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Text of CNN
Larry King Live interview with President Gordon B. Hinckley
Full
text of September 14, 2001 Larry King Live show
Transcript of President Hinckley's Interview on Larry King Live
Joining us now from Salt Lake City is Gordon B. Hinckley, president
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It's always
good to see him, but not under these kind of circumstances. But
we thank you very much, Gordon, for joining us.
What would you say to those millions of people who are going to
go synagogues tomorrow and wards of your church and Catholics and
Protestants and Methodists. They're going to go to all their houses
of worship Sunday. They're going to be in Saturday. What are you
going to say to them? What would you say to them?
PRESIDENT GORDON B. HINCKLEY, CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY
SAINTS: Our hearts are all subdued. The guest that you've shown
us tonight have brought us very close to this sad chapter in the
history of our great nation. The losses are so terrible. They're
incomprehensible, that we have suffered, that our people have suffered
so much, so very many of them and so very seriously. When we get
in circumstances like this, there's only one true source of comfort
and that comes from God, our eternal Father. We look to him, we
bow our heads in prayer. We plead with him in behalf of those who
have gone and their loved ones who are left and those who are wounded,
all of whom have suffered so immensely. Certainly this is a time
of national mourning and national resolve.
KING: I'm sorry, but what about. Gordon Hinckley, those who might
say, why have you deserted us? Why are these people gone? Why are
those buildings burning? Why is the Pentagon, why are planes lost?
Why? They must ask that.
HINCKLEY: We don't know why. We don't understand everything, but
we do know that our Father loves us and watches over us. We do know
that life is not only that phase that we call mortality, that there
is beyond this life another, which is as real and as certain as
is the life that we now live. And that those who have go beyond
will continue and will in fact make preparation for their loved
ones who will follow. I have no doubt of this.
KING: None?
HINCKLEY: Go ahead, please.
KING: You have no doubt?
HINCKLEY: I have no doubt personally whatever.
KING: Gordon when you see -- all right, Billy Graham said today,
we have a choice whether to implode and disintegrate emotionally
and spiritually as a people and a nation or to become stronger through
all of this struggle, to rebuild on a solid foundation. What, though,
Gordon, do you say to parishioners who say what do I do with my
anger?
HINCKLEY: Well, you live it with it. You try to subdue it. You calm
your emotions if you can do so. You plead with the Lord to bless
you with a sense of self-control and an overriding faith that, in
spite of all of this terrible tragedy, there is hope. There is assurance.
There is peace. There is comfort in the word of the Lord, who said,
"I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And he that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die."
KING: Our guest,
if you're just joining us, is Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We're going to include
some phone calls for President Hinckley.
Houston, Texas, hello.
CALLER: Well,
hello, Larry. I'd like to ask the reverend, does it bother him that
a lot of the people that have committed these acts hide behind their
religion as their reason?
KING: Yes, the people doing it say they believe in God and they
love their God.
HINCKLEY: Well, of course it bothers me, it troubles me very greatly.
I think that religion offers no shield for wickedness, for evil,
for those kinds of things. The God in whom I believe does not foster
this kind of action. He is a God of mercy. He is a God of love.
He is a God of peace and reassurance. And I look to Him in times
such as this as a comfort and a source of strength and reassurance.
KING: President Hinckley, though, couldn't He have prevented this?
HINCKLEY: Oh, I suppose so. I believe he's all powerful, yes. I
don't know His will. I don't know how He operates. His wisdom is
greater than mine. He sees beyond what I see. But I have confidence,
overwhelming confidence in the fact that He, who sees life, in its
true and eternal sense will provide for those who suffer as these
people have suffered as a result of this atrocity, which has been
committed against the nation, which we love.
KING: I know you know the President, I know you know his father.
What did you think of what he had to say today and what did you
think of that whole service at the National Cathedral?
HINCKLEY: I thought it was beautiful. I thought it was very expressive.
I think the President has done the right thing. I think that his
words will bring reassurance to the people of America and particularly
to those who have suffered such terrible losses. And certainly he's
done the right thing in bringing that assurance.
God loves us. He loves his children and he will provide for us.
I have no doubt of that. We face terrible sorrows. None of us can
understand the enormity, the tension of those on those planes, for
instance, who were headed for crashes. None of us can understand
those, the feelings of those innocent people in those buildings,
which were taken down. But with all of that, for those who are left,
for those who are wounded, I bring you a message of peace and hope
and comfort. That comfort which comes not from man, but from God
Himself, who is the father of us all and who loves us.
KING: And that message comes while you weep?
HINCKLEY: Yes, it comes while I weep. My heart reaches out in sorrow,
as I listen to the people you have interviewed tonight and particularly
Mr. Olson. I was touched to the bottom of my heart by the terrible
price which has been taken in terms of the loss of his beloved companion.
But I have no doubt, none whatever, of the fact that life is eternal,
that we are immortal beings and that when we step over the threshold
from this life to the next, it will be for those who do that, a
pleasant and uplifting and wonderful experience.
KING: Brooklyn, New York, for President Hinckley, hello.
CALLER: Yes, hello, Larry. I'd like to ask President Hinckley as
a man of God, how he feels about these men that committed these
atrocities against us?
HINCKLEY: Well, I feel terrible about them. I just think that they
have done the worst kind of thing that anyone can conceive of. It
is a terrible thing which they've done and they will stand before
the bar of God and be judged by Him, who knows all things. And I
think his judgment will be sure and certain and most condemnatory
concerning the things which they have done to this nation as they
did last Tuesday.
KING: Do you forgive them?
HINCKLEY: Well, I don't carry in my heart malice toward anyone.
I believe that justice must prevail. If there has been wickedness
or if there has been evil, we will pay for it. Justice will exact
its toll. And God will hold us accountable for that which we will
do. We shall answerable for that, for our behavior. And I think
those who have committed this atrocity will have to pay for it.
But in my own heart, I tried to cultivate a spirit of Christian
love without bitter malice or unkindness, but only love concerning
those who have suffered so much even though I feel a measure of
sensor, very strong and very certain to those who have done this
terrible thing.
KING: President Hinckley, you've lived 90 years. You've seen lots
of tragedies.
HINCKLEY: 91.
KING: 91. Lots of tragedies, lots of uplifting, nothing like today
of course. And yet you never waver?
HINCKLEY: Never. I have an absolutely solid faith concerning the
eternity of life, concerning the fact that we're all sons an daughters
of God, regardless of our religious persuasion, regardless of our
nationality. We're sons and daughters of God.
He expects good
things of us. He expects us to live lives of accountability and
the right kind of pursuits, not to be destructive, not to be evil,
but to rise above these terrible things and depart ourselves in
a manner that will bless mankind and bring to pass that peace which
all the world longs for.
KING: President Hinckley, we thank you very much for being with
us. Your words have been inspiring and we know that millions will
be going maybe in record-breaking numbers this weekend to their
houses of worship. And we know you're there in spirit to all of
them.
HINCKLEY: Thank you very, very much, Larry.
KING: President
Gordon B. Hinckley, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints from Salt Lake City. We will be with you with
live editions of "LARRY KING LIVE," both Saturday and Sunday nights.
Upcoming will be a special report with Aaron Brown, who's been on
top of this scene, including on top of buildings as well, ever since
the start of that horrible Tuesday morning.
As we leave you, we offer the highlights from the National Cathedral,
the singing of "America the Beautiful." I'm Larry King for all our
guests, God bless.
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