Faith

I study the sciences, and as a result I've run into a lot of different ideas about the world and the universe. There seems to be a growing shift to atheism (or at least agnosticism) in the world (and even one or two people that I know) which has led me to think more about faith, what it is, and why we need it. I ran across a post at Mormon Matters that articulated a lot of the same ideas I had been mulling over.

I think that faith is a decision. We choose to believe or to not believe. God has provided enough evidence (or sufficient lack of evidence, if you choose) on either side so that we can make our choice about what we want to believe. God will generally never give us incontrovertible, sensory evidence about his existence and science cannot definitively prove that God does not exist. Andrew at MM states that God wants this to be a difficult choice, and thus we must struggle and work to make our faith grow. He says, "by concealing himself and his doings, God had demonstrated he wants faith development to be a soul-searching, heart-wrenching, and mind-bending experience." Essentially, I think God wants to see how bad we want it.

Two particular scriptures come to mind that help provide me some reassurance in this process. One is in Ether 12:6--"ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." This implies that after our faith has been tried, we will receive further witness (=personal evidence). An example of this shows up in Alma 32, where the prophet is teaching a group of people about how to know if his words are true. He compares his words (and God's word) to a seed. That seed requires nourishment and care in order to grow. When we see the growth, we have further evidence that what we have worked on is worthy of our work.

I have chosen to believe. I don't have all the answers to all of the questions that might come up. Some of my questions have to be put on the shelf until I receive further light and knowledge. However, in my decision to believe I have found more and more evidence that there is indeed a Creator, and I grow stronger in my faith that we have a Savior who loves us and will help us be our best and return to live with God.