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One of the difficulties when discussing truth with my LDS friends and family is the opposing methods we use to determine truth.
According to the LDS Church (http://www.mormon.org/learn/0,8672,1106-1,00.html),
You can know that what you’ve been learning is true.
You may have experienced feelings of peace, hope, comfort, or happiness as you've read. If so, you have already felt the Holy Ghost telling you that these things are true."
Notice that truth is determined largely by a reliance on how you feel. If what you are hearing or have read makes you feel good, then the Holy Ghost is telling you it is true.
According to the Bible truth is found by testing knowledge against scripture.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
Acts 17:11 "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they
received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily,
whether those things were so."
The Bible (God) warns us not to trust feelings (heart) because it is they are
unreliable.
Jer.
17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who
can know it?"
Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death."
Lets analyze these two methodologies. According to the LDS Church, personal
revelation is supreme. If you desire to know what is true, pray to Heavenly
Father, study and consider what you are learning, use your heart to listen to
the Holy Spirit and follow God's commandments.
Someone using this methodology might say, I prayed to God and he revealed to me
that this principal is true. I believe this principal to be true since the Holy
Ghost bore witness of this to me by giving me harmony between my mind and heart. It feels good.
My concern over this methodology is many times in my personal life things
might have seemed right and I thought it was God, but looking back I know it was
my own desires or emotions and not Heavenly Father.
Using this method might seem reasonable and even appear to be good. The problem is that this is an absolute contradiction to the way heavenly Father has instructed us to determine what is true.
Let's consider why the LDS Church might teach us to rely on feelings rather than testing our beliefs against the Scriptures.
When Joseph Smith in the History of the Church, Vol. 1, Chapters 1-5, explains that his family had joined the Presbyterian faith. Although his family was drawn to the Presbyterian faith, Joseph's "mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but so great were the confusion and astrife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was bright and who was wrong." One day in Joseph's confusion, as he was reading the Bible, he came upon the "Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
As a boy, Joseph Smith was surrounded by various churches which each claimed to teach the truth. This caused him much serious reflection. He wanted to know which church was right. One day he read a passage in the Bible which says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). Joseph decided to accept the invitation to ask God.
The way I was always taught by when growing up is that if I needed knowledge because I wanted an answer, I should ask God. This seemed like a reasonable method. If you want to know the answer go and pray to God to find out what is true. This is what Joseph Smith did when he wanted to find out which Church to join.
However, when I look at James 1:5 does it really say what I was always taught, pray to find truth?
Notice that this verse instructs us to pray for "wisdom", not knowledge. Is there a difference between wisdom and knowledge? Let's examine the basic definitions of wisdom and knowledge.
A simple definition is:
Wisdom - Using knowledge to
make the best decision.
Knowledge - Gaining or
understanding through experience or study.
Based on these definitions, wisdom is the use of knowledge where knowledge is gained through study or experience. Which did Joseph Smith use, Wisdom or Knowledge? Once again let's examine Joseph Smith's own statements from the History of the Church, Vol. 1, Paragraph 12.
"Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible." (Emphasis mine)
Using the definitions of Wisdom and Knowledge, Joseph Smith did not know. The word "know" is the root of knowledge, which is not the promise given by God in James 1:5.
The methodology we use to determine truth is critical. Why? Because Christ said in John 14:6 Christ said, "I am the way, the TRUTH and the life no man comes to the father except through me." Therefore, if your methodology is flawed, you could end up with a false Christ rather than the true Christ of Scripture. The bible clearly warns us about all of the lies of the adversary. Maybe if Joseph Smith had studied scripture and these warnings, he could have used the knowledge of scripture, and using that knowledge seeked wisdom from God and found out that he was being lead astray by a false gospel and false Jesus.