Educated in neither high school nor college, a humble brother in the gospel some years ago prepared and delivered an address in sacrament meeting in a small branch of the Church. He spoke with sincerity of heart, though not with correctness of grammar.
Because the branch was small, he was called upon to speak frequently. Some found his sacrament meeting talks humorous. It is true that he, with his quaint manner of speech, could have been a role model for a character in a Mark Twain story. But he did not go to the podium to entertain; he went to speak of the gospel of Jesus Christ.During the week, he worked as a laborer. By the sweat of his brow and the ache of his muscles, he provided for his family. Each Sunday, he put on his one good suit and the whitest of his shirts and went to Church with his family.
Although his education was limited to the third or fourth grade, he could read. The standard works - the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price - were his favorite books. Whenever he spoke in sacrament meeting, he used verses from one or all of these scriptures as his text. He did not speak of lessons taught by the world's great thinkers or writers. He never quoted Plato, Socrates or Aristotle. He never told funny stories to get the attention of the congregation. He did not cite the findings of the latest studies to drive home the point of his sermons. He spoke simply, reading verses of scripture and sharing his own thoughts about their meaning.
The more spiritually attuned members appreciated his efforts, and even learned from him. But some in the tiny branch did not deem him a capable teacher, mainly because of the lack of his education. One member usually heaved a deep sigh and cast a glance around the small chapel at those he regarded as fellow sufferers of yet another boring sermon. One or two dozed; some others thumbed through hymnbooks.
During one meeting, two young men snickered when the speaker used incorrect grammar, or tried to explain a verse of scripture through one of his homespun analogies. Some of the more immature members of the congregation - mostly teenagers and younger children - found the young men's snickering contagious. They also began to laugh, poking fun at him.
Needless to say, the spirit of the meeting was greatly disrupted. The speaker who began his talk with such deep humility finished it in deep humiliation. He was uneducated, but he was not ignorant. He knew the young people were laughing at him. And he knew some adults found his talk boring.
A lesser man might have refused to accept another assignment to speak in sacrament meeting. But he never refused. He continued to speak, doing the best he could.
He did not choose to be uneducated. In his youth, circumstances forced him to abandon his pursuit of knowledge in the schoolroom to follow a plow in the field. He was thrust, when his father became disabled, into the role of the family's breadwinner. Throughout his late childhood, teen and young adult years, he worked so his younger brothers and sisters could afford to go to school.
Those who might be tempted to poke fun at the poor grammar or manner of speech of the "uneducated" among us would do well to remember:
"O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.
"But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God." (2 Ne. 9:28-29.)
Many rejected Joseph Smith because they felt he did not have the proper credentials to be a spokesman for the Lord. He "was an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age." (History of the Church 1:7.)
If we gain all our learning and knowledge only from those who have the credentials of the world, we run the risk of missing many things of value. An untold number of scholars have been taught the gospel by "uneducated" young missionaries, by young men and women who have not received college diplomas. And many older "uneducated" members of the Church have enlightened the minds of people of all ages.
If we open our minds and listen without intellectual prejudice to the Lord's servants, we might learn many wondrous things.