followHIM - Articles of Faith : Brother Ahmad S. Corbitt

Episode Date: December 4, 2021

Could you list some fundamental truths of what you believe in 13 short statements? Join Brother Ahmad Corbitt as he discusses the Articles of Faith, their clarifying statements of what Latter-day Saints believe, and their relevance to us today.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/episodesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive ProducersDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: MarketingLisa Spice: Client Relations, Show Notes/TranscriptsJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Rough Video EditorAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsKrystal Roberts: French TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-pianoPlease rate and review the podcast.

Hello, everyone. This is Hank Smith, co-host with John, by the way, of the Follow Him podcast. We have loved learning the history and content of the Doctrine and Covenants with you this year, and we are excited to announce that we will be back next year for the Old Testament. We want to build faith in the Lord and the words of his prophets and as many people as possible. Bring on Come Follow Me 2022. Welcome to Follow Him, a weekly podcast dedicated to helping individuals and families with their Come Follow Me study. I'm Hank Smith. And I'm John, by the way. We love to learn. We love to laugh. We want to learn and laugh with you. As together, we follow him. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith. I'm your host.

I am here with my honest, true, chaste, benevolent, and virtuous co-host, John, by the way. I've been excited for that one for a couple of weeks. Wow. Just pronouncing benevolent is an effort. Thank you. Right. I think it was you a long time ago who taught me that that sounded a little bit like chased by an elephant. And I've always wanted to thank you for that. What my dad used to say, honest, true, and chased by an elephant. Yeah. All right, John, what a week. What a week we have. Tell us who's joining us. Yeah, we're very honored today to have a face that's familiar to you if you watch General Conference.

So this is Brother Ahmed Corbett, the first counselor in the Young Men's General Presidency. And we're so happy to have him here today. I have a little bio. He was born in Philadelphia. And he and his wife, Jane, have six children. He has an undergraduate degree in sociology from Richard Stockton College in New Jersey and a law degree from Rutgers University School of Law. He served as a full-time missionary in Puerto Rico and was a stake president and mission

president in the Dominican Republic. He served as a trial lawyer, executive director of corporate communications. He's got a long list of professional accomplishments, was the director of the church's New York Public Affairs office at one time, and currently works for the church's missionary department. And also, like I said, serves as first counselor in the Young Men's General Presidency. So we are really thrilled to have you here today with us, Brother Corbett. Thank you. Thank you. It's great to be here with you both. I'm so honored to be here and thrilled and privileged to be able to speak to your audience. I thought Hank was going to say that, John, that you had endured all things as well. I mean, he didn't say you were lovely,

but, you know, I was waiting for him to say you endured all things. Yeah. When you look at me, you think that dude's been through a lot. That's what people do. There's a lot of mileage. That is funny. With me as his co-host, he has endured a lot. That is true. I should have mentioned that. Well, welcome, Brother Corbett. I think everybody is so excited to hear from you. The lesson this week from the Come Follow Me is the Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2. So it's really kind of fun, interesting stuff we have to talk about today. And I think some very faith-building things as well. Right.

And I think, Brother Corbett, John and I just kind of want to listen and learn. John mentioned my background in public affairs and public relations. You know, the Wentworth letter, as I see it, from that standpoint, was kind of a public relations attempt to help people outside of the church mainly understand that some of the falsehoods and things that were being said by the church, and that was important to do. The church, by the way, had just established the millennial star just a short time before. In the history of the church, I love this article that's from the millennial star. It's February 1st of 1842. It's a little long, but I'll try to read it fast. It says, in the midst of general distress,

which prevails in this country on account of the want of employment, the high price of provisions, the oppression, priestcraft, and iniquity of the land, it is pleasing to the household of faith to contemplate a country reserved by the Almighty as a sure asylum for the poor and oppressed, a country every way adapted to their wants and conditions, and still more pleasing to think that thousands of saints have already made their escape from this country and all its abuses and distress, and that they have found a home where, by preserving industry, they may all enjoy the blessings of liberty, peace, and plenty. So it goes on, and this is talking about saints who have come from England as well. It is not yet two years since the saints in England, in obedience to the command of their

heavenly Father, commenced a general plan of immigration to the land of Zion. They were few in number, generally poor, and had every opposition to encounter, both from want of means and from the enemies of the truth. And here's the point, who circulated every falsehood calculated to hinder or discourage them. Newspapers and tracts were put in circulation, sermons and public speeches were delivered in abundance to warn the people that Nauvoo was a barren waste on the seashore, that it was a wild and uninhabited swamp, that it was full of savages, wild beasts, serpents, that all the English saints who should go there would be immediately sold for slaves by the leaders of the church, and that there was nothing to eat, no water, and no way possible to obtain a living. And it goes on and on, when in fact, much of the opposite of that was true. They had a great economy and all kinds of good things were happening in Nauvoo. The church leaders were wise enough at that time, and they still are, to publish the truth and help people to see what the kingdom of God is. That sounded like our day. Listen, who circulated every falsehood and calculate every falsehood calculated to hinder or discourage. That happens to the church still.

That's our day. Yeah, absolutely. Every falsehood. When my students sometimes hear things about the church, I'm sometimes amazed of the things that some people come up with to hinder or discourage people from the church. The Wentworth letter is, let's set the record straight. Let's set the record straight. Yes. PR kind of has a bad, can have a bad name. And of course, if it's manipulative, if it's false, if it's spinning things, then it ought to have a bad name. But it was clear to leaders of the church, and it's clear to leaders of the church today. The church has a church communications department and great leaders who lead that, and they're not out spinning things or manipulating.

They are setting the record straight, just like Joseph Smith did with the Wentworth letter when asked by the Chicago Democrat, name of the newspaper at that time in Illinois, what his church believed in and what they were all about. You can read an entire, the entire copy of the Wentworth letter if you want. If you have the Your Gospel Library app and you go to the, and you go to the this week's lesson, if you scroll down just a little bit, there's a paragraph where it says, see also guide to the scriptures, the articles of faith and L. Tom Perry message. You can just tap on chapter 38, the Wentworth letter and teachings of the presence of the church, Joseph Smith, and you can read the entire letter right there. So the articles of faith were really just a part of this? The articles of faith were part of the Wentworth letter. Yep, they sure were. And I think it's called the Wentworth Letter.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think it's called the Wentworth Letter because it was written to a man with the last name of Wentworth. Yes. It was a newspaper editor and was writing a history, I think. Yeah, it's John Wentworth of the Chicago Democrat. And it kind of surprised me. They were writing the history of I think. Yeah, it's John Wentworth of the Chicago Democrat. And it kind of surprised me. They were writing the history of New Hampshire or something, New Hampshire. And I thought, now what does New Hampshire... I know that Joseph Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont, but those states, they're kind of small. Maybe that there was some interaction. I don't know why New Hampshire exactly.

