We are sending you out as artists, scientists, teachers and philosophers. Will you never forget the theme of the lesson we are talking about, that you are but branches of a divine tree and that you of yourself, you can do nothing? All truths whether called science or religion, or philosophy, come from a divine source.
You, then, I plead with you, do not in your search for truth, allow yourselves to become severed from the "vine." In all your learning, measure it and test it by the white light of truth revealed to the prophet of God and you will never be led astray. ("Life Under Control." BYU Commencement Address. Provo, Utah, June 4, 1951, p. 19).
The first purpose of our Church schools is to teach truth, secular truth, so effectively that students will be free from error, free from sin . . . free from vain philosophies and from untried theories of science.
The second objective and purpose is to educate youth, not only for time, but for all eternity.
Their third objective is to so teach the gospel that students will not be misled by purveyors of false doctrines, vain speculations or faulty interpretations.
The fourth objective, to prepare students to live a well-rounded life.
And the final objective of Church schools: to set the stage for students to acquire a testimony of the reality of God and the divinity of his work . . . and to help youth to gain a testimony that God lives and that his work is divine. (Cited in Edwin J. Butterworth, "The Unified Church School System." Era 59, November 1956, p. 197)
May I begin by reminding you of the Lord's own charge to this Church and the world. These are his words:
And even so I have sent mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light unto the world, and to be a standard for my people, and for the Gentiles to seek to it, and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me. (D&C 45:9.)
Brigham Young University, led by its President, must never forget its role in bringing to reality the ancient prophecy--to build the mountain of the Lord's house in the tops of the mountains, so great and so glorious that all nations may come to this place and be constrained to say "show us your way that we may walk therein." (See Isaiah 2:3.) (p. 12)
"Installation of and Charge to the President." Inaugural Addresses [Delivered at the inauguration of Dallin H. Oaks, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, November 12, 1971] (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1971), pp. 11-16.
This, our day, was prophesied of as a day when "there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and . . . many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." (2 Peter 2:1-2.) So the Church of Jesus Christ declares with a boldness that is always characteristic of truth. "We believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." (Article of Faith 9.) And again, ". . . We believe all things, we hope all things. . . . If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." (Article of Faith 13.) Indeed, the Church of Jesus Christ does not ask us to give up any truth that we may learn from science or philosophy, law or medicine. Rather, the Church has commanded -- [quotes D&C 88:78-79]
If we will carefully analyze that commandment of the Lord, we will find broadly enumerated many of the studies outlined in scholastic courses: astronomy, the physical sciences, mineralogy, history, current events, political science, law, medicine, world history, and so on through the entire school curriculum. What the Church does ask of us in all our worldly studies are these two things:
First, that we measure every teaching to be found in the world of book learning by the teachings of revealed truth, as contained in the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we find in school texts claims that contradict the word of the Lord as pertaining to the creation of the world, the origin of man, or the determination of what is right or wrong in the conduct of human souls, we may be certain that such teachings are but the theories of men; and as men improve their learning and experimentation, the nearer will their theories coincide with the truths that God has given to His church. And second, that there are, beyond the things we can discern by the physical senses of "the natural man," things of a spiritual nature: [Quotes 1 Corinthians 2:11-14]
Within the limits of the natural man, methods of experimentation are pretty well established. With mortar and pestle, test tubes and Bunsen burners, with acids and materials to be analyzed, we can proceed to our discovery of the component parts of water or to learn the various properties of phosphorus, for example. A student of science soon comes to realize the limitations of his scientific research. When one climbs Pikes Peak he discovers that even from his vantage point the surrounding country is but a territory with receding horizons and yet other mountains to climb. So the naturalist stands in reverent awe as he contemplates how the delicate coloring, the fragrant odors and delicious tastes of nature's products are made by processes far beyond his grasp. The great surgeon, by dissection and with scalpel and microscope, has learned much about the human body and how it works, but he knows full well that beyond his reach is the soul or intelligence in man that defies analysis with the tools at his command. Every astronomer knows likewise that all he has been able to discern with the powerful telescope now provided for his use but leads him to realize that there are worlds without number beyond his present scientific sight.
It was the great scientist, Sir Isaac Newton, in recognition of man's limitation, who declared:
I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
My association with men of great learning in science and philosophy or in religion leads me to conclude that one's faith in spiritual matters is disturbed by his scientific or philosophical studies only because his knowledge in either or both science and religion is deficient.
