(1) Neither knowledge nor science is the truth; they are tools that Satan and demons employ to corrupt man. The path of pursuing knowledge and science leads to destruction;

(2) Neither knowledge nor science can save mankind. They can only corrupt him, causing him to shun God and deny the truth, and they visit calamity on him;

(3) The more knowledge one has, the more arrogant and conceited they are, and the stronger their resistance against God. The more knowledge one has, the more fallacious and absurd their thoughts and views. Knowledge makes one hate the truth;

(4) Neither knowledge nor science can resolve the issue of man’s corruption; they can only expedite his destruction. Only with the truth can mankind be saved.

Relevant Words of God:

Since mankind’s contrivance of the social sciences, the mind of man has become occupied by science and knowledge. Science and knowledge then have become tools for the ruling of mankind, and there is no longer sufficient room for man to worship God, and no more favorable conditions for the worship of God. The position of God has sunk ever lower in the heart of man. Without God in his heart, man’s inner world is dark, hopeless and empty. Subsequently many social scientists, historians, and politicians have come to the fore to express theories of social science, the theory of human evolution, and other theories that contradict the truth that God created man, to fill the hearts and minds of mankind. And in this way, those who believe that God created everything have become ever fewer, and those who believe in the theory of evolution have become ever greater in number. More and more people treat the records of the work of God and His words during the age of the Old Testament as myths and legends. In their hearts, people become indifferent to the dignity and greatness of God, to the tenet that God exists and holds dominion over all things. The survival of mankind and the fate of countries and nations are no longer important to them, and man lives in a hollow world concerned only with eating, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure. … Few people take it upon themselves to seek out where God does His work today, or to look for how He presides over and arranges the destination of man. And in this way, unbeknownst to man, human civilization becomes less and less able to hew to man’s wishes, and there are even many people who feel that, living in such a world, they are less happy than those who have already passed away. Even people of countries that used to be highly civilized air such grievances. For without the guidance of God, no matter how much rulers and sociologists wrack their brains to preserve human civilization, it is to no avail. No one can fill the emptiness in man’s heart, for no one can be the life of man, and no social theory can free man from the emptiness with which he is afflicted. Science, knowledge, freedom, democracy, leisure, comfort: these bring man only a temporary consolation. Even with these things, man still inevitably sins and bemoans the injustices of society. These things cannot restrain man’s craving and desire to explore. This is because man was made by God and the senseless sacrifices and explorations of man can only lead to more distress and can only cause man to exist in a constant state of fear, not knowing how to face the future of mankind or how to face the path that lies ahead. Man even comes to fear science and knowledge, and fear even more the feeling of emptiness. In this world, regardless of whether you live in a free country or one without human rights, you are utterly incapable of escaping the fate of mankind. Whether you are the ruler or the ruled, you are utterly incapable of escaping the desire to explore the fate, mysteries, and destination of mankind, much less are you capable of escaping the bewildering sense of emptiness. Such phenomena, which are common to all of mankind, are called social phenomena by sociologists, yet no great man can come forth to solve such problems. Man, after all, is man, and the position and life of God cannot be replaced by any man. Mankind does not just require a fair society in which everyone is well-fed and is equal and free; what mankind needs is the salvation of God and His provision of life to them. Only when man receives God’s provision of life and His salvation can the needs, the yearning to explore, and the spiritual emptiness of man be resolved. If the people of a country or a nation are unable to receive the salvation and care of God, then such a country or nation will tread the road of decline, toward darkness, and shall be annihilated by God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind

Is knowledge something that everyone considers to be a positive thing? At the very least, people think that the connotation of the word “knowledge” is positive rather than negative. So why are we mentioning here that Satan uses knowledge to corrupt man? Is the theory of evolution not an aspect of knowledge? Are Newton’s scientific laws not a part of knowledge? The gravitational pull of the earth is also a part of knowledge, is it not? (Yes.) So why is knowledge listed among the things that Satan uses to corrupt mankind? What is your view on this? Does knowledge have even a shred of truth in it? (No.) Then what is the essence of knowledge? On what basis is all the knowledge that man acquires learned? Is it based on the theory of evolution? Is not the knowledge that man has gained through exploration and summation based on atheism? Does any of this knowledge have a connection to God? Is it connected with worshiping God? Is it connected to truth? (No.) So how does Satan use knowledge to corrupt man? I just said that none of this knowledge is connected with worshiping God or with truth. Some people think about it like this: “Knowledge might not have anything to do with truth, but still, it doesn’t corrupt people.” What is your view on this? Were you taught by knowledge that a person’s happiness must be created with their own two hands? Did knowledge teach you that man’s fate was in his own hands? (Yes.) What kind of talk is this? (It is devilish talk.) Absolutely right! It is devilish talk! Knowledge is a complicated subject to discuss. You may state simply that a field of knowledge is nothing more than knowledge. That is a field of knowledge that is learned on the basis of not worshiping God and on not understanding that God created all things. When people study this type of knowledge, they do not see God having sovereignty over all things; they do not see God being in charge of or managing all things. Instead, all they do is endlessly research and explore that area of knowledge, and seek out answers based on knowledge. However, is it not true that if people do not believe in God and instead only pursue research, they will never find the true answers? All that knowledge can give you is a livelihood, a job, income so that you do not go hungry; but it will never make you worship God, and it will never keep you far from evil. The more you study knowledge, the more you will desire to rebel against God, to subject God to your studies, to tempt God, and to resist God. So, what do we now see that knowledge is teaching people? It is all the philosophy of Satan. Do the philosophies and rules of survival spread by Satan among corrupt men have any relation to truth? They have nothing to do with truth and, in fact, are the opposite of the truth. People often say, “Life is motion” and “Man is iron, rice is steel, man feels famished if he skips a meal”; what are these sayings? They are fallacies, and hearing them causes a feeling of disgust. In man’s so-called knowledge, Satan has imbued quite a bit of its philosophy for living and its thinking. And as Satan does this, it allows man to adopt its thinking, philosophy, and points of view so that man may deny the existence of God, deny God’s dominion over all things and over man’s fate. So as man’s studies progress and he gains more knowledge, he feels the existence of God become vague, and might even no longer feel that God exists. As Satan has added viewpoints, notions, and thoughts into the mind of man, is not man corrupted during this process? (Yes.) What does man now base his life upon? Is he really living on the basis of this knowledge? No; man is basing his life on the thoughts, views and philosophies of Satan that are hidden within this knowledge. This is where the essential part of Satan’s corruption of man occurs; this is both Satan’s goal and its method for corrupting man.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique V

During the process of man’s learning of knowledge, Satan employs all manner of methods, whether it be telling stories, simply giving them some individual piece of knowledge, or allowing them to satisfy their desires or ambitions. What road does Satan want to lead you down? People think there is nothing wrong with learning knowledge, that it is entirely natural. To put it in a way that sounds appealing, to foster lofty ideals or to have ambitions is to have drive, and this should be the right path in life. Is it not a more glorious way for people to live if they can realize their own ideals, or successfully establish a career? By doing these things, one can not only honor one’s ancestors but also has the chance to leave one’s mark on history—is this not a good thing? This is a good thing in the eyes of worldly people, and to them it should be proper and positive. Does Satan, however, with its sinister motives, take people on to this kind of road and that’s all there is to it? Of course not. In fact, no matter how lofty man’s ideals are, no matter how realistic man’s desires are or how proper they may be, all that man wants to achieve, all that man seeks for, is inextricably linked to two words. These two words are vitally important to the life of every person, and they are things Satan intends to instill in man. What are these two words? They are “fame” and “gain.” Satan uses a very subtle kind of method, a method very much in concert with people’s notions, which is not at all radical, through which it causes people to unknowingly accept its way of living, its rules to live by, and to establish life goals and their direction in life, and in doing so they also unknowingly come to have ambitions in life. No matter how grand these life ambitions may seem, they are inextricably linked to “fame” and “gain.” Everything that any great or famous person—all people, in fact—follow in life relates only to these two words: “fame” and “gain.” People think that once they have fame and gain, they can then capitalize on those things to enjoy high status and great wealth, and to enjoy life. They think fame and gain are a kind of capital that they can use to obtain a life of pleasure-seeking and wanton enjoyment of the flesh. For the sake of this fame and gain which mankind so covets, people willingly, albeit unknowingly, hand over their bodies, minds, all that they have, their futures and their destinies, to Satan. They do so without even a moment’s hesitation, ever ignorant of the need to recover all that they have handed over. Can people retain any control over themselves once they have taken refuge in Satan in this way and become loyal to it? Certainly not. They are completely and utterly controlled by Satan. They have completely and utterly sunk into a quagmire, and are unable to free themselves. Once someone is mired in fame and gain, they no longer seek that which is bright, that which is righteous, or those things that are beautiful and good. This is because the seductive power that fame and gain have over people is too great; they become things for people to pursue throughout their lives and even for all eternity without end. Is this not true? Some people will say that learning knowledge is nothing more than reading books or learning a few things that they do not already know so as not to lag behind the times or be left behind by the world. Knowledge is only learned so they can put food on the table, for their own future, or to provide the basic necessities. Is there any person who would endure a decade of hard study just for the basic necessities, just to resolve the issue of food? No, there are none like this. So why does a person suffer these hardships for all these years? It is for fame and gain. Fame and gain are waiting for them in the distance, beckoning them, and they believe that only through their own diligence, hardships and struggles can they follow the road that will lead them to attain fame and gain. Such a person must suffer these hardships for their own future path, for their future enjoyment and to gain a better life. What on earth is this knowledge—can you tell Me? Is it not rules of living instilled in people, rules that Satan teaches them in the course of their learning of knowledge? Is it not life’s “lofty ideals” instilled into man by Satan? Take, for example, the ideas of great people, the integrity of the famous or the brave spirit of heroic figures, or take the chivalry and kindness of the protagonists and swordsmen in martial arts novels—are these not all ways in which Satan instills these ideals? (Yes, they are.) These ideas influence one generation after another, and the people of each generation are brought to accept these ideas, to live for these ideas and to pursue them endlessly. This is the way, the channel, through which Satan uses knowledge to corrupt man.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique VI

