Preaching to an Aetheist...

So our Home Teachers came by last Sunday and shared with us Elder Oaks' talk on Testimony. And over the past couple of days I have reflected on that talk and what an impact that has had on my life.

For the majority of last summer I had a number of friends from work that were aetheists. They were great people... just confused. It was almost fascinating to me to hear the reasoning that they had behind everything around them. It was so different from what we believe in. In fact I loved having debates with them... not so much that they were yelling screaming and in your face kinda arguements... "more of why do you believe this when" debates. They were so enlightening and it strengthened my testimony as I tried to explain with reason why I believed what I believed.

Part of Elder Oaks talk reads as follows:

What do we mean when we testify and say that we know the gospel is true? Contrast that kind of knowledge with “I know it is cold outside” or “I know I love my wife.” These are three different kinds of knowledge, each learned in a different way. Knowledge of outside temperature can be verified by scientific proof. Knowledge that we love our spouse is personal and subjective. While not capable of scientific proof, it is still important. The idea that all important knowledge is based on scientific evidence is simply untrue.

While there are some “evidences” for gospel truths (for example, see Psalm 19:1; Helaman 8:24), scientific methods will not yield spiritual knowledge.

I've reflected much on last summer with this in mind and although I don't think that I could ever convince them of this simple truth, it was the downfall of them. And funny enough every single one of them had been raised in the church... but for one reason or another, they determined that it was no longer true.

But I love how Elder Oaks finishes his talk:

We all act upon or give obedience to knowledge. Whether in science or religion, our obedience is not blind when we act upon knowledge suited to the subject of our action. A scientist receives and acts upon a trusted certification of the content or conditions of a particular experiment. In matters of religion, a believer’s source of knowledge is spiritual, but the principle is the same. In the case of Latter-day Saints, when the Holy Ghost gives our souls a witness of the truth of the restored gospel and the calling of a modern prophet, our choice to follow those teachings is not blind obedience.

Its so true!