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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
11/15/12
It is to be
noted that the teachings of Jesus pertained mostly to this life. From
time to time he gave us glimpses of a glorious future. But these were
conditioned upon what we do here, just as by John's revelation the
dead were judged by the works they had done while they lived. We are
not here just to prepare to die but rather to live, and to use all our
powers to perfect ourselves by acquiring knowledge, developing our
talents, building virtue unto ourselves, conquering evil, by
practicing the things we know. The progress we make here determines
our status hereafter. - Albert E. Bowen, Conference Report, April
1951, Afternoon Session, p.124
8/2/15
History furnishes no parallel to the power and influence of Jesus the
Christ. In all the achievements of the nineteen centuries since his
death, nothing has been produced to challenge this preeminence. In
this marvelous day when study of physical forces has seemed to bring
knowledge about them almost to its very pinnacle, there is in all our
learning, physical or metaphysical, mystical or philosophical, nothing
to grip the hearts of men as they have been gripped by the compelling
power of the Man of Galilee. "Whence hath this man his power?” - Albert
E. Bowen, "Conference Report," April 1947, Afternoon Meeting, p. 106