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An Evening with Elder Robert D. Hales

Teaching by Faith

Elder Robert D. Hales

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Address to CES Religious Educators • 1 February 2002 • Bountiful Regional Center

It is a joy to be given the opportunity to address you tonight. A powerful group of CES teachers and administrators is assembled here and at other locations throughout the world. The Lord is pleased with you, for He has entrusted you with the great responsibility of teaching His children the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are doing a marvelous work in helping the youth of the Church strengthen their testimonies as they meet the arduous challenges they must face as they live in the world to fulfill their second estate.

Thank you for your dedication. Thank you for the love you have for your young brothers and sisters. Thank you for letting them know that you care about them and want to help them succeed. Thank you for your faithful service.

This is a humbling experience for me because I know what you face each day. Many years ago my employer moved me and my family to a new state and assigned me to help establish a new division for the company. I had a young family. Much of the responsibility fell upon my wife, as I was literally gone day and night.

As is sometimes the case in our branches, wards, and stakes, the needs were many and there were not enough members to fill all of the positions. Having been a bishop, I knew that the stake president was looking for willing hands when I had my interview with him and he asked me what hours I might be available. Thinking I was being very clever, I responded that I’d be free between 5:00 and 7:00 a.m. About a week later the stake president phoned me back and said, “I have just the job for you!” You can guess the rest. I had a marvelous year teaching the Book of Mormon in early-morning seminary.

We live in a terrible time when Satan “goeth up and down, to and fro in the earth, seeking to destroy the souls of men” (D&C 10:27). Our children are bombarded with messages from the media that immorality, drinking, and drugs are the norm. The message is that “everybody does it,” and if you don’t, something is wrong with you. Even great tools such as the Internet can easily draw a person into gambling or pornography. In fact, enticing messages sometimes unexpectedly pop up on the monitor. “And thus [Satan] . . . leadeth them along until he draggeth their souls down to hell” (D&C 10:26).

Strive for Personal Righteousness

The responsibilities of teachers in seminary and institute of religion are many, but in order to meet these responsibilities, teachers must first strive for personal righteousness. As teachers, we must live the gospel in such a way that we will have the Spirit to ever be with us. If we keep the Spirit within our hearts and live worthily, it will always be with us. We can then teach by the Spirit. When we teach by the Spirit, the youth will be able to feel it and receive the Spirit. Hearts will be touched, and lives will be affected.

You will recall the story related in the book of Mosiah about Abinadi standing bound before the wicked King Noah. Abinadi taught the gospel with the fire of the Spirit. He gave stern and specific warnings as he boldly taught the principle of repentance. Although Abinadi taught by the Spirit, King Noah was not touched. Alma, however, who was in the court and heard the testimony, was converted. We do not know whom we will reach, but I promise you that as you teach and testify by the Spirit you will reach those who are ready to be taught.

Be As a Little Child

A couple of months ago I had an opportunity to go to church in a ward in Palm Springs, California. The Primary president had a dilemma; one of the teachers was not there. As I was leaving the building I saw that there were two classes together without a teacher. I went into Primary to say hello to them. A young lady returned missionary was recruited to teach the class, but I was touched when the children asked me as I was ready to leave: “Aren’t you going to stay? Aren’t you going to teach us?” I saw almost a pleading in their eyes, and I melted.

I felt a little of what the Savior must have felt when parents “brought young children to him, that he should touch them” and pray for them, “and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.

“But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:13–14; see also Matthew 19:13–14).

I said, “Because you have asked me, because you want me, I will stay and be your teacher.” The young teacher was in agreement with the class. They were young eight- to eleven-year-old children, but they asked some remarkably insightful questions. For example, one beautiful little girl asked, “What are you doing to be a good Apostle?” Her question brought tears to my eyes.

I answered: “I am trying to be just like you, a little child. Don’t ever change. I have spent my life striving to be just like Jesus said, to be ‘as a little child.’ ” I taught them from 3 Nephi: “Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin.

“Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God” (3 Nephi 9:21–22; see also 3 Nephi 11:37; D&C 99:3).

Most children are believing, kind, without prejudices or faults; they are pure, sweet, and humble, willing to take direction.

The Spirit was touching their hearts and mine. I said: “As we get older we sometimes forget this sweetness of being a child and believing as you do now. Let’s always remember this time together and what we are experiencing with the Spirit with us. Come back to it, hold on to it, and never lose it.”

The children made laserlike comments and asked intriguing questions. I could see the commitment they were making, especially on the faces of one girl and two boys—their testimony and sincerity were so visible.

