“Shall Hearken Unto the Precepts of Men”

Joseph F. McConkie, Robert L. Millet
Even among Church members, the Saints of the Most High-those who have by covenant come out of the world into the Church of God- there are those who seek to keep one foot in the world. They have a residence in Zion but visit Babylon periodically. Their membership may be in the former but their hearts are in the latter. Their ultimate trust may be in the power of God, but their interim interest is the arm of flesh.

“The Precepts of Men”

Too many in the Church today “err because they are taught by the precepts of men” rather than by the scriptural canon, the words of the living oracles, or the revelations of the Holy Spirit. The theories of men accent their teachings, and the philosophies of the learned determine their course in life: they view the world (and even the workings of God) through the lenses of their own particular discipline or field of study.

There are among us many learned and adept educators who teach things that are contrary to the divine will; they seem to be more concerned with sustaining the dogmas of their academic disciplines than in discovering ultimate truth. There are historians of self-announced renown whose works are false, much of their “writing being harmfully speculative and out of harmony with the divine will.”

Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1

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