The Fast Track

I came across an April 2001 General Conference talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks called "Focus and Priorities." Much of his talk focused on how modern technology has advanced to give us "far more discretionary time than our predecessors."

Interestingly, one of the first things he stated was that "it is timely to ask ourselves what we are going to strive to become because of what we have heard from the Lord's servants." This goes quite well hand-in-hand with our Attributes of Christ projects we have in our Book of Mormon class in the Pathway program in which we are striving to become more like Christ.

I was happy to read that Elder Oaks said:

"I hope that these cautions on the need to focus will not be understood as hostile to selective use of the new technology that has put such a wealth of information at our fingertips. In this I echo Brigham Young, who declared: 

"Every discovery in science and art, that is really true and useful to mankind, has been given by direct revelation from God. ... We should take advantage of all these great discoveries ... and give to our children the benefit of every branch of useful knowledge, to prepare them to step forward and efficiently do their part in the great work." (Deseret News, 22 Oct 1862, 129.)

So many times we well-meaning people try to throw the baby out with the bath water. Television, computers, the Internet all get labeled as a "bad" thing sometimes. That opinion is usually delivered with a bit of a haughty attitude. Personally, I love computers and TV. I strive to not use them to excess. I wouldn't be in college without them! However, we need to beware, as Alma counseled his son Coriantun:

"Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world; for behold, you cannot carry them with you."

Elder Oaks indicated the "'vain things of the world' include every combination of that worldly quartet of property, pride, prominence, and power." How many times did we see these things become the downfall of the Lamanites and the Nephites, especially in the book of Helaman?

The "Pride Cycle" in this section of the Book of Mormon is astounding in how quickly things changed. It's akin to watching a tennis tournament--back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. It's enough to give you whiplash!

The Lamanites and Nephites get puffed up in pride with their property of gold and silver, fine clothes, great herds, etc. Our modern-day gold and silver, since it's used in the manufacture, quite literally comes in forms of electronic toys. We have designer-label jeans, sneakers, and handbags, and our "herds" have several thousand horsepower.

People in this world cheat, lie, steal, and sometimes murder in order to gain prominence and power. We sometimes take too much pride in things from our children to sports teams--whether they've earned it or not.

We need to be careful with these wonderful resources we have been given. We will be held accountable to how we used these gifts. We can use them to uplift and improve, not only ourselves, but also those around us--our families, our communities, all the way up to our world depending on how far we can and want to take our efforts. Of course, they can especially be used to enlarge the knowledge of the gospel of ourselves and those around us.

Go give Elder Oaks' talk a gander. It's definitely one thing that's well worth the use of these great resources and time.

"Focus and Priorities" by Dallin H. Oaks, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles