Drew's Reviews #18 - "Doubt Your Doubts"

Quick Take: Solid coverage of many of the common concerns/questions within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Longer Take:

Chad P. Conrad is a full-time teacher for LDS seminaries and institutes of religion and professor at BYU. He wrote “Doubt Your Doubts” to help the youth of the church in their search for answers to “difficult gospel questions.”

The premise behind the book is based on President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s 2013 talk “Come, Join With Us.”

“One of the purposes of the Church is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith—even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. … Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters—my dear friends—please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.”

While he specifically states that he is not trying to “give a final answer” he does give the reader a lot to think about on many sticky issues. (i.e.) Why must innocent people suffer? What about homosexuality? Are women equal with men in the church? Why would God command people to practice polygamy? Why couldn’t blacks hold the priesthood for so long? Amongst several others.

This book would have been too much for 16 year old me, but youth today are so much more than I ever was. While most of what I read here was not new information on these issues, I really did enjoy reading this book. Chad has an open-minded perspective that I think those with an equally open mind will appreciate.

I can honestly say that my faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ has been strengthened through reading this book.

Some of My Favourite Quotes:

Quoting Jeffrey R. Holland: “Let me be clear on this point: I am not asking you to pretend to faith you do not have. I am asking you to be true to the faith you do have. … In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith.”

“Ultimately, we won’t resolve the deepest struggles of our souls by reading books, blogs, or websites – even inspired ones. The answer is Christ. He is the Teacher. He is the Healer.”

Quoting President Howard W. Hunter: “I have sympathy for young men and young women when honest doubts enter their minds and they engage in the great conflict of resolving doubts. These doubts can be resolved, if they have an honest desire to know the truth, by exercising moral, spiritual, and mental effort. They will emerge from the conflict into a firmer, stronger, larger faith because of the struggle. They have gone from a simple, trusting faith, through doubt and conflict, into a solid substantial faith which ripens into testimony.”

“…no amount of evidence will be convincing if I choose to reject it, there will always be the need for me to choose a life of faith.”

“I have chosen that, even if it ultimately turns out that we were all deceived … My life is happier, more meaningful, and more fulfilled for believing and living the gospel.”

Quoting President Harold B. Lee: “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.”