What is Man? – Sunday, July 12, 1942
It has been many centuries since David of Old propounded the question, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4) Both before and since that time most thoughtful men have asked themselves the same question, and no doubt it is time to ask it again, because if we know what man is, then we can know how we may expect him to conduct himself, and what kind of world he has a right to live in—and these questions have bearing upon the troubles that rage about us. “What is man that thou art mindful of him?” We have often appraised man according to his affluence, according to his environment, according to his rating in somebody or other’s “Who’s Who?” And sometimes we have appraised men according to their inherited good fortune. But if you strip a man of all these, what is he? Men from every avenue of life are filling the same ranks, wearing the same clothes, marching in the same cause.
In such times, the superficial distinctions tend to be eliminated, and it is more important than ever that we know what a man is, within himself, apart from all extraneous acquisitions, veneers, and polishes. “What is man that thou art mindful of him?” Well, it is common knowledge that in some unfortunate places in the world a man is looked upon and treated as merely a tool of the state—and, more unfortunately, the state in such places has come to be merely the will or the whim of one or a few misguided men who have seized dominance over their fellow men. But fortunately there are still those places in the world where it is recognized what man is and where there are those who are determined that he shall be respected for what he is—a creature whose existence is not bounded by birth and death—whose power to think and whose right to think are God-given—a creature of mind and of spirit, as well as of flesh and blood, who has the right to make his own choices, to work out his own destiny, to- be free from bondage—so long as he doesn’t interfere with these same rights where others are concerned.
He is not a thing of chance; he is not a creature of passing existence. He is a member of an immortal race, a being whose life is endless, whose personality is indestructible, whose identity is inviolate. Indeed, man is a creature of such importance that the Lord God Himself has declared that His work and His glory are “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (.Pearl of Great .P7ice, Moses 1:39) “What is man that thou art mindful of him?” When we have answered this, we shall have given ourselves justification for challenging all oppression, all bigotry, all untruth, all slavery, all evil—in fact, all things that do not lead to the eternal progress of man, who is a child of God, and whose possibilities, with those of his Father, are limitless. And this is reason enough to be mindful of man—all men.
By Richard L. Evans, spoken from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, July 12, 1942, over Radio Station K S L and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System. Copyright-1942.
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July 12, 1942
Broadcast Number 0,673