"Blind" Faith
There is no such thing as blind faith--not for any Latter-day Saint serious about his Christianity anyway. Faith, in its truest vigilance and heartfelt form, looks honestly on Christ and knows that He lives because the evidence of that fact is sufficient and provided for by the Holy Ghost.
But Paradox, you've never seen God. How can you say that?
Because I've heard Him speak to me and I've felt His love for me. I've spoken to Him, I've trusted Him, and I've been trusted by Him. I've been taught and strengthened by Him. I've been protected and sanctified by Him. I have followed Him, walked beside Him, gotten myself lost and been found by Him. I've been in His holy House and stood in His presence. In short, I have had experiences--because I love Him--that allow me to do everything short of seeing Him. And honestly, those experiences have been so precious to me, I would feel presumptuous to ask for more in my weak and mortal state. Truly it has been said, and truly I feel of myself that "the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matthew 26: 41) To see Him in the flesh is a greater blessing than I can ask for now.
But I believe, because I have seen His hand in my life, that I will see Him again if I do my part to be obedient to His commandments and rely upon His grace and mercy. In Acts, we read that the disciples asked Christ when He would return to the earth. According to that record, He said, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1: 7-8)
I have faith that the experiences I have had with Jesus Christ--the healing I've obtained, the strength I've received, the goodness that has edified me--have been real. They are real because He lives. No faith in Him is ever blind--for even fleeting glimpses of even the smallest trace of goodness require sight. I testify that as we yield to that sight, our ability to know of Christ increases, until at last we reach that day when we shall stand before our Lord at the Judgment Bar, knowing the full extent of our goodness and guilt.
That we will seek for our Savior always, wherever we may stand, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.
But Paradox, you've never seen God. How can you say that?
Because I've heard Him speak to me and I've felt His love for me. I've spoken to Him, I've trusted Him, and I've been trusted by Him. I've been taught and strengthened by Him. I've been protected and sanctified by Him. I have followed Him, walked beside Him, gotten myself lost and been found by Him. I've been in His holy House and stood in His presence. In short, I have had experiences--because I love Him--that allow me to do everything short of seeing Him. And honestly, those experiences have been so precious to me, I would feel presumptuous to ask for more in my weak and mortal state. Truly it has been said, and truly I feel of myself that "the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matthew 26: 41) To see Him in the flesh is a greater blessing than I can ask for now.
But I believe, because I have seen His hand in my life, that I will see Him again if I do my part to be obedient to His commandments and rely upon His grace and mercy. In Acts, we read that the disciples asked Christ when He would return to the earth. According to that record, He said, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1: 7-8)
I have faith that the experiences I have had with Jesus Christ--the healing I've obtained, the strength I've received, the goodness that has edified me--have been real. They are real because He lives. No faith in Him is ever blind--for even fleeting glimpses of even the smallest trace of goodness require sight. I testify that as we yield to that sight, our ability to know of Christ increases, until at last we reach that day when we shall stand before our Lord at the Judgment Bar, knowing the full extent of our goodness and guilt.
That we will seek for our Savior always, wherever we may stand, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.
AMEN
