This week’s lesson discussion centers around the concepts of light and dark, as well as a brief discussion of the importance of loving to learn.
Introduction
As much as I would like to think that the gospel is very straightforward and simple, I don’t think it is. Most of what we have to study was written anywhere from a couple hundred years ago to many thousands of years ago. And if that doesn’t make things difficult enough, we have to worry about all the cultures that wrote those scriptures and how they communicated one with another. Language is the conveyor of culture. It is through our language that we learn our culture, express the beliefs and assumptions of our culture, and pass that culture along to the next generation. Culture is the commonly-held expectations and points of view on life that we share with others like us.
Western cultures tend to be very “me” centered. I am taught from very young that I need to be strong, self reliant, and successful. I have no one to blame for my failures but myself. And just so I am ultimately responsible for all my successes in life. My society tells me that I need to “find my truth” and “follow my heart.” I need to eat my vegetables so I can grow up to become strong and king of the forest. My nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and young adult literature all look at life with this same set of eyes.
Many other cultures are “we” centered. I am part of a collective. I don’t stand alone. If I am successful it is only because of those who made it possible. There are my ancestors who taught my parents well, the staff who served me good food in the cafeteria at school, who run the transportation system that keeps our society humming, and those who taught me and encouraged me. I owe all these people credit for any success I may enjoy in life. Without their support I could accomplish nothing of myself. If sacrifices need to be made they are made for the greater good of the whole of my society, and I just have to ignore my personal wants to fulfill my obligations to my culture.
I first learned about such cultural differences when things were presented in my classes in college. I was learning what was needed to know about those wanting to learn English, my first language. Just learning a language to learn that language is made more difficult if you don’t also learn something of the culture that language represents and shapes. So many of our expressions come from our shared history and experiences as a culture. And as our shared experiences change with the times, so too do our culture and our language change to reflect our shared experiences together. This is why we need to keep rewriting our dictionaries. We are always adding new words and phrases that the last generation didn’t even imagine. And some of the old terms fall out of fashion and are no longer used.
If you want an eye opener try explaining all the nautical expressions found in English. We have “That ship has sailed.” “Two ships that pass in the night.” “To list to obey” (to list is to lean toward a particular side of an issue, like a ship that lists to the port side rides lower on that side in the water and might not sail straight). The list of expressions is long and many. Most of the time we hear such things mentioned and we don’t even think about where they come from or what they mean, because we all have a rough shared understanding of what is being discussed. This same truth holds true about the scriptures.
Light, darkness, Spirit, and truth
In Western culture we like to be plain spoken, and when we communicate we are supposed to be clear about our intentions right from the start. Everything we say after that needs to support our opening statements. But in Eastern cultures, like those of the Middle East, they speak in more figurative and poetic language. They don’t start with a thesis when they write, but to Western eyes, write in circles. Somewhere in the process of all their descriptions you find the truth they are wanting to convey or the point they are trying to make. To them this is a balanced way of looking at and expressing issues in life. To us in the West it is frustration in print.
This is why I would like to briefly address the scriptures use of light, dark, spirit, and truth. In the scriptures God, Himself equates light, spirit, and truth as though they are interchangeable with each other. In the Middle East this is much easier to understand than it is in the West, for we rely on and usually hope that one word equals one definition, and hence only one way to use that word. That actually doesn’t usually happen, but we still try to make things fit that mold whenever possible. There are actually a huge number of words in English that mean multiple things. One example is the word “cleave.” We can cut something into two equal pieces by cleaving it down the middle. But we can also find our true love and cleave to that person and to none other. So “to cleave” can mean both to cut asunder and to bind together. This means we must learn to be flexible with our definitions of words and try to see how they might be used beyond what we might want to assign their meaning to.
Scripturally, light refers to something that is discernable, and in a way measurable. We know something is light if we can see it, comprehend it, understand it, and learn from it. This word is used to describe Christ and all that he does. In a very literal sense all the light in the universe comes from God. Because it comes from God, He is aware of all that it touches and affects. This also represents His omniscience, or Him being all knowing.
Just as all light comes from and emanates from God, which in a very real way makes Him omnipresent, or present everywhere, so too does all truth come from God. This makes Him the source of all knowledge, wisdom, and intelligence. God lives in the past, present, and future at the same time. The way the scriptures refer to this is to say that the past and the future are always before His face. That means He sees/comprehends what has happened as it really happened (no spin on the truth) and He sees what is happening now, and what will happen in the future.
