I have always wondered why people go to church. Why spend time and money? What do they get out of church attendance? It must be something important because so many people do it. Church attendance has been part of human life as far back as we have records to know. This is important to a lot of people, in every society, since the beginning of time. It must be very important!
People love to put themselves in a box of what they believe. They love their box. It’s dark. It’s safe. Others are in the same box. They talk to others who support them in their beliefs. The bigger the box, the more secure they feel. “A billion Catholics can’t be wrong!” They feel like the beliefs in their dark box must be true, because that’s what everyone is saying. We don’t know that everyone else is also in a box of belief.
Whatever people believe that isn’t true puts them in a dark box. There is no light. There is no truth. Because of the darkness, people seek others to justify their beliefs. It’s important because I need the box to feel right, just, or true. If I feel alone, lonely, and insecure, I need others to support me in my beliefs.
If I’m in the Buddhist box, then I speak to Buddhists, and they tell me it’s all true, that they believe the same thing I do.
If I'm in a science box then I explain what I see, feel, and hear to those who go to the church of science, who believe the same things.
If I’m in the Catholic box, then I go to church to hear the priest tell me what I want to hear.
If I’m in the atheist box, then I read the works of Nietzsche so I can feel justified in my beliefs.
If I believe alcohol improves my social skills, then I will hang out with people who drink and cannot remember my social skills.
If I’m in a Latter-day Saint box, then I associate with others who bear testimony to me that it’s true, that I don’t have to think or go any further. I believe.
Everyone is in a box, until they break out of the box. However, most of the time that just puts them in a different box. The new box corresponds to their new beliefs, but they remain in ignorance. People break out of the Latter-day Saint box and jump into the Baptist box. They have all their Baptist friends telling them they did the right thing. It works both ways. There are many Baptists who jump into the Latter-day Saint box and have a bunch of Saints telling them they did a good thing. There are even united atheists to share their “not” beliefs. They irrationally try to prove a negative, never knowing what they do not know, and cannot see because of their beliefs. Yet, they continue to believe in the dark, using others to fill their need for justification. They think they have successfully gotten out of the box of belief, only to find themselves in another dark box with a different set of beliefs.
The box of belief is always dark. There is no light. There is no need for truth because the purpose of the box is to avoid the truth so we can feel justified without actually repenting. It seems like if we could just believe the right thing, we would be justified in our beliefs. Once we’re in a box of belief, the truth becomes irrelevant.
Seeking Forgiveness without Repentance
The reason we need a box is for justification. We justify our beliefs by looking to others who believe the same things. We congregate with others to share our beliefs so we can feel justified. It’s all about justification. In one sense, all of life is about justification. We are on probation in the world, being fallen from heaven, and need to be justified so we can return. All the boxes have a purpose in pretending to be justified. It almost seems like we can justify ourselves if we just get enough people to agree with us. Those who believe the same things I do help me to feel right.
For this reason, I don’t tolerate heresy. If someone is in my box, but doesn’t believe what I believe I will kick them out in so many ways. I will hate them. I will reject them. I won’t speak to them. I will speak ill of them. I will make up stories about them. I will discredit them any way I can. I will take their beliefs and prove them wrong. I will get others to prove them wrong. I may even argue with them, or fight. If I have a lot of power, I can torture them until they confess my beliefs. I need everyone to agree with me or I don’t feel I can be justified.
Or, if I come across any person who doesn’t believe the way I do, then I may try to get them to jump into my box. I want them to share my darkness. I want them to believe the way I do. At the same time, they may try to get me to believe the way they do. We’re all going around in our boxes, trying to convince everyone else that we’re right, and they’re wrong. Justification requires agreement from all. If they don’t accept my box, then they are mistaken, ignorant, or proud.
For most others, I just keep my box, remain in my comfortable darkness, and not bother others in their boxes. I allow them to believe whatever they will, and I will believe what I will, and we just won’t discuss “politics and religion” in polite company. I can allow others to feel justified in their beliefs the same way I feel justified in mine, though I’m sure they’re misled.
