Knowledge Comes through Faith

Knowledge Comes through Faith

Knowledge Comes through Faith
Mormon History Related

"Many years ago two General Authorities called a very young man to be a new stake president. In his response, the new stake president said he would give total devotion to his calling and would not ask any of the members of his stake to be more devoted than he. Then he bore his testimony that he believed the gospel with all his heart and proposed to live it."Later at lunch one of the General Authorities asked this new stake president whether he knew absolutely that this gospel is true. He answered that he did not. The senior Apostle said to his fellow Apostle, 'He knows it just as well as you do. The only thing that he does not know is that he does know it. It will be but a short time until he does know it. . . . You do not need to worry.'"A short time later, the new stake president testified that following a spiritual experience, 'I shed tears of gratitude to the Lord for the abiding, perfect, and absolute testimony that came into my life of the divinity of this work' (Heber J. Grant, Gospel Standards, comp. G. Homer Durham [1941], 192-93). "Many of us do not have a full awareness of what we really know. Even though we have been taught the gospel, we may not be fully aware of what the Lord has put in our 'inward parts' and written in our hearts. . . . You are heirs to great promises. You have the opportunity to become more than 'hewers of wood and drawers of water' (Josh. 9:21)."I do not claim to have an absolute understanding of all of the principles of the gospel, but I have come to know with certainty the divinity and authority of this Church. This came to me gradually, line upon line and precept upon precept. I now know that I know, just as you can come to know that you know. It can happen to you."Knowledge comes through faith. In our day and time we must come to know the truthfulness of what was on the golden plates without seeing them. They are not available for us to see and handle as they were for the Three Witnesses and for the Eight Witnesses. Some of those who actually saw and handled the golden plates did not remain faithful to the Church. Seeing an angel would be a great experience, but it is far greater to come to a knowledge of the divinity of the Savior through faith and the witness of the Spirit."

James E. Faust, "It Can't Happen to Me," Ensign, May 2002, 48

Topics: Faith, Testimony