Letter of the Law vs Spirit of the Law

Le#er
of
the
Law
vs.
Spirit
of
the
Law? See
the
Book
of
Mormon
Ins9tute
manual
(1989,
1996
edi9on),
on
page
120.
The
 following
included
quota9on
comes
from
pages
46‐47
of
Neal
A.
Maxwell’s
book
 For
the
Power
Is
in
Them. “One
of
the
ironies
which
is
fostered,
at
9mes
innocently,
in
the
Church,
is
the
 feeling
we
have
that
the
spirit
of
the
law
is
superior
to
the
le#er
of
the
law
 because
for
some
reason
it
seems
more
permissive
or
less
apt
to
offend
 others.
The
reverse
is
true.
The
spirit
of
the
law
is
superior
because
it
 demands
more
of
us
than
the
le#er
of
the
law.
The
spirit
of
the
law
insists
that
 we
do
more
than
merely
comply
superficially.
It
means,
too,
that
we
must
give
 a#en9on
to
the
things
that
ma#er
most
and
s9ll
not
leave
the
others
 undone.” There
is
really
no
dichotomy
between
living
the
le#er
of
the
law
and
living
the
 spirit
of
the
law.
One
has
to
live
the
le#er
of
the
law
in
order
to
live
the
spirit
of
the law;
one
must
live
the
spirit
of
the
law
in
order
to
be
able
to
live
the
 le#er
of
the
law.


Docs: Handouts: Maxwell: “Letter vs Spirit.mellel”