Our Agency, God's Foreknowledge and Omniscience

Beginning January 1st, I undertook another reading of The Book of Mormon from cover to cover. This morning I finished Helaman. I am reading from a worn copy of the original edition. The old Reorganized Church publishes it, and it can be obtained at Deseret Book if you're inclined to follow my lead.

The reason I love reading from the original text is that it reads like a long novel. There are very few chapter breaks, no verses, no footnotes and the typesetter at Grandin Press in Palmyra was the one who provided what punctuation there is. Many, many misspelled words can be observed in the original, grammatical errors and long run-on sentences abound. The familiar words flow freely, however, tumbling off the pages into one's brain with ease. The long narration flows as it fell originally from the lips of the Prophet Joseph Smith onto the transcript pages written primarily by Oliver Cowdery. You can almost sense those two at work in the room with you as you read. Here's but one example:

"And the angel of the Lord said unto me, Thou hast beheld that the Book proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew, it contained the plainness of the Gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God; wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity, unto the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God; and after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles; behold, after this, thou seest the foundation of a great and abominable church, which is the most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the Gospel of the Lamb, many parts which are plain and most precious; and also, many Covenants of the Lord have they taken away; and all this have they done, that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord; that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, thou seest that after the Book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the Book, which is the Book of the Lamb of God; and after that these plain and precious things were taken away, it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles; and after it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles, yea, even across the many waters which thou hast seen with the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity; and thou seest because of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the Book, which were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God; and because of these things which are taken away out of the Gospel of the Lamb, an exceeding great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them; nevertheless, thou beholdest that the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity, and have been lifted up by the power of God above all other nations upon the face of the land, which is choice above all other lands, which is the land which the Lord God hath covenanted with thy father, that his seed should have, for the land of their inheritance; wherefore, thou seest that the Lord God will not suffer that the Gentiles will utterly destroy the mixture of thy seed, which is among thy brethren; neither will he suffer that the Gentiles shall destroy the seed of thy brethren; neither will the Lord God suffer that the Gentiles shall forever remain in that state of awful woundedness which thou beholdest that they are in, because of the plain and most precious parts of the Gospel of the Lamb which have been kept back by that abominable church, whose formation thou hast seen; wherefore, saith the Lamb of God, I will be merciful unto the Gentiles, unto the visiting of the remnant of the House of Israel in great judgment."

One long paragraph, and all one long sentence. That's the way 1 Nephi 13:24-33 was rendered in the original edition. The careful student when comparing today's version with the original will see a host of changes in capitalization, grammar, punctuation, even in the wording. So the next time you are tempted to tell a non-member investigator there are very few changes from the original text into today's version, be careful and hold your tongue. I wish I had a dime for every time I'd said that as a young missionary before I actually made the side-by-side comparison.

I may have come to a point in my life now where I prefer reading the original version more, for all the reasons stated above and more. Critics of the book will tell you they are skeptical because surely God could render a perfect translation in perfect prose and punctuation with grammatically sound language construction. However, I counter the original text gives authenticity to the story of its origins.

It came through an unlearned boy, and the imperfections in syntax, grammar and the total lack of punctuation is precise and compelling evidence that God used weak men to translate the dictated record and write it all down with a quill pen on scraps of paper. The flaws are those of men (including the type setter and the printer) as well as the translator and the scribe. That we have the record at all is a miracle because of the painstaking ancient engraving on plates of gold, the careful custody, and the generations of preservation. That we have it as nearly perfected today as it can be despite the errors of men is practically unthinkable. To say Joseph Smith produced it on his own, given the accounts of how it came forth, is impossible.

Reading the original text is a thrilling periodic interlude to other readings of the book in the modern edition. The "voices" of the various authors compiled and abridged by Mormon are distinct and easily discerned. There is little to impede a rapid read through the contents. Even Isaiah flows easily and fluidly in the original, rather than being so "difficult" in editions where it is highlighted and stands segregated from the rest of the text, giving rise to the normal sighs of agony for readers who encounter the usual barriers in their minds about how hard he is to understand.

I've had reinforced again how many times the words "eternal life" pop out at me, and how consistently the phrase is synonomous with "saved" and "salvation."

This additional observation: Not all the pages of The Book of Mormon are "doctrinally drenched," as Elder Neal A. Maxwell used to say. In truth, my least favorite part in the book is the war chapters at the end of Alma. Not much doctrine there.

One of the pleasant remembrances this time through is the recurring reality of the existence of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. It is Jacob, younger brother of Nephi, who first introduces us to the title "Christ" in the book. (See Jacob 1:4). Prior to that reference, other titles like Redeemer, Messiah, and Savior are used by Nephi. There is nothing more basic in their writings than this: God is omniscient. "O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it." (2 Nephi 9:20).

We often accept this simple truth on its face without thinking through the implications, however. It is fundamental to our understanding of God and how He intersects in our lives through His foreknowledge and our foreordination to certain gifts and mortal missions. Because His love for us individually and collectively is ever-present and never-ending, our growth, purification and sanctification would not be possible absent His omniscience about the atoning sacrifice of His Son. How could He succor us without knowing the eventual outcome in our struggles, and how could we petition for His help and sustaining influence if we did not believe He would understand, lead and guide us to the finish line?

Joseph Smith

The Prophet Joseph Smith in his Lectures on Faith stated God is perfect in the attributes of divinity. A primal attribute He possesses in absolute perfection is knowledge. We learn, ". . . seeing that without the knowledge of all things, God would not be able to save any portion of his creatures; for it is by reason of the knowledge which he has of all things, from the beginning to the end, that enables him to give that understanding to his creatures by which they are made partakers of eternal life; and if it were not for the idea existing in the minds of men that God had all knowledge it would be impossible for them to exercise faith in him." (Lecture 4:11).

In another Lecture, Joseph Smith revealed, "God is the only supreme governor and independent being in whom all fullness and perfection dwell; who is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient." (Lecture 2:2).

Elder Marion D. Hanks

If the scriptures are true (and they are true), when we refer to the Son of God as "Alpha and Omega," a God who knows the end from the beginning, does that fact not presuppose He knows everything about the "in between" details too? I loved the phrase Elder Marion D. Hanks used, when he referred to our "muddling through the middle." That's where we are today, as individuals, as a nation that has lost its way momentarily, and as a world blinded by the abundant satanic influences surrounding and permeating mankind.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

I loved this observation by Elder Neal A. Maxwell, because nobody can say it quite as well as he: "Below the scripture that declares that God knows 'all things' there is no footnote reading 'except that God is a little weak in geophysics!' We do not worship a God who simply forecasts a generally greater frequency of earthquakes in the last days before the second coming of His Son; He knows precisely when and where all these will occur. God has even prophesied that the Mount of Olives will cleave in twain at a precise latter-day time as Israel is besieged. (Zechariah 14:4.)" (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, 7).

Look at these samples from the scriptures, illustrating our Heavenly Father's omniscience (this is Elder Maxwell's list among many that could be compiled):

"The Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all." (1 Chronicles 28:9).

The Lord's "understanding is infinite." (Psalm 147:5).

"Now we are sure that thou knowest all things." (John 16:30).

"The Lord knoweth all things which are to come." (Words of Mormon 1:7).

Job asked, "Shall any teach God knowledge?" (Job 21:22).

Alma described God's "foreknowledge" of all things and said also that God "comprehendeth all things." (Alma 13:3; 26:35).

Helaman wrote, "Except he was a God he could not know of all things." (Helaman 9:41).

The Lord said He "knoweth all things, for all things are present" before Him. (D&C 38:2).

We read, too, that "all things are present with me, for I know them all." (Moses 1:6).

So in the momentary agony of our moments of doubt and fear, isn't it just possible we can each bend our will a little more to conform more fully with His? He will always bow beneath the rod of the moral agency we have been granted, but when we bow beneath the rod of our afflictions and our trials, sore as they may be, can we not believe He will be there to meet us, guide us and give us the inspiration needed in the moment to help us overcome.? Of course we can.

His knowing does not dictate nor undercut our doing. But in His knowing there can be revelation to inspire our doing.

There is a very real veil of forgetfulness between us and God. Elder Maxwell offers these insights about what may happen without that insulating veil:

"Without the veil, for instance, we would lose that precious insulation which keeps us from a profound and disabling homesickness that would interfere with our mortal probation and maturation. Without the veil, our brief, mortal walk in a darkening world would lose its meaning, for one would scarcely carry the flashlight of faith at noonday and in the presence of the Light of the world!

