{"id":2464,"date":"1998-05-19T10:25:53","date_gmt":"1998-05-19T16:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speeches.byu.edu\/?p=2464"},"modified":"2024-04-18T10:39:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T16:39:12","slug":"believing-what-you-know","status":"publish","type":"speech","link":"https:\/\/speeches.byu.edu\/talks\/dennis-b-neuenschwander\/believing-what-you-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowing What You Believe, Believing What You Know"},"content":{"rendered":"
I am grateful to be here today and ask for your faith in that which I wish to share with you.<\/p>\n
Korihor, as we read in Alma 30, had made many untrue allegations about the Church and was brought before Alma, who listened but was not challenged by Korihor\u2019s claims. Alma recognized the allegations to be false\u2014not only because he knew the doctrines of the Church and the history of his people, but because he had unshakable confidence in his own personal experiences with the gospel.<\/p>\n
It is a good thing for us to know what we believe. We should know and be familiar with the doctrines, ordinances, covenants, and teachings of the Church and its modern-day prophets. It is very important that we all know and understand the basic tenets of our belief.<\/p>\n
Equally important, however, to knowing what we believe is believing what we know. Believing what we know has to do with recognizing, trusting, and learning from our own spiritual experiences. Such experiences are an essential part of our mortal probation and spiritual education.<\/p>\n
One of the purposes of our mortal probation is to distinguish good from evil. The prophets have warned us against confusing the two. \u201cWherefore,\u201d writes Mormon, \u201ctake heed . . . that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil\u201d (Moroni 7:14). Isaiah writes, \u201cWoe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!\u201d (Isaiah 5:20). To know good from evil, Mormon teaches, we \u201cshould search diligently in the light of Christ\u201d (Moroni 7:19).<\/p>\n
We may at times be discouraged that we make mistakes as we learn. Roger Ascham, a 16th-century classical scholar (1515\u20131568), made the observation that \u201cby experience [we] find out . . . a short way by long wandering\u201d (The Schoolmaster<\/i>\u00a0[1570], book 1). This same frustration was expressed by Saint Augustine to God: \u201cThou hast counselled something better than what thou hast permitted\u201d (Confessions<\/i>\u00a0[397\u2013401], X, 30). Yet we understand, as Brigham Young has taught:<\/p>\n
We cannot obtain eternal life unless we actually know and comprehend<\/i>\u00a0by our experience\u00a0the principle of good and the principle of evil, the light and the darkness, truth, virtue, and holiness,\u2014also vice, wickedness, and corruption.\u00a0<\/i>[JD<\/i>\u00a07:237; emphasis added]<\/p>\n
The Lord knows and understands our inability to be perfect and has provided a Savior for us who bears our burdens and pain on the condition of our repentance.<\/p>\n
As we learn by our experience to distinguish the good from the evil, it is not necessary for us to experience every evil to know that it is evil. The Prophet Joseph asks the question \u201cWhy will not man learn wisdom by precept . . . and not be obliged to learn by sad experience everything we know\u201d (Teachings,<\/i>\u00a0p. 155). Brigham Young teaches this principle also as he writes:<\/p>\n
There is plenty of sin without your sinning. We can have all the experience we need, without sinning ourselves. . . . There is no necessity for such a course, for the world is full of transgression, and this people need not mingle up with it.\u00a0<\/i>[JD<\/i>\u00a03:224]<\/p>\n
Do we really need to experience the unhappiness associated with sin before we know that sin causes unhappiness? The answer is an obvious no. We can learn a great deal about evil through our observation of the world around us and through the experience of others.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, to know the good, we must experience it. The Prophet Joseph taught:<\/p>\n
Could we read and comprehend all that has been written from the days of Adam, on the relation of man to God and angels in a future state, we should know very little about it. Reading the experience of others, or the revelation given to<\/i>\u00a0them,\u00a0can never give<\/i>\u00a0us\u00a0a comprehensive view of our condition and true relation to God. Knowledge of these things can only be obtained by experience through the ordinances of God set forth for that purpose. Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject.<\/i>\u00a0[Teachings,<\/i>\u00a0p. 324; emphasis in original]<\/p>\n
In speaking of the elders of the Church on the importance of temple ordinances, Brigham Young said, \u201cTo know, they must experience\u201d (JD<\/i>\u00a02:31).<\/p>\n
Deeply personal spiritual experiences are granted to us for our own edification and occupy an important place in our education. However, they bring us into direct conflict with the unspiritual and skeptical world, a world that neither appreciates nor comprehends that which is holy and spiritual. It is precisely in this conflict, as Alma was able to do with Korihor, that we must recognize, believe, trust, and know our own spiritual experiences. Such experiences, I add, will always be in harmony with the doctrines of the Church and the teachings of its living prophets. I am passing through the same educational process you are. Along the way I have made a few observations about learning from the experiences the Lord has granted me. I would like to share a few of my observations with you.<\/p>\n
1. We can know some things without knowing all things.<\/b><\/h2>\n
When Nephi desired a confirmation of his father\u2019s vision, the angel asked him, \u201cKnowest thou the condescension of God?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nephi\u2019s answer was, \u201cI know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things\u201d (1 Nephi 11:16\u201317).<\/p>\n
Nephi seemed satisfied to permit his knowledge of some things to expand his faith and give him confidence in areas where his knowledge was not quite as complete. We would do well to nurture this understanding. President Spencer W. Kimball taught that \u201cfaith is based on past experience. It is not blind obedience, even without total understanding, to follow a Father who has proved himself\u201d (TSWK,<\/i>\u00a0p. 59). For example, each time the Lord answers a prayer, my knowledge that he does answer prayer is strengthened. This knowledge expands my faith and confidence into those times when his answers do not come as quickly or when his timing is far different than my own.<\/p>\n
In our academic lives we understand this principle of not knowing all things quite thoroughly. We are comfortable with the idea that we must take basic courses before we move on to more advanced work. The absence of complete knowledge in a discipline does not hinder us in knowing some things about that discipline. In fact, our pursuit of additional knowledge is driven by our understanding that we do not know all things. In a BYU\u2014Hawaii commencement address, President Hinckley touched on this topic:<\/p>\n
None of us can assume that he has learned enough. As the door closes on one phase of life, it opens on another, where we must continue to pursue knowledge.<\/i><\/p>\n