Shall the Youth of Zion Falter?

Shall the of Youth of Zion Falter?

This Sunday night, I sat in a chapel looking over a group of youth. Many were students I had taught in my Seminary class. A flood of emotions washed over me to think about how amazing each one of them is. Having had the opportunity to share experiences with the Spirit, sharing knowledge and insight, and most of all realizing that we are all the beloved spirit sons or daughters of Heavenly parents. That God has a plan of happiness for each of us.

The second week of my Family 100 class, we read chapter 30 “Social Sciences about the Family” As I began to study, I learned “Social science is that part of science that looks at human attributes, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and relationships. Though social science findings are often weak, probabilistic, and ambiguous, taken in aggregate, they can often serve as guides to the “best guess” about what course to pursue when a decision needs to be made and all of the choices contain uncertainties”. (p. 338)

So what if I were to conduct an experiment with the world’s perspective of teenagers?  My social science hypothesis might be that teenagers don’t want God or his rules in their lives. This , of course, would be a gross generalization, but a logical one. Along with our course readings, we were assigned to read “Countering Korihor’s Philosophy” by Gerald Lund. I loved this talk! He introduced branches of philosophy that Korihor uses to deceive the people. The one I would like to highlight is Epistemology. “Epistemology is the study of how we know what is real or true. There are numerous epistemological systems. Some apply directly to what Korihor was teaching the Nephites.” The world tries to confuse teenagers with this philosophy and its sense of logic instead of truth. “Korihor’s argument that “ye cannot know of things which ye do not see” (Alma 30:15) reveals his epistemology—his system of determining truth—to be primarily empirical, or based on observation and use of the senses.”

What my experience with teenagers in seminary is they see through Korihor’s argument and understand God’s truth. For example, this past year in seminary we studied the Doctrine and Covenants. They had a challenge to study and learn for themselves the truthfulness of the gospel through personal revelation. This talk shows us the strategies that the adversary is using to deceive us from truth. His ultimate goal is to “destroy the children of God” (Alma 30:42).  It shouldn't surprise me that he hasn’t varied much from this practice.

But the youth that I’ve seen aren’t going to fall for his philosophies of deceit. Being a teenager is hard and I know the adversary works especially hard during these years. But the youth of Zion will not falter! They are ready for the battle. They have great faith, willingness to ask questions based in faith, and they look at things with an eternal perspective. These wonderful young men and young women know, like Moses, that they are children of God. 

References:
Hawkins, A., Dollahite, D., & Draper, T. (2016), Successful Marriages and Families Proclamation Principles and Research Perspectives, Provo,Utah, BYU Studies

Lund, Gerald, (1992), Countering Korihor's Philosophy, Retrieved from www.churchofjesuschrist.org