He possessed a noble boldness and independence of character; his manner was easy and familiar; his rebuke terrible as the lion; his benevolence unbounded as the ocean; his intelligence universal, and his language abounding in original eloquence peculiar to himself—not polished—not studied—not smoothed and softened by education and refined by art; but flowing forth in its own native simplicity, and profusely abounding in variety of subject and manner. He interested and edified, while, at the same time, he amused and entertained his audience; and none listened to him that were ever weary with his discourse. I have even known him to retain a congregation of willing and anxious listeners for many hours together, in the midst of cold or sunshine, rain or wind, while they were laughing at one moment and weeping the next. Even his most bitter enemies were generally overcome, if he could once get their ears.

I have known him when chained and surrounded with armed murderers and assassins who were heaping upon him every possible insult and abuse, rise up in the majesty of a son of God and rebuke them, in the name of Jesus Christ, till they quailed before him, dropped their weapons, and, on their knees, begged his pardon, and ceased their abuse.

In short, in him the characters of a Daniel and a Cyrus were wonderfully blended. The gifts, wisdom and devotion of a Daniel were united with the boldness, courage, temperance, perseverance and generosity of a Cyrus. And had he been spared a martyr’s fate till mature manhood and age, he was certainly endued with powers and ability to have revolutionized the world in many respects, and to have transmitted to posterity a name associated with more brilliant and glorious acts than has yet fallen to the lot of mortal. As it is, his works will live to endless ages, and unnumbered millions yet unborn will mention his name with honor, as a noble instrument in the hands of God, who, during his short and youthful career, laid the foundation of that kingdom spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, which should break in pieces all other kingdoms and stand forever.(Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, 3rd ed., pp.45-46.)

From the book: Youth Leading Youth

Welcome to Kyoto!”

Elder Hadley shook my hand eagerly and then reached for my suitcase. “Here, let me help you with that.”

I smiled gratefully as I buttoned up my coat against the cold Japanese air. “Thanks. I feel like I’ve been packing it for hours.”

“I know,” Elder Hadley said. “I had to take three different trains when I transferred here. I didn’t think I was ever going to make it.”

My new companion led me out of the train station and strapped my suitcase to the back of his own bicycle. “Have you ever been to Kyoto before?”

I shook my head. “First time,” I said. “I’ve been to Himeji a couple of times, but this is my first trip north.”

“You’ll love it,” Elder Hadley assured me. “The people here are terrific. We’ve got a great ward, and the members really go out of their way to make investigators feel welcome. Just last month we had three baptisms and . . .”

I laughed as I listened to my new companion talk. He spoke with a delightful accent, pronouncing “I” as “Ah” and saying “are” as “or.” It was exactly the way one of my favorite companions—a missionary I had worked with several months before—talked. So when Elder Hadley quit talking for a moment I asked, “Do you know Elder Burton?”

“Paul Burton? From Colorado?”

“Yeah—that’s the one.”

“He was my last companion! We were together for two months!”

I laughed again, no longer surprised. Elder Burton was a fantastic missionary, and after two months with him it was no wonder that even his style of speech had rubbed off on Elder Hadley.

As I spent more time with Elder Hadley I saw that many more of Elder Burton’s peculiar habits had rubbed off. My new companion, for instance, began every morning with a series of one-armed push-ups, thirty or so sit-ups, and then more push-ups—something Elder Burton did every morning. Elder Hadley also had the habit of bearing his testimony at every door we visited, something I had never seen anyone but Elder Burton do.

One time I even noticed that Elder Hadley marked his scriptures in the same peculiar way I did. I thought that was unusual until I realized that we had both learned our method from Elder Burton!

Elder Hadley had had no intention of patterning himself after Elder Burton, but example is such a powerful tool that he was influenced by it without even knowing it. Living side by side with Elder Burton for two months made it inevitable that certain traits would rub off.

How glad I was that they were all good traits!

As a leader, you too will influence many people through your example. Those you lead will do the things they see you do. If you are cheerful when the task is hard, many others will be also. If you are obedient, those you lead will be obedient. If you show respect for other people, so will everyone else. Demonstrate through your example how to work hard, how to smile, and how to be obedient, and others will follow. You will never teach leadership as powerfully as you will through the strength of your own example.

I have a friend named Jim who conducts rock climbing courses. He spends much of his time with his students out on the rocks climbing and rappeling. But he also insists that his students learn many other things, including knots. Many of his student climbers can tie the figure-eight knots and bowlines that are so important in rock climbing. But many of them also want to learn such things as the Prusik knot.

The Prusik knot is used for climbing ropes (James Bond uses it all the time). It’s one of the easiest knots in the world to tie, but it’s almost impossible to describe.

One time Jim was struggling to teach the Prusik to a handful of young climbers. He tried several times to explain what to do, but wasn’t making any headway. Finally he gave up and said, “Everybody come here and watch this.” He then demonstrated the knot one time. But it was so easy to tie that one time was enough. After just that one demonstration, all the students were able to tie it themselves.

How you lead the Laurels class will depend largely upon how you’ve seen others do it. More important, future leaders will do it the way they’ve seen you do it. Many people will pattern themselves after you. If you work hard—if you complete your duties completely and responsibly—there is every chance that others who see you will do the same.

As a leader you might spend a lot of time teaching your followers to work hard, to be honest, and to be cheerful. But not until they see you working hard, being honest, and being cheerful will they get the message. You may tell them to be on time to meetings. But if you’re late yourself, forget it.

I have a young cousin who lives for gymnastics. Just twelve years old, Holly has won many junior tournaments. Her coach says that Holly has natural instincts. But Holly says her success comes from watching another gymnast on the team.

“Lorraine does the most beautiful floor exercise I’ve ever seen,” Holly told me. “I could sit and watch her for hours.”

Lorraine was a fine gymnast. She displayed elegant split leaps and dazzling pirouettes. She executed neat front and back walkovers, and she did graceful full and double toe turns. She was an athlete worthy of imitation.

But Holly did more than just admire her. Every time she watched Lorraine perform, she picked out one move or trick she liked, then tried to do it herself. Sometimes she’d pick an easy skill that came quickly. And sometimes she picked things that took a little more time and practice before she could do them.

“I learned almost everything I know about the floor exercise from watching Lorraine,” Holly said. “Almost all of my tricks are ones that I saw Lorraine do first.”

Besides being a good athlete, Lorraine had other skills, too. She knew how to play to an audience. She knew how to smile in a way that didn’t seem faked. She made her entrances in a way that seemed to say: “Hey, world! Watch me! I’m having fun!”

Holly was soon doing these same things. No one ever taught her to do them. She learned by watching another gymnast.

You’ll find this principle to be true in almost every aspect of leadership. Just as people learn physical skills by watching others, they also learn obedience, trust, and faith by watching those who practice these traits.

Show others through your own example how to be obedient, trusting, and faithful. And even in circles where you’re not a designated leader, don’t be afraid to let your example set you apart. One person setting the proper example can often change a bad experience into a good one.

A young woman once shared with me an experience she had had at girls’ camp. After a long day, several of the campers had gathered and were discussing their camping partners.

“I can’t believe Ruth came again this year,” one said. “She doesn’t do anything but cause trouble.”

“Collette’s the same way,” someone else added. “I wish they’d both just go home.”

They’re both spoiled brats,” someone else said.

As this was going on, another young woman named Mary became uncomfortable. She didn’t like the direction the conversation was taking. And when the campers were about to vote on who they thought was the most spoiled person at camp that year, Mary suddenly said, “Hey! What if we voted on the girl who is the most fun at camp this year? And maybe we could give her an award or something.”

The idea was greeted with instant enthusiasm.

“And we could vote on the most spiritual girl, too!” someone else suggested.

“And the most inspiring!”

“And the best dressed!”

At the last suggestion everyone laughed. But as the conversation changed, so did the mood. While many of the girls had been on the verge of anger, now they were laughing as they began preparing awards for campers who were making the camp fun and happy.

Many times you’ll be with informal groups, such as this bunch of campers, that do not have leaders. And without someone to keep everyone moving in the right direction, people may unconsciously begin veering the wrong way.

Don’t be afraid to give them a nudge back the right direction.

A young neighbor of mine named Doug told me about a time he went camping with the ward Scout troop. As the boys lay in their sleeping bags, an innocent discussion gradually became crude and offensive. Not liking the manner in which the evening was shaping, Doug suddenly called out: “It’s 10:30, guys. Why don’t we have a minute of silence so everyone can say their prayers?”

The camp was instantly quiet and reverent. And the mood was changed. After a minute or two of silence, the boys gradually began talking again. Many of them talked far into the night, but the conversation never returned to its vulgar beginnings. With a single question—and without any preaching or moralizing—Doug had effectively changed something bad into something good.

A good example can help you, too. If you have trouble motivating the group, find someone who’s good at motivation and watch him. See how he does it. See if you can learn from his example.

You can learn much about leadership by watching other people lead. You can learn about building character and citizenship by watching others. Watch carefully the things they do. See what things work and what things don’t.

In an earlier chapter I mentioned Steve Birrell, the captain of my eighth-grade basketball team. Besides being a good leader, Steve was always happy and full of energy. I wanted to be like him. I wanted people to think of me the way I thought of him.