This ability for God to see from the beginning of creation to the end all at once is one of the reasons when He talks He talks in absolutes. I’ve mentioned before how the Lord referred to people, like Martin Harris, in the Doctrine and Covenants as wicked, when by our definition they were good people. But God looks at current behavior and if that behavior leads in the future to a loss of blessings, that is wicked. Righteous behavior always leads to joy and happiness in the future. God sees everything from an eternal view point. We don’t. So we have to take what God tells us and try to figure out why He says what He does and commands as He does.
Examples
Isaiah 2:5
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us in the of the Lord.
Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, wrestled with an angel and had his name changed to Israel (let God prevail). We are of Jacob or Israel’s family, for anyone who makes covenants with God are part of Abraham’s priesthood covenant lineage or one of his physical family line. The prophet Isaiah is inviting us who make covenants with God to “walk in the light of the Lord.” This light represents many things, among which is an awareness of all that is good and uplifting in the gospel. To “walk in the light” is to live each day according to the knowledge God has given us. The Christian community refers to this as our “daily walk.” Our daily walk is to live according to what we believe. When we live according to our professed beliefs we are “walking the walk.” When we speak according to what we profess to believe in we are “talking the talk.”
Isaiah 9:2
2 The people that walked in have seen a great : they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
If seeing a light refers to being taught or coming to understand truth from God then being in darkness refers to having to live without a knowledge of God. We are, in this example, stumbling around in the dark. We are left to our own devices to figure out what is right and what is wrong, because we have no one to teach us the only true standard that exists in the universe, and that is the standard of behavior that comes from the ruler of heaven and earth, God.
So the people “that walked in darkness” or who lived their lives devoid of the truths that come from God, “have seen a great light.” This means they have received not just a little bit of knowledge and clarity from God, but a lot of it. So they who lived in the land in darkness, who were spiritually dead, are now alive with saving truth, for “upon them hath the light shined.”
The scriptures are full of these simple expressions of light and darkness. Each of them can be interpreted in a slightly different way, but all of them are based on God being the source of all that is good, all that is light or that which reveals, and all that is truth. And remember, the truths that come from God are spiritual in nature. He has told us that He has never at any time given us a purely physical or carnal commandment. All of God’s commandments and revelations are spiritual. The mortal mind cannot comprehend anything that is spiritual, for almost anything that is spiritual in nature goes against the teachings of the world around us. To understand spiritual things we must plead with God for that understanding. When we ask our Father in Heaven for this understanding He has promised that He will reveal it to us. That means we will be given the understanding we seek. This is what is meant for us to knock and have it be opened to us, to seek and we will find, etc.
God’s use of light and truth, His ability to cause us to comprehend (which is revelation) is governed by the moral agency we were given in the premortal world. God always honors our agency. He will never force His ways, His knowledge, or understanding on us, for when He gives us those things we will be held accountable for them in the day of judgment. We must go to Him and ask for them. Once given we then must be willing to live by what we have learned. This is what is meant by enduring to the end, it is living for the rest of our lives what we have come to know through the Spirit of Christ or the Holy Ghost.
One last example
3 Nephi 18:24
24 Therefore, hold up your that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed.
When the Savior refers to lighting a candle and holding it up for all to see, instead of hiding it under a bushel, he is talking about being an example of goodness to those who still live in a world of spiritual darkness. Jesus doesn’t want us to show off our own example, but his perfect example. We live according to his example of purity and righteous living. He is the only one worthy of approaching the Father of all in complete righteousness and purity. That is why we must pray to God in Christ’s name, for only Jesus has the assurance that what he asks of God will be given to him. When we pray we ask in the name of God’s Son. Only in that way can we hope to have our prayed for outcome granted. Christ is the example we hold up for all to see. He is the light, the bringer of truth, the one who reveals the hidden world of spiritual things. He is our source for all that is good and all that brings lasting joy.
Spirit vs. spirit
This is where I admit my ignorance. I have only two definitions of spirit. One is the Holy Ghost. Christ refers to the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of Christ. Spirit with a capital S refers to the Holy Ghost. When we refer to the spirit of something we are referring to the essence of that thing. The spirit of Elijah is the blessing of Elijah’s calling to unite the living and the dead together in the gospel. We use family history work to accomplish a lot of this work. Those who give of their time and effort in doing this work of salvation are experiencing the spirit of Elijah.
The scriptures equate light, truth, and spirit as if they are the same or at least close enough to the same that they are interchangeable. I don’t know what that means. I don’t know what the Lord is referring to when He equates truth and spirit with each other. It would be easier for me to understand if by spirit He is referring to the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit is the teacher and testifier of truth. He gives us light and helps us to see or comprehend spiritual things that will bring us everlasting joy. If you have a better or more complete explanation I would appreciate your dropping it in the comment section below. I haven’t ever been comfortable with how spirit (lower case s) fits in with light and truth. It is almost as if there is another definition of spirit I haven’t yet considered. I would like to know.
