Hebrews 11:1 calls faith “…the evidence of things not seen.” One friend pointed out that it is impossible for the belief in a thing to be the evidence for that thing.
Or is it?
We view faith as a wispy, intangible kind of thing. Even the word is ethereal. Say the word “faith” out loud. The tongue, teeth, and lips almost touch, but never really do. The word “faith” has impressive relatives in our language: “fate,” “wisdom,” and “vision” are all cognate, share a common root with the word “faith.” Faith is like a wet bar of soap—the harder you try to grasp the concept, the more easily it escapes. That is, until we are called to act, to choose. Then our true beliefs become readily apparent. Faith unfolds into virtues like trust, humility, courage, patience, kindness, and forgiveness, when circumstances demand action from us. “Faith” is equated with “belief” in common usage. Just as scriptural “charity” is so much more than affection or alms for the poor, so scriptural faith is more than a synonym for belief.
It may be helpful to distinguish between scriptural faith and other things like it. There are many forms of belief—hunches, inklings, notions, suspicions, instincts, intuition, theories, creeds, impressions, and mental models of the world we project and superimpose over events to explain them. All of these fall under the general category of beliefs. But in a scriptural context, before a belief qualifies as faith, it must be placed in something that is 1. Unseen, and 2. True. Belief in things that are seen and true, seen and false, or unseen and false, do not count as faith in the scriptural sense.
Faith that leads to salvation must also produce action—the devils believe (they KNOW, even), but they are in open rebellion.
How can a belief in something that is unseen, yet true, be evidence for the thing itself?
I believe that each of us, in our spirit, has a built-in truth detector, a part of us that resonates with truth. It might be that truth harmonizes with echoes of what we knew before, and is now covered by the veil. Or it may be that the sum total of all knowledge is buried somewhere inside us, lurking outside of conscious access. Or perhaps the light of Christ is brighter inside us when we are exposed to true ideas, giving us a signal that what we are hearing is correct.
Whatever the nature of the element inside us that resonates upon hearing truth, there are many sources that proclaim that there is some organ of our spirits that is activated by true ideas, producing recognizable symptoms in us.
Joseph Smith taught in the King Follet discourse, “This is good doctrine. It tastes good. I can taste the principles of eternal life, and so can you. They are given to me by the revelations of Jesus Christ; and I know that when I tell you these words of eternal life as they are given to me, you taste them, and I know that you believe them. You say honey is sweet, and so do I. I can also taste the spirit of eternal life. I know it is good; and when I tell you of these things which were given me by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you are bound to receive them as sweet, and rejoice more and more” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 355). If his ideas were true or sweet, why did so many reject him and even want to murder him? I will explore that in a while.
Alma 32 is universally cited as the preeminent scripture about developing faith. But what is Alma asking us to do? “Now, we will compare the word unto a seed.” Not faith itself, but the word, is being cultivated here. He is asking us to plant the word “in your heart,” and “behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed” a correct idea, “behold it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say…It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious unto me.” In other words, a true idea will activate one’s truth detection equipment.
(D&C 121:42 says that “...pure knowledge shall...greatly enlarge the soul...” Does that mean fiction can shrink the soul? Is that the source of the empty feeling that so often accompanied me on my way out of movie theaters? I watched a teacher at church, over the course of weeks, go from having the Spirit to losing the ability to teach thereby, after he joined his employer’s sales department. Coming out of us or going into us, falsehoods shrivel the soul.)
What is the idea, the word, that Alma and Amulek are asking the poor people to plant in their hearts? “...begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works...I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts...and nourish it by your faith”—it is the Atonement. (Alma 33:22-23). Alma seems to assume that there is already faith in everyone, like a muscle. He asks them to “nourish the tree...by your faith with great diligence...” (Alma 32:41).
The word itself must be something simple; everyone in need of salvation needs to be able to understand the concept. Our brains are so littered with false ideas and flawed paradigms that it becomes easy for us to ask questions with false premises: “O Lord, wilt thou keep me from sailing off the edge of the earth?” If one’s salvation depends on correct knowledge of the laws of physics or a correct model of astronomy or other scientific principles, we all have problems. Hopefully we can be saved with misunderstandings about math and subatomic particles floating about in our systems of belief. But the concepts Amulek is talking about, the “word,” are so simple that anyone can grasp them. We sin, we die; Jesus is the Son of God, who will suffer in our place, die, be resurrected, and save us as our judge at the last day.
Alma is relying on the existence of some innate truth detector built into the fabric of each soul in his audience, some means of independently confirming the validity of what he is saying to the point that they will act on his words.
We get more hints about why we resonate upon hearing the truth in D&C 93. Jesus tells us that we were with Him in the beginning: “Ye were also in the beginning with the Father; that which is Spirit, even the Spirit of truth; And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come…” According to this, we ARE light and truth—it is our very essence. How could introducing a true idea into our hearts not produce familiarity, a desire to adhere to that idea? “…intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth;…light cleaveth unto light…” (D&C 88:40).
