The April 1965 General Conference contained barnburner talks. As Jeffrey R. Holland would put it they had ‘just enough fire to singe your eyebrows.” Elder Mark E. Petersen just absolutely wrecked progressive Christianity. President Tanner raised the warning voice of moral decay. Harold B. Lee exhorted us to build strong homes. Bishop John H. Vandenberg warned of ‘professionals’ who seek to destroy the faith of youth. Ending with David O. McKay denounced communism as incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I hope you enjoy this twelfth installment of quotes from my studies of the General Conference Archives (If you want to read prior installments click HERE). For the first installment and an explanation of the Conference Archives see “55+ Powerful Quotes From My Study of the Oct. 1970 General Conference” To read this conference report PDF from the Church History Catalog click HERE, for the Archive.org PDF (with speech-to-text, click here) I hope you enjoy these quotes from my studies. But more than enjoy them, I hope they serve as a starting point for your own study of the Apr. 1965 General Conference! Use the page number and the above links to access the full talks. Enjoy!
50+ Absolute FIRE Quotes From My Study of the Apr. 1965 General Conference
“You may think me extreme, but I am going to say that a married woman who refuses to assume the responsibilities of motherhood, or who, having children, neglects them for pleasure or social prestige, is recreant to the highest calling and privilege of womankind. The father who, because of business or political or social responsibilities, fails to share with his wife the responsibilities of rearing his sons and daughters is untrue to his marital obligations, is a negative element in what might and should be a joyous home atmosphere, and is a possible contributor to discord and delinquency.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 7
“A child has a right to feel that in his home he has a place of refuge, a place of protection from the dangers and evils of the outside world. Family unity and integrity are necessary to supply this need.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 7
“The home is the best place in the world to teach the highest ideal in the social and political life of man, namely, perfect liberty of action so long as he does not trespass upon the rights and privileges of another.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 7
“The most paramount objective of the public school system from kindergarten to the university should be character building and the evolving of true, loyal citizens of the republic. The teaching of the three R’s, of the arts and sciences, even the delving into research work should be but a means to the development of true manhood and noble womanhood.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 8
“True education is awakening a love for truth, a just sense of duty, opening the eyes of the soul to the great purpose and end of life. It is not to teach the individual to love the good for personal sake; it is to teach him to love the good for the sake of the good itself; to be virtuous in action because he is so in heart; to love God and serve him supremely, not from fear, but from delight in his perfect character.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 8
“The first marriage on this earth, that of Adam and Eve, was performed before there was any death in the world; therefore it was intended to be forever. Marriage, if performed by divine authority, is to last forever.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 10
“Parents, not schools, must save children from evil.”
Harold B. Lee
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 14
“For over half a century, the leaders of this Church have counseled with parents in the home to gather their children around them in a weekly Home Evening and there teach the truths of salvation — honesty, sobriety, integrity, and chastity. One of our leaders has promised that if parents would do this, ‘ninety-nine out of every hundred children . . . will observe them through life.’ (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, pp. 267- 268.)”
Harold B. Lee
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 15
“It is true that all through history the ignoring of the laws of God leads to the ignoring and defying of all law. The scriptures and history teach us that man cannot continue to deny God and ignore his laws and expect to prosper. And as William Penn so aptly said: ‘Those who are not governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.’”
N. Eldon Tanner
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 20
“It is our obligation to unitedly stand firm and steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God and unequivocally support firmly that which God has revealed and teaches so clearly to the understanding of all who desire to understand. We cannot be passive nor complacent about issues which destroy the rights, privileges, and freedoms which God has given us.”
Delbert L. Stapley
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 26
“We cannot be passive nor complacent about issues which destroy the rights, privileges, and freedoms which God has given us.”
Delbert L. Stapley
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 26
“A Father’s Ten Commandments” which I think have modern day application:
Thou shalt love thy children with all thy heart and hesitate not to manifest interest in and affection for them. This is the first and great commandment.
Second, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images of thy business, thy career, or thy sports, or any likeness of pleasure, occupation, or pursuit in the heavens above, in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them so that thou forgettest to be a pal and a chum to thy children.
Third, thou shalt not take the name of “Dad” upon thee lightly, for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless who has little regard for the responsibility of fatherhood.
Fourth, remember thy children’s portion of thy time and keep it holy. Many days shalt thou labor and do all manner of work that thou mayest provide suitably for all their needs, but in that portion of thy day which belongeth to them, thou shalt not do any work, neither shalt thou bury thy nose in a book, betake thyself to the golf links, or busy thyself otherwise according to thine own pleasure.
