Intellectual and Moral Integrity

 We live in a day of conflict, of choosing up sides, of dehumanizing people other than our kind.  These are circumstances that deeply trouble me.  We commonly have our biases and seem so very comfortable sitting snugly and smugly in our various comfort zones.

Years ago, while watching a TV program called Finding Your Roots, with Henry Louis Gates Jr. I had a major paradigm shift.  He was working with the renown lawyer Alan Dershowitz.  My political views at the time, so differed from those Dershowitz espoused that I almost turned it off.  Thankfully, I didn’t.  As, Dr. Gates examined Alan’s family history and helped him understand his roots, I came to a new understanding as well.  As I remember the episode, Alan told a story of coming home excitedly proclaiming that the Yankees won the Pennant!  To which his Grandmother replied, “Vat does dat mean for da Jews?”  Having just heard of their oppression in Eastern Europe and their difficult journey to America, I suddenly had an epiphany.  I realized in no uncertain terms that had I been raised in the family and environment Dershowitz had, I’d most certainly, be in a much more similar frame of mind to his.’’Suddenly, I realized that my own upbringing had a profound effect on my own thinking, opinions and in particular my bias, or the frame of mind with which I view the world.  I knew that day that I had to begin the process of examining those views with the hope of at least seeing both sides of an issue, but also with the view of discovering and adopting the truth!

Another great influence at that particular time came in the form of the biography of Sir Isaac Newton called Never at Rest by Richard S. Westfall.  In it the author explains that Newton wrote more on religion than he ever did on Mathematics and Physics.  Newton was indeed a scientist first, but as his interests turned toward religion he found that much seemed amiss having been confused by wild imaginings and indeed, bias, or personal opinion.  As Newton approached his examination of biblical prophecy, particularly in Daniel and the Book of Revelations he realized that in order to avoid the same pitfalls he found in other writers on the subject that he must establish and apply 15 rules to his study and conclusions, to be certain that his own training didn’t interfere with the discovery of the truth.  To give you a glimpse into Newton’s conclusions, he declared that there had been a general apostasy and that a restoration would happen some two centuries after his time.  He believed that the restoration would come with the sounding of a trump.  He whole heartedly rejected the Trinity Doctrine, believing that the Father and the Son were, indeed resurrected and corporeal beings with bodies of flesh and bone.  He believed that the authentic Priesthood of God was no longer upon the earth.  These views held such sway with him, that when he was offered a professorship at Cambridge, he declined because with the position, came the requirement of ordination to the priesthood of the Church of England.  Such an ordination he felt to be an affront to God and he would not do it.  A group of friends eventually persuaded the King to create the Lucasian Chair at Cambridge with the stipulation that it might be filled with one who was not ordained.  Newton accepted that chair.

I tell you this because it struck me as vital, that I too, establish some rules for the examination of the world’s barrage of information.  I did not then, nor do I now, want to be influenced by my own bias, or anyone else’s.

My list of rules has evolved over the years.  Here it is as it now stands:

1. Simplicity (I drew this one from Newton’s list. Repeatedly, “God delights in plainness. The more complicated things become, the more I need to boil them down to simple basic principles.
2. Open Mindedness (I need to be willing to look at an issue, circumstance or organization from all sides.)
3. Glean  (Most approaches, opinions, platforms and dogmas have both correct and incorrect ideas, I don’t have to swallow the fish bones as well as the meat, neither do I have to throw the baby out with the bath water.}
4. Prove (Get the actual facts.  This is getting ever more difficult to do, but there is another factor to prove that is significant here. In Malachi we are invited to “prove Me now herewith..” In other words, make application of the principle and “see if I will not open the windows of Heaven…”. In other words test it.  This can be done by application and also often as a simple, intentional thought experiment - pondering)
5. Source (This is another I obtained from Newton.  Rather than rely on the analysis of others, he went directly to the scripture for his examination of prophecy.  Too often I have fallen victim to the ease of just taking someone’s word for what happened, or for someone’s position, or deed.  It will not do to seek the opinions only of the detractors.  There must be merit to the views of those who affiliate as well as those who reject.”
6.  Solid Ground (Stand on the solid ground you have already gained.  If you have thoroughly examined this or that and followed all the rules, then I say you’ve obtained some solid ground.  There is no need to fuss over that any further.  Now it is a matter of fitting that which is not so sure to that which is!  And if you’ve done it right it will attach naturally, harmoniously to your anchoring  place.
7. God is the Source of all Truth  (Whether you accept this or not the rule applies.  I already know this from experience.  It is really quite simple.  Either God exists or He doesn’t.  It is the most fundamental thing, to approach God and ask.  My experience has been undeniable, over and over.  He has and continues to confirm truth to me.  It is not usually a question of handing me the truth as it is a question of confirming truth I have settled on and asked Him to confirm.  Many times He has not confirmed something I had eagerly accepted.  There is a subservient rule that applies to this one.  The thing, organization, person or principle that I feel to strongly embrace, must be in compliance with truth already established.  In other words, it must conform to that which God has already revealed.  Sort of goes back to rule 6.)
8. Rule of Thumb. (Deception in any form casts doubt on the source.  Let me give you a few examples.  I saw a recent political add that shows footage of a candidate saying something quite heinous.  Further, examination, though, proved that the ad makers had edited the video such that it completely misrepresented what was actually said.  Why would I ever trust that source again?  Recently, someone claimed to my wife that The Book of Mormon was plagiarized from another book written at the time.  My wife read the ostensibly sourced book and found that in no way did the books have more than one similarity and that the differences in the similarity were profound.  There is no way that an accusation of plagiarism would hold up in court.  Hence, another source that cannot be trusted.)

• Quit Choosing Sides (We, especially in America, have fallen prey to an us versus them mentality.  If we don’t like something the Democrats stand for, we tend to hate Democrats and everything the stand for.  Of course the same sentiment tends to apply in the opposite direction.  I cannot understand the mentality that our side is right and their’s is wrong!  Certainly, there are good as well as elements to each side, the Prophet has repeatedly said so.  So, the notion that because this candidate represents our side, so he, despite his faults is right and the other despite his qualities is wrong, is utterly ridiculous!  I know so many people on either side of the aisle who adamantly despise the other, for no other reason than that’s where their fathers stood and their fathers before them.  This polarized view of the future of our Republic, to me is way more dangerous than many of the policies and platform of either side.  This same feeling applies in other arenas as well.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is actively addressing this issue by attempting and often succeeding in building bridges where chasms have been.  A couple in my own Stake have a Church calling to attend, serve and worship with other congregations in our community who are not of our faith.  A Bishop in a nearby town offered space in the Chapel in which his Ward meets to a Muslim friend of mine so he could have space in which to worship Allah.  We will all be happier if we start building bridges instead of entrenching ourselves in our ever more isolated bunkers!)

Well, the question remains, do we have intellectual and moral integrity?  I think Isaac Newton did.  I’m not asking you use or accept my rules, but I am suggesting that we establish some.  Rules that will require of us a good hard look at what we believe, accept, embrace and encourage.  It stands to reason, that we cannot all be right at once.  It also stands to reason that we won’t any of us recover from our biases and prejudices in one quantum leap.  These things take time and effort.  I just hope we will start now to embark further on that path.