But of course, Joseph Smith was born in Vermont. You're thinking his parents were from New Hampshire. Lucy Mack was born in Gilson, New Hampshire. Joseph Smith goes on to say, as Mr. Bastow, and this is the man who's writing the New Hampshire history. As Mr. Bastow has taken the proper steps to obtain correct information, all that I shall ask at his hands is that he publish the account entire, ungarnished, and without misrepresentation. Can we send this? Let's send this to some of the church's critics today. We ask that you try to not do anything with this, but just tell the truth. How about that? Just correct information.

That's all we're after. Just give correct information. You know, and we hear about that, Hank. It's like somebody on the news, they interview him for two hours and then show, you know, 30 seconds of clips. They find something they can use. And so I can see why Joseph Smith would say, will you publish the whole thing? I can totally, totally understand that. Yeah. Yeah. And, and in fact, as, uh, as BYU employees, we are not supposed to give interviews because for that very reason, that something can be twisted and taken and manipulated. And that was happening to Joseph Smith.

I think all the time is this falsehood causing so many problems. And how do you fix that, right? How do you fix a loud voice that is lying about you? That's got to be so frustrating no social media you can't have your own twitter account so you're relying on on publishers to put out correct information and then when they don't uh it's got to be i can't imagine the frustration turned out that this request i mean blesses the entire world had uh had Wentworth or Mr. Bastow not made this request, we may not have this rich I believe it's just before the statements of belief of the Articles of Faith is that the standard of truth has been erected.

Why don't we read that, John? Do you have that in front of you? I do, actually. We can all recite it from memory. No, we can't. Do you have it, Brother Corbett? Would you like to read it? I don't have it, but how about if I recite it it and you guys check me okay because you you've memorized it i i think so the standard of

truth has been erected no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing persecutions may rage mobs may combine armies may assemble calumny may def, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished,

and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done. That statement makes you want to stand up and cheer. It's prophetic. I mean, I think I shared on another one, the Cincinnati Gazette, in an article about July 3rd, I think, of 1844, reporting the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, and the last three words of the excerpt were, thus ends Mormonism. They thought, that's over, but they're not very good at prophesying, the Cincinnati Gazette, because 11 years later, there was no Cincinnati Gazette. But this idea that nothing can stop this in this part of the Wentworth letter is very compelling. In many missions, missionaries are baptizing more converts during the pandemic than they did previous to the pandemic.

The Lord has made means and provided means. A lot of it is through technology. A lot of it is people feeling isolated and humbled and needing the Lord. And some missions are truly baptizing more during a pandemic, which is amazing. It's astonishing to think that. Nothing can stop the work from progressing is the prophecy. The standard of truth has been erected. Nothing can stop this work.

I love it. And then he moves. Yeah, he does. He moves right into the articles of faith. You want to know what we believe? It always is funny to me when critics of the church will try to tell us what we believe. I'm like, wait, I'm pretty sure I get to state what I believe, right? I heard Steven Robinson once, you know, the author of Believing Christ, and he talked to me, somebody was telling him, you guys believe this or that, and he said, you know what, I am the world's expert on what I believe. And we can all say that. I know what I believe. I'm the world's foremost expert on what

I personally believe. Yeah, so here comes Joseph Smith saying, you want to know, here's what we believe. Here's our basis. They're so powerful. And many primary children have them memorized. You know, once Elder Perry, he was in his 90s and he said uh you know he still had the articles of faith memorized and he would advocate and teach that children still continue to memorize them and learn them and he had them he could recite them from when he was a child uh you know decades many decades earlier some of those songs stay i can still sing them from my primary primary i won't i won't make you suffer through it that would be enduring all things but but i can still yeah that wouldn't be lovely and a good report i mean he starts out and this is the bedrock of our of who we are we believe in god the eternal

father in his son jesus christ, and in the Holy ghost. When I talk to a student or a friend who's going through a, uh, what they call a faith crisis, I usually come back to here. Let's do you believe in God? Do you believe in Jesus, Jesus Christ? And do you believe in the Holy ghost, right? Let's have us. This is the foundation. Let's see how deep you are. This fissure in your faith, how deep it goes. Does it go this deep? Do you believe in God? Do you believe in Jesus Christ?

Do you believe in the Holy Ghost? If we can start from there, it feels like we can build something strong. Great way to start. And funny, you talk about faith crisis because Joseph Smith said in the lectures on faith that knowing that there is a God and his character are two of the three main things that you need to know in order to even have faith in God. Right. We can't worship a being we don't know. And I think about the first vision, he called me by name and said, pointing to the other. I mean, what did he learn in that instant? He looked like me. He had hands. He had a voice. He called me by

my name. Amazing what he learned in that instant. And what was that thing that the prophet Joseph Smith said once? Should you gaze into heaven for five minutes, you would know more than by reading everything that was ever written on the subject. And that's exactly what he got to do. As a father, he rescued him from that thick darkness. When he was just about ready to surrender to despair and destruction as he thought and sensed in his own mind joseph his father rescued him and chased darkness away from him what a fatherly thing to do yeah that's beautiful um i've always told my students that when you believe in jesus christ when you believe in the resurrected Jesus Christ, every other miracle becomes very plausible. If you believe in a resurrected Jesus Christ who still lives today,

every other miracle becomes really kind of small potatoes. It opens up to a world of possibilities, right? The resurrection of Jesus. Oh, this is good. People will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression. Isn't that so liberating? Unless you do something wrong. I mean, there've been times in my life where I thought, oh no, I'm going to be punished for my own sins. I would rather be punished for John's sins because they're on Denny. See, that's what I was thinking i catalog mine in a journal but let me get volume four out for you no i think the um the idea of agency is affirmed there um i think a lot of the articles of faith were responding to probably questions they got

at the time and maybe even to say where we're distinct. So the idea of original sin is kind of refuted there in that article of faith. The depravity of man, kind of one of the tenets of Protestantism, is that we'll be punished for our own sins, not for Adam's transgression. And that's a nice thing to know. I remember Robert Millett saying to our class once, you know, raise your hand if you're responsible for Adam's transgression. And nobody raised their hand.

