Elder Marcos A. Aidukaitis of the Seventy talked about how the Internet provides many opportunities for learning but is also a great tool of Satan to destroy faith and hope and promote doubt and fear.
“With so much available on the Internet, one must carefully consider where to apply his efforts,” he said. “Satan can keep us busy, distracted and infected by sifting through information, much of which can be pure garbage. One should not roam through garbage.”
He said we were all born with the Spirit of Christ, which gives us the power to discern between good and evil.
But when we feel we are lacking wisdom and having trouble recognizing truth in the world, the scriptures give a few tools we can use to help us.
First, we can look to the fruits of something. If the fruits are good, it must be truth.
“Those who are interested in the truth will be able to recognize the difference that the Church and its members make in the communities where they are established,” he said. “Those who examine these fruits will discover that the fruits of the Church are delicious and desirable.”
Second, we can experiment on the word, just as Alma teaches in Alma 32 of the Book of Mormon.
“What a superb invitation by a prophet of the Lord!” he said. “We are invited to test the word, we are given parameters, and we are told the outcome of the test, if we follows the instructions.”
Third, we can discern truth through personal revelation, as taught by Doctrine and Covenants Section 8.
But he said personal revelation will only come through faith and action.
“Faith requires work, work such as studying it out in your mind, then asking the Lord if it is right,” he said.
What’s more, we must ask with an honest heart.
“If we are sincerely seeking the truth, we will do all in our power to find it,” he said. “It also means that we are willing to do God’s will when we find it.”
He ended with an invitation for all to seek truth using these methods, specifically personal revelation.
“God will reveal truth to those who seek for it as prescribed in the scriptures,” he said. “It requires more effort than to just search the Internet, but it is worth it.”
