Honesty

Elder Robert C Gay of the Seventy, What Shall a Man Give in Exchange for His Soul?, General Conference October 2012 “All was well until I turned 12. Standing in line one afternoon, I realized that the ticket price for a 12-year-old was 35 cents, and that meant two less candy bars. Not quite prepared to make that sacrifice, I reasoned to myself, 'You look the same as you did a week ago.' I then stepped up and asked for the 25-cent ticket. The cashier did not blink, and I bought my regular five candy bars instead of three.

"Elated by my accomplishment, I later rushed home to tell my dad about my big coup. As I poured out the details, he said nothing. When I finished, he simply looked at me and said, ‘Son, would you sell your soul for a nickel? His words pierced my 12-year-old heart. It is a lesson I have never forgotten.”

President David O McKay, “We Believe,” Improvement Era, September 1963, p. 803

“Honesty and sincerity are the basic virtues of a noble character.”

President David O McKay,   Treasures of Life [Deseret Book Co., 1965], p. 455 
“Honesty … is the first virtue mentioned in the Thirteenth Article of Faith. It is founded on the first principles of human society and is the foundation principle of moral manhood.”

President David O McKay,   Conference Report, April 1968, pp. 7–8 
“It is impossible to associate manhood with dishonesty. To be just with one’s self, one must be honest with one’s self and with others. This means honesty in speech as well as in actions. It means to avoid telling half-truths as well as untruths. It means that we are honest in our dealings—in our buying as well as in our selling. It means that an honest debt can never be outlawed, and that a man’s word is better than his bond. It means that we will be honest in our dealings with the Lord, for ‘true honesty takes into account the claims of God as well as those of man; it renders to God the things that are God’s, as well as to man the things that are man’s.’”

Gordon B. Hinckley, “Personal Worthiness to Exercise the Priesthood,” Ensign, May 2002, 52

“You cannot afford to do anything that would place a curtain between you and the ministering of angels in your behalf.
“You cannot be immoral in any sense. You cannot be dishonest. You cannot cheat or lie. You cannot take the name of God in vain or use filthy language and still have the right to the ministering of angels.”

Gospel Principles, “Honesty”

“When we are completely honest, we cannot be corrupted. We are true to every trust, duty, agreement, or covenant, even if it costs us money, friends, or our lives. Then we can face the Lord, ourselves, and others without shame”

Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939], 252

“Let every man’s life be so that his character will bear the closest inspection, and that it may be seen as an open book, so that he will have nothing to shrink from or be ashamed of”

President Thomas S. Monson, "Preparation Brings Blessings", Priesthood Session of General Conference April 2010

"A Latter-day Saint young man lives as he teaches and as he believes. He is honest with others. He is honest with himself. He is honest with God. He is honest by habit and as a matter of course."


Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 293
“If we accept salvation on the terms it is offered to us, we have got to be honest in every thought, in our reflections, in our meditations, in our private circles, in our deals, in our declarations, and in every act of our lives”

Mysteries of God

Doctrine and Covenants 6:10-11
10 Behold thou hast a gift, and blessed art thou because of thy gift. Remember it is sacred and cometh from above—
11 And if thou wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore thou shalt exercise thy gift, that thou mayest find out mysteries, that thou mayest bring many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, convince them of the error of their ways.

Mosiah 2:9
9 And these are the words which he spake and caused to be written, saying: My brethren, all ye that have assembled yourselves together, you that can hear my words which I shall speak unto you this day; for I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.


Harold B. Lee, "Ye are the Light of the World", 1974, 211
"...a mystery may be defined as a truth which cannot be known except by revelation."


My Commentary
We can hear a doctrine, but to know and understand it comes by revelation.

Homosexuality

Elder Dallin H Oaks, Followers of Christ, General Conference April 2013
“Jesus taught that God created male and female and that a man should leave his parents and cleave to his wife (see Mark 10:6–8).”

President Boyd K Packer, “How to Survive in Enemy Territory”,Seminary Centennial Broadcast 

“A few of you may have felt or been told that you were born with troubling feelings and that you are not guilty if you act on those temptations. Doctrinally we know that if that were true your agency would have been erased, and that cannot happen. You always have a choice to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost and live a morally pure and chaste life, one filled with virtue.”

1 Corinthians 11:11

 11Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

Abraham 5:18

 18Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.

Being One

John 17:20-21
 20Neither ^apray I for these alone, but for them also which shall ^bbelieve on me through their word;
 21That they all may be ^aone; as thou, ^bFather, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be ^cone in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

Behavior in the Chapel

Exodus 3:5

“Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground!”

Stewardship

Elder Dallin H Oaks - Apostle, Protect the Children, General Conference October 2012

"I speak from the perspective of the gospel of Jesus Christ, including His plan of salvation. That is my calling. Local Church leaders have responsibility for a single jurisdiction, like a ward or stake, but an Apostle is responsible to witness to the entire world. In every nation, of every race and creed, all children are children of God."

Luke 22:32

 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Divine Nature

2 Peter 1:3-4
 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.