Principle Two

Feelings & thoughts combine, form belief.

That is a paradigm.

Example:  1 Nephi 11

1 For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot.

Mountain - representing temple, representing knowledge of God Himself.

He had to be there in order to learn this kind of thing about God.

We go to the temple to seek knowledge - believing He will grant us that knowledge.

Steps:  1.  Thinking about father’s vision.  2.  Pondered in heart.  That’s the combination - F&T.  As a result of that, he decided that he believed (next verses).  This is a paradigm.  So Nephi has chosen how to view things - with the lens of belief.

2 And the Spirit said unto me: Behold, what desirest thou?

The choice of how to combine his F&T led to having him realize what he wanted.  He made a decision to seek answers now.  Before, he didn’t know that is what he wanted.

When we want something, it’s because we have thought about it, and we have some kind of a feeling about it.

That’s what desire is.

3 And I said: I desire to behold the things which my father saw.

Why did he need to SAY it?  Is it because we have to acknowledge, answer, participate in the conversation?  Crucial conversations.  Is this “counseling” with the Lord?

4 And the Spirit said unto me: Believest thou that thy father saw the tree of which he hath spoken?

So - the Spirit knows what Nephi wants -but he still asks him what he believes about his father’s vision.  Specifically, he asks -- what do you believe about the tree?  So why would the Spirit ask that?

Well, the Spirit and Nephi are going to mutually talk together.  They have to have a mutually solid starting point of what is true.  So he asked:  Do you believe the words of your father?  If you do, I can expand upon them.  But if you do not believe those words, then we can’t expand upon them - because the issue would be that we need to go back and help you develop your faith to believe.  So we’d have to start with strengthening faith, rather than with exapnding upon where your faith already is.  But - Nephi had already decided that he believed the words of his father, and that’s what he told the Spirit.  So the Spirit could help Nephi understand what the tree was, and what the rod was, etc.  

If that wasn’t the case, then the Spirit would have had to have said, “Well, IF you believed the vision of your father, then IF your father saw the tree, this is what it would have meant.  But it wouldn’t work.  You can’t learn the things of God without the Spirit - without the FEEL.  Without the feel, it wouldn’t be real.  Without REAL, you can’t discern.  

This is why later L&L can see the angel - KNOW it is from God, but still feel fear when they think of what Laban could do to them (he’s so mighty!).  You can ONLY access the power of God through FEEL.  They couldn’t see how they could possibly be protected from Laban’s power, and they were afraid.  

It’s definitely the combination of our F&T that lead to being able to utilize the power of God and have faith in Him.  If we don’t have faith in HIm, it isn’t real to us - and if it isn’t real to us, we can’t be changed by that.

5 And I said: Yea, thou knowest that I believe all the words of my father.

Nephi is declaring his commitment to God, and He knows that.  We can’t really pick and choose what part of God’s words we will believe.  If we are going to believe HIM, we have to believe all His words.  He doth not vary.  Without that confidence in HIM, we can’t be transformed.  

6 And when I had spoken these words, the Spirit cried with a loud voice, saying: Hosanna to the Lord, the most high God; for he is God over all the earth, yea, even above all. And blessed art thou, Nephi, because thou believest in the Son of the most high God; wherefore, thou shalt behold the things which thou hast desired.

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So how do we apply this to our own emotions?

We have to take responsibility for our own emotions.  We need to figure out what our emotions tell us about what we believe.  We do this by asking ourselves:

What am I believing about this?

What am I feeling about this?

And then we ask:

What do I want to ask God?  (Or -- DO I want to ask God? )

At this point, we acknowledge several things:

1. There are answers, and God knows what they are.
2. I have a right to ask my questions.  I ask those questions because I want to understand something - not because I ask those questions for personal gain or reward.  Nephi wanted to know what those things meant.
3. He will reveal those answers to us, as we ponder and believe.
4. We know that we are counseling with God, and acknowledge that He is there, and that He is helping us understand and learn and know.