Marion
G. Romney and Intelligent Obedience
Marion
G. Romney was born in Colonia
Juarez, Mexico,
in
1897. He was ordained as an apostle in
1941, when he was 43 years old, and later served as a counselor to
Harold B.
Lee and Spencer W. Kimball. He died in 1988 at age 90.
In
an article about Elder Romney's life, Elder Harold B. Lee shared this
story
about his friend's integrity and commitment to the Lord:
"In the political field where so
much pressure is exerted on men to compromise ideals and principles for
expediency, party workers early learned to admire Marion G. Romney's
intense
loyalty to his own conscience as well as to the advice of his Church
leaders
... even though it frequently brought him into sharp conflict with the
leaders
of his own political party.
"On one such occasion, when church
leaders in a tersely-worded editorial had denounced the trends of the
political
administration then in power, he confided in me something which it
might be
well if all loyal Church members in public life could emulate: 'When
I read
that editorial,' he told me, 'I knew what I should do -- but that
wasn't
enough. I knew that I must feel right about following the counsel of
the Church
leaders and know that they were right. That took a whole night on my
knees to
accomplish.'
"I
submit in that statement the difference between
'intelligent' and 'blind' obedience.
“Marion G. Romney, while never disloyal
to authority over him, could never be rightfully accused of being
'blindly
obedient.'"
(See "Marion G.
Romney," in Improvement Era, Oct. 1962, p. 742)