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Talk time again. My subject is “Come unto Christ by seeking truth and light.” I like the subject and have been looking forward to it. My general outline plan (in my head) is to not actually give truth, but to focus more on seeking truth on our own. Part of that will be talking about where to find truth. For me, I think a chief source of truth is the words of the Savior, especially as found in the New Testament. This is the only part where I might share something I believe is a truth – the Savior’s teaching to love our neighbors in light of it also being a core teaching of all other religions/belief systems. I also believe truth can be found in other books of scripture and from living prophets and apostles. None of them (scripture or living prophets/apostles) contain all truth, speak/teach only truth, or are always true. I plan to paint Joseph Smith as a seeker and teacher of truth above all else, but that he is also not infallible (where I will tread lightly). I also believe there are many other sources of truth, including scientific truths (where I will again tread lightly) and truths found in great literature, music, and movies. And of course I will talk about the Holy Ghost as a witness of truth, but probably will not elaborate much on how.
So my question is, are there sources of truth I am missing and should address? And any tips on how to safely navigate the Holy Ghost thing without letting the cat out of the bag on what I really think about the Holy Ghost?
I might say that truth isn’t necessarily something we find (truth as a destination) but it is something that we slowly realize as we experiment upon the word (truth as the journey). Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness; And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first.
Be true to yourself. found this website with lots of relevant quotes on LDS truth seeking. Could be helpful… Be sure to use Joseph’s statement about accepting truth no matter its source – and the verse in the D&C about seeking knowledge and wisdom out of the best books from all disciplines. Not that you have time to read an entire book before your talk – but I loved the book “The Faith of a Scientist” by Henry Eyring, President Eyring’s father. He seemed to believe you don’t need to fear truth whatever it is and wherever it comes from. He seemed pretty open about it and although it seemed to cause friction with the church he seemed to navigate it successfully. I like Dan Wotherspoon’s podcasts at mormonmatters that discuss 3 types of truth models…those make sense to me and help me try not to talk past others who use different approaches to truth, when we are usually saying the same things, just from a different point of view. (pssst….use Obiwan’s quote in your talk!)
Heber13 wrote:I like Dan Wotherspoon’s podcasts at mormonmatters that discuss 3 types of truth models…those make sense to me and help me try not to talk past others who use different approaches to truth, when we are usually saying the same things, just from a different point of view.
(pssst….use Obiwan’s quote in your talk!)
I have used that quote in a talk before – along with Uchtdorf’s very similar quote. If truth can come from literature or movies, then it certainly fits.
I’ll have a look at Wotherspoon’s stuff, thanks.
Old-Timer wrote:Be sure to use Joseph’s statement about accepting truth no matter its source – and the verse in the D&C about seeking knowledge and wisdom out of the best books from all disciplines.
Quoting D&C may be a first for me, but that particular one really works.
Roy wrote:found this website with lots of relevant quotes on LDS truth seeking. Could be helpful…
http://ldstruthquotes.tumblr.com/ I forgot to thank you Roy. I did find this site to be very helpful – it saved me from looking up some of the quotes and there are some good ones there I hadn’t heard/read before.
Pres. Uchtdorf has also had quite a bit to say on the subject, including last conference.
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