The Lord is constantly attempting to reveal more of himself to us. He uses broad means, including: attempts to speak to us in our minds and hearts, the testimonies of angels and men who know him better than we do, our surroundings, and our life situations. All of creation is an attempt to convey this revelation. He even came to earth to live a mortal life in order to demonstrate to us how he is.1 Were it easy to know him, none of these interventions would be required, let alone all of them. In spite of all of these great efforts, there are still only very few who know him very much at all.
God created every able-minded person with the ability to make moral judgments, whether they believe in or have been taught about him or not. Your conscience provides a mechanism for learning more about how God is and how he would act in your place. That mechanism is guilt, which is a signal that you have done less than your best and different than God would have in your place. The way to minimize the guilt that you feel is to always do the very best that you can. As you consistently do your best, you will increase in the strength and accuracy of your assessment of what is best, learning more about how God would live in your place, and gaining greater reasons to live the same way.
Since the fall of Adam, God has sent angels and inspired men to “minister unto the children of men, to make manifest” the character of Christ; that all good things come from and lead to him.2 God carefully arranges to send specific people3 to the earth at specific times to demonstrate aspects of his character to his children throughout time4 and across geography.5
The difficulty and complexity of communicating to us the content of God’s character is evidenced by the complexity of creation. This creation is intricately designed to provide uncountable witnesses of who, how, and what God is.6 God created everything we know of in order to provide a place where we would have the opportunity to learn more about him,7 implement what we learn into our own lives,8 and do what we can to help others to do the same.9
The difficulty and value of communicating to us the content of God’s character is attested to by the high price that Jesus paid in order to demonstrate it. Jesus came to earth as a mortal man in order to make the Father known to us.10 It is in and through Jesus that we come to know and become like the Father.11 Consider how much Jesus suffered in leaving the glory of the Father’s presence to come here,12 enduring bitter contradiction against his character for three decades, experiencing stiff persecution against his ministry for another three years, and receiving death at the hands of those he came to save.
Footnotes
- 1. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) ↩
- 2. 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. And God also declared unto prophets, by his own mouth, that Christ should come. (Moroni 7:22-23) ↩
- 3. [Angels] declar[e] the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him. 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.... (Moroni 7:31-32) ↩
- 4. And again, my brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people. And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption. And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such. (Alma 13:1-3) ↩
- 5. For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true. (Alma 29:8) ↩
- 6. And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me. (Moses 6:63) ↩
- 7. And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; (Abraham 3:24-25) ↩
- 8. And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead. (Alma 12:24) ↩
- 9. 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; and thus it was until the coming of Christ. (Moroni 7:25) ↩
- 10. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. (John 17:6) ↩
- 11. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) ↩
- 12. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. (John 17:5) ↩