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Christ's Ideals for Living
Written by Obert C. Tanner, a Professor of
Philosophy at
the University of Utah, in 1955, for the Sunday
Schools of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The following are the Preface and Table of Contents of the book:
Christ's words are
as true now as two thousand
years ago: "Therefore whosoever heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him
unto a wise man, which built his house upon a
rock:" (Matthew 7:24)
Yet this work is more than a study in Christian
morals and ethics. It is a study of God's will as
revealed in the life and teachings of the Savior,
as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. These lessons, therefore, have
a religious emphasis that our Church maintains, as
distinguished from a study in morals and ethics;
there is also a practical emphasis here, as indeed
the Gospel has always been a concern of daily
living to Latter-day Saints.
Not all of the teachings of Christ could be given
in one volume. This work selects those teachings
of most concern for, young people on the threshold
of maturity who are currently making life's
ultimate decisions.
General Structure of the Book
Teachers using an outline are helped by a careful
study of its general structure. This book has
forty-five chapters, divided into four parts:
Part 1. Introduction: The Birth, Youth, and
Baptism of Christ.
Part 2. Christ's Ideals for Personal Character.
Part 3. Christ's Ideals for Social Living.
Part 4. Conclusion: The Death and Resurrection of
Christ.
Each lesson is organized to attempt the Latter-day
Saint philosophy of combining the wisdom of
ancient with modern, and applying these truths to
our present life situations. With this purpose in
mind, each chapter has been prepared with five
sections:
1. The Ideal, an Introduction
2. The Ideal from Scripture
3. The Ideal in Christ's Life
4. The Ideal in Our Lives
5. The Ideal in Quotations from Church Leaders
The above divisions within each chapter are
numbered chronologically from 1 to 225 to afford a
more accessible cross-reference.
The material for each chapter is taken from three
sources: (1) The scriptures. These include New
Testament and other Latter-day Saint scripture.
(2) World religious literature -- from poets,
philosophers, and men and women whose writings add
insight and appreciation to the ideals Christ gave
to mankind. (3) Quotations from Church leaders
which emphasize and give inspiration for us to put
the Savior's teachings in our lives today.
Methods of Using the Book
The obvious fact about each chapter is that it
contains more material than can be taught or
discussed in a single class period. It is intended
that such over-sized chapters will have in them
the variety of materials to meet the needs of a
wide variety of teachers and classes. And yet,
each lesson is unified under a single ideal.
Whichever one of the five divisions of each
chapter is discussed, the discussion should center
upon the one ideal of the lesson.
Some teachers may wish to begin with the last
section, a quotation from one of the Church
leaders; some with Section 1, the scripture; and
some with Section 3, the ideal applied to present
living. The order presented in the book attempts
the approach of first explaining the ideal,
presenting a statement of it from scripture, then
as it was lived and taught by our Savior, its
application to our lives, and finally the
inspiration and emphasis taught by our Church
leaders.
Following this order of the book, one would teach
a class by first making clear the meaning of the
ideal, then as it was lived and taught by Christ,
its meaning and significance for our lives, and
finally the Latter-day Saint emphasis taught by
our Church leaders.
The teacher might consider the material of the
lesson as something like a table prepared and
spread with several offerings, from which the
teacher and class may select, according to their
interests and their estimates of values involved.
Latter-day Saints are blessed in the knowledge
that Christ lives, and that He helps us as He did
Peter and John, and so many others in the days of
His first earthly ministry.
Christ's Ideals for Living
Part One: The Birth, Youth, and Baptism of Christ
Good Will
Opportunity
Resolution
Part Two: Christ's Ideals for Personal Character
Faith
Humility
Courage
Purity
Reverence
Sincerity
Temperance
Balance
Integrity
Beauty
Truth
Serenity
Adventure
Prayer
Self-Regard
Conviction
Endurance
Repentance
Thanksgiving
Joy
Part Three: Christ's Ideals for Social Living
Love
Home
Friendship
Happiness
(click here for Teacher's Edition)
Wealth
Brotherhood
Peace
Justice
Mercy
Magnanimity
Equality
Freedom
Loyalty
Tolerance
Progress
Forgiveness
Trust
Part Four: The Death and Resurrection of Christ
Worship
(click here for Teacher's Edition)
Steadfastness
Sacrifice
Eternal Life
The Purpose of the Book
These lessons comprise a life of Christ in
ideals--ideals he lived and taught for our
happiness and eternal life.
The underlying purpose of this book is expressed
in a quotation from the writings of President
David O. McKay: "Back of the work, back of the
sorrow, back of the life, ever glows the ideal.
