Behaving and Knowing

[Below I'm going to quote heavily from a BYU speech by Neal A. Maxwell called The Inexhaustible Gospel. I would highly encourage you to read the entire talk; it has really changed and enriched my perspective about knowledge and how it should take place in the gospel.]

Our knowledge of the gospel and the plan of salvation give us a unique perspective on the learning process. In the world so much of learning is focused on learning facts. We do often apply those facts in many contexts, but the world isn't great about using facts to change our behavior. In contrast, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, our behavior is an integral part of learning. We must develop virtues in order to gain knowledge of God, and if we are disobedient we limit our learning. And when we learn in the Lord's way, the possibilities are infinite!

"Multiple scriptures make it clear that knowledge is meant to be closely associated with other virtues such as patience, humility, charity, and kindness." (Neal A. Maxwell, The Inexhaustible Gospel)

One such scripture is Doctrine and Covenants 107:30-31:

30 The decisions of these quorums, or either of them, are to be made in all righteousness, in holiness, and lowliness of heart, meekness and long-suffering, and in faith, and virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity;
31 Because the promise is, if these things abound in them they shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord.

The promise referred to in verse 31 can be found in 2 Peter 1:5-9:

 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

So we can see from these verses that in order to be rich in the knowledge of Jesus Christ we should be developing these and many other virtues and striving to follow Christ's example. It really makes sense--how can we have knowledge of Christ and the gospel if we aren't living a Christ-like life? How can we understand his life and mission if we aren't living a similar lifestyle?

When we focus on getting knowledge, even gospel knowledge, without being obedient to gospel truths, we actually limit the amount of knowledge and wisdom we can get: 

"Knowledge, if possessed for its own sake and unapplied, leaves one's life unadorned. A Church member, for instance might describe the Lord's doctrines but not qualify to enter the Lord's house. One could produce much brilliant commentary without being exemplary. One might be intellectually brilliant but Bohemian in behavior. One might use his knowledge to seek preeminence or dominion. Such are not Jesus' ways, for he asks that perception and implementation be part of the same spiritual process." (Neal A. Maxwell, The Inexhaustible Gospel)

Those who are brilliant but not obedient are missing out on precious truth and experiences. In the gospel so much of our knowledge can only be gained by obeying the commandments and by so doing learning for ourselves that they are true and right. We will really only understand the way the universe works if we have a relationship with our Savior and know that the entire purpose of all of God's creations is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39).

“Gaining knowledge and becoming more Christ-like ‘are two aspects of a single process.’ (Warner, Encyclopedia of Mormonism, vol. 4, p. 1490). This process is part of being ‘valiant’ in our testimony of Jesus. Thus, while we are saved no faster than we gain a certain type of knowledge, it is also the case, as Richard Bushman has observed, that we will gain knowledge no faster than we are saved (Teachings, p. 217). So we have a fundamentally different understanding of knowledge and truth—behaving and knowing are inseparably linked.

“So defined, the gospel is inexhaustible because there is not only so much to know, but also so much to become!” (Neal A. Maxwell, The Inexhaustible Gospel)

I love that last phrase. It's not just that there are a lot of facts to learn in the gospel. Our actions are part of our learning, and when we live the principles we have learned, we are then prepared to understand and live even more principles of the gospel. The potential is infinite when we couple what we know with how we behave.

On his Facebook page Elder Bednar recently said:

"In the scriptures, we are often taught about the principle of 'line upon line.' This principle is applicable in all facets of life. 

"When we attend church, do we expect to hear something new each time? The reality is that messages may be similar orally, but the Spirit will individually teach us in new ways. This is one reason why we should seek to always have His Spirit to be with us. It is up to us to hear with spiritual ears what is being said. Never discredit the central truths of the gospel simply because they are familiar or repeated often. 

"As we learn and apply the gospel in our lives, we will be strengthened to progress and overcome temptations. The world may grow more and more wicked, but our personal conversion will deepen and we will be able to press forward with faith in the Savior."

Once I read a blog post by a person who had lost her love of the scriptures. When she joined the church she devoured the scriptures and read through the standard works several times. But after reading them so many times she felt that she knew the stories very well and got bored, so she decided that the scriptures weren’t the only source of inspiration and took to replacing her scripture study with reading philosophy and other things she thought were inspiring. I felt confused by the post because I’ve read the Book of Mormon several times and I still learn from it every time. Then I realized based on her comments that she was mainly reading the scriptures on an intellectual level, and once she felt very familiar with the stories she wasn’t intellectually getting much out of them anymore. Don’t read the scriptures and the words of the prophet on just an intellectual level! Yes, we need to know the information, but as we apply it we become wise and are capable of learning even more because of our experiences. That’s why the gospel is “inexhaustible.” Even after we are very familiar with the scriptures, there is much to learn through the experience of applying the principles in the scriptures to our lives, and that experience changes as our circumstances change.

"Clearly, what we carry forward [to the world to come; see Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-19], brothers and sisters, involves developing our capacity for cognition as well as application. This sets us apart from the world . . . Certainly, what we will carry forward is more than what we now term as IQ or databases. It is the entire being of the individual." (Neal A. Maxwell, The Inexhaustible Gospel)

We know from Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-19 that it's important to seek knowledge and intelligence because what we learn will stay with us in the world to come and be an advantage. But based on the scriptures I think it's clear that here we're not just talking about facts. The only way our knowledge and intelligence will be an advantage to us in the Celestial Kingdom is if we have taken that knowledge and applied it to our behavior. Otherwise we won't be worthy to live there. But if our knowledge is coupled with application of that knowledge we will be prepared and worthy to be a part of the work of the Celestial Kingdom for all eternity. God's work is what makes knowledge worth having.

>>Gospel Learning Takes Time