Learning more about God

Willful sin occurs when you deviate from the best path you know,¹ while sin in ignorance occurs when the best path lies beyond your present knowledge.² For sins committed in ignorance, Christ’s “atonement satisfieth the demands of his justice.” (2 Nephi 9:26) However, the atonement of Christ does not violate the law of cause and effect, and therefore cannot deliver the outcomes of paths not taken.

Forgiveness is the removal of a just outcome—the punishment you deserve, not the delivery of an unjust outcome—eternal life you don’t yet deserve. Even if you are forgiven for not obeying what you do not know, you can never obtain all God offers without actually becoming like him.

The only way to become more like God is to seek, obtain, and obey more of his commandments:

33 Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you.
34 Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely;
35 Yea, come unto me and bring forth works of righteousness, and ye shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire— (Alma 5)

God’s voice comes to you through various means. The Lord said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27) Do you hear it?

God’s voice is the voice of improvement. Everything that invites you to be better is from God. The Lord said:

And whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me; for good cometh of none save it be of me... (Ether 4:12)

We are steeped in incessant invitations for improvement, both from within and without. From without, we are surrounded by evidences that something better than what we have and are exists. We see and smell and feel beauty in nature that exceeds what we create and enjoy in our daily lives. In our experiences with other people, and even in media, we hear and see and feel love and peace and beauty beyond what we have, give, and receive. From within, a subtle but recurring message comes through a still, small voice that paradoxically whispers with the strength to shake us, suggesting to our deepest core that we can live up to and become whatever good we become aware of.

We ought to interpret these flashes of good observable all around us as they are: the voice of God calling us to be better.

The most important source of God’s instruction to you is found in your conscience. Through your conscience, God will show you what is right and what is wrong according to your present understanding. Through perfectly obeying this influence all of the time, in all things, you will unlock the Lord’s ability to teach you more about himself, yourself, and the world, enabling you to reach outcomes far better than otherwise possible.

The channel of your conscience will be informed by external resources, including God directly, and how he acts through your experiences and interactions with the world. Seeking more of God’s commandments requires finding those you know who know God better than you. You have access to many such people via their writings in scripture. The scriptures will yield greater insights about God’s character and commandments, leading you to more of the outcomes he intends for you:

Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea. (Jacob 4:6)

God will also send into your life living people who know him better than you do. These people will share with you even more insights about God’s character and commandments that will lead you to even more of the outcomes he intends for you:

20 And now, my brethren, how is it possible that ye can lay hold upon every good thing?
21 And now I come to that faith, of which I said I would speak; and I will tell you the way whereby ye may lay hold on every good thing.
22 For behold, God knowing all things, being from everlasting to everlasting, behold, he sent angels to minister unto the children of men, to make manifest concerning the coming of Christ; and in Christ there should come every good thing.
23 And God also declared unto prophets, by his own mouth, that Christ should come.
25 Wherefore, by the ministering of angels, and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing...
30 [Angels] minister according to the word of [God’s] command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness.
31 And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance, and to fulfil and to do the work of the covenants of the Father, which he hath made unto the children of men, to prepare the way among the children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him.
32 And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in their hearts, according to the power thereof; and after this manner bringeth to pass the Father, the covenants which he hath made unto the children of men. (Moroni 7)

The Lord’s voice is not limited to one finite message. He said: “...my works are without end, and also my words, for they never cease.” (Moses 1:4)

These ubiquitous signals can easily be ignored, but never silenced. They are the voice of God, relentlessly calling us towards improvement. This voice is deliberately woven into the very fabric of our lives, being in and through all things from the creation of the world. Faith is what this voice is calling us toward—the revelation of the prospect for improvement and the invitation to discover the path that will bring its fulfillment: to take upon yourself these improvements; to become as good as you now know is possible; to acquire the attributes of God as quickly and completely as he reveals himself to you.

When you ignore these messages, you are engaging in a deeper commitment than you probably realize:

37 O ye workers of iniquity; ye that are puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice!
38 Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and <u>if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd.</u>
39 And now if ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd, of what fold are ye? Behold, I say unto you, that the devil is your shepherd, <u>and ye are of his fold; and now, who can deny this? Behold, I say</u> unto you, whosoever denieth this is a liar and a child of the devil.
40 For I say unto you that whatsoever is good cometh from God, and whatsoever is evil cometh from the devil. (Alma 5)

Without faith in Christ, we would lose hope in ourselves and others and stop acting in the face of delayed outcomes or unclear paths. Faith in Christ allows us to relentlessly revise our actions through trust in his loving character and his attainment of all the Father has. We can continue to learn and grow and try until we become all he has promised we can because we know that he desires us to have the same fulness of joy that he enjoys.