How do we receive more light and truth? John says Jesus learned and progressed in mortality: “…he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; and he received not the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness…” (D&C 93:12-13). How? How can we receive more knowledge? “…He received a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth; And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments. He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things” (D&C 93:26-28). “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). “And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.” What will be the result? “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy; And then shall ye know, or by this shall you know, all things whatsoever you desire of me…” (D&C 11:12-14).
If we want more knowledge, we also have to be willing to bear the burden of altered behavior that comes with it. “Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe.” (Alma had just barely dealt with Korihor, who received a sign unto destruction.) “…is this faith?…Nay…how much more cursed is he that knoweth the will of God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth, or only hath cause to believe, and falleth into transgression?” Our culpability is proportional to the difference between our knowledge and our behavior. If God gave us all knowledge before we were ready to live up to it, we would heap condemnation onto ourselves. Instead, He teaches us “line upon line.”
Obedience causes the Lord to bless us with light and truth. The opposite is also true: “And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.” Our disobedience garbles truth and dims light, making us unfit to receive more. It closes the channels of revelation. What remains is the pang of guilt (the loss of light) and the whisper from the Spirit: “repent.” Notice that temptations from Satan are not the only thing that blinds us to truth. The inertia of old habits, engrained traditions inherited from our family, can keep us from new light and truth. Pride and truth are incompatible; that is the main obstacle to repentance. When we are humble, we are also willing to rearrange the furniture in our brain—to accept a new view of the world. “What shall we do?” the poor people ask Alma. This is an announcement of their flexibility, their willingness to remodel their view of the world. (Without discomfort, it is easy to forget that the invitation to repent is extended to US, not just to everyone else.)
Part of the human enigma is our ability to know something, yet not conform our behavior to that knowledge. Donuts, cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, and numerous other commodities and behaviors, stand as testimony to that sad fact. Doing the right thing requires lugging our appetites and passions and pride and traditions uphill. I sympathize to an extent with ascetics of various religions. They want to forgo being of the world and in the world, shunning everything good to escape everything bad as well. Jesus did not pray for us to be translated and whisked away to some paradise free from temptations: “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” How? “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). This seems to indicate some kind of change wrought by God to fortify us against evil while we are in a world saturated with evil. These words mystified Christianity for centuries, to the point that the doctors of the Church “deny the power” of God to change our hearts. The Book of Mormon is the best manual for understanding how to receive this sanctification, the purifying of our desires.
King Benjamin’s people are a good model. They recognize their fallen state, the difference between what they know and what they have done: “…behold they had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them. And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men. And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come…” (Mosiah 4:2-3).
Once their egos were out of the way, they could see themselves as they really were, in dire need of salvation and forgiveness for their sins. Notice that they were not only justified, or excused of their sins. They were also sanctified: “…Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us…”—they have faith— “…and also, we know of their surety and truth…” This is stronger language than simple belief. The Spirit has implanted a certainty in them. “…because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” The Lord gave them certainty, knowledge, AND the power to live up to it simultaneously. With the ballast of sinful desires diminished, and the buoyancy of righteous desires firmly ensconced, they were ready to ascend the mountain of behavior modification required by this new knowledge.
Arguing with the truth can destroy such a mighty change, and cause us to revert back to our old state. “…as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel. And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true” (Mosiah 4:12-13). If we can accept our lowliness and dependence on God, and agree to try to do things His way, He can reach into our hearts and modify our desires to be more like His. With the obstacle of pride out of the way, we will grow in revelation and the gifts of the Spirit.
For years I was so hung up on the unflattering phrase, “unworthy creatures,” that I failed to notice a formula promising permanent happiness in the Book of Mormon. Pride hides the truth from us. How does joy flow from awareness of one’s own nothingness? It invites the Spirit because it is true. It is an easier pill to swallow when it is paired with the greatness of God, and His mercy towards us. All these things are true; and accepting truth into our hearts, uncomfortable or a relief, allows us to receive more light and truth.
King Benjamin’s people are rid of pride in that moment, and he tells them to freeze their minds in that position, lest they lose the light and fall. When we are willing to have our pride skewered, then the rest of our being can experience the gifts of the Spirit, revelation, peace, love, and joy.
When we pray for help with the mundane concerns that consume our routines, the Lord may or may not intervene. But when we pray to know what we need to repent of next, the Lord will reveal it to us (see Ether 12:27). He is anxious to see us progress, and when we pray for what He wants for us, He will undoubtedly give it to us. We keep the commandments to keep our spiritual truth detecting equipment in tune. I suppose we should add this to the list of things we can take with us into the next life—clean spiritual receptors for light and truth.
