I was reading Alma 32:18:
"For if a man knoweth a thing he hath
no cause to believe, for he knoweth it".
So, my question is can we ever have a perfect knowledge without actually seeing God? If so, how?
I realize the Holy Ghost can confirm the truth of things to us, but does this give us a perfect knowledge? If so, how?
I've kinda worked it out in my head of how I think this works, but I would love to hear other opinions. I hope this isn't too basic, but I'm curious to see what you guys think.
testing...testing...1..2..3...testing...
ReplyDeletethis is try number 3 to post a comment...
i love that you call this question basic! it's really a hard one!
ReplyDeleteIf you read Alma 32 carefully, it's not really talking about seeing God and having your calling and election made sure. It's condemning sign-seekers. Verse 17 reads, "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." This would bypass the test of mortality and negate the plan of salvation.
ReplyDeleteCan we have a perfect knowledge without seeing God? i don't know.
Does the Holy Ghost give us a perfect knowledge? We know you can have a perfect knowledge of a particular principle, that's in verse 34-- "And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know"
This doesn't really answer your question, but i think the context helps.
The conclusion that I have finally come to is that in order to have a knowledge of a principle it is necessary for us to first put it into practice.
ReplyDeleteIn Alma 32:27 it says "...if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if you no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words",
So, I think that if we will exercise some faith in a particular principle--let's use prayer--you pray to know certain things and you receive an answer then you can know that the Lord answers prayers because you have experimented on his words. You prayed and He answered, so prayer is a true principle. I don't know if that makes sense, but it helped me. And also...
In Romans 8:16 it says, "The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are children of God". I think this can be applied to any principle--our spirits have a perfect knowledge. They have seen the Lord. They know the truth. When we feel the Spirit he is confirming to us that we already know it.
I hope I didn't just blaspheme or anything, but that is how I made sense of it.