Neil Andersen | Honesty—The Heart of Spirituality | 2011

Описание: Neil L. Andersen teaches and testifies that honesty is an eternal principle that spurns deception, loves truth, and invites trust.

This speech was given on September 13, 2011.

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© Brigham Young University. All rights reserved.

"I bring you the love and blessing of President Thomas S. Monson and the First Presidency of the Church. President Monson asked me specifically to share his love and greeting with you. Just over an hour ago I left a meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve. They also asked that I extend to you their love and blessing.

I want to mention the great respect and appreciation the leaders of the Church feel for President and Sister Samuelson. President Samuelson was called from a very prominent and financially rewarding medical and healthcare profession to become a General Authority seventeen years ago. The service of this wonderful couple reflects the unselfishness and devotion of disciples of Christ. We love you, President and Sister Samuelson.

BYU is a very special place. The Lord’s influence is upon this school. For a young man or woman desiring a university education, it is an oasis of righteousness. For a young disciple of Christ, BYU offers an extraordinary environment for learning, for meeting others, for making important decisions, and for growing spiritually. BYU’s prophetic direction, its history, its faculty and administration, and its students make it what it is. You help make BYU what it is. We love you for who you are.

BYU holds a special importance for our family. Kathy and I met here, and we both graduated from BYU. Our four children also graduated from BYU, and three of our four met their eternal companions here.

When I fell in love with Kathy, I wondered how an insecure Idaho farm boy could attract a beautiful, intelligent woman from Florida. I then remembered one talent I possessed: I had served my mission in France, and I spoke French. I had been told that young women loved to hear French spoken to them. But, to my dismay, I realized I did not know the French words of romance. I only knew missionary words. I won Kathy’s heart with ma chérie at the front, je t’aime at the end, and the plan of salvation in between.

As a sidenote, let me encourage you young women to have the courage to let an insecure but interesting young man know that you would like to know him better. Take a risk! I remember coming home to my roommates and incredulously saying, “I think she actually likes me. Can you believe it? She likes me!” It does a lot for the initiative of an insecure man.

While attending BYU, I remember hearing frequent references to BYU’s first president, Karl G. Maeser. President Brigham Young instructed Dr. Maeser that he “ought not to teach even the alphabet or the multiplication tables without the Spirit of God.”1 I would like to acknowledge BYU’s most impressive faculty. To attract the intelligence, preparation, and spiritual maturity of those who teach here is a miracle itself. How fortunate we are to have this faculty.

I come to you today under assignment by the First Presidency. I have thought and prayed much about what the Lord would have me say. I hope to elevate your mind and spirit with a principle that, if followed, will enhance your time at Brigham Young University. It is a principle you all believe in, but I promise you that if you will think about it more intently, pray about it more specifically, and embrace it more fully, it will bring an abundance of blessings to you now and throughout your life. My subject is honesty.

Why would I speak to you about honesty? Were we to compare you to others, you would undoubtedly rank very high. However, the standard for honesty is not determined through comparison with others. Ours is a divine standard. I speak to you as fellow disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, committed to His restored gospel and striving to keep His commandments.

God our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, are beings of absolute, perfect, and complete honesty and truth. We are sons and daughters of God. Our destiny is to become like Him. We seek to be perfectly honest and true like our Father and His Son. Honesty describes the character of God, and therefore honesty is at the very heart of our spiritual growth and spiritual gifts.2

Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”3

The Lord asked the brother of Jared, “Believest thou the words which I shall speak?”..."