What is Light and Truth?

During church today I decided I would read up on the lesson for Sunday School during sacrament. I wanted to be sure that I was ready to teach in case my teachers didn't show up. This week's lesson was based on John 7 and John 8 entitled "I Am the Light of the World." I read through the manual and the chapters and a few things specifically stood out to me: the word choices and the questions that the Savior used.

There are four major words that are repeated over and over again in these chapters and they are belief, know, truth, and light. The teacher who taught the lesson today really focused on the first three words.

"And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come (D&C 93:24);"

 Truth is knowledge of eternal things. But what is the difference between knowledge and belief? Is it the ability to doubt? Because knowledge grows and it can wane with time. Knowledge based on this previous scripture does not have to be based on truth. People who believe things differently than you, who have a different perspective can know things as certainly as you do although they can be opposed. Knowledge appears to be a mental state of being that is deeper than belief.

"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8: 31-32)."

 If we are curious and question our faith and our beliefs, it is through continued searching and studying that we gain greater knowledge. People knew at one point in history that the universe only contained our solar system. As people continued to search and study the stars, they found more truth and gain greater knowledge. The universe is infinite and it is changing. What we see in the night sky right now may contain the light of worlds and stars that no longer exist as well as the sky may not yet show the light of worlds and stars that are now in existence. Only through questioning, studying, and experimenting, did we gain this knowledge and the same is true with all knowledge.

Before we can begin on this journey though it starts with faith and belief. Faith is our actions which are based on our experiences. Belief is the position we put ourselves in from which we see our world around us. Our beliefs can change as we move to see the world from different perspectives and as we gain more knowledge. I am not saying that beliefs are the same as values so let me give an example. I know that I can be forgiven for my mistakes. My friends and family have forgiven me for things in the past. I can remember my mistakes. Not every individual event and choice and consequence but some. So I struggle sometimes in knowing that God will forget them. I know God will forgive my sins but will He truly forget my sins? I believe that He will but I do not yet know.

Our teacher left us with an interesting question: Why do we do what we do, when we know what we know? How do our faith, knowledge, and choices intersect? Why do we live contrary to our knowledge at times? It is no wonder that when we do that, our knowledge and light within can wane.

"For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ (D&C 84:45)."

 When we see people, we use the phrase at times to say that they carry the Light of Christ. We are Children of God. We carry a Spirit within us. If that Spirit is light, what is light? Light is both a particle and a wave according to science. Many times when we talk and think about light, we simply think of only visible light. Light has a whole spectrum of forms and it radiates from all living things. Radio waves are also a form of light, which we have learned how to use as a form of communication. It is amazing that mankind created a physical form of communication that uses light when God had been communicating with the Spirit the whole time.

Light can be absorbed and reflected. Since light is a particle, there is even such a thing as light pressure. Light pressure is equal to the power of the light beam divided by the speed of light. A one-milliwatt laser pointer exerts a force of about 3.3 piconewtons on the object being illuminated. It is possible to use the power of light to lift an object, or a person. It would take 30 billion 1-mW laser pointers to lift a U.S. penny. You can YouTube videos where light spins a turbine. Light can be measured but we cannot measure darkness. Darkness is simply an absence of light or an absence of the Spirit. When we talk about how God, Christ and His angels exude light, knowing that we are also spiritual kin and spiritual beings, how do we grow in light? Or in other words, how do we grow in truth? There were many other aspects of these two chapters that were extremely interesting but those will have to wait for another post.