believing Is Seeing

As an amateur artist, I have learned (over a considerable period of time) that I must be able to look at a subject and see what’s really there before I can represent it artistically. Before I can vary the composition, before I can decide what’s important to the subject, I must see what’s really there, not what I think is there. Only then can I make artistic decisions about the composition.

This can be difficult. I still find myself making the mistake of thinking I know what’s there, and then, after working on a piece for a few minutes and looking again at the subject, I find that I have depicted something based on my own flawed vision rather than the actual subject.

Once when my father was painting Smith’s and Coalpits mesas in southern Utah, he literally moved a mountain (Coalpits) closer to Smith’s for better artistic composition. He could do so because he had photos taken from Gooseberry Mesa of Smith’s and Coalpits, not because he grew up looking at the mesas every day of his young life (he did). In fact, he idealized them and represented them in a way that was special to him because he had both memories and facts about the mesas.

In art, seeing is believing. Memory alone cannot be trusted. I have looked at my wife’s beautiful face every day for more than 48 years, but I would need a representative photo to produce an accurate portrait of her.

In the gospel, the inverse is axiomatic: believing is seeing. This is one of Elder Boyd K. Packer’s favorite themes. He weaves that thought often into his remarks to various audiences and into his books. In one talk, that he titled, What Is Faith, he says:

Children have a frankness and honesty that is disarming. They possess a simple, implicit faith that is shared by few adults. The Lord instructed his disciples by calling "a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:2-3.) In children there is little pride and little vanity. They eagerly and trustingly respond…

In a world filled with skepticism and doubt, the expression "seeing is believing" promotes the attitude, "You show me, and I will believe." We want all of the proof and all of the evidence first. It seems hard to take things on faith.

When will we learn that in spiritual things it works the other way about—that believing is seeing? Spiritual belief precedes spiritual knowledge. When we believe in things that are not seen but are nevertheless true, then we have faith.

Mormon, the compiler, writer, and abridger of the Book of Mormon, often starts a verse with the phrase, “And thus we see.” He then proceeds to tell us what he wants us to learn (or see) from the previous verses of scripture. He expects us to believe his words, and then he is willing to help us see the gospel lesson in the verses.

The fourth Article of Faith tells us that the first principle of the gospel is “…faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Belief and faith are often treated as synonyms. The Savior himself often did so. He always ascertained the supplicant’s faith before he performed His miraculous acts of healing. In Mark 9:23-25, we read:

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

The disciples had been unable to heal the child, and so the Savior took over. The father said: “Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.” All the Savior needed was an assurance that there was the tiny faith that Alma talked about in Alma 32:27: “…if ye can no more than desire to believe.” And he strengthened the father’s belief (faith) by healing the child. Again, in Alma 32:22 Alma says:

And now, behold, I say unto you, and I would that ye should remember, that God is merciful unto all who believe on his name; therefore he desireth, in the first place, that ye should believe, yea, even on his word.

Robert L. Millet, in his book, Selected Writings of Robert L. Millet: Gospel Scholars Series , page 391, says:

…spiritual things are known, not because they are seen with the physical eyes or felt with our hands or even heard with our ears, but because they are seen and felt and experienced with eyes and ears of faith. Indeed, believing is seeing.

The man whose child was healed believed, and then saw his child healed before his eyes. In another instance, after Jesus had healed the ruler’s daughter, two blind men followed Him, asking for help. In Matthew 9:28-29 the blind men expressed their faith, and both figuratively and literally were able to see.

And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.

In a gospel sense, seeing is often not believing. In fact, seeing a sign or wonder does not assure belief in the gospel, and often has the opposite effect. Satan is very clever and can turn seeing miracles and signs into seeing trickery and fraud. Kent P. Jackson and Robert L. Millet, editors of the book, Studies in Scripture, Vol. 5: The Gospels, pp 360 – 361, said the following:

Contrary to popular notion, seeing is not necessarily believing. Knowledge, even testimony born of the Spirit, does not guarantee faith. James wrote that even the devils believe and tremble, but have not faith to keep the commandments of God. (James 2:19.) Laman and Lemuel experienced repeated demonstrations of the power of God, yet they did not believe or have faith sufficient to submit to his will. (See 1 Ne. 3:29-31; 7:16-20; 16:37-39; 17:45-55; "18:8-21; 2 Ne. 5:1-7.)

The real result of not believing first can be seen in Paul’s discussion with King Agrippa. Paul challenged him about his knowledge of the prophets. King Agrippa’s reply is a tragically classic response by those who have some knowledge but have not done as Alma instructed in Alma 32:27:

But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

The discussion between Paul and King Agrippa is chronicled in Acts 26:27-28:

King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.

Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

Agrippa did not understand that it was not Paul who would persuade him, but his own desire to understand and believe that would convince him of the truth of the gospel through the Holy Ghost. He could not see.

Some people, like Laman and Lemuel, see but believe not. Others, like Saul of Tarsus and the Sons of Mosiah, are given the rare privilege of seeing, and then believing. Or, like King Agrippa, they believe (or have knowledge of) the gospel, but see not.

Those of us who have had the privilege of trying to live the gospel as we understand it, of beginning to see with spiritual eyes and ears of faith, have been given at least a glimpse of the unspeakable beauty of the eternities through the temple. When we work to shape our families to be acceptable to the Lord, so that we can be together forever, we have another glimpse of eternity. When the Holy Ghost touches us and guides our actions we have another glimpse of eternity. When we have knelt in prayer and felt the Balm of Gilead, we have another glimpse. When we seek forgiveness and feel the mercy of the Lord, we have another glimpse. When our family, children and grandchildren, are gathered together to celebrate Christmas as we did this year, we got a real glimpse of eternity.

As we glimpse, we can begin to see at least an inkling of the blessings that await us in the eternities if we are faithful.