Signs are Not Enough for the Unbelieving

   Rather than dismissing the signs, I think we should study them. Rather than worrying that we will be sign-seekers, if we seek out the signs, I think we should, yes, look for them, learn of them, search among them, dismissing those that turn out to be false leads, and holding fast to those that hold water.
   Some, we should hold at half a distance, not being able to tell if they are true signs or false leads. Among these, are some of the things offered by gospel scholars. Nevertheless, the advice in Thessalonians 5:21 is good. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
   I think of the time when the followers of Christ in the Book of Mormon were waiting for the Savior to come, and they "did watch steadfastly" for the sign of a night without darkness, so that two days would be as a single day (Third Nephi 1:8). They were being persecuted, ridiculed by others for their beliefs. At this time of great trial to their faith, they searched for a sign.
   Perhaps you will say they they didn't base their belief on the sign, they didn't look for it to substantiate their belief, but they looked simply because they knew it would come, annd they awaited.
   I only know the scripture says, "The people began to be very sorrowful, lest by any means those things which had been spoken might not come to pass." And, in the next verse, it says they looked, "that they might know that their faith had not been in vain."
   I think of Samuel the Lamanite having years earlier crawled upon the walls of the city, and foretold the signs of the Savior's coming. "For this intent have I come upon the walls of this city . . . that ye might know the signs of his coming," Samuel said. And, then, he offered this pertinent thought: "to the intent that ye might believe on his name."
   I think of the story of Ahaz in Isaiah, of how he rejected the opportunity for a sign when told to ask for one. His refusal to look for a sign was not counted for righteousness, but for wickedness.
   And, I think of the story in the Gospels, the very story where we find the injunction against sign-seekers. The Savior had just fed 4,000 with seven loafs of bread and a few small fishes. And, he got on a ship, and went to Dalmanutha, and the Pharisees came forth, questioning him, and seeking a sign, and he wondered how they could read the signs in the sky, to know what the weather would be, yet could not read the signs of the times, and he sighed, and told them there would be no sign, but the sign of Jonah being in the belly of a fish for three days. Note, then, that Jesus told them there already were signs, and that he did, indeed,suggest they would have another. After all, what greater sign could there be than that he would be in the bowels of the earth for three days, and yet come forth resurrected?
   I not, that like Ahaz, the Pharisees were not of a mind to look for the sign the Lord was giving them. Even so it is with some of us. Why think we to ask of signs of our own demand, when the Lord has already laid so many great things before us.
   The story in the gospels ends with the disciples entering into their ship again and noting they had not brought enough bread for the trip. Jesus warns them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and asks, "Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not?  And, do ye not remember?"
  Me? I wonder if perhaps Jesus was referring to the same condition that existed with Ahaz and with the Pharisees, of not wanting or accepting the signs the Lord would give them. Jesus  then reminded his disciples of how five loafs had fed 5,000 and of how seven loafs had been dived among 4,000, feeding them all, and asked, "How is it that ye do not understand?"
   I, and the rest of my faith, just completed a general conference. It came not long after two well-publicized excommunications, and it came with the usual occurrence of people raising their hands in opposition to church leadership during that conference. It came with at least three talks touching on the topic of faith and apostasy. I think of Sister Rosemary M. Wixom's talk, and how she reminded us that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland had said, "Hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes."
   Even so, the Pharisees who sought out Jesus should have looked at the evidences before them, and also have waited for the additional knowledge they would receive at the resurrection. Some see no evidence of God, and some see no evidence of the truth of the Church of Jesus Christ. But, perhaps it is, that it is not that there are not signs, nor that we should not seek them, but the real problem is that we do not seek and accept them. Perhaps what is wrong, is that we seek our own signs, those of our own design, instead of the ones the Lord gives us.
   Signs are not enough for the unbelieving.