Question
Hi Gramps
Had been to your questions section on the site and loved your answers very much….I have a question of my own …..sorry if I am bothering you….Does faith actually work wonders, or is it just pure destiny? On my part I have been noticing since the past six years since we had our last interaction that if I put faith in something I do indeed achieve the results. How and when I don’t have a clue, just that God opens up some gates. Sometimes its frightening I may as well have faith in something, which may be bad, but on the whole it has been that I believe in something and it does come true in a definite space of time (sorry if it seems ridiculous).
I loved a girl from my dreams(she was part of my dreams) to the extent of my breath, and fact is that she was there physically and I met her. Nobody I met believes this, but it’s a hard fact that God is witness to. However we separated owing to differences in families. I still love her to the extent of my breath, and fact is that even when I am abroad there is not a single day that her car number does not pass by me. (Seems ridiculous but true), its the same number everyday, different car for the past 5 years. I want to get in touch with her but how is something that I can’t understand.Should I keep faith? Please Gramps, I know all this sounds ridiculous but it’s true. Please help me.
Regards
Piyush
Answer
Dear Piyush,
Thanks for writing back. I am glad to hear that you have found someone who seems very dear to you, but I’m not sure about the question. You mention that you don’t know how to get in touch with her, and also that you are apart because of differences in your families. Is your difficulty in getting in touch with her a problem related to the relationship between the two families, or is it a problem of being able to make contact?
Your question about faith is also very interesting. That can also be a rather deep subject, but let’s see, based on the sketchy information available, if we would be able to contribute something of value. You ponder whether things happen because of faith or destiny. The concept of destiny presupposes a fixed or ordained future. If such a concept were a reality, it would rob man of his free agency. He would then be some sort of automaton, being moved from here to there by fate. Such a concept would leave the individual out of control-a mere pawn being moved from one place to another by some exterior force. In such a circumstance he would not be responsible for his own actions, since they would have been predetermined. There would then be no incentive for individual achievement or individual responsibility, and it would seem to me that the whole plan of our existence would be frustrated.
Faith, on the other hand, implies freedom of action, the responsibility to some superior power for the actions we take and the freedom of choice. Let’s see if we can make some operational definitions of faith that would allow us to evaluate how it might effect the outcome of a given situation. Let me suggest that faith is a principal of action. It is that inner force that motivates us to do something by giving us confidence in the anticipated outcome. Thus, if we had faith we would act as if we had knowledge, i.e., we would move ahead toward the object of our desire with full and complete confidence. In another manner of expression we could say that faith is simply sticking at it until it is accomplished. In other words, if we start out to produce a given result and quit before having achieved it, we simply didn’t have enough faith to continue, and so the result is failure. Now, in the Mormon philosophy, we understand that faith is a gift from God, given to those who qualify to receive the gift by the righteousness of their actions. In fact, in one of the Mormon scriptures, the Book of Mormon, Alma 32:21, we read the following:
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.
So we can only have faith, as a gift from God, in that which will really come to pass, if we work to bring it about. Thus, we can formulate another definition of faith:
As memory is the mental record of the past, so is faith the mental record of the future….Action in the present converts the faith in the future into the memory of the past.
Now, back to reality. If you really love this girl, and you really have determined that you are to be together, you will do whatever is necessary to bring that about. Such actions, of course, would always be above reproach in order to qualify for God’s aid in bringing it to pass. But it may be necessary in some circumstance to be bold, or to circumvent conventions or whatever. But you would never lose hope nor confidence that the desired end would be achieved, and you would always be aware that it would be your responsibility, with God’s help, to bring it about.
Let me wish you success in your quest.
Gramps
