Talks:
Quotes:
Gordon B. Hinckley:
Be clean in mind, and then you will have greater control over your bodies. It was said of old, “As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). Unclean thoughts lead to unclean acts.
I remember going to President McKay years ago to plead the cause of a missionary who had become involved in serious sin. I said to President McKay, “He did it on an impulse.” The President said to me: “His mind was dwelling on these things before he transgressed. The thought was father to the deed. There would not have been that impulse if he had previously controlled his thoughts.”
Gordon B. Hinckley, “‘Be Ye Clean’,” Ensign, May 1996, 46
Royden G. Derrick:
The acceptance of the gospel of Jesus Christ is affected by attitude. William James, a famous author and psychologist, wrote, “The greatest discovery of my age is that men can change their circumstances by changing the attitude of their minds.” (Richard L. Evans, Richard Evans’ Quote Book [Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1971], p. 161.)
In the book of Proverbs we read, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7.) Henry David Thoreau sustained that concept when he said that a man becomes what he thinks about all day long. (See Familiar Quotations, ed. John Bartlett, 14th ed., Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1968, p. 682.)
Royden G. Derrick, “Valiance in the Drama of Life,” Ensign, May 1983, 23, emphasis added.
Hans B. Ringger:
A few months ago I had the privilege to hear a powerful testimony from a man searching for the truth. Through the gospel his eyes were opened to the eternal and he was able to redirect his life. At the same time I learned that a faithful member of the Church had distanced himself from the gospel and had changed his beliefs. Both men had tried with good intentions to find out to whom they should go but arrived at opposite conclusions and, therefore, went diverging paths. What can be the cause for such opposing actions?
I believe that words and actions are rooted in our thoughts and that our thoughts determine our deeds. Our daily decisions, planned or spontaneous, are the result of our thoughts, and we are responsible for them. Although we as individuals might think that we are and can act independently of God, we cannot escape the realization that we are subject to eternal laws. Our happiness and our peace in this life, as well as in the life after, depend on our readiness to base our thoughts and actions on God-given laws. True peace of mind and everlasting happiness come from being in harmony with God. If we are to be one with Deity, then it is we who must change—and not God.
I believe that the two men chose different paths because their way of thinking and their understanding of God are different. It is essential to know God so that we can gain eternal blessings and salvation through living in accordance with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Gaining a knowledge of Christ and God is a prerequisite for a true understanding of our mission in life. Lowell L. Bennion writes in his book Legacies of Jesus: “One of the most important things we need to learn is what are the attributes of God. Christ came to earth to reveal to us the character of God. He is the revelation of God to human beings, teaching us by precept and example the meaning of faith, humility, integrity, and love” (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1990, p. 61).
Hans B. Ringger, “‘Lord, to Whom Shall We Go?’,” Ensign, Nov 1995, 83
L. Tom Perry:
Then Mr. Allen added: “Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life. Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot; it rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance” (As a Man Thinketh, 33–34).
L. Tom Perry, “Discipleship,” Ensign, Nov. 2000, 60
Scriptures:
