”If they will not repent and observe to do my will, I will utterly destroy them, saith the Lord, because of their unbelief, notwithstanding the many mighty works which I have done among them. And as surely as the Lord liveth shall these things be, saith the Lord.” (LDS Helaman 15:17, RE Helaman 5:16)
There are lots of ways people choose to identify “belief”. Among many religious communities, whether someone is a “believer” or not, can depend on the creeds that the particular community holds. These creeds are often used to distinguish themselves, or set them apart from other religious communities. Often these creeds are used to show why a particular group of people think they are better than other groups of people. They see themselves as being a “believer” if they sustain the creeds of that community. Those who do not sustain their creeds are identified as being “non-believers”. Some outsiders can even respect their creeds enough to identify themselves as being a “non-believer”. It is the sustaining of creeds that define so many religious societies.
When Joseph Smith first experienced God in a vision, he was told that “all their creeds were an abomination in his sight”. One might ask themselves why “creeds” would be so bad that the Lord would call them an “abomination”? Is it because none of the existing creeds had the right beliefs in their creeds? Is it that they needed new or different beliefs to make their creeds correct? Or might it be that the whole concept of “creeds” is an abomination? If creeds are an abomination, why?
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One potential reason is because “beliefs” are not a good way to judge people. Scriptures teach that at the last day, God will judge men according to their works — (not the same as their beliefs). At the end of the day, it is their “works” that matter, regardless of what beliefs may contribute to their works.
Beliefs can become a serious distraction from things that matter even more. People can be united in promoting a good cause even when they don’t have the same beliefs. Making a big deal about beliefs can ruin what may otherwise be a wonderful and productive relationship. What you actually do matters more than what you believe.
This isn’t to say that beliefs don’t matter. What you believe to be true, does matter and can have a tremendous effect on what you do. If you believe something that is a lie to actually be true, your actions can end up supporting and defending the wrong cause and do harm to the innocent. Believing bad information leads to bad results when acted upon.
One reason creeds may be so bad is that they actually create barriers to real, genuine “belief” — the kind of belief the scriptures are talking about.
Whether a person considers themselves a “believer” or not, is not the same thing as what the scriptures are talking about when they speak of all things being possible to one who believes. In the scriptural sense, “belief” refers only to how one responds to what God says. That’s it. When God speaks and someone believes what is said and treats is as being true, that person is a believer. When God speaks and a person does not believe what is said to be true, that person is not a believer.
Belief is only about how you respond to what God says. If people don’t believe what God says, they are in a state of “not believing”, or in other words, “un-belief”. But that’s not the only way to be in a state of “unbelief”. Another way that “unbelief” happens is when people believe something to be true, or from God, that is not. If you believe a lie, you are not in a state of “belief” but of “unbelief”.
That’s what makes “unbelief” so tricky. On the one hand, if you hear something that doesn’t sound right, you can say “I don’t believe that”. If what you do not believe, is actually a lie, then your “unbelief” of a lie, is actually believing the truth. You’re in a state of “belief” for correctly identifying a lie.
On the other hand, if you believe the lie and think it is true, or of God, what you have is “unbelief” because what you believe is not actually true. It is this form of “unbelief” that is so terrible. Believing a lie can be very hard to overcome.
In the Sermon on the mount, Jesus teaches:\
”The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness.” (LDS 3 Nephi 13:22-23, RE 3 Nephi 5:37)
When what you believe is the truth, and you act upon it, light comes into your life. That light grows as you continue to collect more truth and have a clearer understanding of the truth, until your whole body if full of light. When you don’t believe the truth, or — and this is the big one — what you believe is actually not true, then you have darkness within you. When what is within you is darkness, but you believe it is the truth — How great is that darkness!!
That kind of unbelief is the worst because it is so hard to unravel a lie that you really believe is true. It is especially difficult when the lie is reinforced by society by repeated institutional teaching and authority and emotional manipulation and a variety of other tactics. All of these and more combine to give someone experience that reinforces the lie as being true. But despite all personal life experience to encourage belief in the lie, it is not true. The evidence or proof is the darkness that it leaves inside those who believe it.
It seems to always easier to see the darkness of error in someone else, than it is to recognize it in ourselves. It’s easy to look at others and see that they are wrong. Perhaps it is because someone else being wrong doesn’t require us to really change. It’s the one who has to change that has the real burden of the truth to bear. But if you’re honest with yourself, you can sense when something is wrong. You can tell when there is darkness within you. If what you believe is filling you with light, you become more soft, loving, compassionaitte, peaceful, understanding, forgiving, merciful, and the like. You know, the fruits of the spirit. Or, consider if it is making you more hardened, angry, bitter, jealous, selfish, argumentative, vengeful. You know, the fruits of ego.
I would make the case that if you are becoming more like the person described in the ego section, that you should consider that you are holding onto some “unbelief”. You may have dismissed something that is true because you’ve heard some compelling arguments against it. Or perhaps you believe something to be true, that is actually making you more ego centric. If that’s what it is doing, I propose that what you have embraced is probably not true. Even if you can’t clearly see how it could not be true.
The effect that embracing an idea has on you matters. It tells you something about itself, by what it does to you. Seeds produce fruit. The fruit produced defines what kind of seed it is. A seed by itself can have all the appearance of being right and good and true. You’ll know if that is the case by the fruit it produces. Don’t ignore the fruit it produces. The effect it has on you matters. It is by the kind of person it helps you become that you’ll know if it is truly a good idea that you have embraced or not.
Unbelief (believing a lie) produces the fruit of ego. Believing the truth produces the fruits of the spirit spoken of.
Believing the truth is the most productive and beneficial for yourself, your family and society. When the truth is presented, accept and embrace it. It has its own reward.
What you believe to be true can have a tremendous effect on the actions you take. Lies consume a lot of time, are counter-productive, and ultimately tear down society, relationships and yourself. It is darkness.
Believing a lie is “not belief”. It is literally “un-belief”.