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closeOn faith: GH youth rise up early to demonstrate their faith
Alfred Gunn
guest columnist
I’ve heard it said that faith is as simple as to know that the sun will come up in the morning. I never did care for that definition of faith.
Everybody knows that the sun will come up. That’s no big deal. You can lie in bed and do nothing and know that the sun is up there, even when there are clouds.
No, I believe that faith in Jesus Christ, the first principle of the Lord’s gospel, is much more than that.
It’s hard to see a principle, but it’s easy to see a principle in action in the life of a person, as the Apostle Paul taught in the 11th chapter of Hebrews.
One example of faith in action today in Gig Harbor is shown by the 70 or so high-school-age teens who rise at 5 a.m. to attend religious studies at the church at 6 every school day morning except Wednesdays, even in the dark of winter. Most are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it’s marvelous to see these faithful young people gathered to study the scriptures and discuss how scriptural principles can be applied in their daily lives.
To them and their early-morning Seminary teachers here and throughout the world, President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the church’s First Presidency, shared this insight: “Remember, you are interested in education, not just for mortal life but for eternal life. When you see that reality clearly with spiritual sight, you will put spiritual learning first and yet not slight the secular learning. In fact, you will work harder at your secular learning than you would without that spiritual vision.”
This love of learning showed up in a 2008 report by The National Study of Youth and Religion, which described Latter-day Saint youth as excelling in religious knowledge and devotion in a time when church attendance and religious study are at an all-time low.
In a study conducted at the University of North Carolina and published by Oxford University Press (“Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers”), researchers interviewed more than 3,000 13-to 18-year-olds across the United States and discovered that a high percentage of Latter-day Saint youth have no or few doubts about their religious beliefs, and they feel they understand those beliefs. It also found that Latter-day Saint youth are less likely than other teens to use drugs and alcohol, and they’re more likely to abstain from premarital sexual relationships.
One researcher said Latter-day Saint teens are more knowledgeable about and more committed to their faith and have more positive social outcomes associated with their faith, as compared with their counterparts across the country.
What is it about Latter-day Saint culture and doctrine that helps parents shape dependable, educated and well-adjusted young people? Early-morning Seminary helps, providing more than 1,000 hours of religious education during their high school years.
And I like to think that here in Gig Harbor, after attending Seminary class, on the way to high school, these students look out and see that the sun is just coming up.
Now that is faith in action and a principle with a promise: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,” Paul wrote, “the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (I Cor. 2:9).
I love these young people for the example they set, showing their faith by the way they live, trusting that the Lord will bless them for their efforts to learn of Him and serve Him.
Teachers, educators and parents of Gig Harbor, if you would like to see the 6 a.m. miracle for yourself, I can provide a quiet tour of Seminary at our Gig Harbor meetinghouse at Rosedale and Dorotich streets any morning.
E-mail me to schedule a tour.