Tag: Harold B. Lee

  • No Apostate

    No Apostate

    From the Atlantic, April 19, 2020: 1

    New Zealand’s Prime Minister May Be the Most Effective Leader on the Planet

    Jacinda Ardern’s leadership style, focused on empathy, isn’t just resonating with her people; it’s putting the country on track for success against the coronavirus.

    Excerpt from an October 1947 General Conference address by Harold B. Lee: 2

    I want to bear you my testimony that the experience I have had has taught me that those who criticize the leaders of this Church are showing signs of a spiritual sickness which, unless curbed, will bring about eventually spiritual death. I want to bear my testimony as well that those who in public seek by their criticism, to belittle our leaders or bring them into disrepute, will bring upon themselves more hurt than upon those whom they seek thus to malign. I have watched over the years, and I have read of the history of many of those who fell away from this Church, and I want to bear testimony that no apostate who ever left this Church ever prospered as an influence in his community thereafter. 

    References

  • We will always teach truth #2

    We will always teach truth #2

    Excerpt from an address by Russell M. Nelson, September 17 2019: 1

    It is precisely because we do care deeply about all of God’s children that we proclaim His truth. We may not always tell people what they want to hear. Prophets are rarely popular. But we will always teach the truth!

    Excerpt from LDS prophet Harold. B. Lee’s book Decisions for Successful Living, 1973: 2

    “The privilege of obtaining a mortal body on this earth is seemingly so priceless that those in the spirit world, even though unfaithful or not valiant, were undoubtedly permitted to take mortal bodies although under penalty of racial or physical or nationalistic limitations.”

    References

    References
    1 Russell M.Nelson, BYU Devotional, September 17 2019 – https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/russell-m-nelson/love-laws-god/
    2 Decisions for Successful Living, Harold B. Lee – https://deseretbook.com/p/decisions-successful-living-harold-b-lee-78307?variant_id=20140-ebook
  • Desire for Children

    Desire for Children

    Excerpt from an October 1948 General Conference Address by Harold B. Lee: 1

    If I were to name the first thing that impresses me always in these fine Latter-day Saint homes, I would say it was a love for and a desire for children. These are homes where the having of children was not delayed because of some social or educational or financial objective, and where the size of the families has not been limited by the practice of birth control.

    References

    References
    1 Harold B. Lee, October 1938, General Conference – https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1948sa/page/n0
  • Policy

    Policy

    Interview with Dallin H. Oaks and Neal A. Maxwell regarding the lifting of the race ban: 1

    New Policy Occasions Church Comment

    SALT LAKE CITY (AP) —Here is a partial transcript of an Associated Press interview with Elders Neal A. Maxwell and Dallin H. Oaks of the Mormon Church’s Council of the Twelve Apostles regarding the faith’s policy banning blacks from its priesthood and the reasons the ban was lifted 10 years ago:

    AP: Was the ban on ordaining blacks to the priesthood a matter of policy or doctrine?

    MAXWELL: Well, I don’t know. It certainly was church policy and, obviously, with some considerable commentary from early church leaders about it. It’s difficult commentary from early church leaders about it. It’s difficult for me to go beyond that.

    OAKS: I don’t know that it’s possible to distinguish between policy and doctrine in a church that believes in continuing revelation and sustains its leader as a prophet… I’m not sure I could justify the difference in doctrine and policy in the fact that before 1978 a person could not hold the priesthood
    and after 1978 they could hold the priesthood.

    AP: Did you feel differently about the issue before the revelation was given?

    OAKS: I decided a long time ago, 1961 or 2, that there’s no way to talk about it in terms of doctrine, or policy, practice, procedure. All of those words just fled you to reaffirm your prejudice, whichever it was. The only fair, just way to think about it is to reaffirm your faith in the prophet, and he says you don’t do it now, so you don’t do it now. And if he says tomorrow that you do do it, then you do it.

    MAxWELL: Mine was similar, with the sense of expectation that the direction would come from heaven at some time… As we went to the upper room, we sang a song. I regard myself as a pretty good reader of what is going on (but) I had no inkling of what was going on. And as we knelt down
    to pray, the spirit told me what it was going to be … and after that prayer, President Kimball began the description. I began to weep.

    AP: It appears that prior to 1978, there was a lack of unanimity among the brethren regarding the origin and efficacy of the policy. We understand 10 of the Council of the Twelve voted in 1969 to lift the ban as an administrative procedure, but the plan was overturned by Harold B. Lee.

    MAXWELL: These are things about which I wouldn’t have any knowledge.

    OAKS: That’s a new one to me, too.

    AP: To follow up, just for the sake of argument, in your deliberations on any issue, is unanimity required for a decision?

    MAXWELL: The scripture does lay a requirement of unanimity upon us, and I think that is adhered to, not in a nitpicky way, but it is substantial.