I taught them about Jesus’ visit to the Americas. They asked what Jesus was like in the spirit world and what He would be like when He comes again. I read to them:

“And he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

“And when he had done this he wept again;

“And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.

“And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them” (3 Nephi 17:21–24).

The youth in our classes are precious children of our Heavenly Father.

Elder David B. Haight happened to be in Palm Springs at the same time, and he went to the meeting that followed the one I was leaving. As he entered the parking lot, he met a family—parents and a young Primary child. The parents said, “Elder Hales has just taught our son.” Elder Haight said to me, “That boy was aglow.”

When we teach by the Spirit, the open heart receives the Spirit. “For the preacher was not better than the hearer, neither was the teacher any better than the learner; and thus they were all equal” (Alma 1:26).

Both they and I learned by the Spirit. It is no different in our seminary and institute classes.

We cannot forget the importance of faith. Teaching by the Spirit is really an exercise in faith. For every concept that we teach and everything of which we testify we need to rely on the Holy Ghost, that we may touch the hearts of those for whom we have responsibility. We teach by faith; we teach by the Spirit; we boldly declare our testimony.

One of the great concerns we have with our youth is the fact that many attend seminary and institute but do not apply the teachings they receive in their lives—to go to the temple for their endowments and to be sealed when they have the opportunity for a temple marriage.

We need your help to encourage your students to apply gospel principles in their daily lives. As we encourage youth to apply seminary and institute teachings in their daily activities, it will strengthen their testimonies and spiritual development.

Become Part of the Parenting Team

As CES teachers, we cannot isolate ourselves from the practical realities that youth are feeling. We need to become an integral part of the parenting team. One of the best ways to assist parents, priesthood and auxiliary leaders, and teachers is to understand what the youth are trying to achieve in their lives.

If we are to make a difference in the behavior of youth, we must build faith by being one—united in purpose. Our goal needs to be one of cooperation, never competition. We can assist parents, but not replace them, by our examples and testimony of our Savior.

The Church has recently instituted a revised Personal Progress program for young women and a new Duty to God program for young men. Seminary teachers should become familiar with the Young Women Personal Progress value experiences and projects and the Aaronic Priesthood Duty to God achievement and their requirements. For example, we could encourage youth to fulfill Young Men and Young Women requirements by participating in devotional presentations, service projects, scripture memorization, or reading the scriptures.

As of February 1, we can review on the Internet () information regarding the Young Women Personal Progress Achievement and the Aaronic Priesthood Duty to God Award. In addition, the revised For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God pamphlet (36550), which includes President Gordon B. Hinckley’s messages, and a Guidebook for Parents and Leaders of Youth (36415) are excellent materials to help you as a teacher. Examples for applying gospel principles in our lives are combined within these resources. Also, “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” and “The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles” are now included in the youth materials.

The Young Women theme now includes the goal “to strengthen home and family,” while the Aaronic Priesthood Duty to God program encourages them to “obtain as much education as possible” and “give proper respect to women, girls, and children.”

Religious education through our CES programs should be helping the youth and young adults in these same areas. One of the requirements of these new programs is that the youth attend seminary. Wouldn’t it be nice if the young people felt that their seminary teacher was familiar with these wonderful new youth programs? Wouldn’t it be great to be supportive of their efforts to earn the Young Womanhood Recognition or the Duty to God Award? Wouldn’t it be terrific if every seminary and institute teacher were familiar with the new For the Strength of Youth pamphlet? Wouldn’t it be powerful if every CES teacher lived the standards taught in the For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God pamphlet?

Hopefully you as CES faculty will take the time to familiarize yourselves with these youth materials so you can reinforce the teaching of parents, auxiliary, and priesthood leaders and teachers.

Apply Gospel Principles

My concern is that there is a difference between what our youth know about the gospel as opposed to what they do to apply gospel principles in the conduct of their lives.

This is where we as teachers are very important in the lives of our students. In many cases we have to teach our students the best way for them to learn the facts they need to know to advance their learning and gain knowledge.

As teachers, we must require our students to think. I will never forget the lessons I learned from a Sunday School teacher when I was about ten years old. For Christmas we were given a large card that had small, individual booklets inside, each with a story from the Bible—David and Goliath, the Creation, Daniel and the lion’s den. There was a long series of wonderful Bible stories. We read each one at home and came to class prepared to discuss them. I can remember those teaching moments vividly to this day.

After discussing each story, we were asked questions such as “What does that mean to you?” “How does this scripture—or story or principle—relate to your life?” “How can you apply this teaching in your home?” “How do you feel about it?” I found in my own home with my boys that once I asked these questions they began to live and feel what they were being taught.

We were asked to think. We were not learning the stories only. We were discovering how we could apply them in our lives. My teacher was planting the seed of faith and helping it grow within each of us.

