Truman G. Madsen, BYU Professor of Philosophy

BYU Devotional, September 1994

“Many students have said to me over the years, ‘I’m afraid to pray because I’m afraid I won’t get an answer. I’m not sure I could handle that.’ I have sometimes said, a little cruelly, ‘The problem may be exactly the reverse. You’re afraid to pray because you are afraid you will have an answer, and you already have a shrewd guess as to what it will be.’ So if we know what’s bad for us, we will neither listen to nor bear testimony. But if we know what’s good for us, we will. And our spirits know.”