This content emphasizes the critical importance of upholding absolute truth and practicing genuine tolerance, particularly for the rising generation, in a world increasingly influenced by moral relativism and societal decay.
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like the dating, hanging out, and
marriage I described to this audience
some years ago.
My treatment of truth and tolerance will
invite you to consider and teach these
twin subjects because they are vital to
the rising generation in which you are
the senior members.
First, truth. We believe in absolute
truth, including the existence of God
and the right and wrong established by
his commandments. We sing as the choir
has sung. Though the heavens depart and
the earth's fountains burst, truth, the
sum of existence will weather the worst,
eternal, unchanged ever more.
In the words of President Joseph F.
Smith. We believe in all truth, no
matter what subject it may refer.
No sect or religious denomination in the
world possesses a single principle of
truth that we do not accept or that we
will reject. We are willing to receive
all truth from whatever source it may
come. For truth will stand, truth will
endure. End of quote.
The existence and nature of truth is one
of the fundamental questions of mortal
life. Jesus told the Roman governor
Pilate that he came into the world to
bear witness unto the truth.
What is truth? That unbeliever responded.
responded.
In earlier times the savior had
declared, "I am the way, the truth, and
the life." In modern revelation, he
declared, "Truth is a knowledge of
things as they are and as they were and
as they are to come."
My young brothers and sisters, we know
that the existence of God and the
existence of absolute truth are
fundamental to life on this earth,
whether they are believed or not.
We also know that evil exists and that
some things are simply, seriously, and
everlastingly wrong.
You whom I address shun evil and seek
truth. I salute you for your righteous
actions and your righteous desires. As
an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I
seek to help you make right choices in a
world that is increasingly polarized
between belief and disbelief, between
good and evil.
Shocking reports of large-scale thievery
and lying in civilized societies in the
last two months suggest a moral vacuum
in which many have little sense of right
and wrong.
last month's widespread rioting and
pillaging in Britain and the scandalous
widespread cheating by teachers on
statemandated tests in elementary and
middle schools in Atlanta, Georgia have
caused many to wonder whether we are
losing the moral foundation Western
countries have received from their
Judeo-Christian heritage.
It is well to worry about our moral foundation.
foundation.
We live in a world where more and more
persons of influence are teaching and
acting out of belief that there is no
absolute right and wrong. That all
authority and all rules of behavior are
man-made choices that can prevail over
the commandments of God. Many even
question whether there is a God.
The philosophy of moral relativism,
which holds that each person is free to
choose for himself what is right and
wrong, is becoming the unofficial creed
for many in America and other Western nations.
nations.
At the extreme level, evil acts that
used to be localized and covered up like
a boil are now legalized and paraded
like a banner.
Persuaded by this philosophy, many of
the rising generation,
youth and young adults, are caught up in
self-serving pleasures, pagan painting
and piercing of body parts, foul
language, revealing attire, pornography,
dishonesty, and degrading sexual indulgence.
indulgence.
on the foundation belief in right and
wrong. There is an alarming contrast
between the older and the younger generations.
generations.
According to a survey data of two
decades ago, 80% of American adults
believed there are clear guidelines
about what is good and evil that apply
to everyone regardless of the situation.
In contrast, a more recent poll of
college seniors suggests that
threearters of them believe that the
difference between right and wrong is relative.
relative.
Many religious teachers
teach the existence of God as the
ultimate lawgiver by whose actions
certain behavior is absolutely right and
certain other behavior is absolutely
wrong and untrue.
Bible and Book of Mormon prophets
foresaw this time when men would be
lovers of pleasures more than lovers of
God and indeed when men would deny God.
In this troubled circumstance, we who
believe in God and the corollary truth
of absolute right and wrong have the
challenge of living in a godless and
increasingly immoral world.
In this circumstance, all of us and
especially you of the rising generation
have a duty to stand up and speak up to
affirm that God exists and that there
are absolute truths, his commandments established.
established.