I didn’t want to be Steve. I just wanted to be the same sort of person that he was.

71So I started doing the sort of things Steve did. Steve often stayed late after practice to pick up towels and store balls in the racks.

I started staying late to help, too.

Whenever Coach Brimhall asked for someone to run an errand— even if it had nothing to do with basketball— Steve was always the first to respond.

I started volunteering, too.

One night after practice one of the school custodians came in to talk with the coach. He said he was cleaning the auditorium for an activity that night. He wondered if anyone on the team would be free to help him for a few minutes.

As usual, Steve’s hand shot up. So did mine. And the two of us spent the next hour picking up paper behind the bleachers. It wasn’t fun work, but we had fun doing it.

That’s the way Steve was. After a game once I saw him go up and say something to the referees. I’m not sure what he said, but because both officials smiled, I know it was something like, “Great game, guys.”

After the next game I went up and said thanks to the referees. It took a lot of courage, but I was surprised at how good it made me feel.

I don’t know if anyone ever admired me as much as I admired Steve. But I liked me for the things I was doing. I knew I was doing good things, and I knew I was improving myself.

Use the power of your own excellent example to shape those you lead. Demonstrate every day exactly the way you want your followers to behave. Be consistent. Don’t worry if people say you sound like a broken record. Show them what you want of them.

When you begin to look and act like a leader, people will follow you with confidence. Your example will show them the way to greatness. Do your best at everything you do. Have fun while you’re at it. And you’ll influence many through your example.

From the book: Prepare With Honor –  Helps For Future Missionaries

It is always a marvel to listen to recently returned missionaries give their homecoming talks. It may be hard for you to see yourself doing that in just a few short years. Returned missionaries seem so experienced and professional in matching various scriptures to specific doctrines and personal testimony. But how did they get that way?

If you put off learning how to study the scriptures until you are on your mission, you are sentencing yourself to some embarrassing times and some long nights. I speak from firsthand experience. On the very day our group landed in Samoa (where I served my first mission), the district leader took me to visit a minister of another religion. After some pleasant introductory remarks, he started attacking my beliefs, using my own scriptures. He knew far more about the doctrine of our church than I did. I remembered reading a scripture I might have used to answer his questions, but I had no idea where to find it. By the end of his verbal thrashing, I was totally humiliated. I sure wished I had paid more attention in Sunday School and priesthood meeting. I also wished I had listened better during seminary and youth firesides. But now it was too late.

It was probably a good thing there wasn’t a plane heading back to the United States or I might have been tempted to get on it. I decided then that I would never let such a thing happen to me again. In the next three weeks, studying day and night, I completely read the Standard Works. I must admit I probably slept through part of the Old Testament. The New Testament was more familiar (except for some of Paul’s writings), while the Book of Mormon was very familiar (except for the Isaiah part of 2 Nephi!). But both the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price were totally new to me. What had I read during my youth? If only I had studied those books before starting on my mission!

How can you motivate yourself to read the scriptures? Don’t make it drudgery. Set a regular time to read every day—right when you wake up in the morning, during your lunch break, or just before you go to bed at night. Don’t try reading when you are exhausted, because you’ll just fall asleep. If you could discipline yourself to read for thirty minutes a day, that would be great. If you can’t take that much, work up to it by starting with five or ten minutes a day. The key is to get into the habit of daily scripture study. If you are in seminary, take advantage of the required reading schedule. Experiment by reading aloud; it may help you retain more.

Once you have a set time each day, find your scriptures and put them where you plan to study. Avoid wasting precious study time hunting for them. If you are really serious about preparing, you might consider buying your missionary scriptures now and marking them as you read. Parents, grandparents, and others are often glad to buy scriptures for Christmas or for your birthday. Use a red pencil (or a dry marker) to highlight scriptures you want to remember. But don’t get a marker that will bleed through the pages! When I marked my first set of scriptures, I used a red pen. Although it was economical, marking one verse would automatically mark a verse on the back of the page (and sometimes several more when my scriptures got a little moist from the high humidity in Samoa). A bleeding pen can make your scriptures look like a disaster, so save yourself some grief and use a colored pencil.

Don’t lie on your bed to study; you sleep in bed. Your brain will automatically tell your body to go to sleep if you try reading there. Sit up in a well-lighted place. Turn off the TV and radio, because they will block you from hearing the still, small voice of the Spirit.

I wish I had realized before my mission how willing Heavenly Father is to help his children understand the meaning of the scriptures. Make sure you take time to pray for help before you begin reading. It is like the difference between reading in a dark room and one that is well lighted. If you find that your reading isn’t making much sense, stop and pray again for the Lord’s help.

There are many ways to read the scriptures, but we will only discuss two. If you have never read the scriptures all the way through, start now. Your testimony will be much more powerful if you can truthfully say that you have read the Book of Mormon and know that it is true. How can you testify if you have never read it or prayed about it? It is not very convincing to say, “Well, I think it is true” or “My mom told me it was true.” It may be necessary to rely on the testimony of others until you get your own, but don’t cheat yourself of blessings you can, with effort, have yourself.

So first, read to understand the story. Whose father was Mosiah? Why were the sons of Mosiah on a fourteen-year mission among the Lamanites? Did Moses live before or after Abraham? Which one of the four Gospels contains most of the parables? Why is the Book of Moses found in the Pearl of Great Price rather than in the Bible? Once you read all the way through the Standard Works, you will find it much easier to remember important facts and details of the big picture.

You are not necessarily reading for depth but for content; depth will come with time and study. The degrees of glory (D&C 76) will become a favorite. The much-talked-about Word of Wisdom (D&C 89) will not be difficult to remember. Although finding the temptations of Jesus may prove more challenging, don’t be overwhelmed at the thousands of names, places, and events recorded in the scriptures. Just take it a bit at a time.

As you continue to read for the story, you may find a topic that catches your interest. Finish the story, then come back during the latter part of your study session and “posthole”—find out more about the subject that interested you. You can use the Topical Guide, the Bible Dictionary, other reference books, or whatever you like. At first, it might be challenging to know the right questions to ask. But after you’ve had some practice, you will find that thirty minutes isn’t long enough. Then you will start to look forward to your study sessions, and you may want to study the scriptures instead of watching TV. You might want to study with some of your friends who should also be preparing for missions.

If you find words you don’t understand, write them down. Then look them up or ask someone to explain them to you. Mom and Dad may actually be smarter than you think! An older brother or sister who has served a mission is a great source of answers. A seminary or institute teacher can usually help. A quorum advisor or Sunday School teacher will be glad to give the question a try. Every once in a while, you won’t be able to find an answer to your question. Be patient. Just because you don’t know the answer doesn’t mean there isn’t one. In situations like this, just put the question on hold in your mind and continue your study. Eventually you’ll find the answer; when you do, you will never forget it, because you will have paid the price to learn it for yourself.

Look for promises in the scriptures. These promises are like a mathematical formula: if you do X and Y, you will get Z, a certain blessing. With time and experience, you will discover that every blessing you want from your Heavenly Father (including the ability to read and understand the scriptures!) has a formula in the scriptures. Be patient as you search for them.

As you read, ask yourself, “What question would this scripture answer?” As you begin to perfect this technique, your confidence will increase and your testimony will grow stronger—you will be prepared to answer questions. But remember, do not use your knowledge of the scriptures to attack others, because the spirit of contention is not of God. The first time I read Doctrine and Covenants 6:16, I asked myself, “What question would someone have to ask so I could use this verse as the answer?” The question was, “Can Satan read our thoughts?” The very next day an investigator asked me that question. I excitedly turned to the scripture. Both the investigator and my companion were pleasantly surprised that I could find the scripture to clear up the problem. This situation triggered a personal formula for reading the scriptures: I always ask myself, “What has the Lord said about this topic?” As a missionary, your responsibility is to show your investigators what and why (when applicable) the Lord has revealed, not to argue about doctrines.

It is an exciting challenge to use the scriptures to document every belief you have. This approach will set you apart as being well-prepared from the first day you arrive in your mission area. Use whatever strategy or gimmick you can to help you remember where important scriptures are located. It will be like learning a new language: with practice, hard work, and sacrifice, you will be able to recall the things you have studied when you need them.

The more you study the scriptures, the more exciting they become. Although scripture mastery is difficult, I think Heavenly Father made it difficult so only those who are really serious will pay the price to learn. Read the scriptures with the idea of teaching someone else. Ask yourself, “How would I explain this part to someone else?” The scriptures offer a chance to enter a new and insightful world. So open the door!

