Christ is the Reason

1. Gospel Knowledge Through Study, Faith, and the Holy Ghost

The Holy Ghost is the Ideal Instructor

1. “Knowledge is power, but the most vital and important knowledge is a knowledge of God-that he lives, that we are his children, that he loves us, that we are created in his image, that we can in faith pray to him and receive strength and inspiration in time of need.”- Ezra Taft Benson
2. D&C 88: 118 “seek learning, even by study and also by faith”
3. Moroni 10:5 “by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”
4. “A single glimpse beyond the veil reveals more of heaven and its law than all the sermons of uninspired preachers combined…There is no substitute for the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (The Mortal Messiah, 4 vols. [1979-81], 1:370-371).
5. 1 Corinthians 2:11 “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”

You Must Study and Ponder

1. “Divine instructions such as ‘study it out in your mind’(D&C 9:8) did not come from a God indifferent to intellect.” (Neal A. Maxwell We Will Prove Them Now Herewith, 89)
2. Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together saith the Lord.”
3. D&C 11:21 “Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men.”
4. Quote from mission journal “…all those hours of study paid off…”
   

2. Testimonies

“We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, …that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” 2 Nephi 25:26

- It is our covenant duty to “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death.” Mosiah 18:9

- We should “sanctify the Lord God in [our] hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh [us] a reason of the hope that is in [us].” 1 Peter 3:15

Testify of Christ

1. The “spirits of the just” as those “who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality.” D&C 138:12
2. Those souls who go to the terrestrial kingdom as the “honorable men of the earth,” who were “not valiant in the testimony of Jesus.” D&C 76: 75, 79
3. “I sat and listened to seventeen testimonies and never heard Jesus mentioned or referred to in any way. I thought I might be in [some other denomination], but I supposed not because there were no references to God, either. …The following Sunday, I again attended church. I sat through a priesthood lesson, a Gospel Doctrine lesson, and seven sacrament meeting speakers and never once heard the name of Jesus or any reference to him.” – Letter from a member to Elder Dalin H. Oaks
4. “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 121.)
5. “When the gospel was first restored, the pulpits of this land were aflame with the testimony of Jesus, the divine Son of God and Savior of the world. True, the fullness of his doctrine and the power of his priesthood had been lost from the earth, but there were many good and honorable men and women who were valiant in their own testimonies of Jesus. Our earliest missionaries concentrated their message on the Restoration—the calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the restoring of priesthood authority—since they could assume that most of those they taught had a fundamental belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior. Today, our missionaries cannot make that assumption. There are still many God-fearing people who testify to the divinity of Jesus Christ. But there are many more—even in the formal ranks of Christianity—who doubt his existence or deny his divinity. As I see the deterioration in religious faith that has happened in my own lifetime, I am convinced that we who are members of his Church need to be increasingly valiant in our testimony of Jesus.” – Elder Oaks “Witnesses of Christ” Ensign Nov. 1990
6. “Fifty years ago or more, when I was a missionary, our greatest responsibility was to defend the great truth that the Prophet Joseph Smith was divinely called and inspired and that the Book of Mormon was indeed the word of God. But even at that time there were the unmistakable evidences that there was coming into the religious world actually a question about the Bible and about the divine calling of the Master, himself. Now, fifty years later, our greatest responsibility and anxiety is to defend the divine mission of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, for all about us, even among those who claim to be professors of the Christian faith, are those not willing to stand squarely in defense of the great truth that our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, was indeed the Son of God.” (Address to LDS Student Association Fireside, Utah State University, 10 Oct. 1971.)

3. Testimonies of the Prophets and the Apostles

“…seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony...” – Alma 4:19

1. Peter and the Apostles: Acts 4:12 “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 5:29-32, 41-42 The apostles were “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ”
2. Nephi: 2 Nephi 25:26 “We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, …that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”
3. Jacob “For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us…and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken…” Jacob 4:4-6
4. King Benjamin: Mosiah 3:18 “Salvation was, and is, and is to come in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.”
5. Enos “…my faith began to be unshaken in the Lord…And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know in him I shall rest…” Enos 1: 11, 27
6. Abinadi “the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world…remember that only in and through Christ ye can be saved.” (Mosiah 16:7-15)
7. Alma the Younger “from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might being souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost” Alma 36:24
8. Helaman “remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, which is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation” Helaman 5:12
9. Moroni “Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him” Moroni 10:32
10. Joseph Smith “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father.” D&C 76:22-24

4. Solving Problems Using the Scriptures

1. “Where in the Bible does it talk about the Pre-Existence?”
2. “Doesn’t it say in the Book of Revelation that there can’t be anymore scriptures?”
3. “I thought there were no more apostles after the original twelve. Doesn’t it say that you can only Apostles if you actually lived in Christ time?”
4. “What do you mean Joseph Smith saw God? Doesn’t it say in John 1:18 that no man has ever seen God?”
5. “I like the idea of three kingdoms, but where does it say that in the bible?”
6. “I’m having trouble understanding faith.”
7. “Why should I be baptized? I’ve already accepted Jesus as my personal Savior.”