"Without the veil, we could not experience the gospel of work and the sweat of our brow. If we had the security of having already entered into God's rest, certain things would be unneeded; Adam and Eve did not carry social security cards in the Garden of Eden!

"And how could we learn about obedience if we were shielded from the consequences of our disobedience?

"Nor could we choose for ourselves in His holy presence among alternatives that do not there exist, for God's court is filled with those who have both chosen and overcome — whose company we do not yet deserve.

"Fortunately, the veil keeps the first, second, and third estates separate, hence our sense of separateness. The veil insures the avoidance of having things 'compound in one' — to our everlasting detriment. (2 Nephi 2:11.) We are cocooned, as it were, in order that we might truly choose. Once, long ago, we chose to come to this very setting where we could choose. It was an irrevocable choice! And the veil is the guarantor that that choice will be honored." (Ibid., 10-11).

Consider these facts in light of today's political situation in America and elsewhere. God, knowing the agency of His children would be abused, made provision for wrong choices. It's called repentance. When we err in selecting leaders to lead us who trample on the God-given principles of the Constitution, He makes ample provision for changing those leaders every two years in free and open elections. We are governed by our Creed that the gifts of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness come from the Divine Providence of an all-wise Heavenly Father.

Elder Orson Hyde

God in His omniscience foresaw and prophesied the establishment of America as a nation, then the state of Israel. There can be little doubt in both cases, these bastions of freedom, one on this side of the world and the other in a different hemisphere, that their founding was at the very least "remarkable," at most "improbable." In the United Nations Security Council vote, both the United States and the former Soviet Union joined together to make the outcome of Israel's birth a reality. Soon thereafter a wave of immigration to the new nation-state followed and the Jews literally returned to the Holy Land and have made it blossom as a rose, all in fulfillment of ancient Biblical and modern prophecy, including Orson Hyde's inspired dedicatory prayer given on the Mount of Olives in the early days of this dispensation.

Daily we are bombarded with the predictions of wars and rumors of wars. There are only two possible choices historically for rebirthing a nation as drenched in debt as the United States: War or depression, and neither is pleasant nor desirable. Before the Second Coming we will undoubtedly experience both. But all of it is foretold by the omniscience of God through the inspired prophet-authors who have preserved His words. There are chilling prophecies about events yet ahead in the Middle East. (See Zechariah 14:2; Revelation 11).

Only a God who knows all things could make provisions for His children so His plan is not thwarted. He knew His Son would not buckle under the weight He bore in Gethsemane. The operative atoning sacrifice was accomplished. Because He knew, sin and death are conquered in accordance with His plan.

He needed to know the 116 pages of translation would be lost through the carelessness of Martin Harris and his wife. He made provisions for "these plates" (Nephi's small plates) to be preserved as an alternative. The charge given by fathers to sons who inherited the record is repeated again and again, "Take good care of these plates and see that they are preserved for a wise purpose known only to God."

Because He knows "all things," God can plan and make ample provisions so all His purposes are fulfilled. In July, 1828, He told Joseph Smith, "The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught." (D&C 3:1). However, in His knowing He does not compromise our individual moral agency. We cause the decisions of our lives, not Him. We can access His knowledge in varying degrees as we humble ourselves and take counsel from His hands (see Jacob 4:10), but we must decide and act, not Him. He merely knows the outcomes of our choices before we do. In that way He makes provision for all His children, and more particularly for His obedient and faithful children who eventually inherit eternal life. How many will eventually inherit the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom? He already knows,  but permits us to choose our own outcomes.

Whenever I raise this topic, some friends and family are troubled by the implications of the omniscience and foreknowledge of God. They assert incorrectly His knowing constricts our invididual choices and moral agency. How is it, they wonder, that God knows perfectly, but we don't. They, in effect, are telling me their view of this doctrine is better than God's.

I wonder how some can conclude that having spent billions of years (2.555 billion, according to Joseph Smith) in His presence in premortal worlds, where He has observed us, our personality traits, patterns of behavior, habits, tendencies, strengths and weaknesses wouldn't give God a perfect understanding of what we would do under a given set of circumstances - those very circumstances He already knows in advance. Our finite pea-sized brains can't possibly work out the calculus needed to compute all those outcomes, but His can. And once again, His knowing it all in advance has nothing to do with our doing it!