Chastity is of great value. Chastity and virtue are “most dear and precious above all things” (Moroni 9:9), more valuable than rubies or diamonds, than herds and flocks, than gold and silver, or than automobiles and land. But, sadly, in many cases they are on sale at the cheapest shops and at the cheapest prices. (79-20)

Even mortal life itself, when placed upon the balance scales, weighs less [than chastity]. (60-04)

All unchastity will one day be disclosed. There comes a time when the fornicator, like the murderer, wishes he could hide-hide from all the world, from all the ghosts, and especially his own, but there is no place to hide. There are dark corners and hidden spots and closed cars in which the transgression can be committed, but to totally conceal it is impossible. There is no night so dark, no room so tightly locked, no canyon so closed in, no desert so totally uninhabited that one can find a place to hide from his sins, from himself, or from the Lord. Eventually, one must face the great Maker. (76-46)/

Unchastity is moral filthiness. It is not the soil of earth or the grease on a person’s hands that defile him; nor is it the fingernails “edged in black,” the accumulated perspiration from honest toil, or the body odor resulting from heavy work. One may bathe hourly, perfume oneself often, have hair shampooed frequently, have fingernails manicured daily, and be a master at soft-spoken utterances, and still be as filthy as hell’s cesspools. What defiles is sin, and especially sexual sin. …

To a young man seeking help who had allowed himself to indulge heavily in fornication but was not quite repentant, I wrote:

“Your sin is the most serious thing you could have done in your youth this side of murder. … Your last experience in immorality was far more obnoxious than the first. You had been to the temple and had made solemn vows of chastity before God and holy angels. You made covenant that you would never have such ungodly relations. You had already done it and then did it again with that solemn promise on your lips.” (MF 62)

Some fail to understand the gravity of unchastity. I hope their values will not be mixed and distorted like the man who stole the coal but would not drink a cup of coffee, or like the young girl recently who was pregnant, but so distorted was her view that her emphasis was on temple marriage at all costs and no thought of preparation for it. She would not marry the father of her unborn child because temple marriage was not available to her at this time. Fornication was of lesser moment to her but she had definitely settled on her temple marriage. The spirit giveth life-the word killeth. (66-07)

From the book: What I Wish I’d Known in High School

Originally, there was the church of Jesus Christ. But, as prophesied, the church was taken from the earth. People were left to interpret the scriptures without the aid of a prophet. The philosophies of men corrupted the pure doctrines of Christ, and the church fell into apostasy and into the Dark Ages. At the close of the Dark Ages, “the spirit of inspiration rested upon [the reformers],” said Elder Bruce R. McConkie, “causing them to rebel against the religious evils of the day and seek to make the Bible and other truth available to all who would receive such.” 21 The Reformation resulted in many different churches all trying to return to the pure doctrine of Christ. However, none of them had the proper authority, and most of them retained ideas and philosophies from the Roman church, which had been corrupted centuries earlier.

LDS Educational Perspective

Mormonism fosters education. LDS theology views life essentially as an educational process. Mortality is seen as a probationary state, a period of learning and testing. Knowledge and mastery of both self and environment through obedience to divine law is the basis of eternal progression. Thus in Mormon dogma education not only helps man in this life, it also assists him in his quest to achieve perfection and become godlike in the next. This theological emphasis is manifest in many latter-day scriptures:

The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth. (D&C 93:36)

Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come. (D&C 130:18-19)

It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance. (D&C 131:6)

Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expected for you to understand; Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms. (D&C 88:78-79)

Mormonism’s theological emphasis upon the importance of knowledge has very tangible results. Within the first few years of the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its leaders established in Ohio and Missouri an adult school for men called the School of the Prophets. Three years after entering the Salt Lake Valley, despite the hardship of settling an uninhabited, nearly desolate area, Mormon pioneers founded the University of Deseret (1850), later named the University of Utah. Brigham Young University, also established in Utah’s pioneer period (1876), has become a showpiece of Mormondom. Utah, a predominately Mormon state, has an enviable education record, leading the nation in the percentage of higher school graduates among persons eighteen and over–80.2 percent compared to the national percentage of 66.6–and tying with Colorado for the highest median school years completed by persons eighteen and over–12.8 years. 2 Furthermore, it reports one of the highest percentages of adults who have attended college–31.4 percent. 3

Utah’s emphasis on education is not superficial. More than forty years ago, Thorndike, controlling for population size, found Utah to rank first as the birthplace of people listed in American Men of Science, to tie for second place in producing people listed in Leaders in Education, and to be fourth in contributing to those listed in Who’s Who in America. 4 Astin, in his 1962 study, found productivity of colleges was largely determined by the characteristics of incoming students (input). Utah universities, however, were found to be much more productive than their inputs predicted. 5 Hardy in his 1974 analysis of the origins of American scientists and scholars provided additional evidence indicating the superior productivity of Utah schools of higher education. Using a weighted index based on the number of college graduates per thousand who go on to earn a Ph.D. within a specified time, and controlling for gender variations, he found:

The most productive state is Utah, which is first in productivity for all fields combined in all time periods. It is first in biological and social sciences, second in education, third in physical sciences, and sixth in arts and professions. Compared to other states in its region, it is defiantly productive. This result seems clearly to be due to the influence of Mormon values, because Mormon youth predominate in the colleges of the state, and because other variables, such as climate, geography, natural resources, and social class, do not appear to explain the exceptional record of this state. 6

Secularizing Influence of Education

Both education and religion are directly concerned with knowing, that is, understanding the cosmos and man’s place in it, yet they rely upon different and possibly conflicting methods of acquiring knowledge. Religion, with its emphasis on the superempirical, subordinates worldly reasoning to faith in revealed knowledge. In the words of Paul Williams, religion involves

a belief-attitude that the Ultimate for man exists (however is may be conceived) and that certain aspects of life derive from the Ultimate; . . . that the derivation (from the Ultimate) of these aspects of life is beyond empirical demonstration; . . . and that these aspects of life are of supreme importance. 7

Scholarship, on the other hand, follows essentially the scientific perspective, grounding truth in logic and empirical findings. Many scholars consider these two approaches–faith and science–to be incompatible. Thomas F. O’Dea, a sociologist who made an in depth study of Mormonism, contends that the incompatibility between higher education and religion is major source of strain and conflict in contemporary Mormonism. O’Dea argues that this strain between education and religion rises out of the secularizing influence of science and rationalism which undermines traditional religious beliefs:

The Mormon appreciation of education emphasized higher education and thereby encouraged contact between Mormon youth and those very elements in modern thought that are bound to act as a solvent on certain aspects of Mormon beliefs. . . . He has been taught by the Mormon faith to seek knowledge and to value it; yet it is precisely this course, so acceptable to and so honored by his religion, that is bound to bring religious crisis to him and profound danger to his religious belief. The college undergraduate curriculum becomes the first line of danger to Mormonism in its encounter with modern learning. 8

The Study

Is college education, as O’Dea suggests, detrimental to Mormon faith? Is Mormonism, by encouraging educational achievement, latently promoting its own secularism? Is the highly educated Mormon less religious than his less educated brothers? Findings from a study recently completed by the author suggest not.

The study is based on a probability sample of 500 adult Latter-day Saints systematically selected from all LDS wards in the Greater St. Louis area. 9 The 500 adults were mailed a questionnaire dealing with educational attainment, religious involvement, and background information. Of the 500 sampled, 261 (52 percent) returned usable questionnaires. Of this number, 101 (39 percent) held college degrees. 10

The problems in measuring religiosity are numerous and resist easy solution. Even defining religiosity is a formidable task. My solution was to use multiple measures of religiosity that tap different facets. 11 Specifically, scales were created to measure religious practice, belief, knowledge, and experience. In addition, an overall measures of religiosity–religious self-identification–was used.

Religious Self-Identification. The respondents’ self-evaluation of how religious they are given a subjective generic measure of religiosity. Table 1 cross-tabulates religious self-identification by educational level.

Table 1
Religious Self-Identification by Educational Level (in rounded percentages)

How Non-HS High School Some Bachelor Graduate
Religious Graduate Graduate College Degree Degree Total

Not Very 6 8 5 4 6 5

Mildly 12 10 3 5 8 7

Fairly 49 39 31 26 36 35

Very 33 43 61 65 50 53

Total Percent 100 100 100 100 100 100

Number 33 51 62 55 36 237

r = .11 (P << .05)

Notice that the percentage of respondents classifying themselves as very religious increases with educational level from a low of 33 percent of those who were not high school graduates to a high of 65 percent of those with bachelor’s degrees, but then declines to 50 percent of those with post-bachelor’s degrees. All in all, 39 percent of the noncollege-educated respondents, compared to 60 percent of those who did attend college, judged themselves to be very religious. 12

Practices. Acts of worship which devotees of a religion are encouraged to perform constitute religious practices. At once end of the spectrum these practices tend to be formal and typically public. At the other end of the spectrum they tend to be informal and typically private. Church attendance (a public act of worship) and personal prayer (a private act of worship) were selected to measure religious practices. The relationship between these two variables and education is shown in tables 2 and 3:

Table 2
Church Attendance by Educational Level (in rounded percentages)

Church Non-HS High School Some Bachelor Graduate
Attendance Graduate Graduate College Degree Degree Total

zero 16 15 12 8 13 13

1 to 3
times yearly 6 7 3 1 0 3

4 to 12
times yearly 9 5 3 2 3 4

2 or 3
times monthly 6 2 5 5 5 4

weekly 63 71 77 84 79 76

Total percent 100 100 100 100 100 100

Number 32 58 65 61 38 254

r = .13 (P << .05)

Note that weekly church attendance increases with educational level from 63 percent among those who did not graduate from high school to 84 percent among those with bachelor’s degrees. Again those with graduate degree upset the monotonic relationship by attending less than those with bachelor’s degrees. Eighty percent of the college category, compared to 63 percent of the noncollege category, attend church weekly.

