Elder Oaks and Science, Revelation

Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke recently at Harvard about the basic principles of the LDS faith, in a way that I found very interesting.


Here are some excerpts, first about Jesus Christ and His role in both resurrection and eternal life:

Because of His resurrection all who have ever lived will be raised from the dead.  He is the Savior whose atoning sacrifice opens the door for us to be forgiven of our personal sins so that we can be cleansed to return to the presence of God our Eternal Father. 

And about the process of finding truth:

We seek after knowledge, but we do so in a special way because we believe there are two dimensions of knowledge, material and spiritual.  We seek knowledge in the material dimension by scientific inquiry and in the spiritual dimension by revelation.

Here's his quite interesting description of revelation, one of the "distinctive elements of our faith"

Personal revelation—sometimes called “inspiration”—comes in many forms.  Most often it is by words or thoughts communicated to the mind, by sudden enlightenment, or by positive or negative feelings about proposed courses of action.  Usually it comes in response to earnest and prayerful seeking.  “Ask, and it shall be given you;” Jesus taught, “seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matt. 7:7).  It comes when we keep the commandments of God and thus qualify for the companionship and communication of the Holy Spirit. 

I found it interesting to note this clear description of revelation as providing feelings or inspirations, quite different from the process of obtaining truth through scientific inquiry.