Ever to be emphasized, however, is the reality that God's "seeing" is not the same thing as His "causing" something to happen.

In this presidential election year, imagine the depth and breadth of His knowledge. He absolutely knows every voter in America. He knows right now, today, which candidate will win the Republican nomimation and He knows who will win the White House, every seat in Congress, and who the next dogcatcher in Timbuktu County will be.

But you still have to go to the polling booth and make your choice.

Five Ideas for Teachers

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there is no professional paid clergy.  Sermonizing and teaching one another is in the hands of rank amateurs.  It's one of the evidences the Church must be true. 

Elder Gene R. Cook

To aid us in our efforts, Elder Gene R. Cook offered a priceless resource years ago entitled Teaching by the Spirit.  It's a classic.

We send volunteers, nineteen-year-old missionaries, on missions they or their families pay for to the far flung countries of the world to teach and to testify of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in these last days.  It has been that way from the beginning so the prophecy can be fulfilled:

Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments;
And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets —
The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh —
But that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world;
That faith also might increase in the earth;
That mine everlasting covenant might be established;
That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers.
Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding.  (D&C 1:17-24).

I have no idea what the "pure Adamic language" must have been like.  Imagine a universal language everyone spoke without the need for translation.  Every nuanced word was intelligible and understandable to all.  As an amateur writer and teacher most of my life, I have loved and cherished the power of the written and spoken word.  I have sought to be clearly understood and to speak and write clearly, to pick words with meaning that cannot be misunderstood.  I have come to know it isn't about the need to teach to be understood, but to teach so that we cannot possibly be misunderstood.  I succeed some times better than others.  But because of the following verses of scripture, I am bound to seek the one pure language left on earth -- the "tongue of angels:"

Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?
Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.
For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.  (2 Nephi 32:2-5).

If the gospel were designed in such a way that it could only be taught by the learned and the best-educated among us, then only PhDs would be invited to teach classes in the Church.  However, so the purity of the gospel message might be preserved in its simplicity, we are informed by our own faith that even the least saint may know and understand the doctrines of the restored gospel. 

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith said in 1839:  "God hath not revealed anything to Joseph [calling himself by name], but what He will make known unto the Twelve, and even the least Saint may know all things as fast as he is able to bear them."  Even the least saint, I repeat.  The Prophet continued:  "For the day must come when no man need say to his neighbor, Know ye the Lord; for all shall know Him (who remain) from the least to the greatest." (TPJS, 149).  Note that "all shall know him" is different from everyone knowing about him.

Here are my five ideas for better teaching in the Church.  Remember, these ideas have merit only because I am a rank amateur and they are offered after many years of observation and participation in a volunteer Church:

1.  Never apologize when you begin.

Too many of us are intimidated by the calling to teach.  What we all fail to acknowledge is we are all inadequate in some way.  The Church is designed that way.  There is no need to apologize for your lack of gospel scholarship.  When someone in the class is obviously better equipped than you because they know the scriptures and have paid the price for their knowledge, don't apologize in advance.  As a young man, I once taught a class in a ward filled with men of vast experience and years of priesthood service.  I apologized that I didn't think there was anything I could teach them they didn't already know.  One of them, a General Authority at the time, approached me after my lesson and said, "David, don't ever apologize for what you don't know.  Instead, teach what you do know with power and conviction."  We can all learn from each other and be edified together that way.

2.  Teach from the scriptures.

This summer we were visiting in a ward and sat in on a Gospel Doctrine class.  The topic was some chapters in Isaiah.  Rather than apologize that she wasn't an Isaiah scholar, she began by stating we would be reading a number of scriptures from Isaiah, and she invoked the Spirit of the Holy Ghost to attend our reading so we could be taught what each needed to know in our individual lives.  She proceeded through the words of Isaiah, often pausing to allow comments and insights, shared testimonies and affirmations to underscore what we had read.  One son was seated next to me with his i-phone.  I noticed he was following along in the teacher's manual he had downloaded as a free application from the Church, and I observed the teacher did not deviate one iota from the order in which the scriptural passages were presented in the outline.  We were exceptionally well-taught that day because this inexperienced teacher who was not wise in men's wisdom about Isaiah was obviously acquainted with the Holy Ghost.  I heard soon afterward from another son about the same lesson, different city, in a university singles ward.  The teacher was a young woman, a freshman, who was teaching the Gospel Doctrine class.  He told me he was writing notes so fast about what the Spirit was teaching him from one verse that he was oblivious to her constant apologies for not knowing more.  In both cases, one an older woman with grandchildren, and the other a freshman college student, let the Holy Ghost do the teaching from the words of the scriptures.  They were inspired messengers, and may not have even been aware how profound and powerful the teaching was that day.
 
