What Are the ‘Best Books’?

This piece may be viewed as somewhat nitpicky, but then, maybe they all are. To be sure, I’m not in any way smarter than Eric Skousen. I am certainly far less formally educated than he is. And I in no way can beat his enthusiasm for the subject. But I am opinionated and many of my opinions differ from his. So, that said, here we go.

On page xv of the Author’s Preface of “Earth: In the Beginning,” Skousen makes the following statement :

“God has also commanded us to seek “out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study, and also by faith”(Doctrine and Covenants 88:118).

This is true enough, as far as it goes. However, what constitutes the “best books” is pretty well left up to the reader, at least from this bit of LDS scripture.

For instance, what one reader may think of as the “best books” may be to another reader pure bunk. One may think the best books consist entirely of the 66 books of the Bible. To another, they may be sexy Harlequin romance novels. There are certainly precedents for both.

Nevertheless, the above citation does provide us with at least one important guideline: wisdom. As these words are attributed to God in the LDS faith, we might want to look further into the matter and find out what their view of God regards as wisdom. Is it the dictionary definition, such as:

1. The quality of being wise; good judgment, based on knowledge, etc; sagacity
2. Learning; knowledge; erudition
3. Wise teaching
4. A wise plan or course of action.(Webster’s NewWorld Dictionary, Second Concise Edition, 1982).

Or is it something else?

By the way, sagacious is further defined as “keenly perceptive or discerning, farsighted, etc.” (ibid.), while erudition is defined as “learning acquired by reading and study; scholarship” (ibid).

So, wisdom, at least by dictionary definition, covers a wide variety of meanings—from simple learning stuff by reading to more ethereal qualities such as discernment and keen perception.

I tend toward the ethereal qualities of wisdom rather than the mere learning of stuff by reading, scholarship, etc. After all, one can be learned (i.e., know stuff) without being wise.

To me, wisdom is the judicious use of knowledge in a way that will be the most beneficial to the most people, even if “most people,” on occasion, consists entirely of one.

Here is what Paul said about wisdom:

““. . . the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25).

I think it’s safe to say that, as Christians, we know that God is not foolish, nor is he weak. On the other hand, it is man’s wisdom that is foolish and it is man’s strength that is weak—at least compared to God.

Continuing with Paul:

““Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20).

Accordingly, we might say the wisdom we are looking for is not contained in the wisdom of the world, or in other words, the wisdom of man. And, according to Paul, God considers the scholarship of man as foolish.

Obviously, the academic and scientific community, the more or less home of man’s cumulative wisdom and scholarship, would not agree with Paul’s assessment. But there it is. I happen to agree with Paul.

Given that, where does one find “true” wisdom?

““For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:8).

Using this as a guideline, we might say that wisdom from the best books probably ought to come from God. So also does true knowledge—even knowledge of the creation of our earth and its heavens. After all, it is God who created these things and it is through him we ought to obtain these things—if we can. He would certainly know.

However, therein lies the rub. If we don’t have direct knowledge from God of the creation of the earth and its heaven, we are left to grovel around among the rocks, rock layers and fossils.

However, will studying rocks and rock formations bring us great wisdom and knowledge? They might give us a few clues and hints, but that is all, in my opinion.

Rocks and rock formations cannot speak to us but only in terms of what might have caused their creation, not the moving force behind what created them, or the moving force behind the moving force that created them.

Will studying fossils bring us great wisdom and knowledge? Only to the degree we don’t get hung up on our own interpretations of their presence. All they actually tell us is what was present at a particular point in time.

However, what fossil can tell us, at least in rock layers, is that entire species were totally obliterated, one layer atop another layer, time after time, presumedly by great cataclysms. However, we don’t learn what caused those cataclysms. This, only God knows for sure. We can only speculate.

For instance, scientists say all the dinosaurs disappeared from the earth all at the same time, millions of years before the advent of mankind. They say this was caused by a comet smashing into the earth, causing a sort of nuclear winter. (They have a name for this.)

Of course, they have no proof that their disappearance happened in this matter, even though they now have a supposed location for this great catastrophe. Yet, their ideas are treated as fact, fairly typical of science.

What they can’t explain is the evidence that man and the dinosaur existed at the same time. This is shown by the fossil record where footprints of both are found next to each other embedded in stone, I believe, in a cave somewhere in Kentucky, as well as in other places.

Therefore, what they can’t explain by their long-established theories, they ignore. Also, fairly typically of science. Is it any wonder God considers man’s wisdom utter foolishness?

So, it would appear from all this that both true wisdom and true knowledge, as distinguished from man’s supposed wisdom and theoretical knowledge, come from God. Also, it appears, from the initial quote, that learning not only comes through study from the best books but also by faith.

In regards to faith, we must first of all remember that faith is an action verb, not merely belief. Anyone can believe a thing, whether that thing is true or not. Belief is static. Faith, on the other hand, requires action in relation to that belief to take it to the next level.

But faith can also be exercised in principles that are not true as well as in principles that are true. So, how do we know what is true and what is not true?

Well, I guess that also has to come from God, the source of all true knowledge and wisdom. And here, according to LDS scripture, is how we are able to obtain true wisdom and knowledge:

““For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken [i.e., hear/read, followed by do/obey] unto my precepts, and lend an ear [i.e., listen, with obey being implied’] unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have” (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 28:30).

So, it would appear that studying and learning out of the best books would seem most likely to be those books which contain the word of God.

Only the word of God? Well, as “. . . the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men,” we certainly might want to at least start there. Wouldn’t you think?

In my opinion, man’s wisdom is only beneficial if it is in accord with that of God. His knowledge also.

So, let’s keep in mind these things as we see where Skousen takes us.