My grandmother often sends my siblings and I articles she had been reading on LDS.org that cover a large range of religious topics. One of the many she sent us this week was called Faith and Truth. As I read through the article, a lot of things popped out at me. I thought for the free blog topic this week I would share with you guys some of the things I picked up on.
When I think of faith, I generally think of something that is more often hoped for than actually known to be true. For me personally, though I have faith in the truthfulness of the gospel, I never had ever directly seen the correlation between faith and truth by definition. In actuality, faith and truth are rooted in the same Hebrew translation. I should have understood this by means of having faith in Jesus Christ or God our father. Both are true, living beings in which we have faith of their existence and power.
Prior to reading this article, I hadn’t understood the parallel between the word truth and the name Jesus. Where I had once believed truth to come from that of Jesus, they are actually synonymous words- one in the same meaning. This is easily exemplified when Nephi writes, “I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus.” Jesus is not merely the origin of all truth but he IS truth. This truth is an accumulation of many aspects of his godliness: knowledge, love, grace etc. This idea is encompassed in the definition of truth found in D&C and the definition of Christ. In D&C it states, “And truth is knowledge of things as they are, as they were, and as they are to come” whereas Jesus is referred to he “which is, and which was, and which is to come.” The meaning of these two things sheds light what truth really is. When we have faith in Christ, we are brought directly to the truth. This whole concept is important to grasp because it is through truth that we are saved and capable of living with our father in heaven and our beloved brother again. Knowing the truth is to know god, through which we are set free.
There seems to be a lot of different meanings associated with the way words are used, and their context. I bet it's helpful to understand what some of these names mean in the scriptures, like how Truth could be talking about Jesus. I wondered if I learned languages the scriptures were originally written in, if it would help me understand the meaning, because there are some words that just don't have a direct translation and connotation.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I love that your Grandmother sends you talks, that is really neat! Second off, I never have thought of that either. It gives the word "truth" so much more meaning. Christ is the truth. What an amazing thing we have the privilege to know from this wonderful gospel.
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