I was on Reddit where I like to leave a link for each of my posts. While on there, I saw a post by a missionary currently serving who was questioning his faith and the church. It was sad. You could sense the doubt and subsequent turmoil he was experiencing seeking answers to his faith.
I would like to comment on this, not just for him but for all who question their faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Before moving forward, I would like to mention a few things:
- I want you to know you are a child of God and I know God loves you. You are not a bad person for seeking answers. Even the Brethren have told us to seek answers to the questions we have. Be faithful to God and the answers will come. The closer you can draw to the Holy Ghost and learn to feel and recognize its promptings, you will be inspired on how to navigate these questions to find truth.
- Remember some questions don’t need to be answered. They are not relevant to our redemption and salvation.
- There are also some created by the adversary (Satan) intended to cause confusion and misguide you.
- In my youth, I fell away from the church because I did not have a testimony that it was true. I walked a path of darkness. I faced evil eye to eye. I learned that Satan is real. I learned what it means to truly be ignorant and blind to the truth. The day came when I learned there was a God and that he knew me. From that day I have sought to keep the Holy Ghost in my life. I know there is a God. I know we are his children. I know he loves us. I know he will speak to us. I don’t know all things. But, I know this, if you know the core doctrine is true, nothing else matters.
- God lives or he doesn’t
- Joseph Smith is a prophet or he isn’t
- The Book of Mormon is the word of God or it isn’t
- If those are all true, then the Gospel of Jesus Christ is restored on the earth and nothing else matters.
ExcitementCold1991
ANTI-MORMON LITTERATURE
First of all, I don’t believe the answers are found by reading anti-mormon literature. There are those who are out to deceive you. Don’t fall into their snare. I know people who have fallen victim to this. They have left the church over these materials.
This young missionary on Reddit had turned to the ant-Mormon community for answers. They were willing to welcome him with open arms. Everything they said seemed to validate that God does not exist and/or that the Church is not true. They seemed to likewise encourage him to leave his mission, dump the church, and seek his own truth. I was quite surprised because no one offered any other choice to him.
I am no stranger to these things. I have read and understand many of the most popular arguments against the church. My own uncle publishes anti-Mormon literature for a living and is intent on “revealing the truth” to members of the church. He was in “The God Makers” movie among other things. I remember visiting him at his office one day and he was showing me a new publication he was working on that was going to illustrate all the changes that had been made to the Book of Mormon. I could tell by the way he explained it that he was not doing so for gospel insight, but rather to sew seeds of doubt.
What is often labeled as exposing truth, isn’t always true. We should all know by now, living in a day of deepfakes that everything can be manipulated through optics, omitions, alterations, and even straight-up lies and manipulations. Anti-Mormon literature is not written to validate the truth. It is written to destroy it.
IS THE CHURCH TRUE
If Joseph Smith is a prophet and the Book of Mormon is true… it is all true. If it is true that means that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. That means priesthood keys were restored to him. That means the church was restored through him. It means the only valid baptism is in that church. It means there is no other path for salvation. The only path is through that church.
It doesn’t matter what the church taught or what an individual did. What matters is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored on earth. If it has, it is the only path to follow, there is no other path.
I can still remember the voice I heard 30 years ago as clearly as the day I heard it. But that is not the complete reason for my faith. As I turned my heart to God and I sought understanding, I felt the Holy Ghost. I remember locking myself in my room for the better part of three months as I turned my life around. I knew I had to completely abandon many things. As I sat in my room I started reading. I read the triple combination cover to cover three times (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price). As I read, I felt this power, a sensation I had never felt before. I distinctly remember asking myself why I had never felt that before in my life. Had I felt that power, which felt thick and tangible, I may have never made all the mistakes I had made in my life.
Even now as I think about feeling the Holy Ghost, the feelings are so different from any other feelings I have felt. The inspiration, the understanding, the witness. It is different than just feeling good. I can’t just make them happen. But they do happen when I commune with God or when God desires to speak to me. Did those feelings just come to me? No. They came through a sincere desire to know and understand. They came as I engaged in the gospel. And, they came when I was where I was supposed to be.
Not only a feeling. My experiences have included the deepest and most profound feelings, dreams and visions, voices, as well as thoughts and inspiration that I knew were not my own. Those who desire to dismiss these experiences as a euphoric feeling resulting from a hormone or chemical released at a feel-good moment in life are simply wrong. They are not that.
My kids were watching the movie Moana while I was writing this. There was this beautiful moment as Moana was trying to return the heart of Te Fiti to its place. She was alone, the plan looked as though it had failed, then all of a sudden she had a vision of her ancestors as she sang the theme song to the movie. She had the truth of who she was reinforced to her. The vision inspired her to dive into the ocean and retrieve the heart, do the work to repair her boat, and then attempt to battle the fire demon [who is actually Te Fiti] once again and return the heart. The moment she came out of the water it was all gone. But her experience drove her forward to fulfill her mission with determination.
A witness of the Holy Ghost can be like that. It speaks to you in miraculous ways. You become inspired by what you learn is a greater truth. It does not mean the path or challenges will be made easier, but you know. And knowing propels you forward.
HOW DO I JUSTIFY SOMETHING THAT SEEMS WRONG
I don’t. But I understand that I don’t know all things. I also understand that men are fallible.
Look at the scriptures. Consider the Jews in the bible. They had the “truth” and they believed they were righteous. Yet, we see that they were a fallen people. They did not recognize the Messiah when he came and they crucified him. And through all that, they are still the chosen people and we are awaiting the day the sons of Levi offer a sacrifice in righteousness.
Did the wrongs of the people make the Jews not the chosen people? No. Did it make the Law of Moses untrue? No. Or the Bible untrue? No.
Just as the actions of a modern-day church member or leader do not make the Gospel of Jesus Christ any less true.
But, we do know that there will be those who question. We do know there will be those who leave. This may be because the Lord has allowed there to be opposition in all things, so that we may walk by faith. This may be the same reason that Jesus Christ spoke in parables, and not explicitly clear language. So that the Father and the Holy Ghost could bear witness to his divine nature and mission.
15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 16 (churchofjesuschrist.org)
There are many examples of opposition that people face in the scriptures. One is the story of the Iron Rod and the Tree of Life; another is the Parable of the Sewer.
3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Matthew 13 (churchofjesuschrist.org)
24 And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree.
25 And after they had partaken of the fruit of the tree they did cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed.
1 Nephi 8 (churchofjesuschrist.org)
There will be many who partake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ yet they will be lost because the gospel is not rooted within their souls and given an opportunity to grow. Their hearts are not fertile soil for the roots to grow.
I don’t believe this is final or unchangeable.
HOW DO WE RECOGNIZE TRUTH
If we find a spot to plant that seed within our souls, we give it soil to take root in, we nourish it and feed it with sunlight. That seed can take root and grow. Consider Alma’s explanation of planting a seed.
28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.
29 Now behold, would not this increase your faith? I say unto you, Yea; nevertheless it hath not grown up to a perfect knowledge.
30 But behold, as the seed swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, then you must needs say that the seed is good; for behold it swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow. And now, behold, will not this strengthen your faith? Yea, it will strengthen your faith: for ye will say I know that this is a good seed; for behold it sprouteth and beginneth to grow.
Alma 32 (churchofjesuschrist.org)
To the missionary on Reddit. I hope you are planting your seeds in good soil. Do not cast the seed out because of “unbelief” nor “resist the Spirit of the Lord.” If you are humble and honest the answers will come. Your faith will be renewed and the Holy Spirit will testify that it is true.