‘Be moral, ethical and honest,’ Elder Rasband teaches at Salt Lake Institute

Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles encouraged students to “be moral, ethical and honest” as he spoke in a devotional at the Salt Lake Institute of Religion east of the University of Utah campus on Sunday, Sept. 20.

“Integrity is being honest, moral and ethical— all the time and in all situations — even when no one is watching,” he said.

Elder Rasband was accompanied at the Sunday evening devotional by his wife, Sister Melanie Rasband, and University of Utah President Taylor Randall, his wife, Janet Randall, and members of their family.

Elder James R. Rasband, the Church’s commissioner of education and the Apostle’s cousin, conducted the meeting. The entire institute chapel and overflow was filled with students.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband shared how he learned that “personal integrity is what defines us in marriage, business, relationships and service,” pointing to examples in his own life and in the scriptures.

He first reviewed the new section of “Preach My Gospel” on the Christlike attribute of integrity that was added to the second edition of the Church’s missionary guide in June 2023.

The section reads: “When you have integrity, you understand that there is right and wrong and that there is absolute truth — God’s truth. You use your agency to choose according to God’s truth, and you promptly repent when you do not.”

Jesus Christ Himself showed integrity when He was scorned by Satan three times with “If thou be the Son of God …” but responded with: “Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou Serve” (see Matthew 4).

Said Elder Rasband: “If your integrity is deep in your soul, it can override all other influences and is a key to becoming like the Savior Jesus Christ.”

Examples of integrity in the scriptures

Using another scriptural example, Elder Rasband taught that Helaman’s stripling warriors had integrity “‘for they were true at all times in whatsoever things they were entrusted’ and they did walk uprightly before God” (Alma 53:20).

Nephi also demonstrated integrity.

“I identify with Nephi,” Elder Rasband said. “I love his integrity demonstrated time and time again — his grit, his commitment, his unfailing testimony of Jesus Christ. Nephi’s life experiences required him to choose to follow the Lord or be drawn off by his own brothers. And Nephi did not waver.”

Joseph Smith also had integrity that was tested many times, “but he did not flinch,” Elder Rasband said.

Hyrum Smith, the Prophet Joseph’s brother, is another example. The Lord told him in Doctrine and Covenants 124: “Blessed is my servant Hyrum Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart, and because he loveth that which is right before me.”

Asked Elder Rasband: “Don’t you want that said of you?”

Lessons learned

Elder Rasband told of how he came to work for the late Jon Huntsman Sr., an American businessman, philanthropist and former Area Seventy of the Church, in 1976. Members of the Huntsman family were in attendance at the devotional.

After a year of working together in Church callings, Huntsman surprised Elder Rasband with an invitation to join his company. After much prayer and counsel with Sister Rasband, they agreed to accept the job offer, even though it meant he would have to cut his college education short.

“What did I learn from that beginning and from associations in the years that followed? I learned that personal integrity is what defines us in our marriage, in our business, relationships and in service,” Elder Rasband said.

In marriage, Elder Rasband learned that husband and wife face life together: “You make decisions together and take them to the Lord. Then you lock your arms and go forward.”

In business, he learned to be an effective and fair businessman who lived by clear-cut rules: “Two days of work in the Huntsman organization were often pressed into one and along the way, I lived by the standard that Jon Huntsman taught me: be moral, ethical and honest.”

In relationships, he learned to face challenges to his beliefs and standards: “The key is to never let go of the iron rod and never compromise. I have traveled the world and interacted with people in many cultures but was careful not to be drawn into their lifestyles.”

In service to the Lord, he said he learned that “we are not a Sunday Church: We live the gospel every day. We minister to one another. We act on promptings to watch over one another.”

In closing, Elder Rasband counseled to “let the Atonement of your Lord and Savior work miracles in your life.”

“When you slip up — we all do — know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is just for us in that purpose, to ‘lift thee up,’” he said.

Sister Rasband added her testimony, saying she knows from personal experience that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can “know us.”

“And I testify that as we seek their advice, their counsel, we will be led in a way that will bring us the most joy,” she said.

Gaining needed knowledge

President Randall spoke at the start of the devotional about two methods of gaining needed knowledge: First, the evolving disclosures of man discovered by the scientific method, and second, the truths discovered by the spiritual method.

“It’s the opportunity to heed the beckoning call to learn by both methods that uniquely stands before you as young people and university students,” he said. “I would assert that as you integrate those two methods of learning into your life, it will allow you to reach your full potential.”

President Randall said these two methods have allowed him to manage a university in a Christlike manner, “with an eye towards truth and compassion.”

“I want you to know that my faith in Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Ghost, which I have been given, matters to me. It strengthens me. I lean on it every day.”