    AP: Does a policy such as this, the priesthood prohibition, require a revelation to change, or can it be done through discourse among the brethren?

    MAXWELL: I think anything as major and significant as this would have required the spiritual endorsement and sanction that was obviously there.

    AP: As much as any doctrine the church has espoused, or controversy the church has been embroiled in, this one seems to stand out. Church members seemed to have less to go on to get a grasp of the issue. Can you address why this was the case, and what can be learned from it?

    OAKS: If you read the scriptures with this question in mind, ‘Why did the Lord command this or why did he command that’ you find that in less than one in a hundred commands was any reason given. It’s not the pattern of the Lord to give reasons. We can put reason to revelation. We can put reasons to commandments. When we do we’re on our own. Some people put reasons to the one we’re talking about here, and they turned out to be spectacularly wrong. There is a lesson in that. The lesson I’ve drawn from that, I decided a long time ago that I had faith in the command and I had no faith in the reasons that had been suggested for it. I decided that 25 years ago, so it was very easy for me when it was changed.

    AP: Are you referring to reasons given even by general authorities?

    OAKS: Sure.

     

    References

  • Obedience

    Obedience

    Interview with Dallin H. Oaks and Neal A. Maxwell regarding the lifting of the race ban: 1

    New Policy Occasions Church Comment

    SALT LAKE CITY (AP) —Here is a partial transcript of an Associated Press interview with Elders Neal A. Maxwell and Dallin H. Oaks of the Mormon Church’s Council of the Twelve Apostles regarding the faith’s policy banning blacks from its priesthood and the reasons the ban was lifted 10 years ago:

    AP: Was the ban on ordaining blacks to the priesthood a matter of policy or doctrine?

    MAXWELL: Well, I don’t know. It certainly was church policy and, obviously, with some considerable commentary from early church leaders about it. It’s difficult commentary from early church leaders about it. It’s difficult for me to go beyond that.

    OAKS: I don’t know that it’s possible to distinguish between policy and doctrine in a church that believes in continuing revelation and sustains its leader as a prophet… I’m not sure I could justify the difference in doctrine and policy in the fact that before 1978 a person could not hold the priesthood
    and after 1978 they could hold the priesthood.

    AP: Did you feel differently about the issue before the revelation was given?

    OAKS: I decided a long time ago, 1961 or 2, that there’s no way to talk about it in terms of doctrine, or policy, practice, procedure. All of those words just fled you to reaffirm your prejudice, whichever it was. The only fair, just way to think about it is to reaffirm your faith in the prophet, and he says you don’t do it now, so you don’t do it now. And if he says tomorrow that you do do it, then you do it.

    MAxWELL: Mine was similar, with the sense of expectation that the direction would come from heaven at some time… As we went to the upper room, we sang a song. I regard myself as a pretty good reader of what is going on (but) I had no inkling of what was going on. And as we knelt down
    to pray, the spirit told me what it was going to be … and after that prayer, President Kimball began the description. I began to weep.

    AP: It appears that prior to 1978, there was a lack of unanimity among the brethren regarding the origin and efficacy of the policy. We understand 10 of the Council of the Twelve voted in 1969 to lift the ban as an administrative procedure, but the plan was overturned by Harold B. Lee.

    MAXWELL: These are things about which I wouldn’t have any knowledge.

    OAKS: That’s a new one to me, too.

    AP: To follow up, just for the sake of argument, in your deliberations on any issue, is unanimity required for a decision?

    MAXWELL: The scripture does lay a requirement of unanimity upon us, and I think that is adhered to, not in a nitpicky way, but it is substantial.

    AP: Does a policy such as this, the priesthood prohibition, require a revelation to change, or can it be done through discourse among the brethren?

    MAXWELL: I think anything as major and significant as this would have required the spiritual endorsement and sanction that was obviously there.

    AP: As much as any doctrine the church has espoused, or controversy the church has been embroiled in, this one seems to stand out. Church members seemed to have less to go on to get a grasp of the issue. Can you address why this was the case, and what can be learned from it?

    OAKS: If you read the scriptures with this question in mind, ‘Why did the Lord command this or why did he command that’ you find that in less than one in a hundred commands was any reason given. It’s not the pattern of the Lord to give reasons. We can put reason to revelation. We can put reasons to commandments. When we do we’re on our own. Some people put reasons to the one we’re talking about here, and they turned out to be spectacularly wrong. There is a lesson in that. The lesson I’ve drawn from that, I decided a long time ago that I had faith in the command and I had no faith in the reasons that had been suggested for it. I decided that 25 years ago, so it was very easy for me when it was changed.

    AP: Are you referring to reasons given even by general authorities?

    OAKS: Sure.

