Faith’s Proof

The Book of Mormon recounts an experience that the prophet Alma had with a man named Korihor. This Korihor was going around saying that the prophecies of God’s prophets, many of which concerned the coming of Jesus Christ, (this was before Christ’s birth in Bethlehem) were not true because “no man can know of anything which is to come” (Alma 30:13). He taught that no one can know of things that they cannot see, and that faith in the coming Messiah was the “effect of a frenzied mind” (16). “And many more such things did he say unto them, telling them that there could be no atonement made for the sins of men, but every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime” (17).

This passage in the Book of Mormon is so fascinating. Korihor, a man from the first century B. C., is making the same arguments that the wise and the learned are making in the 21st century. These arguments are not modern or new. People have been saying the same things for millennium, so the faithful should not fear them. We’ve dealt with them before.

Getting back to the story, Korihor ends up resorting to murder to win an argument and is subsequently brought before Alma to be judged. They get into an interesting theological debate and when Korihor asks Alma to show him proof of God’s existence in a sign, Alma responds with these words: “Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator” (44).

Alma’s answer doesn’t satisfy the rational and scientific modern mind. Nature obeys basic laws of physics like gravitation and thermodynamics. The motions of the planets and all of the things are not evidence of God’s existence because they can be explained scientifically. The scientific mind sees no place for God there.

In some respects, I have to agree with science on this one. Alma is taking one of his own assumptions, that the order of the universe denotes the existence of a Creator of that order, and demanding that Korihor accept it. Korihor doesn’t.

Yet, even though Alma doesn’t prove God’s existence with his rebuttal, he illuminates an important principle of faith. Alma can’t prove God’s existence to Korihor. He knows that he can’t. So, he does the next best thing: he declares his faith in God. To Alma, nature and the motion of the planets and everything else, witness that there is a Supreme Creator because he has chosen to believe in that Supreme Creator. He has had personal experiences with God that have confirmed that faith and as a result, he sees proof of God’s existence everywhere he looks. Korihor can look at the same scene and see only dirt, rocks, a few trees and the sky. He doesn’t see what Alma sees because he chooses not to.

Philosophers and scholars have been trying to prove and disprove God’s existence for ages. I find some arguments more compelling than others, but when you come down to it, none of them actually does what it seeks out to do. Those trying to prove God’s existence always run into the wall of only having secondary evidence to make their case and those trying to disprove it always run into the wall of trying to prove a negative and end up sounding like people trying to disprove the existence of bears because they never saw one at the zoo. In the end, I can only prove God’s existence to one person: myself. The evidence cannot be used outside the courtroom of my own conscience.

I think that God wants it this way. God wants us to rely on faith. After all, it is the first principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If He wanted to prove His own existence, He surly could. He chooses not to because He wants us to rely on faith, when things are going well for us and when things are not going well. He wants our faith to be tried and tested, not coddled and obvious.

Korihor chose not to have that faith. He continued to demand a sign, so Alma gave him one. He was struck dumb. Later on, he was trampled and killed. It’s funny. Being struck dumb didn’t cause Korihor to change his life and serve God. I guess he figured that there was a perfectly rational and scientific explanation for why his vocal chords gave out right when Alma said they would. There’s always a perfectly rational and scientific explanation for those kinds of things.