We teach the scriptures in story form, and we need to apply them in the lives of these young people where they can be more effective. Our youth have to be able to recall stories and the truths of the gospel principles in their lives when they need them the most.

John Greenleaf Whittier eloquently wrote, “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, / The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’ ” (“Maud Muller,” The Complete Poetical Works of Whittier [1894], 48).

There is nothing more tragic than for a person to look back at what might have been. Nor do we want those we teach to go through life without knowing that they are a child of God, knowing the plan of salvation, and knowing why they are on this earth, who they are, and how to conduct their lives. If they realize this great plan, they can endure all of the tests of life, deflect the fiery darts of the adversary, endure to the end, and gain the final rewards of the plan of happiness.

Teach the importance and power of pondering; provide time in class to ponder, to think and to exchange ideas. Use practical application: “What does that mean to you?” Ponder and pray. Ask students to write the thoughts and impressions given to them and what they are feeling. Faith promoting incidents occur in teaching when students take a role in teaching and testifying to their peers. It is very important to have open discussion about the importance of prayer and scripture study so that the youth can help one another and be supportive.

It is a process. Allow them to emerge in the time they are with you. We need to give them the ability to learn from the mistakes of others, such as an older brother or sister or maybe a friend, and give them examples from the scriptures, so they don’t have to go through each mistake themselves. The scriptures tell all of the things that happen when we are not obedient. Our students don’t have to repeat the mistakes and endure the pain.

Learning for some people comes with more difficulty than for others. This aspect of learning requires teachers who know their students and their learning ability. Great teachers know not only the subject they are teaching but, just as importantly, understand the needs of their students. Great students learn from their teachers, are willing to take correction, and express gratitude for a teacher’s caring counsel. You, as great teachers, teach students who they are and motivate them to fulfill their potential for eternal salvation.

Get to know what is happening in the lives of the students. We have to know of their concerns and what they are facing—why they act the way they do and why they say the things they say.

Recognize when a student is ready to use his or her agency and have the strength to make decisions. Part of the teaching process is to give our students a foreshadowing to help them prepare for the challenges they are going to have to meet in the future.

Wouldn’t we all like to avoid the tests and trials of this mortal probation?

Achilles, one of the great heroes of Greek mythology, was the hero of Homer’s Iliad.

In addition to Homer’s account of Achilles, later authors developed fables or folklore about Achilles and his mother, Thetis.

According to some accounts, Thetis endeavored to make Achilles immortal by dipping him in the River Styx. She succeeded in making Achilles invulnerable, with the exception of his heel by which she held him.

Achilles grew up to be invincible, a warrior of great strength, leading the Greek army against Troy in full armor.

The death of Achilles is mentioned in the Odyssey. He is said by later writers to have been killed by an arrow of Paris directed by Apollo to his only vulnerability—his heel.

Wouldn’t every parent or every CES teacher like to find the secret of protecting their children, making them invulnerable to the fiery darts of the adversary?

Unfortunately, we cannot protect our children from the slings and arrows of mortality. Our challenges, learning experiences, and opposition are meant to strengthen us, not defeat us or destroy us.

Develop Faith to Prepare for Life’s Storms

How important it is during troubled times, when we are tested, that we do not do anything to lose the Holy Ghost’s gentle persuasions, comfort, peace, and direction. This peace will give us assurance to make the correct choices in life in order to weather the storms and bring us closer to God’s ways.

It is our job to help our students prepare to make the weighty decisions so that when challenges come, they will choose wisely. Knowing that they have their agency and that there is “opposition in all things” (see 2 Nephi 2:11), our objective is to help them take upon themselves the “whole armour of God” (Ephesians 6:11, 13; see also D&C 27:15) so that they will be able to withstand the “fiery darts of the adversary” (1 Nephi 15:24; D&C 3:8; see also Ephesians 6:16) with the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17; see also D&C 27:18) and the “shield of faith” (Ephesians 6:16; D&C 27:17) to endure to the end and be worthy to stand and live in the presence of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ for all the eternities.

There are many examples in the scriptures of those who learned these lessons well and listened to the still, small voice of warning. Joseph fled from Potiphar’s wife. The Savior and his family were told to flee. Lehi and his family were also told to flee. Our students must learn that they cannot stay around in an evil situation. Too often I have seen young people think they could stand with one foot in Babylon.

As CES teachers, we want nothing more for our students than for them to succeed. Sometimes we want it so badly we try to will it to happen. We are familiar with the hymn that says:

Know this, that ev’ry soul is free

To choose his life and what he’ll be;

For this eternal truth is giv’n:

That God will force no man to heav’n.

