Applying the scriptures: 'Open your ears that ye may hear'
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Learning how to ask the right questions and being attuned to the Spirit makes a tremendous difference when one sets out on a course of learning.
At the October 1990 general conference, Elder Lynn A. Mickelsen of the Seventy spoke of an occasion during which a friend went to his home under the pretext that he had some questions to ask about the Church. Gaining understanding was not the friend's motive, however.
The friend said he had discovered that the Book of Mormon was not the word of God and that Joseph Smith was not a prophet of God. He then quoted articles and books that were written by what Elder Mickelsen described as "enemies of the Church." Elder Mickelsen said that his friend was surprised when he told him he had read the same things but they had only served to confirm his faith in the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph Smith.
"I suggested to him that he devote at least equal time to the right side of the issue, but he had come with a decision, not a question," Elder Mickelsen said. "His mind was made up. He did not want to know. His heart was closed."
Elder Mickelsen told the conference congregation that the Savior told the Pharisees and the Sadducees they were looking in the right places with the wrong objectives in mind when He said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." (John 5:39.)
"They had obviously made a very careful study of the word that testified of Him and failed to find Him," Elder Mickelsen said. "Their foregone conclusions had not allowed the Spirit to guide them.
"The same conditions exist today: we must ask the right questions; we must seek in the right places and knock on the right doors. . . .
"We must prepare our hearts and our minds with a sincere desire to know the truth. King Benjamin taught, 'My brethren, all ye that have assembled yourselves together, you that can hear my words which I shall speak unto you this day; for I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.' (Mosiah 2:9.)"
