| OCR Text |
Show &&& kw w; f S3 Ul Life t iieUsniU ti ' ' 0 ! 7 Church Department SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1934. Variables' of Life The Present Picture l By Elder Richard L. Evans ' RADIO ADDRESS SUNDAY, JULY Eg, 1M4 I' Tonight chosen to j discussion I htn (title 'The Present Plrtur- - not because It deals apt- -, eifloally with current events, not because U tucribw the political., economical and; spiritual - social, aUn-?- F condition ot the present, but bccauee it introduces what wa have chosen to term the absolute religion Into the fabric of oar Uvea. v a of this day and hour in the ' twentieth aa ; men have chosen to century, designate time.. ' . For nearly now wo six month come of us, at least have been and rationally discussing .frankly fundamentals with each. otner at this hour each Sunday evening. (Thla It the twenty third auch pre- -. sen tat ion of the present series. During the .(time we have been . together there has been. 1 trust, no suggestion of the arbitrary or tho-, . dogmatic. There has been no in, tent of engaging in polemics, The .. controversial approach has been'." avoided. If your opinions or phil- - : or not have do not ?, osophy agreed . agree with what baa been pre- - " ' yet sented aa the philosophy. even though you were wrong ; yet would I gladlytoconcede as your think Unquestioned right you wish, to believe as you wish and ....to lehooae as ou wish. :' , , ; t v - Cowvindn jKo man. was! ever convinced J: byargument. No man was aver aaved by coercion. And thougu mil- lions in the questionable periods of earlier- - Christian history nave ' confessed belief and been baptised , at point ot sword, not one such , was ever convinced by the sword. . Neither is a man ever convinced by rt the overbearing and dogmatio op . inion of another. , ,, . In tho weeks (that have passed we have tt the existence and . personal agreed nature of God, our Father . in heaven. We have agreed to the personal. Immortality : and endless progression and - oontumiance of- , We have agreed to tha ab..'man. solute, and ;; changeless! nature of truth and to the order and harmony ;, ot the whole picture of the uni- f veree. We have agreed to tho dlreo- - ; .need and reality tion affairs ot men, modern- tha in ae well ax anciently. We hava ly . agreed to : methods of ' checking against error and methodgof dia-tlnguishlng tha right answers to tho fundamental questions of life from t : thoi wrong answers.'': Bare Christianity In other words, we have descrih- - , ' od pure Christianity, true science 'and sound reaaon. whlch. ifl the great plan of the universe, are one . ; and-thaarae thing, or at least parts of one and the complement, same thing, which Is the Gospel ot . Jesus Christ la its pristine before its many medieval and purity mod- era revisions, alterations, and unauthorised editions. t' Perhaps ftbe' j most'! apparently ' ' disconcerting could any you thing bo simply an un- right now would: 1 -T ft What ot it What - qualified does it ail mean to us today." , , "What of IM I would say that you 'were Jufctl- - j. - fled in putting the question as, , bluntly aa that, ft What of ItT What . - does It alt mean? It this alt em- -i bracing system is all that we claim v for it, what has it done for tho ' world.If this eternal plan of peace 'and progression tor all men hero . and hereafter, temporally and apir- t Itually, la thal absolute plan ot the ' universe, the eure-a- ll for every If it la workable maladjustment . iwhy does It nottwork'In short haa'rellgtoit been deal- - ' Ing In ethercal.tlea while the world with: realities ? y ' contends When wa speak of religion, wo must qualify ihci term, font phllo. -Sophies may have been doing that very thing --dealing in etherealities' but. the Gospel of Jesus Christ, nnrevlsed, unaltered always deals i j Why Present Oostditkm J Then, you may Justifiably . ask, why the ' present: picture? Why the i present worldwide political .die- - ; order?. Why thei present inequality; and economic - maladjustment? Why the present social ', unrest? Why the present skepticism and Cynicism and Inured sophistication. I I, ,i ; j- r-- -- -- e . 1 J I 1 -- :. ' . f . I i : ; ' ft i j i f ; f ; ; J , i 1 I- ? , , - moral Ufa or self-indu- l- : i k : J j, I . j ? personal permanence hereafter, I I may . do ern lf 1 choose to devotemyself tq the acquisition of know- j ledge; If I choose to discard ono belief and espouse nnother; if I f choose to be honest or if 1 cheose to ha skepticaldishonest; or trust- Ing, I may do so. Bxcept aa envlr- - ' qament and phvsloal conaiderationa ; limit me, to that extent I may f think aa I choose;' believe as, I( ) choose and live as I choose. And , every man and woman is ao an- -- , t dowed with free agency, .f Now when We are of the world wa afe not speaking of j speaking an abstract entity, nor of a theore- tlcal; collectivity. When wo apeak f ot the world WO are speaking of a I' community Of individuals each of axeremes his tree agency. I whom In; other! wdrda, the 'thoughts of tho World Siw merely the thoughts 1 bf individual men and women; the conditions in the world