Encouragement and Caution Regarding Self-Study

In his Saturday Morning Session General Conference talk, President Deiter F. Uchtdorf related the story of a time he had received medical advice from his doctor, then searched for more medical advice on the internet. "I suppose I expected to discover truth of which my doctors were unaware or had tried to keep from me." President Uchtdorf then quickly acknowledged the folly of what he had been doing, but aren't we encouraged to do approximately the same thing? When we receive spiritual instruction or guidance, in General Conference, for instance, we're encouraged to study it out for ourselves, as if our own understanding and feelings about an issue could be more certain than the word of God, as spoken by His prophets. Just as a doctor gives better medical advice than the internet, the prophets and apostles have a better understanding of gospel principles than we do. But here's the catch: We're supposed to understand it for ourselves as well.

When I was taking my most recent Algebra class, I was taught many formulas, but every time I was shown a new formula, I wanted to know its "proof." I wanted to know how and why each formula worked. It wasn't that I doubted my teacher; I just wanted to really learn what my math professor was teaching me.

We can do the same thing with gospel principles. We're often told spiritual truths, but instructed to study it out and pray about so we can gain a testimony of those truths for ourselves, rather than simply believing it because Brother, or Sister, or even President So-And-So said it was true. Studying the gospel for ourselves is a very good idea - as long as we don't put more faith in our own understanding than in that of the General Authorities.

"Of course, researching these thing for ourselves is not a bad idea," President Uchtdorf said of his medical study, "but I was disregarding truth I could rely on and instead found myself being drawn to the often outlandish claims of internet lore."

The General Authorities provide us with spiritual truths we can rely on. The counsel and understanding of other people, or even ourselves, isn't quite as sure. If something I've written with my own limited knowledge or "wisdom" disagrees with anything any of the General Authorities have said, I am the one who is wrong. Their knowledge and wisdom is limited as well, but theirs are greater than mine, and they often aren't speaking just from their own knowledge and wisdom. Much of the time, their words come from God, and His knowledge and wisdom are infinite.

While we're encouraged to study things out for ourselves, it doesn't discredit the General Authorities when our findings conflict with theirs, nor should we pit our wisdom against their counsel or our opinions against their testimonies. Some may think me blind for saying this, but they know better than we do, even when we study things out. God's truth is indisputable, and it comes to us through His prophets. We heard a lot of things at General Conference a few days ago, and while we may wish to study them out to find out their truth for ourselves, I would be sceptical of anyone or anything that claimed or seemed to disprove them.