Questioning Our Faith...? Why?

[LOSTONE]

What happened to our faith? It seems like there is more and more questioning and seeking explanations to our faith than actual faith itself. How can we say we have faith if we are constantly question and seeking so much? Is it possible to believe that we are not mature enough in being earth bound humans to  have the ability to fully understand everything God has done and will do? We have been born in sin and tainted in ignorance by this fallen world. What makes us believe we have the ability to understand God if we question so much and got the answers? We have God and The Bible. We have all we need to in this world to be saved. Scripture even tells us we will know more upon our arrival home in Heaven’s kingdom. So we will know more at a later time. Until then, why don’t we have the faith, the trust in God without needing to question so much and seek so many answer ( to which we may not even understand )?

[Guest]

What happened to our faith? It seems like there is more and more questioning and seeking explanations to our faith than actual faith itself. How can we say we have faith if we are constantly question and seeking so much? Is it possible to believe that we are not mature enough in being earth bound humans to  have the ability to fully understand everything God has done and will do? We have been born in sin and tainted in ignorance by this fallen world. What makes us believe we have the ability to understand God if we question so much and got the answers? We have God and The Bible. We have all we need to in this world to be saved. Scripture even tells us we will know more upon our arrival home in Heaven’s kingdom. So we will know more at a later time. Until then, why don’t we have the faith, the trust in God without needing to question so much and seek so many answer ( to which we may not even understand )?

It is our nature to question, questions do not mean there is no belief. It is only in the questioning that brings the answers.

[LOSTONE]

Pa Pa, you make a very gppd point. Thank you.

[teddyaware]

What happened to our faith? It seems like there is more and more questioning and seeking explanations to our faith than actual faith itself. How can we say we have faith if we are constantly question and seeking so much? Is it possible to believe that we are not mature enough in being earth bound humans to  have the ability to fully understand everything God has done and will do? We have been born in sin and tainted in ignorance by this fallen world. What makes us believe we have the ability to understand God if we question so much and got the answers? We have God and The Bible. We have all we need to in this world to be saved. Scripture even tells us we will know more upon our arrival home in Heaven’s kingdom. So we will know more at a later time. Until then, why don’t we have the faith, the trust in God without needing to question so much and seek so many answer ( to which we may not even understand )?

There is merit in what you say. In the Book of Mormon, the promise is made that if one has enough faith God will personally answer his questions by revelation from heaven. While speaking of how one can gain a sure testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, the prophet Moroni makes the following promise:

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. (Moroni 10)

There are some Latter-day Saints who for some reason or other seem to have the kind of powerful living faith that enables them to lay hold on the promises God made through Moroni and as a result gain powerful and unshakable testmonies of eternal truth (some believe those who obtain the ability to exercise overcoming faith gained that talent in the pre-earth life and that the gift of overcoming faith follows those so blessed to life on earth).

 

Meanwhile there are other members of the LDS Church who lack overcoming faith, people who seem destined to live lives of doubt, unceratinty of testimony and puzzlement. The members in this category are more often than not prone to engage in various forms of sign seeking because the spirit of revelation in their lives is dim to non-existent; and so, as Paul said, they are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.

 

Those in either one of the two categories tend to find those in the other category somewhat frustrating and annoying to deal with. But in the end those with living faith will hopefully learn to have charity and patience for those who don't, and those who don't have living faith will eventually learn to find their way to the place of living faith and assurance of testimony. 

Edited August 2, 2014 by teddyaware

[Storm Rider]

Some are doubting Thomases and will not believe until they thrust their hand into his side and feel the imprints of the nails in his hands.  Others are more childlike and ready to embrace the Spirit and walk steadfastly in faith.  Both were called as apostles, but I promise you that one group is enjoyable to be around and the other gets just plain tiresome.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Storm Rider

[thatjimguy]

With all the problems ever attributed to religion, I don't think you could really blame anyone for questioning. No one wants to be part of the problem, even indirectly.

[VideoGameJunkie]

I experienced psychosis once where I thought I died and went to Spirit Prison, and that caused me to question and doubt if there is really an afterlife after having experienced in my mind an afterlife.

