Why I Stopped Reading Mormon Apologetics

[Anonymous]

I went through my crisis of faith a few years ago, and these are some of the thoughts that helped me get through it.

I used to struggle a lot with doubts about the Church because of anti-Mormon literature that I would read. I found myself trapped, often going back and forth between anti-Mormon literature and Mormon apologetics trying to discern what was true. I diligently searched, trying to understand what was true, but could never find a satisfactory answer.

Eventually I learned that the method of discovering truth that I was using was not the Lord’s way. The Lord spoke of this during his earthly ministry:

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).

Here Christ’s speaks of the Lord’s way (revelation) and the world’s way (flesh and blood). We know from the scriptures that the Lord’s way is to seek and ask God what the truth is, studying and applying his word, and receiving an answer directly from him through the Holy Spirit.

I eventually learned for myself that if I tried to find out if the Church is true using the internet, I was using the world’s way. I also group in the world’s way looking for signs or proof. Reading anti-Mormon literature and its counterpart, Mormon apologetics. Or just trying to study it out using logic and reason.

It is not that there is anything wrong with the world’s method of discovering truth. But what I learned is that if you use the world’s method to discover the truth of the Church, you will never get a satisfactory answer. All the proof in the world will not help someone believe. God designed it that their are always things we do not understand, so that we are forced to develop the gift of faith. Elder Callister taught: “There will always be some seemingly intellectual crisis looming on the horizon as long as faith is required and our minds are finite,”

This is not to imply a spirit of anti-intellectualism or ignoring things that conflict with our beliefs. But a recognition of the reality that there will always be things we do not understand, and these questions can coexist with absolute certainty through the revelations of the spirit.

Apologetics can be great because it can help get rid of the things/doubts are obviously not true, and it has definitely helped me before. I think people can get trapped with apologetics, going back and forth between apologetic and anti-Mormon sources, trying to find a satisfactory answer. Some fall away from the church doing this. As Paul teaches, they are “ever learning, and never able to come to knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). I think a reason why is it makes a member falsely believe that they can prove the Church true by studying the evidences they learn with Mormon apologetics. It can become a form of seeking for signs to know the truth, which we know never satisfies. There are many signs showing the truth of the Church, but there will never be enough to create belief. (see 3 Nephi 2:1-2, and Helaman 16:13-23).

Walking away from anti-Mormon literature can be difficult because of the doubt that it brings. But I found that if I got out of the trap of studying things the world’s way I would find peace using the Lord’s method. Many times the Lord has specifically addressed rational concerns that I have prayed about. What also helped me walk away was recognizing that many of things that bothered me did not really bother me. They only bothered me because someone else said it should bother me.

My advice to anyone with doubts is first to spend your time filling your mind with the pure doctrine of Christ, instead of the reasonings of the world. Consider the merit of the doctrine itself, and test the principles in your life. Leave any intellectual issues to the side, and turn to Lord’s way of discerning truth.

I know many people struggle with it, and some deny the reality of it, but I bear witness that the Lord’s method of discerning truth does work. I testify that God does answer our prayers through the Holy Spirit. I used to doubt if an answer would ever come through the Lord’s method. I get it when people get frustrated with it. But now due to countless spiritual experiences through the Holy Spirit and the Book of Mormon I testify that it most certainly will come. I know for certain that revelation is real, and I leave my witness that this is the Lord’s Church.

What do you think? Can apologetics be more harmful than it is good?

****I went through my crisis of faith a few years ago. What I wrote above is just a part of what was helpful for me to overcome doubt and stay LDS. I’m just now putting together all the thoughts that helped me get through it. Here the link to where I have started to post these thoughts.

http://dsspiritualthinking.blogspot.com … etics.html

[Anonymous]

I’m glad you found something that works for you. OTOH, I think it would be a mistake to assume that this is what will work for everybody. For whatever reason, it would seem that God doesn’t always send a confirmation to all those that sincerely seek one.

This is why I believe it is important to allow for different appraoches to spiritual truth.

[Anonymous]

First, I’ve never been a reader of anti-Mormon stuff. I can’t stand it because it takes a small part of something that may be part of a larger truth, then twists it and adds lies to make it ridiculous. Yes, ridiculous. That’s how I see anti stuff, ridiculous lies. So my faith crisis is not based on these ridiculous lies.

Second, I did at first find some comfort in the apologetics, and they did answer some questions for me. Other of their answers are too much of a stretch for me to believe. I don’t read them much anymore, either, although I do sometimes visit the FAIR site and there are some there who are likeminded to us here. I don’t read them because most of what they talk about are historical issues with the church. The history stuff has never bothered me, I live in an area where much of it occurred and much of this stuff is not suppressed. I was converted by the spirit, not by history, and my crisis of faith has likewise been spiritual.

I do understand and appreciate your point about relying on the world as opposed to relying on God. My experiences have apparently been quite different from yours and I’m pretty sure God does not answer prayers and it’s far too easy to confuse the Holy Ghost with emotion to make it reliable (if the Holy Ghost is real and does have some power or energy). I’m not trying to argue or take away from your faith, I’m simply stating my point of view as you stated yours. With that, I will say that I agree totally with what Roy said.

[Anonymous]

First, what is anti material? 10 years ago the articles being posted on lds.org today would be considered anti by the rank and file. I guess anti material falls into the proverbial “I know it when I see it” category. Bending the truth to support a claim might make something fall into the category of information that I like to avoid… and there’s anti material and apologetic material that fall into that category.

