“Keep the Ten Commandments,” Elder Haight Advises Students

Provo, Utah—“It is not the number of cars you own, or the size of your bank account, or the number of cattle you have on the hill, but the eternal values that count.” This was the advice Elder David B. Haight, of the Council of the Twelve, gave students at Brigham Young University’s devotional November 24.

“One of the greatest blessings of our life is to realize what is truly important in our lives, then work toward that end,” he said. Elder Haight noted that the Ten Commandments provide vital guidelines for proper living.

“They are as true and valid and real as the day they were cut into tablets of stone by the finger of God,” he said. “Our living the law of the Ten Commandments is only the beginning, or the foothills, in our climb toward perfection.”

Speaking of the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” Elder Haight told students that although people no longer “bow before giant birds of carved granite or wooden idols with stone eyes,” they often worship other things that compete with God.

“Is there a man or a woman who can honestly say that he has never put his ambitions or his vanity above God? Or worshipped flesh more than God? Or worshipped the blue-white glisten of a fine diamond, or the earthy beat of rock and roll, or even worshipped himself above the worship of God?” he asked. “This can betray us into modern idolatry.”

Elder Haight spoke of another commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”

“When I was a boy I thought that referred only to profanity,” he said. “Far worse than profanity is the use of the name of God for personal worldly gain, for ambition, for intolerance, for selfish power over other men, or as a righteous cloak for unrighteous deeds.

“We take the name of God in vain whenever we misuse the power of God or whenever we say to him, ‘Not thy will, but mine, be done.’”

Pointing to another commandment, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy,” he advised students to organize their time so that most studying can be done during the week, “leaving the Sabbath for worshipful activities.”

Concerning another of the Ten Commandments, Elder Haight said, “The Lord commanded, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery,’ and added in modern revelation, ‘nor do anything like unto it.’”

Elder Haight noted that “each of God’s laws is vital, but particularly today in our somewhat confused society.”

Elder Haight counseled students to “live so you can ask for the personal revelation that you are entitled to.” He noted that “souls are not saved in bundles. They are saved individually.” Then he looked at the audience and asked, “How are things with you personally? How are you doing?”