This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Afternoon Session of the April 1989 Conference.
We seek learning by studying the accumulated wisdom of various disciplines and by using the powers of reasoning placed in us by our Creator.
We should also seek learning by faith in God, the giver of revelation. I believe that many of the great discoveries and achievements in science and the arts have resulted from a God-given revelation. Seekers who have paid the price in perspiration have been magnified by inspiration.I've seen this, and written about it, myself. But President Oaks has a larger point to make:
The acquisition of knowledge by revelation is an extra bonus to seekers in the sciences and the arts, but it is the fundamental method for those who seek to know God and the doctrines of his gospel. In this area of knowledge, scholarship and reason are insufficient…
The Lord’s prescribed methods of acquiring sacred knowledge are very different from the methods used by those who acquire learning exclusively by study. For example, a frequent technique of scholarship is debate or adversarial discussion, a method with which I have had considerable personal experience. But the Lord has instructed us in ancient and modern scriptures that we should not contend over the points of his doctrine …Similarly, techniques devised for adversary debate or to search out differences and work out compromises are not effective in acquiring gospel knowledge. Gospel truths and testimony are received from the Holy Ghost through reverent personal study and quiet contemplation.
I have seen some persons attempt to understand or undertake to criticize the gospel or the Church by the method of reason alone, unaccompanied by the use or recognition of revelation. When reason is adopted as the only—or even the principal—method of judging the gospel, the outcome is predetermined. One cannot find God or understand his doctrines and ordinances by closing the door on the means He has prescribed for receiving the truths of his gospel. …
In the acquisition of sacred knowledge, scholarship and reason are not alternatives to revelation. They are a means to an end, and the end is revelation from God.…
In our day we are experiencing an explosion of knowledge about the world and its people. But the people of the world are not experiencing a comparable expansion of knowledge about God and his plan for his children. On that subject, what the world needs is not more scholarship and technology but more righteousness and revelation.Coming from a family of physicists, I've always had an appreciation of the role of reason in our search for truth. I love books like The Faith of a Scientist and sites like Mormon Scholars Testify. I've seen firsthand how logic and faith can reinforce each other. But I'm also learning, as I get older, that sometimes God's ways defy earthly reason.
It seems so reasonable that we ought to learn to be good debaters—to dazzle others with our logical reasons why their worldview is wrong. I've wished often that I had more of a gift for defending my beliefs bravely. And I certainly think God has a place in His work for others who do have that gift! Maybe I can even develop it more myself. But President Oaks himself, who does have that gift, testifies that "debate and adversarial discussion" is not God's way.
I don't know what that means for me sharing truth with others. I think there's certainly a place for sharing and even defending. But President Oaks says there's also a place for silence:
When attacked by error, truth is better served by silence than by a bad argument.I just think it's so interesting, in our world of shouting and tumult, to be reminded that "gospel truths and testimony are received from the Holy Ghost through reverent personal study and quiet contemplation," and that "scholarship and reason are [only] means to an end"—means intended to lead us that humble, quiet, seeking place where we can receive pure knowledge from God. And maybe we will have to keep some of that knowledge held patiently within ourselves until we have an equally quiet and personal opportunity to share it.
Revelation is the only path to learn truths about God and how to become like Him. No wonder President Nelson is pleading with us to become better at receiving it!
Other posts in this series:
The shortest distance is a straight line—by Nathaniel Givens
Do we follow the prophet enough?—by Jan Tolman
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