In things of the spiritual world that can only be spiritually discerned, the methods of finding truth are no less clearly defined than in the physical laboratory. It was the Master who, in reply to the question as to how His hearers were to know whether His teachings were of God or whether He spoke of himself, suggested a simple method for perceiving spiritual truth: "If any man will do [God's] will, he shall know. . . ." (John 7:17) In numerous revelations His will and the steps that must be taken by him who would learn spiritual truths are made clear:
. . . if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. (Moroni 10:4-5)
There must be, first, desire, then study, then prayer, and finally practice. "Prove me now herewith and see," the Lord constantly enjoins him who would know divine truth. We make a grave mistake that leads only to confusion when we presume to discover spiritual truths by the methods of the physical laboratory.
I was greatly impressed when I heard one of the greatest scientists and scholars of our day, Dr. Robert A. Millikan, at a convention of scientists at Fresno, California, in 1937, counsel his listeners to be as scientific in proving religious teachings as they were in their studies in science. He declared that nothing spiritual should be discarded until it had been submitted to the most careful experimentation and testing to prove or disprove the whole matter.
It has been said by some who speak loosely that "he who never doubted, never thought." Youth must understand that faith, not doubt, is the beginning of all learning, whether in science or religion. It is faith in the wisdom of ages past that leads one to further study, experimentation, and new discovery. It is faith that leads us to seek for spiritual knowledge and power by studying out in our own mind the matter in question, by applying all possible human wisdom to the solution of the problem, and then asking God if the conclusion is right. If it is right, our bosom shall burn within us and we shall "feel" that it is right, but if our conclusion is not right, we shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause us to forget the thing that is wrong. (See D&C 9:8-9.)
The expert in the scientific field is one who by his experimentation has come to know that an announced theory is true. An "expert," so-called, in the spiritual world is in the making when he, by humility and faith, knows that God hears and answers prayer. Such a one has "arrived" when he has an unshakable testimony that God is our Father and that through His Son, Jesus Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. The Lord has given the inspired truth that "it is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance." (D&C 131:6) Does this mean that one must be a college graduate or a man of letters to be saved? Not at all. Man cannot be saved in ignorance of those saving principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ even if he were to have all the book learning in the world. We have been plainly taught by the leaders of this dispensation that "the principle of knowledge is the principle of salvation . . . [and that] the principle of salvation is given us through the knowledge of Jesus Christ." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 297)
Reading the experiences of others, or the revelation given to them, can never give us a comprehensive view of our condition and true relation to God. Knowledge of these things can only be obtained by experience through ordinances of God set forth for that purpose. (Ibid., p. 324)
But the Lord has encouraged us to strive diligently for knowledge and intelligence from every source. Here are the Prophet's inspired words of counsel:
"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)
One who violates the fundamental human virtues cannot have the greatest truths of the spiritual world unfolded to him.
In a university publication I once read an article by a student entitled "Up from Heaven," suggesting that belief in the supernatural was childish and must eventually be overcome by advancement in intellectual studies.
Each of us has no doubt known many like this young student, who, because of their "little learning," think they have outgrown the Church and religion. As a matter of fact, when we consider seriously the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ requires sacrifice of one's time and talents and means in order to qualify as a worthy citizen of the kingdom, and that "pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep [ourself] unspotted from the world" (James 1:27), we are led to this sure conclusion: that person who thinks he has outgrown his church and his religion has in reality proved himself too small to bear the responsibilities his membership entails and has shut himself up in his small intellectual world, and the vast treasures in the unseen world of spiritual truths are closed to his understanding.
"And if your eye be single to [God's] glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things." (D&C 88:67)
Many of our youth have completed their high school or university education, some of them have been graduated to still higher schools of education, and some of them have taken jobs or have become married and have settled down to the serious problem of everyday living. They must not be among those who are blinded to the wealth of learning beyond the understanding of the "natural man." They are standing on the threshold of the most profound of all schools of learning, the "University of Spirituality," if they will only keep God's commandments.
May each of us seek out of the best books "all that has been revealed" and be guided in our search for the truth and seek just as earnestly to know "all that may yet be revealed" and thus make our lives balanced and complete. (pp. 72-78)
Stand Ye in Holy Places (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 1974).