And he said, raise your hand if you've been affected by it. We all raised our hand, but that's a very important distinction. And, of course, that leads us to the Savior's atonement, that through it all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. And President Nelson has taught us all, the whole church, to refer to the atonement as the Savior's atonement or the atonement of Jesus Christ as opposed to just the atonement, as you know. Just the atonement of Jesus Christ as opposed to just the atonement, as you know. Just the atonement, yeah. Like this sort of amorphous act or event that saves us rather than Christ saving us through that act. Right. You cannot separate the atonement of Jesus Christ from the character of Jesus Christ,

right? Who he is. The only reason we have an atonement of Jesus Christ is because of his choices, his character. Interesting, John and Brother Corbett here, that we've got creation, fall, atonement. If you believe in God, you've got a creator. You have the fall in verse two and the atonement. The three pillars really of the plan of salvation are articles of faith one, two, and three. Wow. Well said. Great observation.

That's great. I like that. I mean, something that we need to state that may feel like a contrast, by obedience to laws and ordinances, and as the debate that goes on, are we saved by our faith? Are we saved by the grace of Christ alone? are we saved by our faith? Are we saved by the grace of Christ alone? Are we saved by our works? And there's this balance that comes into here with this, by obedience to laws and ordinances of the gospel, we're saved by the Savior. I mean, we're saved by the Savior. We can't earn our salvation, we know that.

But the Savior asked us to do certain things. And so that's kind of there. And I love what C.S. Lewis said that he had been asked about whether we're saved by, I think he used faith or good works. And he said, I really have, this C.S. Lewis, I really have no right to speak on such an important topic. But it does seem a little like asking which blade in a pair of scissors is most necessary, which is what a brilliant way to put it. We're trying to become like the Savior, but our striving to become isn't what saves us, but he asked us to become like him. So we, I mean, there's been a lot of talk about that. I just think that it's interesting that Article of Faith 3 has that idea. All mankind may be saved by obedience to laws and ordinances of the gospel.

And then four kind of tells us what they are. That's exactly right, John. I love, we believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved. You could put a period right there. We do believe that, that through the atonement of christ all mankind may be saved you could you could put a period right there we do believe that that through the atonement of christ all mankind may be saved and what has he asked us to do to be obedient to the laws and ordens of the gospel which are right and then we and what comes into it yeah a man must be born of water and of the spirit so yeah but you're right're right. Obedience doesn't save us. All mankind may be saved through the atonement of Christ, period. We don't believe our works

save us, but our works do take us closer to him. Do you remember Brad's analogy? Our friend Brad Wilcox said, the savior has paid the entire price for your piano lessons. He doesn't want to be paid back. He wants you to practice. Yeah. Oh, that's great. Yeah, it's just like anything. It's a great analogy. He wants you to practice.

And that's what obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel are, us saying, yes, thank you for paying this price. I will practice. Yeah, and King Benjamin says, you know, he wants us to be steadfast, always abounding in good works. Why? That Christ the Lord Omnipotent may seal you His that you may be brought to heaven through the wisdom and power and justice and mercy of Him who created all things. So it's He who will do the saving and the bringing to heaven, our role and responsibility and duty and opportunity

and privilege are to embrace him. He lifts us, but we have to embrace him, and we embrace him by the laws and by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. That's beautiful. The Savior brings me to heaven. Faith, repentance, my baptismal covenants, my baptism, and the Holy Ghost make it so I want to be there, right? They can make me the person that I need to be in order to want to be in heaven. Does that make sense? John, the idea of it's open to me because of the atonement,

but do I want it? Well, that's where these come in. They'll change what I want. President Dallin H. Oaks, I just loved that. I think it was October of 2000, the talk he gave called The Challenge to Become. I'll try to paraphrase. It's not just what we know, and it's not even what we do. But when we know what to do, we do what we know, we begin to become something different. And when the Savior works in our lives, we become different. And like you said, Hank, we begin to lose desire to sin. And so, clean hands, pure heart, we can be cleansed from our sins, but pure heart, we're trying to lose our desire to sin like King Benjamin's people did. And I've always wondered, is that permanent? I mean, is there an order form in the Book of Mormon I can pull out and sign up for that where

I get that permanently? But then King Benjamin says, I'm going to give you a name. And I don't think it was permanent. I think all of us have felt that. We've listened to an inspiring talk or something and just been so fired up. Then we got to go back to work, back to school, back to the world. And so we need to keep coming back where the Spirit is to get that same feeling again, to lose our desire to sin. These people made a covenant. And as John said, he gave them a name and said that the covenant you've made is a righteous covenant.

Obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, and of course, ordinances accompany covenants, and covenants accompany ordinances. Joseph Smith is how old in 18, I mean, he is laying out the gospel in such a simple way. Yeah, he's 36. I don't know if I could have done this. Yeah, at 36. I don't know if I could have done this. Yeah, at 36, I don't know if I could have said, what do you believe? Well, let me start at the beginning.

Let me lay the foundation and make it simple and beautiful and powerful. All at the same time. Why don't I just go ahead and write this up for you? These four principles and ordinances, faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost. How many times in the Book of Mormon do we come back to these four principles and ordinances? I mean, you've got 2 Nephi 31, Savior does it in 2 Nephi 11, he does it again in 3 Nephi 27, right? Come back to these over and over. This is the basis of everything we do.

I had a friend in my ward that stopped me once. Wait, you've taught Book of Mormon? And yeah, I have. And he said, well, what's the one thing you've learned over all these years? And thought about it. And I said, you know, the prevalence of first principles in the Book of Mormon, faith in Christ and repentance over and over again. principles in the Book of Mormon, faith in Christ and repentance over and over again, and sometimes the ordinances too, but faith, repent, faith, repent. And I want to emphasize it's faith could be just what we want to happen, but it's not faith in what we want. It's not just hope the sun will come out tomorrow. It's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in what he wants.

