Part 1 of this series of posts on Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s Saturday Morning Session talk can be found here.
Sister Leah did an amazing job in Part 1 articulating so many of the great things about this talk. The purpose of my post is not to detract from but to build upon her words.
I received so many great messages from this single talk, we all did, but the part I specifically want to focus on is the concept of doubting your doubt. I wrote a post about doubt last conference based upon Elder Holland’s talk that can be found here. Unlike Elder Holland’s talk, which advises us to recognize our doubts but lead with the faith that we do possess, Elder Uchtdorf’s talk indicates that we should “first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.”
What does this really mean? The gift of discernment is a gift of the spirit, and sometimes it can be hard to flesh out what are legitimate doubts from those that come from our fallen nature or a need to protect our own egos. Are we to simply ignore every single doubt we have in favor of admonition to simply doubt the doubts? I say no.
To me, it is important to recognize the end of the quote; the qualifier. “…before you doubt your faith.” Certain instances will always arise in life that will cause us to doubt, it is a tradition as old as man and has played out time and time again. As was quoted in Part 1 of this series, Elder Uchtdorf tells us what most of us already knew but bears repeating, “A question that creates doubt in some can, after careful investigation, build faith in others.”
This is how we doubt our doubt! We doubt it by recognizing it and studying it out. In our personal prayers, in our personal study, in our conversations with friends and family if the mold of doubt can survive the bleach of this level of scrutiny then perhaps it is a legitimate doubt after all. If the doubt remains after the work is performed it makes it that much more likely to be a legitimate doubt.
Separating legitimate doubt from illegitimate doubt is hard work, It absolutely is. But faith is hard work too. Elder Uchtdorf said that “…one of the purposes of The Church is to nurture and cultivate seeds of faith…” His address was a call to Zion. It was a call home.
Please, come join us.
FANFREAKINGTASTIC E.O.R. Awesome!!