The reason apologetics ultimately didn’t work for me? Apologetics provided an answer, a way to put another doubt on the shelf for a season, but it was just a band-aid for a wound that needed stitches. Just like the antis, the apologists have their agenda which interjects a bias into their presentation. You start with a de facto conclusion (the church is true, the church is false) and you isolate and elevate the evidences that support those conclusions.

[Anonymous]

“Different strokes for different folks” is kind of an unofficial mantra here.

I am really glad you found a way to make things work for yourself. I have found what works for me – and I also don’t read much from either extreme, but each person defines “extreme” differently. Many here are searching for what will work for them. We’re here to help with the search, much more than to provide the one true answer.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for providing another point of view in the spectrum of beliefs around here. I really appreciate it, and I hope that what you say about receiving answers is true. It hasn’t been my experience so far, but I’m glad to hear someone who’s gone through something like we have and come out of it feeling healed and full of faith.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for joining us. Interesting perspectives.

One important part of seeking guidance from God is the “study it out in your mind” part. I don’t think we’re supposed to be spoon fed.

I’ve spent over 2 years “studying it out” (many on here have spent far longer). I’ve tried to be balanced in that study and go to original sources. One key question has been on whether our prophets speak for God (as if He were speaking). In church we teach that they do. Through a combination of studying it out and personal prayer I have come to the conclusion that they do not.

I’m aware that someone else could have an answer telling them that they do.

Is it possible to get conflicting answers to the same question? I believe it is. If God needs someone to simply “follow the prophet” (who tends to be a good man with good advice… it’s rare that, these days, they will tell you something genuinely bad to do) for a time, then perhaps He will teach them to simply trust what the prophet says as being unshakable doctrine. If, on the other hand, that person needs to enter a phase of independent growth and development He will tell them the opposite. Some might call that lying or misleading. I call it good leading.

Either that or the prayer model is broken and we simply need to work it out for ourselves and get on with it. Perhaps prayer is simply the way of finding peace with your own decisions. An internal confirmation of a position you’ve concluded already.

[Anonymous]

dpschofield wrote:

I know many people struggle with it, and some deny the reality of it, but I bear witness that the Lord’s method of discerning truth does work. I testify that God does answer our prayers through the Holy Spirit… now due to countless spiritual experiences through the Holy Spirit and the Book of Mormon I testify that it most certainly will come. I know for certain that revelation is real, and I leave my witness that this is the Lord’s Church.

dpschofield, I’m happy for you that you have been able to regain your testimony and conviction that the LDS Church is the Lord’s Church. Good for you. But I think you may have misunderstood the purpose of this site. This site is not to help those who struggle, so that they might rebuild their testimonies and keep the faith. Rather, this site is about helping people who have, to some degree or another, lost faith that the LDS Church is the Lord’s Church, so that they might find a way to stay connected to the community of the Church, even if not to all the teachings/doctrine/assertions of the Church. No one here wants to be the object of testifying.

[Anonymous]

[Admin Note]:

Quote:

This site is not to help those who struggle, so that they might rebuild their testimonies and keep the faith. Rather, this site is about helping people who have, to some degree or another, lost faith that the LDS Church is the Lord’s Church, so that they might find a way to stay connected to the community of the Church, even if not to all the teachings/doctrine/assertions of the Church.

Actually, just to be precise, this site is about all three things mentioned by On Own Now [rebuilding testimonies (whatever they look like individually), keeping faith (whatever that means individually) and helping people who have lost faith stay connected (in whatever manner works individually)] – which illustrates that we don’t have one specific “answer”, other than the desire to “stay LDS” to whatever degree is possible. (We also try to help those who feel they have to leave land more softly and with more love and compassion for those who stay, but that is not our primary mission.)

What we don’t preach is that people can return to their former belief / testimony structure, since, by and large, that structure has lost all power and meaning for them. They need to rebuild a structure that will work.

[Anonymous]

Good points, Ray. I didn’t mean to imply that there is no room for faith or testimony, only that, as the mission statement of this site says, “There is no going backwards.” So, while, yes many of us absolutely try to build a new faith and a new testimony, I don’t believe this site is about restoring the faith and testimony that we once had.

To that end, I don’t think testifying or witnessing belong in our dialog.

[Anonymous]

Now, back to the topic at hand…

dpschofield wrote:

What do you think? Can apologetics be more harmful than it is good?

Great topic. I think that people who are anti soak up the attacks and people who are anti-anti soak up the defenses (apologies). As nibbler said so well:

nibbler wrote:

You start with a de facto conclusion (the church is true, the church is false) and you isolate and elevate the evidences that support those conclusions.

I don’t necessarily blame anyone for this approach. It matches their thinking, so it makes sense to them. I usually don’t find myself at the extremes, so I don’t identify so well with either set of material.

I believe the best form of apology about the Church is rooted in appealing to what effect it has on us, rather than how it came to be. What I mean by this is that (for many) the feeling of the Church… the spirituality… the sense of purpose… the sense of closeness to God… these all carry so much more weight (for many) than the particulars of the history, that people can separate out the two, lean on one, and ignore the other. When I was a faithful member of the Church, I wasn’t at all concerned by my knowledge of the different accounts of the First Vision, for example. I was aware of them, I studied them, I remained faithful because of the spirituality I experienced and didn’t see these as issues. Yet, many in the anti crowd think of this little corner of history as the nail in the coffin, that ultimately proves their point. The problem with apologetics, is that by addressing the issue head on, they are legitimizing the concern, and taking the spirit out of it.

I might say it a little differently from you, but you and I are closer together than we are apart. Your reaction to not liking either fringe group is to seek the answer from God. I also try to seek answers, but from my own conscience. I think, ultimately, we are both trying to align our inputs to what we trust most.

[Author]

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