[rodheadlee]

How do you know it was psychosis and not a vision? I had a similar experience but I was driving down the freeway when all of a sudden I was at my wife's funeral. I don't know how I made it off the freeway. I was very upset to make a long story short it turned out she had cancer and we caught it early and she is fine after 2 surgeries, no chemo needed. I guess it could have been considered psychosis, I considered it a beautiful gift of a vision from Heavenly Father. Maybe you were shown the spirit prison for a reason?

[The Nehor]

What happened to our faith? It seems like there is more and more questioning and seeking explanations to our faith than actual faith itself. How can we say we have faith if we are constantly question and seeking so much? Is it possible to believe that we are not mature enough in being earth bound humans to  have the ability to fully understand everything God has done and will do? We have been born in sin and tainted in ignorance by this fallen world. What makes us believe we have the ability to understand God if we question so much and got the answers? We have God and The Bible. We have all we need to in this world to be saved. Scripture even tells us we will know more upon our arrival home in Heaven’s kingdom. So we will know more at a later time. Until then, why don’t we have the faith, the trust in God without needing to question so much and seek so many answer ( to which we may not even understand )?

 

Read the book of Job. Job was blessed by God for questioning the things that he did not understand while his friends who told him to shut up and just have faith because you can't understand God were condemned.

 

Many of the prophets were questioners or in some sense defied God. Enoch refused to be comforted when he saw the wickedness of men and the flood and God blessed him with understanding. Abraham pleaded for the people of Sodom and received a promise. Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail begged to know why God failed to intervene. God does not seem pleased with our accepting His will passively. He wants us to strive to understand, to stretch our minds, and to request answers.

 

I also challenge you on the idea that we have everything we need to be saved. The scriptures are not enough. Direct revelation is vital. Questioning is vital but it needs to be the right kind of questioning. Endless nitpicking about policy and doctrine are usually useless. Endless speculation about obscure portions of the gospel are dangerous. Seeking to understand the mind of God is vital if we are to become like Him.

[Stargazer]

How do you know it was psychosis and not a vision? I had a similar experience but I was driving down the freeway when all of a sudden I was at my wife's funeral. I don't know how I made it off the freeway. I was very upset to make a long story short it turned out she had cancer and we caught it early and she is fine after 2 surgeries, no chemo needed. I guess it could have been considered psychosis, I considered it a beautiful gift of a vision from Heavenly Father. Maybe you were shown the spirit prison for a reason?

 

Last Saturday, my wife was experiencing some problems with fever, abdominal cramping, general pain, and so on.  At some point she had a kind of vision in which suddenly everything lost color and was gray.  She told me was wandering around the house in this grayness identifying things that needed to be given away, because soon she would die.  I was checking on her periodically, and not long after noon discovered that her temperature was 104.4 and she was delirious.  I called 911 and when the EMTs came they found that her temp was 105.  She was transported to the hospital, and finally surgery corrected the underlying problem -- or as much of it as they could fix.

 

I don't know if this was a vision or delirium.  If I had not been there and monitoring her condition it seems to me that she would have died, as she had had a colon perforation that would eventually have led to sepsis and complete physical shutdown.  One thing it did do is show her how close she had gotten to leaving this life.  I don't think that this was delirium, but a warning.

[Storm Rider]

I think there is a balance needed. Questioning is one thing, but continuing to question the same thing incessantly even after we have received an answer(s) has moved beyond simple questioning and moved into doubting for doubting's sake.  There is no benefit to it.

 

I am not talking about questioning when a lack of understanding exists and we keep working at it until we grasp it; I am talking about questioning and being given an answer and then going back to question again and again. 

[Bikeemikey]

Faith is an interim condition that if lived correctly leads to knowledge. Knowledge is the objective, faith is a necessary stepping stone to get there.

Alma 32 is the best expression of this.

[Daniel2]

Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the handmaiden of truth.

Doubt is the key to the door of knowledge; it is the servant of discovery.

A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error,

for there is incompleteness and imperfection in every belief.

Doubt is the touchstone of truth; it is an acid which eats away the false.

Let no man fear for the truth, that doubt may consume it;

for doubt is a testing of belief.

The truth stands boldly and unafraid; it is not shaken by the testing;

For truth, if it be truth, arises from each testing stronger, more secure.

He that would silence doubt is filled with fear;

the house of his spirit is built on shifting sands.

But he that fears no doubt, and knows its use, is founded on a rock.