In doing so, we Latter-day Saints rely
on the truth we sing in the hymn we
heard earlier. The pillar of truth will
endure to the last and its firm rooted
bull works withstand the rude blast and
the wreck of the fell tyrants hopes.
As I face this audience of committed
young people, I know that some of you
may be wondering why I am speaking about
what is obvious to you and what you
might assume is obvious to others.
Recall the survey data I mentioned
earlier suggesting that about 3/4 of all
college seniors believe the difference
between right and wrong is relative.
I've chosen to speak about truth because
teachers in schools, colleges, and
universities are teaching and practicing
relative morality.
This is shaping the attitudes of many
young Americans who are taking their
places as the teachers of our children
and the shapers of public attitudes
through the media and popular entertainment.
entertainment.
This philosophy of moral relativism
denies what millions of believing
Christians, Jews, and Muslims consider fundamental.
fundamental.
And this denial creates serious problems
for all of us.
What believers should do about this
introduces the second of my twin
subjects, tolerance.
Tolerance is defined as a friendly and
fair attitude toward unfamiliar opinions
and practices
or toward the persons who hold or
practice them. As modern transportation
and communication have brought all of us
into closer proximity to different
peoples and different ideas, we have
greater need for tolerance.
When I was a young adult about 60 years ago,
ago,
it was only in books and magazines that
most Americans were exposed to great
differences in cultures, values, and people.
people.
Now, we experience such differences in
television and the internet, through
travel, and often in personal
interactions in our neighborhoods and
the marketplace.
This greater exposure to diversity both
enriches our lives and complicates them.
We are enriched by associations with
different peoples which remind us of the
wonderful diversity of the children of
God. But diversities in cultures and
values also challenge us to identify
what can be embraced as consistent with
our gospel culture and values and what cannot.
cannot.
In this way, diversity increases the
potential for conflict and requires us
to be more thoughtful about the nature
of tolerance.
What is tolerance? When does it apply
and when does it not apply?
This is a harder question for those who
affirm the existence of God and absolute
truth than for those who believe in
moral relativism. The weaker one's
belief in God and the fewer one's moral absolutes,
absolutes,
the fewer the occasions when the ideas
or practices of others will confront one
with the challenge to be tolerant.
For example, an atheist has no need to
decide what kinds and occasions of
profanity or blasphemy can be tolerated
and what kind should be confronted.
Persons who don't believe in God or in
absolute truth in moral matters can see
themselves as the most tolerant of
persons. For them, almost anything goes.
You do your thing and I'll do my thing
is the popular description.
This belief system can tolerate almost
any behavior and almost any persons. Unfortunately,
Unfortunately,
some who believe in moral relativism
seem to have difficulty tolerating those
who insist that there is a God who
should be respected and certain moral
absolutes that should be observed.
I will say no more about the tolerance
or intolerance of non-believers.
I'm speaking to an audience of
Latter-day Saints who believe in God and
in absolute truth. What does tolerance
mean to us and to other believers? And
what are our special challenges in
applying it?
I begin with three absolute truths. I
express them as an apostle of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but I believe that most of
these ideas are shared by believers generally.
generally.
First, all persons are brothers and
sisters under God, taught within their
various religions to love and do good to
one another. I repeat, all persons are
brothers and sisters under God, taught
within their various religions to love
and do good to one another.
President Gordon B. Hinckley expressed
this idea for Latter-day Saints. quote,
"Each of us from various religious
denominations believes in the fatherhood
of God, although we may differ in our
interpretations of him. Each of us is
part of a great family, the human
family, sons and daughters of God, and
therefore brothers and sisters, we must
work harder to build mutual respect and
attitude of forbearance with tolerance
one for another, regardless of the
doctrines and philosophies which we may
espouse." End of quote.
Note that President Hinckley spoke of
mutual respect as well as tolerance.
