Dallin H. Oaks - The Lords Way

Some believe that ends justify means. If the result seems good, they have no interest in correcting (and perhaps no interest in even knowing) the means by which the result was obtained. This attitude repeats an ancient pattern. It appears in the earliest conflict described in the scriptures.

There came a time when the spirit children of God the Father needed to experience mortality in order to progress toward their ultimate destiny. The Father provided a plan. In opposition, Lucifer (Satan) proposed a radical modification. The difference between the Father's plan and Satan's modification persists in many alternatives we encounter in mortality.

The object of the Father's plan was "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life" (sometimes called salvation) of all of his spirit children. (Moses 1:39.) He would create a world in which his children would receive mortality and exercise the agency (power of choice) he had given them. (Moses 4:3.) They would be tested "to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them." (Abr. 3:25.)

The choices the children of God would make in the exercise of their agency would be made in the face of opposition. (2 Ne. 2:16; D&C 29:39.) Some would make wrong choices and be soiled by sin. The possibility of casualties from wrong choices was the price of growth.

The Father's plan was costly and slow, but it offered a genuine opportunity for his spirit children to achieve what he desired for themimmortality and eternal life. To assure immortality and to offer the opportunity of qualifying for eternal life, the Father's plan provided a Savior, who would redeem all from death and pay the price necessary for all to be cleansed from sin on the conditions he prescribed. (2 Ne. 9:19-24.)

In his proposed modification, Lucifer pretended to seek the same outcome,` but he would use a different means. He would save all the spirit children of God by eliminating the possibility of sin. He would assure that result by removing their power to choose. (Moses 4:1, 3.)

Lucifer's modification could not be accepted because his proposed means were repugnant to the end sought to be achieved. In the world of ends and means, ends are inexorably shaped by the means used to achieve them. The objective of eternal life for the children of God could be attained only by the methods God would approve. As he has said in another setting, "It must needs be done in mine own way." (D&C 104:16.)

Lucifer's methods could not achieve God's objective. They would corrupt it. Saving everyone at the price of taking away everyone's agency would deny God's children the growth toward eternal life they were intended to receive from the creation of the world and their venture into mortality.

The adversary, Satan, is always at hand. Mirroring the conflict in the premortal world, his opposition often pretends to seek a desirable end, but he sponsors an alternative means to achieve it. And most often, as in the premortal world, Satan's method would corrupt the objective rather than attain it.

Unless we are alert, we are easily deceived by those who praise and purport to pursue a worthy end, but who remain obscure about the means used to achieve it. When it comes to the work of the Lord and the attainment of his purposes, it is not enough to obtain a good resultit must be done in the right way.

This book discusses some instances in which the Lord's way, as revealed in the scriptures and the teachings of the living prophets, differs from the ways of the world, at least as practiced in the western nations with which I am familiar. It focuses on the waysthe procedures or methodsthe Lord has specified for us to achieve the destiny he has prescribed for his children.

A few of the ideas elaborated in chapters 1 and 2 were briefly expressed in the last half of my general conference address published in the May 1989 issue of the Ensign. The portion of chapter 1 describing the forms and functions of revelation was previously published in BYU's 1981-82 Fireside and Devotional Speeches of the Year. Chapter 7, "Criticism," is an expanded version of a fireside talk published in the February 1987 issue of the Ensign. I appreciate the publishers' permissions to use those materials in this book, and also the opportunity to quote from other authors in the various publications cited in the endnotes. I am also grateful for the permission or indulgence of the writers of various letters I have quoted. I have chosen to omit their names, sometimes to preserve a confidence and other times to maintain consistency.

I am indebted to various friends who have examined and given valuable suggestions on drafts of different chapters of this book. I express special thanks to my secretary, Virginia Archer, who typed the seemingly endless drafts of these chapters with precision and good humor. Finally, and most importantly, I express appreciation to my eternal companion, June, for her support and patience during the long process of authorship.

While appreciative of all of the valuable assistance I have received, I must of course bear the responsibility for all that is said here. This book is a personal expression and is not an official statement of the doctrines or procedures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Lucifer only pretended to seek the same outcome. In contrast to Jesus Christ (the premortal Beloved Son, who sought to further the work and glory of the Father), Lucifer sought to obtain the Father's power for himself. (Moses 4:1-3; D&C 29:36.)

INTRODUCTION

A few years ago I heard an illuminating admission by a mission president. He was an educator by profession. When he left his professional position and took up his duties as a mission president, he brought large stacks of professional materials on training and leadership. He intended to use these materials to help his missionaries. At his first mission leadership meeting, he assigned several zone leaders to present some of these materials to the assembled missionaries.

As the meeting wore on, the mission president sensed that something important was missing. He realized, he told me later, that he was trying to accomplish his mission leadership training by following a professional model instead of by doing it in the Lord's way. He stopped a missionary in the middle of his presentation, apologized to him and to the group for making the wrong assignment, and asked a missionary to bear his testimony. As they went forward in this new way, the Spirit of the Lord settled over the meeting. Testimonies and resolves were strengthened, and the necessary leadership training was given. The mission president had learned the importance of doing the Lord's work in the Lord's way. Each of us should learn that lesson.

The scriptures declare and illustrate that God's thoughts are not man's thoughts and God's ways are not man's ways. The Lord taught this principle through the prophet Isaiah: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa. 55:8-9.)