Fifth, honor thy wife, for thy children loveth her dearly and cannot admire, respect, and love thee if thou display not loving kindness for her.
Sixth, thou shalt counsel and advise with thy children in all things and share with them the secrets of thy heart.
Seventh, thou shalt be firm in thy discipline lest thy children stray from the paths of righteousness for the lack of thy guiding hand. But thou shalt not even hold the reins of thine authority too tight nor fail to understand that thy children desireth and needeth more and more of that independence of action which becometh a man.
Eighth, thou shalt have trust and confidence in thy children and be patient and long-suffering with all their shortcomings.
Ninth, thou shalt walk uprightly before men and make thy ways clean in the sight of thy God, for thy children doth follow after thy example. Moreover, take heed that thy children hath more discernment than thou sometimes thinkest and art more influenced by what they see thou really art than by what thou pretendest to be.
And tenth, thou shalt not forget thou wert once a boy. Neither shalt thou be unmindful that times have changed very much since the days of thy youth.”
Paul H. Dunn
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 33-34
“Personal sin is as real an apostasy as any effort to change the law or break the everlasting covenant.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 35
“Personal sin is as much an apostasy from Christ as an acceptance of false doctrines and man-made rituals.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 35
(Denouncing clergy who advocate violations of the Law of Chastity) “It is even worse when clergymen, pretending to represent the Christ, compound their apostasy by actually leading people into serious personal sin, at the same time asking them to practice creeds of their own invention which have no power to save.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 35
“Let our so-called progressive Christians beware, lest like the ancient scribes and Pharisees they find that their house, too, has become desolate.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 36
“To reject or try to change the moral law of God is to reject God. To leave the path of virtue as set forth by Christ is an apostasy from Christ. If any segment of Christianity attempts to change the moral law of God, it will attack one of the most basic precepts of heaven and will thereby place itself in the role of anti-Christ.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 36
“Where there is no morality, there is no true Christianity either. No one can make free love a doctrine and practice of the true Church of God.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 36
“Apostasy through immorality is at least as bad as returning to paganism.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 36
“In this modern day God has restored his pure gospel and his divine Church. Again he teaches the truth about himself and the way to come back into his presence. Part of that restoration is a restatement of the moral law.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 37
“Virtue is as much a part of the restored gospel as baptism and the resurrection. Chastity is as vital to us as the law and the prophets.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 37
“The Lord asks you to be as clean as he is, so that you may be fit to enter unto his presence and become like him, for that is your destiny. May you live for it and thus obtain this great blessing, I earnestly pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 37
“What is man in this boundless setting of sublime splendor? I answer you: Potentially now, actually to be, he is greater and grander, more precious in the arithmetic of God, than all the planets and suns of space. For him were they created; they are the handiwork of God; man is his son. In this world man is given dominion over a few things. It is his privilege to achieve supremacy over many things.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.’ (Psalm 19:1.) Incomprehensibly grand as are the physical creations of the earth and space, they have been brought into existence as a means to an end, necessary to the realization of the supreme purpose, which in the words of the creator is thus declared: ‘For behold, this is my work and my glory— to bring to pass the immortality and the eternal life of man.'” (Moses 1:39.)
James E. Faust as quoted by Hugh B. Brown
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 41
“This Church, then, is Christianity restored, together with the principles and ordinances, the priesthood and authority, as taught and exercised in the primitive Church. This is our declaration”
Hugh B. Brown
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 44
“Men cannot really long rest content with mediocrity once they see excellence is within their reach.”
Thomas S. Monson
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 46
“This doctrine (Matt. 18:6) states it is better to lose your life than wilfully to offend. The word ‘offend’ as used by the Master means ‘to cause to sin or fall.’”
Bishop John H. Vandenberg
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 49
“Willful wrong teaching, wrong example, wrong utterance, wrong action by those of influence are offenses to any youth, and the retribution follows as night the day”
Bishop John H. Vandenberg
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 49
“Today we have some Pharisees and Sadducees in our society, cloaked in the disguise and the influence of ‘professionalism,’ urging youth not to believe.”
Bishop John H. Vandenberg
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 49
“Remember that the mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small”
Bishop John H. Vandenberg
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 51
“How many times have you read [the Book of Mormon]? Read it again. And this time read it slowly, so you can digest the spiritual calories you will find in it.”
William J. Critchlow Jr.
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 74
“Read it personally, putting yourself in the shoes of Lehi, who was told to take his family into the wilderness. What would you have done were you in his shoes? Put yourself in Nephi’s shoes. He was instructed to go after the brass plates. What would you have done in his shoes? Yes, read it personally.”
William J. Critchlow Jr.