Speaking at BYU a decade later, a Muslim
scholar, Dr. Ali Sheihab, an Indonesian,
elaborated that idea in these words,
quote, "To tolerate something is to
learn to live with it, even when you
think it is wrong and downright evil. We
must go, I believe, beyond tolerance if
we are to achieve harmony in our world."
Relying on the teachings of the Quran,
Dr. Shihob continued, quote, "We must
respect this God-given dignity in every
human being, even in our enemies. For
the goal of all human relations, whether
they are religious, social, political,
or economic, ought to be cooperation and
mutual respect." End of quote.
Living together with mutual respect for
one another's differences is a challenge
in today's world. However, and here I
express a second absolute truth. This
living with differences is what the
gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us we
must do. I repeat, this living with
differences is what the gospel of Jesus
Christ teaches us we must do.
The kingdom of God is like 11. Jesus
taught a leaven yeast is hidden away in
the larger mass until the whole is
leavenvened which means raised by its
influence. [snorts]
Our savior also taught that his
followers will have tribulation in the
world that their numbers and dominions
will be small and that they will be
hated because they are not of the world.
But that is our role. We are called to
live with other children of God who do
not share our faith or our values and
who do not have the covenant obligations
we have assumed.
So it was that at the conclusion of his
ministry Jesus prayed to the father
not that thou shouldest take them out of
the world but that thou shouldest keep
them from the evil.
We are to be in the world but not of the world.
world.
Since followers of Jesus Christ are
commanded to be 11, not to be taken out
of the world, but to remain in it, we
must seek tolerance from those who hate
us for not being of the world. As part
of this, we will sometimes need to
challenge laws that would impair our
freedom to practice our faiths. doing so
in reliance on our constitutional rights
to the free exercise of religion
as described by an attorney supporting a
Lutheran school in a case now before the
United States Supreme Court. The big
concern is quote the ability of people
of all faiths to work out their
relationship with God and one another
without the government looking over
their shoulder end of quote.
That is why we need understanding and
support, including your understanding
and support when we must contend for
religious freedom.
We must also practice tolerance and
respect toward others. As the Apostle
Paul taught, Christians should follow
after the things that make for peace and
as much as possible live peaceibly with
all men.
Consequently, we should be alert to
honor the good we should see in all
people and in many opinions and
practices that differ from our own. As
the Book of Mormon teaches, all things
which are good cometh of God. Wherefore
everything which inviteth and enticeth
to do good, and to love God, and to
serve him is inspired of God. Wherefore
take heed that ye do not judge that
which is good to be of and of God to be
of the devil. End of quote.
That approach to differences will yield
tolerance and also respect.
Our tolerance and respect for others and
their beliefs does not cause us to
abandon our commitment to the truths we
understand and the covenants we have made.
made.
That is a third absolute truth. We do
not abandon uh the truth and our covenants.
covenants.
We are cast as combatants in the war
between truth and error. There is no
middle ground. We must stand up for
truth even while we practice tolerance
and respect for beliefs and ideas
different from our own and for the
people who hold them.
While we must practice tolerance and
respect for others and their beliefs,
including their constitutional freedom
to explain and advocate their positions.
We are not required to respect and
tolerate wrong behavior.
Our duty to truth requires us to seek
relief from some behavior that is wrong.
This is easy to see when it involves
extreme behaviors that most believers
and non-believers recognize as wrong or unacceptable.
unacceptable.
For example, we must all deplore murder
or other terrorist behavior, even when
done by extremists in the name of religion.
religion.
And we must all oppose violence and thievery.
thievery.
As to less extreme behaviors where even
believers disagree on whether or not
they are wrong, the nature and extent of
what we should tolerate is much more
difficult to define.
Thus, a thoughtful LDS woman wrote me
about her concern that quote, "The
world's definition of tolerance seems to
be increasingly used in relation to
tolerating wicked lifestyles."
She asked how the Lord would define tolerance.
tolerance.