And I remember, you know my story, Hank, of donating a kidney to my brother, and I thought we were so blessed. David was doing a project for a church, and they needed this thing urgently. It was to help with the translation of General Conference and sending it out to the world, and he had invented this thing that separated volume levels. It's a long story. Just thought it up. And Elder Rex Pinnegar gave him a blessing and I thought he's going to heal him. And we all had faith, right? He's going to heal him and he didn't. And what he said was, your body will not reject the new element. And that new element was in me. So I got to donate that kidney, but we learned such a wonderful lesson. Faith isn't faith in what you want, it's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he had a better plan. And sometimes that implies a real reliance on him,

that he knows better than maybe faith in what we want to happen. No, the first principle is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's awesome, John. I think Elder Maxwell added, right? Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ includes faith in the Lord's timing. In his timing. I think faith in the Lord Jesus Christ includes faith in the Savior's ability to use us as well. So there's some self-confidence in there as we walk with him,

that we can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us, as Paul said. Well, that's a good way to think of it. I mean, you get a calling that you don't think you can do, but if you have faith in Christ, then you have faith that he called you. Wow, that's a good way. I love that. Preach My Gospel says, defines faith, includes in faith in Christ, trusting Christ, and also trusting that he will keep his promises. And so part of the promise of being called and ordained and set apart or whatever happens with us in our calling is that the Lord, by calling us, 1 Nephi 3 get ahead of us but we believe that a man a man must be called of god by prophecy and by the laying on of hands of those who are in authority

to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof what is called by prophecy mean it suggests to me a foreknowledge of the person who's called that she or he can do this calling. Very similar to what Alma teaches in Alma 13 about the foreknowledge of God. It's important because I think this article of faith may have been a response to the idea of the priesthood of all believers, that if you believe and love the Bible, then you have priesthood. And I think we may be a little closer in our theology then to our Catholic friends who believe, no, there really is priesthood, there really is keys. And we believe a man must be called by prophecy, by those in authority. There's an idea of some that have authority and have

keys to do that. I think it's kind of huge, really. Man, this idea that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ includes faith in what he sees in me, right? That I, that I believe in me because he does. And that's part of believing in him. I've never thought of it that way, but I really like that because we so often, especially in the world today, our teenagers don't think they have any value, right? I'm a worthless person. I'm a waste of space. And faith in the Lord Jesus Christ includes now faith that you are important because he has declared you to be. So if you really believe in him, you believe in you. I love the beginning of the new Aaronic priesthood theme, relatively new, that I'm beloved son of God and he has a work for me to do.

And faith in that, right? And Brother Corbett, I liked what you did with verse five, that you said, she or he. So when Jill Smith writes, we believe that a man must be called of God, we could easily just add right there, we believe that a man or woman called of God, right? That men and women are both used by the Lord in this work. Yes. And do you think of sister missionaries? Think of a counselor in a Relief Society presidency or the primary president or whomever. The brethren are very clear that these sisters lead, teach, administer the gospel by the power of the priesthood. President Oaks gave that talk and said when a woman is set apart to serve in her calling,

she's serving with priesthood authority. Then he said, what other authority could it be? We're doing the work of God on earth. What other authority would that be? Or what other power could that possibly be? When John and I train, John being a member of the Young Men General Presidency Council. When we train others on the Children and Youth Program, we use a statement from President Nelson who implores the adult leaders to let the youth lead. He says, priesthood authority will have been delegated them. That's the quote, and I'm paraphrasing the rest,

but to lead in their quorum and class presidencies. He definitely includes the young women in that, in saying that priesthood authority will have been delegated to them, and so we need to let them lead and exercise that authority. That, by prophecy, takes me back to to to the 138th section joseph f smith says i observe that they were uh and they will become apparent in a minute that they were among the also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the church of god and And he's talking about particular people. But then he goes on and says, even before they were born, they with many others, and

it's the with many others that describe our youth, our children, and many others in the church today, and not yet in the church. They with many others received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men and so gosh being called by prophecy did the lord for know that i received first lessons and that I was prepared? Of course he did. Yeah. It reminds me of Jacob five, Lord of the vineyard seemingly doesn't know what to do, but they call the servants, right? These, this four ordained group come help us. Uh, and the,

and the vineyard is saved. Um, I think this all ties together really well, but a young person who's, who's being called to something or anyone who's being called to something, ask yourself, am I being called by prophecy? Has the Lord foreknown? And Joseph Smith taught that the callings we receive in this life were foreknown to the Lord. It reminds me of Stephen Robinson's thesis in his book Believing Christ. And he chose the title Believing Christ. My understanding is a lot of people believe in Christ, but they don't believe him. That's exactly right.

It doesn't believe it applies to me. And I like that. No, you can believe him. You can believe what he said about you, which some of us are like, oh, I know it was everybody else, but I don't know about me. But to having faith in Christ, yeah, that's a beautiful thought. He made the analogy of you don't believe in electricity unless you use it, right? You can believe in electricity and be like, wouldn't it be great if it all applied to me? But I'll just sit here dark in my house.

He said, use it. Use it. If you believe in it, use it. And I think sometimes also in our trainings, Brother Corbett, we talk about the importance of setting these young people apart to serve in their class presidencies. Have them listen to what the Lord wants to say to them during that time. I'm interested in Article of Faith 6 because both of you have had an increased, I'm sure in the last few years, an increased amount of interaction with apostles and prophets. So I'm interested in what you have to say about this verse that we believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, apostles and prophets and pastors, which I would say is bishops, teachers, evangelists. Wouldn't we say that we're looking at patriarchs there as evangelists?

Yeah, that's what Joseph Smith taught. I think our listening audience would love to hear from both of you about the primitive church and your experiences with the apostles and prophets. Take it away, Brother Corbett. I don't have nearly as much as you do. It is a great privilege and a powerful experience. Can I start, though, as a 17-year-old? There I was in just graduated high school in Philadelphia, as you know, and my family had moved over to southern New Jersey. We lived in a, which is kind of a suburb of Philadelphia

across the Delaware River. Missionaries came, they're teaching our family, and I distinctly remember the lesson about apostles. They opened a flip chart, and there was President Kimball, President Tanner, and President Romney, and then 12 apostles under them. And they said that there were 12 apostles on the earth again. And I said, really? Where are they? And they said, oh, they are in Utah at church headquarters.

