Harold B. Lee Quotes on Religions & Spirituality (3 Quotes)

One of the greatest business leaders in America today, James F. Oates of the Equitable Life, said this about factors which he said were necessary to develop us into real eminence in any field. He said Whatever may be the nature of our work, or the character of our own vocational activity, eminence always involves the following And then he named four factors, and I want you to mark them. 1. You must have the determination to excel. 2. You must have the willingness And I want you to mark this. to pay the price, to study, to live through disappointments with optimism, and to accept the sacrifices necessary to succeed. Now, do you get the significance of that 3. You must have the steadfast pursuit of purpose, doing the work day after day, week after week, yes, year after year, whether you feel like doing it or not. 4. You must have pride and faith in the virtue of your calling. That is to say, spiritual motivation. (James F. Oates, Address before the YMCA at Los Angeles, California, April 15, 1960.)

The spirit, if it could be seen with mortal eyes, would appear in bodily shape like a full-grown person with individual endowments that make it a counter-part of the body in which it resides, 'that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual.' (DC 772.) It was that which came from God and entered at birth into the infant body prepared by its mortal parents. The spirit was of the 'Lord from heaven.' The physical body was 'of the earth, earthy,' (2 Cor. 1547) or in other words, composed of the elements of which the things in the physical world are composed.

It is not the function of religion to answer all the questions about Gods moral government of the universe, but to give us courage through faith to go on in the face of questions to which we find no answer in our present status.