Developing a testimony is gaining an understanding of the gospel plan. Asking questions during any point in this process is neither wrong nor bad, it is necessary! Some may think that questions show disrespect, but that viewpoint is one of selfishness and pride; the person is angry that he or she is not immediately obeyed or else simply won’t take the time to help. A true teacher humbly helps by guiding the seeker to where answers can be found. It is an honor to be asked questions, for it shows that the asker has confidence that he or she will receive assistance to fill a gap in their knowledge or understanding.
There are those who think questions and doubts are the same thing, but this is not true. Doubts are feelings of uncertainty, which can be expressed in questions, and resolved in the answers. In his BYU speech “Become a Seeker: The Way, the Truth, and the Life”, Michael A. Goodman explains: “Doubt is part of the belief spectrum, which goes from disbelief to doubt to hope to belief. Where do questions fit on this spectrum? Can you see that questions can occur at any point on the spectrum?”
Questions may express either doubts or a deficit of understanding or knowledge. The process of finding answers is how the first spark of testimony or its growth happens. The steps to find these answers include sincere desire for truth, diligent research and pondering, and examining the results of life experiments on the answers found. Skipping any of these steps results in total failure.
An idea propounded by anti- and ex- “Mormon” groups is that doubting any part of the gospel proves that the church is not true and gaining a testimony is not possible. Their goal is to disprove the veracity of the gospel and the church, so they feign seeking truth. However, those who fake desire for truth put up a wall up against truth. James tells us in the Bible: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.”
One who does not study diligently will run into another wall. Only study and ponderance of well-phrased questions help resolve doubts. In his talk “Be an Example and a Light”, Thomas S. Monson says: “Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other.” This means there is a choice to be made. One must choose to believe or doubt. Dieter F. Uchtdorf states “It is not enough to enter into a scholarly debate if we want to know for ourselves that the kingdom of God has been restored upon the earth” in a talk titled “The Power of a Personal Testimony”.
One who does not actively seek confirmation of truth by learning and living what is discovered will simply stagnate. Uchtdorf expounds: “Casual study is also not enough. We have to get in on the action ourselves, and that means learning and then doing God’s will.” As recorded in “Discourses of Brigham Young”, Brigham Young asks: “Will the Lord turn away from the honest heart seeking the truth?” (italics added). Young then answers: “No, he will not; he will prove it to them, by the revelations of his Spirit, the facts in the case. And when the mind is open to the revelations of the Lord it comprehends them quicker and keener than anything that is seen by the natural eye.”
Doubts and questions are natural while on the path of learning, but what is important is the action taken when they pop up. There is always a “Y” in the path, one way is doubt, the other is hope. About choosing the way of doubt, Uchtdorf says in another talk titled “Come, Join With Us”: “We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” One must have hope, sincerely desire the truth, ask serious questions and choose to earnestly search for answers, and persistently test the answers through life application. This is the only process that will allow discovery of truth.
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