    References

  • Transparency

    Transparency

    October 1905 Conference Report, Prophet Joseph F. Smith, Pg. 5: 1

    “I want to say further to the Saints, that your brethren to whom you have entrusted the care and management of the finances of the Church stand ready and willing, any moment,’ to answer to YOU — to Latter-day Saints, to tithepayers, to those who are in the faith of the Gospel — for our stewardship. We can give you an account of our doings to the last senine; and I defy any man on earth to point his finger to a dollar that is willfully wasted, or stolen by the servants of God. The tithing books are kept as accurately and as perfectly as any books kept in any bank. Every man that pays a dollar tithing gets his credit on the books; and if he wants to see that his credit is there he can go and see for himself. But we do not propose to open our books and show your accounts to every Tom, Dick and Harry in the land that never did pay any tithing. We do not propose to do that, if we can help it. But you Latter-day Saints who pay your tithes and your offerings, if you want to see for yourselves, that you may be eye and ear witnesses, the books are open to you, and you can come and examine your accounts any business day you want.”

    April 1906 Conference Report, Prophet Joseph F. Smith, Pg. 6,7: 2

    “I want to say to the Latter-day Saints that the year 1905 has been the banner year for the tithings of the people. You can put that down in your memorandum books, and remember it. Never in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have the people contributed as much tithing as they did in 1905. And yet they have not done anything more than their duty; in fact, there are a great many Latter-day Saints that have not done their duty, as the books will show.

    In this connection I may say that a most thorough and searching auditation of the books of the Trustee-in-Trust, the books of the Presiding Bishopric, and the books of the Deseret News Company, has been made by the auditors that were appointed and sustained at our last conference. Before the conclusion of this conference we will read you their report, and I believe you will be perfectly satisfied with it. The man that complains about not knowing what is done with the tithing, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred is the man who has no credit on the books of the Church for paying tithing. We do not care to exhibit the books of the Church to such carpers and to that class of people. But there is not a tithepayer in the Church that cannot go to the Presiding Bishop’s Office, or to the office of the Trustee-in-Trust, if he desires, and find his account, and see to it that every dollar he has given to the Lord for tithing is credited to him. Then, if he wants to be more searching as a tithepayer and find out what is done with the tithing, we will set before him the whole thing, and if he has any good counsel to give us we will take it from him. But we will not — because we do not have to, and it is not the business of the world to require it open our books to the world, unless we wish to. We are not ashamed of them. We are not afraid for them to be inspected. They are honest and straight; and there is not a man in the world that will look at them, but will say so, if he is honest himself.”

    Excerpt from ’LDS Church Finances from the 1830’s to the 1990’s’, by historian D. Michael Quinn: 3

    “The combination of bad financial investments, declines in Church businesses, and the Great Depression once again pushed the LDS church into deficit spending. First Counselor J. Reuben Clark announced to general conferences that the Church had spending deficits amounting to $100,000 in 1937 and to nearly $900,000 in 1938. In President Clark’s view, voluntary disclosure of regrettable deficits was a way to encourage greater austerity on the part of the leaders at headquarters and elsewhere. During the 1940s Clark allowed the church to spend only 27% of its annual tithing revenues.

    Twenty years later, the First Presidency’s deficit spending stopped the practice of releasing detailed financial reports at April general conferences, a regular practice since 1915. During a few months in mid-1956, the Church lost a million dollars of tithing funds invested in municipal government bonds. Yet later that year, the First Presidency committed two thirds of Church income to continued investment in municipal bonds. ’08 The next annual financial report gave fewer details about expenditures of Church funds, and the Church published its last financial report in April 1959.

    By the end of 1959, the Church had spent $8 million more than that year’s income. This deficit was extraordinary in view of the fact that the Church had had surplus income of $7 million after 1958’s expenditures. To conceal the massive increase of building expenditures in the last half of 1959, which created that deficit, the Church stopped releasing even abbreviated financial reports. At the close of 1961, Apostle Harold B. Lee expressed “my stubborn resistance to the principle of ‘deficit spending,’ supposedly justified in the hope of increasing the tithing of the Church to cover the deficit,” to no avail.”

    References

    References
    1 October 1905 Conference Report – https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1905sa
    2 April 1906 Conference Report – https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1906a
    3 ’LDS Church Finances from the 1830’s to the 1990’s’, by historian D. Michael Quinn – https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/102-17-29.pdf
  • Unfaithful

    Unfaithful

    Excerpt from LDS prophet Harold. B. Lee’s book Decisions for Successful Living, 1973: 1

    “The privilege of obtaining a mortal body on this earth is seemingly so priceless that those in the spirit world, even though unfaithful or not valiant, were undoubtedly permitted to take mortal bodies although under penalty of racial or physical or nationalistic limitations.”

     

    References