are men f the conditions of individual merely!; and .women; the morality of the j world is tho morality of individual 1' men and women; the faith of the World is tho faith of tndivldu&l men and women! the deeds ot tho world are the deeds of men and women tho laws of the whrid are the reflection of 'tho equity and Justice . found in the j minds of men and .women; the beliefs of the world are tha beliefs of men and Women, and as each of these men and women Is a: free agent unto himself endowed with: the right' of choice, so la tho world, considered collectively, a free ageht, endowed with the right of choice, and we can nhiloc-pphv fore tho world to believe a or, accept a system than we: believe force individual to .can' anyi , or accept. Partial Answcs ' That, partially, is the answer to ! your ouesdlon: If the Gospel ofJesus Christ la a perfect system and ' panacea, why the present-picturwhy! do present conditions exist?" You see, it la not a theoretical mat-ite- r. It' is A practical matter. Any System, no matter how perfect, la effective only to the extent to which it ia use It is not. that we are In need of a system. It is not that we lack a plan or laws or precepta for our guidance. Jt .ia Simply that you ; i ! ! f gence and excCas, I may do so ae- f oording to my choosing. - i ;;f ; May Crioose Disbelief ' If I cbooee to profess disbelief f In th existence :of God ' and in - by 0 Drews Niskn, Draper .'' Sister Emeling Grant has told you published several weeks ago In this department) regarding the marvelous way in which Joseph i used' the Urim and Yhummlm in Sbs 'translating tho sacred plates. God's aid has shown that without Joseph was powerless ,rin reading the plates..Want to j tell you regardNow, I experience ing Oliver: Cowderys with these sacred seeti stones, oid-While Oliver Cowdery was ( j Ing Joseph, he thought that trana-- i so asked. was ho rather easy, lating Jo try hla skill with1 the Urim and Thummlm. Joseph played, and he then looked into thei Urim andThummlm for the Answer. The; Lord was willing; for he said to' Oliver; And.' behold, 1 grant unto you a gift, if you desire of me. to r'translate, ever as myj servant Jos- Yea, behold, I will tell sph, you in your mind and jin your heart by the Holy Ghost ' which shall come upon you. Ask that yon may know the mysteries ot God, and that you may translate and re- -j ceive from all those ords which have been hid up. that: i are sacred; and according to your faith shall it he done: unto you. Oliver was happy, j Taking the seer stones, he tried, but he tailed completely. After mainy efforts, he had to give up. Joseph looked in- -i to tho Urim and Tummmim. and ' received these' words for ' Oliver; Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would I give it unto you, when you took no J thought save it was to ask me. But,; behold,' 1 must study then you must ask me If it be right; and if It la right. I willt cause that your bosom shall burh within you; therefore, you shall feel that ir is ' right. But if It be net right yon ' shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which Is wrong; therefore, yon cannot wrlto that ft which la sacred save It be given from me. We have learned In Seminary, both from the Bible And from, the Rook of Mormon, that this burnIs the divine test, ing in thoibooom a testimony which comes from God, Let us cito proofs. In Luke, chapter ?i, in speaking of the appearance oi (the risen Christ to certain of hla disciples, we find these words: JAnd, behold, .two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus. which was from Jeruaslemi about three scho furlongs, And they talked together of all these things which had happened, And it came to paes, that, while s they communed together and rea- eoned. Jesus himself drew near, and Wfnt with them. .And they drew nigh unto the village whither they wynt: and he made as though he ' would have gone farther. But they cortytralned him, say- and I and others who mC no what , wa call the world either do not live up to our beat knowledge or have overlooked or refused to recognise some very significant things. Tha most theoretically flawless account- - : tag system will not prevent dishonesty if the men who( keep the counts choose to bo dishonest. It la doubtful it anyone would question the theoretical value of the ' golden rule; There seems to be no doubt that this world would be a very Utopian habitat If every- one observed it. But everyone does not. Perhaps theh the solution to a great many ot our troubles would he simply to make men and women observe the golden rule. Theoretical lv sound! Practically worthless! Make them. Indeed! hWho le going to makeftthem. In the final analysts men and women, speaking collectively and individually do Just about a they choose in hueh matters. It is doubtful it would ever question the ahyone ot the ten commandments. efficacy And if everyone observed them there seems to be no doubt that the world would (Continued On Page Seven) ! ".ii-"V; i j . a life of -, M" .OB li j : - DENT i -- ' IN- FAITH-PROMOTIN-G ! i - A - , ' i Not that our times are worse than some other times that