Real Justification
The problem is, even for those searching for a better box, they are still always in a box out of which they cannot get. We’re often told that we need to have a box. Everyone needs a box. Everyone must have a belief system. Each can find their own way, and it’s perfectly fine for everyone to have different beliefs. All of them are fantasies. None of them actually justify. They give us the illusion of being right. They delude us into feeling righteous, straight, and just.
However, in spite of all the dark boxes of ignorance in the world, there is a reality -- there is truth. Outside of all the boxes is God. The Lord, Jesus Christ, can truly justify. There is no need for any organization of people to justify me, I don’t need consensus, I only seek truth. I believe in Jesus Christ, that there is no other way to be justified. I don’t need counseling or self-help books. I don’t need others to tell me I’m right. I don’t need to find another box. I don’t need any box at all, they are all fantasies. I only need truth, which is outside of all boxes. There is no box of truth. Truth is not darkness. Truth is light. I can see with the light. I can see all the boxes for what they are.
That is how I know I have truth, it comes from God. If I’m dependent on anyone else for justification or corroboration of my beliefs, then I’m in a box of darkness. One atheist who made himself famous by writing books about atheism found justification in smart people, like Albert Einstein. He was dependent on other men for his knowledge. But that is not the same as truth, true knowledge comes from God.
Being a Believer
Skeptics say they don’t believe, but without belief there is nothing. Everyone must believe something so skeptics believe what they have experienced, and don’t believe what others experience that they have not. The problem with being a skeptic is that it puts me in a box out of which I cannot get. I’m stuck with my own experiences, and all the gains I have are only confirmations of what I already believe. I cannot grow. I cannot learn new things. It feels like I’m learning, but there is no growth in “confirmation bias.”
Life is not about what exists, but rather what I believe.
I can’t know what is true until I believe in it.
What I believe is everything in my world.
My beliefs define what I know.
I only see what I believe.
I only know what I believe.
It is only belief that allows me to see. Without belief I am blind to what is presented to me. I must believe first. Likewise, trying to teach someone who doesn’t believe my words is useless, wasting words. I think it’s important that the missionaries, Ammon and Aaron didn’t teach until they knew they would be believed. Aaron went to the king of the Lamanites. The king said, “ ‘I desire that ye should tell me concerning all these things, and I will believe thy words.’ And it came to pass that when Aaron saw that the king would believe his words, he began from the creation of Adam...” (Alma 22:11-12) When his brother, Ammon, taught Lamoni about God, he also first made sure Lamoni would believe:
Now Ammon being wise, yet harmless, he said unto Lamoni: Wilt thou hearken unto my words, if I tell thee by what power I do these things? And this is the thing that I desire of thee. And the king answered him, and said: Yea, I will believe all thy words. And thus he was caught with guile.
Alma 18:22-23
I only see what I believe. So if I only believe what I already know, and summarily reject all things outside of my beliefs, then I will never be able to grow. Growth comes from believing things that I don’t understand, don’t know, have never heard, or don’t currently believe.
Believing truth
There is only one thing worth believing -- truth. If I believe a falsehood it doesn’t help me at all, and may even bring suffering and death. During plagues, there were many who believed that amulets or other trinkets would save them from disease, but they suffered and died anyway because they didn’t know the simple truth of how the disease is contracted and treated. In modern medicine it is estimated that 85% of what our society believes will heal has no basis in fact. Treatments such as unnecessary surgery and medications do more harm than good because it isn’t true, no matter how much I believe in them.
Thus, it is imperative that I judge all my beliefs. Instead of being a skeptic, entrenched in my own dogma, I must ruthlessly judge each one of my beliefs to determine if it is true.