The relationship between personal prayer and education is less clear. As with the two preceding measures of religiosity, the college-educated are more likely than the noncollege-educated to place high on the measure, but the difference is small (67 percent to 60 percent), and those who attended college but did not graduate were more likely to engage in daily personal prayer than those who did graduate.

Table 3
Personal Prayer by Educational Level (no rounded percentages)

Frequency Non-HS High School Some Bachelor Graduate
of Prayer Graduate Graduate College Degree Degree Total

do not pray 0 2 3 2 7 3

only on
special
occasions 3 5 0 3 0 2

occasionally 23 19 8 10 12 14

once a week 21 10 15 21 13 16

daily 53 64 74 64 67 65

Total percent 100 100 100 100 100 100

Number 34 58 65 61 40 258

r = .04 (P >.05)

Belief. The belief dimension of religion focuses on ideology–the religious tenets individuals avow. It comprises religion’s theological component. Acceptance of biblical miracles was used to measure belief. As Table 4 shows, belief declines with educational advancement.

Table 4
Belief in Biblical Miracles by Education Level (in rounded percentages)

Bible Non-HS High School Some Bachelor Graduate
Miracles Graduate Graduate College Degree Degree Total

did not
happen 0 0 0 0 3 0

explained
by natural
events 6 3 15 18 16 12

uncertain 0 11 5 3 8 6

did happen 94 86 80 79 74 82

Total percent 100 100 100 100 100 100

Number 33 56 64 61 38 252

r = .17 (P <<.01)

Note that the percentage of respondents believing that biblical miracles actually happened just as the Bible states declines from 94 percent of those who did not graduate from high school to 74 percent of those with college graduate degrees. The college-educated, as a group, are 11 percent less likely than the noncollege-educated to be unequivocal believers.

Experience. Religious experience constitutes the feeling component of religion. Such experience involves the sensation that contact, however fleeting, has been made with the divine. This contact may range the entire gamut from feelings of peace and safety to visions and revelations. Spiritual confirmation of the truthfulness of the gospel was used as an indicator of religious experience. As Table 5 shows, education is negligibly related to spiritual confirmation.

Table 5
Spiritual Confirmation of the Truthfulness of the Gospel
by Educational Level (in rounded percentages)

Spiritual Non-HS High School Some Bachelor Graduate
Confirmation Graduate Graduate College Degree Degree Total

no 0 7 10 2 13 6

uncertain 20 15 8 12 8 12

yes 80 78 82 86 79 82

Total percent 100 100 100 100 100 100

Number 30 55 63 58 39 245

r = .01 (P >.05)

The college-educated are more likely to have experienced a spiritual confirmation than the noncollege-educated, but again the difference is small (83 to 79 percent).

Knowledge. The knowledge dimension of religion deals with religious literacy–the extent to which a person is informed about the basic doctrines, practices, and history of his faith. Knowledge differs from belief since knowledge is concerned only with knowing, while belief involves commitment. Four questions dealing with the Bible were used to measure religious knowledge: (1) Who wrote the most books in the New Testament? (2) Is the Book of Acts an eyewitness account of Christ’s ministry? (3) Name the last book of the Old Testament, and (4) Which Gospel narrates most fully the events surrounding the birth of Christ? The number of responses per person is represented on the next page by Table 6.

Table 6
Bible-Knowledge by Educational Level (in rounded percentages)

Number of Non-HS High School Some Bachelor Graduate
Correct Graduate Graduate College Degree Degree Total
Answers

0 31 22 18 7 20 18

1 28 22 18 16 5 18

2 17 22 16 7 13 15

3 17 21 26 25 13 21

4 7 13 22 45 49 28

Total Percent 100 100 100 100 100 100

Number 29 54 62 60 39 244

r = .31 (P << .01)

The association between religious knowledge and education is positive and substantial. Notice that the percentage of individuals answering all four questions correctly nearly doubles with each increment in education up to the graduate degree level. A comparison of those who attended college to those who did not shows that while 39 percent of the college-educated answered all four questions correctly, only 11 percent of the noncollege-educated did.

Summary and Conclusion

Of the six measures of religiosity, only belief was negatively associated with education, that is, tended to decline with educational advancement. In contrast, church attendance and biblical knowledge increased substantially and self-evaluated religiosity increased mildly with educational advancement. Personal prayer and spiritual confirmation of the truthfulness of the gospel showed little relationship to educational level.

In order to rule out the possibility that the association between negative belief and education was a product of the specific belief indicator used, the relationship between education and four other measures of belief were tested: (1) belief in God, (2) belief in the existence of Satan, (3) belief in the infallibility of the President of the Church in matters of doctrine, and (4) acceptance of religious over scientific beliefs when the two appear to clash. The associations with education for the measures were, respectively,–.19,–.18,–.01 and–.27. The fact that these measures of belief were also associated negatively with education strongly suggests that surety of belief in basic religious tenets to diminish with educational advancement. Nevertheless, corrosive effects of education of religious belief–if it is education that is causing the decline–are limited. 13 Note that 77 percent of the college graduates fully accept biblical miracles as actually having happened.

The fact that the percentage of those with graduate degrees scoring high on the various measures of religiosity is typically lower than the corresponding percentage for those with bachelor’s degrees suggests that graduate education may adversely affect certain aspects of religiosity. Even so, those with post-bachelor’s degrees are, on the average, more religious than those who never attended college. In short, college-educated Latter-day Saints in my sample, both as a group and by specific level of education, were, on the average, more religiously involved than noncollege-educated Latter Saints. Thus, contrary to O’Dea’s contentions, no evidence was found to indicate that college education is detrimental to the religiosity of Mormons.

My finding are at odds with the findings of several studies dealing with other denominations. A study of Episcopalians which focused on church attendance, religious belief, personal prayer, and Bible reading found all but church attendance to be negatively related to education. 14 A study of urban north Texas Presbyterians, Missouri Lutherans, Methodists, and Disciples of Christ reported that of nine dimensions of religiosity tested, only the knowledge dimension did not associate negatively with education. 15 A 1972 study of church members of various denominations in the San Francisco Bay area found religious belief, personal prayer, and religious experiences negatively related to years of education, while church attendance and religious knowledge were positively related. 16

The typical negative association found to exist between educational level and various measures of religiosity has been attributed by some writers to the rationalizing and secularizing influences of higher education which are thought to undermine religious commitment. If this be the case, it appears that the religiosity of Mormons is largely impervious to this secularizing influence. The reason for this, I suggest, is to be found in the LDS view of education. LDS theology, while it places a strong emphasis upon education, places education into a larger religious perspective. This tends to galvanize Mormons against whatever religiously corrosive influences higher education might generate. In short, Latter-day Saint theology appears to negate the secularizing impact of education by sacralizing it and incorporating it into the total religious milieu.

Gerald Stott is an assistant professor of sociology at Southeast Missouri State University.

U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1980), 151.

Standard Education Almanac (Chicago: Marquis Academic Media, 1975-76), 91-92. The 1975-76 edition of the Standard Educational Almanac is referenced because relevant information is not given in later editions.

E. L. Thorndike, “The Origin of Superior Men,” Scientific Monthly 56 (1943): 426.

Alexander W. Astin, “‘Productivity’ of Undergraduate Institutions,” Science 136 (1962): 123-35.

Kenneth R. Hardy, “Social Origins of American Scientists and Scholars,” Science 185 (1974): 500.

J. Paul Williams, “The Nature of Religion,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 2 (1962): 8.

Thomas F. O’Dea, The Mormons (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), 226-27.

The study may be faulted for not drawing the sample from Utah, Mormonism’s heartland. Justification exists, however, for drawing the sample outside Utah. Research findings demonstrate that a group’s majority or minority status has significant influence on its members’ behavior. Mormonism is a national and even international religion, the majority of LDS living outside of Utah. Because most LDS live in areas where they are a minority, a Utah sample where they constitute a majority would be unrepresentative and hence of no more utility in generalizing to all or even to LDS in the United States than my Midwest sample.

Due to response bias among those returning the questionaire, the findings should be accepted primarily for their correlative and comparative values rather than as accurate measurements of the survey population. For example, while 39 percent of the respondents hold college degrees, only 23 percent of a follow-up sample of nonrespondents had college degrees. Hence, probably 31, not 39, percent of the survey population are college graduates. Even this percentage, however, is quite large, especially when compared to a corresponding study of Southern Baptists which found 18 percent of that survey population to be college graduates.

Multidimensional approaches to the study of religiosity have been used by such writers as Joseph Fichter, Social Relations in the Urban Parish (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954); Gerhard E. Lenski, “Social Correlates of Religious Interest,” American Sociological Review 18 (1953): 533-44; Morton King, “Measuring the Religious Variable: Nine Proposed Dimensions,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 6 (Fall 1967): 173-90; Rodney Stark and Charles Glock, American Piety: The Nature of Religious Commitment (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968); King Morton and Richard Hunt, “Measuring the Religious Variable: National Replication,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 15 (March 1975): 13-22; Gordon F. DeJong, Joseph S. Faulkner, and Rex H. Warland, “Dimensions of Religiosity Reconsidered: Evidence from a Cross-Cultural Study,” Social Force 54 (June 1976): 866-89; Dean R. Hoge, Gregory H. Petrillo, and Ella I. Smith, “Transmission of Religious and Social Values from Parents to Teenage Children,” Journal of Marraige and the Family 44 (August 1982): 569-80. My approach is most closely related to Stark and Glock’s.

