The belief behind the act sanctifies or soils the result

"False beliefs often spring from the precepts of men, those seemingly ubiquitous gems of dirt that sputter in our thinking and teaching, those false beliefs which everyone apparently accepts simply because everyone accepts them. They are "the philosophies of men mingled with scripture." They are the toxic waste of uninspired or darkly-inspired thinking.

There is another body of the philosophies of men that contain truth but that have no saving value. An example of such a truth is math. Math is based upon truth but is not saving. No amount of math understanding will bring us to Christ or to salvation.

Such truths cannot be elevated to the status of doctrine, or used to support or supplant truly saving principles. Such non-saving truths include principles of positive mental attitude, wealth philosophies, laws of attraction, positive thinking, "correct" politics, and so on. These have a proper place in the natural world, but become dangerous when they are commingled with saving truths. Mortals have a tendency to quickly embrace philosophies that promise physical or financial success in favor of more spiritual truths that promise eternal rewards.

Philosophies of men have been commingled with scripture when we begin to tout works, good samaritanship, service, or charitable acts as a pathway to salvation. Salvation is in Christ alone, and no amount of good works can "earn" us a place in the eternities. Works will never displace Christ as our Savior, or bring us to the throne of God and bypass faith, repentance, baptism, and the receipt of the Holy Ghost.

The truth is, great and lasting works, the type recorded at the hands of Moses, Lehi, the brother of Jared, and Moroni, always flow from true faith in Christ. Outside of spiritual things, self-aggrandizement, popularity, and fame are generally the intended by-products of great works that have uninspired origins.

When we attempt to accomplish great things in the name of Christ through great works of un- or under-inspired origin, what we generate is frustration, fatigue, and a very disappointing interview come judgment day. The eternal value of any act is dependent upon the virtue of the underlying belief. If we perform works because we believe we must work ourselves to exhaustion to be saved, then our labors are tainted by a false underlying belief. If we, however, are acting upon a prompting from the Holy Spirit and correctly believe that we should perform some act of service upon Christ's request, then all such works are saving in their nature and have no residual element of fatigue or exhaustion, but are rejuvenating, empowering, and exalting.

The belief behind the act sanctifies or soils the result."

John Pontius, "The Triumph of Zion", p. 242-243

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