Doubt

LDS Quotes on Doubt

“One speaker in Church directs, “You can’t do everything. Don’t run faster than you have strength”. The next says, “Push yourself. You can always do more.” One person advises, “Don’t worry about what you can’t do” at the same time someone else says, “You can do anything you put your mind to.” In one hymn we sing, “I need thee every hour,” and in another we sing, “We will work out our salvation”. In this world of mixed messages, I never can seem to escape the nagging though, “If only I were better organized or if only I tried harder.” Satan tempted Christ with the word, ‘if.’ He often comes to me with the words, ‘if only.’”

Brad Wilcox  |  The Continuous Atonement

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“To believe in God is impossible; but to not believe is absurd.”

Voltaire

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“People are told they ought to love God, but they cannot find any such feelings in themselves. What are they to do? The answer is the same as before: Act as if you did. Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings. Ask yourself, ‘If I loved God, what would I do?’ When you have found the answer, go and do it.”

CS Lewis  |  Mere Christianity

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“Life is assumed to be about the fundamental, clear-cut choice between good and evil. Mormonism sees no such simple dichotomy in the primeval options. Yes, obedience and safety and security in God’s presence are presented as one of the choices, But Mormonism is more sympathetic to Eve’s perception of the alternative; the beauty of the fruit, its goodness as food, its desirability ‘to make one wise.’ Not coincidentally, ancient philosophers like Plato considered the triad of ideas – Beauty, Goodness, Truth – to be the highest manifestation of divine virtue. In the Mormon narrative, therefore, the circumstances that define the reality of the human predicament are not a blatant choice between Good and Evil but a wrenching decision to be made between competing sets of Good. The philosopher Hegel believed that this scenario, replicated in myriad artistic narratives, expressed the inescapably tragic nature of the universe. There are very few simple choices. No blueprint gives us easy answers. Life’s most wrenching choices are not between right and wrong but between competing demands on our time, our resources, our love and loyalty.”

Terryl and Fiona Givens  |  The Crucible of Doubt

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Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the LDS church

“In this Church there is an enormous amount of room — and scriptural commandment — for studying and learning, for comparing and considering, for discussion and awaiting further revelation. We all learn “line upon line, precept upon precept”, with the goal being authentic religious faith informing genuine Christlike living.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland  |  "Broken Things to Mend"

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“Why would God go out of his way to hide evidence and make his own (world-historically pivotal) message more obscure and less credible? Or even more to the point, what about God’s own absence? Why put us in the same weak position as Lehi? Why give us a text, at least twice removed from God himself, rather than give us some kind of direct interaction with God? Is this a game or a test? Is God just testing us to see if we’ll believe things that we don’t have good evidence for? If this is the case, then what is God testing for, credulity? Is credulity the measure of a life, the litmus test for salvation? In effect, is God saying, ‘You’re welcome to join me in eternal bliss, but only if you’re willing to believe (in exactly the right way) things that I intentionally and unnecessarily made it really hard to understand and believe?’ I don’t buy it. I don’t buy this version of the story.”

Adam S. Miller  |  Future Mormon, p. 21

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“To be open to truth, we must invest in the effort to free ourselves from our own conditioning and expectations. This means we have to pursue any earnest investigation by asking what the philosopher Hans Georg Ger calls the ‘genuine question. And that is a question that involves openness and risk. As he explains, ‘our own prejudice is properly brought into play by being put at risk.”

Terryl and Fiona Givens  |  The Crucible of Doubt

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Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the LDS church

“Honestly acknowledge your questions and your concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland  |  Lord, I Believe, April 2013 General Conference

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Embrace your sacred memories. Believe them. Write them down. Share them with your family. Trust that they come to you from your Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son. Let them bring patience to your doubts and understanding to your difficulties.

Elder Neil L. Andersen  |  Spiritually Defining Memories - General Conference 2020

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Richard G. Scott Portrait

“Faith and character are intimately related, Faith is the power of obedience to the commandments of God will forge strength of character available to you in times of urgent need. Such character is not developed in moments of great challenge or temptation. That is when it is intended to be used. You will discover how faith and character interact to strengthen one another. Character is woven patiently from threads of applied principle, doctrine, and obedience.”

Richard G. Scott  |  The Transforming Power of Faith and Character, Conference October 2010

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