A measure of association, Pearson’s r is provided in the table. An interval rather than an ordinal measure of association is reported because interval statistics which are more powerful, more sensitive, and more readily interpreted can be applied to ordinal data with, except in rare circumstances, little distortion..

Correlation does not prove causation.

Wade Clarke Roof, “Traditional Religion in Contemporary Society: A Theory of Local-Cosmopolitan Plausibility,” American Sociological Review 41 (1976), 195-208.

Morton B. King and Richard A. Hunt, Measuring Religious Dimensions (Dallas: Southern Methodist University, 1972), 39.

Rodney Stark, “The Economics of Piety: Religious Commitment and Social Class,” in Issues in Social Inequality, ed. Gerald W. Thielbar and Saul D. Feldman (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1972), 483-503.

From the book: Youth Leading Youth

It was third down and inches. Ahead by a touchdown, Hillcrest had the ball on Myton’s forty-eight-yard line. A first down now could give them the field position they needed for a final drive at the goal line and a chance to frost the win.

Quarterback Chris Ellertson crouched in the huddle and carefully repeated the play the high school coach had given him. “Split left, twenty-three dive, two quick out on three. Ready? Break!”

The team clapped hands and jogged back to the line of scrimmage. Crouching behind center, Chris looked left, then right as Myton linebackers suddenly charged the line. They were going to blitz!

Chris knew he had to call a different play. And he knew he didn’t have much time. Turning quickly to both sides, he called an audible: “Red right, thirty-one lead! Red right, thirty-one lead!”

Then crouching again behind center he yelled: “Hut one! Hut two! Hut! Hut!”

The center snapped the ball crisply into Chris’s hands. Chris turned and ran sharply to the left. With defensive linebackers blitzing from both sides, he wanted to throw a short pass over the top. Unfortunately, he hadn’t given the play correctly. Players turned and ran in the wrong direction as opposing linemen poured over the line. Chris turned once, then doubled over as three defensive giants plowed him down, sacking him for a five-yard loss.

Hillcrest managed to hold on to win the game—barely. But Chris’s mistake nearly cost his team the game. One little mistake nearly meant the difference between winning and losing. And it was all a matter of communicating.

We’ve all had times when a mix-up in communications has caused us trouble or embarrassment. And we’ll probably have many more. The problem is, we usually don’t realize that there’s been a mix-up until it’s too late. When we give directions to someone else, we know what we want done. We assume the other person understands. And it usually isn’t until it’s too late that we learn how well our instructions were really understood.

An English teacher I had in high school once told us about a student who became sick midway through the term. The student’s mother came to school one day to pick up her daughter’s work for the rest of the term. Mrs. Cameron gave her several projects and tests the girl would need to complete.

“I’ll let you administer these,” Mrs. Cameron said. “Your daughter’s a fine young lady, and I don’t worry about her cheating.”

After several weeks, though, none of the assignments had been returned. The term was nearing its end, and Mrs. Cameron had no choice but to send home a failing notice.

A couple of days later the mother was back in school demanding to know why her daughter was failing.

Mrs. Cameron spread her hands. “Because she hasn’t turned in any of the work I sent her!”

The mother blushed. “Oh . . . we didn’t know you wanted us to bring it back.”

Even the most obvious things are sometimes misunderstood. No matter how clear something may seem, make sure it’s understood!

Being able to communicate effectively is a skill that will determine your success as a leader. If you can convey your instructions in a way that everyone understands—and in a way that will spark everyone’s enthusiasm—your job will be half done.

How do you do that? Let’s look at a couple of ways.

First, before you begin any project, make sure that every person knows what’s supposed to happen.

You’ve probably had times when you’ve thought, “Nobody ever tells me anything.” And you know how frustrating it is when you don’t know what’s going on. So be open and honest about your plans. Let everyone know what’s happening.

I wrote a magazine story about snowmobiling through Yellowstone one winter, and I spent a whole hour one day talking with drivers as they came in to see Old Faithful. One thing they all said was that snowmobiles weren’t much fun when someone else was driving.

“It’s scary,” said a fourteen-year-old boy named Mike. “When you’re on the back, you don’t have any control. You never know where the driver’s going, and you never know what he’s going to do next.”

Unless you learn to communicate well, the people you lead will often feel like Mike on the back of a snowmobile. It’s important that you let everyone know clearly where you’re going and what you’re doing.

Second, be sure that every person knows exactly what you expect. See that every person knows clearly what his or her duties and responsibilities are. Let each person know what you want him or her to do.

Air traffic controllers know all about this principle. And they have a neat trick for making sure that pilots know what they’re supposed to do after takeoff. After telling them which runway to use, how high to climb, when to turn, and which radio frequency to use, controllers have the pilots repeat the information. If the pilot has any trouble remembering—or if he says something wrong—the controller repeats the correct information.

Good idea! See if your followers can repeat your instructions back in their own words. If they can’t, repeat your instructions again a little more clearly. Remember that good communication is a two-way street and that those you lead are not mind readers.

To do their best work, group members need to know what is expected of each one. They each need to know their specific duties. If you are unable to communicate this information clearly, expect disaster!

A word of warning. Don’t think just because you’ve told everyone what to do that you’re finished. As you begin any project, new questions will come up. Someone may run into a problem and not know what to do. New situations will develop.

A ski instructor was once teaching his class of beginning skiers how to get on a chair lift.

“It’s easy,” he said. “All you have to do is stand on the line. Hold your poles in your left hand, look over your right shoulder, then just sit down when the chair comes up to you. Everybody got it? Good! Let’s give it a try!”

Everyone was anxious about the first ride on the chair lift. The instructor stayed close by to help out and encourage the younger ones who were afraid. Everything went fine, and soon everyone was riding the lifts peacefully up the mountain. And then one of the young skiers suddenly realized something. No one had told them how to get off!

As the midway point approached—the spot where the class was supposed to get off—everyone became more and more excited. No one had told them what to do, and there was no one to ask. When they arrived at the midway point, the braver skiers just piled off. But the more timid ones ended up riding clear to the top of the mountain.

The third step, then, is to keep your communication lines open! Talk to the group often about how things are going. Re- emphasize your expectations. Ask for questions. Listen to what’s going on.

You should remember that receiving information is just as important as giving it. Remember that when you use a telephone, you need to use the receiver as much as the mouthpiece. When you talk to the group, be certain you’re tuned in to them. Find out how they feel about what’s happening. Make sure you understand their feelings.

A high school tennis coach was once preparing her team for a tournament. She knew the competition would be tough, so she pushed her team hard. Probably a little too hard. The endless workouts were beginning to take their toll. Many of the players were becoming discouraged.

Finally, when the coach ordered the team back to the courts for another workout, she heard a player named Jan say, “Well, here we go again—back to the pits.”

Now, Jan was one of the team’s best players. She rarely complained. So when the coach heard her murmuring, she knew that Jan was unhappy. For the first time she realized that maybe she was working everyone a little too hard.

“Tell you what,” she said, changing her mind. “Let’s all hit the showers. Then let’s go out for a pizza!”

The team came instantly back to life.

“All right!” everyone chorused.

This coach was tuned in to her team. She was used to hearing players complain. Yet she was sensitive enough to know the difference between idle chatter and discouragement. So must you be.

While we’re talking about receiving, don’t underestimate your resources. If you listen carefully to what the group is saying, you may come up with a new idea or two. Maybe you’ll even come up with a better idea. (Two—or more—heads are better than one, remember?) And even if you don’t, something that someone says may prompt you to come up with a better idea.

You’ll be surprised at this. But people will flood you with ideas if you give them a chance and they know that you’ll listen. Next time you find yourself stumped for an idea, just try listening to what everyone else is thinking.

From the book: When Times Are Tough – 5 Scriptures That Will Get You Through Almost Anything

“Awake, and arise from the dust” (Moroni 10:31)

Moroni’s last words in the Book of Mormon are a wake-up call to “all the ends of the earth” (Moroni 10:24). His message is direct, clear, and unapologetic: Awake, come unto Christ, deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and I’ll see you at the judgment bar (Moroni 10:31–34).

The scriptures often use sleep as a metaphor for being spiritually lazy. Isaiah urged Zion to “awake” and put on her “beautiful garments” (Isaiah 52:1). Lehi told his sons to “awake” and “put on the armor of righteousness” (2 Nephi 1:23). Nephi’s younger brother Jacob told his brethren to “awake from the slumber of death” (Jacob 3:11). King Benjamin pleaded with his people to “awake to a remembrance of the awful situation of those that have fallen into transgression” (Mosiah 2:40). Alma invited the Zoramites to “awake and arouse [their] faculties” (Alma 32:27) as he taught them how to plant the testimony of Christ in their hearts. When God’s children sin or simply do not live up to their spiritual potential, God sends prophets to shake them into spiritual consciousness.

