What is Pure Truth?

In the October 2021 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the President, Russell M. Nelson invited people to listen for three things during the conference. First, he invited people to listen for pure truth. Pure truth implies a slight difference from truth, so I wanted to understand pure truth.

To figure this out, I started by looking for definitions. According to Google, truth has three different definitions. They said, “the quality or state of being true,” “that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality,” and “a fact or belief that is accepted as true”. These definitions imply that truth comes from what we believe or accept as true. As everyone is different, then that must not be pure truth. For pure truth cannot be contaminated by our own beliefs.

Truth

I’ve heard the story of four blind wise men who decided to find out for themselves what was an elephant. One man touched the leg and described it as a tree. Another man touches the tusks and described the elephant as a spear. The third man touched the trunk and described it as a snake. Finally, the last wise man touched the tail and described it as a rope. While each man had touched the elephant and was not wrong in their description, since they did not know the whole picture they were wrong. Basically, they each told a truth but not the pure truth.

Pure Truth

Doctrine and Covenants 93:24 describes pure truth as “truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come”. Pure truth is unchanging. It does not go with current beliefs. Instead, it exists and cannot be altered. The truth will stay the truth whether we know it or not. For example, if a tree falls and no one witnesses it does that change the truth. No, a tree fell whether we see it or not. Truth does not change to fit a belief.

Often we are like the blind wise men. We see glimpses of truth, but not the full, pure truth. Sadly, we then take what we see and insist others agree with it. Instead, we should do as counseled and search for pure truth, the unchanging knowledge. As we do this we will discover many wonderful truths.