Boyd K. Packer

Boyd K. Packer
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
February 3, 2008 (2008-02-03) – Incumbent
Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
June 5, 1994 (1994-06-05) – January 27, 2008 (2008-01-27)
End reason	Became President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
April 6, 1970 (1970-04-06) – Incumbent
Called by	Joseph Fielding Smith
Apostle
April 9, 1970 (1970-04-09) – Incumbent
Called by	Joseph Fielding Smith
Reason	Death of David O. McKay and reorganization of First Presidency
Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
September 30, 1961 (1961-09-30) – April 6, 1970 (1970-04-06)
Called by	David O. McKay
End reason	Called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Military career
1942-1946
Service/branch	United States Army Air Forces
Battles/wars	World War II
Personal details
Born	Boyd Kenneth Packer (1924-09-10) September 10, 1924 Brigham City, Utah, United States
Alma mater	Utah State (B.S., M.S.) BYU (Ed.D.)
Spouse	Donna Smith
Children	10
Parents	Ira W. and Emma Packer

Boyd Kenneth Packer (born September 10, 1924) is an American religious leader and former educator, and the current president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve from 1994 to 2008, and has been an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve since April 1970. Packer has served as general authority of the church since 1961. Currently, he is the second most senior apostle among the ranks of the church.

Background and education

Packer was the tenth of eleven children born to Ira W. and Emma (née Jensen) Packer in Brigham City, Utah. After graduating from high school, he served as a pilot in the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1946. Packer flew a number of bombing missions in the Pacific theater of World War II.^[1]

After leaving the military, Packer initially attended Weber College (now Weber State University), where he met his wife Donna (née Smith) Packer.^[2] They married in the Logan Utah Temple in 1947 and are the parents of ten children. After their marriage, Packer attended Utah State University, earning bachelor's and master's degrees, and later earned an Ed.D. from Brigham Young University.^[1]

Church service

Early employment and service

In his professional career as an educator, Packer worked in the LDS Church's Church Educational System, where he held various administrative positions overseeing seminary and institute programs, including as assistant supervisor of the church's Native American seminary programs, general assistant administrator of seminaries and institutes, and later as supervisor of church's seminaries and institutes.^[3]

Packer served a four-year term on the Brigham City City Council.^[4]

In 1961, Packer was called by LDS Church president David O. McKay to serve as a general authority as an Assistant to the Twelve, a position that no longer exists.^[5] While serving in the position, Packer was assigned to serve as president of the church's New England States Mission.^[3] He also served for a time as the managing director of the church's military relations committee.

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Following David O. McKay's death in January 1970, Packer, then 45 years old, was called by newly ordained church president Joseph Fielding Smith as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the church's April 1970 General Conference.

On September 12, 1991, Packer dedicated Ukraine "for the preaching of the restored gospel".^[6]

Packer has served as an advisor to the Genesis Group.^[7] He is credited with having suggested singing a hymn to drive off bad thoughts.^[8]

Packer has been active in obtaining genealogical records on microfilm for the church through its Genealogical Society of Utah. In 1977, Packer was a key figure in getting Native American-related records filmed from the federal records centers in Los Angeles, Fort Worth, Seattle and Kansas City.^[9] He was involved in negotiations that same year with archivists and scholars at Jerusalem to microfilm Jewish records.^[10]

As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Packer is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator.

Acting President and President of the Quorum of the Twelve

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 Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson as his counselors in the First Presidency. Packer was the fourth apostle in senority among the ranks of the church, behind Hunter, Hinckley and Monson, respectively. This created a situation where the only apostles senior to Packer were in the First Presidency. 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. There have been five acting presidents of the Quorum in the church's history. Packer served the longest in that capacity and is the only one to serve in the position under two different church presidents. Packer became president of the Quorum of the Twelve on February 3, 2008, when Thomas S. Monson, became president of the LDS Church. As president of the Quorum of the Twelve, Packer is second in line of seniority to Monson.

