The Wisdom of the Elders

My Primary lesson on Peer Pressure will follow the story of Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon, who became king after Solomon died. Now, King Solomon had apparently laid heavy taxes on his people, so when Rehoboam became king, the people, led by a guy named Jeroboam, who'll become important later, thought that now would be a good time to lower the taxes. Rehoboam counseled with his advisors, with mixed results. The older advisors said to reduce the taxes, as the people had requested, but the younger advisors, Rehoboam's peers, said that he should actually make the taxes worse and also increase the penalties for not paying them. Unfortunately for just about everyone, Rehoboam listened to his younger counselors and made an announcement that sparked a rebellion that drove Rhoboam from the throne and put Jeroboam on it instead.

All this to say that it's probably wise to listen to your elders. They've been around the block a few times. They've had more experience. Generally, experience begets wisdom, making the elder counselors far more useful than the younger counselors. Of course, no one knows everything, and even the wisest people can occasionally be wrong, but one should not dismiss the counsel of their elders without giving it a good deal of consideration.

This is partly why the church works as well as it does: Most of our main leaders are elderly. Naturally, they are inspired and regularly receive revelation, but even without all that knowledge and wisdom given to them from God, they've already stockpiled an impressive amount of knowledge and wisdom on their own. The General Authorities frequently draw from their own experiences to teach wisdom and moral lessons in their Conference Talks, and while it could be argued that they have the Holy Ghost's help in finding good insights in their experiences, it's also true that they've spent decades learning how to hear and follow the voice of the Spirit. Their lives have given them wisdom and experience, making their counsel valuable enough to listen to even if it weren't inspired.

Rehoboam should have listened to the wisdom of his elders, and so should we.