“In Defense of Faith,” New Era, Feb. 1975, 4
The Message:
In Defense of Faith
When I was a small child, my mother taught me colors. She held up a blue-colored object and told me it was blue. Then she had me repeat the word after her. After awhile she would hold another blue object before my eyes and ask me its color.
“Green?” I asked.
“No, dear,” she replied patiently, “this color is blue.”
“Blue?” I questioned.
“Yes, dear. This color is blue.”
After awhile she held up another blue-colored object and asked me its color.
“Yellow?” I questioned.
“No, love, not yellow.” Then even more patiently she taught me, “This color is blue.”
“Blue,” I echoed.
“Yes, dear,” she repeated, “this color is blue.”
She let me play awhile and then held up another blue-colored object and asked, “What color is this?”
“Blue?” I queried.
“That’s my smart boy!” Mother proudly replied and gave me a big hug and a kiss. So I learned to know colors.
I have no idea how long it took my patient mother to teach me colors. I wasn’t any smarter or any slower than other boys. But eventually I learned to distinguish blue from other colors. Now when anyone holds up such an object and asks me what color it is, I confidently answer, “Blue!” If anyone should ask me what makes me think that color is blue, I answer, “I know it is blue for I can see it!” Others agree with me for they too can see that it is blue. The object, however, is blue only because we agree with one another to call such a color blue. In other words everything we say we know is only because we have been taught it. Our knowledge comes from those things we have been taught or have read or have heard or have experienced.
Later on I became a student in college, and I found that some of the things I believed in and felt I knew to be true were regarded as ridiculous and immature by some of my professors. They believed in things totally foreign to the beliefs I had been taught from my earliest childhood. They ridiculed my belief in God as simply superstitious nonsense. They made fun of the Book of Mormon. They laughed at the concept of Joseph Smith being a prophet. They refused to believe the Bible was anything more than literature. I felt crushed.
To me these were learned men. They held doctor’s degrees from great universities. They were well-read. They seemed to have answers and proofs for everything they taught. I was merely a student, and they were professors with years of schooling, research knowledge, and experience. To say that I was impressed is perhaps an understatement. My faith and my beliefs were shaken, and I teetered on the edge of an abyss of indecision. What should I accept as truth? Should I accept the teachings of these learned men, or should I retain my belief in what I had been taught by my parents, my Sunday School, Primary, religion class, and priesthood teachers and had learned through my own experiences?
I now have my own doctor’s degree in a field of exact science. I received that degree from a great midwestern university. I have also taught at another fine university as a full professor of chemistry. I have done research on my own and have directed students in original scientific inquiry. I know enough about science now to appreciate the difference between what we call fact and theory. I know from study and personal experience the degree of faith involved in even the most precise areas of scientific knowledge. I know the limits of so-called laws and recognize their value and practical use. The knowledge of my former teachers was often based on theories that have not been proven without question even at this late date. They accepted as fact things that were neither proven nor verified. But I did not know these things when I was a student.
I shudder when I think of those days. How easily I could have followed those teachers who were most sincere in their beliefs. How easily I could have lost my faith and my standing in the Church by embracing man-made theories as truth. I would not care to live my life over again, unless I could have the degree of knowledge and experience I now possess.
How grateful I am to have had goodly parents. They were happy, wonderful people. They loved us children and we loved them. I had a happy and secure childhood. I had a wonderful bishop during those critical years and a great stake president who later became president of the Church. Above all I had a kind and patient father who gave me personal encouragement and understanding help. I also had some great and good professors at the university who encouraged me to keep the faith. I noticed these men were happy and successful men as were my own parents and religious leaders. Some of these professors became stalwart Church leaders. One of them became an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Other professors and teachers were fine Christians, devout in their service to others and firm in their own belief and trust in God.
Those teachers who would have led me to reject God and my religious ideals were not always happy men. Some were disillusioned and some were bitter. Fortunately I made my decision to stand for what I felt was truth. To one professor who was particularly sarcastic toward my religious concepts I simply stated, “Doctor, I refuse to believe you! I will answer your examination questions the way you want me to, but I want you to know that unlearned as I am, one thing I do know is that God lives. I believe in him with all my heart. I will listen to your teachings, but I refuse to change my beliefs or my faith.” He just looked at me and shook his head. But I had been a missionary and could not deny those things I felt deep within my heart to be true. I could not prove them to him, but I believed them and they gave me both hope and comfort.
Just as I learned from Mother that blue is blue, so I learned from her and from my father that God is God. They taught me faith and I believed. I am now a special witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ and of the restoration of the power of the priesthood of God. That knowledge did not come all at once. Often it came painfully and slowly, but step by step I learned through faith and prayer and by study and experience to know that God lives and that he does speak through modern prophets.
If at times you are discouraged and do not know which way to turn or what to believe, lean a little on the shoulders of my generation until you have time to know for yourselves the truth of these things. Remember that if you seek the Lord, you will find him. Have faith in him, and you will never be led astray. You will be happy as you grow older that you have kept the faith. You are a special generation placed on the earth by a loving God to light the lamp of hope for others who need leaders to guide them during these difficult times. God bless you every one to know that you are children of God.