern, the thing to pamper and perpetuate. Sacrifice of things material is a great misfortune. Indeed, the monist often conceives it the moral obligation of the man who has physical salvation to furnish it to others who do not; thus the monist tends to choose coercive redistributive legislation over freedom of choice and conscience. He does not even comprehend the voluntary charity of a free agent, since he cannot comprehend either charity or agency in the gospel sense.

Righteousness

In the gospel, righteousness is the way a man acts toward his neighbor when he has overcome the flesh through Christ. It is the power and authority of a saved being to bless others in leading them to Christ. A righteous man is concerned about both the physical and the spiritual needs of his fellowmen, but has no illusion that the physical needs are greater. He has kept the great law and loves the Savior with all his heart, might, mind, and strength. And because he has kept the commandments of Christ, he is able then to love his fellowmen with the same pure love that he receives from the Savior. His goal is to make a heaven on earth where all who want to be saved can be saved, where Christ and his pure love reign supreme, where spirit has triumphed over the flesh. This involves concern for the temporal, for the material circumstances of Oleo, as well as the spiritual. But the spiritual aspect of things is always seen as the key to progress in the material realm.

For the monist, righteousness has little meaning because sin has little meaning. To the monist, righteousness could be but conformity to human norms. The problem which the monist ever pursues is how to make a society of pleasure­ seeking people productive enough to give each person all the fleshly freedom and pleasure he wants. Since that goal has never been attained (and obviously, to a dualist, cannot be attained) the substitute is slavery. With slavery, at least some can enjoy fleshly freedom and pleasure even if others have to suffer. The the long series of social arrangements to per­petuate control of one person by another; clergy over lay, nobles over commoners, powerful over weak, educated over uneducated, majority over minority, voters over taxpayers, caste systems, party members over non-party members, etc. –all are bolstered by religious or moralizing theories, and all anti-Christ. Now the real question of the whole matter is simply this: Is the universe monistic or dualistic? If the universe is mo­nistic, then all the attendant ideas so abhorrent to the dualist are true, and the dualist is indeed insane. But if the universe is dualistic, if there is a real Savior Jesus Christ in opposition to and opposed by a real Satan, then man is a dual being, spirit opposed to flesh, and the monist is indeed in sin.

The answer would seem to lie within the individual. Does he acknowledge the voice of conscience which warns him not to yield to the lusts of the flesh? Has he sought for the influence of God through humble prayer? Has he ex­perimented with the word of God to see if the promises are fulfilled? The testimony of the prophets is plain. They teach us of God. They teach us of dualism. They teach us to ex­periment honestly with our own conscience, to observe the fruits of doing the best which we know. It would seem that only the honest in heart can acknowledge the things of God, and that only those who hunger and thirst after righteousness can fully find the means by which to come unto God.

The whole purpose of life is to bring under subjection the animal passions, proclivities, and tendencies, that we might rea1ize the companionship always of God’s Holy Spirit.

-David O. McKay

Chauncey C. Riddle
c. 1967

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who develop themselves intellectually enjoy the riches of a double heritage. Participation in the Church brings them a legacy of prophets and principles, revelation, and exhortation, as well as an active program of cultural, social, and more 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 source; 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 considerably interest and excitement, both within and without that community. That tensions may be seen as a great asset or as detrimental, depending upon one’s point of view, but it is unquestionably a very real fact in the present social 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 has and does literally speak with and appear tot the 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 matters 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 and 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.” (13^th Article of Faith)

As the possessor of a dual heritage, however, the LDS person cannot take either light. 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 experiences; 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 fellow-men. 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 the “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 solve the problems of the world to the degree to which he himself works hard to implement these solutions. He sees the LDS Church as the nucleus of a perfect social organization that will eventually meet every human need of every human being: economic, cultural, intellectual, political, and religions.

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.