According to Richard Ingebretsen, there is a difference between what is "correct" and what is "true." What may be correct at one moment may actually never be true. This issue becomes somewhat problematic in college. We ask our students to spend hours upon hours studying subjects which may prove to be incorrect in coming years. The process by which mankind seeks knowledge often brings us to a correct answer but not necessarily to the true answer. Still, it would be wrong to ask people to quit learning because of the fear that what they are studying may not be true. The very process by which mankind seeks scientific knowledge demands that hypotheses be developed and then discarded if proven false (or accepted if proven true). Until this delineation occurs, it is impossible to know what is truth or error in the secular world.
However, Joseph Smith restored the principle that truth comes from God through revelation. Thus, the standard works of the church and modern day revelation are a font of absolute truth. Still, with this knowledge, we spend little time studying these Divine sources. John A. Widtsoe said,
It is a paradox that men will gladly devote time every day for many years to learn a science or art; yet will expect to win a knowledge of the Gospel which comprehends all sciences and arts, through perfunctory glances at books or occasional listening to sermons. (Evidences and Reconciliations, 1951)
The point is well taken. As we study the gospel we come to a pure knowledge of truth. This does not mean we should abandon biology, mathematics and the arts, for the Gospel envelopes all truth. James E. Talmage, the great educator, scientist, and apostle wrote for his epitaph:
"Within the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is room and place for every truth thus far learned by man, or yet to be made known."
Anything which brings us closer to truth in any discipline brings us closer to God. When science finds a fact that is truth, then it is part of the Gospel. Religion and science have sometimes appeared to have been in conflict. But this conflict is only apparent, for science seeks after truth, and true religion is truth. Science, after all, is man's discerning of a few things that God already knows and controls in the order of the universe.
In John 8:22, the Savior stated, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set your free." As we discover the truth we are set free from the shackles of ignorance and come closer to God. We must always search for truth--first by studying the scriptures and the divine word of God, and then by finding the truths within other disciplines. [Richard Ingebretsen, Joseph Smith and Modern Astronomy, pp. 51-52] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 3:7; 1 Nephi 5:2; 1 Nephi 5:4; 1 Nephi 5:8; 3 Nephi 14:23]