What does human knowledge bring with it? When people know more, do they become more pious and fearful of God, or do they become more insolent? (They become more insolent.) Having learned much, people become complex, dogmatic, insolent—but there is something else they might not have realized: When they have acquired much knowledge, people become chaotic inside, and they come to have no principles, and the more knowledge they acquire, the more chaotic they become. In knowledge, can answers be found to the questions of why people live and the value and meaning of human life? Can conclusions be found as to where people come from and where they go? Can knowledge tell you that you come from God and were created by God? (No.) So, what is it, exactly, that one researches or has instilled in them when they acquire knowledge? Material things, atheistic things, things that people can see and recognize, many of which arise from people’s imaginations and are simply not real. Knowledge also instills in people philosophies, ideologies, theories, natural laws, and so on, yet there are many things it cannot explain. How lightning is formed, for example, or why the seasons change. Can knowledge give you those answers? Why is the climate currently changing and becoming abnormal? Can knowledge sort this out? Can it resolve this problem? (No.) It cannot tell you of issues relating to the source of all things, so it cannot solve those problems. There are also those who ask, “How could someone live again after dying?” Has knowledge given you the answer to this? (No.) What is it, then, that knowledge tells people? It tells people of many customs and rules. Filial piety, for instance, is also a kind of knowledge. Where did this knowledge come from? It is taught by traditional culture. What, then, does all this knowledge bring with it? What is the essence of knowledge? In this world, there are many people who have read the literary canon, attained a high level of education, and are knowledgeable, or who have mastered knowledge in a specialized field. So, on the path of life, do such people have the right direction and purpose? Do they have a baseline and principles for their conduct? To build on that, do they know to worship God? And again to build on that, do they understand any truth? (They do not.) So, what is knowledge? What does knowledge give people? In this world, are relationships between people simpler before or after they have attained knowledge? (Before.) What does this show? Knowledge makes people more complicated, and exacerbates their lack of normal humanity. That is what it does to them. And what is the consequence of this? The more people learn, the more they stray from God and deny the truth, and the more bigoted and absurd they become.

