Seeking Truth
I've never understood the details of the Creation. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we don't just have one account of the Creation of the earth in our canon, we have four. And, like most things that Scripture repeats often, there are fairly obvious differences in each account.
The problem for me is that nearly every account has a different chronology. The order in which things happen don't seem to agree. I don't know why I get hung up on the chronology; it really isn't the focus of the story. But that doesn't stop me from spending a good 15 minutes every time I read one of the accounts wondering how it really happened.
Then, this week I saw on my class schedule that my religion teacher was going to talk about the Creation. I respect this teacher a lot, and he's helped illuminate a lot of things that were confusing to me before, so I was excited to hear his interpretation and hopefully get things cleared up.
But, my teacher is wiser than I gave him credit. He didn't talk about the details of the Creation. In fact, he didn't talk about the Creation at all. Instead, he talked about how to find Truth.
It didn't take me long to realize my mistake. Of all gospel topics, the Creation may have the most varied opinions surrounding it. None of us know exactly how God created our world. But we are all capable of finding Truth on our own, something I forget often.
This brings me to the scripture that's been on my mind:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." - James 1:5
We all recognize this as the scripture that gave Joseph Smith the inspiration turn to God in the sacred grove. I've recently realized, however, that Joseph didn't need to learn the lesson taught in this verse just one time. I've been reading "Saints" (the church history book that was recently released), and as I've been reading, I realized that Joseph needed to learn this lesson again, and again, and again, until it became an significant part of who he was.
It took Joseph a long time to pray the second time for a witness that his sins had been forgiven again. It also took him until they nearly finished translation of the Book of Mormon to ask God how they were supposed to be baptized. With time, though, Joseph learned to not be content with what he didn't know. He thought through, studied, and took his questions to God, until he knew things none before him, save Jesus Christ, knew.
Learning about the Creation is important. But I think that in our day, there are things to learn that are far more important. There are trials and crises of faith that we all have to overcome, every now and then. I've had plenty of those, and I preferred to tough it out rather than find answers - probably because I honestly didn't believe I could get them.
When it comes to finding Truth, there's an important balance we need to learn. It is the balance between "seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom" and "let him ask of God." Both of these, after all, are commandments. The Lord has made it clear that "you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right."
There's a great danger in ignoring the accumulated philosophical progress, scientific discovery, political theory, and social and psychological science as we try to find Truth. There's also a great danger in ignoring God's wisdom and willingness to give us His Truth. Leaning towards the first leads to ignorance, leaning towards the second leads to skepticism. I believe that it's in the marriage of these two that we can find His Truth. To find Truth, we have to open our minds and our hearts to all of the possibilities - even the possibilities we least like - and critically examine each of them. I know for a fact that God will only work with complete openness. He cannot teach us Truths that we have already ruled out as impossibilities due to our arrogance.
Then, after serious study and reflection to the point where will accept any Truth He gives us, we wait. This is where most of us give up, I think. For some reason, the hardest questions seem to take the most time. It's probably because He wants us to learn patience, and patience for answers is one of the hardest kind to have. We can't passively wait either, we have to continually seek Truth the same way we started until it comes. Now, I sincerely believe that if we do this, there is no question of the soul that can't be answered. God has given us a way to find Truth. That is one of the most unique and important aspects of our doctrine. I know that God loves us enough to answer us, and I know that He loves us enough to make us work and wait for those answers, too. I know that because I cannot picture a loving, perfect God that wouldn't. God knows all Truth, He has given us the tools here to find it; all we have to do is seek it.
The problem for me is that nearly every account has a different chronology. The order in which things happen don't seem to agree. I don't know why I get hung up on the chronology; it really isn't the focus of the story. But that doesn't stop me from spending a good 15 minutes every time I read one of the accounts wondering how it really happened.
Then, this week I saw on my class schedule that my religion teacher was going to talk about the Creation. I respect this teacher a lot, and he's helped illuminate a lot of things that were confusing to me before, so I was excited to hear his interpretation and hopefully get things cleared up.
But, my teacher is wiser than I gave him credit. He didn't talk about the details of the Creation. In fact, he didn't talk about the Creation at all. Instead, he talked about how to find Truth.
It didn't take me long to realize my mistake. Of all gospel topics, the Creation may have the most varied opinions surrounding it. None of us know exactly how God created our world. But we are all capable of finding Truth on our own, something I forget often.
This brings me to the scripture that's been on my mind:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." - James 1:5
We all recognize this as the scripture that gave Joseph Smith the inspiration turn to God in the sacred grove. I've recently realized, however, that Joseph didn't need to learn the lesson taught in this verse just one time. I've been reading "Saints" (the church history book that was recently released), and as I've been reading, I realized that Joseph needed to learn this lesson again, and again, and again, until it became an significant part of who he was.
It took Joseph a long time to pray the second time for a witness that his sins had been forgiven again. It also took him until they nearly finished translation of the Book of Mormon to ask God how they were supposed to be baptized. With time, though, Joseph learned to not be content with what he didn't know. He thought through, studied, and took his questions to God, until he knew things none before him, save Jesus Christ, knew.
Learning about the Creation is important. But I think that in our day, there are things to learn that are far more important. There are trials and crises of faith that we all have to overcome, every now and then. I've had plenty of those, and I preferred to tough it out rather than find answers - probably because I honestly didn't believe I could get them.
When it comes to finding Truth, there's an important balance we need to learn. It is the balance between "seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom" and "let him ask of God." Both of these, after all, are commandments. The Lord has made it clear that "you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right."
There's a great danger in ignoring the accumulated philosophical progress, scientific discovery, political theory, and social and psychological science as we try to find Truth. There's also a great danger in ignoring God's wisdom and willingness to give us His Truth. Leaning towards the first leads to ignorance, leaning towards the second leads to skepticism. I believe that it's in the marriage of these two that we can find His Truth. To find Truth, we have to open our minds and our hearts to all of the possibilities - even the possibilities we least like - and critically examine each of them. I know for a fact that God will only work with complete openness. He cannot teach us Truths that we have already ruled out as impossibilities due to our arrogance.
Then, after serious study and reflection to the point where will accept any Truth He gives us, we wait. This is where most of us give up, I think. For some reason, the hardest questions seem to take the most time. It's probably because He wants us to learn patience, and patience for answers is one of the hardest kind to have. We can't passively wait either, we have to continually seek Truth the same way we started until it comes. Now, I sincerely believe that if we do this, there is no question of the soul that can't be answered. God has given us a way to find Truth. That is one of the most unique and important aspects of our doctrine. I know that God loves us enough to answer us, and I know that He loves us enough to make us work and wait for those answers, too. I know that because I cannot picture a loving, perfect God that wouldn't. God knows all Truth, He has given us the tools here to find it; all we have to do is seek it.
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