3.  Seek the Spirit.

Before you teach, once you have the material before you, pray over it.  Ask Heavenly Father to bless you with His Spirit to do two things -- so you may understand the underlying doctrine He would have you teach, and so your students will hear and understand what they are seeking.  Some people in the Church think dispensing the facts is teaching.  It is not.  Stories from the scriptures are wonderful as stories, but not all stories from the scriptures are "doctrinally drenched," as Elder Maxwell used to say.  Teach to make a spiritual connection with those being taught.  People come to Church looking for spiritual experiences.  Don't disappoint them by spilling leaked tears in a flood of nothing but emotion.  Do not mistake emotion for the Spirit.  Often the Spirit manifests itself through the emotions, but just because someone is emotional does not mean the Spirit of the Holy Ghost is affirming what they are teaching.  I've heard a lot of false doctrine taught over the years by emotional people without the accompanying witness of the Holy Ghost because what they were saying simply wasn't true.  The Spirit testifies of the truth.  Let him speak through you.  He will comfort, instruct, reprove, chasten and edify if you will let him.

4.  Don't ever say, "I think. . ."

Don't ever ask the question, "What do you think?" especially when you are teaching a group of high priests.  Better to ask, "Has anyone had an experience with this principle you would like to share?"  I wish I had a nickel for every time I've been in a lesson where the collective wisdom of the group takes over with individual statements prefaced with "I think."  The Spirit leaves.  The best answers to gospel doctrine questions always come from the scriptures – the four “standard works” – the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.  The next best source is from the writings and sermons of the Presidents of the Church.  I have always included Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith) as the "fifth standard work" in my arsenal of valid sources.  All other sources, while they might be enlightening and interesting, should only serve to confirm the answers you have obtained from these primary sources.  Brigham Young once taught, “Study the word of God, and preach it and not your opinions, for no man’s opinion is worth a straw.  Advance no principle but what you can prove, for one scriptural proof is worth ten thousand opinions.”  (History of the Church, vol. 3, 395-96).  The next time you are tempted to say, "I think. . ." in answer to some gospel question, stop and think twice about it.  If you don't know the answer, it's okay to say, "I don't know the answer to that question, and you can quote me on that."

5.  Testify.

President Ezra Taft Benson once gave a conference talk entitled, "I Testify."  I encourage you to read the things of which the Prophet testified.  I suggest you all know the very same things and can testify they are true.  Just because the Prophet of God uses the word "testify," it is not reserved to prophets alone.  When we know a truth, when the Spirit of the Holy Ghost has borne witness to us it is true, we may also say, "I testify."  Be aware of what you know to be true.  Programs, subject to change and constant revision, are not in the same category as doctrines with eternal implications.  The scouting program, or the Young Women's program, or the Young Men's Duty to God program never saved anyone.  Don't anchor your testimony in programs.  While nice, they are not as important as the saving doctrines of the kingdom.  By familiarizing ourselves with things that matter most, we will avoid dwelling on things mattering least.  Elder Marion D. Hanks used to say, "Don't get caught up in the thick of thin things."  Stephen R. Covey said, "The most important thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."  There is a marvelous passage of scripture affirming this principle: 

"And I, Jesus Christ, your Lord and your God, have spoken it.  These words are not of men nor of man, but of me; wherefore, you shall testify they are of me and not of man; for it is my voice which speaketh them unto you; for they are given by my Spirit unto you, and by my power you can read them one to another; and save it were by my power you could not have them; wherefore, you can testify that you have heard my voice, and know my words."  (D&C 18:33-36).

If we were to do nothing but read the words of the scriptures to one another and bear witness of their truthfulness, the quality of teaching in the Church would improve dramatically.