Developing Principles of Truth

I want to share a quote, attributed to George Q. Cannon, that was published in 1869, and is one of the best descriptions of apostasy I know of. It is just as fresh and relevant today as it was 145 years ago. There is much to learn from this quote so I would like to use it to show how to develop principles or statements of truth.

Developing principles is a gospel study skill you can use with any quote or scripture you are currently studying. So, I will interrupt the quote in a few places with some principles gleaned from the quote. If you want, you can try to develop your own principles as you read the quote.

Before we get to the George Q. Cannon quote though, let me share a few quotes that have helped me understand what a principle is and why we need to learn the skill of developing principles.

Elder Richard G. Scott, Ensign, November 1993, p. 86

As you seek spiritual knowledge, search for principles.   Carefully separate them from the detail used to explain them.  Principles are concentrated truth, packaged for application to a wide variety of circumstances.  A true principle makes decisions clear even under the most confusing and compelling circumstances.  It is worth great effort to organize the truth we gather to simple statements of principle.

Elder David A. Bednar, “Teach then to Understand,” Ricks College Campus Education Week Devotional, June 4, 1998

Principles are doctrinally based guidelines for what we ought to do….Brothers and sisters, doctrine answers the why questions of our lives.  Principles provide us with direction about the what and the how.

Boyd K. Packer, “The Word of Wisdom: The Principle and the Promises,” Ensign, May 1996, 17

A principle is an enduring truth, a law, a rule you can adopt to guide you in making decisions. Generally principles are not spelled out in detail. That leaves you free to find your way with an enduring truth, a principle, as your anchor.

What constitutes individual or personal apostasy?

Now that you know what principles are and their importance in our lives, let’s use this skill to learn about apostasy.

  

Here is the quote attributed to George Q. Cannon. The quote itself is in quotation marks and the principles I developed are bolded and italicized.

Deseret News, Wednesday, November 3, 1869, p. 457 (George Q. Cannon was the editor at the time; a portion of the first paragraph was included in the pamphlet the Church put in the March 1980 Ensign regarding the Equal Rights Amendment)

“A friend came to us this morning to question us respecting our views concerning apostasy. He wished to know whether we had said that we considered an honest difference of opinion between a member of the Church and the authorities of the Church was apostasy, as he said, we had been credited with having made a statement to this effect. We replied that we had not stated that an honest difference of opinion between a member of the Church and the authorities constituted apostasy; for we could conceive of a man honestly differing in opinion from the authorities of the Church and yet not be an apostate; but we could not conceive of a man publishing those differences of opinion, and seeking by arguments, sophistry and special pleading to enforce upon the people to produce division and strife, and to place the acts and counsels of the authorities of the Church, if possible, in a wrong light, and not be an apostate, for such conduct was apostasy as we understood the term. We further said that while a man might honestly differ in opinion from the authorities through a want of understanding, he had to be exceedingly careful how he acted in relation to such differences, or the adversary would take advantage of him, and he would soon become imbued with the spirit of apostasy, and be found fighting against God and the authority which He had placed here to govern His Church.”

·      Members can have an honest difference of opinion with the authorities of the Church.

·      We manifest our personal apostasy when we:

o    Publish our differences of opinion

o   Seek to persuade others to believe in our opinion by argument, sophistry, and special pleading

o   Cause divisions and strife within the Church

o   Try to place the opinions of Church authorities in a bad light.

“…There are certain rules with which experience has made the people familiar, that cannot be persistently violated without retrogression and apostasy following. They are as familiar as “household words” to all the members of the Church who have had any experience.

         “Experience has proved that the indulgence in whoredom, adultery and lust is fatal to faith in the Gospel. This practice is so antagonistic to the spirit of the gospel that the two cannot coexist in the same individual.

         “Experience has also proved that opposing or speaking against the priesthood or the authority which God has placed in His Church to govern it, is inevitably followed, sooner or later, by a loss of faith and by complete apostasy.

         “These are two rules, or they may be termed laws, which, during the experience of nearly forty years, have never been known to be violated without apostasy following, unless, indeed, the transgressor of them repented humbly and sincerely and succeeded in obtaining forgiveness.

         “…Out of all who have lost their fellowship and standing in the Church from the beginning until the present, we never knew or heard of one, who lost it when in the full and active discharge of his duty. Many have lost their faith and been expelled from the Church through their indulgence in the spirit of whoredom and lust. Many, also, through following the example of Lucifer, who opposed constituted authority and rebelled against it, and like him have been cut off from the society of the virtuous and the righteous; and many, also, for other sins; but when or where in all the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was one ever excommunicated who was humbly and faithfully discharging his duties as a servant and Saint of God? There never was an instance of the kind.”

·      The three behaviors that most often place us on the road to apostasy are immorality, speaking against Church leaders, and failing to fulfill our duty.

“We know that there scarcely ever was a prominent individual cut off from the Church that did not make the assertion that he was expelled without a cause. Such persons, from the days of the notorious Hurlburt down to the present time, have always been—if there statements were to be believed—exceedingly righteous. They were not wrong; oh, no; it was Joseph, or it was somebody else that had erred and was in the dark and had fallen.”

·      Those who apostatize and are excommunicated insist that they are righteous, that there was no cause to cut them off, and that the leaders of the Church erred, were in the dark, or fallen.

 “Frequently they have continued to assert that they were as strong believers in the doctrines of the Church as they ever were, that they knew them to be true; but the authorities were wrong; the man who had held the keys had transgressed and was in the dark. This was the case with the apostates in Kirtland, who threatened men’s lives when they testified that Joseph was a true prophet and had not fallen; and it was the case from that time to the days of William Law, who Judas-like, while sitting at the Council board, and on terms of intimate friendship with the prophet of God, was secretly plotting with the enemies to destroy him. So strongly did this base man profess to believe in the doctrines of the church that, after declaring Joseph was a fallen prophet, he actually attempted to organize a church, put himself at the head of it as a prophet, chose two other apostates to act with him as counselors, and proceeded to select twelve men to be his apostles! This movement of his and his confreres was the sublimity of impudence and hypocrisy. But [it] is a noticeable fact, that apostates, as a rule, assume to be wonderfully pious. More self-righteous men could not apparently exist, than some of the early apostates when cut off from this church. In fact, while true religion is esteemed, hypocritical pretense to piety is viewed with suspicion by the Latter-day Saints, it being understood to be an evidence of apostasy.”

·      Apostates assert that they are strong believers and pious even while they speak against the authorities of the Church.

·      Apostates claim to be righteous themselves and that the authorities of the Church are wrong about the issue the apostates favor.

“Another evidence is that when men drink into that spirit they immediately become very popular among the wicked. Those who sought the overthrow of the Church and the destruction of Joseph in the neighborhood of Kirtland, Far West and Nauvoo, rejoiced when they heard of men apostatizing and proving false to him. While they were faithful and true the wicked hated them as they did him; but no sooner did they commence to operate against him, than they became the warm friends of this class and were welcomed to their society. This is a result which has never failed in cases of apostasy.”

·      Apostates become popular among the wicked.

·      Apostates who advocate for things against the authorities of the Church or contrary to the doctrine of Jesus Christ provide a climate in which others, who may have been silent or less conspicuous on the matter, can show where they stand on the issue and who they follow.

 Now you know better the doctrine of individual apostasy and how to develop principles of truth. Try this skill with another quote or scripture you are currently studying. 

Go study!