As promised, here is a smattering of notes from the Women’s Conference class entitled “Till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me,” taught by Shelley Heiner and James L. Toone. Please excuse that this post is just a collection of my notes, and they are not particularly cohesive. Hopefully you can peacefully hop from principle to principle.
Integrity comes from the same base as words like interger, and means entire and whole. It is doing what’s right. Integrity is the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.
The title of the class comes from the story of Job in the Old Testament:
1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
27:5-6 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
People with integrity:
- Have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ
- Understand who God is and our relationship with Him
- Keep covenants. (She told the story of a girlfriend who was driving alone in her car and a questionable song came on the radio. There were no children in the car, just her, by herself. She wondered if she should bother turning it off and this phrase from the Sacrament prayer came into her mind, “Always remember Him.” She knew that part of her covenants meant doing what was right even when no one was watching.)
15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
- Inner peace.
- absence of guilt/anxiety from sin
- confidence
- constant companionship of the Holy Ghost
We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
Diapers and Divinity 
Those stories are so powerful. Especially the one about the dying woman. Great recap, as always, Stephanie!
I used to think I was really low on the integrity thing. I just really didn’t understand the definition. It does not mean I will never make mistakes. It is about loyalty. I love the comparision to the stripling warriors. It makes me want to go back and read it. Also, Job. After the conference I want to go back and read his experience too. He completely understood the unprofitiable servant princeapal. I think it is really understanding who you are, and your willingness to do what is right under any circumstances. Where I used to think this was an area I was lacking in, I know now – it is an area of strength. Satan likes to do that – he will pinpoint an area in our lives we are actually really good at, and tell us we are losers. The Lord does not speak to us that way- so we can know that it is from the wrong source and tell him to go take a hike. I digress…sorry.
I am going to go read Job.
Is the Elder Palanite in the story THE Elder Palanite? The story makes me tear up a little, but even more so if it is the Elder Palanite I am thinking of. I’d have served him pork chops or a pork loin every day if I had known (he loved pork–he said it was the food of celebration in his culture).
Great lesson as usual!
Yes, it is. I already got permission from the mission president for my family and the primary children to send him some letters because he probably does not get much mail.
Send his address to us, too! What a great example for young people — we need more stalwart examples of the believers like Elder P! Amazing insights on the whole talk, as well — I think most of us are like Shantel. We don’t know how much integrity we have until we suddenly find ourselves in A MOMENT where we cling to it!
This was the basic concept of Elder Bednar’s CES talk last week. That we always need to have integrity, even on the computer, when no one will know if we’re being who we really are. Except us and God, of course!
By the way, that talk is available to watch now. The text and mp3 aren’t up yet.
The connection between integrity and integer is fascinating.