Participation in temples

While a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in one of the Spanish language sessions at the dedication of the San Diego California Temple, Packer read the dedicatory prayer.^[11]

As Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Packer dedicated the Regina Saskatchewan Temple.^[12]

By the time plans were made for the Brigham City Utah Temple, Packer was the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. As such, because of his ties to Brigham City, Packer helped to pick the site and later presided at the groundbreaking. On September 23, 2012, he dedicated that temple.^[13][14]

Teachings and positions

Sexuality

In a General Conference Priesthood Session in October 1976, Packer gave a sermon entitled "To Young Men Only", in which he discouraged boys of the Young Men organization in the Aaronic priesthood from pursuing activities which the LDS Church defines as immoral, including masturbation, the use of pornography, and homosexual activities.^[15] The sermon has been criticized by openly gay Mormon historian D. Michael Quinn and by Mormon lawyer David E. Hardy for issues related to its portrayal of homosexuals and Packer's suggestions on how Latter-day Saints should respond to homosexual advances.^{[16][17][18][19]}

Packer made international news in October 2010 when, in his sermon given at the general conference of the LDS Church,^[20] entitled "Cleansing the Inner Vessel",^[21][22] he stated, "Some suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn tendencies toward the impure and unnatural. Not so! Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone? Remember, God is our Heavenly Father."^[21][23] Because his statements characterized homosexual acts as "impure and unnatural" and implied that individuals can choose not to engage in homosexual behaviors, a petition was submitted to LDS Church headquarters on October 12, 2010 by the gay activist organization, Human Rights Campaign (HRC).^[24] In response to the petition, church leaders acknowledged that while they disagree "on many fundamentals"^[25] they join the HRC in condemning any "acts of cruelty or attempts to belittle or mock any group or individual that is different – whether those differences arise from race, religion, mental challenges, social status, sexual orientation."^[25]

Packer commented at the next general conference: "Some suppose that they were unfairly singled out for a specific temptation. This is the purpose of mortal life—to be tested. We must, and we can, resist temptations of any kind."^[26]

Faith-promoting history

Packer has advocated that LDS historians should refrain from discussing history that does not promote faith. In a 1981 speech to educators in the LDS Church Educational System, he cautioned, "There is a temptation for the writer or teacher of Church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not. Some things that are true are not very useful."^[27] Arguing that teachers should "give milk before meat",^[28] he stated that "some things are to be taught selectively and some things are to be given only to those who are worthy."^[29] Packer's opinion applied to all historians who were members of the LDS Church: he stated, "One who chooses to follow the tenets of his profession, regardless of how they may injure the Church or destroy the faith of those not ready for 'advanced history', is himself in spiritual jeopardy. If that one is a member of the Church, he has broken his covenants and will be held accountable."^[30]

Packer's comments have raised criticism by some prominent Mormon and non-Mormon scholars. Soon after Packer's 1981 speech, Mormon historian D. Michael Quinn gave a speech highly critical of Packer's views, and suggested that a historian who followed Packer's advice would sacrifice their honesty and professional integrity.^[31] Quinn also discussed what he viewed as a Mormon tradition of portraying LDS leaders as infallible people.^[32] C. Robert Mesle has criticized Packer as having created what Mesle views as a false dichotomy "between the integrity of faith and the integrity of inquiry".^[33]

Arts and church worship

Packer has spoken on the dynamic between the arts and church worship, characterizing some "highly trained" musicians as, "temperamental ... more temper than mental," while adding, "That, I suppose, describes all of us at one time or another." He encouraged musicians in church settings to focus on inviting a spirit of worship.^[34] Packer has also suggested that organists playing prelude music for worship services should focus on hymns, rather than classical music, in order to better prepare congregants to feel the Spirit.^[35]

