Lowell Bennion

The moral component of each religion is its image of what it means to be a good man or a good woman — what behavior is pleasing to God and how people should treat each other. These moral aspects, although they have continuity over time, still vary widely from faith to faith and even from person to person within the same faith.

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 2

Because men hold the priesthood, primary Church authority and all major leadership positions also lie within their hands. Women serve significantly as teachers and leaders in the auxiliary organizations, but they function under the ultimate authority of men on both the local and general levels. It is patronizing to assure women that they are “just as important as men” when by any measure of power, status, responsibility, and authority, they are not. They are certainly just as necessary as men and, within areas where they are granted autonomy, absolutely irreplaceable; but the hierarchical structure of the Church means that those areas of crucial work and autonomous activities always take place under the ultimate control and direction of men.

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 37

I have long felt that the limited autonomy that women receive by presiding over their own auxiliaries serves to protect them from the “interference’” of men but also serves to isolate men and women from each other instead of encouraging cooperation. The Primary is an organization that includes boys and girls, but so is the Sunday School. Why should women not be members of the presidency of the Sunday School, and why should men not be members of the Primary presidency?

One Man’s Search, p. 39

I have also long thought that there is great injustice in excluding mothers from the circles in which babies are blessed and children are confirmed members of the Church but in allowing non-priesthood-holding male relatives to participate who cannot possibly have the same kind of spiritual ties to the child or investment in that child’s spiritual progress. Why then should women be excluded from giving mothers’ blessings? Why should not couples give parents’ blessings to their children, and why should not a husband seek blessings of comfort and guidance from the person who knows and loves him best — his wife? A woman without the priesthood could invite the Lord’s blessing by her faith.

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 39

Whatever goods or money we acquire cannot fail to erode our righteousness if we do not obtain them honestly—without lying, stealing, cheating, or otherwise deceiving one’s neighbors, associates, contacts, or customers.

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 42

Latter-day Saints believe that the ethical teachings of the gospel are not arbitrary inventions of God, but rather basic laws of human nature and relations, made known through experience and divine revelation.

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 53

[Religious] liberals think—and enjoy thinking —as a pleasurable, profitable, and stimulating activity for its own sake. This means that they do their own thinking. In fact, all who think must think their own thoughts. A parrot is not a thinker but a mimicker.

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 97

[P]eople who think often and think well are the most appreciative of the thoughts of others and among the most appreciative of the thoughts of others and among the most eager to think about God. Liberal minds are simply open minds, responsive to learning from any source. Such an attitude is an advantage, not a hindrance, in seeking a devout relationship with God.

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 87

David O. McKay, Hugh B. Brown, Guy C. Wilson, and my father, Milton Bennion, were all liberal spirits. They refused to sacrifice their thinking on the alter of religion. On the contrary, the strength and beauty of their faith was enhanced by the fine quality of their thinking.

In recent years, intellectuals have been discredited by some defenders of the faith as liberals were in earlier decades. In my judgment, one cannot be too intellectual, too thoughtful, too eager to think in matters religious. Only when an intellectual is arrogant, lacking in humility, disrespectful of faith, or intolerant of other approaches then the rational i she or she to be criticized or pitied. Religion deserves our best thinking. We are to love the Lord our God with all our minds as well as with all our hearts.

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 90

Listen to others, read widely, and heed counsel; but do your own thinking, draw your own conclusions, speak your own conclusions, speak your own words, determine your own actions. yes, i n the process you will reveal your ignorance and make mistakes, but you will also grow, learn, and increase in integrity and self-worth. Accept full responsibility for what you fell, think, and do.

How Can I Help?, p. 106

To read and meditate privately is essential but not enough. We should become eagerly engaged in discussions with friends and teachers through the medium of ideas. Taking full advantage of opportunities to speak and write about our ideas will help us cultivate the mind.

How Can I Help?, p. 113

Creativeness lies within the creator, not in the creation, which is only the witness and memory of creativeness.

How Can I Help?, p. 123

Some aspects of life are realized only by individual effort, and other elements come to us as pure gifts from the Creator and fellow beings. It is essential that we know which is which.

How Can I Help?, p. 26

Marriage is a partnership. That means that both man and woman must contribute equally, though perhaps in different ways, and benefit equally. All to often, a patriarchial orientation means the woman is contributing and the man is benefiting.

How Can I Help?, p. 57

Living such gospel principles as integrity, love, faith, and humility will spare us much mental and spiritual anguish and the torments of feeling that life is meaningless; but it will not guarantee us freedom from natural disasters and afflictions.

