2
Ne 9:28 When they are learned they think they are
wise
Ezra
Taft Benson
“The
two groups who have the greatest difficulty in following the prophet are the
proud who are learned and proud who are rich. The learned may feel the prophet
is only inspired when he agrees with
them otherwise, the prophet is just giving his opinion—speaking as a
man. The rich may feel they have no need to take counsel of a lowly prophet.” (1980
BYU Speeches of the year, p. 29 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on
the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 120)
Ezra
Taft Benson
“Increasingly
the Latter-day Saints must choose between the reasoning of men and the
revelations of God. This is a crucial choice, for we have those within the
Church today who, with their worldly wisdom, are leading some of our members
astray. President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., warned that the ‘ravening wolves
amongst us from our own membership and they, more than any others, are clothed
in sheep’s clothing, because they wear the habiliments of the Priesthood….We
should be careful of them.’” (Conference Report, Oct. 1967, p.34 as
taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K.
Douglas Bassett, p. 121)
Ezra
Taft Benson
“Pride
is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is
right.” (Ensign, Nov. 1993, p.16)
Boyd
K. Packer
“There
is almost a universal tendency for men and women who are specialists in an
academic discipline to judge the Church against the principles of their
profession. There is a great need in my mind for us, as students and as
teachers, to consciously and continually subjugate this tendency and relegate
our professional training to a position secondary to the principles of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. In other words, rather than to judge the Church and its
program against the principles of our profession, we would do well to set the
Church and its accepted program as the rule, then judge our academic training
against this rule.” (BYU Speeches of the year, 1969, p. 6 as taken from Latter-day
Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 119-20)
Theodore
M. Burton
“A
university education, I believe, would be desirable for every intelligent man
and woman….A little learning is a dangerous thing, and too many men and to many
women who have become experts in a tiny field of learning think that because
they are trained in that field of learning, they are experts in all fields of
learning. Many men who are well-trained in one limited field feel that this
equally qualifies them to express learned opinions in the field of faith and
religion…Now, brothers and sisters, in our Church in this day and age, when
education is becoming more and more popular and more and more necessary, there
is grave danger of intellectual apostasy…(2 Ne 9:28-9). What causes
intellectual apostasy?…Principally out of vanity and pride. They want to
impress others with their learning. To put it indelicately, it is the problem
of the swelled head, because that is exactly what the Prophet said” (Conference
Report, Apr. 1961, pp. 128-9 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the
Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 121)