President Oaks BYU Devotional - Two Forms Of Knowledge

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script

All right. Well, welcome to Quick Show
today. Today is February 10th, 2026, and
we are covering the BYU devotional given
by President Don H. Oaks just a little
bit ago this morning. Uh this is his
first address as prophet. He of course
uh conducted and spoke in general
conference back in
uh what is that October right but he was
the president of the quorum of the
twelve apostles at the time he had not
been set apart as the president of the
church and of the first presidency so uh
this was his first address as as prophet
to an audience
and I thought it was very interesting um
you never know what's going to be dead.
I I think that there is definitely
inspiration as they they rehearse this
and talk about it and you know what are
they going to cover uh in their talk
here uh to coming out for the first time
and and what President Oaks does is he
basically goes back to the basics on
this and and I think there's really good
reason for this. He is a very orderly
person and so he's going down to the
fundamental levels of these things. He
goes back and repeats quotes from
prophets about Brigham Y Young
University and its mission. Uh in in his
uh outline of a
of of a a talk here today, he goes back
and brings up several scriptures, but
his message is primarily stick to the
truth. Stick to the covenant path. I
love that he brought so many things up
about President Nelson also that are
very specific about our time. That that
is not just while President Nelson was
alive, but things like having to discern
by the spirit. It's going to be
impossible to survive spiritually
without the spirit in our lives is
something that moves forward
uh beyond his life. Right? His words are
are just as pertinent today as they were
six months ago. So, I thought that was
important. But let's go over here and
and just hear what President Oaks has to
say as he starts off this devotional at
Brigham Young University.
I've spoken to many BYU audiences, but
never before as the leader of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Just want to say something here. He goes
over this several times and makes it
clear. He says, "Look, I am the leader
of the church." And it's not in a
uh nonhumble way, you know. It it's it's
he's going to go over the fact that he
is taking on the mantle of leadership
for the church and he respects it and he
is humble about it but he is also very
aware that he is the leader of the
church and has a great responsibility.
You are celebrating the 150th
anniversary of BYU.
I was the president of BYU when we
celebrated the 100th anniversary.
In that year, President Spencer W.
Kimell gave his historic second century
address.
I think this is interesting for BYU.
That second century is now half over.
What has BYU become as it seeks to
achieve those prophetic challenges?
Now, he's not going to really go into
what has BYU become, but he's going to
talk about its future and its in in a
very certain manner about what it is
going to be.
I firmly believe that it is the destiny
of Brigham Y Young University to become
what past and present prophets knew it
could become.
With the consecration and leadership of
this community,
BYU will become the great university of
the Lord, not in the world's way,
but in the Lord's way.
Okay. So again, not in the world's way,
but in the Lord's way. And I know that
there is a conflict here. This is it,
you know, especially based on what we
talk about here on on Quick Show, this
is a a uh this is right at the center of
worldliness and and the world views,
right? What the world culture and the
doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints and its position in
the world of being in the world but not
of the world. And so, how does BYU
accomplish that? Because there is no
more worldly knowledgeable place than
the university.
And there is no more perhaps secular
place than the universities of the
world. And so you bring that in and then
you bring in okay this is the the Lord's
university as he calls it. Um how do you
mix those two together? And I'm sure
there's a way to synthesize these things
and he's going to go over the two
different major ways of of knowledge,
but that is not an easy task at all. And
we've talked about some of the issues
that have come up from this in the past
uh at at Brigham Young University.
That's why it's always fascinated me to
watch closely what goes on at BYU
because in a way it's a microcosm of of
a much larger issue of of the church
being in the world and how it reacts to
the world, how it sticks to its guns. Uh
the contrast between worldliness and
spirituality within the church. It it's
all kind of on display in one way or the
other. and and so it's
it's kind of like a little laboratory of
something much larger throughout the
world in my view.
Frequent reference to the mantle of the
office settling on me have suggested
that I begin with some observations on
the significance of that term.
The word mantle is used in the Bible to
describe the cloak of the prophet Elijah
that descended on Elisha as a symbol of
the passage of prophetic authority.
The term mantle came into the restored
church's history in many reports of the
meeting in Nauvoo
on who would succeed the murdered Joseph
Smith.
many president rec
I don't know if he's bringing this up
because of an understanding of kind of
again this issue with Brigham Young
being at the center of so many things
now where we've moved and I had a a
recent podcast with Daniel Peterson on
this and talking about Brigham Young and
the succession issues there uh but you
know you between Brigham Y Young's
character and and polygamy and the
temple the he is right in the crossfire
Brigham Young and the the idea of the
mantle moving from Joseph Smith to
someone
and of course what we believe is to
Brigham Young. Um the the actual mantle
does move to Brigham Young. Um these are
becoming have become issues uh today and
and we seem to be going through history
again through the 1850s and 1860s
especially
um and and trying to decide who do we
follow, right? Do we follow Brigham
Young? Do we follow all the succeeding
prophets and and and or were they
uh you know so carnal that they were not
able to actually be prophets of the
Lord? And I know those are two extreme
sides of things and some a lot of people
describe themselves as being in the
middle there somewhere. Fine. Okay. But
I just think that it's important for all
of us to be aware
of this regurgitation of questions about
the succession to Brigham Young and the
reasons for the succession to Brigham Y
Young. So I think it's interesting that
he's bringing this up. Upon President
Nelson's death, I experienced another
meaning of the mantle.