How Can I Help?, p. 82

Sometimes the hardest experiences of life become our best teachers and the molders of our finest spiritual qualities. They do not leave us unaffected. Suffering either hardens us, leading to cynicism, or refines us, making us more patient. More important than what happens to us is our response to it.

How Can I Help?, p. 83

Striving for perfection puts us on the horns of a dilemma. If we think we are succeeding, we run the risk of losing humility; if we know we are failing, we become discouraged.

How Can I Help?, p. 95

The Church is not an end in itself, but a means of making gospel principles like faith and humility functional in the lives of people. Yes, even gospel principles are not the things of ultimate worth. Their value lies in how they bless human lives.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 16

Jesus’ teachings and way of life are a pathway to finding satisfaction in living.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 19

The abundant life is the fulfilled life, one that is fully engaged with mind and heart, reaching out to the world around us and to the people in it, and living by faith in its divine origin and purpose.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 22

I do not insist on innovation and novelty to make his teachings profound and powerful for me, for what is unique about Jesus’ teaching is his emphasis and his wonderful art.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 24

I marvel at his ability to deal so profoundly with underlying principles, applying them accurately to a wide range of diverse circumstances. Surely this is wisdom!

Legacies of Jesus, p. 25

The finest contribution Jesus made to the concept of integrity was the quality of his own life.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 37

Many people are disturbed when they find doubts intruding into their faith, particularly young people who, as a natural stage in their maturation, are questioning the simple faith of their childhood. I try to point out to them two facts: Jesus did not rebuke the father [see Mark 9:23-27] of his unbelief, and the father confessed his unbelief to the Savior in the context of asking for help. I believe that our Heavenly Father is pleased with such confessions. What could make for healthier growth than expressing doubts in a context of faith? Indifference, it seems to me, is far deadlier to faith than doubt.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 45

Rules become outmoded; principles do not.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 50

Negative admonitions have their place, but positive statements win readier responses for beings whose free agency is the most fundamental fact of their nature.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 52

As a teacher, I truly enjoy the process of helping people become their own teachers, rather than passively receiving instructions. Jesus’ use of judicious questions is an effective way of accomplishing this end.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 53

What else is teaching besides the shared search for greater truth and understanding through the characteristics, through discourse, through sympathy, and through making connections so that our vision expands and we see relationships that we had not hitherto guessed? In fact, that’s not a bad definition of heaven, too, as far as I’m concerned.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 56

I believe we must overcome three things to be at one with God: mortality, ignorance, and sin.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 58

I have always appreciated Socrates’ curiosity and his calmness; and even if there were no immortality, this life would still be of great value while it lasted.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 60

Ignorance is not a sin unless we willfully refuse to learn, but it is a limitation almost as serious as sin.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 61

As human beings, we have rational and insatiable minds. We are eternal intelligences, and the acquisition of truth is a desire that is built into our nature.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 61

We do not learn about these divine attributes by mere reason or by reading the scriptures. We must learn them experientially, by living them.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 61

Knowing the truth is a great step toward freedom from sin, followed by applying our agency to make correct choices. But even our best efforts will fall short of achieving such freedom without the aid of Christ.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 62

It has been my experience from time to time to meet individuals who are preoccupied with rules. They learn new rules eagerly and strive to keep every rule they know. I grieve for them. Despite their sincerity and earnest desires for righteousness (for which they will justly and meritoriously be rewarded), they have no concept of the creative, adventurous experience that living by principle can be. Such rigidity cannot endure long against the shocks of daily living, and sometimes the rule-bound individual breaks instead of learning flexibility. Surely that is not the direction of life toward which Jesus calls us.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 25-6

Integrity is an overarching personal virtue. It includes sincerity, honesty, truthfulness, moral courage, humility, meekness, and repentance. It provides a sense of identity that rises above the trivialities of daily life and gives peace and serenity even during life’s vicissitudes.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 37-8

Rather than feeling obliged to share all of our wisdom, we could follow the model of Jesus, who frequently answered a question by asking another question.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 52-3

You and I were not only created in the physical image of our Father in heaven; we were also created in his spiritual image. And if the glory of God is intelligence, then the glory of man is also intelligence. If God is Creator, man must be creative to satisfy his soul. If God is love, man must be loving. If God is a person of integrity, then we must also be honest, to be true to our own nature, which we have inherited in part from him.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 195

[T]he gospel is to be understood, as well as believed.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 196

