2 Nephi 9:27-29

After teaching the congregation that those who never receive the law will be covered by the atonement and hell will have no claim on them.  He then speaks directly to the Nephites who have been taught the law.

During the time of our probation, we have been given time to obey God’s laws and become faithful servants.  Even so, some will not take this opportunity.  “Those who misuse their free agency, after being exposed to the truth, will have an eternal state that is ‘awful’ (2 Nephi 9:27).”[1]

Responding to Peter, the Savior told him:

But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens [GR maidservants], and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;

The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.  For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

Luke 12:45-48

Jacob tells us that those who do not follow the commandments of the Lord are falling into the trap laid by the devil.

O that cunning

     plan of the evil one! 

O the vainness,

     and the frailties,

     and the foolishness

          of men! 

When they are learned

     they think they are wise,

     and they hearken

          not unto the counsel of God,

     for they set it aside,

     supposing they know

          of themselves,

     wherefore, their wisdom

          is foolishness

               and it profiteth

               them not. 

And they shall perish.

But to be learned

     is good

if they hearken

     unto the counsels of God.

Mormon, commenting after a battle when tens of thousands died, wrote, “And thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression, and the power of the devil, which comes by the cunning plans which he hath devised to ensnare the hearts of men” (Alma 28:13).

Hugh Nibley, a very learned man, wrote:

Here is the devil's plan, and it is devilishly clever, the best possible way to turn men's minds against the plan of salvation being the appeal to their vanity. The two things people want are to be successful and to be smart—The Elite: "and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches," are the ones who think they are putting God in his place, while it is He who is rejecting them: "yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them" (2 Nephi 9:42).[2]

The late Elder Neal Maxwell was also a learned man.  Bruce Hafen tells us this about Elder Maxwell:

As part of his own discipleship, Elder Maxwell very consciously cultivated the qualities of meekness and submissiveness—precisely because he knew all about pride's subtle seductions. Even the Greeks had no use for hubris. Elder Maxwell had seen very accomplished people become too impressed with themselves—the learned who "think they are wise" and therefore "hearken not to the counsel of God" for they suppose "they know of themselves." Those who are, as Jacob said, "puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom" suffer the great loss that the "happiness which is prepared for the saints" "shall be hid from them" (2 Nephi 9:28, 42–43).[3]

To be sure, there is nothing wrong with learning.  In the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord tells us that, “The glory of God is intelligence” (D&C 93:36).  The Lord told Joseph Smith, “As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints” (D&C 121:33). 

Education and learning has always an important part of the gospel.  Many prophets have encouraged us to expand our learning.  But, as we learn, it is essential not to become proud and arrogant, thinking because we have a little learning we are wise and can ignore God.  We must always acknowledge the Lord as the source of all knowledge.

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[1] The Influence of Lehi's Admonitions on the Teachings of His Son Jacob, John A. Tvedtnes, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed September 7, 2013.

[2] The Way of the "Intellectuals", Hugh W. Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed, September 7, 2013.

[3] Reason, Faith, and the Things of Eternity, Bruce C. Hafen, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed September 7, 2013.