To observers, it symbolizes a transfer
of priesthood authority.
To the person who receives that
authority,
it is very different and very real.
Within a few months after learning of
our president's death, I felt the
heaviness of responsibility settle upon
me
along with important impressions of what
I was required to do. Now,
as your leader, I pray for what our
heavenly father wants for each of us,
and that is to be or become active
members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints,
proceeding forward on the covenant path
into the eternities.
Okay. So, I mean, you can tell the the
the emotion and the responsibility that
he feels in this case. And and and
then again, he says, "As your leader," I
mean, you can you can make a meme. I'm
sure we're going to see memes about this
from the Exmos and and and those that
are against the church, but it's
um
it's taking on the responsibility.
That's what he's doing. It's what you
want. He is leading
and taking on the responsibility. We've
gone come into a culture I think so much
where we are pushing against that kind
of authority and that kind of leadership
even within family
and and so I I like that he says this.
It's like yeah I want someone who is
confident in this position.
I want him to be confident in saying
that and obviously being you taking that
in a humble way but confident in the
mantle that rests upon him.
I feel to emphasize the warning
President Russell M. Nelson issued us
that in coming days it will not be
possible to survive spiritually without
the guiding, comforting and constant
influences of the Holy Ghost.
One of the many reasons you will need
the constant influence of the Holy Ghost
is that you live in a season where the
adversary has become so effective at
disguising truth that if you don't have
the Holy Ghost, you will be deceived.
All right. I
I again I love as I said in the intro I
love that that he's carrying on a number
of these things that uh President Nelson
talked about something things that apply
to us not just during President Nelson's
life but but moving forward and probably
will apply more and more and more in
this instance. So I I'm glad that he I'm
glad that he repeats that. I I think
that he understands uh obviously what
the the importance of the spirit for all
of us. And I've felt this and I'm sure
you have too. I mean, things are getting
cloudy. Those mists of darkness are
getting thicker and thicker and there's
less and less separating light, right,
for us to to distinguish what is out
there. And you can see this already
happening in so many different little
movements here and there and ideas. And
we get into these silos sometime online
where where we we we are preaching to
the choir or being preached as the
choir. preach pre preach to as the choir
and and finding the same things
reinforcing our positions and and that's
not a good thing and I think it's really
easy to do. I get it and I do it
sometimes and it's it's you got to look
at this and say I don't want to hear the
same thing from the same people all the
time and be in this digital silo
where I am essentially disengaging from
the rest of the world. And one of the
problems with it is is that you have
others that are in their silos. And so
you say, "Well, I'm going to rally with
my people
against the other silos."
And and that's a difficult way to have a
life. That's a difficult way to to
continue a society with so many
different silos like this. It's it's
it's
a very difficult thing to do. And so,
you know, having the ability to have a
spirit to find out what is true beyond
our own silos,
I think, is going to be crucial. And if
we catch ourselves in a silo, we might
think to ourselves, okay, I've been told
and warned now by two prophets,
if I do not have the spirit with me
above all things to distinguish truth,
then I will not make it. I will not
survive spiritually.
That is a really clear warning. And so
our guide is not podcasters, right? Our
guide is not uh the silos or political
parties or or anything else like that.
It's the guide is the spirit and I think
it's going to be um you you can just see
this starting to evolve and and play out
right now with a lot of the movements
that are happening out there.
Many obstacles lie ahead. The
distractions will be many.
Even active members may sometimes have
concerns about some historical,
doctrinal, or social issues connected
with the church.
I want to help all our members overcome
present or future doubts.
That's great.
Whatever those doubts, the way to
overcome them is to get closer to our
savior Jesus Christ.
again and again, he has taught us that
he is the way.
I I've shared this in a recent short
that I put out, but it's um you know,
BYU had done a study a few years back
where it looked at why people come back
to the church. It's not necessarily why
they leave, although it probably has
something to do with it, but it's it's
the reason that people come back to the
church is because they miss a
relationship with God. And that is
probably the best reason to come back.
Not because, oh, I had this idea about
church history and I realized I was
wrong.
It it's because the whole development of
the covenant path is to build a
relationship with Christ and with our
heavenly father.
And so that is a great reason to come
back. It's probably the best reason to
come back. And and so as he's what he's
stating here uh seems to go right along
with with that idea of a relationship
with God. And of course that's how we're
going to have the spirit to distinguish
things as well.
Members overcome present or future
doubts.
Whatever those doubts the way to
overcome them is to get closer to our
savior Jesus Christ.
Again and again, he has taught us that
he is the way.
I share four impressions that will draw
us closer to our savior. First,
strengthen our faith in him.
Second,
increase our humility.