—“Exactly What People Have Been Relying on to Live” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

Do you know how God regards knowledge? Some say that God wishes for man to become scientifically advanced and understand more. It is true that God wishes the best for man. God does not wish for man to understand nothing, to be ignorant of everything, but God uses these things in service of Him, and He does not approve of them. He does not use them in place of the truth, nor does He use them to make up for what is lacking in people’s humanity or in order to change their dispositions. God’s words occasionally talk of views toward and ways of looking at knowledge. They speak a little of typical examples such as Confucianism or social sciences, and from God’s words it should be evident that God despises human knowledge. Human knowledge does not just contain simple sentences and theories. There are certain ideologies and views contained within knowledge, as well as people’s absurdity and prejudices and the poisons of Satan. Some knowledge can even deceive and corrupt people, and this kind of knowledge is the poison and the cancerous tumor of Satan. When people accept it, it enters into their minds and they are corrupted and held captive by this knowledge. So, the more knowledge people gain and the more they grasp, the more difficult it is for them to believe in the existence of God. Instead, they deny and resist God, for knowledge is visual and materialistic, and it teaches you to study and grasp the things that can be seen and touched in the world. Knowledge cannot enable you to grasp the root of any problem or sense how it relates to the spiritual world. The knowledge people grasp is in opposition to the words of God and it utterly flies in the face of God’s word the truth. Say you read history books, the works of famous authors, biographies of great figures, or you study a certain aspect of science. What do you gain? People who study physics, for example, grasp certain physical principles—Newton’s theory, or some other theory—and once you have studied these things, they control your mind, they direct your thoughts, and then, when you read the words of God, you will say to yourself, “How come the words of God say nothing about gravity? Or space? Does the moon have an atmosphere? How much oxygen is there on earth? How come God says nothing of this? God should reveal such things. These are the things that need to be revealed, this is what God should tell mankind.” Do you not form such an opinion? You put the truth, the words of God, in a secondary position, and when you approach God’s words, you put the knowledge and theory you have studied in first place. No matter what, these kinds of knowledge can give people incorrect feelings and make them distance themselves from God. Whether you believe it or not, whether you can accept it today or not, one day you will acknowledge this fact. Knowledge can bring people to their ruin and it can lead them down to hell. Are you able to understand this thoroughly? Some people might not be willing to accept these words, for there are those among you who are possessed of much knowledge, who think themselves highly educated. I am not satirizing or making fun of you; this is fact. And I am not asking that you accept this immediately. I am merely asking that you gradually come to recognize these things. Knowledge can become a wall that blocks you from knowing God and experiencing God’s work. It can make it difficult for you to draw close to God, it can keep you apart from God, and it can cause you to approach everything God does and analyze it using your mind and your knowledge. So what should you do if you have knowledge now? You should try to recognize and dissect the things that are categorized as knowledge, and understand how they hinder and disrupt your normal relationship with God, and disrupt your normal entry in your faith in God. This is how you should understand knowledge. You should have the correct understanding of this topic.

—“What Changes in Disposition Are, and the Path to Changes in Disposition” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

What is science? To speak plainly, science is the thoughts and theories of things that man is curious about, things that are unknown, and not told to them by God; science is the thoughts and theories about the mysteries that man wants to explore. What is the scope of science? You could say that it is rather broad; man researches and studies everything in which he is interested. Science involves researching the details and the laws of these things and then putting forth plausible theories which cause everyone to think: “These scientists are really terrific! They know so much, enough to understand these things!” They have so much admiration for scientists, do they not? People that research science, what sort of views do they hold? Do they not want to research the universe, to research the mysterious things in their area of interest? What is the final outcome of this? In some of the sciences, people draw their conclusions by conjecture, and in others they rely on human experience to draw conclusions. In yet other fields of science, people come to their conclusions based on historical and background observations. Is this not so? So what does science do for people? What science does is merely to allow people to see the objects in the physical world, and to satisfy man’s curiosity, but it cannot enable man to see the laws by which God has dominion over all things. Man seems to find answers in science, but those answers are puzzling and bring only temporary satisfaction, a satisfaction that only serves to confine the heart of man to the material world. Man feels that they have received answers from science, so whatever issue arises, they use their scientific views as a basis to prove and accept that issue. Man’s heart becomes possessed by science and seduced by it to the point that man no longer has the mind to know God, worship God and believe that all things come from God and that man should look to Him for answers. Is this not so? The more a person believes in science, the more absurd they become, believing that everything has a scientific solution, that research can solve anything. They do not seek God and they do not believe He exists; even some people who have followed God for many years will go and research bacteria on a whim or look up some information for the answer to an issue. Such people do not look at the issues from the perspective of truth and in most cases they want to rely on scientific views or knowledge or scientific solutions to solve problems; they do not rely on God and they do not seek God. Do people like this have God in their hearts? (No.) There are even some people who want to research God in the same way as they study science. For example, there are many religious experts who have gone to the mountain where the ark came to rest, and thus they proved the existence of the ark. But in the appearance of the ark they do not see the existence of God. They believe only in the stories and the history; this is the result of their scientific research and study of the material world. If you research material things, whether it be microbiology, astronomy, or geography, you will never find a result that determines that God exists or that He has sovereignty over all things. So what does science do for man? Does it not distance man from God? Does it not cause people to subject God to studies? Does it not make people more doubtful about God’s existence? (Yes.) So how does Satan want to use science to corrupt man? Does Satan not want to use scientific conclusions to deceive people and make them numb, and use ambiguous answers to hold on to people’s hearts so that they will not seek out or believe in God’s existence? (Yes.) So this is why I say that science is one of the ways in which Satan corrupts people.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique V

