When I was a missionary in Paraguay in 2002, I met a Catholic man who wasn’t particularly interested in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But he did have one positive memory related to the Church. Several years earlier, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland visited Paraguay, and the man heard him speak. “His talk was really good,” the man said.
Few Church leaders have been as well-liked as President Holland, who recently passed away at age 85. He had a talent for connecting with nearly everyone: old and young, rich and poor, academic and practical, believers and skeptics, people within the Church and people outside of the Church, and just about everyone else.
This is why I think his 2021 talk, “The Second Half of the Second Century at Brigham Young University,” is particularly noteworthy. In this talk, President Holland defended the unique mission of Brigham Young University (BYU) and said the University should be willing to forgo some “professional affiliations and certifications” rather than renege on its core commitments. The talk attracted particular ire for discussing LGBTQ issues and suggesting that BYU professors provide “musket fire” in favor of the Church’s teachings on marriage and sexuality.
I have discussed President Holland’s talk in more detail elsewhere, but what I want to focus on here is what the talk says about his character. President Holland likely knew that his talk would be unpopular. He knew that many people would (falsely) accuse him of hatred and insensitivity. He knew that his standing as the apostle that everyone liked, as a leader that everyone could relate to, would be seriously threatened. President Holland was willing to stand up and be counted
It’s also noteworthy that President Holland gave this talk at the peak of Progressive confidence about issues related to gender and sexuality. The Church’s views were castigated as false and harmful; members of the Church were constantly told that they were on the “wrong side of history” for holding to the views expressed in The Family: A Proclamation to the World. At a moment when the forces of political, social, and academic respectability were all blowing in the opposite direction, President Holland was willing to stand up and be counted as someone who was committed to the Church’s teachings.
Of course, Church leaders (as well as the rest of us) are not supposed to care about what the world thinks of us. We are repeatedly warned in scriptures about loving the praise of men more than the praise of God. Popularity can become an idol, distracting and deflecting us from commitment to God. But Church leaders are human, and humans like to be liked. President Holland knew that this talk would put his reputation and public standing in jeopardy. He gave the talk anyway.
Jesus taught: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). He also taught: “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26). Though a message of peace, the gospel is also “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence” (1 Peter 2:8) to those who do not believe. Perhaps by design, the gospel can never be made completely respectable by worldly standards.
To me, President Holland’s 2021 talk demonstrated his ultimate allegiance. He was willing to give up his worldly popularity and respectability to stay true to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe he gave the talk with great eloquence and sensitivity, but that is not how many people received it. He was criticized by people within and without the Church; even some national publications took notice of the talk and criticized it. But this was a price he was willing to pay. Perhaps there is not better way to end than with President Holland’s own words about courageously defending the gospel:
“Be strong. Live the gospel faithfully even if others around you don’t live it at all. Defend your beliefs with courtesy and with compassion, but defend them . . . In courageously pursuing such a course, you will forge unshakable faith, you will find safety against ill winds that blow, even shafts in the whirlwind, and you will feel the rock-like strength of our Redeemer, upon whom if you build your unflagging discipleship, you cannot fall.”
