Answers to Anti Questions
Posted By Matt - 7/2/2015
Before I go into all of the resources I have compiled below, I
want to take a moment and re-express a thought that I had…
We are asked to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. To
read and study and feast from its pages DAILY. We are asked to pray to be given
the knowledge that it is from God. That knowledge ONLY comes from the spirit.
We are asked to do these things for a reason. DAILY SPIRITUAL
EXPERIENCES WITH THE BOOK OF MORMON WILL DEEPEN YOUR TESTIMONY ABOUT ALL OTHER
ASPECTS OF THE RESTORED CHURCH. If the Book of Mormon is true, God lead
and continues to lead this church. If nothing else, your daily interactions
with the Spirit through studying the Book of Mormon will give you a calm and a
peace that cannot be found in any other way. I know that the challenging
questions that many around us are asking cause us to pause, question and seek
answers. If the Spirit did not confirm TRUTH about the Book of Mormon, NO ONE
WOULD JOIN THE CHURCH with all of the questions surrounding it. But when God
speaks to our hearts we cannot deny it.
Too often the sources we turn to for those answers are not
from God, but from man. We use “Google” as our unbiased “ally” in the search
for truth. We look to others blogs for modern interpretations of scripture and
prophetic utterances. Sometimes we seek for others who have similar “issues”
with doctrines – literally following a blind man as we lose our sight as well.
We follow our intrigue to read detractors monologues. At first mostly to
satisfy a curiosity about what others think about us. Soon, we find those
detractors poking holes in our seemingly impenetrable testimony. We go to every
other source before finally landing on the churches website. Perhaps we
do this out of fear. Fear that the churches resources are biased. Fear that “if
I only read the sources the church gives me, I will not be told the whole
story”. We seek answers from other places because we have not STUDIED
sufficiently from our own resources & doctrines to know 1st what
they even are, 2nd where they came from and 3rd how they
were received. God does not ask us to have a testimony of all church history
events, people or practices. He asks us to live on faith and study daily.
Prayerfully considering questions we have and seeking spiritual answers from a
spiritual source. Are we doing that much FIRST?
The idea that I
might be given a BIASED perspective is an idea that I am willing to live with
if that BIAS is Gods.
I promise you that if you set aside the temptation to study
man’s philosophy "mingled with scripture" and study the scriptures, God through
the Spirit will answer you. He will come to you in your darkest moments and
bring light to your life. Light that has perhaps diminished because you have
not cared for it. Perhaps the light that is fading is a light others had, and
you simply walked by. Light that is required to keep moving forward in the
dark. He will not turn on the light switch because you opened the scriptures.
But he will shine the Light in front of you so that you can take one more step.
It is through taking one more step that you will find yourself high above the
smog of questions and confusion. I love you all and have seen this light in my life
over the past 2 years. I made a change in my career largely because I saw the
challenges that my loved ones faced and didn’t know how to protect myself and
my family from similar calamities. Teaching for the church has been such a
blessing in my life. It has FORCED me to do what I should have been doing all
along. DAILY SCRIPTURE STUDY AND PRAYER. I realize now that I didn’t have to make
a career change to make that happen for me. God does not require 8 hours of
study a day. But he does REQUIRE effort. He does not “pat us on the head” and
reward our pittance when it is quite literally the least we can do. I know that
now because I was doing so little.
Please know that I love you and that I want to be a resource
for my family. Uniquely, I GET to spend all day long every day searching and
finding answers to prayers. Sometimes students, but most often mine. I almost
HAVE to look at detractors comments to know what could be thrown at me any
moment of every day. I want to use that knowledge to help where I can –
especially with you. I know it sets me apart – in a weird awkward way. I have
come to grips with that.
All that said…
I have attached a few things:
11.
Here is a link to Elder Hollands talk called
“Lord I believe” from April 2013. This talk is about having doubts and
questions but leading with the faith we do have. I really like the last 5
minutes of it… if you can, WATCH it. Elder Holland is amazing.
22.
Here is a portion of President Utchdorf’s talk
called ”Come Join with Us”. (Highlights added by me!)
Some
might ask, “But what about my doubts?”
It’s
natural to have questions—the acorn of honest inquiry has often sprouted and
matured into a great oak of understanding. There are few members of the
Church who, at one time or another, have not wrestled with serious or sensitive
questions. 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.
(Matt’s thought: The church’s JOB is to help disseminate information from God –
of course it is BIASED!!!) Faith is to hope for things which are not seen but
which are true. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters—my dear friends—please,
first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. 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.
33. Here is a link to and LDS.org
side website that responds to challenging questions. Scroll down and enter a
question/Browse alphabetically or pick one of the “top” questions in the right
hand column.
44. Here is a link to a talk called “Safety for the
Soul” by Elder Holland. This is THE MOST authoritative talk about the
authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Elder Holland makes some WONDERFUL
mechanical arguments for a belief in the Book of Mormon and bears a testimony
that I am still “leaning on” in some small part.
5. Lastly, here is a link to the “Fair Mormon”
response to difficult questions posed by the “CES Letter”. FairMormon.org is staffed
completely by volunteers who are students of the scriptures, ancient languages,
early Christian history, early LDS history, and LDS doctrine. Many of them are
professors and or Seminary and Institute instructors who volunteer their time
to help challenging questions be fully explored. Their purpose is to give well
documented answers to questions posed by members and non-members alike! Again,
I think you would be better served to study the scriptures, fast
and pray for answers to your questions. But, at least here you can look at the
entire body of source material from both perspectives in a safe environment.
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