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What if God really likes to see His children going through Faith Crises? Not because he is sadistic, but because his design is to have us struggle to know who we are and what we believe. If that is true…his mercy could be to provide prophets with words of wisdom to push us towards light and knowledge, the spirit to prompt us on what feels right and good for us, and a designed universe that will sometimes rain on the just and unjust alike.
Perhaps church is good and true and right for us…up to a point. It can only teach things at a certain level. The literal interpretations or outward ordinances are only there to help us get to a certain point in our development. But at some point, the spiritual and symbolic meaning of things is necessary to elevate us beyond what the church can provide for us.
In that case, God seeing we are finding disappointment in the church is a good sign we are growing beyond what it can provide. The “Faith Crisis” is also a sign of an awakening to the limitations the church provides. And a yearning from our soul to want more.
We then must struggle to decide if we can see the gospel to which the church points, or if we find other earthly things to help us point towards eternal truths, not earthly rituals and stories.
If we never had struggles or tests, we would never be motivated to struggle to find our true selves.
Is it possible God’s design is to get us to the point we no longer “need” the church, but can choose to keep the church part of our growth or not use the church as part of our growth…but either way, we were always designed to grow beyond what church can provide?
My feeling is: this world was meant to be difficult. FC is part of the eternal design. I wish it wasn’t. At this stage of my life, I believe I can take whatever come along.
Sometimes successfully.
The hard part is watching others have to experience their hardships or FC.
Especially the innocent or the vulnerable.
Then the choice for me is: compassion, empathy or anger.
Too often it is anger.
Can I be on the cough track for when you “get” to redeliver a modified version of this post? For the most partI believe god really likes to see his children happy, faith crisis or no. Many people have lived within the borders of their faith for their entire lives, experiencing no faith crisis, and have lived happy, fulfilled lives. I think god is equally on board with that outcome. Most people I know that have had a faith crisis can look back and say that they are happier as a result of having experienced a faith crisis.
I think it speaks towards god’s ability to help people in their quest for happiness regardless of their individual circumstances. Perhaps the day you begin to feel unhappy in your beliefs is the day that you start your journey that leads towards a faith crisis because that is what it will take to make you happy again.
At one point during my faith crisis I felt that Mormonism was indeed the perfect church for me simply because it created a very good environment in which a faith crisis could occur. Insistence on being exclusively “True.” Check. Flawed. Check. The story of Mormonism, as evidenced through the church, can create a highly visible contradiction to wrestle with. The more “True” you believe it to be the less “True” it becomes.
Heber13 wrote:If we never had struggles or tests, we would never be motivated to struggle to find our true selves.
There are some things I don’t want to know about myself.
Heber – thanks for this post. It really synch’s with some of what I have been feeling.
Heber13 wrote:…Perhaps church is good and true and right for us…up to a point. It can only teach things at a certain level. The literal interpretations or outward ordinances are only there to help us get to a certain point in our development. But at some point, the spiritual and symbolic meaning of things is necessary to elevate us beyond what the church can provide for us.
As I have moved past the crisis stage and try to figure out what I do from this point, I have moved past (much of) the anger. I am thankful for a church that has done well in teaching me and keeping me from some pitfalls some of my peers. I can even take some of the teachings and hold the church up to those ideals and see some real falling short and lack of humility about those shortcomings.
Heber13 wrote:In that case, God seeing we are finding disappointment in the church is a good sign we are growing beyond what it can provide. The “Faith Crisis” is also a sign of an awakening to the limitations the church provides. And a yearning from our soul to want more.
I have certainly felt that way. My entire motivation for what I do is quite different than it was a few years ago.
Heber13 wrote:Is it possible God’s design is to get us to the point we no longer “need” the church, but can choose to keep the church part of our growth or not use the church as part of our growth…but either way, we were always designed to grow beyond what church can provide?
I have made some movement towards agreeing with this, but I seem to be unable to just “let it be” when I see the church hurting people. I can’t just forgive the shortcoming.I have given your ideas some thought in the past Heber, and reached some of the same conclusions. I think it is possible God wants us to have we call faith crises as part of our growth process. I have said here before that while my faith is very different than it used to be, in some ways it is stronger. I won’t go so far as to say God “gives” us faith crises or that they are part of a test designed by Him, but I think that things that bring us to a better understanding of God are good for us in the long run. Heber13 wrote:Is it possible God’s design is to get us to the point we no longer “need” the church, but can choose to keep the church part of our growth or not use the church as part of our growth…but either way, we were always designed to grow beyond what church can provide?
I think that if we are to become agents unto ourselves it would necessitate leaving all crutches and training wheels behind, including the church. The rub is that I’m sure there are plenty of people that would say that outgrowing the need for the church is something that can’t be done in this life. No worries, those people can be seen from the rearview mirror too.
