And, believe it or not, I
actually agree with my atheist friends on this point. From a scientific,
secular point of view, there is no proof that God exists. I have on
occasion imagined myself in an alternate universe in which I was not born into
a Latter-day Saint family or even a religious family: would I believe all the fantastic
claims my church teaches? A virgin giving birth to the Son of God who
atoned for the sins of mankind? Heaven, angels, prophets, visions,
healings, gold plates, resurrection, life after death, parting of the Red Sea?
(To name just a few.) The me in the alternate universe just isn’t
buying it. But maybe I’m not giving enough credit to the grace of God,
that would eventually help me to find Him. At any rate, I sympathize with
anybody who finds religion to be a difficult pill to swallow.
And yet…
There is a different
paradigm. The paradigm that says that we must exercise faith, choosing to
believe, and then we will see. We must believe that God
exists, and then we will see proof of God’s existence through
the Holy Ghost. “Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen;
wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness
until after the trial of your faith.”[i]
And I’m here to tell you, there have been times when I thought my doubts would
swallow up my faith, but as I have exercised faith and taken steps into the
unknown, I have had experiences with God that give me evidence of his existence
and his love for me.[ii]
We also learn about the
blessings of exercising faith from the resurrected Christ’s teachings to
Thomas, who had to see the risen Lord before he would believe: “Thomas, because
thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and
yet have believed.”[iii]
So how does one begin to
exercise faith, even if one has had little or no religious upbringing or
spiritual experiences? In the Book of Mormon, there is a metaphor that I
like, comparing the exercise of faith to planting a seed. I invite you to
read the entire metaphor here,
beginning in verse 26 until the end of the chapter, but for those that do not
follow the link to read it, here are the highlights:
- We “plant a
seed” of faith within us by exercising a “particle of faith,” even if the
particle of faith is nothing more than a desire to
believe.
- If it is a good
seed, it will begin to grow, which we recognize because it begins to “enlarge [our]
soul[s]” and “enlighten [our] understanding.” This is the
Holy Spirit working within us.
- As it begins to
grow, we have to nourish the seed with “great care” so
that the plant takes root within us and continues to grow and provide
delicious fruit.
- “But if ye
neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will
not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it,
because it hath no root it withers away…Now, this is not because the seed
was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable;
but it is because your ground is barren, and ye will not nourish the tree,
therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof.”
- And, finally,
this promise: “But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as
it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and
with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall
take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting
life. And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with
the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by
ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet
above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea,
and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even
until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.”
Regarding patience and part
of the purpose of why the development of faith requires patience, I’m going to
pass along some wisdom I stumbled upon by a man who goes by the name of “Bill”
online. (I’ve never met you, Bill, but I thank you for sharing these insights.)
I found this in a comment to a blog post.[iv]
“[W]e live in a day when
answers are immediate. You google something and you get thousands of answers in
milliseconds. Now, the veracity of such answers is dubious, but it’s the
instant gratification that [we relish]. And it’s therefore difficult to have to
endure periods of just plain old not knowing….
[T]here is a difference
between google and God. Google (the search engine) does not want a relationship
with you. They’re great folks, to be sure, but the search engine is just a
series of algorithms that produce results based on certain input. They’re
really more interested in our pocket book than anything else, and not really
interested in us as people at all.
This is very different from
what God wants. God wants us to develop a relationship with Him. To seek Him.
To expand our souls. To refine ourselves. To develop patience and faith and
love. And that can be frustrating ... But it doesn’t mean He loves us any less.
Just that He works in His own way.
I [note] that there’s a
difference between doubt and faith. Doubt asks a question assuming there is no
answer, or that the answer will not/can not ever be known. Faith assumes there
is an answer, and that if one is patient, diligent, and worthy, eventually the
answer will be made known. Doubt is rooted in fear, distrust, and apathy; faith
is rooted in hope, patience, belief, and love. Doubt looks to the ground in dismay;
faith looks to God in confidence. Questioning is healthy. It is the only way to
get answers. And I can think of no more frequently repeated injunction in the
scriptures than to ‘ask, seek, and knock.’”
Whether you have not yet
planted the seed of faith, or whether you have a thriving tree of faith that
you are nourishing, my invitation (to myself included!) is to take the next
steps in developing faith. Plant the seed, even if it begins with just a
desire to believe. Re-plant the seed if you have lost faith that you once
had. Nourish the seed through prayer, study of the scriptures, church
attendance, and service to those around you. It can be a difficult
process, particularly at the beginning, but as I have exercised my faith, I
have seen evidences of God’s hand in my life. I know He is there for me
and for you. He just asks us to come to Him in faith.
[ii] In a recent conversation with a friend who is going
through a faith crisis, he expressed concerns that this paradigm is
self-fulfilling. In other words, he thought that as you fill your life
with “faith promoting” activities, you are undoubtedly going to feel that those
things are good and true. I readily acknowledge that there has to be a
“buy-in” to the paradigm of faith. That is the essence of faith: a step
into the darkness. But my experience has been that as I have taken this
step, this buy-in to the paradigm, I have experienced more undeniable
manifestations of God’s hand in my life. This buy-in begins with a desire
to believe, as discussed further in this post.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Very insightful.
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