He shall walk in the light of growing knowledge;

the work of his hands shall endure.

Therefore let us not fear doubt, but let us rejoice in its help:

It is to the wise as a staff to the blind; doubt is the handmaiden of truth.

Robert T. Weston

Edited August 3, 2014 by Daniel2

[SmileyMcGee]

Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the handmaiden of truth.

Robert T. Weston

That's some beautiful stuff. I find doubt to be just as valid a response as faith when confronted with uncertainty. I think they are merely a response to the balance of probability. No group has the right to demand one over the other with regards to its own truth claims.

Questioning, in my opinion, is the way truth and untruth are determined. No belief, person, being, or god is above relentless questioning.

[Bikeemikey]

That's some beautiful stuff. I find doubt to be just as valid a response as faith when confronted with uncertainty. I think they are merely a response to the balance of probability. No group has the right to demand one over the other with regards to its own truth claims.

Questioning, in my opinion, is the way truth and untruth are determined. No belief, person, being, or god is above relentless questioning.

You can't have faith with out doubt.

[wenglund]

You can't have faith with out doubt.

 

Agreed.

 

And, even more important, the "muscle" of faith needs resistance and testing (such as doubt) in order to strengthen and grow.

 

The problem with loss of faith, then, isn't the presence of doubt per se, but rather, as you somewhat intimated earlier, it is when doubt becomes one's master or primary pursuit rather than growth in faith unto knowledge.

 

Thanks, -Wade ENglund-

[Hermit53]

The scriptures in the New Testament counsel us over and over to test what has been told to us and accept that which is true; not to take teachings on face value, but prove the doctrines by using the scriptures. Acts 17:11 says, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica , in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind,and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." showing that those early Christians and investigators were encouraged to search the records available to them, using what they find as a foundation for their faith. Another scripture which supports using proof is 1 Thess. 5:20,21 which says, "Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good." The word 'good' in this instruction means that which proves to be true. We must have faith, but without foundation it is like the house built upon sand...

[cinepro]

You can't have faith with out doubt.

 

Wow.  You actually said the exact opposite of what President Monson said.  And Wade agreed with you!

 

 

 

Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other.

 

Come Unto Him In Prayer and Faith

Edited August 3, 2014 by cinepro

[The Nehor]

Wow.  You actually said the exact opposite of what President Monson said.  And Wade agreed with you!

 

Yeah, I did a double-take on that too. Questioning something does not require doubt. I can believe in the atonement completely and, without doubting it, keep looking at it from different angles and different perspectives to answer questions about it.

[tonie]

Intellectual questions seem par for course on most issues, a spiritual witness may be all we can hav to over intellectual issues.

[Bikeemikey]

Yeah, I did a double-take on that too. Questioning something does not require doubt. I can believe in the atonement completely and, without doubting it, keep looking at it from different angles and different perspectives to answer questions about it.

I fully agree with that.

I also think that monsons point comes down to a definitional issue, not a substance issue.

[Rain]

Wow.  You actually said the exact opposite of what President Monson said.  And Wade agreed with you!

 

There is an opposition in all things.  You cannot comprehend light without experiencing darkness, but you cannot have darkness where there is light.

 

You can't understand faith without experiencing doubts, but faith and doubts cannot dwell in the same place. 

[wenglund]

Wow.  You actually said the exact opposite of what President Monson said.  And Wade agreed with you!

 

No, we aren't saying the opposite. just looking at things from a different perspectives.

 

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[SmileyMcGee]

Intellectual questions seem par for course on most issues, a spiritual witness may be all we can hav to over intellectual issues.

But we can have spiritual witnesses of all sorts of incorrect ideas. Just look at the myriad of teachings in our church's history that have been abandoned under the "speaking as a man" idea. I would expect that a number of people felt the spirit while hearing incorrect doctrine. We should be considering both hits an missing when determining whether "spiritual witnesses" are reliable.

[wenglund]

But we can have spiritual witnesses of all sorts of incorrect ideas. Just look at the myriad of teachings in our church's history that have been abandoned under the "speaking as a man" idea. I would expect that a number of people felt the spirit while hearing incorrect doctrine. We should be considering both hits an missing when determining whether "spiritual witnesses" are reliable.

 

Relatively rare exceptions don't negate the general rule.

 

Thanks, -Wade Englund-