It’s a topic I will spend my life studying and trying to understand. This will likely not be the only time I write about faith. It is something so dear to me, my faith. I keep coming back to this topic even though I’ve struggled to put together a stimulating thought on the subject.
Great quotes come to mind, even some just from this last General Conference:
“Faith is the antidote for fear.”
Ricardo P. Gimenez
Faith must be based on truth and eternity.
“Faith is the power by which God created the universe.”
Hebrews 11:3
I’ve spent a large part of the last couple years contemplating faith. What makes it so easy to find for some and so hard for others? What makes some so sure God is there and others so skeptical? Is it our nature? Is it something inside of us? Is it a simple characteristic difference between persons like blonde, brown, or red hair? Are we already born with little or a lot of faith? That doesn’t seem quite right.
It makes me think of a quote I read recently. It was in Book 1 of Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus. The early writings of a Christian Bishop to a Pagan:
“Do you not know that faith is the leading principle in all matters? For what husbandman can reap, unless he first trust his seed to the earth? Or who can cross the sea, unless he first entrust himself to the boat and the pilot? And what sick person can be healed, unless first he trust himself to the care of the physician? And what art or knowledge can any one learn, unless he first apply and entrust himself to the teacher? If, then, the husbandman trusts the earth, and the sailor the boat, and the sick the physician, will you not place confidence in God, even when you hold so many pledges at His hand?”
Theophilus of Antioch
I once had a discussion with my grandpa about the Book of Mormon. We discussed the gold plates that Joseph Smith discovered. Those plates were taken to heaven and were only ever seen by 11 witnesses plus Joseph Smith himself. Here is a paraphrased version of the conversation with my grandpa:
“Why do you think the plates weren’t left here for us to see? Wouldn’t it help so many to physically see them? Then everyone would believe.”
His response, “In my experience, even if the plates were right in front of some people, they would still deny. Why do you think they were taken away?”
“Well, probably to protect some, for that reason you said. Some would see them and still deny. Also, they may have been too sacred to keep on earth. They may have been mistreated or lost if they stayed here.”
Then he said something I’ve always remembered.
He said,
“I think there was a much more important reason. One of the most important things we’re on this earth to develop is faith. If you saw the plates, there would be no faith involved. You would know. And yet, there’s always some measure of faith involved. As I said, even some looking and touching them may still deny and explain it away as a fanciful story. But, here’s the important part – because you have never touched them, seen them in anyway, because you had to read the words and feel it in your soul and heart, your testimony is stronger. Because you never saw them, it involves faith. But could you know with more of a surety they were true if I were holding them in front of you right now?”
“No,” I replied.
“Exactly. Your testimony of them is not based on physical touch or sight. You’ve felt the words deep in your soul. That’s more than your eyes can ever give you. That’s what we’re here to develop. Faith.”
Those words have always stuck with me and always will. I will have so much more to say on this topic as I continue to write. My message to everyone I love, whether part of my religion or not: Have faith. Acknowledge the hand of God in your every day. To continue off what Theophilus said above, you get a job and then you have faith you will get paid. You eat food and you have faith it will help your body keep moving. You wake up and have faith your legs will carry you to where you want to go. Understand that you live your life by faith and develop it even more.
One last famous quote by Thomas Aquinas:
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
No Coincidences 