Boyd K Packer

Prior to being called as a General Authority, Boyd K. Packer was once seated on a plane next to a professed atheist. Elder Packer said the man "professed his disbelief in God so urgently that I bore my testimony to him. 'You are wrong,' I said, 'there is a God. I know He lives!'

"He protested, 'You don't know. Nobody knows that! You can't know it.' When I would not yield, the atheist, who was an attorney, asked perhaps the ultimate question on the subject of testimony. 'All right,' he said in a sneering, condescending way, 'you say you know. Tell me how you know.'"

Elder Packer tried to communicate how he knew, using words like "Spirit" and "witness." But the atheist responded, "I don't know what you're talking about." Elder Packer said that the words prayer, discernment, and faith, were equally meaningless to the man.

If you want to find out how this conversation ended, read Elder Packer's talk, "The Candle of the Lord." I mention this incident for another reason.

Boyd K. Packer passed away this afternoon. The "breaking news" headline on Deseret News calls him a "champion of families, resolute defender of LDS doctrine." While many Latter-day Saints will also remember him as a master teacher and a powerful witness of the Savior, what many do not know is that he was the most hated and villified apostle of this generation -- hated by enemies of the Church, and especially by former members. In my lifetime, no other Church leader has been the target of such mean-spirited attacks.

In this setting I will not go into detail describing the reasons for their violent disagreements with and hatred of this man. I will only say this: I have a personal witness that the principles and doctrines taught by Elder Boyd K. Packer are absolutely true. And I know this in the same way he knew it. Others can say, like the atheist on that plane, "There's no way you can know those things!" But that is only because those critics are unwilling to pay the same price Elder Packer and I, and untold numbers of Latter-day Saints, have paid to know these things are true.

In mathematics and science, if you follow the right formulas you get the correct answers. You cannot, thinking you know better, create your own preferred formulas and still expect correct results. But isn't that what people do who take issue with the doctrines Elder Packer taught? Instead of demonstrating humility and a willingness to ask God, (1) "Are these doctrines true?" and (2) "If they are, what should I do about it?" their spiritual hearts are hardened by pride. They trust in their own intellectual abilities. Instead of prayer, they rely on their own feelings, changing societal trends, and the winds of public opinion. As a result, they end up joining the ever-growing ranks of those who think they're smarter than God.

I don't argue with their right to choose, but I would have them know this: Just because they don't believe the doctrines God has revealed through His prophets and apostles doesn't automatically mean they're untrue. I testify that God is alive and well, and Boyd K. Packer was one of His noble prophets. His teachings and testimony of the Savior's doctrines changed my life. I will never be the same. Not because I put it to a vote among my intellectual friends or asked what the Supreme Court has to say, but because the Spirit of the Lord has revealed the truthfulness of these doctrines to my mind.

I know these things are true. I cannot deny it. And I know that those who are willing to pay that same price will receive that same witness. If they "customize" the formula for seeking truth by asking anyone but God, they will not.