Listening to a radio program, I heard a college professor being dismissive about the contributions of Jesus and His teachings as well as expressing a very closed minded view about a topic in which he was not an expert and had no personal experience. He had never sought the knowledge or experience to know what he was even talking about but thought himself an expert because of completely unrelated learning. I was surprised by his arrogance. To have never tried even to experiment upon the word of God or to attempt to receive any answer to sincere and earnest prayer or to even try to learn how to feel and recognize the Holy Spirit but still think of yourself as an authority in a field of knowledge and experience which you have not even tried to understand? It goes counter to the supposed scientific method which would require experimentation before arriving at a conclusion. There are religious experts who do have personal experience to validate their beliefs. Simply coming up with a foregone conclusion, without even making a token effort to find out for yourself whether something is true, does not seem very scientific. It also displays ignorance to a basic principle. We have agency in this life. We have the right to choose. God respects our agency. He will force no man to heaven.
"O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God." (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/9.28-29?lang=eng#p27)
The experiment to know God is one which can be duplicated. This experiment has been replicated billions upon billions of times from Adam until now. Even before Adam, before the creation, we lived with Heavenly Father. In coming to know God, we are not seeking knowledge of something we don't already know. We are merely seeking remembrance of truths we have temporarily forgotten as a necessary condition of our mortal probation.
"And now Korihor said unto Alma: If thou wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced that there is a God, yea, show unto me that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of thy words. But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/30.43-44?lang=eng&clang=eng#p42)
Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee...
God does answer prayer. He also respects our agency. He will force no man to heaven. The experiment to know Him is repeatable and has been duplicated and replicated time and time and time and time and time again. We can validate the results for ourselves. The willingness to perform this experiment, however, is something we each must choose.
There is a reason that the 12 step program for addiction recovery is based on faith in Him. Once we quit wanting what we don't really want, we can choose to accept His help. God loves us and allows us to choose what it is that we truly want. He will force no man to heaven.
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/3.19?lang=eng&clang=eng#p18)
If we are willing, God can change us. This is what it means to be born again.
"And it came to pass that when Ammon arose he also administered unto them, and also did all the servants of Lamoni; and they did all declare unto the people the selfsame thing—that their hearts had been changed; that they had no more desire to do evil." (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/19.33?lang=eng#p32)
"And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?" (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/5.14?lang=eng#p13)
"And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/5.2?lang=eng&clang=eng#p1)
"And I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins. Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart. And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens. And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed. And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away. And I said: Lord, how is it done?" (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/enos/1.2-7?lang=eng#p1)
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