Boyd K. Packer

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Acting President Boyd K. Packer

Boyd Kenneth Packer (b. September 10, 1924) is the current Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Packer has been an Apostle and a member of the Quorom of the Twelve since 1970 and a General Authority of the Church since 1961.

1 Church service
2 Controversies
3 Artist
4 Family
5 References
6 Sources
7 External resources

[edit] Church service

Packer was born in in Brigham City, Utah, the tenth of eleven children born to Ira W. Packer and Emma Jensen. Packer has been a General Authority of the Church since becoming an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1961. While serving in this capacity, Packer was assigned to serve as the Mission President of the New England States Mission of the Church. In April 1970, Packer was the first person chosen as an Apostle by Church President Joseph Fielding Smith. Packer was 53 years old when he became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, which is a relatively young age to be called to serve in the second-highest governing body of the LDS Church.

When Howard W. Hunter, who had been President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, succeeded to the presidency of the Church in 1994, he called as his counselors in the First Presidency Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson, who were the only two Apostles senior to Packer. As a result, Packer was named Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve. When Hunter died in 1995 and was succeeded by Hinckley, Monson was again retained in the First Presidency and Packer was again asked to be Acting President of the Twelve. Conforming to the usual seniority-based succession pattern, the death of either Church President Hinckley or First Counselor Monson would make Packer the President of the Quorum of the Twelve, while if Packer should survive both Hinckley and Monson he would become President of the Church.

[edit] Controversies

Packer's conservative interpretation of Latter-day Saint doctrine, his emphasis on absolute loyalty to the Church and his alleged role in the high-profile excommunications of the "September Six" have attracted strong criticism from some liberal Mormons and former members of the Church. He alienated many Mormon historians when, in a 1981 speech to employees of the Church Educational System, he chastised Mormon historians for their desire "to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not."^[1] In the same speech, he famously asserted that faithful historians should not tell the whole story of Mormonism because "some things are true that are not very useful." Packer wrote, "[t]he writer or the teacher who has an exaggerated loyalty to the theory that everything must be told is laying a foundation for his own judgment. He should not complain if one day he himself receives as he has given. Perhaps that is what is contemplated in having one's sins preached from the housetops." He also compared unpleasant truths from Mormon history to "disease germs" that should not be spread to impressionable Mormons.

Packer's LDS General Conference address from October 1976 has become one of the most well-known and distributed speeches in the history of the Church; it is also one of the most controversial among Mormons and non-Mormons alike. The speech has been published as a pamphlet by the Church for over 30 years. This pamphlet, entitled "To Young Men Only", encourages teenage boys to avoid immoral activities, which Packer says includes viewing pornography, masturbating, participating in homosexual behavior, and participating in heterosexual behavior outside of marriage. Packer encourages young Latter-day Saints to "vigorously resist" any males "who entice young men to join them in these immoral acts." Infamously, Packer also compares the male sex organs to a "little factory," which will over-produce sperm if young men masturbate. In the same speech, Packer also cites the example of a male missionary he had known who punched his missionary companion when the companion made a homosexual advance toward him. After telling the story, Packer comments, "I am not recommending that course to you, but I am not omitting it. You must protect yourself." Some critics have argued that these comments constitute an endorsement of gay bashing by Packer, and that the Church itself endorses such behavior by continuing to publish Packer's speech in pamphlet form.^[2] Neither Packer nor the Church have officially responded to these charges. The Church did not include Packer's talk in the November 1976 Ensign magazine, which typically contains transcripts of all speeches given at General Conference, ostensibly because the Church intended on publishing it as a pamphlet.^[3] Although the pamphlet of the speech is still readily available from the Church's product distribution services, it may currently only be purchased by Church units, not by individuals.

[edit] Artist

Packer is also known for his artwork. He has created sculptures and paintings which were briefly on show in the Museum of Church History and Art and now are in the family holdings. Packer's wildlife paintings and sculptures created over seven decades reveal his love of nature and also portray his life experiences and religious convictions.