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 75
“Read it purposefully, and let your purpose be to discover its spiritual calories and the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
William J. Critchlow Jr.
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 75
“Read it for pleasure. Discover how it testifies of the Christ. Somebody said his name is mentioned 526 times therein. It testifies also of the Bible. Turn off the TV, turn off the radio, and read the Book of Mormon. You will enjoy it.”
William J. Critchlow Jr.
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 75
“No one ever gets off the straight and narrow way at right angles, and no sin is born fully grown. Every sin is a minor one to begin with.”
Sterling W. Sill
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 88
“Percentage-wise, very few people will ever lose their blessings because they have become murderers or sons of perdition. As someone has pointed out, it isn’t the giant redwoods that trip us up as we walk through the forest, it’s the vines and the underbrush.”
Sterling W. Sill
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 88
“Brethren, if I gave you any challenge tonight, it is to go home and, when you go into the house, express appreciation to that wife who is there, and let those children know that you love them, and don’t be afraid to do it.”
N. Eldon Tanner
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 94
“It isn’t a big redwood tree that is going to trip us up; it’s the underbrush in life.”
N. Eldon Tanner
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 95
“If we love the Lord, we will keep his commandments, we will accept calls that come to us and magnify the priesthood and carry out the responsibility.”
N. Eldon Tanner
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 96
“The word ‘turn’ could be better understood if the word “seal” were used. Thus the full meaning of the work of the priesthood becomes clear, that after Elijah shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, the children should be sealed to the fathers, otherwise the meaning of life would be misunderstood and the whole purpose of life on this earth would be utterly wasted when Christ should return again to claim his children.”
Theodore M. Burton
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 111
“We must have our hearts turned to our fathers, seek out their identities, and perform the work of salvation for them. We will be held accountable for their blood unless we do so.”
Theodore M. Burton
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 113
“The fundamental purpose for which this earth was created was to establish individual families forever. The family is the only organization which is eternal.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 114
“Priesthood is patriarchal, which means ‘of the father.’ A married man is the patriarch of his home and is responsible to bless members of his family.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 115
“Yes, we think of blessing the wife when she is sick, but if the relationship between husband and wife becomes a bit strained, wouldn’t it be a good thing for the husband to give his wife a blessing for the purpose of increasing the unity and love for each other?”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 115
“Any man who really loves his wife and his family will not rest until he can qualify himself by acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ and by righteous living to take his wife and family with him into the temple of the Lord and there have them sealed to him forever under the sealing power of the priesthood.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 114
“If you just stop to think for a moment of all the hundreds of so-called Christian churches in the world, they have all come into existence because they couldn’t agree in their interpretation of the Bible. If we had all the Bibles in the world, that wouldn’t unite Christianity.”
Elder LeGrand Richards
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 116
“If all of the Bibles in this world had been destroyed, we would still be preaching what we are preaching. We didn’t get our Church by a study of the Bible; we got it through the revelations of God the Eternal Father and the sending to this earth of heavenly messengers that have brought back the power to officiate in the name of the Lord and have given us a clear, comprehensive understanding of the truths of the gospel.”
Elder LeGrand Richards
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 116-117
“We invite all men everywhere to be willing to listen to the living prophets that God has raised up in this dispensation so that they can be taught correct principles and not be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.”
Elder LeGrand Richards
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 120
“Repentance is the one important part of the ‘refiner’s fire’ that brings the human soul to celestial glory.”
Bernard P. Brockbank
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 132
“If there is not time in our lives for the Family Home Evening, there is something wrong, and we are getting away from the way Heavenly Father would have us live.”
Robert L. Simpson
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 134
“Christ is the greatest need of the world. Many of us profess to be Christians, yet we must confess that we do not take Him seriously. Our surrender is but in part. We salute Him, but we don’t obey Him. We respect Him, but we don’t follow Him. We admire Him, but we don’t worship Him. We quote His sayings, but we don’t live by them. . . . There is only one way out for the world — the way of the man of Galilee.”
Dr. James W. Clarke as quoted by Elder Richard L. Evans
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 136
“The whole purpose of the organization of this great Church, so complete, so perfect, is to bless the individual. How that stands out in striking contrast, in opposition, to the claim of the communist who says that the individual is but a spoke in the wheel of the state, that the state is all in all, the individual being but a contributing factor to the perpetuation and strength of the state. That idea is diametrically opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 137
“God help us to bring about that peace in the only way that it can come, which is through obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ, I pray in his holy name. Amen.”
David O. McKay
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 138
“Please obey traffic rules. Good manners, patience and alertness are necessary if we are to reduce the number of automobile accidents.”
President Hugh B. Brown
CR, Apr. 1965, pp. 138
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