He’ll call, persuade, direct aright,

And bless with wisdom, love, and light,

In nameless ways be good and kind,

But never force the human mind.

(“Know This, That Every Soul Is Free,” Hymns, no. 240.)

We cannot will faith in our children. Faith comes from the inside based upon our desire to receive it and to exercise it in our lives, that through the Spirit we will have abiding faith and show it in our actions.

So often we try to bring someone into the gospel by our desire. That may be very important in the initial phases. But a true teacher, once he has taught the facts and the students gain the knowledge, takes them a step further to gain the spiritual witness and the understanding in their hearts that brings about the action and the doing.

This is what we have to do in measuring each day in the classroom with our questions and discussions. We must be doing our best to measure where each student is on that road to faith.

In many cases a young person will not know where he is on that journey until he has opposition. That is when he will be tested. That is why we were given this marvelous scripture:

“And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith” (Ether 12:6).

The reason we pray, study the scriptures, have good friends, and live the gospel through obedience is so that when, not if, but when the trials come, we are ready.

A rancher interviewed a number of men in the process of trying to find a new ranch foreman. All one man said when asked if he could do the job was, “I can sleep through the storm.” Soon after he was hired, a torrential storm came with gale force winds and pelting rain. The rancher went to the bunkhouse and banged on the door. He couldn’t believe that the new foreman was in there sleeping. He was angry with the foreman and let words fly. The foreman responded, “I told you when you hired me that I could sleep through a storm.”

Upon inspection of the ranch, the rancher found that the animals were all taken care of, tarps covered the equipment and the haystacks, buildings were secure, everything was tied down—everything was taken care of. After riding through the night inspecting the ranch, the ranch owner understood what it meant to be able to say, “I can sleep through the storm.”

As we help our students develop faith, we are preparing them for the storm—the storms of life that will come. We are preparing them to make the right choices, but we are also preparing them to endure to the end.

An insightful poem has been written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox entitled “The Winds of Fate”:

One ship drives east and another drives west

With the selfsame winds that blow.

’Tis the set of the sails

And not the gales

Which tells us the way to go.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,

As we voyage along through life:

’Tis the set of a soul

That decides its goal,

And not the calm or the strife.

(In Masterpieces of Religious Verse, ed. James Dalton Morrison [1948], 314.)

The turbulent storms will come in the lives of our students, just as they have and will continue in ours. To be able to teach our students to weather the storm comes back to the basics we teach: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, prayer, study, pondering, changing our hearts, and repentance.

When the storm comes because of the problems our students put upon themselves because of disobedience, we can teach them and help them to understand that they can be forgiven.

“Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more” (D&C 58:42).

As a teacher or parent, we must measure the deep feelings of testimony that bring an understanding of the heart. You gain this measure of your students by listening to their response to your questions and listening carefully to their queries about the gospel or life’s challenges they are experiencing.

When we teach our children that they must walk the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life, we must understand that a testimony is not genetic. That is, we are not born with a testimony. Likewise, a testimony does not pass automatically from generation to generation without the examples of good teachers instilling a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and of gospel truths. The Spirit will bear that testimony deep within the heart so there is an understanding of the heart. That brings about one who will do what they are taught and what they know.

What does pass through generations is the believing blood of Israel that affords one the opportunity to be taught and believe and eventually to know with a surety of gospel truths.

A testimony is gained by living the laws and ordinances of the gospel. Your challenge as a teacher is to mine the ore and process it in your classroom, refining it in such a way that it will produce pure gold, silver, and precious metals for the protection of your students so they can weld the whole armor of God spoken of in the scriptures.

Elder Heber J. Grant, when he was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, taught: “I have heard people say that their children were born heirs to all the promises of the new and everlasting covenant, and that they would grow up in spite of themselves, with a knowledge of the Gospel. I want to say to you that this is not a true doctrine, and it is in direct opposition to the commandment of our Heavenly Father. We find that it is laid down to the Latter-day Saints, not as an entreaty, but as a law, that they should teach their children:

“ ‘And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her Stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands when eight years old; the sin be upon the heads of the parents;

“ ‘For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her Stakes which are organized;

“ ‘And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands,

“ ‘And they shall also teach their children to pray and to walk uprightly before the Lord.’ [D&C 68:25–28]” (“Duty of Parents to Children” [general conference address, 6 Apr. 1894], in Deseret Weekly, 2 June 1894, 733).

Teachers assist parents in this responsibility. Many young people don’t have parents who can teach them the gospel for a variety of reasons, so many of them rely on you. In those cases the teacher’s role becomes critical, as you may be their main source of example and gospel knowledge.

