Discernment

I have been doing a lot of pondering on how to help someone acquire a testimony. There is so much in the world pulling people away from their testimonies and not allowing them to get to the next level which is conversion. I feel totally helpless and I beg and plead in my prayers all the time to know how and what to teach. One thing that I have noticed is something about Elder Bednar's talks is that he is not very quotable. He's pretty much all doctrine. I think some of what makes other apostles more popular is their quotability. But, here's the cool thing. While Elder Bednar may not be as quotable, I feel like the way he constructs his talks is like he's forming a key for the audience to pick up and use to unlock the door to understanding. You've got to be looking for meat when you are reading his talks. It's quite brilliant if you ask me. It's something I'm trying to learn how to do. I keep reminding myself that it likely took him years to perfect, and I can see a change in his style from his early years as an apostle to now. On a side note, I was reading a BYU talk by Elder Oaks today from 1981 about Revelation and it is completely different than the way he constructs a talk now. I could definitely see his lawyer structure from long ago- it was still awesome and on point though. So, we're all a work in progress.

Back to my topic. I'm not sure how I got on the trail that I'm on with discernment, all I know is that it is something that occupies a lot of my thoughts.  It recently occurred to me that it is the key to everything. It's foundational. It's something that should occupy some of your thoughts each time you go to the temple and anytime you talk about revelation. For me the two words are interchangeable. My last lesson of the year for my Sunday School class was this topic. I was losing half of them to aging up and I thought this was a good topic to leave them with.

What is discernment: To know truth. It is also a gift that we should seek after.

Why do we need it: with a world of fake news and technology that can make a video of a horse appear to be a zebra; it's hard to know the truth. How do you know who is lying to you, what things you should be doing with your time, who you should marry, what causes you should care about and spend time on, what school to go to, who's a false prophet, etc... You need discernment for everything. It's why we've been given this mortal journey.

Let's start in the beginning. Adam and Eve in the garden. Eve partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and then gave it to Adam to partake. Why did Eve partake of the fruit? We find out in Genisis 3

22 ¶ And the Lord God ^asaid, Behold, the ^bman is become as one of ^cus, to ^dknow good and ^eevil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

From this we learn our objective:

To be as the God's: knowing good and evil

The point of our journey here: To know good from evil so you know how to act. D&C 109:95

Knowing truth is knowing good from evil.

There are 3 categories in the topical guide: Discern, Discerner, Discernment Spiritual. Now Elder Bednar would tell you not to simply look up the references there to learn about it, but to take a copy of the Book of Mormon and find it yourself. That's awesome, but I think looking up references is also an effective first step. I can already think of lots of examples of people who used discernment in the scriptures. I'll take you through the one I took my Sunday School class through. It's found in 1 Nephi 4. It is Nephi slaying Laban. I picked this one because sometimes you're going to receive revelation to do something you don't feel comfortable doing, or that you're afraid to do, or it just seems to hard. You have to be able to know if it's revelation or not. 

Starting in verse 6:

6 And I was ^aled by the Spirit, not ^bknowing beforehand the things which I should do.

10 And it came to pass that I was ^aconstrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I shed the blood of man. And I shrunk and would that I might not slay him.

11 And the Spirit said unto me again: Behold the ^aLordhath ^bdelivered him into thy hands. Yea, and I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had ^ctaken away our property.

12 And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me again: Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands;

13 Behold the Lord ^aslayeth the ^bwicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is ^cbetter that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in ^dunbelief.

14 And now, when I, Nephi, had heard these words, I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: ^aInasmuch as thy seed shall keep my ^bcommandments, they shall ^cprosper in the ^dland of promise.

15 Yea, and I also thought that they could not keep the commandments of the Lord according to the ^alaw of Moses, save they should have the law.

16 And I also knew that the ^alaw was engraven upon the plates of brass.

17 And again, I knew that the Lord had delivered Laban into my hands for this cause—that I might obtain the records according to his commandments.

18 Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own ^asword.

I love this example. I think sometimes we read the scriptures and think the people in them had a different experience with revelation than we do. Like they always had someone literally standing there whether it be Christ himself or and angel telling someone what they were supposed to do. That's not how it works. Nephi perfectly lays out the pattern for acquiring discernment. He exemplified "Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief." His first instinct was to go where directed even though he had no plan or knowledge of what he was going to do. Then the spirit had to tell him 3 times what he needed to do and Nephi had doubts (it reminds me of when I had to be told 3 times to turn around and pick up a lady who was walking on the side of the road because it didn't seem like the right thing to do). It didn't seem like the right thing to do so he had to make sure. Then something happens. He remembers. Twice his mind went to remembering the promises of the Lord and His requirements for keeping the commandments. Nephi has to work out the difference between good and evil in his mind. After these things are brought to his remembrance he then and only then knows what he should do and then that knowledge turned to obedience and action. Isn't that a cool pattern? Isn't it also cool that you and I go through the exact same process that Nephi went through to receive revelation? To be able to discern what you need to do. What was super cool is that one of my students had shared a "fleck of gold" at the beginning of class about how she had been having a hard time with something and it came to her that she needed to read her patriarchal blessing; she did and it really helped.  I was able to tie her process back to Nephi's. 

There are three categories that I was able to put all the scripture references from discern, discerner, and discernment spiritual. Those three categories are: The benefits you receive from having discernment, what the requirements are for having it, what offenses are attached to it- the "woe unto" warnings. The largest category is the benefits. 

After going on this journey it would be for naught if something was gained or it produced no action. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

What lack I yet? What's one thing I can improve on that make the biggest difference? What is keeping me from progressing, What do I need to change.

We can also remember that we have covenanted to always have the Spirit with us. If we are to do that we need to not do anything to offend the Spirit. We have to stop thinking of things in terms of what does and does not offend us, but rather what will offend the Holy Ghost. 

I recently watched a show about someone who has been thought to have killed 3 people. They have never been able to know for certain if this woman did this or not. It had me thinking about our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. That he has no agenda. That he knows THE truth. Not the truth according to anyone. We have to have complete and total faith in the justice of our Heavenly Father. That we will be judged fairly and so will everyone else. That the truth of all things will be known. How completely comforting is that? How much peace does that knowledge bring into your life? 

Jesus Christ, (along with Heavenly father and the Holy Ghost) is the ultimate discerner. He can discern our thoughts, our hearts, and our intentions. We are under the same charge. If we are to be like the Savior and have his character traits, then we better learn to be discerners as well and the ability to know good from evil will become plain and simple. 

15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to ^ajudge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night. Moroni 7