Faith

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Dreams of Brigham Young University

October 21, 2009 in Education by Greg | No comments

Today, Carrie told me of a talk given by Merrill J. Bateman about the history of Brigham Young University.1 Just as Henry B. Eyring spoke about the future of BYU in A Consecrated Place, Elder Bateman spoke of those who were given dreams of its future destiny.

Recently I shared with the faculty and staff some key events from BYU’s history. During the preparation of the material, some insights were gleaned with regard to the special nature of this institution. Today I wish to share a few of them with you.

Lessons from BYU’s History

Karl G Maeser The first lesson one learns in reviewing BYU’s history concerns the extraordinary faith of the early Saints who forged this institution. They founded Brigham Young Academy in a desert with a fragile economic base. However, they understood the importance of education, especially for their children, and were willing to sacrifice every temporal asset they had in order to keep the school alive. This was true of the faculty and staff and also of the citizens throughout the valley. It was not uncommon for Karl G. Maeser and his staff to receive less than one-half pay during the 1880s. Abraham O. Smoot, a highly successful businessman, stake president, mayor of Provo, and chairman of the board of Brigham Young Academy, gave his buildings, his land, and mortgaged his home in order to save the institution. He died penniless, having given everything to the school.

The faith of BYU’s founders was never stronger than during times of crisis. I was particularly impressed with Karl G. Maeser’s conviction as he responded to Reed Smoot, a student, during the 1884 fire that destroyed the academy’s only building. As it became apparent that they could not save the Lewis building, the student said to Maeser, “Oh, Brother Maeser, the Academy is burned!” Maeser responded, “No such thing, it’s only the building.”2 Six years earlier, shortly after the death of Brigham Young, Maeser had a dream in which President Young showed him the design of a new building. At the time Brother Maeser did not understand the purpose of the dream. Six years later, as he looked at the charred ruins of Lewis Hall, he could see in his mind’s eye the building that would take its place.3

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  1. Bateman, Merrill J. “Gathered in the Tops of the Mountains”. 7 Sep 1999. BYU Speeches. 21 Oct 2009. See BYU Broadcasting for a PDF of the talk.↩
  2. Ernest L. Wilkinson and W. Cleon Skousen, Brigham Young University: A School of Destiny (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1976), 74–75.↩
  3. See ibid., 118–19.↩

Spiritual Knowledge

October 11, 2009 in Education by Greg | No comments

In 1993, Richard G. Scott spoke about acquiring spiritual knowledge at BYU’s Campus Education Week. In beginning his talk, Elder Scott asked, “Why center on spiritual knowledge?” to which he responded by quoting Spencer W. Kimball:

Olive_Tree Spiritual learning takes precedence. The secular without the foundation of the spiritual is but like the foam upon the milk, the fleeting shadow.

Do not be deceived! One need not choose between the two . . . for there is opportunity to get both simultaneously; . . .

Secular knowledge, important as it may be, can never save a soul nor open the celestial kingdom nor create a world nor make a man a god, but it can be most helpful to that man who, placing first things first, has found the way to eternal life and who can now bring into play all knowledge to be his tool and servant. (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 390.)

He also quoted others:

President J. Reuben Clark observed:

There is spiritual learning just as there is material learning, and the one without the other is not complete; yet, speaking for myself, if I could have only one sort of learning, that which I would take would be the learning of the spirit, because in the hereafter I shall have opportunity in the eternities which are to come to get the other, and without spiritual learning here my handicaps in the hereafter would be all but overwhelming. (CR, April 1934, p. 94.)

President Gordon B. Hinckley stated:

This restored gospel brings not only spiritual strength, but also intellectual curiosity and growth. Truth is truth. There is no clearly defined line of demarcation between the spiritual and the intellectual when the intellectual is cultivated and pursued in balance with the pursuit of spiritual knowledge and strength.

The Lord Almighty, through revelation, has laid a mandate upon this people in these words:

“Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118). (CR, April 1986, p. 63; also, “Come and Partake,” Ensign, May 1986, p. 48.) . . .

As knowledge unfolds it must be understood, valued, used, remembered, and expanded.

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Gift of the Holy Ghost a Higher Endowment

August 22, 2009 in Holy Ghost by Greg | 2 comments

In 1902, the First Presidency responded to a question about the Holy Ghost, specifically, when did the apostles in the New Testament receive this sacred gift? The following is their reply:

The following inquiry has been received from an elder residing in Tooele County, with the request for a reply:

“There is a dispute here among the brethren as to when the Holy Ghost was received; was it at, or before the day of Pentecost?”

