Alma Defines Faith

     As Alma converses with the Zoramites, he teaches them many things about faith and worshipping God.  Part of this excellent discourse, found in The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ, focuses on what faith is.  This is where I want to focus today. 

     Alma states, “Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe.  Now I ask, is this faith?  Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it.”  (Alma 32:17-18)  He continues, “And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”  (Alma 32:21)

     Alma tells us that faith is not to have a perfect knowledge.  Instead it is hoping for things which we cannot actually see, but which are true.  Think about all the things we learn in our life.  All of these things start out with a mere belief.  Take college for an example.  We believe a college degree will pay off in the end.  There are many times it doesn’t, so it is possible the degree we obtain won’t benefit us.  Yet the majority of the people who earn college degrees find themselves in better life circumstances than they would have been in otherwise.

     So those of us that go to college believe our degree will benefit us in the end.  We have faith our college degree will amount to something.  This faith won’t become a perfect knowledge that college will benefit us until many years later when it actually has benefited us.  For many people that won’t be until they are well past the beginning of a new job using their college degree.  They will actually need to go through college, get into the workforce in their chosen career, and spend a good five to ten years working before they will actually reach a point where the college will actually pay off.  But, eventually, for most, their faith in college proves valuable.

     So faith starts out as a belief.  Alma teaches us that faith requires some action.  He says, “And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up and bring forth fruit unto us.  And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit.  But if ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold, it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out.”  (Alma 32:37-38)

     Take this back to the college degree.  It’s great to believe college will get you somewhere.  But what if you believe this is true and choose not to find a way to pay for college.  Your choice not to get a job, seek grants and scholarships, or get some money from family, friends, or student loans will prevent you from going to college.  Your lack of good action prevents your ability to put your faith into action, so you can’t ever find out if a college degree will benefit you.  Your faith cannot grow.

     If you get the funding, but refuse to go to class, study the lessons, and put some effort into learning, you won’t pass classes and won’t earn a degree.  So, again, your lack of good action will stop your faith from growing into knowledge.  And if you refuse to search for a job, work hard at a job when you get one, and make yourself valuable, you’ll never start a good career with the degree you earned.  So, again, your lack of good action prevents your faith from growing.

     The same principles holds true with God.  You don’t start out with a perfect knowledge of God.  The only knowledge you have of God to start with comes from what other people tell you about God.  And there are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of differing opinions on who God even is and what He is like.  Then there are those that don’t believe God even exists.  You hear all these differing opinions and find that some of them stand out to you.  You believe they are true.

     Now that you’ve found something to believe in, you must act on this belief.  A lack of action will prevent growth in your faith.  You’ll never know whether or not what you believe about God is true because you fail to exercise faith.  But if you act on what you believe, you can have your faith grow until you know whether or not what you believe is true. 

     Remember, faith is not to have a perfect knowledge.  It is to believe in things we don’t know, but that are true.  Alma addresses how we know what things are true as well.  Next week I’ll focus on this.