President Boy Packer gave an inspired
introduction to this subject speaking to
an audience of institute students three
years ago. He said, "The word tolerance
does not stand alone. It requires an
object and a response to qualify it as a
virtue. Tolerance is often demanded but
seldom returned. Beware of the word
tolerance. It is a very unstable
virtue." End of quote.
This inspired caution reminds us that
for persons who believe in absolute truth,
truth,
tolerance for behavior is like a
two-sided coin.
Tolerance or respect is on one side of
the coin, but truth is always on the
other. You cannot possess or use the
coin of tolerance without being
conscious of both sides. Our savior
applied this principle when he faced the
woman taken in adultery. Jesus spoke the
comforting words of tolerance. Neither
do I condemn thee. Then as he sent her
away, he spoke the commanding words of
truth. Go and sin no more.
We should all be edified and
strengthened by this example of speaking
both tolerance and truth. kindness in
the communication but firmness in the truth.
truth.
Let us consider how to apply that
example s to some other behaviors.
Another thoughtful LDS member wrote,
quote, "In Messiah 18:9, Alma tells us
that when we are baptized, we covenant
to stand as witnesses of God at all
times and in all things and in all
places that ye may be in."
What does this scripture mean for our
day? and how can it be applied by
Latter-day Saints?
Continuing the quote, "Living in the
mission field, I often hear the name of
the Lord taken in vain, and I also have
acquaintances who tell me they are
living with their boyfriends. I have
found that observance of the Sabbath is
almost obsolete.
How can I keep my covenant to stand as a
witness and not offend these people?"
End of quote.
profanity, cohabitation, and Sabbath
breaking. Excellent examples to
illustrate how Latter-day Saints might
balance their competing duties to truth
and tolerance in their own lives in
these difficult circumstances.
I begin with our personal conduct,
including the teaching of our children.
In applying the sometimes competing
demands of truth and tolerance in these
three behaviors and many others, we
should not be tolerant with ourselves.
We should be ruled by the demands of
truth. With ourselves, we should be
strong in keeping the commandments and
our covenants. And we should repent and
improve when we fall short. As President
Thomas S. Monson taught us in the
conference where he was sustained as our
prophet. My young friends, be strong.
The face of sin today often wears the
mask of tolerance. Do not be deceived.
Behind that facade is heartache,
unhappiness, and pain. You know what is
right and what is wrong, and no
disguise, however appealing, can change
that. The character of transgression
remains the same. If your so-called
friends urge you to do anything you know
to be wrong, you be the one to make a
stand for right, even if you stand
alone." End of quote.
Similarly, with our children and others,
we have a duty to teach, such as in our
church callings, our duty to truth is paramount.
paramount.
Of course, teaching efforts only bear
fruit through the agency of others, so
they must always be done with love,
I turn now to the obligations of truth
and tolerance in our personal relations
with associates who use profanity in our
presence, who live with a partner out of
wedlock, or who do not observe the
Sabbath day appropriately.
How should we react toward and
communicate with them?
Our obligation to tolerance means that
none of these behaviors
or others we consider deviations from
the truth should ever cause us to react
with hateful communications or unkind actions.
actions.
But our obligation to truth has its own
set of requirements and its own set of
blessings. When we speak every man truth
with his neighbor and when we speak the
truth in love as the apostle Paul
taught, we are acting as servants of the
Lord Jesus Christ doing his work. Angels
will stand with us and he will send his
holy spirit to guide us.
In this sensitive matter, we should
first consider whether the whether or
the extent to which we should
communicate to our associates what we
know to be true about their behavior. In
most cases, this decision can depend on
how directly we are personally affected
by it. Profanity consistently used in
our presence is an appropriate cause for
us to communicate the fact that this is
offensive to us.
Profanity used out of our presence by non-believers
non-believers
probably would not be an occasion for us
to confront the offenders.
Cohabitation we know to be a serious sin
in which Latter-day Saints must not
engage whatever the circumstances
when practiced by those around us. It
can be private behavior or something we
are asked to condone, sponsor or facilitate.
facilitate.
