There has not been such great faith among all the people of the Nephites.

[UtahDan]

I know we have talked before about the nature of faith and whether it is hope or knowledge or what exactly we mean by faith. Here is an interesting example from Alma 19.

As background, Ammon has just preached the gospel for the first time to King Lamoni who promptly "fell to the earth as if her were dead" and "his daughters mourned over him" and "after two days and two nights they were about to take his body and lay it in a sepulchre."

Then this interesting passage:

2 Now the queen having heard of the fame of Ammon, therefore she sent and desired that he should come in unto her.
3 And it came to pass that Ammon did as he was commanded, and went in unto the queen, and desired to know what she would that he should do.
4 And she said unto him: The servants of my husband have made it known unto me that thou art a prophet of a holy God, and that thou hast power to do many mighty works in his name;
5 Therefore, if this is the case, I would that ye should go in and see my husband, for he has been laid upon his bed for the space of two days and two nights; and some say that he is not dead, but others say that he is dead and that he astinketh, and that he ought to be placed in the sepulchre; but as for myself, to me he doth not stink.

I actually find the phrase "to me he doth not stink" to be tender, rather than funny like my seminary kids did. She loves Lamoni. She is not ready for him to go or to face the truth that everyone else seems to know. She is clinging to hope.

8 And he said unto the queen: He is not dead, but he sleepeth in God, and on the morrow he shall rise again; therefore bury him not.
9 And Ammon said unto her: Believest thou this? And she said unto him: I have had no witness save thy word, and the word of our servants; nevertheless I believe that it shall be according as thou hast said.
10 And Ammon said unto her: Blessed art thou because of thy exceeding faith; I say unto thee, woman, there has not been such great faith among all the people of the Nephites.

The queen is very frank that she is going on his word and that of others, in other words, she has no real basis to know whether what he is saying will actually happen. But she hopes that her husband will be okay, enough that she tells Ammon, yes, I believe it. She has started with a hope and then made the choice to trust the Lord. This is how I see it. Ammon describes this as being greater than any faith among all the Nephite people.

I know that I sometimes bog down on the concept of knowledge, what we mean when we say that, what is truly knowable. But here is a practical application of the idea of faith that anyone can use. Start by hoping, and then place your trust in God. This may become a "knowledge" I suppose, but isn't most of what we do in life, the decisions we make, how we order our existence in a faithful context about simply hoping and then trusting?

I have chuckled at the expression I sometimes hear, often in a news interview after some bad event, where a person will say "I'm putting that on God." But actually, that is a fairly powerful concept.

[hostile]

I know we have talked before about the nature of faith and whether it is hope or knowledge or what exactly we mean by faith. Here is an interesting example from Alma 19.

As background, Ammon has just preached the gospel for the first time to King Lamoni who promptly "fell to the earth as if her were dead" and "his daughters mourned over him" and "after two days and two nights they were about to take his body and lay it in a sepulchre."

Then this interesting passage:



I actually find the phrase "to me he doth not stink" to be tender, rather than funny like my seminary kids did. She loves Lamoni. She is not ready for him to go or to face the truth that everyone else seems to know. She is clinging to hope.



The queen is very frank that she is going on his word and that of others, in other words, she has no real basis to know whether what he is saying will actually happen. But she hopes that her husband will be okay, enough that she tells Ammon, yes, I believe it. She has started with a hope and then made the choice to trust the Lord. This is how I see it. Ammon describes this as being greater than any faith among all the Nephite people.

I know that I sometimes bog down on the concept of knowledge, what we mean when we say that, what is truly knowable. But here is a practical application of the idea of faith that anyone can use. Start by hoping, and then place your trust in God. This may become a "knowledge" I suppose, but isn't most of what we do in life, the decisions we make, how we order our existence in a faithful context about simply hoping and then trusting?

I have chuckled at the expression I sometimes hear, often in a news interview after some bad event, where a person will say "I'm putting that on God." But actually, that is a fairly powerful concept.

I think these verses from D&C express a similar concept, believing in the belief of someone else.

13 To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.
14 To others it is given to believe on their words, that they also might have eternal life if they continue faithful.

In the end the blessing for each is the same.

[UtahDan]

Was I just making an obvious point here? I thought based on some other discussion that there was a desire to see more posts that were in this vein. That isn't why I put it up, of course.

[Solon]

Was I just making an obvious point here? I thought based on some other discussion that there was a desire to see more posts that were in this vein. That isn't why I put it up, of course.

I"m all about hope. I don't really have faith, but sometimes I have hope. It's the under-appreciated portion of the trifecta.

[All-American]

I"m all about hope. I don't really have faith, but sometimes I have hope. It's the under-appreciated portion of the trifecta.

What's the difference?

[CardiacCoug]

I have a testimony of Christlike, charitable living and of service within the LDS Church.

And I would love to have faith and hope in the unknowable things like whether or not God exists and whether or not there is an afterlife, plus all the unknowable minutiae of LDS doctrine. But deep down I think those abstract, unknowable things are extremely unlikely and I'm OK with that.

I guess for me, even though I find it impossible to have much faith or hope in abstract religion, the way I apply this passage about Lamoni's wife would be as an example of not dismissing out of hand the things that initially strike me as unlikely, crazy, or fanatical. Like Elder Eyring said:

Don’t discard the counsel, but hold it close. If someone you trusted
handed you what appeared to be nothing more than sand with the
promise that it contained gold, you might wisely hold it in your hand
awhile, shaking it gently. Every time I have done that with counsel
from a prophet, after a time the gold flakes have begun to appear and
I have been grateful.

Unfortunately I think I will be holding most of that sand forever without finding too much gold in it that applies to me.

[byu71]

I think these verses from D&C express a similar concept, believing in the belief of someone else.

13 To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.
14 To others it is given to believe on their words, that they also might have eternal life if they continue faithful.

In the end the blessing for each is the same.

This is one of my favorite scripture passages. This is referring to "gifts" if I remember correctly.

[hostile]

This is one of my favorite scripture passages. This is referring to "gifts" if I remember correctly.

Yes. Section 46.