Packer self-illustrated two books first published in the 1970s: Mothers (1977) and Teach Ye Diligently (1979).^[36] The church's Museum of Church History and Art, although characterizing it as the work of an amateur, exhibited Packer's wildlife paintings and sculptures in 2003 and 2004.^[37]

Parables

Packer has become known for two parables. The first is about a man that incurred a great debt and a benevolent friend who pays his debt but becomes his creditor.^[38] The second is about a person who emerges in the middle of a three-act play.^[39]

Both parables have been made into short videos which have been used by the LDS Church to teach youth in the seminary program.^[40][41]

Temple worship

One of Packer's most popular books^[42] is The Holy Temple.^[43] This book gives a doctrinal description of the church's temples and also explains the importance of family history work.

Recognitions

In May 2013, Weber State University, where Packer received an associates degree in 1948 and where he met his wife, designated a public service center for families the "Boyd K. and Donna Smith Packer Family and Community Education Center".^[44]

Selected works

• Packer, Boyd K. (1962), Manual of Policies and Procedures for the Administration of Indian Seminaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Field Project (Ed.D.), Provo, Utah: Department of Education, Brigham Young University, OCLC 22009489 
• —— (1975), Teach Ye Diligently, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., ISBN 0-87747-558-X 
• —— (1977), Mothers, booklet, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, OCLC 19655993 
• —— (1980), To Young Men Only, pamphlet, Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, OCLC 20473672 
• —— (1980), The Holy Temple, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, ISBN 0-88494-411-5 
• —— (1982), "That All May Be Edified": Talks, Sermons & Commentary, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, ISBN 0-88494-473-5 
• —— (1984), Our Father's Plan, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., ISBN 0-87747-523-7 
• —— (1986), A Christmas Parable, booklet, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, ISBN 0-88494-605-3 
• —— (1991), Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, ISBN 0-88494-787-4 
• —— (1996), The Things of the Soul, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, ISBN 0-88494-951-6 
• —— (1997), Memorable Stories and Parables, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, ISBN 1-57008-336-3 
• —— (1998), The Shield of Faith, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, ISBN 1-57008-582-X 
• —— (2000), Memorable Stories With a Message, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., ISBN 1-57345-788-4 
• —— (2008), Clyde J. Williams, ed., Mine Errand from the Lord: Selections from the Sermons and Writings of Boyd K. Packer, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, ISBN 1-60641-023-7 

See also

• Council on the Disposition of the Tithes

Notes

References

• LDS Church (2009), Leader Biographies: President Boyd K. Packer, retrieved 2009-06-04 .
• Mesle, C. Robert (1992), "History, Faith, and Myth", in Smith, George D., Faithful History, Salt Lake City: Signature Books .
• Packer, Boyd K. (November 2000), "Ye Are the Temple of God", Ensign .
• Packer, Boyd K. (May 18, 1993), Talk to the All-Church Coordinating Council .
• Packer, Boyd K. (1981), "The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect", BYU Studies 21 (3): 259–277 .
• Packer, Boyd K. (1978), To the One: Address given to the Twelve Stake Fireside, Brigham Young University, March 5, 1978, LDS Church .
• Packer, Boyd K. (1976), To Young Men Only: General Conference Priesthood Session, October 2, 1976, LDS Church .
• Quinn, D. Michael (2001), "Prelude to the National 'Defense of Marriage' Campaign: Civil Discrimination Against Feared or Despised Minorities", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 33 (3): 1–52 .
• Quinn, D. Michael (1992), "On Being a Mormon Historian (and Its Aftermath)", in Smith, George D., Faithful History, Salt Lake City: Signature Books .
• Searle, Don L. (June 1986), Elder Boyd K. Packer: Disciple of the Master Teacher, Ensign, pp. 8–9 .

