Ever since Brother Devin Durrant's October 2015 conference talk, we have been choosing "ponderizing" scriptures each week. Each Monday, we take down the last week's scripture and talk about what we learned as we read it and thought about it during the week. After all three of us talk about the scripture, then the next person unveils the new scripture. It is then posted to the door of the refrigerator and the bathroom mirrors. We rotate each week. Jennifer chooses a scripture, then Isaac, and lastly me. One of the things I've enjoyed is listening to Isaac talk about what he has learned. I like hearing his insights and have noticed that he's been really thinking about them; not just spitting out "Sunday school" answers.
Jennifer picked our latest ponderizing scripture and it has been an interesting one for me to think about all week. It is Mosiah 4:9: "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." After Jen unveiled her choice, I was looking at the Deseret News website and came across an article by Taylor Halverson discussing how to teach children about the translation of the Book of Mormon.. The article is a dialogue between the author and his wife and their children. During this question and answer format, he talked to his children about the Urim and Thummim and seer stone and how Joseph Smith used those instruments to help him translate the Book of Mormon by "the gift and power of God." Brother Halverson then used modern devices as a way to help his children better understand this concept.
I thought it was interesting article. Then, I made the mistake of scrolling down far enough to see the top 3 comments about the article. At the time, all 3 attacked the article and its purpose in some fashion. There are 68 comments on this article in all. I only looked at the first page of comments and they showed me that half (or more) of them are criticisms and the other half are defenses or just comments about the article without referencing the attack comments.
I thought it was interesting article. Then, I made the mistake of scrolling down far enough to see the top 3 comments about the article. At the time, all 3 attacked the article and its purpose in some fashion. There are 68 comments on this article in all. I only looked at the first page of comments and they showed me that half (or more) of them are criticisms and the other half are defenses or just comments about the article without referencing the attack comments.
This brought me back to our ponderizing scripture. If a person believes "in God" and that He "created all things" and that He has "all wisdom" and "all power," that's one thing. But believing that man "doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend" is another thing altogether. In this day and age men and women are becoming like Korihor from Alma chapter 30. They don't want to look to a higher power, they want the final say in all things to rest with themselves. According to this way of thinking, the only way a person truly prospers is "according to his genius" or the only way one gets ahead in this life is to conquer "according to his strength" (Alma 30:17).
To believe that there is a higher Being or a higher power that comprehends things in a way that is greater than mortal men and women is to give that ultimate power over to this being and this is something that cannot be allowed. Consequently, two things occur. Either people imagine a god who allows them to believe and do whatever they want ("God loves me for who I am, not what I do. He's not going to condemn me for what I do or how I act or the things that I say.") which causes the higher power to not be better than its human counterparts; or the person attacks religious beliefs by attacking prophesies with claims that "no man [prophet] can know of anything which is to come" and tearing down the past by claiming that already held beliefs are the "foolish traditions of your fathers" (Alma 30:13-14).
To believe that there is a higher Being or a higher power that comprehends things in a way that is greater than mortal men and women is to give that ultimate power over to this being and this is something that cannot be allowed. Consequently, two things occur. Either people imagine a god who allows them to believe and do whatever they want ("God loves me for who I am, not what I do. He's not going to condemn me for what I do or how I act or the things that I say.") which causes the higher power to not be better than its human counterparts; or the person attacks religious beliefs by attacking prophesies with claims that "no man [prophet] can know of anything which is to come" and tearing down the past by claiming that already held beliefs are the "foolish traditions of your fathers" (Alma 30:13-14).
