Tim Raffety Updated April 2008
Webster's 1828 dictionary defines discernment in the following way:
DISCERNMENT, n. The act of discerning; also, the power or faculty of the mind, by which it distinguishes one thing from another, as truth from falsehood, virtue from vice; acuteness of judgment; power of perceiving differences of things or ideas, and their relations and tendencies. The errors of youth often proceed from the want of discernment.
In defining discernment for myself I like to show how you distinguish truth from falsehood. It is having a standard and measuring or comparing an item in question against that standard. For example a yardstick is both a standard for a yard and can be used to measure against that standard.
What is our standard or our “spiritual yardstick” for discernment as believers in Jesus Christ. From the Doctrine and Covenants you have the following:
And again, the elders, priests, and teachers of this church shall teach the principles of my gospel which are in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, in which is the fullness of the gospel; [Section 42:5a]
Also from Ezekiel you have:
Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick and write upon it, for Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions; then take another stick, and write upon it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions; And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. [Ezekiel 37:16-17]
From these two scriptures (and others) I believe our “spiritual yardstick” is to be the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Even further clarification about the holding to the scriptures is given in the following:
Wherefore, I said unto you, Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. [2 Nephi 14:4]
and
Yea, I say unto you, were it not for these things that these records do contain, which are on these plates, Ammon and his brethren could not have convinced so many thousands of the Lamanites, of the incorrect tradition of their fathers; Yea, these records and their words, brought them unto repentance; that is, they brought them to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and to rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer. [Alma 17:38-39]
The question has been asked by some, “Why not just the Bible?” For me the answer comes from the following scripture which refers to the Bible:
For behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; And also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away [1 Nephi 3:168-169]
Please also note that the Doctrine and Covenants itself is not included in the fullness of the gospel. See Section 42:5a quoted above.
Now that we have our standard to measure by (use discernment) what should we measure? Well we can start with dreams, visions, and prophecy which are coming with more and more frequency. Sermons, discussions, traditions and beliefs can be measured with this yardstick. You can even use this yardstick in gathering second and third witnesses to what the Lord wants to share.
One of the areas where God requires discernment is in the areas where men exercise their agency and request of the Lord that which is not in their best interest. Some scriptural examples of this are as follows:
Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh, according to the multitude of his idols; [Ezekiel 14:4]
also
Yea, the Lord, even Jesus, whose coming is not until after there cometh a falling away, by the working of Satan with all power, and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; [2 Thessalonians 2:9-11]
and also
But behold, the Jews were a stiff-necked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall: For God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they can not understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it, God hath done it, that they may stumble. [Jacob 3:22-25]
The following are examples of where the people desired in their heart to have a king, and the Lord granted them their request.
Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the Lord hath set a king over you. [1 Sam 12:13]
also
And afterward they desired a king; and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. [Acts 13:21]
The Book of Mormon gives some of the reasons that having a king is a very bad idea:
Now I say unto you, that because all men are not just, it is not expedient that ye should have a king or kings to rule over you. For behold, how much iniquity doth one wicked king cause to be committed! yea, and what great destruction! Yea, remember King Noah, his wickedness and his abominations; and also the wickedness and abominations of his people. Behold what great destruction did come upon them; and also because of their iniquities, they were brought into bondage. [Mosiah 13:21-24]
After reminding them of the potential evil of a king, King Mosiah proposed that the people should be governed by a series of judges to be elected by the people where each would be responsible for their own sins and judged according to the laws of the people.
Therefore choose you by the voice of this people, judges, that ye may be judged according to the laws which have been given you by our fathers, which are correct, and which were given them by the hand of the Lord. Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; Therefore this shall ye observe, and make it your law to do your business by the voice of the people. And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you; [Mosiah 13:35-37]
By doing this the people advanced in a more righteous direction. They would be judged under laws given by the hand of the Lord and in the implementation would set up a system of checks and balances as listed below:
And now if ye have judges, and they do not judge you according to the law which has been given, ye can cause that they may be judged of a higher judge; If your higher judges do not judge righteous judgments, ye shall cause that a small number of your lower judges should be gathered together, and they shall judge your higher judges, according to the voice of the people. [Mosiah 13:39-40]
But is this the ultimate vision of God for his people. Is this the complete yardstick when using our spiritual discernment? Is it not God's ideal for us to have one leader, one head, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords – Jesus Christ?
This leads to a further thought: “Who are his people, and who or what is His Church who is to use this discernment?” In the Book of Mormon we can discern some answers with the following:
And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. [3 Ne 5:34]
Also from the Book of Mormon you have:
And it came to pass that the disciples whom Jesus had chosen, began from that time forth to baptize and to teach as many as did come unto them: and as many as were baptized in the name of Jesus were filled with the Holy Ghost. And many of them saw and heard unspeakable things, which are not lawful to be written: and they taught, and did minister one to another; and they had all things common among them, every man dealing justly, one with another. And it came to pass that they did do all things, even as Jesus had commanded them. And they who were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ. [3 Ne 12:10-13]
From these and other scriptures we can see from our yardstick that the Church is a people (not a thing) with their hearts set upon Jesus Christ.
With all of this information let's give a more complete definition of discernment.
Discernment – distinguishing spiritual truth from falsehood. This is accomplished by knowing the will of Jesus Christ which comes by feasting upon the words of Christ in the Bible and the Book of Mormon and using that knowledge as your spiritual yardstick.
How does the Restoration fit into this issue of spiritual discernment?
We have been given much greater light and truth – the fullness of the gospel. This means we have a bigger more accurate yardstick to use in discernment. This also means that we have a greater accountability because we have been given this greater light and truth.
How did the Restoration church started in 1830 fare in terms of using this spiritual yardstick? In 1832, two years after the organization, the church is placed under condemnation, which was never removed.
And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received, which vanity and unbelief hath brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all; and they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written, that they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father's kingdom, otherwise there remaineth a scourge and a judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion; for, shall the children of the kingdom pollute my holy land? Verily, I say unto you, Nay. [Section 83:8a-8c]
Latter in 1834 the following conditional revelation was given:
But verily I say unto you, that I have decreed a decree which my people shall realize, inasmuch as they hearken from this very hour, unto the counsel which I, the Lord, their God, shall give unto them. Behold, they shall, for I have decreed it, begin to prevail against mine enemies from this very hour, and by hearkening to observe all the words which I, the Lord their God, shall speak unto them, they shall never cease to prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued under my feet; and the earth is given unto the saints, to possess it for ever and ever. But inasmuch as they keep not my commandments, and hearken not to observe all my words, the kingdoms of the world shall prevail against them, for they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men; and inasmuch as they are not the saviors of men, they are as salt that has lost its savor, and is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. [Section 100:2a-2d]
We have seen that the church of that time did not keep the commandments and so from that very hour the kingdoms of the world began to prevail against the church and continue to do so up to today.
Does this mean that God has abandoned his church? No it does not, if you understand that God's Church is those who love and obey Jesus Christ. Inasmuch as men and women of the Restoration do or do not follow Christ qualifies or dis-qualifies them as members of Christ's Church.
Membership in Christ's Church is
to be measured by a spiritual yardstick,
and is based on the condition of your heart to Jesus Christ.