21 And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.
22 And now, behold, I say unto you, and I would that ye should remember, that God is merciful unto all who believe on his name; therefore he desireth, in the first place, that ye should believe, yea, even on his word.
23 And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned.
Alma 32:21-23 (Emphasis mine)
Alma(2) begins his great sermon on faith. He teaches us that it is not a perfect knowledge; with faith, you hope for things you don’t see, but those things that are true.
This is an important point. Many people today have faith in many things. For example, people believe in psychics. People believe the stars control their future. Belief in things that are false is not true faith. You do not believe in something that is true.
Richard Williams observes:
“In that verse we all know so well, Alma teaches us that faith, like belief, is not to have this sort of ‘perfect knowledge’ (Alma 32:21). Faith is like belief in this way, but Alma makes it clear that it is not merely belief. Faith grows into a knowledge that is, in its crucial attributes, perfect. In contrast to knowledge founded on what we see, and also subtly different from mere belief, faith is allied with ‘hope for things which are not seen, which are true.’ Faith thus is not a clinging to in the absence of knowledge of truth but a hope for what is true.” [1] (Emphasis mine)
Sidney Sperry adds:
“This Book of Mormon prophet has his feet on the ground—when a person has faith he hopes for things which are not seen, which are true … Alma takes faith out of the realm of mere credulity—i.e., readiness to believe on slight evidence. A note in his statement rings true to the critical mind. Too many persons in every generation, including our own, hope for things—fantastic things—in the name of faith and religion, but give little thought as to whether or not they are based on truth.” [2] (Emphasis mine)
24 And now, my beloved brethren, as ye have desired to know of me what ye shall do because ye are afflicted and cast out—now I do not desire that ye should suppose that I mean to judge you only according to that which is true—
25 For I do not mean that ye all of you have been compelled to humble yourselves; for I verily believe that there are some among you who would humble themselves, let them be in whatsoever circumstances they might.
26 Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge.
27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
Alma 32:24-27 (Emphasis mine)
Alma(2) refers back to his statements about those who are compelled to humble themselves. He tells that that he does not mean that they had all been forced to be humble. He knew there were those who would be humble regardless of the circumstances.
He repeats that faith is not a perfect knowledge. So it is with his words. At first, they cannot know for sure they are true. This is faith. It is not a perfect knowledge.
If they test his word, and exercise faith, they will have a desire to believe. That desire will continue until they will finally believe.
16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
John 7:16-17 (Emphasis mine)
Hugh Nibley discussed the importance of the experiment.
“That's what [Alma(2)] is telling us here. It turns out that faith is intellectual honesty. That's what it is. He makes this very clear a little later. He says, first you arouse your faculties, use your brains, and be willing to make an experiment. You don't accept it when you make an experiment. You're going to try it out to see if it is so. … Of course, you're not going to do anything if you don't have that inducement, to want to believe in something … You never discover anything unless you hope it is there or wish it is there. Here he talks about your faith being dormant, but he says don't fight it. If you have a desire to believe, don't fight it, ‘that ye can give place for a portion of my words.’ Notice that it comes by degrees; it comes by steps here.” [3] (Emphasis mine)
Sidney Sperry wrote:
“Alma seems to have such confidence in these religious truths that he is willing to have his words subjected to experimental trial … The recognition that many teachings in the spiritual realm may be, and should be, tested by experiment is of universal interest and validity … A feeling of confidence, trust, and respect is aroused in an individual when he is invited to experiment upon or test the validity of a religious principle.” [4] (Emphasis mine)
[1] Faith, Reason, Knowledge, and Truth, Richard N. Williams, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed November 30, 2011.
[2] Some Universals in the Book of Mormon, Sidney B. Sperry, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed November 30, 2011.
[3] Lecture 55: Alma 32-35, Hugh W. Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed November 30, 2011.
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