Sometimes it's subtle; other times it's blatant, but in this instance, many of the negative comments I read in conjunction with the article boiled down to the second of the two scenarios. From the comments, there seems to be this prevailing idea that for Brother Halverson to teach his children in the manner he describes is to not allow them to think for themselves or to not give them "all" the information. To teach his children to have faith in the process used by the Prophet Joseph Smith (even though that process appears to individuals in these modern and "enlightened" times to seem completely ridiculous) is to allow them to believe that "man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." Those comments, whose intent was to tear down faith, pointed to the story of Joseph Smith translating the plates by the "gift and power of God" as the "effect of a frenzied mind; and this derangement of your minds comes because of the traditions of your fathers, which lead you away into a belief of things which are not so" (Alma 30:16). Attack the past, dismiss the future; focus only on the "now" because "now" is all that matters. The now, however, is a fickle mistress. She'll stay with you as long as you give her a good time, but she'll drop you without a second thought if someone better comes along—and then what do you have other than empty promises and nothing to show for them?
Coming to understand that "man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend" is a very humbling experience. Moses had this type of experience. Moses was shown this world "and the ends thereof" (Moses 1:8). Hours after receiving this vision, Moses finally regained "his natural strength" and "said unto himself: Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed" (Moses 1:10, emphasis added). This humbling experience could have made Moses bitter. Instead, he used it to ward off the temptations of Satan (see Moses 1:12-22), which then allowed him to behold and learn even greater things than he did before (see Moses 1:24-40). As Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, "it is only the meek mind which can be so shown and so stretched—not those, as Isaiah wrote, who 'are wise in their own eyes' (Isa. 5:21; see also 2 Ne. 9:29 and 2 Ne. 15:21)" (Ensign, May 1985, 71). If we strive to be humble and teachable, then we will be able to withstand Satan's attacks upon the future and past and hold firm to faith in the present. On the other hand, if we become wise in our own eyes, then we run the risk of allowing these types of attacks to weaken our faith and cause doubt.
Can we have questions? Yes. It is one thing, however, to have questions with a desire to have them appropriately answered and another to question only for the sake of insighting doubt and cynicism. The answers to our questions pivots on the attitude and willingness we bring to the Lord. King Benjamin's quotation encourages a person who has doubts or questions and sincerely wants an answer to understand that the beginning of true wisdom is to "believe that [he or she does] not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend" and do what James directs: "let him [or her] ask of God" (James 1:5). As President Dieter F. Uchtdorf explained: "There is no magic to belief. But wanting to believe is the necessary first step! God is no respecter of persons. He is your Father. He wants to speak to you. However, it requires a little scientific curiosity—it requires an experiment upon the word of God—and the exercise of a 'particle of faith.' It also takes a little humility. And it requires an open heart and an open mind. It requires seeking, in the full meaning of the word. And, perhaps hardest of all, it requires being patient and waiting upon the Lord" (Ensign, Nov. 2015, 78, emphasis in original).
The answer may not be as immediately forthcoming as it was for Joseph Smith. Sometimes we need to show Heavenly Father that we are really serious about our question—that we're not asking just out of curiosity or because it might be a nice thing to know—but that we are prepared (as Joseph was) to act in faith upon the answer and follow through with whatever the answer may be. Joseph was ready and willing to join the church that God told him to join (see JS-H 1:18). Instead he was told to join none of them, so he didn't. If we are ready and willing to act on the answer we receive from Father, then He will be able to more readily give us that answer. If we are not, He may wait to see if we will continue to ask until our will aligns with His. When we are humble and ready to be taught, He will teach us and we will then begin, ever so slightly, to comprehend the things that He comprehends.
The answer may not be as immediately forthcoming as it was for Joseph Smith. Sometimes we need to show Heavenly Father that we are really serious about our question—that we're not asking just out of curiosity or because it might be a nice thing to know—but that we are prepared (as Joseph was) to act in faith upon the answer and follow through with whatever the answer may be. Joseph was ready and willing to join the church that God told him to join (see JS-H 1:18). Instead he was told to join none of them, so he didn't. If we are ready and willing to act on the answer we receive from Father, then He will be able to more readily give us that answer. If we are not, He may wait to see if we will continue to ask until our will aligns with His. When we are humble and ready to be taught, He will teach us and we will then begin, ever so slightly, to comprehend the things that He comprehends.
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