LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley told thousands of young Latter-day Saints that, unlike generations past, most of their own challenges involve choices about personal behavior that are manageable with the help of six gospel principles.
Speaking to young men and women ages 14-25 Sunday night from the Conference Center, he urged them to become educated both secularly and spiritually.
"I hope that you are studying diligently and that your great ambition is to get A grades in your various courses. . . . Let your teachers give you the A's that I hope you earn. I want to talk about some 'B's.' Be grateful, be smart, be clean, be true, be humble, be prayerful."
"There are two little words in the English language that perhaps mean more than all others. They are 'thank you,' " he said, urging his audience to express gratitude to their parents, family members, friends, teachers and particularly the Lord. "Let a spirit of thanksgiving guide and bless your days and nights. Work at it. You will find it will yield wonderful results."
Being smart is being willing to "sacrifice anything that is needed to be sacrificed to qualify yourselves to do the work of the world."
President Hinckley said LDS youths have "a mandate from the Lord to educate your minds and your hearts and your hands." By doing so, "you will bring honor to the church, for you will be regarded as a man or woman of integrity and ability and conscientious workmanship."
Like a 3-inch switch in a railroad track at one small switch point can make all the difference in the resulting destination, even small deviations from an education now can lead "far from where we intended to go. . . . There can be no doubt, none whatever, that education pays. Do not short-circuit your lives. If you do so, you will pay for it over and over and over again."
Being clean is avoiding filth and sleaze that is readily available on TV, in movies and on the Internet, he said, asking listeners to avoid profanity and illicit drugs, choose good friends and show respect for their bodies by eschewing tatoos and body piercing beyond one set of earrings for girls.
"You are a child of God. Your body is his creation. Would you disfigure that creation with portrayals of people, animals and words painted into your skin? I promise you that the time will come, if you have tattoos, that you will regret your actions."
Cleanliness is also freedom from sexual sins, he said, re-emphasizing the church's counsel to avoid steady dating at an early age and "to date a variety of companions until you are ready to marry."
President Hinckley also asked young people to be true by being loyal to the church. "This is your church. You have as great a responsibility in your sphere of action as I have in my sphere of action. It belongs to you just as it belongs to me." Covenants made with the Lord at baptism and in the temple cannot be taken lightly.
"Be true to your own convictions. You know what is right, and you know what is wrong. You know when you are doing the proper thing. You know when you are giving strength to the right cause. Be loyal. Be faithful. Be true."
In doing so, he urged them to also be humble by avoiding conceit, pride and arrogance, in order to be teachable. Such youths are willing to learn, to listen to the whisperings of the Spirit and "to place the wisdom of the Lord above their own wisdom."
Finally, he asked them to be prayerful. "You cannot do it alone. You will come to realize that and recognize that more and more as the years pass. So live that in good conscience you can speak with the Lord. . . . The miracle is that he hears. He responds. He answers. Not always as we might wish he would answer, but there is no question in my mind that he answers."
In an unusual conclusion, President Hinckley offered a prayer for the youths of the church, asking God to "keep them on the high road that leads to achievement. Save them from the mistakes that can destroy them. If they have erred, forgive their trespasses and lead them back to the ways of peace and progress."
The event, which was broadcast live to LDS stake centers in the United States and Canada, was also available through a live Internet broadcast in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole.
It will be rebroadcast on the church's Web site at www.lds.org Nov. 19 in the following languages: Bulgarian, Cambodian, Cantonese, Cebuano, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Haitian Creole, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Mongolian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai and Tongan.
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