Sometimes prophets have to use frightening images of chains and hell to roust us from our spiritual slumber. Laman and Lemuel were physically present but in spiritual la-la land when Lehi tried to wake them up: “O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound. . . . Awake! and arise from the dust” (2 Nephi 1:13–14). (I don’t know exactly what the “sleep of hell” is, but it’s probably worse than a certain Boy Scout winter camp I’d like to forget.)

Sometimes our wake-up calls are less dramatic. Perhaps we’ve felt the Spirit at an inspiring fireside, been touched during general conference, or experienced a renewed desire to be a better person during our personal gospel study. This is our spiritual alarm clock saying, “Awake, and arise from the dust!”

The best thing that can happen when that alarm goes off is to get up and get with it. However, the spiritual alarm clock has a procrastination feature called the “snooze button” that is often a little too tempting: I really want to start a scripture study program, but I’m going to wait until the kids are back in school. I know I need to stop wasting my time with television, and I will as soon as this season of reality shows is over.

Sometimes even very good people can procrastinate the day of their awakening by making frequent use of the snooze button. Amulek was a decent man of “no small reputation,” but his spiritual alarm clock rang for some time before he answered the call. He was ignoring his wake-up call, and he knew it: “I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know” (Alma 10:4–6). The story of Amulek is particularly interesting because the Lord persisted with him, even though he had a pattern of repeatedly hitting the snooze button. That should give all of us hope even if we’ve continued in the same pattern.

Being awake has many advantages over being asleep, and being awake during the latter days is especially important. When we’re awake, we hear the promptings of the Holy Ghost and can benefit from divine direction in every area of life. President Brigham Young observed:

There is no doubt, if a person lives according to the revelations given to God’s people, he may have the Spirit of the Lord to signify to him His will, and to guide and to direct him in the discharge of his duties, in his temporal as well as his spiritual exercises. I am satisfied, however, that in this respect, we live far beneath our privileges.1

Those who are spiritually asleep are living beneath their privileges. Brigham Young wasn’t the only one to speak of what the Lord’s people are missing out on when they’re asleep on the job. Among the many concerns that must have caused distress to the Prophet Joseph Smith, Heber C. Kimball observed:

The greatest torment he [Joseph Smith] had and the greatest mental suffering was because this people would not live up to their privileges. There were many things he desired to reveal that we have not learned yet, but he could not do it. He said sometimes that he felt pressed upon and as though he were pent up in an acorn shell, and all because the people did not and would not prepare themselves to receive the rich treasures of wisdom and knowledge that he had to impart.2

Along these same lines, I’ve often wondered what kind of messages we men of the Church could hear in general priesthood meeting if we didn’t have to be reminded every six months to be decent husbands and fathers. What kind of spiritual treasures have we missed because we haven’t awakened to our duty concerning the most simple and basic things?

Sometime when you have a minute, read the message Alma gave to the people of Zarahemla—people who were clearly living beneath their privileges—in Alma 5. Next, read the message he gave to the people of Gideon in Alma 7. Note the incredible difference in tone and content between the two addresses. Because those in Gideon were spiritually awake, they were privileged to hear some of the most powerful teachings in the scriptures about the Savior and the breadth of his atonement. (You may recall that Scripture Four from Chapter One of this book came from Alma’s discourse in Gideon). Those in Zarahemla, on the other hand, had to be reminded once again of their duty.

Scripture One says, “Wake up!” In the words of Elder Sterling W. Sill, “You are to immediately stop doing all of the things that you . . . know that you should not do. . . . You are to immediately start doing all of the things that you . . . know that you should do.”3 Easier said than done? Of course it is, so start small. Stop doing the one thing that does the most to keep you from enjoying your spiritual privileges, and start doing the one thing that would bless your spiritual life the most. That’s a great way to wake up.

Finally, keep your hands off that snooze button! Procrastination in spiritual matters is the sleep of hell spoken of by Father Lehi. Instead of snoozing, we can arise before it is “everlastingly too late” (Helaman 13:38) and “awake to a sense of [our] awful situation” (Ether 8:24).

Robert Louis Stevenson observed, “You cannot run away from a weakness. You must sometime fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?”4 What a powerful quotation. Yes, why not now? And if not now, when? When is a better time to wake up? Later? It’s already later. It’s the latter days for crying out loud. This is the worst time to be putting on the natural man (Mosiah 3:19). Scripture One says, “Wake up now. Procrastinate later.”

The Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In the 1970 movie about that attack titled Tora! Tora! Tora! the character playing Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, fully aware of the industrial might of the United States, made a grave and ultimately correct observation: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” World War II has been over for more than fifty years, but Satan’s war against righteousness rages on. Scripture One is like a spiritual alarm clock intended to awaken the sleeping giant, or the spiritual giant within each of us. Moroni’s words can fill us with a wonderful resolve to come unto Christ, deny ourselves of all ungodliness, live up to our privileges, and prepare our families and the world for the Second Coming.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie once remarked that we are living in “the Saturday night of time and that on Sunday morning the Lord will come.”5 I suppose the Primary song is correct: “Saturday is a special day. It’s the day we get ready for Sunday.”6 If the Lord is coming Sunday morning, there’s no time to snooze. Scripture One is the Sunday morning alarm clock that says, “Up and at ’em, house of Israel; awake, and arise from the dust.”

From the book: I Walk by Faith

Do you remember back when you were in the fourth grade? If you had been in my class right after lunch, we would have had a fifteen-minute story time, unless the story was so exciting that you pleaded to go on just a little further. Then it might have lasted twenty minutes, and on Friday afternoon, if it had been a good week, maybe even half an hour or so.

One of my favorite books to share with my students was Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White. If you have read that book, you will remember that Charlotte is the spider and Wilbur is the pig. Poor Wilbur has some very hard times and often feels alone and discouraged. On one dreary rainy day, we read, he felt so “friendless, dejected, and hungry, he threw himself down in the manure and sobbed.”

Have you ever had a Wilbur day? A day when you felt that alone and discouraged? Let me remind you of how Wilbur was rescued from his sad plight. He was visited by his dear friend Charlotte, the spider whom he didn’t like at all when he first met her. But over the years he discovered a true friend in Charlotte, one who was willing to save his life by tirelessly spinning a beautiful web with a message that would let people know this was no ordinary pig. Even Wilbur began to believe he was something special because his friend told him he was.

At the end of the season, Charlotte knew that a spider’s life is short and that she would not be around in the spring to comfort her friend Wilbur. She wanted to help prepare him for the future so he would learn to look for the good things and not be discouraged and lonesome. Charlotte spoke softly to her friend Wilbur: “Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond. The song sparrow will return and sing, the frogs will awake, the warm wind will blow again. All these sights and sounds and smells will be yours to enjoy, Wilbur, this lovely world, these precious days . . .”

Charlotte stopped, and a tear came to Wilbur’s eye. “Oh, Charlotte,” he said. “To think that when I first met you I thought you were cruel and bloodthirsty!”

When he recovered from his emotion, he spoke again.

“Why did you do all this for me?” he asked. “I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.”

“You have been my friend,” replied Charlotte. “That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”

“Well,” said Wilbur. “I’m no good at making speeches. I haven’t got your gift for words. But you have saved me, Charlotte, and I would gladly give my life for you—I really would.” (E. B. White, Charlotte’s Web, New York: Harper & Row, p. 164.)

Would you be willing to save a friend? Can you tell when a friend feels “friendless, dejected, and hungry,” bad enough to throw herself down in a manure pile and sob? Some people do that, you know—not in the manure pile in the barnyard, like Wilbur the pig, but in the waste and filth of the world because they feel worthless, good for nothing. At times like this, we all need a friend, one who will tell us how special we are, one who will remind us of what President George Q. Cannon tells us:

“Now, this is the truth. We humble people, we who feel ourselves sometimes so worthless, so good-for-nothing, we are not so worthless as we think. There is not one of us but what God’s love has not been expended upon. There is not one of us that He has not cared for and caressed. There is not one of us that He has not desired to save and that He has not devised means to save. There is not one of us that He has not given His angels charge concerning. We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that we are the children of God and that He has actually given His angels—invisible beings of power and might—charge concerning us, and they watch over us and have us in their keeping.” (Gospel Truth, Deseret Book, 1974, p. 2.)

If you saw a friend in trouble what would you do? Read what one child did, as reported in a newspaper story:

“Brian Diaz, five years old, said he saw a neighborhood chum, three-year-old Andre Romero, enter the backyard of a vacant neighborhood home where there was a swimming pool.

“‘I followed him because I knew it was dangerous there,’ Brian, a Phoenix, Ariz., kindergarten student, said. ‘He was carrying a teddy bear, and then the first thing I knew, he fell in the deep end of the pool.’

“Brian said he lay down by the side of the pool, grabbed Andre by the hand, and pulled him out of the water onto the concrete decking. He said that Andre was heavy and that he almost fell in too. ‘When he got out,’ Brian said, ‘it was like he was dead for a minute. He didn’t say anything, and his lips turned blue. That water must be cold.’

“Brian put his hand on Andre’s stomach and then pushed down as he had seen on T.V. ‘Water came out of his mouth,’ Brian continued, ‘and then he threw up and started to cry.'”

A neighbor heard the cries and jumped the fence, then went to alert fire department paramedics. They treated Andre at the scene. The fire captain said that Brian “undoubtedly saved Andre’s life.” (Deseret News, March 3, 1985.)

