Let Them Govern Themselves by Boyd K. Packer, March 30, 1990
A miraculous undertaking took place back in the early part of 1990. Most of the membership just thought the brethren were changing the finances of the church, but the spiritually attuned knew it was much more.
Those conference addresses should be remembered by all. They should be on the tips of our lips every week in church, and in all of our discussions, for it was a major "course correction." It was the one time the brethren admitted the church had weakened its members by conditioning them to rely on church headquarters instead of the Lord.
Since that day til now, no one has given an accounting on how the church has done in accomplishing these goals. Hinckley said it was "a major decision I will have seen in my lifetime" yet the leaders and members are oblivious to it. No wonder Utah is known as the "prozac capital of the world."
Please read some of the following excerpts:
Church News, Feb.24, 1990, p. 3
"A clarion call to return to basic 'spiritual roots' and simplify activities was issued Feb. 18 at a fireside explaining the new budget program of the Church."
"President Gordon B. Hinckley called the implementation of the new budget program a 'tremendous act of faith,' initiated by inspiration from the Almighty."
President Monson said "First was the consolidated meeting schedule, that the time of Church members could be conserved and the cost of attending meetings reduced."
"Elder Boyd K. Packer called the new budget program a 'course correction' that will have the effect of returning much of the responsibility for teaching and counseling and activity to the family, where it belongs."
p. 7
President Hinckley: "I remind you that we should recognize that this Church is not a social club. This is the kingdom of God on earth… "
Church News, April 7, 1990, p. 6
Elder Packer: "We must resist," he emphasized, "the temptation to program that vacuum. That space belongs to families. Let them use it as they feel to do, for better or for worse. That is the risk."
"Latter-day Saints will come to depend on the Lord instead of upon the headquarters of the Church."
Ensign, May 1990, p. 89
"We are confident that when you understand the spirit and purpose of the change, most of the detailed questions will be resolved."
"We should not, according to the scriptures, need to be commanded in all things."
"Most of the deciding must be left to you … "
"You will become more dependent upon the Spirit and more in need of personal revelation when the decisions are left to you."
p.90
"Meetings and activities can multiply until they take 'strength unto themselves' at the expense of the gospel - of true worship."
"the spirit of independence, thrift, and self-reliance will be re-enthroned as guiding principles in the homes of Latter-day Saints."
"I could not express to you, my brethren and sisters, the depths of my feeling about what has been announced. It is a course correction; it is an inspired move. It will have influence upon the Church across the world, not just in our generation, but in the generations to come. I have the certain conviction that it is pleasing to him who is our Lord and our Redeemer, even Jesus Christ, our Saviour."
Regional Rep. Seminar, March 30, 1990
Pres. Hinckley: "To me this 'small thing' is among the major decisions that I shall have witnessed in my lifetime."
"Each time some moral or spiritual ailment was diagnosed, we have rushed to the pharmacy to concoct another remedy, encapsulate it as a program and send it out with pages of directions for use."
"The best answer, perhaps is to withdraw all prescriptions and start over."
"We now have ourselves in a corner."
"In recent years I have felt, and I think I am not alone, that we were losing the ability to correct the course of the Church."
"Both Alma and Helaman told of the church in their day. They warned about fast growth, the desire to be accepted by the world, to be popular, and particularly they warned about prosperity. Each time those conditions existed in combination, the Church drifted off course. All of those conditions are present in the Church today."
"the patience of the Lord with all of us who are in leadership positions, is not without limits."
"The most dangerous side effect of all we have prescribed in the way of programming and instructions and all is the over regimentation of the Church."
"Can you see that when we overemphasize programs at the expense of principles, we are in danger of losing the inspiration, the resourcefulness, that which should characterize Latter-day Saints."
"to act for themselves and not to be acted upon." (2 Nephi 2.26)
"it is possible that we are doing the very thing spiritually that we have been resolutely resisting temporarily; fostering dependence rather than independence, extravagance rather than thrift, indulgence rather than self-reliance."
"It is no different than what we face when our own children begin to mature and venture out into the world. Wise parents loosen the apron strings and help children to leave the nest to start anew the cycle of mortal life."
"A knowledge of right and wrong does not automatically result from programmed activities. It must be taught."
"I repeat, perhaps for one time only we have the opportunity to adjust that balance so that Church activities sustain parents and families rather than the other way around."
"We are in mortality to receive a mortal body, to be tested, to prepare for Godhood. There is not testing without choice. Please, for this one time, honor the agency of the members, the families."
"This change has given me renewed hope. It will require some considerable adjustment in our thinking and a change in deeply ingrained habits."
"Matters with deepest doctrinal significance must be left to married couples and to parents to decide for themselves."
"The family is apart from and above the other organizations and under the sealing authority, more enduring than them all."
"If we do as we should, wherever there is a Latter-day Saint family, there the Church stands organized."
"But, 'they were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence and then those marvelous works ceased and they did not progress in their journey." (Alma 37.41)
We see that the brethren knew there was a serious problem within the Church, but I am not sure the local leaders or members knew it.
It has been ten years since that "clarion call" and I wonder how we are doing? Have the local leaders kept their hands off? What about Church headquarters?
You can view the full talk online.
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