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Had a late night at work and in a spare moment, decided to check out LDS.org and see what was out there. Saw this:
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/answers-to-personal-questions?cid=HP_WE_10-7-2015_dPTH_fGC_xLIDyL2-3_&lang=eng#7 ” class=”bbcode_url”> https://www.lds.org/general-conference/answers-to-personal-questions?cid=HP_WE_10-7-2015_dPTH_fGC_xLIDyL2-3_&lang=eng#7 Seemed like some of those are apologetic. I glanced at the one from Neal L. Anderson. Saw this which caught my attention:
Neal L. Anderson wrote:
Faith never demands an answer to every question but seeks the assurance and courage to move forward, sometimes acknowledging, “I don’t know everything, but I do know enough to continue on the path of discipleship.”Immersing oneself in persistent doubt, fueled by answers from the faithless and the unfaithful, weakens one’s faith in Jesus Christ and the
Restoration. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him” [1 Corinthians 2:14]
This seems like an “Appeal to faith”, a fallacious argument, and an attack on those who are considered faithless because they question. Lumping JC directly in with the restoration doesn’t resonate because it makes for an possible argument that if you reject the restoration, you reject JC. Hmmmm….
Neal L. Anderson wrote:
Tens of thousands of honest, devoted men and women embraced the cause of the Restoration.At age 38, Joseph sealed his witness with his blood. I testify that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Settle this in your mind, and move forward!
This is “Argumentum ad populum”, a fallacious argument.
I have no problem with either statement coming from someone who believe deeply in the Restoration. Regarding the first quote:
Immersion in persistent doubt (meaning total submersion in it) really is toxic if it lasts very long, and it does weaken faith (the ability to hope) in the object of the persistent doubt.
Regarding the second quote:
The first two sentences are factually accurate, if worded from a faithful perspective. The last two sentences are a personal statement of belief – a testimony based on personal experiences and beliefs – and a request for others to reach the same conclusion. I will not complain about anyone stating their beliefs in a testimony form and inviting others to attempt to see something the way they see it, since I want that right myself.
Honestly, I think this is one example of steps to finding personal peace. If we get offended over this sort of statement, we will continue to get upset about almost everything – which, ironically, shows the accuracy of the last paragraph of the first quote, since it is an example of immersion in persistent, all-encompassing cynicism destroying the ability to see any good in anything related to the focus of that which is doubted. We need to try to be less critical of things that don’t require criticism – or, at least, not sweeping, comprehensive dismissal.
I concede this one. I was splitting hairs. It was a long night at work when I read this….really long day.
And I confess I had an attitude that night. Shucks.
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It’s cool. We all have those days, nights and moments – and, sometimes, they last longer than that.
🙂 This seems like a great time to explain the personal meaning of my signature quotes. I came to StayLDS after the stillbirth of my daughter became the catalyst for a FC. I was not only questioning church promises but also my relationship and standing before God. Ultimately, the million dollar question was why He might have chosen not to intervene to save my daughter’s life.
Quote:“It is not so much the pain and suffering of life which crushes the individual as it is its meaninglessness and hopelessness.” C. A. Elwood
I read this quote in a book by Lowell Bennion (sp?). It spoke to me because a life full of meaning and hope can significantly reduce the negative impact of pain and suffering. Sometimes the sense of meaning and hope can even be deepened by pain and suffering. Meaning and hope does not make one impervious to feeling hardship – but it does help to keep one from going under or getting “crushed.”
Quote:“It is not the function of religion to answer all the questions about God’s moral government of the universe, but to give one courage, through faith, to go on in the face of questions he never finds the answer to in his present status.” TPC: Harold B. Lee 223
This is very similar to what Elder Anderson said (though I prefer HBL’s wording). In the context of my faith crisis I had to first put faith and hope in the idea that God exists. I next put faith and hope into the concept that He loves me. I do not know these things but I do have hope in them. Anything more than that starts to get shaky in my opinion.
Part of my faith crisis was precipitated by my confidence in the idea that God would bless me and my family for our church service (especially payment of tithing). I now believe the church promised entirely too much in that regard. IOW part of the problem has been not that the church and the religion of Mormonism answers too few questions but that it has for a long time answered too many questions with a sense of bold certainty (some of these questions it had no business answering IMO).
Quote:“I struggle now with establishing my faith that God may always be there, but may not always need to intervene” Heber13
This statement reaffirms my hope and faith in a loving Father God but with a healthy dose of acceptance. I accept that God seemingly did not intervene for my family. I accept that God may not intervene in the earthly lives of his children. I accept that I may never find any evidence for God and that people who do not believe in Him are largely good people that are making informed decisions about their beliefs from the lack of evidence. I have hope and faith in a loving Father God anyway. I do this partially because I personally need that sense of meaning and hope to stave off the soul crushing effect of meaningless pain and suffering referenced in the first quote.
Where I believe that Elder Anderson and I part ways is that he seems to tie all these things back to loyalty to the organization of the church. He is speaking as a representative of the church so that is not really surprising. I do not have to agree with every word to understand where I believe he is coming and to try to be charitable towards his deeply held convictions.
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