Loyalty

Elder Harold B. Lee

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Excerpt from address to religious educators, 8 July 1966, 7, 9 in Charge to Religious Educators, 3rd edition (1994), 119

As teachers of our youth, you’re not supposed to know anything except Jesus Christ and him crucified. On that subject you’re expected to be an expert. You’re expected to know your subject. You’re expected to have a testimony. And in that you’ll have great strength. If the president of the Church has not declared the position of the Church, then you shouldn’t go shopping for the answer.

Now sometimes we have someone in your position write a number of letters to the General Authorities, and if it happens to be anyone less than the president of the Church, he’ll get just about as many answers as he sends letters. And then he has a Roman holiday. He parades this, “Why here, the General Authorities are split wide open because they don’t agree.” Now all of that can be construed in the communities where you are as the rankest kind of disloyalty to the General Authorities. Remember that. That’s an important matter. …

… So we come to conference after conference not bringing forth new doctrine. Now you as teachers are not being sent out to teach new doctrine. You’re to teach the old doctrines, not so plainly that they can just understand, but you must teach the doctrines of the Church so plainly that no one can misunderstand.