The first principal of the gospel is Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As you mentioned in your essay: In Hebrews 11: 1 we read “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Alma 32: 21 from the Book of Mormon says “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.”
Faith for us is things hoped for and we have not seen, that doesn’t mean someone else hasn’t been a witness. Remember in John 20:24-25, 29, the disciples told Thomas, “We have seen the Lord.” But Thomas didn’t believe. Jesus gives Thomas the opportunity to see Him also and feel the nail prints …show more content…
I hope be able to explain that by walking in faith, our faith becomes stronger and it isn’t so “blind” anymore. Every time we follow in faith, we can grow in faith by the trust we have. First…why are we required to have faith and act on that faith. I’m going to start with the LDS Plan of Happiness. If we didn’t have to walk by faith and had knowledge, where would our agency be? We came to the earth to be tried and prove to ourselves that we wanted to be like our Father and that we could return to Him. But if we didn’t walk by faith and had knowledge of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, where would the test be? If there is no test, no searching within ourselves, no trusting in Jesus Christ, what have we learned and where would be our strength. How would we …show more content…
Particularly the faith of the pioneers in the Willie and Martin Handcart companies. Our ancestor, The Goble Family, were in the Hunt Wagon Company who were asked to stay back and accompany the Martin Handcart Company. Their faith was tried and they suffered and some died. One of the company, Francis Webster said this about all those in the Company. He was in a Sunday School class in Cedar City, where they were discussing the handcart tragedy. This was an account given by William Palmer that was there. “An old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it. Then he arose and said things that no person who heard him will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity. He said in substance, ‘I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Was it a mistake to send the handcart company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it and Sister Nellie Unthank, whom you have cited, was there too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine, and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company every apostatized or left the Church because every