Faith and Fruit

I think Miriam went a long way toward explaining the connection between certainty and faith. She shared Alma 32: 33-34:

And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good.

And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand.

As I understand the analogy from just a cursory rereading, the seed is Christianity or becoming a Christian. The seed sprouting and growing might represent feeling the Spirit, or any of the other blessings that come through membership in the church. Once we've received those blessings, we can be certain that the church is good. However, where I got confused was how we can have that certainty and still need faith.

Alma explains it later. In verse 36, he says that we must not lay aside our faith. Continuing the analogy, he says that, even once the tree begins to grow, we must nourish it, "looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, [or we] can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life."

The fruit, if I understand it correctly, represents the eternal blessings the faithful will receive in the next life. Even when we are certain that the church is true, we still need to have at least some faith that the promised blessings will eventually be ours. Then again, if we know that the church is true, that must mean that we know that the promises are true, so we would, theoretically, "know" that we will receive the promised blessings.

Perhaps that's what President Burton mean about certainty. We can have an evidence-based certainty that the church is true, as well as an inner certainty that the church is true, but we cannot have an evidence-based certainty that we will receive the promised blessings, because we haven't really seen a lot of evidence about that yet, so we still need to have faith in it. Still, we can have an inner certainty, an assurance borne by the Spirit, that the promised blessings are real. Thus, we can be certain of the promises, but that certainty still requires faith in the witness of the Spirit.

It's a bit strange, but I guess that explanation works. If you're still confused, I don't blame you. But I think I've reconciled, at least for myself, how one can be certain of something but still need to have faith.