Pulpit

As I Have Listened To These Beautiful...

Mark E. Petersen, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

1950 April General Conference·Third Day Afternoon Session·1950-04-09

As I have listened to these beautiful sermons on repentance, I have thought over and over again about one of the commandments given by the Savior in the Sermon on the Mount. In it he said, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48.) Perfecting of the Saints Paul tells us that the Church organization was given to us, among other reasons, for the perfecting of the Saints. In spite of this commandment, and in spite of this statement of Paul, there are some people who believe that it is impossible for us to become perfect. Perfection is not for this life, they say, and so why try?

I would like to say that I believe with all my heart that if the Lord had any idea that we could not begin in mortality on the march toward perfection, he would never have given us that commandment; neither would he have given us a Church organization for the perfecting of the Saints.

100% Perfect I believe that in many ways, here and now in mortality, we can begin to perfect ourselves. A certain degree of perfection is attainable in this life. I believe that we can be one hundred percent perfect, for instance, in abstaining from the use of tea and coffee.

We can be one hundred percent perfect in abstaining from liquor and tobacco. We can be one hundred percent perfect in paying a full and honest tithing. We can be one hundred percent perfect in abstaining from eating two meals on fast day and giving to the bishop as fast offering the value of those two meals from which we abstain.

We can be one hundred percent perfect in keeping the commandment which says that we shall not profane the name of God. We can be perfect in keeping the commandment which says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." (Ex. 20:14.) We can be perfect in keeping the commandment which says, "Thou shalt not steal."

(Ibid., 15.) We can become perfect in keeping various others of the commandments that the Lord has given us.

I am confident that one of the great desires of the Lord our God is that we shall keep that great commandment which says, "Be ye therefore perfect," (Matthew 5:48.) and that we may do so is my humble prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Cite this talkMark E. Petersen, "As I Have Listened To These Beautiful...," 1950 April General Conference, Third Day Afternoon Session (1950-04-09). Pulpit Vault, 1950-04-petersen-as-i-have-listened-to-these-beautiful. Authoritative print text from catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org.Pulpit Vault, edition of 23 September 2026 (commit 4bdc6ac627).
Elsewhere in the corpus
  1. 1865Causes of Gratitude that the Saints HaveGeorge Q. Cannon¶ 7
  2. 1921The Kingdom of God and RighteousnessJunius F. Wells¶ 7
  3. 1907Report on the Western States MissionJoseph A. McRae¶ 7
  4. 1904Young People and Home IndustriesReed Smoot¶ 7
  5. 1935The Sermon on the Mount and the Quest for PerfectionRulon S. Wells¶ 1

Passages elsewhere in the record that speak where this talk speaks — nearest first, found by comparing paragraph texts. Each opens at the cited paragraph.