In the life of every Latter-day Saint, faith and morality, born of religion, should be wedded to all the knowledge and learning we can get from every source. It is not an easy marriage-faith and reason-and one will have to treat the other partner with great respect. Like marriages between men and women, there will be ongoing adjustments; mistakes will be made; forgiveness will be required; and some divorces will occur. But much of the conflict between faith and reason lies in the person, just as failures in marriage are usually due to limitations in husband or wife, or both, and not in the institution of marriage.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 197

Men do violence to scripture if they ascribe every word of it to God.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 200

When we find our values in life, things that are most worthwhile, things of greatest worth to us, then we begin to feel our individuality, our creativity, our freedom our strength. We begin to get possession of life when we concentrate not on the whole of reality in which we feel insignificant, but when we select certain things we are determined to live for?.I have here a sentence from Plato that says the same thing: “The free individual is one who can direct his energies and labor to purposes of his own choosing.” I believe that.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 30

Get something intellectual in your life. Get excited about some intellectual dimension of life. Read, read, read, and think, think, think and be creative in that role.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 35

We shouldn’t live the ethical life in order to get a reward. We ought to live the ethical life because we believe it is the right way to live. Rewards will follow.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 36

I feel that many of us are too complacent. Because of the remarkable events and teachings associated with the Restoration, we assume to know all about God and his ways. When we act on that assumption, we reduce him to our image, and we lose our hunger and thirst for his truth and his righteousness.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 72

Thinking means questioning, even doubting, and trusting that the gospel can stand the test of thought. Thinking means carrying one’s own lantern, living one’s own testimony God himself does not seem to object to our questioning even him and his ways.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 76

We are not here to serve the Church but rather to serve people through the Church. men and women are not made for the Church, but the Church, like the Sabbath, is made for them.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 86

Institutional goals sometimes do violence to religious and ethical principles.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 89

Change is the stuff of life. Attempting to make rules or philosophical systems that will prevent change from occurring—insisting either internally or aloud that something must always be the same—is a futile endeavor, one that denies the “season” of each life stage.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 100

Furthermore, the desire for a blessing may not be the highest motive for obeying a law. A quid pro quo exchange of obedience for blessings is hardly the finest expression of religion. Self-concern will detract from the quality of our service for God and taint the purity of our worship. I do not think that God can be pleased with a believer who “keeps score” on his or her own righteousness.

The Unknown Testament, p. 116

The finest experiences of life are those which have great meaning and value in and of themselves, irrespective of external values like what future good it could bring or what others may think of us. I am thinking of such thins as friendship, the moments of looking deep into the eyes of a beloved companion and realizing the blessings of a good marriage, enjoying a walk through a spring garden, listening to the thunder and passion of Beethoven, or drinking a glass of fresh orange juice or a hot day. The more that life can be lived for its own sake, the richer life is and the greater our own integrity. Our relationship to our Father in heaven and to Jesus belongs in this category. They merit our whole-souled devotion.

The Unknown Testament, p. 119

If we are in the image of our Creator, we too must be creative to fulfill our natures.

The Unknown Testament, p. 42

Wisdom, knowledge, understanding. For me, these qualities are inseparable from the power of God and his loving will to use that power on our behalf.

The Unknown Testament, p. 61

Why be defeated twice—once by circumstances and again by our attitude toward the event?

The Unknown Testament, p. 95

One of the powerful messages of [Matthew 23:37] is that we are to love God with our minds as well as our hearts, and that he is pleased with the respect accorded hmi by rational beings.

The Unknown Testament, p. 63-4

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 2

Because men hold the priesthood, primary Church authority and all major leadership positions also lie within their hands. Women serve significantly as teachers and leaders in the auxiliary organizations, but they function under the ultimate authority of men on both the local and general levels. It is patronizing to assure women that they are ‘just as important as men’ when by any measure of power, status, responsibility, and authority, they are not. They are certainly just as necessary as men and, within areas where they are granted autonomy, absolutely irreplaceable; but the hierarchical structure of the Church means that those areas of crucial work and autonomous activities always take place under the ultimate control and direction of men.

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 37

I have long felt that the limited autonomy that women receive by presiding over their own auxiliaries serves to protect them from the ‘interference’ of men but also serves to isolate men and women from each other instead of encouraging cooperation. The Primary is an organization that includes boys and girls, but so is the Sunday School. Why should women not be members of the presidency of the Sunday School, and why should men not be members of the Primary presidency?