And I remember, this is so weird to try to explain, but it was as if they answered a question that I didn't know I had. year old kid who's thinking that that's an important point, that the restored church has that office and those leaders again on the earth. And now, and so it's just such a privilege John and I have to be guided by them, to be led by them, to meet with them periodically and hear their direct counsel. They love the members of the church, the children, the youth. It's wonderful to feel that love. I've heard it said by a couple of people who said, every interaction that I've had with these prophets and apostles today confirms that they are the people you hope they are when they're not around. I remember a friend of mine told me that he once had to make a presentation for the first presidency, and he was very nervous,

and they could tell he was nervous. He looked up, and President Uchtdorf gave him two thumbs up. You're doing great, right? And he said, it just confirmed to me that they are the people I hope they are. They really are. Not that they're perfect, but that they do have the character we hope they have. Apart from seeing them periodically and being in occasional meetings with them, I have a friend. He was living in Texas at the time and getting his MBA. And he and his family attended a multi-stake meeting where then Elder Oaks spoke. This is many years ago. And Elder Oaks told a story.

And my friend recognized that there was a piece of the story that wasn't there. So afterwards, he went up to Elder Oaks and said, I noticed you left this part out of the story. And it was just the two of them. And for context, this becomes important later, my friend is white. And so he asked Elder Oaks this, and it was just the two of them. And Elder Oaks said, I left that part of the story out because I consider it to be racist, and I didn't want to repeat it. My friend tells me that later on. So there was no person present who, you know, there wasn't a minority present or someone overhearing this.

That's just who Elder Oaks is. That's just the man, President Dallin H. Oaks. And so many stories, and I'm sure you two have others, where they are just shown to be who they present to be and whom the lord calls absolutely i i i did i know that that probably wasn't the purpose of article of faith six but i was excited to ask so i i look at the order of the articles of faith and remember they're coming perhaps crafted like these are often asked questions but let's put the most important things first. So look what, like you said, Hank, creation, fall, atonement.

Who is God? And who am I? And who is the Savior? And I just, I think it's significant. The church doesn't come down until number six. It's not article of faith number one. You have to be in our church. There's nothing like that.

There is God is real. And the Savior is real. the Holy Ghost is real, and men will be punished for their own sins, not Adam's transgressions. That's what's my state. Through the atonement of Christ, we can be saved. We do need those ordinances. Where do we go to get those? And it's all the way down to six, where we have the first mention of the church. And I wish that was an original thought with me, but Stephen R. Covey wrote this book called The Six Events of the Restoration. You know about the seven habits? Well, the six events of the restoration, Brother Covey suggested the order of the events of the restoration are kind of a formula for solving life's problems. They always start with,

who is God and who am I? And then, who is the Savior? What is the gospel? Where do I go to accept the Savior? And that they unfold that way, and I'd never thought of that before. I think I heard Brother Covey once at an education week also kind of say, if you look at the order of the Articles of Faith, you kind of see the order in which things fell apart as the apostasy began, that started with the nature of God. And then with the original sin and things like that, and I had never seen it that way before, but I thought that was a fun thought to interject when you see the church is not showing up until number six. How insightful is that? Yeah. And as you said, with ordinances being mentioned in three,

four, and five, and then the church showing up to administer those ordinances in six. During this pandemic, you know, why don't we just stay home for church? Well, we go because that's where there are ordinances like partaking of the sacrament. That's important. The Lord wants us there to renew covenants and partake of the sacrament. It's kind of another reason why the church, the elder Christofferson gave a talk in, I want to say, 2015 called Why the Church? And it's fun to take that apart. And you can just make bullet points of all of the reasons why we gather, we strengthen one another, we mourn with those that mourn, comfort those who stand in need of comfort. And so it's important, but I do think it's interesting that these fundamental things are mentioned first before the organization of the church is mentioned in number six. And that's so great.

And another couple, why the church? President Oaks just spoke on that in his past conference. And a couple other points, Sima. One, of course, is the sacrament to help us in the process of repentance and renewing our covenants, that being an ordinance, one of the main ones that we're talking about here in these articles of faith. But another is, I love his phrase that we associate with people who test us and whom we test. And so it's, you know, and you do. Church brings people together who are disparate and different and diverse and invites us all to come unto Christ and walk the same path. And we learn patience and we teach others patience with ourselves. I need to tell the Mapleton Sixth Ward that I have helped them quite a bit with their testing them, my neighbors and my, oh goodness, that's so funny. People that test us and whom we test.

Yes. I may or may not be quoting him exactly, but that was his concept. And I just love that, Hank, that you are the gift of god to the mapleton which war the sixth word yeah mapleton six word they have learned they are very patient people uh and that's because i've been a part of their word for 11 years it's required a lot of faith but they have endured all things yeah and elder christopherson he said uh it it gives us a place to experience the application of divine doctrine and he talks about idiosyncrasies and then he said or as president packer used to say idiot syncretic idiot syncracies so uh in my case anyway no what I inflict on my members

what was the I think it was Eugene England who said the church is as true as the gospel because he meant this is a place for us to experience all of these things in faith and repentance and everything and to test

be tested and to test others. Yeah. Occasionally at BYU, I teach the New Testament. I get a student who says, well, I love Jesus. I'm not so sure about organized religion. And I'm like, listen, if you love Jesus, he loves organized religion. Jesus wants this. This is something that's clear in the Bible, clear in the Book of Mormon, clear in the Doctrine and Covenants. He wants us in an organized religion. I think this is why

we're talking about. John, you wrote that book on Moroni. I mean, that full chapter is get together often, sing, pray. Gather. And people say, yeah, I don't believe in organized religion. I say, go to the nursery. It's not that organized. But when you look at, and I just offended a bunch of nursery leaders. Sorry. When you look at Moroni, thank you, Hank,

for bringing that up. So Moroni takes over for his father. What do I do? I have no ore. I have no plates. How long am I going to live? I know not. And then he's like,

Mormon nine, listen, believe in Christ. Fundamental, right? And then I'm going to give you an example of what happens to nations when they don't believe in Christ and gives us the book of Ether. It's not until Moroni 6 that he starts mentioning the church. It's very similar. He talks about priesthood and ordinances and the prayers on the sacrament, how we gave the Holy Ghost. And then Moroni 6, here's how we operated the church. Thanks for mentioning that because it's a similar order of events than the articles of faith. I think it might be a good time, John, just for us. We don't do this very often on Follow Him,

but to just anyone listening, the invitation, please go to church. Please, please. I know some people just, oh, it's not for me. Oh, I like everything about the gospel, but I just, someone offended me. Whatever it is, please, please come join with us on Sunday. Come be tested and be, and test others. Come and be tested. We need you there. We need you there. I think sometimes we emphasize you need the church, but I think sometimes we should emphasize church needs you. We need all of us. We need all of us to help each other and maybe even to test each other. And Jesus certainly in the New Testament organized religion. Yeah. He organized his church himself.

