Saturday priesthood session: 'You live in a world of great uncertainty'
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Holding up a copy of the "For the Strength of Youth" booklet, Elder Earl C. Tingey of the Presidency of the Seventy said he would address his priesthood-session remarks to four of his grandsons who were in the Conference Center, but he invited others to listen.
"You live in a world of great uncertainty," he observed. "There are many voices. There are many paths. Not all lead to our Heavenly Father. How will you know to whom to listen or where to go?"
Answering that question by citing Jacob 4:13 relative to the Spirit that "speaketh truth," he said, "There are certain truths, certain 'things as they really are' that are enforced by standards — many of which can be measured. . .
"Unfortunately, we are seeing the removal of traditional standards of morality and behavior in today's world. The vernacular of today is 'anything goes.' The world views time-honored standards as old-fashioned or out of date.
"We belong to a church where adhering to standards is expected. Things that have always been wrong in the past are still wrong today. The Church does not modify standards of morality by adapting to changing customs or to the mores of the societies in which we live."
Elder Tingey referred to an analogy President Gordon B. Hinckley has used comparing the North Star, which never changes its position in the night sky, to the values the Church teaches. Elder Tingey contrasted that with a story in which a lost boy, upon being found, said he had followed his father's advice to pick out something in the landscape he could always see. The object he picked out was a rabbit.
"Young men of the Aaronic Priesthood, fix your gaze on the unchanging standards of the gospel, and not on the moving rabbit," Elder Tingey admonished.
He related an incident from some years ago in which he was seeking permission from the government of a country in Africa to establish the Church and bring missionaries into the nation. The official said he did not see any reason to approve the request, since he could not see that the Church offered anything different than what was currently available. Elder Tingey asked for five more minutes, in which he pulled from his wallet a small copy of "For the Strength of Youth." He read some of the standards of the Church. The official was amazed and asked if copies of the booklet could be sent to him for distribution among the youth of his church. Some months later, official recognition for the Church was granted.