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 39

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 39

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 42

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 53

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 87

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 87

Do Justly and Love Mercy, p. 90

Our goals for financial well-being must be pursued in a context that involves our fellow human beings. Making money and increasing our assets in ways that deprive them of money or decrease their own resources is counter to gospel ideals. We may not use other people simply as a means to our own selfish ends. A good business transaction should benefit both parties to an agreement— the buyer and seller, the builder and homeowner, doctor and patient, teacher and student.

Do Justly and Love Mercy

Listen to others, read widely, and heed counsel; but do your own thinking, draw your own conclusions, speak your own conclusions, speak your own words, determine your own actions. Yes, in the process you will reveal your ignorance and make mistakes, but you will also grow, learn, and increase in integrity and self-worth. Accept full responsibility for what you fell, think, and do.

How Can I Help?, p. 106

How Can I Help?, p. 113

Creativeness lies within the creator, not in the creation, which is only the witness and memory of creativeness.

How Can I Help?, p. 123

If I act out of the conviction that what I am doing is right and worthwhile, no one can rob me of the satisfaction of living.

How Can I Help?, p. 22

Some aspects of life are realized only by individual effort, and other elements come to us as pure gifts from the Creator and fellow beings. It is essential that we know which is which.

How Can I Help?, p. 26

How Can I Help?, p. 57

How Can I Help?, p. 82

How Can I Help?, p. 83

Striving for perfection puts us on the horns of a dilemma. If we think we are succeeding, we run the risk of losing humility; if we know we are failing, we become discouraged.

How Can I Help?, p. 95

Legacies of Jesus, p. 16

Jesus’ teachings and way of life are a pathway to finding satisfaction in living.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 19

Legacies of Jesus, p. 22

I do not insist on innovation and novelty to make his teachings profound and powerful for me, for what is unique about Jesus’ teaching is his emphasis and his wonderful art.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 24

I marvel at his ability to deal so profoundly with underlying principles, applying them accurately to a wide range of diverse circumstances. Surely this is wisdom!

Legacies of Jesus, p. 25

The finest contribution Jesus made to the concept of integrity was the quality of his own life.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 37

Legacies of Jesus, p. 45

Rules become outmoded; principles do not.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 50

Negative admonitions have their place, but positive statements win readier responses for beings whose free agency is the most fundamental fact of their nature.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 52

Legacies of Jesus, p. 53

Legacies of Jesus, p. 56

I believe we must overcome three things to be at one with God: mortality, ignorance, and sin.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 58

I have always appreciated Socrates’ curiosity and his calmness; and even if there were no immortality, this life would still be of great value while it lasted.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 60

Ignorance is not a sin unless we willfully refuse to learn, but it is a limitation almost as serious as sin.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 61

As human beings, we have rational and insatiable minds. We are eternal intelligences, and the acquisition of truth is a desire that is built into our nature.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 61

We do not learn about these divine attributes by mere reason or by reading the scriptures. We must learn them experientially, by living them.

Legacies of Jesus, p. 61

Legacies of Jesus, p. 62

Legacies of Jesus

Legacies of Jesus

Rather than feeling obliged to share all of our wisdom, we could follow the model of Jesus, who frequently answered a question by asking another question.

Legacies of Jesus

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 195

[T]he gospel is to be understood, as well as believed.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 196

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 197

Men do violence to scripture if they ascribe every word of it to God.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 200

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 30

Get something intellectual in your life. Get excited about some intellectual dimension of life. Read, read, read, and think, think, think and be creative in that role.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 35

We shouldn’t live the ethical life in order to get a reward. We ought to live the ethical life because we believe it is the right way to live. Rewards will follow.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 36

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 72

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 76

We are not here to serve the Church but rather to serve people through the Church. men and women are not made for the Church, but the Church, like the Sabbath, is made for them.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 86

Institutional goals sometimes do violence to religious and ethical principles.

The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, p. 89

The Unknown Testament, p. 100

Religion is not an escape from the realities of life, but the power to deal with them with faith and equanimity.

The Unknown Testament, p. 105

The Unknown Testament, p. 116

The Unknown Testament, p. 119

If we are in the image of our Creator, we too must be creative to fulfill our natures.

The Unknown Testament, p. 42

Wisdom, knowledge, understanding. For me, these qualities are inseparable from the power of God and his loving will to use that power on our behalf.

The Unknown Testament, p. 61

Why be defeated twice-once by circumstances and again by our attitude toward the event?

The Unknown Testament, p. 95

One of the powerful messages of [Matthew 23:37] is that we are to love God with our minds as well as our hearts, and that he is pleased with the respect accorded hi by rational beings.

The Unknown Testament