Searching For Truth - Knowing for Myself
I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all my life. At first, I believed because that was what I was raised to believe. My parents believed it and taught it, and that was what I was used to. Last week, I wrote about personal experiences that I had which helped me to come to know for myself that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true.
Is it important for people to figure out for themselves about what is true? If we just blindly obey what we are told is right, will we end up in the same place as those who search and struggle to learn for themselves? I don't believe so. I believe we must each find out for ourselves what is truth and right.
In the Beginning...
Before we came to this earth, we lived with our Heavenly Father and all our spiritual siblings. Our Father presented a plan that would give us experiences that would help us to progress and become more like him. He knew that we would make mistakes while we were learning, so he called for a volunteer to be our Savior, someone who would pay the price for those mistakes (because God is just, and justice has to be satisfied) so we could be forgiven and continue to progress.
Two volunteers came forward. One was Jehovah. He was willing to follow the Father's plan, and be sacrificed to pay for all of the mistakes that each of us would make while we were learning what is good and true and how to be perfect, like our Father. The second volunteer was Lucifer. He wanted to change the Father's plan so that no one would ever make mistakes - we would all be perfectly obedient, and no one would be lost. Plus he wanted the glory for coming up with this alternate plan.
Our Father chose to stick with his original plan. He saw that we needed our agency to learn for ourselves what was right. Forced blind obedience was not going to teach us the discernment, the self-mastery, or the wisdom we would need to progress. (For more on this topic, read a blog Steven wrote a week or so ago) If we were just going to be ignorant blind followers, we could have just stayed in heaven with our Father, not as children, but as pets.
Seek Learning by Study
So we came to earth with agency to choose what we will do. We come in ignorance, not remembering what happened before this life so part of our purpose here is to learn all that we can. We haven't been given all the answers to our questions about "life, the universe and everything" on a silver platter; we have to figure them out. So we go to school. We go to church. We read good books. We seek out the wisdom of those who have gone before us.
I like to think of truth as giant jigsaw puzzle. Every little bit of truth fits in somewhere. When we have all the truth, it will all fit together beautifully and reveal something amazing. One corner of the puzzle may relate to things of science while another corner relates to things of religion and there may be great gaps in the middle, but when all the pieces of truth have been found and put in their correct spots, it will all fit together perfectly. There may be some pieces that appear to fit now, but when the pieces around them are all put in place, they may need to be rotated or moved or maybe they won't fit at all and will need to be discarded.
If each of us had to piece together the entire puzzle on our own, it would be impossible. I don't have enough time in my life to rediscover every bit of known truth. I will probably never go to Mongolia, but I have seen enough evidence from other people's experience to know it exists. There are many such things that I can't test for myself, but I can search out what other people have said and experienced. I can then compare the things that I am learning with the things that I already know to be true, and see how they fit together. If they fit, then it is likely to be true. If not, then I can lay it aside.
Sometimes, however, studying what others have learned isn't enough for us to really understand and know what is true. Often different people have opposing views. How else can we learn what is truth?
Learn by Doing
Seek Learning by ... Faith
Sometimes studying and trying things out doesn't completely satisfy our search for knowledge. Sometimes it is very hard to discern between what is truth and what is not and we need to turn to the Lord for answers. God has given us the Holy Ghost to help us in the discernment process, but we have to study it out, have the faith to ask for his help, and then we have to listen for his answer.
The Lord explained the process further to Oliver Cowdery when he said, "Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong..." (D&C 9:7-9)
The fourteen year old Joseph Smith was confused about religion. There were plenty of people around- Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists, who would preach what they believed to be true, but they contradicted and contended with each other. Joseph tried them out, attending their various meetings as often as he could. But still he was confused as to which was true. He studied some more, turning to the Bible, and came across James 1:5, which advised him to ask God. He experimented on the word, going to the grove of trees to pray. And he asked God which church he should join. God answered his prayer, and he learned truths that he could then share with the rest of us that would come after. (See JS-H 1:5-20)
But - we don't have to take his word for it. In fact, we shouldn't accept his word blindly. We must come to know for ourselves whether what he said about his experience was true or not.
Usually God doesn't appear or speak to us directly. But we do feel the influence of the Holy Ghost. Sometimes that influence is felt in a moment of intuition or inspiration. Sometimes it is a random thought. If I have a simple yes/no question, I find it helps if I already have an answer in my head (I think this is true... Is it?) and wait to see if I feel peace (You're right) or continued confusion and doubt (Maybe rethink it...).
Often, the answers don't come immediately, but if I keep a question in the back of my mind and continue searching, I will notice things coming to my attention that are pertinent to what I am studying. Someone will post a quote on Facebook or I'll notice a scripture during my family or personal scripture reading that relates to my question. Sometimes a family member or acquaintance will mention something in passing that will give me a new insight. The answers come slowly, but if I keep searching, eventually God will lead me to an answer that feels like truth. I believe that this process is personal revelation.
To Sum Up
Whenever we hear something new, there is a process that we can go through to see if it is something that is good, to know for ourselves if it is true:
Is it important for people to figure out for themselves about what is true? If we just blindly obey what we are told is right, will we end up in the same place as those who search and struggle to learn for themselves? I don't believe so. I believe we must each find out for ourselves what is truth and right.
In the Beginning...