In the balance between truth and tolerance,
tolerance,
tolerance can be dominant where the
behavior does not involve us personally.
If the cohabitation does involve us
personally, we should be governed by our
duty to truth.
For example, it is one thing to ignore
serious sins when they are private.
It is quite another thing to be asked to
sponsor or impliedly endorse them, such
as by housing them in our own homes.
On Sabbath observance, Latter-day Saints
know that we are taught to observe the
Sabbath day in a different way than many
other Christians.
Most of us are troubled by packed
shopping centers and other commercial
activities on the Sabbath.
Perhaps we should explain our belief
that our observance of the Sabbath,
including our partaking of the
sacrament, restores us spiritually and
makes us better people for the rest of
the week.
Then to other believers, we might
express appreciation for the fact that
we share common ground on what is most
vital because each of us believes in God
and in the existence of absolute truth
even though we differ in our definitions
of these fundamentals.
Beyond that, we should remember the
Savior's teaching that we should avoid contention
contention
and that our example and our preaching
should be the warning voice every man to
his neighbor in mildness and in meekness.
meekness.
In all of this, we should not presume to
judge our neighbors or associates on the
ultimate effect of their behaviors. That
judgment is the Lord's, not ours.
Even he refrained from a final mortal
judgment of the woman taken in adultery.
Tolerance requires a similar refraining
in our judgment of others.
Having discussed the balancing of truth
and tolerance in our personal behavior
and in our relations with associates, I
come to a different and more difficult circumstance.
circumstance.
When believers enter the public square
to try to influence the making or the
administration of laws motivated by
their beliefs, they should apply some
different principles.
As young adults, you may wonder why I am
speaking to you about the principles we
should follow when we seek government
action such as by the legislature. You
might say that's a matter for senior
church authorities to handle.
I describe these principles to you young
adults because you are current members
and future leaders of the church of
Jesus Christ and you will need to decide
these kinds of questions sooner than you
think. You will need to understand how
our efforts in the public square are
informed by the balance between truth
and tolerance.
whether or how we might seek to obtain
laws that would compel or influence
behavior that we deem desirable because
of our belief in God and his commandments
commandments
is too large a subject for adequate
treatment in the concluding few minutes
of my talk. I will therefore limit
myself to describing four paramount
principles that should govern such an
effort. First, when believers in Jesus
Christ take their views of truth into
the public square,
they must seek the inspiration of the
Lord to be selective and wise in
choosing which true principles they seek
to promote by law or executive action.
Generally, they should refrain from
seeking laws or administrative action to
facilitate beliefs that are distinctive
to believers,
such as the enforcement of acts of
worship, even by implication.
Believers can be less cautious in
seeking government action that would
serve principles broader than merely
facilitating the practice of their
beliefs, such as laws concerning public
health, safety, and morals. In any
event, as defenders of the faith,
believers can and must seek laws that
will preserve religious freedom.
Along with the ascendancy of moral
relativism, the United States is
experiencing a disturbing reduction in
overall public esteem for religion.
Once an accepted part of American life,
religion is now suspect in the minds of
many. To them, it has become something
that must prove its legitimacy as part
of our public life. Some influential
voices even question the extent to which
our constitution should protect the free
exercise of religion, including the
right to practice and preach religious principles.
principles.
This is a vital matter on which we who
believe in a supreme being who has
established absolute right and wrong in
human behavior must unite to insist on
our timehonored constitutional rights to
exercise our religion to vote our
consciences on public issues and to
participate in elections and debates in
the public square and in the halls of
justice. In doing so we stand with angels.
angels.
We must also stand shouldertosh shoulder
with other believers to preserve and
strengthen the freedom to advocate and
practice our religious beliefs, whatever
they are.
For this purpose, we must walk together
on the same path in order to secure our
freedom to pursue our separate ways when
that is necessary according to our
separate beliefs.
guided by heaven in this righteous
cause, our words will be sweet and find
place in the hearts of many.