It's very clear. It's very clear how the Savior feels about us being organized. It's a great theme to come together and worship the Lord. I love verse 7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth. That's all right out of the New Testament. It seems to flow very naturally from verse 6. Verse 6 being offices, and then verse 7 being operations.

Being gifts. The Holy Ghost, gifts. sacrifices and then verse 7 being uh operations of being gifts the holy ghost gifts i wonder if they got questions about that a lot because we read in the the cultural kind of backdrop in joseph smith's day there were the shaking quakers and there was even what was the section of the doctrine of covenants hank where the lord born people because there was two people falling down and one jumping around the room. Those earlier sections. Yeah, and it was like, no, that's not, you're going too far, or that's not of God. And this is a statement of we believe in the same things in the New Testament. And I love that they added interpretation of tongues.

If somebody's just speaking in tongues and nobody's there to understand, that doesn't sound like a house of order. Somebody will be there to interpret it. And the prophet Joseph Smith encountered that at one point when he went to Ohio. And so in the sections 39, 40, 41, we're right around the time in church history where he was speaking to those issues. There's a book a wonderful book that was recommended to me called Mormonism in Transition it's definitely scholarship

it's not an easy read it took me a while to get through it but Thomas Alexander wrote the book and he talks about how do we go from the church of the 1870s, 1880s kind of these polygamists out in Utah to the 1920s, 1930s, where, you know, we have Latter-day Saints throughout the country, and they're serving in the Senate. And how do we, he says, that 50 years right there,

Mormonism in transition. And he talks about the gift of tongues becoming a fast and testimony meeting. He said that was a transition where they stopped speaking in tongues and started this tradition of coming up to the pulpit and bearing your testimony. And so, yeah, it was just, it was a fascinating thing that he talked about that they said, okay, we're kind of, and no, there was never an official like, hey, we're not speaking in tongues anymore. It just kind of made this gradual transition from come up and offer us your testimony, uh, versus this idea of speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues.

Cause you know, people might wonder where did that go? What happened there? And that's, that's that, that it was a really a fascinating, a fascinating book. If you both want to read it, it will take you, it's a slog to get through. It really is. It is so well-researched. He basically takes those 50 years and he says, here's what's happened to young men. Here's what happened to young women. Here's what happened to primary. Here's what happened to Sunday school. Here's what happened to correlation. He just goes through the entire church over that 50-year period and how it transitioned from what it was

to kind of what we have today. Anyway, fascinating read. It's called Mormonism in Transition. The only reason I read it is because Alex Baugh told me it was in his top five books he'd ever read on the history of the church. And so I said, well, I'll pick it up. And it is, I mean, it is definitely not, especially that it was a hundred pages on primary. I mean, I was like, wow, you really did your research here. It's fascinating. And I do remember him saying, where did the gift of tongues go? It really turned into fast and testimony meeting. Let's keep going. Let's keep going. Brother Corbett, you lead us out and take us through 8 through the rest here. 8 says, we believe the Bible to be the Word of God as far as it's translated correctly.

We also believe the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God. I love these two basic pillars of our canon, which, of course, the Lord in his wisdom added to. And I think that was important to take a stand on the Bible, that we love the Bible. We want to make sure it's translated correctly, interpreted correctly, so forth. Two basic pillars of our canon. Yeah, don't you think so? Yeah. Of course, he added to them, obviously, in his wisdom, and we are enriched for it. And he also guided Joseph Smith to conduct the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible.

And I consider how much scripture we have as a result of that exercise alone. Think of section 76 as he's translating john 5 and other scripture yeah that's interesting so yeah we've got the church now and we have the bible joseph smith makes it it's almost as if i don't know john what did you say this is kind of how the gospel came about we've got the first vision that's unfolding it's yeah and then we get to the bible oh and the joseph smith translation and the book of mormon that was as we've talked this year those were his two big what did you call it john you called it gospel 101 translating the book of mormon and then right and the graduate school that was joseph fielding mcconkie was the jst

was because the the book of mormon we've said, is a very much faith, repentance, faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, gift to the Holy Ghost, endure to the end. And boy, but then the JST, wow. And all the things that came from that and the doctrine of covenants. And that leads us right into, boy, number nine, doesn't it? It does. What do you say about that, brother? The canon is not closed john read nine for us this is an important article of faith that is yet to be fulfilled right when people tell me oh what about this what about this what about this i say as far as i know article faith of nine is still in effect there's still many great and important things that are going to be revealed. We have a

continuous restoration. We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God. So there's a past, present, future there. And I think that maybe in contrast to the idea of God has spoken, we have his word, now we just govern our life according to this, but it's a God who is continuing to speak. And I think I shared before that experience that our friend, Dr. Robert Millett had as a biblical studies student at Florida State. Have I told you that? He said that he was the only member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the class, and the professor knew it, and he kept saying, the canon of Scripture is closed, set, fixed,

and established. And he wrote that on the board, and then he'd talk about it some more and walk around the room and come back. The canon is closed, set, fixed, established and then he'd talk about it some more and walk around the room and come back the canon is closed set fixed established and walk around the room some more getting more animated the canon is closed set fixed and established and finally turned and said mr millet will you please tell us the latter-day saint view of the canon and he's totally on the spot and he stood up and said well i guess we'd say the canon is open flexible and expanding wow he said and then we had a really interesting discussion you know and that's that's number nine where does it say hank that man could put forth his puny arm and stop the missouri in its course than to stop the lord from pouring out 121 yeah yeah and no the canons that they we love what we have but the lord can keep talking as long

as he wants to and as i recall as well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the missouri river or to turn it up in its decreed course or to turn it upstream as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge out of heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints. Yeah, you nailed it. And that's like number nine. It's continuous. That's it.