Before we came to this earth, we lived with our Heavenly Father and all our spiritual siblings. Our Father presented a plan that would give us experiences that would help us to progress and become more like him. He knew that we would make mistakes while we were learning, so he called for a volunteer to be our Savior, someone who would pay the price for those mistakes (because God is just, and justice has to be satisfied) so we could be forgiven and continue to progress.
Two volunteers came forward. One was Jehovah. He was willing to follow the Father's plan, and be sacrificed to pay for all of the mistakes that each of us would make while we were learning what is good and true and how to be perfect, like our Father. The second volunteer was Lucifer. He wanted to change the Father's plan so that no one would ever make mistakes - we would all be perfectly obedient, and no one would be lost. Plus he wanted the glory for coming up with this alternate plan.
Our Father chose to stick with his original plan. He saw that we needed our agency to learn for ourselves what was right. Forced blind obedience was not going to teach us the discernment, the self-mastery, or the wisdom we would need to progress. (For more on this topic, read a blog Steven wrote a week or so ago) If we were just going to be ignorant blind followers, we could have just stayed in heaven with our Father, not as children, but as pets.
Seek Learning by Study
So we came to earth with agency to choose what we will do. We come in ignorance, not remembering what happened before this life so part of our purpose here is to learn all that we can. We haven't been given all the answers to our questions about "life, the universe and everything" on a silver platter; we have to figure them out. So we go to school. We go to church. We read good books. We seek out the wisdom of those who have gone before us.
I like to think of truth as giant jigsaw puzzle. Every little bit of truth fits in somewhere. When we have all the truth, it will all fit together beautifully and reveal something amazing. One corner of the puzzle may relate to things of science while another corner relates to things of religion and there may be great gaps in the middle, but when all the pieces of truth have been found and put in their correct spots, it will all fit together perfectly. There may be some pieces that appear to fit now, but when the pieces around them are all put in place, they may need to be rotated or moved or maybe they won't fit at all and will need to be discarded.
If each of us had to piece together the entire puzzle on our own, it would be impossible. I don't have enough time in my life to rediscover every bit of known truth. I will probably never go to Mongolia, but I have seen enough evidence from other people's experience to know it exists. There are many such things that I can't test for myself, but I can search out what other people have said and experienced. I can then compare the things that I am learning with the things that I already know to be true, and see how they fit together. If they fit, then it is likely to be true. If not, then I can lay it aside.
Sometimes, however, studying what others have learned isn't enough for us to really understand and know what is true. Often different people have opposing views. How else can we learn what is truth?
Learn by Doing
Imagine a toddler starting to explore the dangerous world of a kitchen. Her parents may warn her not to touch the stove because it is hot, but it isn't until she actually touches a hot stove and gets burned (hopefully not too badly) that she will truly understand what they meant. Sometimes we just have to try something ourselves to really understand.
The Savior said, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (John 7:17)
I came to learn that the law of tithing was true when I tried it and it lived up to its promise. As I have ministered to others, I have seen the blessings that have come from ministering and have come to know that it is from God.
When Alma taught the Zoramites in Alma 32, he compared the word of God to a seed. He invited them to plant the seed in order to see whether or not it is good. We plant things by trying them.
One of the first things that missionaries do when they begin teaching someone is to invite them to read the Book of Mormon, because it is by reading that they can see the good in it. Other people may tell them that the Book of Mormon is true or that it is of the devil, but they won't really know anything about it until they read it. Then they can learn for themselves and make their own judgement whether it is of God or not.
Sometimes studying and trying things out doesn't completely satisfy our search for knowledge. Sometimes it is very hard to discern between what is truth and what is not and we need to turn to the Lord for answers. God has given us the Holy Ghost to help us in the discernment process, but we have to study it out, have the faith to ask for his help, and then we have to listen for his answer.
The Lord explained the process further to Oliver Cowdery when he said, "Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong..." (D&C 9:7-9)
But - we don't have to take his word for it. In fact, we shouldn't accept his word blindly. We must come to know for ourselves whether what he said about his experience was true or not.
Usually God doesn't appear or speak to us directly. But we do feel the influence of the Holy Ghost. Sometimes that influence is felt in a moment of intuition or inspiration. Sometimes it is a random thought. If I have a simple yes/no question, I find it helps if I already have an answer in my head (I think this is true... Is it?) and wait to see if I feel peace (You're right) or continued confusion and doubt (Maybe rethink it...).
Often, the answers don't come immediately, but if I keep a question in the back of my mind and continue searching, I will notice things coming to my attention that are pertinent to what I am studying. Someone will post a quote on Facebook or I'll notice a scripture during my family or personal scripture reading that relates to my question. Sometimes a family member or acquaintance will mention something in passing that will give me a new insight. The answers come slowly, but if I keep searching, eventually God will lead me to an answer that feels like truth. I believe that this process is personal revelation.
To Sum Up
Whenever we hear something new, there is a process that we can go through to see if it is something that is good, to know for ourselves if it is true:
- We can study it out in our minds first. We can compare it to other things that we already know to be true. Does it fit with what we already know? Does it make sense?
- We can try it out. What is the "fruit" or result of this idea? Does it feel good? Does it bring us joy? Does it bring benefits and blessings?
- We can pray to ask God if it is true, and then listen and watch for the answers that come by the Spirit.
- We can continue learning and searching and trying and asking.
"Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God." (Jacob 4:8)
(Brigham Young gave a very interesting talk on the subject of Personal Revelation. You can read it here.)
Comments
Post a Comment