External links

• Boyd K. Packer, Boyd K. Packer - Official Profile.
• Boyd K. Packer, Mormon Newsroom Leader Biographies.
• Boyd K. Packer, Church News, Boyd K. Packer feed.
• Boyd K. Packer, Boyd K. Packer, Grampa Bill's G.A. (General Authority) Pages.
• Boyd K. Packer Boyd K. Packer, Special Witnesses of Christ, LDS.org
• Boyd K. Packer, Boyd K. Packer, Wiki Quotes.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints titles
Preceded by Thomas S. Monson	President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles February 3, 2008—	Succeeded by incumbent
Preceded by Thomas S. Monson	Quorum of the Twelve Apostles April 9, 1970—	Succeeded by Marvin J. Ashton

v t e Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Marsh (1835–39) B. Young, Sr. (1839–47) Hyde (1847–75) Taylor (1875–80) Woodruff (1880–89) Snow (1889–98) F.D. Richards (1898–99) B. Young, Jr. (1899–1901) J.F. Smith, Sr. (1901) B. Young, Jr. (1901–03) Lyman (1903–16) Grant (1916–18) Lund (1918–21) Clawson (1921–43) G.A. Smith (1943–45) G.F. Richards (1945–50) McKay (1950–51) J.F. Smith, Jr. (1951–70) Lee (1970–72) Kimball (1972–73) Benson (1973–85) Romney (1985–88) Hunter (1988–94) Hinckley (1994–95) Monson (1995–2008) Packer (2008–)

v t e Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Packer Perry Nelson Oaks Ballard Scott Hales Holland Bednar Cook Christofferson Andersen

v t e Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints J. Smith Cowdery Harris Whitmer Marsh Patten B. Young, Sr. H.C. Kimball Hyde McLellin P.P. Pratt L.S. Johnson Wm. Smith O. Pratt Boynton L.E. Johnson Page J. Taylor W. Woodruff G.A. Smith W. Richards Wight H. Smith A.M. Lyman Benson Rich L. Snow E. Snow F.D. Richards J.M. Grant Wells J.W. Young G.Q. Cannon J.A. Young J.F. Smith, Sr. B. Young, Jr. Carrington Thatcher F.M. Lyman J.H. Smith Teasdale H.J. Grant J.W. Taylor M.W. Merrill Lund A.H. Cannon M.F. Cowley A.O. Woodruff Clawson Smoot H.M. Smith G.A. Smith Penrose G.F. Richards Whitney McKay Ivins J.F. Smith, Jr. Talmage S.L. Richards R.R. Lyman M.J. Ballard Widtsoe J.F. Merrill Callis Clark A.A. Hinckley Bowen S.Q. Cannon Lee S.W. Kimball Benson Petersen M. Cowley Moyle Stapley Romney L. Richards Bennion Evans Morris Brown Hunter G.B. Hinckley Tanner Monson Dyer Packer Ashton McConkie Perry Haight Faust Maxwell Nelson Oaks M.R. Ballard Wirthlin Scott Hales Holland Eyring Uchtdorf Bednar Cook Christofferson Andersen

v t e Assistants to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Anderson (1970–76) Ashton (1969–71) Bangerter (1975–76) Bennett (1970–76) Brockbank (1962–76) Brown (1953–58) Burton (1960–76) Christiansen (1951–75) Critchlow (1958–68) Cullimore (1966–76) Dyer (1958–67) Faust (1972–76) Fyans (1974–76) Haight (1970–76) Hales (1975–76) Hanks (1968–76) Hinckley (1958–61) Isaacson (1961–65, 1970) Komatsu (1975–76) Longden (1951–69) Maxwell (1974–76) McKay (1941–58) Morris (1951–54) Packer (1961–70) Perry (1972–74) F. Richards (1960–76) S. Richards (1951–53) Romney (1941–51) Sill (1954–76) Simpson (1972–76) Smith (1941–45) Sonne (1941–76) Stone (1972–76) Tanner (1958–67) Taylor (1958–76) Vandenberg (1972–76) Wirthlin (1975–76) Young (1941–58)

Persondata
Name	Packer, Boyd K.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 10, 1924
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death