How I Come To Know God’s Truth?

[Anonymous]

Before I had a faith transition in the church and in the gospel, I used to believe that since the brethren often say that God will not allow the prophet to lead the church astray they could not teach false doctrine, misinterpret doctrine, or lead the church in the wrong direction. And if you feel the Holy Ghost, you’ll never be lead astray. I remember also being taught that if the Book of Mormon is true then everything taught within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints it true. Even though I read a comment made by Boyd K. Packer from an institute student manual that said false doctrine can sometimes be taught in the church, I really didn’t take it seriously. I thought, “That’d never happen! God wouldn’t allow it to happen!”

Now after I had a faith transition, I have learned the opposite. I’ve learned that prophets can and do teach false doctrine, misinterpret doctrine, and sometimes lead the church in the wrong direction. I used to look at the church’s prophets as close to perfect, but now I realize they’re far from it. Anyway, how do I come to know God’s truth, even after having a faith transition, even after realizing the prophets of the church aren’t any better than the rest of us in many ways in teaching and interpreting doctrine?

[Anonymous]

I have come to just trust myself as I try and do good. I see no other way. For me it is that simple. I will listen to what the church leaders say, but they are batting way less than 500 in my book.

[Anonymous]

This is a really good question and unfortunately I don’t have a really good – or even halfway good – answer. I recall those same teachings, all of which flew out the window with my faith crisis. I am sure there are eternal Godly truths out there – but I am not sure what they are. From reading scripture, I’m pretty sure loving my neighbor is one and I try hard to do that in my own way. On the other hand, I have no way of “knowing” that’s one. I suppose that’s what faith really is.

[Anonymous]

I try to open myself up to more sources of truth. Before my faith crisis my sources for truth were much more limited, mostly pared down to the LDS canon, leaders of the church, manuals that had tCoJCoLDS stamped on the back, and personal revelations. Now everything and anything can contribute to my truth, where I recognize that my truth is not The Truth, and that’s okay.

It’s like I believed that Tex-Mex was the one and only true food so I made sure that was all I ever ate. Over time I got tired of eating the same food every day. Even though there were a few Tex-Mex dishes that I wasn’t tired of the core seasonings were still the same in every dish and I was getting burned out. One day I broke and tried a Chinese restaurant and it was awesome. That led me to experimenting with many cuisines, Mexican, Italian, Indian, Mediterranean, etc. I was now open to world cuisine and the only way I could discover my true food was through trying new dishes and discovering whether or not I liked them.

I still liked all my favorite Tex-Mex dishes but I could finally admit to myself that there were a few Tex-Mex dishes that I didn’t care for, it was no longer the one and only true food so I didn’t have to force myself to eat those dishes. Another added benefit, with all the newfound variety I was able to go back to some of those Tex-Mex dishes that I had grown tired of.

So what is the one true food? Maybe it’s not the food, maybe it’s the ingredients. Do all the dishes I like have a common ingredient? Maybe all the dishes I like contain onion. That realization might not help me much in my quest, something tells me I wouldn’t find much enjoyment in eating nothing but onions. Plus I might upset DW in the process.

Truth might follow the tastes of the individual and is only discovered following the suggestion of Alma, through experimentation. Experimentation that can last a lifetime… but we still have our go-to favorites don’t we?

[Anonymous]

DarkJedi, that’s a good point. I guess if we could have physical proof, it wouldn’t be faith.

[Anonymous]

LookingHard wrote:

I have come to just trust myself as I try and do good. I see no other way. For me it is that simple. I will listen to what the church leaders say, but they are batting way less than 500 in my book.

I agree with LH to learn to trust myself more, although for me I see them batting a pretty darn good percentage…something acceptable to me that they are meaningful to listen to. If I could list all the truths they teach…I would agree with 95% of it. The 5% gets my goat…but…it is really a small portion for me.

I also think I have gone through efforts to be honest and realize that

Ilovechrist77 wrote:

God will not allow the prophet to lead the church astray

and

Ilovechrist77 wrote:

they could not teach false doctrine, misinterpret doctrine

are not the same thing when I think more about it.

Just as I think I won’t lead my family astray, even though I will make mistakes and teach the wrong thing from time to time. The reason I think they can be different is that I think I can correct myself and overcome mistakes as I keep trying as a dad. My kids will trust me, even if I make mistakes. I don’t have to be a perfect dad to be leading the family. But if I mess up too many times, they will trust me less…so it does matter.

I don’t need church to be perfect either. I have realized the mistake by placing them on too high a pedestal. I can control that. When they make mistakes I believe they will correct it in time. I can’t control the timing of that. And it does impact my trust in them, even if I do believe they will try to right the ship again and again, I have to be careful how much stock I put in their leadership.

Paradox exists. Because meanings go deeper than surface definitions of truth and prophets.

[Anonymous]

Quote:

Just as I think I won’t lead my family astray, even though I will make mistakes and teach the wrong thing from time to time. The reason I think they can be different is that I think I can correct myself and overcome mistakes as I keep trying as a dad. My kids will trust me, even if I make mistakes. I don’t have to be a perfect dad to be leading the family. But if I mess up too many times, they will trust me less…so it does matter.

I don’t need church to be perfect either. I have realized the mistake by placing them on too high a pedestal. I can control that. When they make mistakes I believe they will correct it in time. I can’t control the timing of that. And it does impact my trust in them, even if I do believe they will try to right the ship again and again, I have to be careful how much stock I put in their leadership.

Thank you, Heber. I love that.

[Author]

Posts