we have our histories The read about world has gone through many crire- tical periods and emerged to Goabuild and'oontlnne; but if this pel of Jesus Christ, this philoso-waphy, this plsni of lifs, that apeak of. works, why has it not been working?, That la aa age-ol- d question. It has an answer, fortunately a very fundamental and copelusive ana--I wer. There is nothing wrong with the philosophy! there is nothing the system wrong with the 'is eomphehenstye plan; and workable, no man: was aver edified pure- But I ly by the existence of a system any more' than anyone has been eon- - Verted by the sword, or convinced by argument. Men are never built Up la spite nf themselves, nor can the world look for relief to the. mere! presence of a workable system unless it .'subscribes to that .1 A :i system.' Questions Involved .some 1 This question brings up fundamental taduea. The matter of man's free agency Is Involved. The question of individual responsibility is involved. It Is a fundamental principle ot the Gospel of Jesus Christ that ' each man Is sit agent unto him- self, which means simply that ha has the right and the power of choice. The social structure of our civilization and the laws of our land circumscribe this matter of choice to the i extent that our Choices affect Other people, but In matters of cohacjence and belief and philosophy and in all other things which are not prescribed by the laws that we or our represene tatives have Imposed on us, or which are not prescribed by phyel- oal nmitatiocA we may choose a .. we desire. "If I choose to spend my entire lifes effort in the accumulation of material wealth, that is my pre- - rogattve. If I tihooee to Ignore my neighbor - Ini his Ume of need I msy do so. If l choose to lead a h I tag, AMd with ns; tor it toward evening, and the day Is far spent. And ho wont and 'tarried with them, And It came to pass, as ho sat. at: meat with them,: be took bread, and blessed It, and brake, and gave i 41-unto them. And their eyes were opened, and he knew and him; 'they jvaalshed out of their sight. (:: - Ji,ir (;" ' And they said one t another, .Did not onr hearts bum within ns, while hs talked with ns by the way, and while he opened to ns- the l v'j "(' Scriptures? Again, Christ, in speaking le the Nephltes, as recorded in J Nephi chapter IS, uaese these words: . Blessed are ye if (shall give heed unto the - words of thaso twelve whom I hsvo chosen from among you to minister; nnto yon, and to bo your servants; and, hato them I have given power that they may baptise you wlih watert and after that ye are baptised with, water, I will baptise ryou With firs and With the Holy Ghost; therefore. blessed are ye It (ye shall be-- , Here in me and be baptised, . . Yea, blessed are they who shall believe in your worda and ieome down into tho' depth of humility and bo baptised, for they shall the visited With fire and With the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a rebus-aio- n I'vi of their atna. This is my testimony that, as we We study these things. get a feeling that makes ns believe they are true, May we all have such a feeling, I ask, in the game of Jesus Christ. Amen. , !!-:- ' ' ' ' mensely. . . 0f . From Ammon, 'Idaho, word from Laclus Clafk, principal of tb seminary, that as a result o the efforts of the seminary, attend- -' 1 . NBV8UTS SEMINARY E. Ray Gardner reports that for the last April conference, altadie;. wu Installed In the seminary. Student i anco at all meetings has increased, and better order has been mala-talne-d. ''FF;'": t' i ': s A' i Principal' George 8. Ensign of tho Barnes. semlnarj? Hat Kaybyille, writes us that this year the seminary has atreased certain matters of civic pride. a a LeRoy Groberg reports that dur tag tho last school year, the Blck- -I aell seminary hag featured a "selected movie eaah Week. Tho ' people, as a whole! have taken kind- -( this to weeklyf attraction. ly it ftAt Blackfoot, Idaho, the; aemln- ary, under G. Byron, Done as principal, haa put on) a series of dances during the test Ischool year. Because these were of such a high i uplifting character, they attracted ' ; ' 's'fe; widespread attention:''',, !"; F1' ' ; B. RlchJ Abel principal of Box Elder seminary, writes as lows; Wo havp cooperated with! tho Sunday school. Mutuals, priest- - hood quorum and special feature of the high school, such ah band concerts. We have refrained freta putting on programs that would in any (way conflict with - tho! high school or any organisation" of tho t Church. "I " . R. Golden May from Burley. Idaho, that; during the year Just closed,' Serenty-siX- i semipery students have prepared talk, to be given In the sjeveral wards, The seminary enrollment; nil told, , in 1 7b. t s older seminary At Castledaie, L. so Principal Alephl students. Williams writes in auxiliaries aa cers." Gusttvs O. Lhrson bends' word that in the Part wan stake. Stako was observed. Bemlnary Sunday All wards in the stake were covtr- ed, i D. D. Lamph formerly a principal in our seminary system, called to see ns this wegk. He still talks of the good times he had, ns a t etcher t in the Seminary. jft |
