1\ COUNS F.

LLINC

Elder

PROBLEM

[N

'rHE CH URCH

Spence r W. Kunball

...\dd=-~~ to ~ m1na r y and l n 1t1tute F &culty ba s ed uoon a

s imLlar di.1cour1f:o to & group of L.D.S.
Psychia.t:riiu
.
Brigham
Young Untve r 11ty
Provo, . Ut a h
July 10. 1964
My bdO \ed brethren

who te a ch the youth. o! Zion:

What a g lorious :,upon11bihty

and opportunity
you have to work
wifa tl-.:: yo uth [c::- their cl ay i "i ll maldable
and y o ;J can rr.:ik e pe::-:n a ncnt
Brethren.
1 pay t r ibute to you. I expre .11
1 my
1mpre3 .1icn 1 upon them.
dfection
for you and confidence
in you . I am grateful
to the Lord that we
hav e men o{ you:- c a pability and devotion to stand bef<fre 'our young people
;,1.nc:!
give tilem ex&mple and teach them the way of life.
numerou
pro .1pective mi .1.1ionar!.e .1, 1 have
As 1 have interviewed
con.1ta.ntly by their exp re.11,io n of confidence
&nd faith ir:.
been impreued
th eir Semin &ry te a chers and l n 1titute directors.
Numerous
young men
have fill e d rni.1 s ion s becau s e of inspiration
from you. There are nume::-cus
who received
their inspiration
from
people in high place in Church poaition
you.
So, ag a in. we pa y t r ibute to you and commend
you and encourage
you
and mean ingful even though
to go forward . Your effo rts a r e rewarding
sometime the students
seem listless
and unresponding.
Again, l have been impres sed with th e strength
and stature
a nd
do w "
devotion a nd fa ith of you good folks as a class an d not infrequently
call from your number
stake presidencies,
high councllora,
bihopric
a.
:ind others f or impo:ta n t place,.
l hould like to be he lpful he r e today.
will ht
you in your work.

[ pray

that what [ may say

training
you have received,
you have been advi s ed
ln the excellent
that your responsibility
is in teaching a nd warning
and counseling
by r e a s on
o( your c ,l.lli.ng in the educ a tional program . Aa su c h spiriNal
trainers,
you
a:e net admini strator with eccleiastical
authority,
ho-..eve r , many of ye,,;.,
~ sta t e d a bov e , a re ecdesia,tical
leader
and serve in dual cap a cit i e, .
With my under s tanding of your work aa in str ucto r a in Seminary
ar.d
l ntitute,
1 {eel th a t you are probably close s t to the bishops and C~"!; help
moat with their work.
'!our service
lie s in the preventive
field perhap S'
Youth cornea into the Seminary
program
mo r e th a n in the cure area.
when moat of them a re clean and pure and undefiled . At le.:i s t we hop e
th a t mo s t of them are naive and unschooled
in the ug l y thing which be et the your.g, people in their middle teen.
Hence a program
of indocfield a nd
trin3.tio::,
prop!lrly
c a rried out c:in do much in the p r eventive
ke ep the boy s a r.d g irls clean and whole some and fr e e from th e i n s o f
the world . As th e youth beg,1n to learn from their con t empora:ies,
th ,e,
m:i:,.y ci:.Jtas teful things they will ha v e been fortified
a nd immu:u~cd
:t.nd
will b e a! e fron1 th ~ vicious c e s spools of filth a :,.d contami:a a t10:<:.
.

ll

If

poatponemcn:
of .iny dating could be wnver sa t .1mo11g our church
youth 1.mt1l middle teens 3.nd a t least the later year of high school; then
\! steady d3.tini could be held bck tmtil the yo!3.r,t1of collsge an.di! much
by the
o! thM s ocial life ln the liilte teens could be guided and mspired
The s weet io rt Uied
!n.st1tute1,
what a Utop1 wp should have found.
youn;er
people would approach the courting program
more ma.cure, more
sen.11ble, with g re a.tcr controls,
and young men would go on their mu s ,ons
the temple
u.nddiled,
and both young men and you.ng women would appr04ch
with clean hand .and pure hearu.
altars
o1

What a glorious wo rk C3.n then b e done by the Seminary

and Institute
teachers
ir. the preventive
field . And what a dPlight{ul partner s hip with
th.: bi s hop who h.1.s :he hn3.l rc , pon11bllity!

