What teaching can compare in priceless value and in far-reaching effect with that which deals with man as he was in the eternity of yesterday, as he is in the mortality of today, and as he will be in the forever of tomorrow… . You are to teach this Gospel using as your sources and authorities the Standard Works of the Church and the words of those whom God has called to lead His people in these last days. You are not, whether high or low, to intrude into your work your own peculiar philosophy, no matter what its source or how pleasing or rational it seems to you to be… .
You are not, whether high or low, to change the doctrines of the Church or to modify them, as they are declared by and in the Standard Works of the Church and by those whose authority it is to declare the mind and the will of the Lord to the Church. The Lord has declared that he is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” …
We are clear upon this point, namely, that we shall not feel justified in appropriating one further tithing dollar to the upkeep of our seminaries and institutes of religion unless they can be used to teach the gospel in the manner prescribed.
(J. Reuben Clark, Jr., as quoted in Boyd K. Packer, Teach Ye Diligently, rev. ed. [Salt Lake City: deseret Book co., 1991], 374–76.)