With The Help Of The Lord And...

With the help of the Lord and an interest in your faith and prayers, I would like to continue a little thought along the same line that Brother Tuttle has been talking to us, and which we have heard also from President Joseph Fielding Smith today. ¶

Temple Marriage

I think our young people in the Church, right down inside, all have a desire to get married in the temple, to live the laws, and to receive the blessings of the Church. As I have talked with many of these young people, I have learned a little rule that I have offered to them. Those who would like to receive the blessings of the gospel, the blessings of exaltation, I suggest that if they would follow this little rule, it would be almost automatic that they would in proper time have the opportunity of going to the temple and receiving the sealing blessings. Of course any such rule would have the prerequisite that you live the law yourself, of which we have heard today, that you live all the law of the gospel, keep the commandments of the Lord, that you yourself would be worthy. ¶

Assurance — Worthiness

Many girls worry about the opportunity of marrying in the temple. ¶

With young men, I think it is their responsibility to find the young lady and take her to the temple. With the young lady it is a little bit different. ¶

She has to accept an invitation. She doesn't have the responsibility of leadership, and so she has to wait for an invitation. Most young ladies have a way of getting an invitation, and we don't seem to object to that. But to these young ladies I would suggest that they follow this little rule, and to the young men it would be just the other side of the coin. I would say to the young ladies, first, you don't have to worry about the boys if you will make sure that all of your girl friends with whom you closely associate are living the standards of the Church. ¶

I have young people come to me from all parts of the world where we have membership, and they will often say, "In our area there aren't very many members of the Church." And they say, "We don't have the opportunity of finding companions who are members of the Church." ¶

Teach Your Friends

Membership in the Church isn't the main requirement in this case. The main requirement is that they live the standards of the Church, and we have heard today some principles regarding the standards of the Church, the high ideals which the Church sets for righteous and clean living, and there are many people in the world who are not members of the Church who are living good lives. You find these people to associate with, if you can't find good members of the Church; but at any rate, whether they are members or not, associate with those who are living the standards of the Church. ¶

If we were to isolate ourselves from those who are not members of the Church, we would be depriving ourselves of opportunities of teaching the gospel to many who are worthy and who are seeking the gospel. So this gives us an opportunity of doing missionary work with those who are not members and who are good, clean, young people. If one of your friends starts practices we don't approve of, you teach her better. If she accepts your teaching, you will have made a lifelong friend. If she does not accept your teaching, you will not have made an enemy, but you will have won her respect. ¶

Let's follow this rule and analyze how it works out. I say to the young men, they should associate with young men who are living the standards of the Church. If a young woman is associating with a group of her girl friends who are living the standards of the Church, it will be automatic that young men who are living the standards of the Church will become her associates. And if there is one girl in the group who is not living the standards of the Church, then she will introduce to her girl friends young men who are not living the standards of the Church. A young man always wants to date the loveliest girls in his acquaintance. Then through the girl friend who is not living the church standards come the boys who are not living the church standards. ¶

Then if you make dates with a young man who is not living the standards of the Church, the young men who are living the standards will say to themselves, "Well, if she goes out with that fellow, I don't want to have anything to do with her." Then you wonder why you don't get opportunities to date with the nicer boys. ¶

The Best Companion

When a young man starts looking for a companion for life, he doesn't want a girl just as good as he is; he wants one who is just a little bit better, and he usually gets her. Ask most married men if that isn't just about right. So the young man won't look for the girl who is just his level in this group to become his companion. ¶

He will try to select the finest, loveliest, cleanest girl in that group that he can get, and if you are one of the better girls in that group, you are likely to be his target. ¶

I had a woman come to me who had been married out of the Church against counsel and then divorced, and then she came to me with her problems, and goodness knows she needed help. When I started to describe to her the type of man she should have married, she said to me, "Where do you find such pious men?" ¶

I asked her what kind of young girls she associated with before she was married, what percentage of her girl friends lived the standards of the Church or kept the Word of Wisdom; and she said, "Well, about fifty or seventy-five percent of my girl friends did not even live the Word of Wisdom." There was the answer. ¶

I said, "How did you expect to find a young man who would be eligible to take you to the temple?" ¶

Like Seeks Like

I have had many experiences talking with young ladies who were mixed up with an undesirable boy friend who could not take her to the temple, and in every case I have found that she has become acquainted with this undesirable boy friend through a girl friend who was not living the standards of the Church. ¶

We have heard the expression "Birds of a feather flock together." ¶

You select those with whom you associate, those who are living the standards of the Church, and of course that requires that you live the standards of the Church; and by that process in the natural course of events, you will have the privilege of marriage in the temple for time and all eternity. ¶

Continue the activities in the auxiliaries; that is why we have auxiliaries, the MIA and Sunday School, to give our people an opportunity of associating together so that they may have associates who are living the standards of the Church — so that when the time comes and they are ready, they may go to the house of the Lord to be sealed for time and eternity and open the door of opportunity of receiving the blessings of exaltation in the celestial kingdom. ¶

I want to bear witness that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ, the way by which we may obtain these blessings of exaltation, that this is his Church upon the earth, and that David O. McKay is his prophet and our President of his Church on the earth — the kingdom of God. I bear you this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