Oftentimes, one will hear opponents of LDS theology (usually when discussing the concept of the "Mormon Testimony") that the “heart” is always used negatively in the Bible based on texts such as
Jer 17:9:
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked: who can know it?
The Hebrew word for “heart” is לֵבָב. The Greek term is καρδια. As any good Greek
and/or Hebrew Lexicon will show, the term often denotes, not the organ, but the
entirety of the person, and if often used positively in the biblical
texts. Note, for example, these verses:
And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise
hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even every one whose heart
stirred him up to come unto the word to do it . . . And every wise hearted man
among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle . . . (Exo 36:2, 8)
New Testament examples would include:
And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn
within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the
scriptures? (Luke 24:32)
Now when they heared this, they were pricked in their
heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren,
what shall we do? (Acts 2:37)
For a good LDS discussion of this, see Jeff Lindsay’s page on the LDS “testimony.”
The following definition of לֵבָב comes from Holladay's Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old
Testament:
לֵבָב
לֵבָב: « לֵב: cs. לְבַב, sf. לְבָֽבְךָ, לְבָבֶֽךָ, לְבַבְכֶם, ) לְבָבֵנוּ4 ×(; pl. ) לִבְבֵהֶןsf.( & לְבָבוֹת: heart;
semantically like « l¢b; sg. also use for many Ex 145; spec.: chest
Ne 28; h¹yâ ±im l®b¹bî am quite determined 1C 227; yihyeh-llî ±lêkem l¢b l®yaµad am ready for an alliance with you 1C 1218;
in genl. the idioms follow l¢b.
