Explaining the different ways of gaining knowledge and truth and how they benefit students, Scott Ritter, chair of the Department of Geological Sciences, encouraged students to spread their knowledge and the truth of the gospel.
Ritter, speaking at Tuesday's Devotional, walked students through a timeline of major historical events including the detonation of the first atomic bomb, the Pearl Harbor bombing in 1941, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
However, one of the most important events for Latter-day Saints was the restoration of the church, Ritter said. Two ways people can gain truth and knowledge are revelation or discovery, Ritter said.
The First Vision as well as the burial of the plates in the Hill Cumorah are two examples of truth gained by revelation, he said. This type of knowledge is a great blessing to people because it provides great gospel truths.
"What gladder tidings could there be from Cumorah or from our modern prophets than the message that we are offspring of a loving God whose Only Begotten Son willingly descended below all things so that we may dwell as eternal families in his presence?" Ritter said.
The second way of gaining knowledge - discovery - describes the way Charles Darwin made scientific discoveries. Ritter said although the two methods of gaining knowledge may seem contradictory, they actually support each other.
"Through these complimentary and ongoing processes, revelation and discovery, both of which require concentration and dedication, we have come to understand the love, methods, and majesty of God and his infinite creations in ways that were unknown to all previous generations," Ritter said.
Once people have gained knowledge, through various means, they must share it with others, Ritter said.
"That we might impart the light that we have received from both revelation and discovery to the inhabitants of an ever darkening world by laboring in temples of faith, halls of learning and fields of service until the Savior returns in perfect light is my prayer," Ritter said.
Copyright Brigham Young University 22 Jul 2008
