The LDS Daily WOOL© Archive - Albert E. Bowen

12/22/07
"I have thought during this day of the occasion when Jesus was led to the top of a high mountain, and the tempter told him to look out over the world, and promised him that he would give him the world, if he would but bow down and serve Satan. There is a beautiful lesson in that circumstance, I think, for all of us who would essay the business of teaching others. We need the power to lead men up to high eminences from which they may see the world, their own positions in it, and the destinies that await them if they order their lives aright. If anything is needed more that anything else now it is a voice issuing as from the top of a high mountain, lifting men's visions to the high level whence it comes, and revealing to them what there is in the world and what they may do in the exercise of their prerogatives and rights in accomplishing the world's work. And if we be what we have pretended so long we are, then we have that kind of voice. It behooves us only to learn to hear and understand it, and govern our walk and conduct by its teachings." - Albert E. Bowen, Conference Report, April 1937, Afternoon Meeting, p.119

6/19/08
"Certain things man has to do. Not much stress is laid upon knowledge but much upon understanding and habits of virtue and the cultivation of a brotherly good will towards all mankind. He is taught that as in dealing with his fellowmen he extends kindness, shows mercy, observes justice, practices self-denial, curbs ambition, denies greed, bestows love, banishes hate, gives succor, lives humbly, reveres right and respects the sacredness of human beings, he is contributing to the establishment of peace and good order and happiness in the world and is cultivating in himself those qualities of virtue which will raise him toward the level of his high destiny." - Albert E. Bowen, "Conference Report," April 1939, Afternoon Meeting, p.94 - 95

5/2/09
"’Thou shalt not covet . . . any thing that is thy neighbour's.’ (Exodus 20:17.) The observance of this law would rid the world of most of its strife. Out of a fairly long experience in dealing with the disputations of men, and the causes, I am persuaded that most of them arise out of a covetous desire to obtain some material thing or to reap some advantage to which the contender is not entitled. If everybody wanted to do what he knew was right—deal justly, man to man, and would be content to have what he justly could claim—there wouldn't be much litigation or strife. If applied to the conduct of nations, there would be no war. War results when one nation covets what another nation has or seeks dominion over it. The victim does not want to give up either its possession or its independence. The designing one says, ‘I am bigger than you,’ or ‘I have a bigger or better equipped army so I shall take what I want by force.’ The other resists, and we have war." - Albert E. Bowen, “Conference Report,” October 1948, Afternoon Meeting, p.86

10/24/09
“When Moses heard the voice of God declaring out of the clouds on Sinai, ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ he was listening not only to the promulgation of a law fundamentally important to the progress and stability of the individual, but he was hearing at the same time words of great social Wisdom. Honesty lies at the very root of any stable society. If all were thieves, no society could exist. If a man should arise in the morning with the purpose of plowing his field, his plan would be defeated if he went out only to find that someone else had appropriated his team and his plow. Should he then decide to cut his hay instead, he again would be thwarted if someone had taken away his harvesting equipment. And so alternate plans might one after another go awry and his day be rendered barren of results. As the number of members in the society increased the confusion would multiply. Orderly processes would be impossible. There would be no security and no dependable means of planning action.” - Albert E. Bowen, “Conference Report,” October 1938, Second Day–Morning Meeting, p. 66

 
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