Would you be willing to save a friend’s life? Sometimes that means calling for help, like the spiritual paramedics, those who have the love and concern but also the power and the authority to give blessings, comfort, and encouragement when people find themselves in trouble in the deep end of the pool, so to speak.

Following a talk at a youth conference, after everyone had shaken hands and few people were still around, I noticed one young woman standing some distance away. She had been waiting for a moment when she might speak in private. Together we moved away from the others into the seats near the rear of the chapel. The young woman, who was about fifteen, was serious and thoughtful. “I have a friend who is in bad trouble,” she said. “She really needs help. What can I do?”

142“Does your friend know that you know about her problem?” I asked.

“Oh, yes, she knows, but she would kill me if she ever thought that I told on her.”

“How badly do you want to help her?” I asked.

“Well, somebody has to help her or she’s going to make things even worse,” she explained, “but what can I do? I’m not going to tell on a friend.”

I was impressed with her sense of loyalty and her commitment to keep a confidence, but it was obvious that she also felt some responsibility for her friend, who was apparently in deep water over her head and perhaps even drowning. After some discussion, without her divulging any confidences, I asked several questions. It was evident that her friend was caught in the waste places of the world, in a manure pile like Wilbur, the friendless, dejected pig.

“If your friend were drowning, would you be willing to call a lifeguard? Or would you let her sink to the bottom of the pool rather than let anyone know she was in danger?”

“I’d call for help if she was drowning,” the young woman said. “But I promised I wouldn’t tell on her. She doesn’t want people to know.”

“Do you think she can keep her problem a secret forever? And if she could, is that what would be best for her?”

The young woman, thinking the situation through, said, “I think some people already know. Her parents must know something is wrong, but she won’t talk to them. She just talks to me.”

“In that case, you are carrying a tremendous responsibility on your young shoulders,” I explained. “You need help because the weight will increase as you see your friend losing ground. I recommend that you seek help for yourself. Do you have a chance to talk to your bishop?” I asked.

“Sometimes,” she said.

“Would you feel comfortable calling him and just telling him you have something you’d like to talk to him about?”

“Oh, I’ve never called the bishop. I don’t know.”

I realized that it would take a bit of courage for a young woman to call and make an appointment with her bishop, especially if she hadn’t already had an opportunity to become friends with him. Her hesitation prompted another approach.

“How would you feel if I called and made an appointment with your bishop for you?”

“What would you say?” she asked. “I don’t want the bishop to think I’m in trouble.”

“I would assure him that you are not in trouble, but that you have a heavy responsibility and that you are striving to be a saint, a true disciple of our Heavenly Father. I would tell him that you want to be a true friend and to do only what is right, and you need his guidance. Now, you could talk to your parents or your friends or others, but the reason to call the bishop is because he is the one who can best help in times of serious problems, and you have a serious problem—a friend in desperate need of help.”

Together we agreed that I would call the bishop and make the appointment for her.

“And what shall I tell him?” was her next question.

“Well,” I suggested, “before you go for your appointment, talk to your Father in heaven about your friend. He already knows of her problem, and he still loves her very much. He wants her to be safe, and because she is your friend, he will guide you by giving you a feeling of peace in your heart about what you should tell the bishop and still keep the confidence and be a true friend.

“You might decide to tell the bishop that you have a friend you are concerned about and give him her name. That’s like calling in the lifeguard to the rescue. When he asks you why you’re concerned, you can tell him that you think she needs help and that you’re trying to help her, but it’s a big responsibility and you need help to know what you should do. If the bishop asks what kind of a problem your friend has, then you can be true to her and explain that the things she has shared with you are confidential. You can tell him, however, that you would be grateful if he would just call her in and talk to her as he does a lot of the other young people on their birthdays and at other times.” I assured her that if she went with a prayer in her heart and a sincere concern for her friend, the words would come into her mind and she would know what to say and also what not to say.

Two weeks later I received a telephone call. It was the young woman who was concerned about her friend.

“Do you have a minute to talk?” she asked.

I sure do,” I said, anxious to get a report concerning the heavy responsibility she was carrying.

“Well,” she began in a happy voice, “I talked to my bishop, and he really understood. He really wanted to help, and he didn’t ask me to tell on my friend. He just asked if I thought my friend would come with me to visit with him sometime that week. He said he was talking to a lot of young people in the ward and wanted to talk to us. When I explained this to my friend, she was a bit hesitant and asked me if I had told the bishop about what she had done. I assured her that I had not. She decided that if I would go, she would go with me. It was almost as if she wanted help but wouldn’t admit it.”

She paused a moment, then continued. “We went to the bishop’s office. It was kind of scary at first, but I knew we were doing the right thing. As soon as we walked in, the bishop shook hands with each of us. He was so warm and friendly, like nothing was the matter. Then he sat down beside us and began to tell us, without mentioning any names, the concern he has for some of the youth in our ward. When we looked into his eyes, we could feel his love for them and for us too. It was like he really cared. It was more like talking to a friend than talking to the bishop.

“The bishop told us about some of the problems that give him concern,” she said, “and he asked for our suggestions and our help. Then he talked to us about how much he loves the youth, and how much our Father in heaven loves the youth, and how hard it is when Satan is working like never before to destroy each of us. I looked over at my friend and she began to cry. The bishop talked to us some more and taught us about repentance and forgiveness and how we can in time with enough effort overcome our weaknesses with the Lord’s help, providing we are willing to do what he asks.

“When we were ready to leave, the bishop thanked us for coming in, and he told us that if we ever wanted to talk to him again or alone, he would be happy to spend some time with us. My friend was still crying. ‘Would you like to talk to the bishop alone?’ I asked her. She nodded her head. The bishop gave me a copy of the New Era and asked me to wait in the chapel while they talked. I sat there in the chapel waiting and praying that my friend would be able to tell the bishop all the things she had told me so that she could get the help she needed and so I wouldn’t have to carry the load of knowing her problems all by myself. It seemed like she was there for quite a while, but I didn’t mind waiting. I knew someone had come to the rescue of my friend. It was like Heavenly Father was there with us, and everything was going to work out if we worked together.

“That’s what happened,” she said, “when I called for help to save my friend.”

I asked, “And how do you feel?”

“Wonderful,” she said. “I feel that I have helped save my friend.”

“Yes,” I responded, in the words of Charlotte the spider, “you have been a friend and ‘that in itself is a tremendous thing.'” Then I thought I could hear her friend respond to her in the words of Wilbur the pig: “You have saved me, Charlotte, and I would gladly give my life for you—I really would.”

I like the words of a song by Michael McLean, titled “Be That Friend”:

Your friends know what’s right, and your friends know what’s wrong,
And your friends all know sometimes it’s hard to choose,
But the friend who helps you see where the choices will lead
Is the kind of friend you never want to lose.

It’s that friend who leads with love, doesn’t push, doesn’t shove,
Just reminds you of the truth you’ve always known,
Then does more than just talk, takes your hand and starts to walk
By your side, along the road that leads back home;

And this friend seems to see all the great things you’ll be,
Even when some things you do would prove him wrong,
But he always believes that the real you he sees
Is a champion he’s simply cheering on.

The love that you feel from a friend who’s this real
Is as powerful as anything on earth.
For it lifts and it grows and it strengthens and flows,
It’s what allows a soul to feel just what it’s worth.

So many lonely souls are calling
And our brightest stars would not be falling
If only they had a friend, a real friend.
Everyone hopes to find one true friend
Who’s the kind they can count on forever and a day.
Be that friend; be that kind that you’ve prayed you might find.
And you’ll always have a best friend, come what may.

From the book: Serving With Strength Throughout All The World

What are you doing? Reading a book? How boring! Aren’t you supposed to be hanging out at the mall, or something? Isn’t there a television set or a Nintendo game nearby? Isn’t that what an average teenager would be doing right now? Well, maybe an average teenager, but you, my friend, are not an average teenager. You are every bit as wonderful as you’ve been told you are. So, congratulations for going against the grain and reading a book, but I have to warn you about something: this is a chapter with a challenge; and you are such a remarkable teenager that you will probably accept the challenge and finish it to the end. I gave this challenge once to a gathering of LDS youth at a stake meeting in Alberta, Canada and was overwhelmed to see about six hundred teenagers rise to their feet, signaling their willingness to accept. I still haven’t finished reading their letters. I’ve given this challenge many times in the form of a talk, but never in a book. I don’t know if it will work in a book. I guess we’ll find out.

What is the challenge you ask? Well, I’m getting to that. You’ve heard the debates about television—you know, whether or not the violence and immorality we watch really affects us. Over the past few months, I’ve collected tons of newspaper and magazine articles, containing arguments on both sides of the debate. I have some really good ones. If I had enough space here, I could reprint all these articles and make a pretty convincing argument that much of television is hurting us. But I think I’m going to try a different approach.

When Moroni inscribed his last words on the gold plates he didn’t provide a lot of proofs that we could look at to tell if the book was true. He didn’t come up with a lot of facts or talk about the archaeological or anthropological evidences for the book. He just said, in effect, “Read it for yourself.” Maybe that’s the best approach to take with the TV issue. Ask yourself these questions: How does it affect me? Does it affect my spirit? Does watching it make it harder for me to live the gospel? Then you decide—not for everyone else—but for you.