That's it. And it's alive. To me, this harkens back to section one, the only true and living church upon the face of the earth. This thing's alive. It's moving. It's growing. It's adapting. It's evolving.

It's going to continue to grow. Not that other churches aren't true. They teach the Bible. They teach Jesus. I mean, these are true principles. True and living church upon the face of the whole earth. This is alive and it's growing, which is going to lead later on to our discussion in the official declarations.

I was just going to say, official declarations one and two are two of the many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God that were revealed. Relates right to nine. Yeah, that is a really good tie-in there. Right to nine. And it also speaks to the importance of following the current prophets and apostles. Not that we, of course, we recite and research and follow and esteem and revere things said by all of the past prophets and apostles and other church leaders. And yet the living prophet and the living first presidency and quorum of the 12 are where we should focus our attention most as we navigate the issues of these latter days. And I've always told my students, if you could talk to any of these former prophets, any of them in the past who have passed away, they would all tell you the same thing. Listen to the current prophet. I don't care if it's Isaiah or Noah or President Kimball or Gordon B. Hinckley. They'd say, that's your prophet. President Nelson is your prophet. You listen to him. You can hear them all saying that same thing, right? They would tell us, listen to President Nelson. So sometimes we say, oh, I really liked President Hinckley, or I really liked President McKay, my mom used to say, right? Even when she'd bear her testimony,

she'd say, I know President McKay is a true prophet, even though it was two or three presidents of the church ago, she'd still talk about President McKay. But I think President McKay would say, Cindy, you listen to your current prophet. Hank, I just quickly remember President Benson saying that the living prophet has TNT. Do you remember that? And TNT is-

BYU, right? Yeah, Today's News Today. And that was the point. What is he saying today? Find the one who's speaking today. And that was the point. What is he saying today? Find the one who's speaking today. And exactly right. And what a blessing. I mean, yesterday I was teaching and we were looking at something President Hinckley had said, and I just thought, wow, I wonder if President Hinckley can see what's going on now with the pandemic. And when I got my mission call, this will date me,

it was over the signature of President Spencer W. Kimball. The church had about 3 million members. It's an entirely different church. You know? What are we, 16, 17 million? After John came back, there were 6 million. He was so successful. He single-handedly doubled the size of the church no things really picked up after i left it after yeah there's no in the philippines there were four missions when i was there

now there's like 22 as soon as i left things really got a lot better so yeah oh i was going to say joseph sm taught, this is the basis of the kingdom of heaven. Revelation adapted to circumstance, right? Not revelation from the past, which is always beneficial to read and to study and to learn these doctrines that have been set. I mean, if they've already been set, we don't need to restate them. But revelation adapted to circumstance. There is no, in my mind, there is no coincidence that a global pandemic hits and the president

of the church is a doctor, right? In my mind, it was a revelation adapted to circumstance. The Lord saw this coming long ago and lined those two up. We are in very safe and capable hands. I think we might need to point out, I think that people of all faiths can be inspired. We are talking about a leader of the entire church having continuous revelation and being ordained. How would you say it? It's going back to number five. There's a person on earth called to be the president of the church.

Yes. Yeah, an oracle, a mouthpiece, a spokesperson. And it says all that he does now reveal, we tend to think sort of institutionally through the prophets. But that, of course, includes what he reveals to all of us. President Nelson himself said, he said, You remember that in coming days it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost. And pled for all of us to do whatever we can, do the work necessary to increase the revelation in our lives. So I think that fits right into 9 as well. Isn't that true? And I feel like he says it with such love

in his eyes and in his countenance, but some of the things he says are like, whoa, write that down. Will not be possible to survive spiritually unless you've got the guidance of the Holy Ghost. I mean, those are, whoa, type state. Right. John, I liked what you said about others receiving revelation as well, that this isn't just about one person. This is a February 15th, 1978 first presidency statement. It is, we don't have to read the entire thing, but this, it says, quote, the great religious leaders of the world, such as Muhammad, Confucius, and the reformers, as well as philosophers, including Socrates and Plato's and others received God's light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals.

And listen to this. It reads almost like an article of faith. we believe that God has given and will give to all people sufficient knowledge to help them on their way to eternal salvation, all people. Um, and then I wanted to read one more for you and it comes from Hubie Brown, who is, uh, is just a, just an incredible mind in the history of the church. He says, quote, revelation may come in the laboratory, out of the test tube, out of the thinking mind and the inquiring soul, out of search and research and prayer and inspiration. We must be unafraid to contend for what we are thinking and to combat error with truth in this divided imperiled world. And we must do it with the unfaltering faith that God is still in his heaven,

even though all is not well in the world. He calls it a dauntless pursuit of truth. Have to share a story with you guys. Oh, those are great quotes. And they set up this story really well, and we didn't even know that we were going to go down this road um so there i was about 10 or 11 uh we were our family was practicing in the nation of islam we were living in north philly in a in a you know deeply inner city community my older brother who was 17 or 18 at

the time wanted to go to a house party down the street with his friend across the street named Eric. And mom said, no, I don't. I feel I have a bad feeling about it. Not members of the church. Mom said, I have a bad feeling about it. Mom, mom, come on. It's just right down the street. You know, it's what can happen. I have a bad feeling about it. Mom, mom, come on. It's just right down the street.