Now having con s id e red briely the more commonlydisc,.used

a r ea.
!rom proper 1tanda.rd1,
I am persuaded
to consider
briefly
o! deviation
a.nother a rea of trouble which ha t been more in the ba.ckground but which
now is bein1 written about in many magaz.ine.s and is being bl:'ought out into
the limelight.
The croup oC psychiat ri s u mentioned .a.hove e , pecially re
quested to know of our work with reaard to certain unholy practice,.
They asked about those deviates calh,d 'peepi ng tom,,
e xh ibitioni1t1 ,
homosexual 1, and perverts
in other areas.
Perhaps
you can also be helpful
,pi ritual medicine.
in the preventive

in these

area,

a1 you indoctrinate

When quitie a number of mien wiere being arrested

for the ugly
practice 1, the presidents
called one of my colleaa:es and myeU in and
charaed u1 with the re 1pon1ibility of helping these people on .a. church
Ut.a.h
level.
Naturally,
our work was limited largely to the Northern
though in a limited way we ha.ve helped some peopie afa r through
area,
their bishops and stake pre1idents.
We immediately
called into a se rvice a curl:'ent bishop . .a. chu:-ch
who is a 1ucceuful
bu , ineu man, who ia a
oUiciiill o! wide experience
good judgment and kindness.
He has an oHice without a
man or rare,
without a publihed numbe,r a nd his work i1 done
name on it. a telephone
bais.
on a confidential
Our helper bi.shop and OW' program
o! rehabilitation
are known now
the courts and the judge s who refer many case directly.
to the police,
the person then refer him to
When ca1e1 come to u1, we usually interview
our special as1i1tant.
In many ca es. the o!fenders
Mve been referred
to him by jud1e1 on a probation ba1i1.
Our .& ociate
i not a trained psychiatrist
nor does he pretend to be
a trained social worker,
but he i a humble le l:'v&nt of the Lord applying
principles.
His methods of
to the c.a., es love, underst a nding and righteous
helpmg 1n the cure mi a ht not pass a state board of profes s ional examiners
.
but they seem to pa well with the offender s and w1th the Lord for there have
been numerou
cures .
we have heard that homo1exuahty
was an incurable
Through the years,
di1ea1e but now many authorities
a gree that one is r ecoverable
from its
l quote from the Medical World News, June S, 1964 :
clutches.

ll

, . The eUectivenes
o{ thei:-a py depends on the
depth o! entrenchment
o{ the perversion,
&I well a1 the
strength
o{ the pa1icnt'1 desire 10 mod1fy it."
This statement
o! Medicine.

of lhe public health

committee

o! the New York Academy

The ,a mc report ,aya these de vi tes "a re t lean more open and
obt rus ive" than they were in th!! pil1t. It statl!s th.a.I the 1c people are
form.ally organi zed with a central o{{ice and a ma1azine of thei r own and
that "They are determined
to be accepted not a1 lawbreakers,
sinners,
o:r
even as sick people , but a, a diUerl!nt kind o! people leading an accepu.ble
The co mmittee quote:, these d,t,,viate1 a, claim.in.& their is
kind of lie."
way 0 lifi!, and th e perfect answer to the population
a 'no ble , pteferable
explosion . 1
We are told that a, far back as Henry the Vlll. th i1 vice wa, referred
AND DETESTABLE
CRIME AGAINST NATURE,"
to u "THE: ABOMINABLE
Some authorities
and some o! our own statues have fo ll owed that wording.
man , thou1h the la.tter
feel t ha t it i, nearly as pr evalent amon1 women
is more in the open.
We know 1uc h a. disease 11 curab l e, Meo have come dejected,
discou r
aged, embarrassed,
near ter r ified and ha.ve gone out l ater full of conl idenct'l
wi.th self r espect again, the confidence
of their
&nd faith in them1elve,
families , their home tie t ren gthened , and ready to manfully ta.kc thci:r
part iwscciety
aod even in the Church on an app r oved cured basis.
In some cases,
they have bee n men wit h families and we have had
wive s come in t o thank us tearully ror bringin1 their hu.1bands back to
them.
Wives have not a lwa ys known what had been wrong, but they had
sensed it and rea lized they ha d lost their husbands.
We have seen men
come !irst with downward g la nces &nd leave mon t hs later l ook i ng u1
straight
in the eye.
We have ha d them admit &ftcr the first Interview,
my error but
"I'm glad I wa.1 &rrested 1 have tried and tried to correct
knew I'd have to have help and ha.d not the coura1e to a1k for it,"
In a ! ew months,
1ome ha.ve totally mastered
themselves.
while other,
linger on with lea, power and re qu iring more time to make th e tota l co:ml!
back.
We r ealize lhat the cure is no more pe r m.anent than the individual
make it so and is like the cure for alcoholism
subject to continued vigilance.
To such men we say, "Physician
hc<Ll thy111elf, " and promise
him ii he will
Stay away lrom the haunts &nd the temptations
, .i.nd lhe former associates,
he may heal himself.
cleanse his mind and return to his norm&\ pu:-:1uit1 a~d
a h-.ppy state of mind.
The cure for this malady lies in set! mastery
which i1 th& fundamenlal
basis of the whole go1pel pro1ram.
May we quote ag&in from the work or
James Allen:
"A man' mind may be likened to a garden whu;h rnay be mtel
ligently cu1t1vatl!d or allowed to run wild: but whl!ther cultivated
or
neglccaed,
it mu:,1, and will, b rm g forth.
If no useful seeds are p111
into 11, then an abunda.ncc of ust'l l ea1 weed aceds will fall cherein and
continue to ;aoduce their kind.