Why is learning things of this world so important?
Here are the opening verses for this subject in Doctrine and Covenants 88:77-80.
77 And I give unto you a commandment that you shall one another the of the kingdom.
78 Teach ye diligently and my shall attend you, that you may be more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;
79 Of things both in and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the , and the judgments which are on the land; and a also of countries and of kingdoms—
80 That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to the calling whereunto I have called you, and the with which I have commissioned you.
Historically, Christians were controlled by their leaders through their own ignorance. For centuries few but the clergy were allowed to even learn to read, let alone study the world around them. It was through the ignorance of the general populace that the church was able to maintain their control, for the priest was put on a pedestal, and his word was taken as final. No one was allowed to question what was taught. This practice gave rise to the belief that the scriptures they had were perfect and could not be questioned. The priests knew full well that the scriptures had been copied over and over again by hand. They knew there were parts changed and left out or introduced by the copyists. There cannot be such a thing as a perfect copy when it was done by hand over the course of years of labor. But you couldn’t very well tell that to the peasants who wouldn’t understand such natural mistakes. That would cut into the mystique of the scriptures being the inviolate word of God.
Why then is the Lord so clear in these verses that He wants every member of the church to study and learn about the scriptures and the doctrines of the gospel? And not just the doctrines, but of the world in which we live. God wants us all to be educated people. Why is that so important that He says we must be diligent about it? I have a few ideas, and you may have even more of your own.
The advantages of education
It is true that there are times when we must accept things on faith alone. That is important for our spiritual education. But most of the things we need to learn are either purely physical in nature, or they are a combination of rational thinking and spiritual understanding. Why are we even here in mortality? Isn’t it to further our progression to become like God? The answer, of course, is yes! God is all knowing. He is able to think, reason, foresee, and consider carefully all that comes before Him. He wants us to learn to be like Him. We must also learn to reason our way through difficulties, learn from our mistakes, and learn to look ahead into the future to figure out where our current actions will take us if we pursue that proposed course of action. We must learn to predict future consequences. The Lord also wants us to learn how to learn. We do this buy study, pondering, considering, talking through with others what has happened in the past, and learning from the things already written.
In this life the Lord will require that we be given tasks to accomplish that require us to stretch ourselves to the limits of our abilities. When the Brethren need to move the church forward to prepare us for the second coming of Christ, they must know how to seek out the best authorities on the subjects they are studying. They take that knowledge and use their own wisdom to try to figure out how best to proceed. It is only after all their own work that they take the results back to God and ask for clarification and direction. This is what God expects of us as well.
Education isn’t just found in a university. Anyone can learn new things and study on their own, especially now that we have the Internet. The Lord expects us to learn to love the act of learning. Wise people are rarely ignorant people. Wisdom is accumulated most often through the act of learning then putting into practice what was learned. Wisdom takes time and practice. This is why the Lord requires that we not only teach wisdom, but we seek wisdom from the best books. (Emphasis on the word best) The Sunday Funnies in the local newspaper may have some great cartoons, but we will hardly learn to govern ourselves or our communities by just reading the Sunday comics. We need to learn to seek the words of those who took the time to become learned themselves and see what pearls of wisdom we can learn from them. This will bless us and those with whom we come into contact for the rest of our lives.
Those who educate themselves while growing in their faith are able to better see how the Lord thinks, reasons, and feels about various issues and topics. Education alone will lead us away from God, for most of our education comes from the world, and the world is Godless. We must combine our education with the spiritual education we get through the exercise of faith and study in the scriptures. This is what creates some of the strongest members of the Lord’s church. There are those who are blessed with a simple faith who set wonderful examples for us all, but most of us require the ability to think our way through a problem until our faith can carry us the rest of the way through our trial.
Some of us haven’t been raised in homes that teach a love of reading, studying, and learning. That makes life more difficult for the children. They don’t see why education is so important, because they didn’t have a good example set for them as children. They must choose to overcome this shortcoming by taking upon themselves the responsibility of learning to love to learn as an adult. That is admittedly difficult to do. Not impossible, but still difficult. Those who persevere and learn to love to learn find joy in the act of understanding something they didn’t know before. Their vision and perspective enlarges, and they are better able to understand others and the world around them. It is like the difference between those who stay in their home town and never leave, and those who travel broadly. Those who travel have a greater perspective on life, cultures, and an understanding of how the world works than those who never leave home.
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