Youth and young adults need guidance as they study the gospel, live it, and gain a testimony for themselves.

Teach Accountability

Another important concept I want to leave with you is to teach the youth the principle that there is an accounting for our actions—a day of judgment on high.

Over twenty years ago I was a mission president in the England London Mission. Johnny Miller had won the prestigious British Open, one of the major championships of professional golf. The next year Johnny promised to speak to thousands of youth at a youth conference in London after the British Open. He came to England with much fanfare and publicity in local British media. Unfortunately, he missed the cut and did not qualify for the last two rounds of golf in the championship.

There were banner headlines trumpeting his failure to defend his title and his championship. He could have gotten on an airplane and gone home. We would have understood. Good to his word, however, he fulfilled his promise to testify to the youth of Britain.

As he stood at the pulpit ready to speak, I can vividly remember him emotionally gripping the pulpit with white knuckles showing. His voice cracked. Then he said, “I don’t know why you think you can go through life without a scorecard.” His talk will never be forgotten because his testimony was a gospel message of living obediently to the laws, ordinances, and commandments, preparing for an eternal reward based on how we lived here in mortality.

Our CES students need to understand that it is not enough to know, but they must do—and live the gospel principles you are teaching them in order to gain eternal salvation.

Each of you who teach seminary and institute has the desire of the heart to be an angel. This is good, but it is a great temptation to play the part of the Pied Piper and to figure that you’re going to gather them all around you and love them into a testimony; or to feel that if you can become very popular, you can lead and be the role model and make a difference in the lives of your students.

While this is true to a degree, one of the greatest mistakes is when teachers turn the students to themselves rather than to the Lord. As teachers, we must ponder this.

There is nothing more dangerous than when a student turns his or her love and attention to the teacher the same way a convert sometimes does to a missionary rather than to the Lord. And then if the teacher or missionary leaves or conducts his life contrary to the teachings of the gospel, the student is devastated. His testimony falters. His faith is destroyed. The really great teacher is careful to have the students turn themselves to the Lord.

Once we have touched the lives of the youth, we have to turn them to God the Father and His Son, our Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ, through prayer, study, and the application in their lives of the gospel principles.

Gospel knowledge is for the benefit of others as well as ourselves. Doctrine and Covenants 46:8 tells us to “beware lest ye are deceived; . . . seek ye earnestly the best gifts, always remembering for what they are given.” Verse 9: “They are given for the benefit of those who love me and keep all my commandments . . . that all may be benefited that seek or that ask of me.” Verse 11: “All have not every gift given unto them.” Verse 12: “To some is given one, and to some is given another.” The key is “that all may be profited thereby.”

May I repeat for emphasis “that all may be profited thereby.” Verse 26: “And all these gifts come from God, for the benefit of the children of God.” Verse 28: “He that asketh in Spirit shall receive in Spirit.” Verse 29: “In order that every member may be profited thereby.”

We need to teach our youth that with all they are learning in seminary and institute, they are being placed on higher ground to lift others through their faith and testimony. Having an understanding of the heart is more than just saving themselves. Through knowledge, faithfulness, spirituality, and strength, they become the greater servant.

We don’t receive the reward of exaltation alone. We bring along our eternal companions, our families, our extended families, and our friends.

We live in the last dispensation, the dispensation of the fulness of times—the priesthood will never be taken from the earth again as we prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. No man knows when He will come. We are told in the scriptures that Satan will tempt us in the last days before the Savior comes again. For this reason, we must prepare our youth for the fiery darts of the adversary by putting on the whole armor of God with their feet shod with gospel preparation, studying the scriptures, the breast plate of righteousness, living with the sword of the Spirit and helmet of salvation.

Our children need to know that God and Jesus Christ will always love them and answer their prayers. This knowledge will bring them abiding strength.

In Romans 8:35 we read: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Verses 38–39: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

“Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Faith is a gift of God. As we seek for faith, it will be granted unto us. Then we can teach others how to gain faith and have that faith with us always. Faith comes through our obedience to living laws and ordinances. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine” (John 7:17).

May the Lord’s choicest blessings be with you as you teach and testify of this great work to influence the next generation of Saints and parents. May you have the Spirit attend you to discern the spiritual needs of your students as they prepare themselves to live in this world and not be of the world. May you listen to their pleas for guidance and be the role models by the example of conduct in your lives.

I pray for you in your teaching labors to impress upon the youth that they are indeed children of God. May the blessings attend you in your families to love, care, and lead them in righteousness.

We give gratitude for your devoted and dedicated service. For as you live the gospel in your lives and homes, so will you teach by the Spirit of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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