While sitting in a Church Historical Conference this week Marvin K. Jensen (the Church Historian for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), pointed out that since truth is that which has been, will be, and that which will be, we must use the past to find truth. It makes sense that the Lord intends us to use our past and the past of others to sculpt the future, but for some reason I hadn't ever thought of my own history as something truth-molding.
We know that our past acts influence our future acts. A couple weeks ago I was speeding and I was pulled over by the police...then a few days later I was required to pay a fine...and a couple weeks later I went to traffic school...my initial act of speeding influenced the consequences that followed. There are numerous scriptural references that back-up the idea that we each have the ability to chose for ourselves the path we take in life (one of my personal favorites is in the Book of Mormon, Nephi 2:26-27). It was my choice to speed - nobody made me do it, even though I was running late (which was also my poor planning/choice).
Since the past is the present left behind...and since we chose in the present to determine the future...the past, present, and future are all symbols of choice. To make the best choices for our future then it makes sense that we would want to know the best choices made in the past. To find truth we must look to those who have gone before us and apply the historical lessons of heritage to what is presently before us; by looking to the past we chose to bring truth to the future.
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