Melvin J. Ballard

I remember a gentleman, a minister, said on one occasion, in a private discussion which I had with him, that he thought we were too positive about the things of religion. He thought we had not considered the question of God enough to be able to speak with such certainty. He informed me that he belonged to a church that was several hundred years older than the one to which I belonged, and he said that his church had been considering these questions for a long time and had altered their view and their opinion about a good many theological questions. I granted that that was true; and he ventured the assertion that after we had been discussing these theological questions as long as they had, perhaps we would change our opinion also. And in order to establish his point he used this illustration:

"If you had a problem to give for solution and you selected ten boys to solve the problem, and you gave one of them ten days in which to study it, and then another boy nine days and still another boy eight, and so forth, until you had one boy studying on the problem but one day and one studying ten days; now which boy, at the conclusion of the ten days, would know most about the problem, the one who had been studying but one day or the one who had studied ten days?"

Well, you would have to concede, as I did, that if all things were equal, of course, the boy that had been studying ten days ought to know most about the problem.

"Well, there you are," he said; "we have been studying it longer than you have, and you are one of the youngest churches, and so you are likely to change your mind when you study it a little longer."

"But," I said, "suppose the boy who has had the problem but one day receives the visit of a professor who knows all about the problem and who illustrates it so that now it is perfectly clear to the mind of the boy, who knows most about it, the boy who has thus been aided, only having had the chance to study it one day, or the boy who has been dreaming about it for ten days?"

"Why," he said, "of course, the boy who was thus aided and assisted knew most about the problem."

Then I said: "That is exactly where we stand." Joseph Smith did not know, because of earthly wisdom and his reading of the scriptures, more about our Father in heaven and His Son Jesus Christ, than the learned ministers of the world. Not by that means did he obtain his knowledge, but in the few moments that he knelt in the sacred grove in the presence of the Father and the Son he knew more about God the eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ than all the ministers of all the world ever have known, or ever will know, except they shall be, in like manner, informed and instructed. So that the wisdom he had came to him from the Source to which men must go if they shall know our Father in heaven.

Melvin J. Ballard, Conference Report, April 1920

Sterling W. Sill

Among the greatest joys of life are the joys of being: the joys of being genuine, the joys of being true blue, the joys of knowing within one's self that he is not a phony. An honest man is the noblest work of God.

We have heard Dr. Goodell's story of the house dishonesty built. It tells of a very wealthy man who had as a part of his household a young woman to whom the entire family was devoted. She was courted and finally married by a young building contractor.

Then this wealthy man engaged the contractor to build a house for him. He had the most famous architect draw the plans. Then laying the plans before the builder, he told him that he wanted him to construct the finest house of which he was capable. He made clear that money was not an object. He pointed out that the specifications called for only the finest materials. Everything must be of the highest quality. But the builder had a little dishonesty in his heart. Thinking to make an extra profit, he built a cheap foundation. He used third grade lumber where he thought it would not be noticed. He adulterated the paint and slurred over the plastering. He used imitation materials for the roofing.

When the young man handed over the keys of the finished building to his wealthy benefactor he was told that this house was his wedding present. It was not very long after the young couple moved in that the inferior foundation began to crack; the rains seeped through the roof and discolored the walls. Then throughout the rest of their lives the builder's family and himself were continually reminded of his dishonesty. What a different house he would have built if he had known that he was going to spend the rest of his life in it!

But each of us is presently building the house in which we are going to spend eternity. And while we are thinking about the immortality of the body, we should also give a little thought to the immortality of the memory and the immortality of the personality. If we are forced to spend eternity thinking about our own misspent lives, then we may understand a little more clearly what Paul meant when he said, ". . . let every man take heed how he buildeth...." (1 Cor. 3:10.)

Sterling W. Sill, Conference Report, April 1962

Harold B. Lee

Today ... it might well be said that the greatest miracles we see are not the healings of sick bodies but the miraculous changes that come into the lives of those who become members of the Church, as all missionaries will testify. The greatest strength of the Church is not the number of units we have, not the amount of tithing that is paid, nor the congregations, but the greatest strength is the united and fervent testimonies that are in the hearts of church members. And by that same token, we might say that the greatest weapon against all untruth, whether it be in science, so-called, or in the philosophies of the world, or in communism, or what not, the greatest weapon is the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which preached in power will be a bulwark against these false ideas in the world today.

Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, April 1964

Harold B. Lee

The greatest demonstration of the power of the Almighty we see today is the redemption of human souls from spiritual darkness into spiritual light.

Elder Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, April 1965

Joseph Fielding Smith

I wonder if we ever stop to think why the Lord has asked us to pray. Did he ask us to pray because he wants us to bow down and worship him? Is that the main reason? I don't think it is. He is our Heavenly Father, and we have been commanded to worship him and pray to him in the name of his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. But the Lord can get along without our prayers. His work will go on just the same, whether we pray or whether we do not. He knows the end from the beginning. ... Prayer is something that we need, not that the Lord needs. He knows just how to conduct his affairs and how to take care of them without any help from us. Our prayers are not for the purpose of telling him how to run his business. If we have any such idea as that, then of course we have the wrong idea. Our prayers are uttered more for our sakes, to build us up and give us strength and courage, and to increase our faith in him.

President Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1968