Whenever television producers are accused of providing harmful programming, they always say, “Well, if you don’t like it, just turn it off.” Exactly. And that’s what I’m suggesting you do. That’s what I did. For a month. No TV, no movies, no videos. (Okay, I picked February, which is the shortest month, but it’s still a month.) I thought I knew what it would be like, but I was wrong. It was quite an experience. The first few days were difficult. But little by little, I began to find alternative things to do with my time. Using my memory and some notes from my journal, I’ve put together a “play by play” account of what it was like to give up TV for a month.

Day Four

I began to notice how much more time I had! Every day when I would get home from school, I would think, “Hmm, what should I do now?” Before, I used to just plop down on the couch and “watch TV” for a few minutes. But a few minutes would often turn into an hour, or two, or three. And then I’d scratch my head and wonder how I was going to get my homework done. Well, after four days without TV, I had made a list of all the things I was going to do during my “TV fast.” I had books to read, places to go, projects to complete, and so forth.

Day Ten

On day ten, something hit me that I didn’t expect. I suddenly noticed that I was having a much easier time controlling my thoughts! I realized that the main place where “the truth and values we embrace are mocked on every hand” is on television! I was no longer hearing off-color jokes on a daily basis. I was no longer being an eyewitness to illicit situations that made me feel like a Peeping Tom. And, of course, all this was having a positive effect on my thoughts! Satan is relentless. Most of the input from the world makes it hard to keep our thoughts on a higher plane. Is it important to control our thoughts? Are we accountable for our thoughts? Oh yes. “For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God” (Alma 12:14).

Day Fourteen

Okay, here’s the hard part. It was really hard not to judge the TV-watchers around me. I stopped watching TV for two weeks, and it seemed like that’s all everyone else ever did! Sometimes I’d walk into my apartment where all my roommates were parked on the couch in front of the tube and think to myself, “Everyone seems so lazy all of a sudden—did I used to waste time like that?”

Day Sixteen

Have you ever been preparing to give a talk or attend church and felt like you needed to take a minute to clean out your brain? You know, a time-out to clear out all the stuff you’ve seen and heard in the last few days and move to higher ground? I think you know what I mean. Well, on day sixteen, I was preparing to give a fireside, and it seemed so much easier! I didn’t have to clear out my brain, because it was already clear. I didn’t have to work around all the clutter from the media, because it wasn’t in there! Bad stuff gets in the way of good stuff. Listen to Elder H. Burke Peterson: “When we see or hear anything filthy or vulgar, whatever the source, our mind records it, and as it makes the filthy record, beauty and clean thoughts are pushed into the background. Hope and faith in Christ begin to fade, and more and more, turmoil and discontent become our companions” (“Touch Not the Evil Gift, Nor the Unclean Thing,” Ensign, Nov. 1993, p. 43).

Day Twenty

On day twenty I’m thinking, “I’m having fun. I’ve read several books, I’ve written tons of letters, my room is cleaner than it’s ever been, I’ve been exercising more consistently, and I feel closer to the Lord. Why didn’t I try this before?”

We are all so hyper about what we put into our bodies. We want to be drug-free, alcohol-free, and tobacco-free. If someone says “You are what you eat,” we agree! We don’t argue about it! But, what about our spirits? If we’re so concerned about what we put into our bodies, why aren’t we equally concerned about what we put into our minds? “For as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

Day Twenty-Eight

“Well, tomorrow I’m done with the TV Termination Test. That went by fast. Do I really want to watch again? I don’t know. I know I’ll be more selective that’s for sure.”

It’s interesting the number of ways we protect ourselves from things. We put dead-bolt locks on the doors, motion-sensor lights in the yard, and buy a burglar alarm. To keep things warm inside, we install double-paned glass, insulation, and weather stripping. Then we kneel down as a family and ask the Lord to “protect us from harm or accident.” But Satan is clever. He can find a way into your house. He can come right through the antenna (or the cable). Or, we can actually pay money to “rent” his influence from the video store. Listen again to Elder H. Burke Peterson:

Brethren, I plead with you to leave it alone. Stay away from any movie, video, publication, or music—regardless of its rating—where illicit behavior and expressions are a part of the action. Have the courage to turn it off in your living room. Throw the tapes and the publications in the garbage can, for that is where we keep garbage. . . . Again I say, leave it alone. Turn it off, walk away from it, burn it, erase it, destroy it. I know it is hard counsel we give when we say movies that are R-rated, and many with PG-13 ratings, are produced by satanic influences. Our standards should not be dictated by the rating system (“Touch Not the Evil Gift, Nor the Unclean Thing” p. 43).

My experiment was over on February 28, and I started watching TV again in March. It was interesting. Things bothered me more than they did before. My vacation from TV increased my sensitivity to certain things.

Over the years I guess I had gotten used to hearing the language of television. Now, with the TV on again, I was hearing the Lord’s name in vain and other crude language and innuendo, and it bugged me more than before. My spirit was saying, “Yuck, this is sick.” Listen to Elder Boyd K. Packer: “Profanity is more than just untidy language, for when we profane we relate to low and vulgar words, the most sacred of all names. I wince when I hear the name of the Lord so used, called upon in anger, in frustration, in hatred” (Boyd K. Packer, in Conference Report, Oct. 1967,p. 128).

To put it in a nutshell, my experiment worked. I didn’t need to clip out any more articles. I had proved it to myself. The TV did have an effect on my spirit, and I knew it. All the printed research in the world wasn’t as powerful a persuader as my personal experiment. Someone once said, “A friend is someone who makes it easier to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.” As a result of my experiment, I know that if someone were to ask me, “Is the television your friend?” I would have to say “No—its more like an enemy.” There’s no way I could honestly say that watching television has made it easier for me to live the gospel.

Well, I’m sure you know what’s coming next. You’re right—the challenge. Some of you will accept this challenge. I hope all of you will. Here goes (imagine this next sentence coming from a deep voice with an echo). I challenge you to give up TV, movies, and videos for a month! (Imagine a clap of thunder and the ground shaking). I know you can do it, because I did it. Try it! Prove it to yourself. Keep a journal and take note of how you feel and of what happens to your spirit. It could change your life. Every youth who has accepted this challenge and written to me about their experience has had great things to say. If you need some further persuasion, listen to Lindsay from Clayton, California:

I liked what you had to say about TV, and I decided to take the challenge not to watch TV for one whole month
. . . and, well, to make a short story shorter, my whole family decided to go without TV. I think it was the hardest on my mother because she doesn’t have a job and is home all the time, but she took up canning. So now we have every kind of jam and jelly you can think of. Name it, and we’ve got it in our freezer. My dad has suddenly found time to figure out our new computer system, and all of us have been able to work on and develop our own talents. It’s incredible to think back and realize how much we had been letting television monopolize our lives. Our home is much quieter and peaceful now. . . . But I think the neatest thing is, that the Spirit can be in our home all the time. . . . I’d like to thank you for giving us that challenge. My family and I have really benefited from it, and we’ve liked it so much that we’re going to try to go for a whole year.

Here’s another—listen to Laura from Delta, Utah:

I don’t know how I can thank you for this wonderful experience of the “TV Blackout.” It has changed my life greatly for the better. I have gained a stronger testimony by using time to read the scriptures. . . . I found that I had uplifting thoughts, and it was easy for me because the garbage that is on TV didn’t come into my mind. I earned a 3.994 in school this term because I found I had more time in the evening to study instead of watching TV. I have also lost fifteen pounds because I have been going to the recreation center instead of watching TV. I have decided that I should only watch the three shows that I really like. TV can be such a time waster. Because I have seen how much I can accomplish, and what a great effect this has had on me, I simply refuse to sit in front of the TV and do nothing.

Now, I don’t know if you’ll lose fifteen pounds, but I think I can promise you four things:First, you’ll have much more time. (They say the television is on an average of seven hours, four minutes per day!). Second, you’ll have an easier time controlling your thoughts. (You know what they say in the computer programming business—”Garbage in, garbage out!”) Third, your spiritual sensitivity will increase. As you “deny yourselves of all ungodliness,” you’ll feel closer to the Lord (see Moroni 10:32). Fourth, you’ll be more selective in the future. You won’t just sit down to “watch TV.” You’ll choose carefully what you watch instead of punching the remote from a slouched position for three hours. Like everything else, any powerful tool can be used as an awful weapon. Of course there are some excellent programs on TV, but Satan has found a way to use the media as a weapon as well. We are foolish if we just sit there and let him parade all his evils before us.

Well, this chapter is over. It went by fast, didn’t it? And so will your thirty days. There are many great chapters ahead, so keep reading! Once again, congratulations for reading a book. I’ve read a million of those “chosen generation” quotes about you, and I believe every one of them. I know you’re working hard to live up to your potential and that it is not always easy. I hope you will accept this challenge to cleanse your spirit, and at least for a month, be TV-free. You believe in the thirteenth article of faith, right? Well, don’t let Hollywood make you a hypocrite! May the Lord bless you to truly seek after those things that are lovely, virtuous, of good report, and praiseworthy.