By Ali Williams
Barriers to knowing God are not barriers to living a good life or being a good person, but the quest to know God is the quest of a lifetime. It is a quest that goes beyond faithful church attendance, said Robert Millet, BYU professor of ancient scripture, to Education Week participants Thursday.
“The great end is a fellowship with the Father and the Son, a closeness to them,” he said. “It”s month after month, year after year, decade after decade of working toward having the mind of Christ.”
Along the way toward this ultimate end, there are many barriers along the way, Millet said. These barriers include the devaluation of the unseen, doubt, cynicism, skepticism and negativity.
“The most significant knowledge in this world is that which is neither seen nor heard, that cannot be proven,” he said, citing Ether 12:6. “We don”t come to know God as we could because we are not willing to take a few steps into the darkness, even knowing a light will shine soon.”
Another barrier Millet discussed is an undue focus on the evil of our day.
“People who are obsessed with evil become evil,” he said.
Millet recalled being glued to the television screen for two straight weeks, as the details of the Watergate scandal were unveiled to the nation. But, he said, citing Elder Bruce R. McConkie, we must take a wholesome, affirmative position on national and world conditions.
“The whole ordeal was disheartening and in a sense we felt betrayed as our innocence was shattered,” Millet said. “We learned first hand what could and did happen behind a presidential campaign. But as members of the Church we must rejoice in the Lord, give praise for goodness and grace, and set our hearts upon righteousness.”
People today often don”t have time, or find time, to come to know God, Millet said.
“We wrestle with business, we are enslaved by business,” he said. “We are chained by the tyranny of the urgent that occupies our time causing us to skip over that which is most important in life.”
Millet cautioned that latter-day saints must not get caught up in rules, regulations, business and what he called being “legalistic.” Too often, he said, people play the “quid pro quo” game with God, saying: I”ll do this if you do this. They confuse business for righteousness and means for ends.
“If we”re not careful, we can treat such milestones as a mission and temple marriage as ends in themselves, rather than means to an end,” Millet said. “We need to be sure we”re not a rule-driven people, not a legalistic people, but that we begin to live our lives gradually on principle.”
