During a commemorative and historic evening, Elder Henry B. Eyring pondered the growth of the Church's institute program that began in Moscow, Idaho, 75 years ago with 25 students and has grown to include more than 300,000 enrolled in more than 100 lands.
The reason for the growth of institute lies in a simple truth, said Elder Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve and Commissioner of Church Education, speaking at a Church Educational System fireside Sunday, May 6, in Moscow.
"The leaders of the Church have always known that the drive for learning among our people must have a powerful spiritual component," he said. "That spiritual element, when it is effective, refines and uplifts the aims of our total education."
During his fireside address — the capstone of a weekend of commemorating the first Institute of Religion started in 1926 at the University of Idaho — Elder Eyring urged thousands of young adults gathered in the school's Kibbie Activity Center to gain "an education for real life." An estimated 135,000 more heard the address live, via satellite, throughout North, Central and South America. The fireside, translated into 22 languages, was broadcast on a delayed basis throughout Europe and will also be made available on videotape to institute students around the world.
Elder Eyring told the worldwide audience that from the time of the Restoration of the Church to this day, they could find evidence of the drive to learn.
"Joseph Smith as a very young man translated the Book of Mormon from plates inscribed with a language no one on earth understood. He did it by a divine gift of revelation from God. And yet, he later hired a tutor to teach him and other leaders of the Church ancient languages."
Later a university was established in Nauvoo, Ill., and even when the members in Utah were still struggling to produce enough food to live, they started schools, he explained. "They felt driven to lift their children toward light and to greater usefulness by education."
It is that same desire that drew Latter-day Saint youth to the University of Idaho. "That is the desire which will draw young people to education and training of all kinds in all the nations where the gospel works in the hearts of members of all ages," he said.
But, Elder Eyring added, that explains only why there is such a growth in the numbers of members, old and young, who seek more education and more training. "The reason for the growth of Institutes of Religion lies in the leaders of the Church recognizing another simple truth," he said. "It is that the purpose of God's creations and of His giving us life is to allow us to have the learning experience necessary for us to come back to Him, to live with Him, in eternal life. That is only possible if we have our natures changed through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, true repentance, and making and keeping the covenants He offers all of His Father's children through His Church."
The thirst for education which comes with the change the gospel brings can be a blessing or a curse depending on one's motives, Elder Eyring added.
"If we continue to seek learning to serve God and His children better, it is a blessing of great worth," he said. "If we begin to seek learning to exalt ourselves alone, it leads to selfishness and pride, which will take us away from eternal life."
That is one reason Church members should always put spiritual learning first, he explained. "And that is why the Church has placed Institutes of Religion across the earth, wherever young members are gathered in sufficient numbers. Their spiritual education in the institute will shape the purpose and speed the process of their secular learning."
Elder Eyring told the young adults that the Lord and His Church have always encouraged education to increase members' ability to serve Him and His children. "For each of us, whatever our talents, He has service for us to give. And to do it well always involves learning, not once or for a limited time, but continually."
By prayer, fasting and hard work — with a motive to serve Him — Church members can expect His grace to attend them, Elder Eyring explained.
He said that the first priority should go to spiritual learning. "Reading the scriptures would come for us before reading history books. Prayer would come before memorizing those Spanish verbs. A temple recommend would be worth more to us than standing first in our graduation class."
However, he added, putting spiritual learning first does not relieve Church members from learning secular things. "On the contrary, it gives our secular learning purpose and motivates us to work harder at it."
Elder Eyring said it is a tragedy when members discover too late that they missed an opportunity to prepare for a future only God could see for them. His chance to learn another language, he said, is a painful example. Born to a father who grew up speaking Spanish as his first language, Elder Eyring never learned the language. "Now I am the first contact in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the Church in Mexico, in Central America and in Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. It was not an accident that I was born into a home with a Spanish-speaking father."
Elder Eyring told the young people that the Lord has prepared opportunities for them to learn in preparation for the service they will give.
"You will not recognize those opportunities perfectly, as I did not. But when you put the spiritual things first in your life, you will be blessed to feel directed towards certain learning and you will be motivated to work harder. You will then recognize later that your power to serve was increased, and you will be grateful."
No service that matters can be given over a lifetime by those who stop learning, he added. "Our education must never stop."
That means, he continued, that members cannot waste time entertaining themselves when they have a chance to read or listen to whatever will help them learn what is true and useful. Most people, he said, could take advantage of the moments they spend waiting in a barber shop or doctor's office. "There is much valuable reading you could do if you took a book with you to fill those islands of time."
Elder Eyring acknowledged, however, that there are some who may feel overwhelmed by the lack of time. "Rather than finding ways to capture leisure time for learning, you are trying to decide what to leave undone," he said. "There is another way to look at your problem of crowded time. You can see it as an opportunity to test your faith. The Lord loves you and watches over you."
Elder Eyring told the young adults that the real life they are preparing for is eternal life. "Secular knowledge has for us eternal significance," he said. "Our conviction is that God our Heavenly Father wants us to live the life that He does. We learn both the spiritual things and the secular things so that we may one day create worlds, people and govern them.
"All that we can learn that is true while we are in this life will rise with us in the resurrection. And all that we can learn will enhance our capacity to serve."
Elder Eyring closed his address by paying tribute to Wylie Sessions, the Church's first institute teacher. He taught the gospel of Jesus Christ in Moscow, Idaho. "And he did it well enough that now hundreds of thousands are blessed by tens of thousands of institute teachers across the world. And that blessing will go on across generations and into eternity."
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