You know, it's what can happen. It's just, and he really, really, you know, he got upset. Mom said no. And she said, and I quote, the Holy Ghost told me you should not go to that meeting. You should not go to that party. And he was upset and just, you know, storming around and tantrums and so on but she would not let him go and and he knew well enough not to go the next morning we get the news that eric had been shot and paralyzed they would have gone together they would have come back together, probably something would have happened to Tony, my older brother. This was the same mom who seven, six or seven years later would feel the rightness and goodness of the missionaries and what they were sharing with our family when we all moved to New Jersey. I have an absolute testimony that the Lord reveals

light and truth and knowledge to all of his children everywhere to give them sufficient, as you just said, Hank, to give them sufficient knowledge to carry on. Yeah, so I like that because I think what we're seeing here, we're talking about, as you put it, Brother Corbett, God has a prophet, an oracle, right? And this church wasn't just another take on the Bible, but it was restored by God. So we're talking about, in Article of Faith 5, a a man called by prophecy called of God but this continuous revelation that there could be more revelation come that is as canonized am I saying this right but individuals of all faiths I think God loves his children and he helps them and blesses them and and your mom for your

family isn't that a beautiful story? Yeah. Well, we're up to Article 10, one of my favorites, the gathering of Israel. Can we come back to this one? Absolutely. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience and allow all men the same privilege. Let them worship how, where, or what they may. For many years, I was part of a team that represented the church to the

United Nations and the international community generally in New York. Think of it as an international platform for organizations to become better known globally. So it was perfect for us to expose to the gospel of Jesus Christ in the restored church. And this was one of our key messages, that God wants all people to have the right of religious freedom, essentially. So important. I think this is a unique article of faith in that it starts, we claim instead of we believe. I don't know if that's important, but I just think it's interesting that it was kind of maybe growing out of early persecutions. We're not trying to force our beliefs. We're not trying to take over the country.

We claim the privilege of worshiping. We want all others to have the same privilege. Yeah, and it does insert a little bit of more of a force there, doesn't it, John? We believe, we believe, we believe. We claim this right because it's ours. This is a constitutional right. Yeah, I can claim something because it's mine.

And that goes to the next one, too, because 12, we're subject to laws and to governments. We're not a threat. The Nauvoo Charter is not a threat to them. We're not above the law, but the law says we can claim our right. And that was another key message to other nations and leaders of other nations, that members of the church in your nation will be subject to their leaders. Kings, presidents, rulers, magistrates in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. So key to help these ambassadors from all over the world, heads of state and so on that we interacted with, understand that this is not just a belief or a tenet that we have, but one of our articles of faith. Yes. oh no, this is, I had never thought of how important that statement could become when the church starts to go so international. Yeah.

To tell leaders of other nations, members of our church, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in your country, you can expect to be among your best citizens. This is part of what we teach them. Yeah. I can see this in Joseph Smith's mind, all the lies that had been spread that he's above the law. He doesn't, he wants to take over America.

He, you know, he, all these things that people are saying about him and he's clearing it up exactly in just one sentence. We obey the law. We are subject to the law and we obey it. You know, and in section 58, the Lord said, let no man break the laws of the land. Do you remember that comment? For he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land, right? Wherefore be subject to the powers that be until he reigns whose right it is to reign. And just another statement embedded in Scripture directly from the Lord,

apart from this article of faith that supports the article of faith. They mutually support each other. That had some prophetic vision to it, didn't it? Both of those, yeah. And this also reminds me of President Oaks' talk on the Constitution, that sort of landmark talk where he calls on all of us to defend the Constitution. And of course, the Lord says that in Section 98 that he justifies us in befriending the Constitution, that law which is the constitutional law of the land here in the u.s and so that's uh another another highlight of this same principle that it's important in his mind i remember just the name of the talk was a talk uh defend our divinely

inspired constitution right Right there. Just the name of the talk is a message. To defend our divinely inspired constitution. And there's another instance, Hank, where here's somebody who's in the highest councils of the church whose background is in what? Right. A former Utah State Supreme Court judge. It's almost as if God saw this coming. Yeah.

I mean, the talk he gave called Judge Not and Judging, I referred it to my students just yesterday. The Law and Love, he has given some wonderful, insightful talks about things that he knows about. He's in there, right man at the right time. And having clerked for the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court once upon a time, you can just see and feel how the Lord's hand has been upon him, preparing him for what he's now doing. Let's move to 13. John, did you have a song you wanted to sing about this one?

I swear you had a song about 13 for a while, didn't you? In spite of popular demand, I'd like to for having us here in a state conference or whatever. And this is Hermana Corbett. She's my Article of Faith 13 wife. She's lovely. She's virtuous. She is, yep, virtuous and lovely and of good report and praiseworthy, honest, chaste, benevolent, et cetera.

I like that a lot. I've always thought section 13 could guide me in my media choices, right? If I'm picking up a show on Netflix or if I'm picking a show on Amazon or something with me and the family, is it good, right? Is it virtuous, lovely, good report, praiseworthy? There's so much good media out there that fits this category that you don't really need to go into the other categories. You wouldn't have enough time. There's so much good media.

So I just feel like it's a good test of our media. And along with section 50, that which doth not edify is not of God and is darkness. Whoa. But what I love about 13 is it could have said, we believe in honesty, truth, chastity, benevolence, but it says we believe in being honest, true. It's a becoming thing to quote President Oaks again. We don't just believe in the idea. Well, of course I believe in being honest, true. It's a becoming thing to quote President Oaks again. We don't just believe in the idea. Well, of course I believe in the idea, but do I have to do it? We believe in becoming that. And I love how the Stripling Warriors, it doesn't say they were men who knew the truth. It says they were men who were true. Our aspiration is to become what we believe. We believe in being honest, true, and chaste, and benevolent, and virtuous.

Not just in saying, yeah, that's a great principle. I kind of like it from a distance. It's something that other people should do. I really feel strongly about that. Did you all hear what I just said? Everybody do this. Yeah, but that idea of becoming is, I think, in there. Not the sum total of our acts, but what we've become.

I had to put those together, John. Thank you. And it really is the gospel creates something, right? All of this that we've talked about this far creates this kind of being in 13. This is what we're after. And I think that if you started with 13, it just sounds like basic ethics. So you don't start with 13.

You start with number one, with God the Father, with his son, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Ghost. And with number three, with the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved. And so what is a Christ-like life like? Well, it's like 13. But we don't start with 13. We start with God, with the Savior, with the atonement.

What's that statement from President Packer, John? True doctrine understood. Yeah, changes attitudes and behavior, and a study of the doctrines of the gospel will change behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. Doesn't that kind of feel like the articles of faith there? Here's our doctrines which lead to this behavior. You've all heard the unofficial 14th article of faith, right? We believe in meetings. We hope for meetings. We have endured many meetings. We hope to be able to endure more meetings.

If there's any justification for holding a meeting, we seek after these things. You probably get that one. Yeah. We believe in having meetings about meetings. And if you're offended, we'll call a meeting and talk about that. Yeah. It's not original with me. It's somebody else. they'll probably want to call me and have a meeting please join us for part two of this podcast