“Helaman…almost as an apology for being negative he writes, ‘we do not desire to murmur’ (”Alma 58:35Alma 58:35). Elder Neal A. Maxwell has said, ’If our lips are closed to murmuring, then our eyes will be open.’ Notice how Helaman has shared an unpleasant truth in a fashion that will still allow the lines of communication to remain open. His sensitivity to his leaders, as well as his subordinates, is commendable. President Harold B. Lee counseled, ’The men under you will never be loyal to you if they see that you are disloyal to those who preside over you.‘ Helaman’s letter validates this principle. His was not the expression of a weak-kneed foot soldier trying not to be responsible for the bad news he had born. He is once again illustrating his total allegiance to his leaders; recognizing full well that he cannot expect God to stand by him if he doesn’t stand by his leaders." (K. Douglas Bassett, Alma, the Testimony of the Word, edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr., p. 301)
Dallin H. Oaks
“The primary reason we are commanded to avoid criticism is to preserve our own spiritual well-being, not to protect the person whom we would criticize…Does this counsel to avoid faultfinding and personal criticism apply only to statements that are false? Doesn’t it also apply to statements that are true? The fact that something is true is not always a justification for communicating it…For example, it is wrong to make statements of fact out of an evil motive, even if the statements are true. One who focuses on faults, thought they be true, tears down a brother or a sister…One who focuses on faults, though they be true, fosters dissensions and divisions among fellow Church members in the body of Christ.” (Ensign, Feb. 1987, pp. 68-9 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 524)