Pentecost by Jean II Restout The answer to this question depends on what is meant by “receiving” the Holy Ghost. If reference is made to the promise of Jesus to His apostles about the endowment or gift of the Holy Ghost by the presence and ministration of the “personage of spirit,” called the Holy Ghost by revelation in Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 130, verse 22, then the answer is, it was not until the day of Pentecost that the promise was fulfilled. But the Divine essence, called the Spirit of God, or Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost by which God created or organized all things, and by which the prophets wrote and spoke, was bestowed in former ages and inspired the apostles in their ministry long before the days of Pentecost. The words “Ghost and Spirit” are often used synonymously, and this causes some confusion, when the difference between the “personage of spirit” and the spirit “poured out from on high” is not taken into consideration. There is a universally diffused essence which is the light and life of the world, which proceedeth forth from the presence of God throughout the immensity of space, the light and power of which God bestows in different degrees to “them that ask him,” according to their faith and obedience, but the Holy Ghost, which Christ said He would send to His apostles from the Father (John 14:26) was and is a “personage of spirit,” and was not to come until Christ went away (John 16:7). Also the endowment from that divine being, the third person in the Holy Trinity, called “the gift of the Holy Ghost,” is a special blessing sealed upon baptized repentant believers in Jesus Christ, and is “an abiding witness.” The spirit of God may be enjoyed as a temporary influence by which divine light and power come to mankind for special purposes and occasions. But the gift of the Holy Ghost, which was received by the apostles on the day of Pentecost, and is bestowed in confirmation, is a permanent witness and higher endowment than the ordinary manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

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How to Survive a Nuclear Attack

May 2, 2009 in Emergency Preparedness by Greg | 3 comments

Yesterday, a friend pointed me to this video by Irwin Redlener1 on how to survive a nuclear attack. Over 30 years ago, Bruce R. McConkie stated:

We do not say that all of the Saints will be spared and saved from the coming day of desolation. But we do say there is no promise of safety and no promise of security except for those who love the Lord and who are seeking to do all that he commands.

It may be, for instance, that nothing except the power of faith and the authority of the priesthood can save individuals and congregations from the atomic holocausts that surely shall be.

And so we raise the warning voice and say: Take heed; prepare; watch and be ready. There is no security in any course except the course of obedience and conformity and righteousness.2

YouTube Preview Image

For additional information on surviving a nuclear detonation, wikiHow provides the following advice:

  1. Keep an eye on the news.
  2. Learn as much as you can about the different types of nuclear weapons; e.g. fission, fusion, and EMP weapons.
  3. Seek shelter immediately.
  4. Remeber: it’s not the initial blast that creates the high death toll; it’s radiation exposure.
  5. Know the types of radiation particles; e.g. alpha, beta, and gamma.
  6. Begin reinforcing your shelter from the inside.
  7. Plan on staying in your shelter for a minimum of 200 hours (8-9 days). Under no circumstances leave the shelter in the first forty-eight hours.
  8. Ration your supplies.
  9. Wear all clothing (hats, gloves, goggles, closed sleeve shirt, etc.), especially when outside to help prevent Beta burns.
  10. Treat radiation and thermal burns.
  11. Feel free to assist people with radiation sickness, also called Radiation Syndrome.3

Sources:

  1. Redlener “is the author of Americans at Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared for Megadisasters and What We Can Do Now (Knopf, 2006). Dr. Redlener is president and co-founder (with singer song-writer Paul Simon) of The Children’s Health Fund (CHF), director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness and Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Redlener was recently appointed to the congressionally-established National Commission on Children and Disasters.” (“Irwin Redlener”. Wikipedia. 2 May 2009.) This video can also be found at Irwin Redlener on Surviving a Nuclear Attack on TED.com.↩
  2. McConkie, Bruce R. “Stand Independent Above All Other Creatures”. April 1979. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2 May 2009.↩
  3. “How to Survive a Nuclear Attack“. wikiHow. 2 May 2009.↩

In Liberty Lay a Jail

January 3, 2009 in Religion by Greg | No comments

Yesterday, I came across “In Liberty Lay a Jail”, a beautiful poem by Kelly Miller inspired by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk Lessons from Liberty Jail.

In Liberty lay a jail
T’was as a pit, t’was as hell
Yet, for Joseph, t’was God’s house
To prove God’s light can’t be doused

Liberty Jail by C.C.A. Christensen 

Captivity without cause
Conspiring men without laws
Midst words as foul as the food
Joseph gained faith and was schooled-

“Hold on thy way and pray on
Believe in good and be strong
And when forlorn- endure yet
God is with thee. Don’t forget

Hold on thy way and fear not
Regardless what be your lot
Thy days are known. Bounds are set
God is with thee. Don’t forget”

Each trial’s designed to teach us
To ever trust in Jesus
As God’s wonders do perform
Our darkest days do inform

While we suffer, we ask why
We plea with God and we cry
Then mysteries dance about
As tender thoughts casts out doubt

Glorious answers midst dismal
The dark moment is but small
God is with us through it all
And He answers every call

Though the worthy too suffer
Jesus is there to buffer
And our pain He understands
For it’s written in His hands

If we’re patient and we’re calm
We’ll know soothing with his balm
We’ll feel His love for all men
Our enemies- He loves them

Cheerfully we will stand still
Waiting for what is revealed
For heaven’s powers can be drawn
Midst righteousness God’s light dawns1

You can read other wonderful poems at LDS Poetry by Kelly Miller.

Sources:

  1. Miller, Kelly. “In Liberty Lay a Jail”. 10 December 2008. LDS Poetry by Kelly Miller. 2 January 2009.↩

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