Satan uses the name of science to satisfy man’s curiosity, man’s desire to explore science and probe mysteries. In the name of science, Satan satisfies man’s material needs and man’s demand to continually improve their quality of life. Thus, it is with this pretext that Satan uses science to corrupt man. Is it only man’s thinking or man’s mind that Satan corrupts using science in this way? Of the people, events, and things in our surroundings that we can see and that we come into contact with, what else of these does Satan corrupt with science? (The natural environment.) Correct. It seems you have been deeply harmed by this, and deeply affected. Besides using all the various findings and conclusions of science to deceive man, Satan also uses science as a means to carry out wanton destruction and exploitation of the living environment that was given to man by God. It does this under the pretext that if man carries out scientific research, then man’s living environment and quality of life will continually improve, and furthermore that the purpose of scientific development is to cater to people’s daily increasing material needs and their need to continually improve their quality of life. This is the theoretical basis of Satan’s development of science. However, what has science brought to mankind? What does the environment which we are connected to consist of? Has not the air mankind breathes become polluted? Is the water we drink still truly pure? (No.) Is the food we consume natural? The majority of it is grown using chemical fertilizer and cultivated using genetic modification, and there are also mutations caused by using various scientific methods. Even the vegetables and fruit we eat are no longer natural. Even natural eggs are no longer easy to find, and eggs no longer taste the way they used to, having already been processed by Satan’s so-called science. Looking at the big picture, the entire atmosphere has been destroyed and polluted; mountains, lakes, forests, rivers, oceans, and everything above and below ground have all been ruined by so-called scientific achievements. In brief, the entire natural environment, the living environment given to mankind by God, has been destroyed and ruined by so-called science. Although there are many people who have obtained what they always hoped for in terms of the quality of life they seek, satisfying both their desires and their flesh, the environment man lives in has essentially been destroyed and ruined by the various “achievements” brought on by science. Now, we no longer have the right to breathe a single breath of clean air. Is this not mankind’s sorrow? Is there any happiness left to speak of for man, when he must live in this kind of space? This space and living environment in which man lives was, from the very beginning, created by God for man. The water people drink, the air people breathe, the food people eat, plants, trees, and the oceans—every part of this living environment was given to man by God; it is natural, operating in accordance with a natural law laid down by God. If there was no science, people would have been happy and could have enjoyed everything at its most pristine, in accordance with the way of God and according to what God bestowed on them to enjoy. Now, however, all of this has been destroyed and ruined by Satan; man’s fundamental living space is no longer pristine. But no one is able to recognize what caused this or how this came about, and many more people approach science and understand it through the ideas instilled in them by Satan. Is this not utterly detestable and pitiable? With Satan now having taken the space in which people exist, as well as their living environment, and corrupted them into this state, and with mankind continuing to develop in this way, is there any need for God to personally destroy these people? If people continue to develop in this way, what direction will they take? (They will be exterminated.) How will they be exterminated? In addition to people’s greedy search for fame and gain, they continually carry out scientific exploration and dive deep into research, and then ceaselessly act in such a way as to satisfy their own material needs and desires; what then are the consequences for man? First of all, the ecological balance is broken, and when this happens, people’s bodies, their internal organs, are tainted and damaged by this unbalanced environment, and various infectious diseases and plagues spread across the world. Is it not true that this is now a situation that man has no control over? Now that you understand this, if mankind does not follow God, but always follows Satan in this way—using knowledge to continually enrich themselves, using science to ceaselessly explore the future of human life, using this kind of method to continue living—can you recognize how this will end for mankind? (It will mean extinction.) Yes, it will end in extinction: Mankind draws ever nearer to its own extinction, one step after another! It now seems as though science is a kind of magic potion that Satan has prepared for man, so that when you try to discern things you do so in a foggy haze; no matter how hard you look, you cannot see things clearly, and no matter how hard you try, you cannot figure them out. Satan, however, uses the name of science to whet your appetite and lead you by the nose, one foot in front of the other, toward the abyss and death.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique VI

