Why do we have to learn? “The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth,” reads Doctrine and Covenants 93:36. God’s glory is his intelligence. So if we learn enough, we can have the same type of glory.
Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-19 says, “Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.” What advantages will we get? “And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full,” Alma 12:10 says. So whoever softens their heart to listen and learn will know more, and eventually everything.
In April 1939, Elder Stephen L Richards, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, said this: “What is truth? … ‛Truth,’ says Joseph Smith, ‛is the knowledge of things as they are and as they were, and as they are to come.’ How is such knowledge to be obtained? Through science and education? Yes, in part, but not wholly. And why not completely? Because most of the knowledge of things ‛as they were’ and things that ‛are to come’ are without the realm and province of science, as well as much knowledge of ‛things as they are.’ Science, then, can give us but fragments of truth, not the whole truth. And the whole truth is necessary if we are to be provided with proper criteria by which to do our choosing.
“How, then, is the whole truth to be secured? The key is to be found in another revelation, ‛the spirit of truth is of God.’ That being so, we must, of necessity have God’s aid in the acquisition of truth. His aid comes through faith and prayer. Faith contemplates the acceptance of the spiritual reality of a world outside the domain of science. It involves methods and processes different from those of scientific research. It postulates humility and dependence on divine power, the antithesis of egotism and self-sufficiency. A contrite heart is the fertile field for planting the seeds of truth. In such a field they come to fruition in a knowledge, understanding, and conviction of the great concepts of life which defy the reason and philosophy of the arrogant and self-sufficient, who will not stoop to the methods of the humble.” That matches what I said above: Truth is knowing everything; we can’t learn it all on our own, since only God knows most of it; we need God’s help; he will tell us if we ask.
We want to be like God, who knows everything, so we should know as much as possible to be like him. And then, once we learn a lot, then in Heaven we will learn the rest, as I said earlier. That is why, in Doctrine and Covenants 88:118, the Lord asks us to “seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” And I say these thing in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.