:angel: In reflecting on the comments…
I’m getting a learn to crawl before you learn to walk vibe. Do you believe that the people who have learned to walk bear some responsibility in remaining behind to help facilitate that same growth in others? Here I’m not talking about only teaching the people who are crawling how to walk, I’m talking about helping the whole system. Helping people roll over unassisted, helping people crawl, helping people crawl better, etc.
Like one day someone goes to their bishop because they have started having a faith crisis and the bishop smiles and says, “Welcome.”
For the record, I’m a little uncomfortable with my own crawl/walk analogy. It implies that one way is better than the other and that I have somehow progressed beyond my peers. I don’t look at it like that. If the true goal is being at peace with god and making the world a better place then one way is not necessarily better than another. The people that need church are equal with the people that do not.
All good comments. Let me just clarify, that I don’t feel I have progressed (walk) beyond those that are in the church (who still crawl, or only have milk). I view many people, even family members, way more advanced or spiritually mature than I am, and they are TBM and take it all literally. I do not believe they need to go through any change when it is working for them to become really good god-like people. Perhaps I’ve just been seeing more that it is not a weakness or fault or a bad thing to go through the soul searching and doubting phase. It is better than doing nothing. It is equal to not ever doubting. It is just another path. And god sees that, which is why he doesn’t panic and rescue us from it. It is cool.
It is similar to us bringing him crystals and asking him to touch it so we have light in our barges. He is fine with that idea. It isn’t the only way to get light and travel across oceans with huge waves. But…it will work if that is what we are coming up with for our ideas to make our journey. He supports it.
nibbler wrote:Like one day someone goes to their bishop because they have started having a faith crisis and the bishop smiles and says, “Welcome.”
THis would be a nice welcome for many. For some, it would create further problems to have a bishop know things and not have said it over the pulpit. In other words, that wouldn’t be a comfort for all. But…I sure would love to see that happen someday. Just once. I don’t think it will. Bishops are more likely to double down on “the path is narrow and straight. There is no other way but by the church.”
LookingHard wrote:I have made some movement towards agreeing with this, but I seem to be unable to just “let it be” when I see the church hurting people. I can’t just forgive the shortcoming.
Maybe we are not supposed to forgive the short-comings. Neither are we supposed to bury our heads in the sand. Neither are we supposed to just blindly believe and live in false denial that there are short-comings. Neither are we supposed to angrily rage against the machine. (or am I wrong…should we rage?)
It just seems like life is about how we learn to deal with things. So the church experience won’t be perfect. Life will have challenges. And we work our souls through them. Including finding reasons to stayLDS even while being frustrated with it. IDK. I’m thinking out loud, I guess.
I do find it a bit hard to go to church, and hear about “rescuing” efforts.
The way I process those comments is that if I am growing, or trying to, if I am following my heart and doing the best I can and becoming more god-like in my efforts, I don’t need to be rescued to do things the way others are doing it. Thanks but no thanks.
DarkJedi wrote:things that bring us to a better understanding of God are good for us in the long run.
I think this is well said, DJ. We have to be honest with ourselves…if our approach varies, but is honestly good for our soul…that should be good for us. And others may or may not understand it. Others will create a story about it.
But not all that wander are lost, not all need to be rescued.
I also do not think that equates to the church is wrong or false or useless. It can be something we include in our lives, and look to draw the good from it. While becoming comfortable in a non-literal view of it all. God seems to be OK with that. If we keep our hearts pure.
I tend to agree that God probably likes faith crises. I’ve come to believe that if God is both just and loving, then he must be less interested in what facts we discover or propositions we believe in—in fact, he probably doesn’t even care if we believe in him at all—but rather cares a lot about what ethical choices we make when confronted with hard or ambiguous problems. A crisis of faith is an amazing opportunity for us to show what we are really made of and hopefully grow stronger and more complete as a result. Heber13 wrote:Is it possible God’s design is to get us to the point we no longer “need” the church, but can choose to keep the church part of our growth or not use the church as part of our growth…but either way, we were always designed to grow beyond what church can provide?
I think that might be one of his motives. But I also think he makes things vague so he is not forced into punishing us for falling short of “the law”. If the rules are vague, there is conflicting evidence, and all we have is faith (something that is easily abused by charismatic people trying to deceive us), then there is much more room for leniency when we die.
So, I am not sure he LIKES faith crises, but I do think they fold into his overall design of this life experience. There is so much you can learn outside of the church if you want. It doesn’t have to be about the church and its version of the gospel all the time.
I think faith translations are a central part of the plan and key to grow. I think a non-evolving faith is, in practical terms, no different than the end result of Lucifer’s plan as we teach it. I might not say God likes crises in and of themselves, but I believe God approves of the growth that can occur as a result and the need for each individual to choose to let growth happen and choose a transition by which things previously seen through a dark glass are understood more clearly – or accepted as being okay in their current dark images.
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