Second, when believers seek to promote
their positions in the public square,
their methods and their advocacy should
always be tolerant of the opinions and
positions of others who do not share
their beliefs. We should not add to the
extremism that divides our society.
As believers, we must always speak with
love and show patience, understanding,
and compassion toward our adversaries.
Christian believers are under command to
love their neighbors, to forgive, and to
do good to those who despitefully use
them. They should always remember the
Savior's teaching that we bless them
that curse us, do good to them that hate
us, and pray for them which despitefully
use us and persecute us.
As believers, we should also frame our
arguments and positions in ways that
contribute to the reasoned discussion
and accommodation that are essential to
democratic government in a pluralistic
society. By this means we will
contribute to the civility that is
essential to preserve our civilization.
Third, believers should not be deterred
by the familiar charge that they are
trying to legislate morality.
Many areas of the law are based on
Judeo-Christian morality and have been
for centuries. Our civilization is based
on morality and cannot exist without it.
As John Adams declared, "Our
Constitution was made only for a moral
and religious people. It is wholly
inadequate to the government of any
other." End of quote.
Fourth, believers should not shrink from
seeking laws to maintain public
conditions or policies that assist them
in practicing the requirements of their
faith where those conditions or policies
are also favorable to the public health,
safety or morals.
For example,
even though religious beliefs are behind
many criminal laws and some family laws,
such laws have a long-standing history
of appropriateness in democratic societies.
societies.
But where believers are in the majority,
they should always be sensitive to the
views of the minority.
We Latter-day Saints are sometimes
accused of being self-righteous and
intolerant of others, especially where
we are in the majority or where others
are in the majority and our beliefs
cause us to oppose them. Surely,
Latter-day Saints do need to be more
wise and skillful in explaining and
pursuing our views and in exercising our
influence when we have it. That is the
spirit of the two-sided coin of truth
and tolerance.
President Thomas S. Monson has provided
an excellent example of the practice of
these twin virtues. Throughout his life,
he has been exemplary in reaching out
and working with the members and leaders
of other faiths in cooperative efforts
on matters of common interest and in the
Christian fellowship and concern that
have no denominational boundaries.
Finally, the spirit of our balance of
truth and tolerance is applied in these
words of President Gordon B. Hinckley.
Quote, "Let us reach out to those in our
community who are not of our faith. Let
us be good neighbors, kind and generous
and gracious. Let us be involved in good
community causes.
There may be situations, there will be
situations where with serious moral
issues involved, we cannot bend on
matters of principle. But in such
instances, we can politely disagree
without being disagreeable.
We can acknowledge the sincerity of
those whose positions we cannot accept.
We can speak of principles rather than
I close with this assurance and this testimony.
testimony.
The Bible teaches that one of the
functions of a prophet is to be a
watchman to warn Israel.
In Revelation, the Lord added this
parable for modern Zion. Set a watchman
upon the tower who will see the enemy
while he is yet a far off and give
warning to save the vineyard from the
hands of the destroyer. I have spoken to
you as one of those watchmen on the
subject the spirit has assigned me. I
assure you that my message is true. If
you have doubts about this or if you
have questions about how to apply these
principles in your own life, I urge you
to seek guidance from the same source.
On the broader question being widely
agitated by the atheists of our day, I
proclaim my knowledge that God lives.
His creations witness his existence and
his servants hear and proclaim his voice.
voice.
Modern revelation teaches that some have
the gift to know that Jesus Christ is
the son of God crucified for the sins of
the world and that it is given to others
to believe on their words.
As one who knows, I invite you to
believe on my words.
I testify of Jesus Christ, the Lord of
the vineyard. He is our savior and he
reaches out to each of us with the
timely invitation to receive his peace
by learning of him and by walking in his way.
way.
Come unto me all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me,
for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye
shall find rest unto your souls. For my
yoke is easy and my burden is light. In
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