Joyfully working toward a higher standard

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Afternoon Session of the October 1986 Conference.

I like President Oaks so much. I've been thinking a lot about one of his talks in the most recent Conference, where he talked about the difficulty of balancing the two great commandments, but then basically told us that we have to do it anyway, in spite of the difficulty. He said:

Meanwhile, we must try to keep both of the great commandments. To do so, we walk a fine line between law and love—keeping the commandments and walking the covenant path, while loving our neighbors along the way. This walk requires us to seek divine inspiration on what to support and what to oppose and how to love and listen respectfully and teach in the process. Our walk demands that we not compromise on commandments but show forth a full measure of understanding and love. 

I always appreciate how deeply he thinks about things, and how he doesn't give superficial answers to hard questions. I admit I was a little disappointed he didn't give us "easier" guidance about HOW to follow both commandments, but I realize that what he did give—reminders of doctrine and the scriptures, and encouragement that the spirit will help us—is probably all that really CAN be given in such complicated situations.

In the October 1986 General Conference, then-Elder Oaks gave a similarly nuanced talk, this time about honesty and integrity in the workplace. Again, I was impressed by how he covered all sides of the issue—showing the doctrine, but also the necessity to be careful and non-dogmatic about how to interpret what the doctrine means for us. He said:

Most of us can be relatively comfortable when a message on the Golden Rule in the workplace uses examples like illegal drugs and theft by deception. What follows is more challenging. And it should be. We cannot expect to be comfortable if we measure our conduct against the Savior’s command, “I would that ye should be perfect even as I”. To follow in the footsteps of the only perfect person who ever lived, we must expect to stretch our souls. 

Followers of Christ have the moral responsibility of earning their livings and conducting their financial transactions in ways that are consistent with the principles of the gospel and the teachings of the Savior. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should not be involved in employment or other activities upon which they cannot conscientiously ask the blessings of the Lord.… 

An employee who receives the compensation agreed upon but does not perform the service agreed upon earns part of his living by injuring others. 

So does an employer who is unfair to his employees. An idealistic young professional wrote Church headquarters about the plight of migrant farm workers. He had observed treatment that was probably illegal and certainly unchristian. When I read his letter, I thought of the positive example of Jesse Knight, the great benefactor of Brigham Young Academy. At a time when most mine owners exploited their workers, this Christian employer paid his miners something extra so they could earn their living in six days’ labor and rest on the Sabbath. He did not require them to patronize a company store. He built his workers a building for recreation, worship, and schooling. And Brother Knight would not permit the superintendent to question his workers about their religion or politics. 

Of course, we understand that what an employer can pay his employees is limited by what his business can obtain for its products or services in a competitive marketplace. Contracts also impose limits on legitimate economic expectations. 

Christian standards should also apply to those who earn a living by selling or advertising products in the marketplace.…We are our brother’s keeper, even in the marketplace. 

I am aware that this is a high standard which cannot be met overnight. But it is important to recognize our responsibility and begin to work toward it. And we should do so joyfully.… 

We live in a complex society, where even the simplest principle can be exquisitely difficult to apply. I admire investors who are determined not to obtain income or investment profits from transactions that add to the sum total of sin and misery in the world. But they will have difficulty finding investments that meet this high standard. Good things are often packaged with bad, so decisions usually involve balancing. In a world of corporate diversification, we are likely to find that a business dealing in beverages sells milk in one division and alcohol in another. Just when we think that our investments are entirely unspotted from the world, we may find that our life insurance is partially funded by investments we wish to avoid. Or our savings may be deposited in a bank that is lending to ventures we could not approve. Such complexities make it difficult to prescribe firm rules. 

We must rely on teaching correct principles, which each member should personally apply to govern his or her own circumstances. To that end, each of us should give thoughtful and prayerful consideration to whether we are looking after the well-being of our neighbors in the way we earn our daily bread.

I like how unafraid President Oaks is about bringing up hard issues—and how unapologetically he encourages us to tackle those issues ourselves. Sometimes it seems so hard to figure out the balance between following God's laws and being kind and careful with others' feelings, it makes me want to disengage from the question altogether. But this is a good reminder to me that, as President Oaks says, as Christians we are required to seek inspiration on these issues; we are required to seek higher standards for ourselves. And we should do so JOYFULLY!