No amount of understanding of the knowledge, theories, and scholarship of the material world can replace an understanding of the truth. Only by understanding the truth, the words of God, and the fact and reality of God’s dominion over all things can one understand everything and have no regret. Even were one to die today, they would feel they have lived in the presence of the Lord of creation, and that their death is in God’s hands. One would feel they are dying under the sovereignty of God, and they will be comforted in heart, free of regret and fear; for whether they live or die is entirely in God’s hands, and there is nothing to fear and nothing to regret. Those who are familiar with much knowledge, who study science and mysteries, do not understand the truth; such people think understanding and researching those things is worthwhile, and, as a result, their thinking becomes more muddled the more they understand of those things. Those who accept God’s work of the last days are the most intelligent. After undergoing several years of judgment and chastisement, they come unconsciously to understand the purpose of God’s management of humanity, as well as the mystery of His management and salvation of humanity. They come to understand God’s will and know His sovereignty. They feel at ease in their lives, that their lives are enriched and meaningful. God allows you to live, and, if you can live for God’s sake and for the sake of performing the duty of a created being, then you are living a meaningful life. If you live the life of a walking corpse, devoid of spirit, neither accepting nor understanding the truth, living only for the flesh, then you are not living a meaningful life, for your life has no value.

—God’s Fellowship

If people have a genuine understanding of God’s disposition, and can give heartfelt praise to His holiness and righteousness, then it means they truly know Him and possess the truth; only then do they live in the light. Only once a person’s view of the world and of life changes does one undergo a fundamental transformation. When one has a life goal and comports oneself according to the truth, when one submits absolutely to God and lives by His words, when one feels peaceful and illuminated to the depths of one’s soul, when one’s heart is free of darkness, and when one can live entirely free and unrestrained in God’s presence, only then does one lead a genuine human life, and only then has one become a person who possesses the truth. In addition, all the truths in your possession have come from God’s words and from God Himself. The Ruler of the entire universe and all things—God Most High—approves of you as a real person living a true human life. What could be more meaningful than God’s approval? This is what it means to be in possession of the truth. In today’s world that is dominated by Satan, and for all the thousands of years of history, who among all of humanity has obtained life? No one. This is because humans are all people who have resisted God. Everything by which they have lived their lives and survived came from Satan and was accepted from Satan, and is in exact opposition to God’s words. Thus, humans are beings who resist God and who suffer His curses, so they have no life to speak of. Even though they want to “leave their mark,” “have their names passed down for a hundred generations,” “enjoy eternal glory,” and “have an everlasting name,” all those things are devilish words. The fact is, they were cursed by God early on, never to be reincarnated. The words of the famous, whoever these people are, fundamentally do not hold with God, and all are punished in the eighteenth level of hell after they die. Only God is the truth. God controls the heavens and earth and everything in them, and rules over all. Not to believe in God and not to submit to God is to be unable to obtain the truth. If you live in accordance with God’s words, then in the depths of your heart, you will feel brightened at ease, and you will also enjoy an incomparable sweetness. When that happens, you will have truly obtained life. No matter how great the scientific achievements of the world’s scientists, as soon as they near death, they will feel empty-handed and that they have gained nothing. Even Einstein and Newton, despite having so much knowledge, felt empty; this was because they did not have the truth. Though they believed in God, they only knew of His existence and that it was good to believe in Him—but they did not pursue the truth. They merely studied science and discovered that there really is a God, and they believed in Him to the end, ending up with a one hundred percent conviction that He exists and a one hundred percent conviction that He created the heavens and earth and all things. They only sought scientific knowledge; they did not seek to know God. They did not gain the truth, nor did they gain true life. The path you are walking today is not the path they walked. What you seek is to know God, how to submit to Him, how to worship Him, and how to live out a meaningful life; this is all completely different from what they sought. Now, the incarnate God has told you of every aspect of the truth and bestowed upon you the way of truth life; it would be foolish for you not to pursue the truth.

—“How to Know Man’s Nature” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days