SEMINARY AND INSTITUTE: KEEPING PACE IN QUEST FOR SECULAR AND SPIRITUAL LEARNING

By: Norberto Betita 

KayAn's Seminary Diploma

My Granddaughter KayAn Betita Palma graduated from her Senior High School with High Honors, awarded with a certificate and medal. She was also awarded a Governor Sol Matugas’ medal for Academic Excellence, for the Province of Surigao del Norte. The Philippine Society of Youth Science Clubs, likewise acknowledged her accomplishments with a Medal of Excellence and Certificate of Recognition. And the SNNHS Radiant Hilltop awarded her with a Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Performance in Campus Journalism as Editor-in-Chief.

Apart from her high school graduation, she also graduated from her four-year course in the Seminary and Institute of Religion of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Our foster daughter---Angelica Orillan---who will be graduating from college this school year, also graduated from the four-year Institute course

KayAn receiving her Seminary Diploma

The quest for education and learning is such a vitally important outlook in the life of young men and young women. It becomes even more valuable when coupled with a diligent search for spiritual knowledge and wisdom. The pursuit of secular knowledge is preparatory to one’s engagement in the competitive economic world and temporal self-reliance. While spiritual education is the study of the divine truths of God and scripture mastery to help shape one’s eternal destiny. 

Young men and young women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are encouraged to attend and enroll in the Seminary and Institute Program that covers doctrinal instructions and spiritual tutorings through the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History, and other elective subjects in a four-year course of study. Although it is not compulsory, families are enjoined to foster enthusiasm upon their youths to register in the Seminary and Institute Program as a paramount priority. “Spiritual learning takes precedence. The secular without the foundation of the spiritual is … like the foam upon the milk, the fleeting shadow. … One need not choose between the two … for there is opportunity to get both simultaneously” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982, p. 390 as quoted by Richard G. Scott, Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge, General Conference, October 1993.) 

Angelica receiving her Insitute Diploma

By the same principle of spiritual preeminence, when my youngest daughter---Shauna Megan---informed me that she may not be able to graduate from her institute course of study because of her amplified and intensified efforts to finally qualify for honors at the University of the Philippines-Cebu, I told her candidly to forget about the honors and make sure to graduate from the institute. She did graduate from the Institute and also graduated cum laude from her college course. In high school, she graduated valedictorian and also finished her seminary the same year.

In the family, we encouraged our children and grandchildren to enroll in the Seminary and Institute Program of the Church. The knowledge of the gospel they gained in their search for spiritual learning did allow them to grow in knowledge and wisdom of the things of God. Such that our children are better prepared to serve in different capacities in the church.

KayAn, our eldest granddaughter, was the first to follow the path of her uncle and aunts, in so far as taking seminary and high school education simultaneously. Her sister will now be on her third year in the seminary and her brother will start this school year. Keeping pace in quest for secular and spiritual learning was such a heavy load, but never a brain draining educational endeavor. By the fact that, “The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. …because they are spiritually discerned” (see 1 Cor. 2:11, 14), as the Spirit of God---the source of all knowledge---influences the mind, it expands its understanding and learning ability not only on spiritual things, but also on matters of secular interest.

Spencer W. Kimaball taught: “The treasures of both secular and spiritual knowledge are hidden ones—but hidden from those who do not properly search and strive to find them. … Spiritual knowledge is not available merely for the asking; even prayers are not enough. It takes persistence and dedication of one’s life. … Of all treasures of knowledge, the most vital is the knowledge of God” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, pp. 389–90, as quoted by Richard G. Scott, Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge, General Conference, October 1993.) 

Seminary and Institute Batch 2019

Indeed, it is fundamentally significant that our children should be encouraged to search for learning and education both on their secular pursuits and search for spiritual truths. They should be nurtured to develop a deep interest in gaining knowledge and wisdom of these blended subjects. By their commitment and perseverance they will get the promise which the Lord laid upon those who desire, with real intent, to understand God’s dealings upon the earth and in heaven. He declared: “And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom.

“Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations.

“And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven; and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught.

“For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will—yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man” (D & C 76:7-10).

In the same vein, the Lord provides a reassuring promise that, “Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.

“And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come” (D & C 130:18-19).

The vulnerability of youth as regards the enticements of evil influences that surrounds them daily in the school environment, can be safeguarded as they devote part of their time in studying the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Seminary and Institute Program of the church provides such spiritual protection as for the adversary to faint and therefore lose the power to drag them down to hell. Thus, while keeping pace in quest for secular and spiritual learning can be truly an additional cargo in the youths’ educational backpacks, yet it provides them with an even stronger sustaining power to bear the load with ease. It likewise provides added wisdom and understanding into the brain power, through the Spirit of God, which is the ultimate provider of knowledge, as for them to intelligently excel in their educational pursuits.

Although I was already married with one child when I joined the church, I still enrolled in the Seminary and attended classes with the youths of the church and eventually graduated. I, together with my wife, also graduated from the institute program. I bear witness that the strength that sustained us as a family in our journey on the covenant path and our spiritual maturity, were initiated through our earlier diligent participation in the Seminary and Institute Program and further nurtured by our dedication and service in God’s Kingdom. Hence, it is my wish that this spiritual learning tradition will continue uninterruptedly in my family and posterity though all generations of time.