How constantly we keep our eyes upon it determines
whether we shall fall as failures along life's
highway or fulfill the divine purpose of our
being."1
Nobody wants to "fall as a failure along life's
highway," but many do. Some fail because of
outward circumstances that defeat and thwart their
plans. Some fail because of inward
circumstances -- insincerity, pride, greed, lust,
jealousy, etc. Some fail for lack of first-rate
abilities to match first-rate ambitions; they are
unwilling to face an honest self-appraisal and
accept themselves as they are. Some fail because
they adopt the wrong means to realize the right
goal -- poor head-work that does not match a good
heart in their necessary cooperation. Many fail
for lack of will power described by Paul: "…the
good that I would I do not: but the evil which I
would not, that I do." (Romans 7: 19)
Still others fail because the vision of the
highest is blurred; against such failure this book
is hopefully directed. Failure to see the better
or the highest is a cause of failures that deeply
inflicts our world. Cannon Donaldson writes, "the
seven deadly sins of society are these: politics
without principles, wealth without work, pleasure
without conscience, knowledge without character,
commerce without morality, science without
humanity, worship without sacrifice.''2
To get our eye on the best is not an easy matter.
Fearful that a clouded vision might lower his
standards, John Milton wrote:
O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples the upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for thou know'st,…
What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the height of this great argument
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.3
Someone has said that "we cannot know our world
until we find a compass that can chart the world
we know." The compass that charts the highest is
Christ. Near the mural of the figure of Christ on
the R. C. A. building in New York City are these
words: "Man's ultimate destiny depends not upon
whether he can learn new lessons or make new
discoveries and conquests, but on his acceptance
of the lesson taught him two thousand years ago."
The Latter-day Saint religion makes real the
lessons taught two thousand years ago. It is a
living gospel which unfolds and expands to all who
seek the right and the excellent.
These chapters are written in the thoughtful
reflection of a great challenge: "How constantly
we keep our eyes upon it [the ideal, the example
of our Savior] determines whether we shall fall as
failures…or fulfill the divine purpose of our
being."4
The Meaning of an Ideal
In this book the word "ideal" means a gospel
standard. As such, an ideal becomes "a way to
perfection," "that which inspires and directs,"
"something great and splendid we wish to attain."
From the viewpoint of the Latter-day Saint
principle of eternal progress, an ideal is always
"the better beyond the best."
Since this is a book on ideals, it might be well
to examine their meaning with some care.
Ideals are inevitable. "Man is born to act,"
writes Oliver Wendell Holmes. "To act is to affirm
the worth of an end, and to affirm the worth of an
end is to create an ideal."
Ideals are necessary. They chart the world of
character, making a scale of values for us to set
our eyes upon and decide which we want at the top
of the scale.
Ideals are powerful. They command the mind and
heart. They can, to use a phrase from George
Bernard Shaw, "take a mob of appetites and
organize them into an army of purpose and
principles."
Ideals become selective. The selection of a
supreme ideal is necessary for a good life here
and hereafter. William James wrote: "The seeker of
his truest, strongest, deepest self must review
the list carefully and pick out the one on which
to stake his salvation." We cannot have a high and
low ideal at the same time. Selection of one means
rejection of another. Nor can we place more than
one at the top of the list. We have to "pick out
the one on which to stake our salvation." We are
faced with the difficult task of discriminating,
accepting, and rejecting. Latter-day Saints put
the cause of God first. All other values: wealth,
health, home, country -- these are subject to, and
in harmony with, this one supreme ideal. These
pages attempt to establish this fundamental ideal:
The will of God in our lives each day and each
year.
Ideals are saving. The ideals of Christ have been
a pillar of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by
night. They stand supreme before the best thinking
and the best living the human race has yet known.
They measure our progress. To defy them is
destruction, and to live them is life here, and
hereafter. Someone has said that it is character,
not talent, for lack of which our world suffers.
It is because of too little character, not because
of too little talent, that the careers of human
beings come to wreck.
Ideals are attainable, but not wholly so. It is
Latter-day Saint philosophy that ideals are not
static patterns of absolute perfection. Ideals
pertain to perfection, and are relatively fixed
and permanent, yet they expand and unfold with our
progress. High ideals are never realized
perfectly, but they are realized in the varying
degrees of our understanding and will power. If
ideals are impossible of full attainment, we are
no less intent upon them; the goal of the
impossible is yet the highest goal. "God asks no
man whether he will accept life," said Henry Ward
Beecher. "That is not the choice. You must take
it. The only question is how."
by Obert C.
Tanner