Third, seek help from others.
And fourth, be patient.
I have problem with all four of those. I
will be honest and transparent.
Um
I think in my mind I probably have as an
objective number one is probably right
there. But but it's not easy, right?
It's not it's not an easy path. Two,
three, and four. Uh those are all
difficult for me. uh uh not not in
wanting not in not being humble in a way
but it's do I do I seek to increase
humility
um
I will try to be humble and say I don't
think that I always do that well I know
I don't always do that um I certainly
don't seek help from others very often
typical guy thing right I just I just do
not seek help from others very often
and and I'm not very patient. And I
realize this is about doctrinal issues
and things you might be confused about.
If if you've got mists of darkness that
are holding you back in different
things, but you know, that's probably
also if you're not doing those four
things, then maybe you're allowing those
mists to grow a little bit thicker
regardless.
Say a couple things here about secular
learning that I think is really
important. Look, I love secular
learning. I love getting in and reading
a book. I'm a non-fiction person. And I
know I need to read more fiction to
balance myself out, but I I love digging
into non-fiction and and just learning
things. Uh not that you can't learn from
fiction. I understand that. But uh he
talks about secular learning here and
then of course he's going to talk about
the division between secular learning,
the scientific method and spiritual
knowledge. And these are two separate
things and one should not be discounted
from the other. Right? It it's it's they
are both important. One is man trying to
gain knowledge and reach up to God and
the other is man pulling down the powers
of God and of heaven to be able to
learn. Right? Two different things here.
I love what he says here.
Never let your secular learning limit
your horizons.
So do I have to call them about that?
We are grateful to know that there are
two methods of gaining needed knowledge.
One, the evolving disclosures of man
discovered by the scientific method. And
two, the truths disclosed by the
spiritual method which begins with faith
in God and relies on scriptures,
inspired teaching, and personal
revelation.
There is no ultimate conflict between
knowledge gained by these different
methods because God our omnip
omnipotent eternal father knows all
truth and beckons us to learn by both
methods.
Those who don't believe in God and
formally reject traditional religious
morality
and rely solely on the tests of
scientific evidence fulfill a Book of
Mormon description of those who live
without God in the world. So we have
these two different methods here. I I
will say this, it's something that I've
learned as far as spiritual knowledge
goes and and and this is backwards from
what we oftenimes think, but faith is
trust. And and to understand faith as
trust is to say and when you talk about
faith, we're talking about a gaining of
spiritual knowledge also there. Faith as
trust is saying that you're not you are
building off of evidence. Trust is built
off of evidence. Trust in a relationship
is built off of experience and evidence
with that individual or with a principle
or with a natural law like gravity.
And and so it is the same thing. Alma 32
talks about how to take the seed, right,
the word of God and and have it flourish
and to be able to apply faith to it. And
he uses exactly the same thing. He uses
the word experiment
and talks about the fruits of that
experiment. In other words, it is an
observational if not physically
observational. It is an experiential
observation of the fruits of something.
You know, how do how does your life go
when you follow the laws of God? When
you follow the commandments, how does
your family work? How does your job
work? How does all the society works?
Not that everything's all perfect, but
how does everything start to fit into
order much better? How do the fruits
come about when you are
obeying commandments? That's how faith
is built. That's how trust in God is
built is actually off of testing it.
So faith is built on evidence.
And and it's the same thing as the
scientific method. And and so and if we
get into a place where we start thinking
that faith is simply belief,
it that doesn't mean anything. Doesn't
matter what you believe. If it's not
built off of faith, if it's not built
off of experiment
to start off to place that seed in,
sure, start with a bit of a belief. But
I it's
if I believe something and you believe
something different, it's just a power
game now. I want you to believe what I
believe. You want me to believe what you
believe. You want to be right. I want to
be right. That's all that matters.
But when you have a a the experience of
truth and and the manifestation of the
fruits of a law, then it's completely
different. Then you're and you're
actually anchored into some reality and
some truth that goes beyond. Yeah, I
just believe this. So, I love what he's
saying here on the two things. It's the
same thing. The scientific method and
the spiritual method work exactly the
same way in in my humble opinion. And
then he ends with his testimony which of
course you always want to hear the
testimony of the prophet.
My dear brothers and sisters, I testify
of Jesus Christ
as apostles are taught to testify of his
name, meaning his sacred work in all the
world.
I testify of the truths taught by the
restored church
and I share with you and testify to the
truth of these things I have said today
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Amen.
Okay. Just just uh you know obviously
there's so much more to this that I'm
not going to go into. I always feel
strange doing this anyway. It's like
what am I going to add to the prophet's
words? But on the same uh note of that
of of should I say anything or even
comment on this, I think it's important
for us to be able to discuss these
things. And so by bringing it to light
here and and and putting it out there,
then there's a place for discussion on
the comments section and a reaction to
the words that I'm saying. I'm right,
I'm wrong. Uh you should have added
this, whatever. But I think it's great
to be able to have the discussion. And
so I I I think it's important to talk
about these things. Have a great day.