Changing beliefs from false to true
Paradoxically, the way out of my box of belief is to believe everything. By not being skeptical of the beliefs of others, but accepting them as potential truths, I am enabled to grow outside of what I already believe. I can do this by:
- Listening
- Being interested
- Seeking
- Knocking
- Looking for something more than I currently have
- Wanting to know
- Asking questions
I hear something that I don’t know about so I listen and withhold judgment. I don’t throw it out because it’s different and doesn’t fit with my beliefs, but rather listen with the potential to believe. I am a believing person. I believe everything until I judge it to be false. In other words, I don’t pass summary judgment on anything, but I seek evidence for that thing, and then I judge the evidence.
I start by believing. If I don’t currently believe I can desire to believe, and based on that desire I can listen to the testimony of others until I believe.
...even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe
Alma 32:27
Once I believe, I can believe all things.
...we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things...
Articles of Faith 1:13
Believing all things is a characteristic of charity.
And charity... believeth all things...
Moroni 7:45
Being believing of all things is the way to find all the possibilities. God commands us to believe -- to be believing.
Search diligently, pray always, and be believing...
Doctrine and Covenants 90:24
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mark 9:23
The way out of my own dark box of belief isn't by giving up my beliefs, but to believe more -- believe everything. I must be able to hold all things in my mind at the same time without passing summary judgment on any of them. I just hold them as I gain evidence for them.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Judgment of beliefs
Two things are needed for judgment. The first is evidence, or an understanding of the thing. I cannot pass judgment if I don’t understand it. The second is a standard. There must be something outside myself that is reliable, firm, and true. A judge in a courtroom requires no less to pass judgment on a person accused of a crime. The judge must have both elements: evidence that gives understanding of all the circumstances surrounding the crime committed, and a standard, or laws, that are just and true. Without both elements the judge could make a mistake, either by convicting an innocent or by letting a criminal go free.
If I pass judgment without a basis in evidence, then I am a fool.
Also, if I pass judgment based on false evidence then I’m still a fool.
Dismissing ideas without wise judgment will only lead to false beliefs, suffering, and misery.
The Standard of Judgment
In a way, I only understand who I believe. If I believe God, then I will understand the things of God. But if I believe the devil then I will only understand those things that are not of God.
But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil;
Moroni 7:17
God is truth. Whatever is not of God is of the devil. So, either I believe God, or everything I believe is of the devil, or false. The devil is in all things that aren't true. This is essential to understand, because often two opposing falsehoods are presented for judgment as if one of them must be true. Sometimes, the answer is "neither one!" I can judge my beliefs and decide if I believe truth by knowing if it leads me to believe in Christ and serve God. This takes a great deal of humility.
There have been many in the world over time who have insisted they were serving God by being destructive, hateful, and self-centered. That’s why there is a standard in the scriptures and the prophets, allowing anyone to judge righteous judgment. The scriptures are the word of God, and are true. Those things that have truth in them, that lead me to God and help me to believe in Jesus Christ I will keep as my own belief, while those things that are false, that do not lead me to Christ I will reject, and not believe. This gives me a standard by which to judge.
Gaining intelligence through belief
Learning truth requires that I believe contradicting ideas until I have enough evidence and basis to reject one or both as not being true. Intelligence is truth.
The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.
Doctrine and Covenants 93:36
Intelligence is gained through belief. Being believing is essential to growth. Knowledge cannot be gained by skeptics because it leaves them in a box of darkness. They block all light by not believing. Light and truth comes to those who believe all things, causing growth, knowledge, wisdom, and intelligence. It all starts with belief. It’s not what I know, it’s what I believe that matters.
Here is a pattern for gaining intelligence:
- Believe everything (allows me to see)
- Gather evidence (allows me to judge knowledgeably)
- Use a standard (allows me to judge correctly)
- Reject false beliefs (prevents suffering)
- Hold on to true beliefs (allows growth and intelligence)
If I believe everything, then all things are possible. Belief is everything.
